7: I bought it, I picked up the future emperor

Qixia Town, located at the edge of the Qin Family’s influence, was an inconspicuous small town.

Most of the buildings in the town were made of blue bricks and black tiles, the streets were sparsely populated, and occasionally the calls of hawkers could be heard, making it seem ordinary and peaceful.

Qin Wangchuan stood on the Immortal Boat, already seeing the outline of the town from afar.

Originally, he didn't need to come; he only needed to send someone to bring Ye Jianwei back.

But on the other hand, he was also curious about the identity of that mysterious person.

“Your Highness, we came out this time without saying hello, won’t that be a problem?” The guard behind him hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Hello?” Qin Wangchuan shook his head, “Didn’t we already say hello?”

The guards exchanged glances, not understanding what he meant.

“If the Elders didn’t allow it, how could we be standing here?”

Instantly, everyone understood.

That’s right.

With the Qin Family’s methods, if they truly weren’t allowed to leave, they would have been stopped long ago.

One must know that the other Young Masters were not allowed to leave the Qin Family before the age of ten; this was where the Old Ancestor’s doting on Qin Wangchuan was evident.

He wouldn't think of restricting him, only of sending more guards.

Qin Wangchuan wore a dark brocade robe, with a jade pendant unique to the Qin Family’s direct lineage hanging from his waist; the Chaos immortal light swirling around him had been deliberately restrained, but his eyes, as deep as a sea of stars, still exuded a transcendent Aura.

Behind him, twenty Qin Family guards stood solemnly, each one a top-tier expert, their Qi restrained like a deep abyss.

With these people present,

let alone a small border town, they would be able to walk unhindered even among the Upper Class Families.

“Young Master, we have arrived,” a guard stepped forward respectfully.

Qin Wangchuan nodded slightly, standing in the clouds, overlooking the town below.

A composure unbefitting his age appeared on his youthful face.

“Where is she?”

Even before he arrived, the Qin Family’s experts had already secretly sealed off the entire town.

It was just that Qin Wangchuan feared disturbing the future, so he hadn’t allowed them to act rashly.

“She’s down there.”

The flying boat hovered in the air, and the other guards transformed into streaks of light, disappearing into the Void Realm.

Qin Wangchuan only kept two close attendants, and with them, he stepped into Qixia Town.

On the street, pedestrians turned their heads.

A five-year-old child walking on the street was already eye-catching, not to mention his luxurious clothes and extraordinary Aura.

Coupled with the two guards behind him, whose expressions were cold and serious, and whose Aura was like a rainbow, they were clearly not servants from an ordinary Family.

“Whose Young Master is this? He’s so handsome, is he from out of town?”

“Shh, don’t meddle, looking at his clothes, he’s probably from an aristocratic Family…”

Although the Upper Thousand Provinces are known as the Upper Realm, and the Ten Directions Immortal Court is a distant dream for countless Cultivators, there are still people with low cultivation levels here.

They are the natives of this world.

Although their talent is much better than some people from the Upper Thousand Provinces,

due to the cultivation resources being firmly controlled by the Ten Great Emperor Clans, they cannot make much of a stir.

At the town’s crossroads.

Several mud-stained copper coins were scattered on the damp bluestone slab, and Ye Jianwei knelt at the edge of a straw mat, her fingertips tracing a Spirit Stone that a kind person had just dropped.

She couldn't see, but she could hear.

Her ears were filled with the whispers of passersby, laced with sarcasm, pity, and even a few contemptuous taunts.

“This blind girl is still selling herself to bury her mother? Who would want her?”

“I heard her mother used to be the courtesan queen of Drunken Immortal Pavilion, but unfortunately, she went mad later. It’s good she’s dead, saves her from being a burden.”

“She’s got a good foundation. If Young Master Ye hadn’t already put out the word, taking her back to warm the bed wouldn’t be bad.”

“Exactly, Young Master Ye of the Ye Family already said that anyone who dares to collect this crazy woman’s body will be dealt with.”

The whispers burrowed into her ears like venomous snakes.

Ye Jianwei pursed her pale lips, fumbling to tuck in the edge of the straw mat again—greyish-blue knuckles protruded from the gap, dried rouge clinging to her nail beds, like unspoken last words.

This was the last time she had applied makeup for her mother.

From the moment her mother drew her last breath, Ye Jianwei knew that from now on, there would be no one left in this world she could trust.

Even now, she remembered everything that happened when her mother was dying.

A pair of cold hands gripped her shoulders tightly, she couldn't break free, and a sobbing wail echoed in her ears: “Jianwei… you can’t live alone, instead of suffering in this world, it’s better to come with me.”

Everything that happened on that rainy night felt like a nightmare, waking her up countless times.

She had wanted to go with her mother, but in the end, she couldn’t bear to leave her mother’s body exposed in the street.

“Mother… just a little longer…” Ye Jianwei murmured softly, her voice almost inaudible, “I’ll be with you soon…”

Her whisper abruptly ceased.

“Quick! She’s right ahead!”

“Damn it, that little bastard really dares to collect the crazy woman’s body?”

“Last time, Big Brother spoke up and let her off, this time I’ll cripple her!”

The iron hooves of the Crimson Flame Steed shattered the bluestone slabs, sparks flying.

Hawkers on both sides of the street hastily packed up their stalls, pedestrians scattered like a tide, and several children were knocked to the ground, yet no one dared to speak out—Young Master Ye of the Ye Family always acted so overbearingly when he went out.

The Ye Family!

Ye Jianwei trembled all over as she heard the familiar sound of horse hooves approaching like thunder.

Her small body instinctively pounced towards the straw mat, her hands fumbling wildly, trying to roll up her mother and take her away.

But she was too small, too small to even pull her mother’s clothes.

In just a moment, the sparks spewed by the Crimson Flame Steed had already reached her.

Dozens of Ye Family Cultivators dismounted aggressively, led by a richly dressed man with a sinister face and a cold, gleaming sword at his waist.

The newcomer was named Ye Li, also the Third Young Master of the Ye Family.

Although his name contained the character for 'propriety,' he often helped his Elder brother commit acts of bullying and oppression.

Ye Li’s gaze locked onto Ye Jianwei like a venomous snake, then he suddenly let out a harsh sneer: “I said no one was allowed to collect her body, it seems you don’t put my Ye Family in your eyes!”

He then shifted his gaze and saw the wooden sign next to her that read “Selling oneself to bury mother.”

Ye Li grinned maliciously, lifting his foot to crush the wooden sign, and roughly hooked Ye Jianwei’s chin with his horsewhip: “Oh, oh, oh, you’re even imitating others by selling yourself to bury your mother? With your scrawny body, no one would want you even if you paid them…”

Before he finished speaking, a clear, childish voice suddenly cut through the din:

“I’ll buy her.”

Ye Jianwei’s vacant eyes suddenly constricted.

Whether it was her imagination or not, the moment she heard that sentence,

the bustling street market around her eerily quieted down—even the wind seemed to freeze.

It was as if…

A ray of light suddenly shone down.