"That's right."
Yun Liyue said, "Thanks to your planning last time, the rest of Great Zhou finally realized that within its own territory, Tianyuan was still lurking."
"In the Primeval Era, the Tianyuan army ravaged the Wasteland Realm, leaving it in ruins, almost conquering it completely."
"Fortunately, the Human Emperor appeared from nowhere, leading the human race of the Wasteland Realm to defeat the Tianyuan army and seal them away."
"But now it's clear Tianyuan has never behaved, still scheming for a comeback."
"Tianyuan has never behaved," Yang Cheng agreed.
Even in his past life, when Yang Xiu, the Heaven's Mandate Emperor, was suppressing them, Tianyuan experts still pulled all kinds of tricks.
It was clear Tianyuan had never given up on reclaiming the Wasteland Realm.
And what they wanted wasn't coexistence with the living beings of the realm.
They wanted to replace them, to wipe out all native life, then rule in their place.
"That's why your father has gone to Tianyuan many times," Yun Liyue said. "As the saying goes, strike first to seize the advantage, wait too long and you'll suffer. Since Tianyuan has been found, and Great Zhou holds the advantage, how could Great Zhou let it slip away?"
Yang Cheng kept that firmly in mind, deciding that when chances came, he would leak Tianyuan intelligence to his father to aid Great Zhou's fight against them.
Afterward, once he finished breakfast, he took the Golden Dragon Chariot to Autumn Water Courtyard.
As usual, he began with cultivation.
Before Cheng Junyi, he didn't hide anything. He directly brought out a large amount of earth spirit stalactite for him and Tang Xingyu to absorb.
When they were younger, he and Tang Xingyu only needed to cultivate two hours a day.
One in the morning, one in the afternoon.
Now, that had doubled to four hours.
After finishing two hours in the morning, Yang Cheng asked, "Tangtang, these days you seem distracted. What's wrong?"
Tang Xingyu looked listless. "I… I sensed my elder sister's true qi fluctuations not long ago."
Yang Cheng was startled.
This was the first time he'd ever heard news about Tang Xingyu's family.
"Chengcheng, come with me."
At that moment, Cheng Junyi suddenly spoke.
Yang Cheng realized something and immediately stopped questioning Tang Xingyu, following Cheng Junyi instead.
They went up to a pavilion in Autumn Water Courtyard, looking down at Tang Xingyu, who sat dejected below.
"Teacher, is there something wrong with Tangtang's family?" Yang Cheng asked.
Tang Xingyu had been with this teacher since she was only one and a half, instead of living with her family.
That was clearly unusual.
Because of this, Yang Cheng had never pressed for answers before, not wanting to stir up painful memories.
He had always assumed her family was dead.
But now, hearing her mention an older sister, he realized that wasn't the case.
Cheng Junyi hesitated. "Chengcheng, knowing this may not be good for you. That's why I've never told you before."
Yang Cheng said, "Teacher, no matter what decisions I'll have to make, at the very least, you need to let me know the basics."
"Ah…"
Cheng Junyi sighed softly, then said, "Tangtang is from the Tang clan of the Northern Heng Ancient Domain in the Primordial Chaos Divine Realm."
The Tang clan is an ancient family of the Northern Heng Ancient Domain, with a heritage spanning tens of thousands of years. Its patriarch is a Boundary God expert. Do you still want to hear more?"
Yang Cheng's heart trembled. He hadn't expected Tang Xingyu's background to be this immense.
For such a clan, forget Martial cultivators of the Wasteland Realm—even most True Gods would never even have the chance to approach a power like that.
Most likely, because the Tang clan's status was so high, he had never learned about Tang Xingyu's origins in his past life.
In his past life, his cultivation had only ever reached the Martial Saint realm, far from enough to even qualify to come into contact with a power like the Tang clan.
Without hesitation, Yang Cheng said, "I'll listen."
"I'll continue then. You can refuse to get involved in this storm at any time," Cheng Junyi said. "When Tangtang was born, war broke out in the Northern Heng Ancient Domain. Her mother—my cousin—was attacked by demons. She was chased deep into the mountains."
"Her body was frail, but to protect Tangtang, she fought the demon to the death, perishing together with it."
"Tangtang was left alone as a baby, growing up in a cave. To survive, she drank demon blood."
Yang Cheng's chest tightened.
A newborn baby, alone in a cave.
Beside her lay the corpses of her mother and the demon, and she had no choice but to drink demon blood to stay alive.
Just imagining the scene was suffocating.
He could never have imagined that the little Tangtang, who had been soft and sweet as a toddler and fierce and lively now, had such a past.
"Maybe the aura of her mother and the demon after their deaths kept other demons away, which is how Tangtang survived."
"At one year old, she was found by the Tang clan and taken back."
"It should have been the start of her fortune, but instead, it was a nightmare."
Cheng Junyi's voice grew heavy. "Tangtang's talent was too extraordinary. The moment she returned, they tested her and discovered she possessed a Chaos Bone."
"Chaos Bone?"
Yang Cheng's pupils shrank. "The supreme Chaos Bone said to hold the might of the ancient Chaos Gods?"
"That's right," Cheng Junyi nodded.
"But Tangtang clearly has the Tai Sui Divine Body. I've never sensed the aura of the Chaos Bone from her," Yang Cheng said.
"Because her Chaos Bone was dug out," Cheng Junyi said coldly.
"Who? Tangtang is of the Tang clan, and the Tang clan is so powerful. Who would dare dig out her bone?" Yang Cheng asked.
"Because it was the Tang clan themselves who did it," Cheng Junyi said.
Yang Cheng felt his blood freeze in that instant.
"Why?" he forced out, word by word.
"Because the Tang clan had another prodigy," Cheng Junyi said. "Tang Wushuang, Tangtang's cousin. He was born with the Myriad Flowers Divine Eyes."
"He was male, while Tangtang was female."
"For such an ancient clan, a son was far more important than a daughter."
"So, when they saw Tangtang, some of the Tang clan's old antiques had an idea—to dig out her Chaos Bone and fuse it into Tang Wushuang."
"That way, he would possess both the Myriad Flowers Divine Eyes and the Chaos Bone, and in the future, he would surely become a peerless genius, an unrivaled giant."
Yang Cheng clenched his fists tight. "So they really did it!"
Cheng Junyi's expression was bitter. "She was just an orphaned child with no mother to protect her."
"What about Tangtang's father?" Yang Cheng asked.
"At that time, he was still fighting in the demon wars, unable to care for what was happening at home," Cheng Junyi said. "When Tangtang was seventeen months old, I went to the Tang clan and saw her. They had thrown her into a woodshed. She was weak beyond belief, eating scraps together with dogs."
"When I asked around, I learned that after her Chaos Bone was dug out, she had been left like that for five months. I still don't know how she survived."
Yang Cheng's eyes stung.
"When I saw that, I immediately sent word to Tangtang's father," Cheng Junyi said.