Chapter 13: Leaving Yunmu City

No matter how bustling it was outside, it had nothing to do with the Third Branch.

The Third Branch was very peaceful, and the husband and wife both went into seclusion.

Before entering seclusion, Xie Shen pulled Xie Jiuniang aside and whispered, “Daughter, your grandfather mentioned that some strangers have come to the city, and their movements are a bit suspicious. There might be trouble brewing. As a child, don’t go out of the house for no reason, and if there’s anything, wait until your mother and I come out of seclusion, understand?”

“I understand. I wish Father early success in reaching Foundation Establishment.” Xie Jiuniang obediently nodded, reassuring Xie Shen quite a bit.

Thus, during the days her parents were in seclusion, Xie Jiuniang activated the isolation formation every day and didn’t take a step out the door.

However, she did secretly meet with Xie Siniang a few times.

Xie Jiuniang gave her all the Qi Nurturing Pills she couldn’t use herself, and even urged her to cultivate diligently and strive to be accepted into a major sect this year.

Xie Siniang didn’t take much advantage of her, and gave her a bunch of spirit talismans in return. Some were drawn by her, and some by her father.

Xie Jiuniang thought about it and accepted the spirit talismans. It wasn’t that she lacked them, but she knew that only by accepting them would Xie Siniang feel at ease.

At the same time, Xie Siniang’s arrival also conveniently brought gossip about Xie Ying.

Following her recognition as a Heavenly Spiritual Root, Xie Ying’s life had undergone a significant change. Whenever she ventured out, an entourage now accompanied her, with many people seeking to curry favor with her. Rumors also spread about the new friends Xie Ying had made, who were said to all come from prestigious cultivation families.

Xie Jiuniang pondered. Had those people already started to approach Xie Ying?

Actually, leaving Yunmu City now would be best to avoid certain people’s scrutiny. However, given her young age, if she left a note and went out alone, her parents would surely worry.

It was better to wait for her parents to come out of seclusion and discuss it then.

Even if she didn’t leave now, she would still have to when the major sects recruited disciples.

Knowing that she wouldn’t be staying in the clan for long, Xie Jiuniang set her sights on the Xie clan’s library. A family with a long heritage naturally had its extraordinary aspects.

Arriving at the library, she presented her clan’s disciple token and the elder guarding it checked and let her pass.

The rules of the Library were that the books inside could only be read and memorized. They could not be copied or taken out. Qi Refining stage cultivators could only borrow books from the first floor. Xie Jiuniang had no objections, as the collection on the first floor alone was vast, numbering over ten thousand volumes. The library boasted an extensive and diverse array of categories, offering a wealth of knowledge for her to explore.

The main focus was on cultivation techniques and spells, with the four arts of alchemy, tool crafting, array formations, and talisman-drawing as secondary. There were also various miscellaneous studies, such as planting, treasure appraisal, beast taming, gu insects, puppetry, and mechanism techniques, and so on.

Xie Jiuniang briefly flipped through and found a book on corpse refining on the shelf. After opening it, she realized it was about refining beast corpses, similar to puppetry.

There were also many books on medicine and poison.

Even astrology and divination!

She couldn’t help but pick up a book introducing astrology and divination and began to read it carefully. It wasn’t that she wanted to learn it, but she first wanted to understand how to prevent others from divining her.

Several days passed in a row.

Xie Jiuniang didn’t leave the Library. When her stomach was hungry, she would consume a Fasting Pill.

“Ninth Sister!” Xie Ying exclaimed in joyful surprise.

Xie Jiuniang’s delicate brows furrowed slightly as she reminded, “Eldest Sister, pay attention to the occasion.”

Xie Ying seemed to realize the impropriety. An apologetic look appeared on her cold face as she gracefully walked to Xie Jiuniang’s side and said softly, “I’m sorry. Seeing Ninth Sister so suddenly made me too excited. I went to find you several times before, but He Xiang always said you were in seclusion.”

Xie Jiuniang didn’t want to deal with her.

It wasn’t that there were no other clan members on the first floor, but no one would speak out loud to avoid disturbing others.

Xie Jiuniang directly communicated with her spiritual sense, “Eldest Sister, if you have something to say, just say it.”

Xie Ying also transmitted her thoughts, “Xiao Jiu, I’m going to the sect early. Tianxu Sect has sent someone specially, and we will set off tomorrow. Fortunately, I finally saw you before leaving, and I’ve always wanted to say goodbye to you in person.”

“Oh, congratulations,” Xie Jiuniang calmly congratulated.

Xie Ying pursed her lips and chuckled, “It’s all thanks to Ninth Sister’s blessing.”

“It’s good that you know.”

“Huh?…” How does she continue this conversation?

Seeing that she couldn’t elicit much of a reaction, Xie Ying left.

Knowing that there were strangers in the manor, Xie Jiuniang was even less willing to leave the library.

The Library had a great formation, and those who were not clan disciples could not enter. She didn’t have to worry about being investigated here by outsiders.

---

Three months later.

An inconspicuous horse carriage drove out of Yunmu City.

The driver was Xie Shen in disguise.

Inside the carriage were Mo Lan and her daughter Xie Jiuniang, dressed in mortal clothes and concealing their cultivator auras. This was thanks to the top-quality Aura Concealment Talismans drawn by Xie Jiuniang.

Xie Shen was already a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Mo Lan was still at Qi Refining ninth level, but after taking the marrow-cleansing pill, her cultivation had improved a lot.

Xie Jiuniang’s cultivation had only risen to Qi Refining sixth level when she consumed the marrow cleansing pill. She had barely cultivated since then, practically spending her days and nights in the Library memorizing the key points.

In three months, she had almost finished reading the books on the first floor.

In her spare time, she had privately refined some items using her newly learned knowledge, a miscellaneous assortment of old and new looking items, such as rusty broken swords, damaged beast skins, broken lamp stands, beaded stone figurines, and so on. Some clearly emitted a treasured light at a glance, while some were extremely ordinary.

She carefully stored all these items.

Who knows when they might come in handy.

When her parents came out of seclusion, Xie Jiuniang mentioned that she wanted to set off early and not travel together with the people from the clan.

There was still half a year before the sects recruited disciples.

In this life, after careful consideration, she still chose to go to Tianxu Sect.

One reason was that Xie Ying was in Tianxu Sect.

Drawing upon her knowledge of astrology and divination, Xie Jiuniang knew that those with profound cultivation often employed indirect methods when divining. Rather than directly calculating matters related to the person in question, they would instead focus on divining a multitude of smaller, seemingly unrelated events. By piecing together these minor insights, they could then deduce the overall situation, gradually forming a clearer picture of the future while minimizing the risk of arousing suspicion or triggering unforeseen consequences.

For example, they only calculate the general direction of the destined child. If it’s not the location of Tianxu Sect, wouldn’t it tell others that the destined child wasn’t Xie Ying, but someone else?

Moreover, choosing other major sects would not avoid it either.

For instance, Wu Yu was from Minghua Sect, the Gongsun family was in Chiyang Sect, and so on. She might as well go to Tianxu Sect. At least she was familiar with the environment there.

Of course, the most important thing was that she knew of a few fortuitous encounters that she had to go to Tianxu Sect to get.

After the couple discussed it, they immediately decided to accompany their daughter and leave together. They decided that whichever sect their daughter entered, they would settle down in that sect’s city and do some small business.

This way, they wouldn’t have to be separated from their daughter and could even see her often.

Xie Jiuniang was naturally happy about this.

She also didn’t want to be separated from her parents. After she obtained those fortuitous encounters, she would help her parents improve their spiritual roots and aptitude. This way, her parents wouldn’t leave her early like in her previous life.

The carriage gradually moved away from Yunmu City.

The family of three didn’t know that someone on the city wall was watching them leave.

Yunmu City still had people watching the Xie family, those people thought they were very covert, but the Xie family’s upper echelons had long been aware.

If the enemy doesn’t move, I won’t move.

As he pondered the implications of this development, Patriarch Xie’s anxiety grew. He had been observing the situation for quite some time, yet he remained unable to discern the intentions of the other party. The mere fact that the backgrounds of those involved were all behemoths the Xie clan dared not provoke only served to heighten his unease. 

The stress took its toll, causing several strands of his hair to fall out in a testament to his growing worry.

So when his Third Son’s family expressed their desire to quietly leave, Patriarch Xie didn’t stop them and even took the initiative to cover for them a bit.

When other clan members asked, he only said they went to visit wife’s maiden family.

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