Outside the Main Hall.

Yue Yang and Yue Bing, together with Ye Kong, Fatty Hai and Li Clan Brothers, all went towards the hall. Usually, they, the younger generation, did not have the qualifications to sit together with the older generations in a discussion. However, the head of Yi Nan’s family announced that he wanted to meet Yue Yang, refusing to let him stay in the house and become a shut-in. Yue Yang broke out in sweat when he saw that Princess Qian Qian and Yue Yu were also there. With the tigress of a Princess Qian Qian here, it wouldn’t be convenient for him to speak some words.

Seemed like Princess Qian Qian had purposely stayed behind to wreck havoc and watch Yue Yang turn himself into a fool.

This tigress, it really wouldn’t do if he didn’t straighten her out soon…

The memory of that piece of spring that Princess Qian Qian revealed to Yue Yang flashed across his mind as he continued to imagine ways to push this girl down. Of course, on the outside, he pretended to be a good, honest and upright boy.

Fourth Mother was talking with a beautiful woman whose face was covered by a veil. Yue Yang’s hearing had improved, he was able to hear what the two women were talking about, but he was unable to make sense of what they meant as they had used a language that he had never heard before.

The little girl was eating some sweets on Fourth Mother’s lap, her little mouth messy and dirty from eating. When she saw Yue Yang, she immediately jumped up and threw herself into his embrace.

She had even shoved the delicious and soft brown sugar rice cake that she had eaten halfway into her brother’s mouth.

As for her elder sister, Yue Bing, she only raised her hand up, pretending to give it to her.

Not waiting for Yue Bing to react, she withdrew her hand again, pleased with herself. She tried to escape her sister with all her might, adamant on not giving her the brown sugar rice cakes.

Yue Bing glared at her in a bad temper, reaching out and pinching the little mischievous girl’s nose. The little girl chuckled as she tried to dodge it, her laughter clear-sounding like bells ringing. Following that, she immediately ran with her little legs… the two sisters ran around the house, one running away and one catching. This scene made Yue Yang sigh in his heart. This warm home had finally recovered the liveliness and happiness it had before!

In the house, other than Princess Qian Qian, his elder cousin Yue Yu, Fourth Mother and the masked woman, there were also the old cunning fox and the eagle-eyed Xia Hou Wei Lie.

Fatty Hai was initially extremely c.o.c.ky.

However, when he saw the eagle-eyed teacher, he immediately turned into a turtle. He almost shoved his head into his neck. Seemed like under the eagle-eyed Xia Hou Wei Lie’s harsh training, Fatty Hai had received a mental trauma. Ye Kong and Li Clan Brothers hurriedly gave the old cunning fox, the Vice Princ.i.p.al, and their teacher, Xia Hou Wei Lie, a bow, pretending to be polite and obedient students. They started to greet Fourth Mother and the other woman, before finally sitting in one corner tidily. Yue Yang had known earlier that he couldn’t hope for their help, but the way he saw it now, it seemed like their worth was nothing more than pa.s.ser-bys who could only stand in a circle and watch.

Fourth Mother saw that Yue Yang had entered. She immediately beckoned Yue Yang, gesturing him to come over. She also introduced him, “San-er, this is your ‘Brother Yi Nan’s’ aunt. Actually, Yi Nan is a girl. You have been shutting yourself at home far too much that you can’t even differentiate a girl and a guy. If others knew about this, you would really be a joke!”

“I have always thought that Yi Nan was a little weird. How could there be a guy who doesn’t like beautiful girls? For example, Master Hai would immediately drool when he saw a beautiful woman. Turns out that Yi Nan was actually a girl!” Yue Yang knew that he shouldn’t pretend to be extremely shocked, especially when Yue Bing had already mentioned it to him once just now. If he was still shocked and surprised, that would look too fake. Right now, it would be best if he pretended to be silly, but not silly to the point of becoming imbecile. He only need to pretend that he was silly so that Fourth Mother had a way out of the embarra.s.sing situation.

“How could you say it like that? Hurry and pay your respects to Yi Nan’s aunt!” Fourth Mother immediately scolded Yue Yang. He should have paid his respects to his senior when he saw them, how could he be so rude?

“Yes, yes. Yi Nan’s Aunt, please drink this tea!” Yue Yang’s skill at pretending to be a good kid was still as effective as he raised the tea cup and bestowed it to the masked woman. He had even personally poured another cup of tea and bestowed it to Fourth Mother.

Fourth Mother knew that this brat was not so polite usually. She was really amused seeing him so polite in front of strangers. He had even served her tea.

As she hid a smile, she quickly received his tea and ordered him to serve the old cunning fox and the eagle-eyed Xia Hou Wei Lie some tea too, with a stern voice.

The old cunning fox immediately became arrogant, calm and leisuredly receiving Yue Yang’s tea.

As for Xia Hou Wei Lie, he seemed to have known that Yue yang was an Innate. Although Yue Yang was officially still his student, he immediately stood up when he received the teacup that Yue Yang had presented. Although his expression did not change, there was pride in his eagle-eyes.

An Innate Ranker had personally served him tea! This was definitely something that was hard to come by!

If it were others, they would definitely not receive such a treatment.

When Yue Yang returned to Fourth Mother’s side and sat down, Yi Nan’s Aunt started to speak. She had been measuring Yue Yang up and down and she had liked him even more with each look. Although she didn’t show it on the outside, she felt that Yi Nan really had good eyes.

“Your Fourth Mother, your birth mother and I were all born in the Valley of b.u.t.terflies and Hundred Flowers. Although we came from different clans, we are still considered one family. When it comes to age, I am a little older than your Fourth Mother. You can call me Second Aunt (Er Yi) in the future, or you can call me Aunt like Yi Nan. Yi Nan can also be counted as your far cousin. ”Yue Yang had come to a sudden realization when he heard Yi Nan’s aunt’s words. So it turned out that Fourth Mother was also someone from the Valley of b.u.t.terflies and Hundred Flowers. No wonder she could speak another language with Yi Nan’s aunt.

The language that they were speaking just now, didn’t sound like the Soaring Dragon Continent Language.

Yue Yang had never heard it before.

Seemed like Fourth Mother and the pitiful guy’s mother were really mysteries, otherwise, the Thousand Goblins sect wouldn’t kidnap Fourth Mother without reason to open that thing called ‘Heaven Stairway’.

What kind of place was the Heaven Stairway again?

Could it be like another Tong Tian Tower? Or could it be a different dimension like the Demon Abyss?

Yue Yang felt that the Soaring Dragon Continent looked normal and ordinary on the outside, but was actually hiding a lot of mysteries and secrets. For example, there were so many Innate Rankers, but why would they be adamant about training the younger generation in the Soaring Dragon Continent? Why didn’t they take the talented younger generations away, enter the Tong Tian Tower and train them there? On the contrary, they even brought the beasts from Tong Tian Tower out and put them on the Soaring Dragon Continent, using them to teach the younger generation.

Another examples were the G.o.ds Ruins, Heaven Stairway, Demonic Palace in the Falling Cangue Mountain, Thousand Goblins Sect, Four Great Sects and others. They were practically secret amongst secrets, mystery amongst mysteries!

Right now it also didn’t seem like the Valley of b.u.t.terflies and Hundred Flowers was a simple place.

That was because Yue Yang realized that he couldn’t see through Yi Nan’s Aunt with his Level 3 [Divine Vision]. This masked woman probably had a strength in the level of the old cunning fox… There was still the Hundred Flowers Valley Master above her, it was definitely not that easy!

As for the pitiful guy’s mother, n.o.body mentioned her before. Yue Yang felt that she must definitely also be an exceptional person!

“We are not as strong we were last time, we had already declined. Your mother pa.s.sed away early. The Hundred Flowers Clan will usually pa.s.s down their skills to a single person. However, right now, there’s even fewer qualified successors to learn their skills. Now that we’ve found your Fourth Mother, you and your sister, it could be said that it’s a meeting arranged by the heavens! As for the b.u.t.terflies Clan, although we don’t have a strict rule like the Hundred Flowers Clan, only pa.s.sing their skills to one bloodline, we still lack successors to pa.s.s down our skills. The world has been in chaos for these few years. Our Kingdom had been crushed by the Demonic Palace and the Thousand Goblins Sect combined attacks. Hundred Flowers Valley was attacked many times by other enemies, burnt to the ground. We had almost lost our own place… That’s why Yi Nan hid her ident.i.ty and pretended to be a thief. Her getting to know you and going on journey with you, was really a fated meeting…” Yue Yang’s heart shook a little when he heard Yi Nan’s Aunt’s words.

Finally there was someone who mentioned some information with regards to the pitiful guy’s mother. Hearing Yi Nan’s Aunt’s words, the pitiful guy’s mother seemed to be the successor to the Hundred Flowers Clan?

The thing that made Yue Yang surprised was that the Valley of b.u.t.terflies and Hundred Flowers had actually governed a kingdom before.

They were actually crushed by the combined attacks of the Demonic Palace and the Thousand Goblins Sect… This was not an easy feat. The Demonic Palace and the Thousand Goblins Sect were both powerful secret organizations. Especially the Demonic Palace, even Da Xia, Tian Luo and Zi Jin, the three great kingdoms, didn’t dare to scorn them. The Valley of b.u.t.terflies and Hundred Flowers, being able to resist the attacks of both the Demonic Palace and the Thousand Goblins Sect at the same time, could actually be considered to be extremely strong.

“What was your Kingdom called previously?” Yue Yang was really curious. Every hundred years or so, there would be quite a few small kingdoms in the Soaring Dragon Continent that was destroyed. But he would never have thought that some of these kingdoms would be that strong, being able to resist the Demonic Palace and the Thousand Goblins Sect together.

“Our Kingdom is originally called the Dawn Kingdom. The outside world would usually call us ‘Guang Ming’ or ‘Ming’ Kingdom.” Yi Nan’s Aunt seemed to be unwilling to talk about it too much as she explained to Yue Yang indifferently.

(s.h.i.+ro: Guang Ming means radiant, ming means light)

“What?!” Yue Yang almost jumped out of shock.

This ‘Guang Ming’ or ‘Ming’ kingdom, Yue Yang had heard about them before.

The Ming Kingdom was originally a great kingdom, it was ranked the top 5 in the Soaring Dragon Continent. The weird thing was that this Kingdom disliked battles and wars, furthermore, only females would be selected as monarchs. The Ming Kingdom would rather pay a huge sum of ‘Peace Offerings’ to the surrounding kingdoms than send their soldiers out to war. Even a small kingdom the size of a pea located near the Ming Kingdom could demand a Peace Offering from them.

The Ming Kingdom was also the only Kingdom who wouldn’t initiate an attack on any Kingdom.

When other kingdoms invaded them, they would rather send their rankers to stop the invasion and advise the invaders to retreat, offering a huge sum of money instead.

If City Masters rebelled or if they were attacked by enemies, the Ming Kingdom was also the only kingdom that would appease their citizens, allowing them to follow their City Masters and live in their new Kingdom. They would also give them a huge sum of money to redeem citizens who were still willing to continue to stay as citizens of the Ming Kingdom.

If there was a Kingdom in this world that could set a compa.s.sionate standard for other Kingdoms to follow, it was this Ming Kingdom which was ruled by women.

For an ordinary common folk, such a Kingdom was perfect.

However, for a warrior, such a kingdom was extremely depressing, because there was no hope of battling at all. They only received beatings and never retaliated, what would such a Kingdom even count as?

Such a ‘cowardly’ kingdom should have been destroyed very quickly, but on the contrary, the history of the Ming Kingdom spanned over thousands of years. Other than Da Xia, Tian Luo and Zi Jin, the three great kingdoms, Ming Kingdom was one of the Kingdoms with the longest history. Furthermore, countless Rankers had originated from the Ming Kingdom. Even all the combined rankers that originated from Da Xia, Tian Luo and Zi Jin together might not be more than the Ming Kingdom… This Ming Kingdom, whose territory had diminished but number of Rankers had increased over the years, was a joke in the eyes of outsiders. Although there were so many Innate Rankers in the Ming Kingdom, they were invaded by kingdoms with no Innate Rankers. Furthermore, after being invaded, they did not even retaliated… No one knew the reason for how this Ming Kingdom, who had always ranked within the top 10 of the Soaring Dragon Continent for the past hundreds of years in terms of kingdom strength and territory, would suddenly disintegrate a few decades back. Various City Masters and City Lords rebelled against them, and in the end, the Ming Kingdom had become a small kingdom, only the most flouris.h.i.+ng and thriving capital was left as its territory.

15 years ago, the Ming Kingdom’s capital was suddenly attacked by various countries’ armies and perished.

The Ming Kingdom’s royal family did not ask for the protection of the other three great kingdoms, and they also didn’t have any thoughts of retaliation. They only brought the Innate Rankers along with them and disappeared without any traces.

Yue Yang had read about this history before, and felt that the Ming Kingdom was extremely weird. How could they be so good natured, simply getting beaten and not retaliating at all?

Furthermore, such a kingdom, how were they able to last so long?

Kingdoms like Da Xia or Tian Luo, for a little thing, even the Emperor himself could personally stand up and give his all. The Heavenly Imperial Guardians also would threaten to destroy their enemies. Ming Kingdom Innate Rankers, on the other hand, had never mentioned on taking revenge or anything related to that. Could it be that these Innate Rankers were all made out of tofu?

If others said that it was because the Ming Kingdom’s governance was not good, how could it last for thousands of years?

If it wasn’t for them disintegrating suddenly, the Ming Kingdom should still have existed. It should still be one of the top 10 Kingdoms of Soaring Dragon Continent. Furthermore, its economy and country strength must have been one of the most flouris.h.i.+ng ones.

What had actually happened in the past hundred years that made the Ming Kingdom disintegrate?

15 years ago, what had actually happened that caused the Ming Kingdom to perish? Yue Yang felt that there must have been a reason. Furthermore, this reason must be related to him, no, the pitiful guy. This was because the pitiful guy’s parents had pa.s.sed away 15 years ago…

Could the pitiful guy’s true ident.i.ty be related to the reason of the destruction of the Ming Kingdom?

Yue Yang still remembered what the pitiful guy’s parents had written in the diary. The secret must be hidden somewhere, there must be some kind of information recorded there. He might be able to pursue the truth and find out the mystery behind the pitiful guy’s life. It might also help to explain why there would be so many Rankers joining their hands together to secretly harm a shut-in in within White Stone City who had never even come out from his house!

When he thought about this, Yue Yang suddenly wanted to read that diary again…