17: Am I, a tiger of such size, reduced to nothing but skin?

A deathly silence hung over the mountain forest.

The Grand Elder stood dumbfounded, his cloudy old eyes fixed on the shriveled tiger skin beneath Ye Feiyan's feet, a mere husk. His mind was blank, as if even his Soul had been drawn out.

It's gone... The second-order Spirit Beast, the Crimson Flame Tiger, which he had spent half his life nurturing, regarded as his own child, and considered one of the most important Foundations for the Family's future... just like that, it was gone?

It's just... a skin left?!

An unspeakable, towering rage, enough to burn away all reason, erupted from the depths of his heart!

The Qi in his body surged wildly and uncontrollably. He almost couldn't resist striking out with a palm, to instantly blast the culprit who had made him lose everything into dust!

However, just as he was about to make his move, a steady aura, like a towering mountain, locked onto him without a trace.

That was a warning from the Ye Family Patriarch.

The Grand Elder's hand, raised halfway, ultimately fell powerlessly.

He dared not. In front of the Clan Chief, he dared not act rashly.

The extreme anger that had nowhere to vent ultimately transformed into deep-seated resentment and hatred.

His gaze slowly shifted from the tiger skin, falling upon the cold, lifeless corpse of his son not far away.

"Tian'er..."

A hoarse cry, filled with endless grief and desolation, escaped his lips. He stumbled to Ye Tian's corpse, tears streaming down his face. His heartbroken appearance showed no trace of his usual authority or ruthlessness.

Watching this bizarre scene, the Ye Family Patriarch frowned deeply. He turned his gaze to the only conscious person present and asked in a low voice, "Feiyan, what... exactly happened here? Why are you in this place?"

Facing the Clan Chief's inquiry, Ye Feiyan's expression was calm, and she replied neither obsequiously nor arrogantly, "Reporting to Clan Chief, Feiyan merely came here to search for Cultivation resources. I happened to pass by and saw this scene before me."

Her answer was flawless, absolving herself completely.

"Cultivation resources?"

Upon hearing this, the Ye Family Patriarch subconsciously swept his Divine Sense over Ye Feiyan.

However, this sweep instantly caused turbulent waves to rise on his usually calm face!

"Qi... Ninth Level of Qi Refining?!"

He cried out in surprise, his eyes filled with incomparable shock and ecstasy!

This aura was solid, vast, and perfectly harmonious—clearly a Realm that only Cultivators with an incredibly solid Foundation could possess!

He asked, almost trembling, in a tone filled with extreme longing and anticipation, "Feiyan... your Spiritual Root... has it been repaired?!"

Under the Ye Family Patriarch's fervent gaze, Ye Feiyan slowly, yet incredibly firmly, nodded.

"Yes."

Boom!!!

This single word, for the Ye Family Patriarch, was no less than a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens!

"Hahahaha! Good! This is good! Heaven does not wish for my Ye Family to perish! Heaven does not wish for my Ye Family to perish!"

The three years of pent-up frustration and unwillingness burst forth completely at this moment! The Ye Family Patriarch, disregarding his image, laughed uproariously towards the sky, his laughter even carrying a hint of relieved choked emotion!

qilin child!

His Ye Family's qilin child, seen once in a hundred years, had returned!

After the initial ecstasy, his gaze was drawn to the large, fierce Black Water Profound Python beside Ye Feiyan.

"This... could this be that... Innate deficient little black snake you contracted back then?" He pointed at Mysterious Ink, his face filled with shock.

The colossal creature before him was majestic and formidable, with a profound aura. Where was any trace of its half-dead, withered appearance from before?

"Precisely." Ye Feiyan stroked Mysterious Ink's cool scales, a hint of pride in her voice. "Mysterious Ink recently gained some good fortune, and its Innate deficiency has completely disappeared. Now, it is a genuine second-order Bloodline."

"What?!"

Another bombshell exploded, filling the Ye Family Patriarch with both surprise and joy!

Ye Feiyan's Spiritual Root was repaired!

Her contracted Spirit Beast also broke free from its shackles, with boundless potential!

"Double happiness! This is truly double happiness!" The Ye Family Patriarch's face glowed with excitement, feeling that the Ye Family's future was bright!

However, his ecstasy, for the Grand Elder beside him, was undoubtedly the most malicious and cruel torture!

Ye Feiyan's Spiritual Root was repaired?

That Wasted Snake also became a powerful second-order Yao Beast?

He looked again at the cold corpse of his only child on the ground, and at that shriveled tiger skin... Why?!

Why did all the good things happen to this wretched woman?! While he had to endure the pain of losing his son and beast?!

An extreme venomous resentment and unwillingness, like a poisonous snake, frantically gnawed at his heart! In the depths of his eyes, all grief had faded, replaced by a chilling, desperate madness!

...The group returned to the Ye Family, each harboring vastly different emotions.

Inside the main residence, the Ye Family Patriarch dismissed everyone. In the vast deliberation hall, only he, Ye Feiyan, and Mysterious Ink, quietly coiled to the side, remained.

The Grand Elder had already left, dejected, with his son's corpse.

"Feiyan."

The Ye Family Patriarch looked at the beautiful face before him, both familiar and unfamiliar, a trace of guilt in his voice. "You've suffered these past three years. You must resent me greatly, I imagine?"

Ye Feiyan remained silent.

The Ye Family Patriarch sighed, then slowly revealed a shocking secret that had been hidden for several years.

"Do you know that in this Qingyang City where my Ye Family resides, besides us, there are two other major powers, the Liu Family and the Wang Family?"

"On the surface, our three Families stand in a tripartite balance, jointly governing Qingyang City.

But in reality, my Ye Family is a Beast-Taming Family. Relying on the combined power of our contracted Spirit Beasts, our strength steadily surpasses theirs, making us the undisputed overlords of Qingyang City."

"However, precisely because of this, the Li and Wang Families have always coveted my Ye Family, their desire to destroy us never dying!"

Speaking of this, a cold glint flashed in the Ye Family Patriarch's eyes.

"I've even always suspected that the 'accident' that damaged your Spiritual Root back then was no accident at all!

Instead, it was a poisonous scheme secretly laid by those two Families to stifle the future of my Ye Family!"

These words caused Ye Feiyan's clear, cold eyes to narrow slightly.

"So..."

"So, ever since you 'became crippled,' I had no choice but to pretend to neglect you, to ignore you." The Ye Family Patriarch's voice was filled with helplessness and bitterness.

"Because I was worried! I was worried that if I showed too much concern and reluctance to part with you, those two Families would think you still had a chance to recover!

At that time, to cut the weeds and eliminate the roots, they would absolutely spare no expense in sending assassins to eliminate you in your cradle!"

"I placed you in the most secluded courtyard, cut off most of your Cultivation resources, and made you a 'completely useless, no longer a threat' transparent person in everyone's eyes... Feiyan, do you understand? My neglect for these three years, seemingly heartless, was actually... my way of protecting you!"

As his words fell, the deliberation hall became deathly silent.

Ye Feiyan listened quietly, and the last trace of resentment in her heart, caused by 'being abandoned by the Family,' quietly melted away.

In her previous life, she was an Empress, commanding billions of lives. How could she not understand the political maneuvering and helplessness involved?

She looked at the elegant, seemingly gentle middle-aged man before her, who, for the sake of his Family and loved ones, had silently borne a mountain of pressure. For the first time, a sense of recognition, named "father," arose in her heart for him.