Chapter Eighteen Hope

  "Brother Chen, your meridians have recovered?" Ye Yan walked up to Ye Chen in big strides, stretched out his hand and poked around here and there on his body, feeling the power contained within the slight movements of his muscles, and a look of surprise once again floated into his eyes.

  "I've recovered a bit, I can move around and do things normally, but I don't know if I'll be able to recover to my previous state." Ye Chen said with a smile. Among all the young first-generation members, only his older cousin treated him like family. When he was injured, Ye Chen saw the anger, worry, and sadness in her eyes clearly. Now that he knew his meridians had recovered, he also saw the excitement and relief in her eyes clearly. He could feel Ye Yan's concern for him, and it made his heart feel warm.

  "All the broken meridians can recover to this extent, I believe it's only a matter of time before they fully recover. Leaf Yan smiled and said, then stared at Leaf Chen with piercing eyes, "Chen brother, your physique is very special, completely unmatched by ordinary people. At least, I've never heard of anyone in the flesh realm whose meridians were severed yet could regenerate on their own."

  Ye Chen smiled ambiguously and then turned serious, saying: "Yan Jie, I hope you won't tell anyone else in the family about this. This is a secret that only concerns the three of us."

  "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. In their minds, you're already bedridden and can't move." Ye Yan nodded, of course she wouldn't tell the family members that Ye Chen could walk around. If Ye Qing, Ye Sheng and others found out, who knows what they might do behind his back, and with Ye Chen's current situation, he had no room to resist.

  The three of them approached the house, and Nannan closed the door behind them. They sat around the table, and Ye Yan's eyes showed a deep concern, saying: "Chen brother, where did Ershu go? Do you know when he'll be back?"

  "I don't know." Ye Chen shook his head. Ye Wentian was too mysterious, and in the past few months, he had disappeared without warning several times. Each time he went out, he didn't leave a word behind. Ye Chen was already used to it, and he had specifically asked Nan'er about it. Nan'er said that Ye Wentian had been going out many times almost every year for years, but no one knew what he did or where he went.

  "Alas!" Ye Yan sighed and said: "I hope Second Uncle returns soon, your current situation is very dangerous. Once Shangguan Ziyuan and his senior brother return to Shenxi Fudi, they will definitely not let you go. The only way out is to wait for Second Uncle to come back and take you away, far away from the Ye family, don't let Shenxi Fudi discover your whereabouts."

  Ye Chen fell silent, and what Ye Yan said was indeed a problem he had been thinking about all along. The powerful forces of Shen Xi Fu Di, his own inner courtyard disciples were injured by others, and it would not be easy to let go. Now Ye Chen is not even an ant to Shen Xi Fu Di, wanting him dead is too easy.

  "Yan Jie, how far is Shen Cifu from Lincheng? If we make a round trip, about how much time will it take?" Ye Chen asked after a moment of silence.

  "It's probably tens of thousands of miles away, and even if Upper Official Yan Ran has an accelerating treasure, it would take at least three or four months to return to the Divine Gifted Land with his injured senior brother. So within half a year, you should be safe." Ye Yan thought for a moment before saying.

  "Half a year? Since there's still half a year, let's talk about it after half a year then." Ye Chen shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying: "I still can't leave the Ye family, this will implicate all members of the family." Although he didn't have any feelings for this family, or even detested them, but younger uncle Ye Xiao Tian, older cousin Ye Yan, and father Ye Wen Tian were also people of the Ye family, Ye Chen was unwilling to implicate them.

  "Don't worry, Brother Chen." Ye Yan smiled, with a hint of elegance and beauty, saying: "Half a year later, the several major families in Lincheng will have a grand competition. At that time, at least two of the four great blessed lands will send people to participate. The top three winners will be taken as disciples by them. As long as someone from our Ye family is taken as a disciple by one of the blessed lands, we can avoid all crises. So you can leave with peace of mind, or enter the top three and join one of the blessed lands."

  "Is there such a thing?" Ye Chen's eyes lit up instantly, this was a great opportunity. The spiritual energy he needed to cultivate was too vast, and the secular world's spiritual energy was too thin to meet his needs. In order to break through continuously in the future, he must first find a place with abundant spiritual energy, but with his current strength, it was impossible to enter such a place, so he had to join a blessed land first.

  "Yes, every five years a grand competition is held, each city has one. Although it's hosted by the few major families, as long as you're a cultivator within Lin City's jurisdiction, you can participate." Ye Yan explained.

  "Thanks for telling me this, Yan Jie," Ye Chen said. The Lin Cheng Grand Competition in half a year was a rare good opportunity for him. If he could enter the top three, not only could he join Yi Fang Fu Di, but also get rid of all the hidden dangers to himself and his family, killing two birds with one stone.

  "You're my brother, do we still need to say thank you in our family?" Ye Yan smiled lightly and then looked at Ye Chen deeply, "Chen brother, I know you must have a secret. That day when Shangguan Ziyuan's senior was injured by you, almost everyone knew that you possessed the ultimate treasure. Although the Divine Gifted Land hasn't arrived yet, they didn't dare to move against you, but it can't be ruled out that some people won't take risks, so you need to be more careful."

  "I will." Ye Chen nodded.

  "I'm leaving, and from now on, I'll bring you medicine to heal your wounds every day, just like before." Ye Yan said, touching Ye Chen's head, a hint of tender love flashing in his eyes, then turned and left.

  Ye Chen was left speechless, rubbing his chin and standing there in a daze. Although Ye Yan was already twenty years old, in Ye Chen's heart she was still a little girl, and this little girl had actually touched his head with a loving gaze.

  "Master, what are you thinking about?" Nang'er leaned on the table, one hand propping up her chin, looking at Ye Chen with a puzzled expression.

  "I wasn't thinking of anything." Ye Chen came back to himself, glanced at Nan'er and said: "I'm going out for a bit."

  "Ah, young master, where are you going? Your body has just recovered a bit, don't go out recklessly, and rest more." Nannuo said seriously, like a little adult.

  Ye Chen slapped a watermelon on her head with one hand, and Nan'er cried out in pain, "Young master, why are you always bullying people?"

  "Hey girl, stop putting on that old and arrogant look. I need to recover quickly and go out for a trip. You stay home and wait for me, don't run around randomly, got it?"

  "Master, where are you going? Bring Nan'er along too."

  "No, you stay at home and wait, if I'm late and don't come back, don't worry, nothing will happen to me."

  "Oh, be careful then, young master." Nanger pouted and reluctantly replied.

  It was morning, Ye Chen left the small courtyard and headed towards the back mountain. Although his internal meridians were weak and his strength was far from what it used to be, he still had agile movements and was able to run swiftly. His blood circulation was automatic, allowing him to have endurance that surpassed ordinary people. He ran for over a hundred miles before feeling tired, stopping to rest for a moment before continuing on towards the depths of the back mountain.

  Two hours later, Ye Chen ventured deep into the mountains for over 300 miles. Along the way, he discovered many wild beasts, but he avoided them and searched for a relatively safe place. He climbed up a tall ancient tree, leaned against the branches, and began to absorb spiritual energy.

  A faint light emanated from the seal on his chest, and the spiritual energy within tens of meters behind him converged towards him. As the surrounding spiritual energy was absorbed and became increasingly thin, the range of the seal's absorption also expanded, growing to encompass several kilometers in just a short moment. The range continued to expand outward.

  "No, this way is too broad, what if we provoke a wild beast?" Ye Chen felt a hint of unease in his heart. He was now too weak, even a third-level wild beast could take his life. If it were the past, he wouldn't be afraid, but things were different now.

  "It would be great if the chest mark could absorb spiritual energy without making a sound." Ye Chen thought, looking down at the mark on his chest that looked like a flower but wasn't, and like a leaf but wasn't. At this moment, there was a faint layer of light flickering on top of the mark.

  "Huh?"

  Suddenly, Ye Chen looked around in surprise, the green spiritual energy light points that had been gathering gradually dimmed and disappeared. The mark on his chest continued to absorb, he could clearly feel it, but those firefly-like spiritual energy light points actually gradually disappeared, invisible to the naked eye, and even his mind couldn't sense the surrounding spiritual energy fluctuations.

  "What's going on, does this mysterious mark know what I'm thinking and hide the spiritual energy fluctuations around me?" Ye Chen opened his mouth in surprise, feeling unbelievable. To verify it, he deliberately used his mind to control the mark, telling it not to hide the spiritual energy fluctuations.

  As expected, as soon as the idea arose, the spiritual energy fluctuations around him became clear and palpable once again, and countless green light dots began to emerge.

  "It's actually true...". Ye Chen was stunned and also excited, the mark on his chest became even more mysterious. The fluctuation of spiritual energy is a natural phenomenon, as long as someone absorbs spiritual energy at a certain speed, such fluctuations will inevitably appear. However, the mark on his chest can completely hide this natural phenomenon, not even feeling it at all, which was too surprising.

  Although he had always known that the mark on his chest was mysterious, at this moment Ye Chen still felt a little excited. Today, he suddenly discovered that he could control the mysterious mark with his mind, and immediately tried to let the spiritual energy in the mark flow into his body.

  As soon as the thought arose, a pure and gentle spiritual energy flowed like a gentle stream to his limbs and bones, wandering through the meridians of his whole body, making him feel extremely comfortable and refreshed. This made him even more surprised, for from now on, as long as the spiritual energy in his memory didn't dry up, he could cultivate at any time, no longer having to exhaust himself by overexerting his physical strength, and his cultivation speed would also increase greatly.