Ye Xuan and the others had their own considerations.
Most of them knew nothing about their ancestors’ history. Even though Ye Xuan favored his own daughter, he still felt it wasn’t right to lose Ye Yuan over something like this—which was why he’d spoken up just now.
But he hadn’t expected the Grand Elder to say this.
“Strength?” Ye Shaohua looked at the Grand Elder and quickly caught on, seeing that his expression remained unchanged.
She realized he wanted her to fully unleash her spiritual power.
Though Ye Shaohua didn’t fully understand why, she glanced at her father’s bewildered face, compressed her spiritual power into a single point, and then exploded it outward all at once.
She wasn’t targeting anyone in the council hall but almost everyone there was enveloped by that terrifying spiritual pressure.
Among those in the council hall, the highest cultivation level was the Grand Elder’s—at the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage.
In the world of cultivation, spiritual power and cultivation level generally matched one’s actual strength.
So at most, they had ninth-level spiritual power. Facing Ye Shaohua’s spiritual power, which had already reached the Golden Core stage, they had no way to resist. She could destroy a person’s spiritual sea with a single thought.
This was the suppression of a higher realm.
Having lived for so many years, the Grand Elder’s spiritual power could at least hold out a little. But the other elders, as well as Ye Xuan and the others who were only at the sixth level of Qi Refining, were forced back a step by the crushing pressure.
As for the family’s low-level alchemist, he sensed that this was the same spiritual power he’d felt when treating the beast Ahua the other day—and he stood frozen in place, unable to snap out of it.
The others, realizing that this was coming from Ye Shaohua, were so shocked they couldn’t even speak for a long while.
Ye Xuan was no exception.
Ye Shaohua was his only daughter. After her spiritual root was destroyed, he’d felt even worse than she did. He’d tried every method possible but could find no way to restore it—and had already given up hope.
But now, he never expected to see this!
He turned his head and caught sight of Ye Shaohua’s somewhat casual expression. Suddenly, he began to understand why she’d seemed so much more relaxed these past few days than usual.
Ye Xuan had thought she’d simply accepted her fate—but it turned out the reason was this.
“Setting aside everything else, a Golden Core–level spiritual power is enough to intimidate even Foundation Establishment cultivators, if nothing else,” the Grand Elder said, looking away. Still, a flicker of something peculiar passed through his eyes.
He’d thought Ye Shaohua had already reached her limit yesterday, but seeing her now… it seemed she hadn’t…
Perhaps…
She really could forge a spiritual artifact.
If she could make one, then the Ye family might have some hope after all.
The other elders, however, didn’t think that far ahead. The moment they heard it was spiritual power equivalent to the Golden Core stage, their eyes burned with fervor as they looked at Ye Shaohua.
This was terrifying. They’d thought that with her spiritual root ruined, she was finished—but who would’ve guessed she still had this monstrous spiritual power?
No wonder the Grand Elder spoke up for her!
At this point, they no longer even thought about Ye Yuan, and they finally understood why the Grand Elder had suddenly become “partial.”
Though none of them showed it outwardly, they’d also felt some dissatisfaction with Ye Yuan’s aloofness—otherwise, not a single one of them would have been willing to leave the Ye family with her.
The group walked in with grave expressions and left with beaming faces, leaving the younger members of the Ye family thoroughly confused.
Meanwhile, Ye Xuan brought Ye Shaohua back to their courtyard, unable to stop himself from glancing sideways at her the whole way.
“Girl, since when did you have spiritual power this strong? And you kept it from your old man—you nearly scared me to death!” Ye Xuan’s tone was full of mock complaint, but his face was beaming with joy.
Ye Shaohua sighed helplessly. “It’s just Golden Core–level spiritual power. I haven’t even restored my spiritual root yet, so I was too embarrassed to tell you.”
She’d originally planned to wait until she’d gathered all the medicinal herbs before telling her parents.
She hadn’t expected the Grand Elder to spill the beans so soon.
“What’s there to hide?” Ye Xuan waved his hand dismissively. “My daughter is outstanding! Let those people from the Xuan Yuan family regret it!”
At that, his expression turned cold.
**
At the same time.
At the Liu family.
Mr. and Mrs. Liu had just returned home when they saw their son lounging lazily in the main hall, sipping tea.
He leaned back in his chair, his long, slender fingers tapping lightly on the teacup lid, the tips of his fingers pale and fair.
Mr. Liu felt a wave of annoyance at the sight. “Look at you—you’re twenty years old now. You won’t manage the family business, you won’t cultivate under a master, and you won’t even study properly with your teachers. What can you do? You’re useless!”
When his son was little, he’d started speaking early, and by age three, he could already read fluently. Mr. Liu had thought he’d fathered a prodigy.
But as time went on, he’d only grown more useless—spending his days wandering around doing nothing.
He couldn’t even measure up to the side-branch disciples of the family.
Normally, that might be tolerable, but today, even the Ye family refused to marry their daughter into their household.
They’d gone all the way there, and the Grand Elder himself had turned them down.
How could Mr. Liu not be furious?
“Enough, what’s the use of yelling at him?” Mrs. Liu knew her husband was just venting. After all, they both doted on their son to no end—and thankfully, the Liu family was wealthy enough that he wouldn’t bankrupt them. “Still, it’s a pity. I took quite a liking to that Ye Shaohua today.”
When Mrs. Liu had first come to the Ye family, she’d already known about Ye Shaohua.
A famous prodigy in the city.
But at the time, Ye Shaohua was still a cultivator, so Mrs. Liu hadn’t given it much thought.
Later, when Ye Shaohua’s spiritual root was destroyed, it caused quite a stir, and Mrs. Liu had heard many people lamenting the loss.
All she’d ever heard was that Ye Shaohua was proud and aloof, not as approachable as Ye Yuan.
When she’d first heard that the Ye family intended to marry Ye Shaohua into their family, Mrs. Liu hadn’t been too keen on it either.
After all, the girl had once been a cultivator, and Mrs. Liu was afraid Ye Shaohua would look down on their ordinary household.
But after meeting Ye Shaohua in person at the Ye residence, she found the opposite to be true. That other girl, Ye Yuan, had looked down her nose at them the entire time—barely even gracing them with a glance.
In contrast, Ye Shaohua—who was supposedly the proud and aloof one—though she refused the marriage, treated them with perfect politeness.
She wasn’t at all like those haughty cultivators.
Mrs. Liu was lost in thought.
Just then, the previously indifferent Ye Yunchen suddenly turned his head, his clear voice carrying an unusual urgency: “Who did you say they wanted to arrange a marriage with?”
