âItâs impressive that your clanâs old man is still alive.â Li Qiye glanced at her and smiled.
âIt is thanks to your blessing, Young Master.â Ye Lingyao took a deep breath, realizing that Li Qiye cared about the previous ties with her forefather. At the very least, he wouldnât make it difficult for juniors like them.
âIt has nothing to do with me. There is an adage about this - evil people live a long life. The more bad deeds, the more they can go on.â Li Qiye shook his head.
She smiled at the joke - a smile as beautiful as a blossoming flower. However, this was disrespectful towards the forefather so she immediately stopped.
âSome live long only to have regrets while others have a short yet brilliant and colorful life.â Li Qiye became sentimental and gazed towards the horizon.
Ye Lingyao nodded, having heard something similar from the forefather before. She couldnât truly understand this type of mood but still sympathized.
âThe forefather also said that if the Dragon-phoenix Matriarch were still around, he might have made a different choice.â Lingyao added.
The matriarch started the valley and was an extremely powerful Heavenly Sovereign. She lived for a long time but eventually faltered.
âCreating the valley is an amazing achievement, her legacy will remain.â Li Qiye smiled.
Lingyao had no comment. The valley and her clan had extremely deep ties because the matriarch was a member of her clan.
She used to be one of the strongest ancestors there but eventually left to form her own lineage.
According to the rumors, she had both support and opposition for this move. However, she still had a good relationship with the forefather. He fully supported her choice back then.
Her death was quite a blow to the forefather. He then entered his dormant state and stopped appearing.
Li Qiye recalled the distant past once more, nearly having forgotten them.
âWould you like to meet our forefather, Young Master?â Lingyao asked Li Qiye, not daring to take charge in this matter.
âI donât want to disturb him. If heâs sealed, let him be.â Li Qiye shook his head.
âI heard that heâs about to come into being.â Lingyao answered right away.
âSo you have reported this matter?â Li Qiye looked at her.
She turned red and admitted: âI wasnât sure back then and did tell some people. The forefather should know by this point.â
âLeave it up to fate then.â Li Qiye said. So many old friends were gone due to the passage of time. Meeting one of them again wouldnât be a bad feeling.
Lingyao became happy after hearing this.
Li Qiye didnât say anything else and shifted his focus towards the stone in front. It looked like an egg but was one-third taller than a mature person. The surface looked coarse, seemingly the scars from years and years of weathering.
The character, âfoolishâ, was written on it - large enough to take up an entire side. It was expertly written with red ink, extremely eye-catching. It seemed to be making fun of something or someone.
Any spectator standing in front of the stone would feel as if they were the target of this word.
Li Qiye didnât mind and stood there with a faint smile. Qing Shi also stared at this stone.
He had heard about it before since it was quite famous in Ancestral City. The Golem Ancestor himself wrote this word down for some unknown reason. It seemed out of place given his status.
Thus, this actually increased the level of curiosity regarding this stone in history. Everyone wanted to know why he did this but none found anything.
âOver there, I see the maiden.â An expert shouted from the distance and more came closer.
It didnât take long before the place became crowded. This displeased Ye Lingyao since she didnât want Li Qiye to become angry.
She glanced at him and he seemed fine, still completely focused on the stone and aloof to all else. This made her feel much better.
Her forefather had told her about the grave consequences of Li Qiyeâs rage. He had massacred sects and races before, trampling over their bones.
The ones present were awfully excited to be so close to her, especially the young suitors. They became enamored while staring at her face.
âMiss Ye, itâs good that youâre still here. We were thinking about how to congratulate you.â The prince and the godchild arrived and moved past the crowd.
Ye Lingyao nodded to them and didnât say anything else.
The duo noticed Li Qiye and Qing Shi as well, finding this quite strange. They initially thought that Lingyao had an urgent matter, not that she recognized Li Qiye.
They analyzed the guy and found that he was only a Silver Carapace cultivator, nothing more. Why did this nobody know Ye Lingyao?
âMiss Ye, who is this gentleman?â The godchild didnât really care about Li Qiye, thinking that it was only a coincidental meeting.
Lingyao opened her mouth but stopped, not daring to answer without Li Qiyeâs permission.
âA friend.â Li Qiye nonchalantly said while still looking at the stone.
Those nearby found this unthinkable due to Li Qiyeâs averageness. How could he claim to be the maidenâs friend? He simply thought too highly of himself.
âHmm, he should look at a mirror first.â One spectator murmured.
âTrue, even the first prince and Firmaments Godchild arenât as haughty as him.â Another commented, annoyed that Li Qiye didnât bother looking at them.
âYes, a friend.â Lingyao nodded, following Li Qiye while feeling nervous.
She knew that she wasnât qualified to be his friend. They were countless generations apart. This was a supreme honor for her.
Others shut up after her acknowledgment but still felt annoyed and jealous.
âI see, I see. Nice to meet you.â The prince smiled and said.
âMiss Ye, weâve talked about it a while ago. Since today is your birthday and weâre all here, how about a celebration?â All of his attention was on her, wanting to make her happy.
âItâs the maidenâs birthday?â Everyone became surprised.