Chapter 199: Treasure?
Xue Fang sighed. She then took out a teapot of tea on the table, "It's going to be a long story; let's have a drink first."
Seeing her Master standing up and wanting to brew the tea, MingYue stopped her; she instead took out a plastic bottle filled with tea.
It's a jasmine tea from Alex's world.
Xue Fang recognized the liquid but not the container. "What is that, MingYue?"
"Well, it's tea; I want the master to try it," MingYue replied cryptically, telling her Master she didn't want to tell more.
"Hiding things from your Master, you never change, MingYue.
Well, just be careful, I don't know what kind of thing you got in that place, and I know you are stronger than me now, but remember, I am still your Master.
If you need any help, I am here for you."
"I know, master, I do have a request later, but it's more on cooperation; I haven't told you this, but I have made my own sect," MingYue said as she poured the tea into the cup.
Taking a sip from the cup, Xue Fang raised her eyebrow. "This is too sweet."
MingYue let out a chuckle, "It is too sweet, but after a few tries, you get used to it."
She took another sip and then continued her story.
"Now, about my family, I don't know what happened in the past, but the main branch is cursed; they cannot live past a hundred years. This curse is weird; my sister married into the main branch, and she quickly got cursed the moment she officially entered it.
It's like the curse is alive.
So the main branch looked for a method to fight this curse, but no matter what they tried, they failed.
They thought if they could become immortal cultivators, they would probably be able to fight this curse, but in only 100 years' time, no matter what kind of genius is born, there is just not enough time.
So the whole main branch decided to find another way.
Since they cannot fight the curse directly, they instead found another method; I don't know in detail how, but it basically sacrifices almost everyone in the main branch's life to freeze Xue Fang's life, making her not age further."
If this had happened before, Ming Yue would have thought this was another ancient cultivation method or was done by an immortal cultivator.
But now, with her knowledge about other worlds and species, she starts suspecting that the Fang family is not native to her cultivation world; they are taking refuge here and bringing their curse with them.
That is the only explanation for why they cannot find anything about the curse since it's not related to Qi at all. It probably works on a completely different concept.
"My condolences, Master, but then why did the Yang Clan come here looking for trouble?"
"They are coming for our family treasure; I cannot tell you what it is, except Lian Fang agrees to it."
"Based on what I know, your family should be trying their best to hide from everyone; how can they know about your family treasure then?"
"That, I don't know."
MingYue frowned for a moment, then asked, "This place is quite famous for looking for herbs; what usually do you guys do for cultivators or people that come looking for one here?"
"In the past, we did nothing and let them do what they wanted as long as they didn't come near the village.
I heard we even helped some wounded cultivators, but that quickly turned into a problem.
Some people are just worse than animals, even people that save their lives. Instead of being grateful, they bring trouble to the village.
So we changed our policy; we will try to drive any cultivators out of this place; we took all good resources, leaving only useless ones; sometimes we also scared any cultivator coming here, making sure the gain is not worth the risk."
This method only works because the herb in the valley is not that rare in the first place; at most, only Core Formation realm cultivators will visit this place. Above those, they won't find any value at this place.
'Hmm... then probably that old geezer got rescued by my Master's family; he kept the information all this time and now uses it to get protection from the Yang Clan.
But I doubt they will show their secret treasure to a stranger they helped.
The only possibility is that he made something up; he just suspects there is an ancient family here and then takes the risk.
As expected from that useless geezer, what did my family do to get that kind of person as our patriarch? He truly destroyed everything he was in.' MingYue thought to herself.
She then asked, "So what is your plan for now, Master?"
"I don't know what the family has decided, but I will stay here for my niece all the way."
Her eyes started to fill with guilt, "I am sorry for not telling you about this before, MingYue. I think of you like my own daughter, but in reality, I am just one of those family members sent to spy on the situation in the outside world."
MingYue shook her head, "No, I understand about it, don't think too much, Master. Can you call your niece then?"
"What kind of deal do you have for her?"
"As I told you, I have my own sect now, and it's located in the secret realm, with many resources. What I am lacking now is people."
Xue Fang creased her eyebrow, "MingYue, despite your current cultivation level, it's still hard to believe.
It's not that I am saying I don't believe you. But you should understand what I mean."
"I know it was the same for me. That is why I want to negotiate.
I think I can help your family's predicament while expanding my sect.
Well, this is the best-case scenario, depending on the situation. I cannot just let everyone enter the place without some agreement, even though they are the Master's family."