The Arrogant Immortal
Chapter 273 - 272: Reuniting with Gongsun Xue

Chapter 273: Chapter 272: Reuniting with Gongsun Xue

That night, the entire city of Tongling was shrouded in darkness.

An ordinary room in the inn.

With a creak, the window opened.

It was as if a breeze had passed through.

Someone had used an Invisibility Talisman and was silently slipping out of the inn. In a short while, they had reached the exterior of the Gongsun Family estate.

"Dog owner, in the entire estate, only a few old servants remain," Sword Spirit Lingyan reported after checking.

Xie Jiuniang climbed over the wall and entered.

After a tour, she found something interesting.

The entire estate covered a large area with no Formations to conceal it, almost like the dwelling of ordinary people. They were not afraid of outsiders investigating. Perhaps the Gongsun Family deliberately revealed everything, allowing people to inspect directly.

They were telling the investigators,

The people had indeed left.

As Xie Jiuniang walked around the estate, she used both a Hiding Jade Talisman and an Invisibility Talisman, making it hard for ordinary people to detect her presence.

After browsing once, she arrived at the main courtyard of the estate.

The main courtyard was typically where the direct descendants lived. She entered the main living quarters, avoiding the eyes and ears of others, and took out the Time Leaf.

She stepped into the Golden Core Stage.

The durations for foresight and retrospection had both lengthened.

The foresight duration was two and a half days, which was insignificant compared to Time Retrospection, for the retrospection could reach up to two years.

And the people of the Gongsun Family had been missing for less than a year.

She channeled Spiritual Power into the plump leaf and initiated Time Retrospection.

[The bedroom was eerily quiet; unchanging for a month, an old servant came to clean, and then month by month, half a year passed, the room remained unchanged. Suddenly, one day, a person arrived, it was Lord Wenzhong, with a wave in the void, ...]

Time Retrospection was interrupted.

Xie Jiuniang emerged from the long river of time, her expression cold and stern.

She visited several other places, and the results were the same. It was Lord Wenzhong who, to prevent others from using Time Retrospection to discover the whereabouts of the Gongsun Family, had erased the traces using Techniques.

Sword Spirit Lingyan regretfully said, "Lord Wenzhong is too cautious."

"Keep searching!"

Tongling City was so vast, Xie Jiuniang did not believe that Lord Wenzhong had erased traces from every single spot.

If they could not be found in the Gongsun Family estate, weren’t there other residences? There were also the family’s businesses, and if all else failed, one could check at each of the four city gates.

She refused to believe that the Gongsun Family left without passing through any of the gates.

Compared to patience,

Xie Jiuniang was never lacking.

Thus, she searched place after place, and after three days, she indeed found a clue, following a group of Gongsun Family youths to a deep valley outside the city.

There was a concealment Formation at the bottom of the deep valley.

"The people of the Gongsun Family might be hiding just outside the city," Sword Spirit Lingyan said with surprise.

If that were the case, it would be something many could not anticipate.

Xie Jiuniang did not think that the Gongsun Family’s concealment would be so straightforward, "Even if there are people remaining outside the city, it’s unlikely that it’s the entire clan. Lord Wenzhong is far-sighted and won’t put all his people together."

With her understanding of Formations, aided by Sword Spirit Lingyan, she stealthily infiltrated the deep valley, deftly avoiding outer traps and three concealed posts.

She stepped into the valley.

After investigating, Sword Spirit Lingyan said, "Master, you are not wrong; there are only about a thousand people here. The highest cultivation base is the Golden Core, and the youngest child is still in swaddling clothes."

"There are children?"

"Yes, children of all ages are present, along with the elderly. It’s like a reclusive aristocratic family."

"Let’s observe for a few days then,"

Xie Jiuniang continued to walk further inside.

She discovered another heaven in the deep valley, a utopia hidden from the world, with many houses built like a large village.

Finding a convenient spot to observe, she then entered the Small Tortoise Shell, making it even harder for outsiders to detect her. However, as the owner of the Tortoise Shell, she could inspect the outside at any time.

For three days straight.

The people in the valley mostly rose with the sun and rested at sunset. They drank from wells they dug and ate from fields they tilled.

A person with a sword found out that this place was indeed a hidden sanctuary of the Gongsun Family.

But among these people, only a few were formidable, most had an ordinary Cultivation Base and were in the Qi Cultivation Stage, perhaps for their entire lives.

The more she observed these thousand or so people, the more they seemed like they had been abandoned?

What astonished Xie Jiuniang most was...

In the most secluded courtyard, she saw Gongsun Xue living a very simple life, with an old woman taking care of her. Gongsun Xue was lying on a lounge chair, her expression numb, her body emaciated, her hair graying, as if she were an old crone.

Gone was her once bright and vigorous spirit.

Xie Jiuniang felt both unexpected and unsurprised.

It was inevitable that the Gongsun Family would abandon Gongsun Xue.

What was unexpected was that Gongsun Xue was living here alone; after all, she was a direct descendant. According to the nature of such families, as long as a person was alive, they were useful, such as for continuing the family line.

Her Divine Sense silently swept over Gongsun Xue’s body.

The current Gongsun Xue was akin to a mortal and could not sense the Divine Sense of Xie Jiuniang at the late stage of the Golden Core.

After checking, Xie Jiuniang understood, "Here’s another ruthless one, not wanting to be reduced to a breeding tool, she actually injured her own body, making it difficult for her to become pregnant again."

In this moment, the resentment towards Gongsun Xue from her past life truly dissipated.

In this lifetime, Gongsun Xue’s path to immortality was cut off.

Day by day, all she could do was to quietly await the day of death.

For someone who once stood high above others, there was no punishment heavier than this.

Sword Spirit Jian Lingyan asked, "These little shrimps, are you going to make a move?"

"It’s meaningless to make a move, it would only alarm the others." Xie Jiuniang quietly approached the small courtyard where Gongsun Xue lived, then landed on the roof above.

This spot was secluded and seldom frequented by people.

Usually, there was only an old woman.

The Golden Core Cultivators in the valley were in seclusion, and for the past few days, those patrolling were from the Qi Cultivation and a few from the Foundation Establishment Stage.

She waited until nightfall, when all was silent.

Xie Jiuniang lifted a tile from the roof, scattered a sleep-inducing drug into the dwelling, knocking out Gongsun Xue inside, and the old woman, being an ordinary person, also succumbed to unconsciousness.

Flying in through the window.

And closing the window again.

She then initiated Time Retrospection here once more.

[Gongsun Xue’s daily routine remained unchanged for several days. Looking further back, it was always the same, like a walking corpse, completely void of vitality.

Going back three more months.

Someone came to visit Gongsun Xue, leaving behind supplies for living.

Continuing to look further back.

Someone built this courtyard and then brought Gongsun Xue here; among those who appeared was Gongsun Yu.

With a look of pity, Gongsun Yu gazed down on her from above, and his words of persuasion struck her like daggers to the heart, "Sister, how can you give up on yourself, how can you reject the marriage arranged by the family?"

"The brother-in-law might be ugly, but he has good qualifications. You are a member of the Gongsun Family, you are already useless, you should accept the responsibility of continuing the family lineage, it’s unbelievable how determined you are, preferring to injure yourself rather than submit, you have really disappointed father and mother!"

"If you had agreed, you wouldn’t have been expelled from the family lands."

"Enough!" Gongsun Xue looked up, her eyes bloodshot, filled with deep hatred.

...]

Seeing this, Xie Jiuniang sighed, "How tragic!"