Chapter 522: The Ji Family's Past

Chapter 522: Chapter 518: The Ji Family’s Past

That night, Watermelon brought back a lot of wild game unique to the Land of Extreme Cold Ice and Snow: snow rabbits, Cold Ice silverfish, and even a Cold Land antelope, which was a rare sight even for Watermelon and the others.

Ji Yuyan felt that Qin Li’s luck was quite good, because the Cold Land antelope ran extremely fast. It lived year-round on the Great Ice Glacier, and its running speed was so great that not even an ordinary Supreme Martial Artist could catch it!

They could be spotted on the various cliffs and precipices of the Great Ice Glacier, but those places were mostly inaccessible to human Martial Artists.

So, Ji Yuyan used this as an excuse to personally cook a very lavish dinner for Qin Li.

Although Ji Yuyan’s reason was perfectly valid—that Cold Land antelopes were rarely caught and she was afraid Watermelon and Ji Ruyue would waste it—in reality, both Watermelon and Ji Ruyue were quite good cooks. After all, every disciple of the Ice and Snow Sect had their own Blessed Land; they couldn’t just keep mooching meals off others, could they?

So, Watermelon and Ji Ruyue exchanged suggestive glances, both thinking that their master and the young master must have had a… very pleasant chat this afternoon!

When Ji Yuyan saw them exchanging glances, she wasn’t angry, just a little worried that she was truly falling for him. A romantic experience from her youth had left her terrified of being hurt again, especially now that she was a mother to so many children! This identity, which usually filled her with pride and comfort, had now become her greatest restraint.

‘What would the disciples in the sect think of me if they found out about this? Besides, I know Qin Li has no shortage of beautiful female companions. If I really did end up by his side, what would I be to him?’

‘An older sister? A confidante? Or a lover?’

So, Ji Yuyan decided not to think about it anymore. Her thoughts turned to how she would face the people in her family when she returned. The humiliations from all those years ago were still as clear as if they had happened yesterday.

That home was once her paradise, but now it had long since become the one place she dreaded facing the most. Especially that vicious woman!

Ji Yuyan hated her. Hated her for tearing her family apart. Hated her for stealing her mother’s place. After her own father passed away, the woman had shamelessly brought her secret lover into the house, and their constant, shameless displays of affection had finally driven Ji Yuyan away from home in a fit of anger.

In truth, Ji Yuyan had always wanted revenge, but she couldn’t have it. She could not kill that woman!

Not only was it her mother’s final request before she died, but it was also because that woman was her own maternal aunt! Furthermore, she had brought immense benefits to their family, the Ji Family, so the family turned a blind eye to her actions.

Just thinking about that family made Ji Yuyan’s head ache. She wondered what the greatest family in the Land of the Far North Cold Ice and Snow was like now.

Qin Li and Ji Yuyan walked across the endless Great Ice Glacier. From a distance, they looked like two ants, two tiny black dots, moving slowly across the vast, white expanse.

Ji Yuyan had been wanting to confide in Qin Li about her troubles, but she felt it would be too forward. ‘If I just casually tell him about my family matters, will he think I’m being frivolous?’

Since Ji Yuyan didn’t speak, Qin Li didn’t ask. The two walked on in silence, each seemingly lost in their own thoughts.

Suddenly, Qin Li pointed to a spot in the distance and said, “That group of Purple-eyed Emperors must have been fighting here yesterday!”

The two walked over. Ji Yuyan took one look and couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement, “Those people are truly powerful. If they weren’t enemies but allies, I’m afraid my Ice and Snow Sect’s Blessed Land would have already been destroyed by them!”

Qin Li smiled. “If they were allies, I wouldn’t have stayed there yesterday!”

Ji Yuyan shot Qin Li a cool glance and said, “Do you take me, Ji Yuyan, for someone who’s afraid of trouble?”

“Haha, of course not. But I’m not the type to drag my friends into danger!” Qin Li said with a laugh.

Friend! The word felt both strange and familiar. A warmth spread through Ji Yuyan’s heart, and she finally couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Qin Li, I want to tell you about my family situation, but… you can’t laugh at me!”

“Haha, Watermelon probably hasn’t told you about my situation. Or maybe what he knows isn’t very detailed. If you knew what my family life was like growing up, you wouldn’t be afraid of me laughing at you.”

“Oh? Well, we still have a long way to go. Why don’t you tell me about your family first?” Ji Yuyan said with a smile, her beautiful eyes fixed on Qin Li’s face.

“When I was young, I didn’t have a father. I was an illegitimate child, raised in a large family in a secular kingdom. I was discriminated against and ridiculed. For my sake, my mother…” Qin Li slowly recounted his experiences from when he first came to this world. There were many things he was telling someone else for the first time. He wasn’t sure why, but with Ji Yuyan, he felt an urge to confide in her.

After Qin Li finished, Ji Yuyan’s bright and beautiful face was filled with disbelief. She looked at him and asked, “Your childhood was so difficult… it’s truly hard to imagine how you cultivated to your current level of strength!”

“Perseverance. Never giving up,” Qin Li said with a smile.

If anyone else had said that, Ji Yuyan probably would have curled her lip and silently cursed them for being so pretentious. But after hearing about Qin Li’s childhood experiences, Ji Yuyan felt nothing but admiration for him!

“You’re truly amazing! No wonder you chose to cultivate a life-threatening combat technique like Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, Only I am Venerable!” Ji Yuyan said with admiration.

“Yes,” Qin Li sighed softly. “If I’d had another choice back then, I probably wouldn’t have cultivated this technique. But then, I suppose the me of today wouldn’t exist either!”

Ji Yuyan thought about it and realized it was true. If Qin Li hadn’t cultivated the Only I am Venerable combat technique, he wouldn’t have met Watermelon. If he hadn’t met Watermelon, Watermelon wouldn’t have cultivated it either, and none of the subsequent events would have happened. And naturally, it would have been impossible for Ji Yuyan to cross paths with Qin Li.

If that were the case, everyone’s destiny might have been different!

Watermelon might have grown up to be a petty thug in Yellow Sand City, leading a group of lackeys. He might have seemed impressive on the surface, but he could have been wiped out by a major family at any moment.

As for Qin Li, if he had cultivated a different combat technique, perhaps he still would have been successful. He might have become a Marquis or even a Duke or a Prince in the Cyan Dragon Kingdom.

But most likely, he would have had little chance of entering Profound Island, let alone triggering all the events that followed.

And Ji Yuyan would still be the Sect Leader of her Ice and Snow Sect, a mother to many orphans… The two of them would have been like two lines that never intersect, and they certainly wouldn’t have had the chance to walk together today, striving for the same goal.

As Ji Yuyan thought about this, she chuckled softly. “The affairs of the world are truly wondrous. It’s as if many things are predestined by the heavens.”

“Like us meeting?” Qin Li asked, as if prompted by some unseen force. After the words left his mouth, he felt it was a bit too forward. He stole a glance at Ji Yuyan and saw that her face was flushed red. She didn’t answer, but she didn’t deny it either.

After a moment, Ji Yuyan said softly, “When I was little, I was born into a super-powerful family in the Land of Extreme Cold Ice and Snow. This family was massive. Across the ice plains stretching for hundreds of thousands of li, the Ji Family reigned supreme! But unlike in the Central Plains, where most clan members live together, our family is scattered. For example, my parents lived on the Frozen Wilderness with a large group of servants. We were considered a branch of the Ji Family, with about a thousand people!”

“That’s not small at all. I never would have thought such a large family could exist in such a bitter, cold land!” Qin Li said in admiration.

“Haha, this place is quite magical. It looks desolate and bitterly cold, but in reality, there are many Blessed Lands like the one my Ice and Snow Sect currently occupies. Otherwise, wouldn’t someone have come to seize my territory long ago?”

Ji Yuyan smiled and said, “It’s precisely because there are so many of them, and because the Ice and Snow Sect is located in a remote, undesirable area, that very few people bother us.”

As she spoke, Ji Yuyan’s tone grew somber. She continued, “My parents were always very much in love. Their strength wasn’t considered very high, but because my father was the direct son of the Ji Family’s Patriarch, his status was quite good. All of that changed with the arrival of one woman. This woman was my mother’s own younger sister, my maternal aunt!”

A disdainful sneer appeared on Ji Yuyan’s face. “Do you know why I’m so clear about the value of the Tree Lotus? It’s because when I was young, I ate a lot of its fruit!”

Qin Li glanced at Ji Yuyan in surprise. ‘I didn’t expect anyone had actually eaten that stuff,’ he thought. ‘But then again, it’s not that strange. It’s perfectly normal, just like how I’ve eaten the Nine-Turned White Jade Lotus and the Vermilion Fruit that changed my constitution.’

This world was magical, filled with countless Spiritual Objects nurtured by nature! It all depended on whether you had the fateful opportunity.

Thinking of her parents, who had been dead for many years, Ji Yuyan’s eyes reddened slightly. “My aunt was very beautiful. Unlike my mother’s dignified grace, she was the seductive type. She and my mother both came from an ancient but declining family. By now, that family has nothing left but its former glory and honor, though it still has some underlying foundation. When she arrived, she brought many gifts and gave them to every branch of the Ji Family, so everyone in the family had a very good impression of her! But it was this same woman who single-handedly destroyed my family! She set her sights on my father and constantly tried to seduce him. Later…”

A cold smile touched Ji Yuyan’s lips. “Later, the two of them got together!”

Then, Ji Yuyan looked at Qin Li and said, “So, what do you think? It’s a very cliché and tasteless story, isn’t it? A man who couldn’t resist temptation and got together with his wife’s younger sister.”

Qin Li rubbed his nose and gave a wry smile, saying nothing. Since he himself was surrounded by many beautiful women, he naturally had no right to comment on such matters.