Chapter 492: Chapter 492

"Congratulations! Congratulations, Miss Shen, your Foundation Establishment is complete. This is a congratulatory gift the family head specially prepared for you."

"Congratulations, Sister Shen, on your successful Foundation Establishment!"

Early in the morning, the usually quiet little courtyard was unusually lively.

Five-hundred-year shark silk, thousand-year spiritual ganoderma, top-grade jade agate, and piles of rare spiritual medicines before them.

It must be said, the Xie Family really knew how to spend lavishly.

Toying with a deep-sea spirit pearl the size of a fist in her hand, An Ning couldn’t help but click her tongue.

Even with ample experience and the original body’s decent aptitude, for An Ning it would still take two more years to rebuild her Foundation Establishment. By then, Second Elder’s grandson Xie Jue’s meridians would have been fully repaired as well.

Though the path of rebuilding would be hard, and long-disused spirit veins tended to atrophy, thanks to An Ning serving as a cautionary example, the Xie family had gradually brimmed with confidence without realizing it.

For this Foundation Establishment, Second Elder Xie even sent along his cherished meteorite from the heavens as a gift.

Happy for the person before her, twenty-year-old Xie Lingyun couldn’t help but heave a longing sigh, her once bright, lively eyes now carrying a hint of listlessness.

After spending time with her recently, An Ning understood where her frustration came from.

As the family head’s youngest daughter, with three older brothers above her, Xie Lingyun was pampered from a young age. But cultivation circles favor late marriage, and when the couple had their youngest daughter they were already older and had been traumatized by the second son’s misfortune.

Her innate aptitude inevitably lagged behind.

Over the years, even with all kinds of spiritual medicines and the best of things fed to her for free, she remained stuck at the late Qi Refinement threshold.

The Xie Family was nothing like the Fu Family, a modest clan. In a major family, being twenty and still not established in Foundation Establishment basically meant it was declared you’d likely never rise to the ranks of true experts.

For a woman from such a clan, there were basically two paths: either cultivate to outstanding heights, stay in the family as one of its top fighting forces and one day gain an elder’s seat, in which case she could choose not to marry and simply keep a few attendants without reproach; or marry into another family of comparable background.

Just like the original body had done before. Even though she knew that being too outspoken could anger the family head’s wife or several of the young masters and young misses, she had no choice.

Being able to escape the huge Xuanming Cult with her son, the original body might have been soft-hearted and sentimental, but she was by no means foolish. She understood that staying meek and hiding her talents in the Fu Family would be useless and only make her easier to sell off for a good price.

One could say the original body regretted many things in life, but the only thing she never regretted was using every possible effort to cultivate and improve herself.

That said, Xie Lingyun before them was different from the original body. Not to mention the family head and his wife, even her brothers doted on this youngest sister. Even if marriage were arranged, they would be extremely selective.

But nobody’s family was as good as their own, and Xie Lingyun had been used to comfort and freedom since childhood!

An Ning didn’t comment on others’ family affairs; large clans had their own survival rules. She simply sipped the clear tea in her hand and listened to the young girl’s endless fretting.

"Sigh! Actually Father and Mother said before that if they wanted to keep me in the family—even Big Brother agreed—but, but..."

"I don’t want Father and Mother to break the rules for me..."

Twisting a little unknown yellow flower between her fingers, Xie Lingyun’s eyes showed rare worry:

Although her father was the family head, the Xie Family wasn’t just theirs alone. Besides, above her father were several Elder Supremes, each an extraordinary elder.

Even if they succeeded, the main branch would have to pay a heavy price.

Xie Lingyun knew her limits. Even if her father promoted her, she simply wasn’t capable of handling an elder’s responsibilities.

"Sigh, besides, the demonic cult’s power is huge now. Even big sects like Azure Cloud Sect have to avoid its sharp edge, and most other houses have been banding together for warmth in recent years..."

If she opened this precedent, what about others!

An Ning said nothing, only smiling as she handed over another cup of clear tea.

Truly, no matter how naive big family daughters were, they understood what needed to be understood.

And the disadvantages of cultivation families were clear: with lifespans peaking at two hundred years once one reaches Foundation Establishment through to peak cultivation, which family head doesn’t have a pile of illustrious elders above him?

Their say in matters inevitably weakened.

Luckily, Xie Lingyun had only been stewing for a short while. This topic was awkward to bring up in the clan or among the sisters, so she had chosen to pour it out here.

Having spoken it aloud, she felt considerably lighter.

Also... glancing secretly at the beautiful sister before her, she sighed—when it came to bad luck, who could be worse off than Sister Shen?

Just for the sake of a face, coming down the mountain had brought such calamity—nearly costing her life and even her cultivation…

Word was that originally Third Brother had forty-nine moves against Sister Shen—no, wait, now it was twenty moves...

One could imagine how powerful Sister Shen would have been if not for that earlier incident!

As the person before her grew animated, An Ning subtly steered the conversation.

Sure enough, in the next moment Xie Lingyun took the bait and cursed the culprit.

Ah, that damned Xuanming Cult that only knew how to bully others.

But when Xie Lingyun mentioned the Xuanming Cult, she suddenly remembered something Father and Big Brother had said earlier.

"Although people can resemble one another, it’s rare to find such similarity and similar ages. I heard Third Miss Fu had been adopted by the Fu Family head, her origins and relatives unknown. And Miss Shen grew up on the mountain with only her master close to her."

"There might be some kinship between them, you never know."

Maybe even siblings—biological sisters—were more likely.

Recalling the news Fourth Brother had brought back earlier and the hollow look on Big Brother’s face that day, Xie Lingyun couldn’t help but sigh.

Sigh, should she tell Sister Shen that she might have another biological sister, one now confirmed dead with no remains found?

And her little nephew—more than two years gone, and now not even a trace can be found. Even the domineering Xuanming Cult no longer searches loudly; who knows...

"Lingyun, Lingyun... what’s wrong?"

"Why are you suddenly so distracted, still worrying about earlier matters?"

Pretending not to notice the girl’s tangled expression, An Ning put down her teacup and asked with concern.

Seeing the worry in her eyes, Xie Lingyun jolted.

No, Sister Shen was so kind and alone now; it would be a shame if she lost the remaining relatives...

With that thought, Xie Lingyun quickly made up her mind and spoke solemnly:

"Sister Shen, you know, you very likely still have relatives alive..."

As if she hadn’t heard such a topic in a long time, An Ning froze for a moment.