245: Chapter 245 Family Development

After Ye Jing returned home, he recounted the perilous events of the Minghai Realm. Hearing of the dangers involved, they couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

He brought out the small box he had obtained from the Minghai Realm.

As the purple chest guarded by the Shadow Blade Mantis was opened, a black dagger appeared inside. It was only a palm's length with a curved blade.

"What is this? It's so small!" Ye Yi looked at the unremarkable little dagger with curiosity.

Ye Jing utilized his spiritual power, and the tiny dagger instantly took flight. It slashed out under Ye Jing's control, yet the surrounding mountain rocks showed no reaction at all.

Not even a tiny pebble chip was sent flying, and there wasn't even the sound of a collision.

However, Ye Jing's expression changed. He had only used a hint of spiritual power, and the dagger had immediately followed his will to strike the wall.

"Father, where is the little dagger?"

Ye Yi had clearly seen Ye Jing controlling the dagger, but the dagger showed no reaction whatsoever.

In the next second, the dagger appeared in Ye Jing's palm, as if it had teleported.

"It... it appeared! So... so fast!"

Ye Yi's eyes widened, and he suddenly leaned forward, his face filled with an expression of disbelief and shock.

The dagger had clearly vanished without a trace just now, without even a hint of spiritual power fluctuation being detected, yet it returned to his palm so abruptly. Its speed was beyond reason, definitely not something an ordinary Magical Artifact could compare to.

Ye Jing's palm felt a slight weight as his fingertips gently stroked the hilt. The touch was bone-chillingly cold, and that chill surged up his fingertips straight into his Meridians, yet it did not harm him; instead, it carried a strange sense of compatibility.

"This dagger is no ordinary item, nor is it a common offensive Magical Artifact. Just now, it seemed to slash at the mountain rock and wall, but in reality, it didn't cut through the physical objects; it passed directly through them."

"In other words, this dagger is like a spiritual body and can pass through things," Ye Xuan mused.

Ye Jing nodded and then said, "Yier, use your spiritual power for defense!"

As Ye Jing's voice fell, the spiritual power around Ye Yi's body suddenly coalesced. A pale green spiritual power barrier instantly enveloped him; it was as thin as a cicada's wing yet as hard as fine steel, making it difficult for ordinary Magical Artifacts to damage it in the slightest.

The black dagger rose into the air once more. This time, Ye Jing did not deliberately use brute force.

He simply injected a wisp of pure spiritual power slowly into the dagger.

The dagger suspended in mid-air, its entire body pitch black like ink. Not a shred of spiritual light leaked out, and even the spiritual power fluctuations were so faint they were almost undetectable, as if it were just an ordinary piece of black iron.

"Watch closely," Ye Jing cautioned in a deep voice, before he had even finished speaking.

The black dagger suddenly vanished, still silent and without sound, with no whistling air or spiritual power agitation.

Ye Yi's heart tightened as he stared fixedly at the spiritual power defense in front of him.

But after waiting for a moment, the barrier remained perfectly intact. Not even a ripple appeared, as if the dagger had never attacked at all.

"Father, this dagger..."

Just as Ye Yi was about to ask, before his words could land, a bone-piercing chill suddenly struck from his chest, drilling through his pores straight into his marrow.

Ye Yi's face changed drastically. He reflexively looked down to see that the black dagger had, at some point, already penetrated his spiritual power defense.

It stopped steadily an inch before the clothes on his chest. The curved blade pressed against his skin, its icy touch making his hair stand on end.

Yet the supposedly indestructible spiritual power barrier in front of him was like a mere decoration, without the slightest damage or even a trace of having been touched!

"It passed through?! My defensive shield didn't stop it at all!"

Ye Yi cried out in shock, reflexively taking a half-step back, his face filled with horror.

He knew well that his father acted with great restraint and would never harm him, but the terror of that moment still made his heart pound wildly.

This was no ordinary dagger; it was practically an impossible-to-guard-against Sharp Weapon for taking lives!

Ye Xuan's pupils also constricted slightly. He stepped forward to examine the dagger closely and said solemnly, "It doesn't just pass through physical objects; it can even ignore spiritual power barriers. This is more than just being able to pierce armor; it can even be made to materialize its attack."

Ye Jing said gravely, "Xuaner is exactly right. This dagger can hide in the void; even I cannot sense its spiritual power fluctuations."

"Just now, I merely urged it to phase through; I didn't trigger a physical killing move. If fully activated, its power would be far greater than this."

Having said this, Ye Jing flew up, and Ye Yi and Ye Xuan followed. They arrived at a relatively open area of ground.

Ye Jing's eyes narrowed as the spiritual power within his body surged like a rushing river into the dagger.

The originally pitch-black dagger suddenly emitted a wisp of extremely faint, ghostly purple dark light.

The black dagger vanished without a trace again, but this time it wasn't a silent phasing. A nearly imperceptible ripple appeared in the Void Realm, and immediately after, a pitch-black blade-light suddenly exploded on the nearby bluestone cliff face!

"Bang—Crack!"

A deafening sound of shattering suddenly rang out. The iron-hard cliff face instantly split open with a fissure several meters long.

A section of the entire cliff face was actually sliced off cleanly; the cut was as smooth as a mirror, as if it were made of tofu.

"This... this dagger is simply too terrifying!"

Ye Yi was also dumbfounded, nearly scared to death.

Everyone knew how terrifying a silent weapon could be, let alone one that seemed able to penetrate anything; it was practically a cursed tool.

After testing this powerful dagger, Ye Jing took out the Azure Feather Wind-Riding Art and said to his two sons, "This Cultivation Technique is also something I obtained from the Minghai Realm."

"It is a rare secret technique for Dual Cultivation of movement and Divine Soul, called the 'Azure Feather Wind-Riding Art'."

He raised his hand and gently tossed the scroll. A greenish-gold spiritual light slowly spread out, not in an ostentatious manner.

Yet it exuded a warm and heavy aura of Origin. The annotation at the beginning of the scroll floated in mid-air, every word clear. Even for Ye Yi, who had not yet reached a high level of cultivation,

He could feel the vast Dao charm contained within and couldn't help but hold his breath.

Ye Xuan had been steady of mind since childhood, and his Comprehension Ability far exceeded his peers. He stared at the small characters: "Draw Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi as the wind, accept Divine Soul essence as the feathers."

A flash of admiration appeared in his eyes: "Father, this technique can actually account for both movement and the Divine Soul, and it can even nourish the Dao Heart and amplify Magic Treasures and Yao Beasts. Such a versatile secret technique is truly incredible!"

Ye Jing nodded and said, "Our techniques were all obtained from the outside world, and what we've learned is quite disorganized. If we can seek stability and peace, perhaps we can prevent Heart Demon Bottlenecks from appearing."

Saying this, Ye Jing felt happy in his heart seeing his two sons' joyful expressions.

But at the thought of the Family's situation, his expression gradually returned to calm, and his tone slowly shifted: "Although the Ye Family is seeing some improvement now, our Foundation is still shallow."

"I have been obsessed with cultivation for years, and the Family's industries and secular Foundations have always been neglected. If we cannot even achieve a stable foothold,"

"In the eyes of those immortal clans and great families with deep heritages, our Ye Family will ultimately just be a low-class rural clan, unable to achieve great things."

As his voice fell, the atmosphere in the clearing suddenly grew heavier. The wild joy of seeing the supreme treasure and secret technique faded, replaced by a heavy sense of responsibility.

The admiration on Ye Yi's face froze, and he scratched his head. His originally exuberant expression also retracted, as he too understood the weight of his father's words.

In the world of immortal cultivation, the Law of the jungle was unchanging. To possess powerful techniques and secret treasures without a solid Foundation was ultimately to be 'guilty of possessing a jade ring'—it would only invite destruction.

Ye Xuan's hands hanging at his sides slowly clenched, and there was no trace of impulsiveness in his deep eyes. He looked up at Ye Jing.

His voice was calm yet forceful: "Father is exactly right. No matter how strong the technique or how sharp the secret treasure, they are only assets for protecting the Dao. If the Ye Family wants to stand firm, it is definitely not something that can be achieved by a Breakthrough in cultivation overnight."

"Industries must be defended, connections must be accumulated, and the Foundation of the Family's younger generation must be built even more firmly. We will take it one step at a time, and we will eventually solidify the Ye Family's Foundation."