When system cheat becomes rampant!

Only desolate beasts above the God Refining level could damage the pioneering stones!

Elder Luo and Ye Changfeng both remained silent, not stating it explicitly, but Xiang Beifei had already understood.

"Before he went missing, what was his cultivation level?" Xiang Beifei asked again.

"He was an excellent martial artist, very powerful. Although he was only at SR, he could completely handle an SSR, just like you today," Elder Luo said.

Ye Changfeng sighed slightly, "Do you know why you, an N level this year, were so outstanding in the new student competition, but no other schools have questioned you? It's because twenty years ago, in the new student competition, Xiang Tianxing, who was at SR level, also dominated the SSRs from other schools. As long as they investigated your background and found out you're the son of Xiang Tianxing, and understood who Xiang Tianxing was, they would probably be reassured."

"Like father, like son," Elder Luo said.

SR level Awakeners, more formidable than their contemporaries at SSR or even UR, are rare, but they do exist.

The one munching on sunflower seeds right now is one of them.

"But he still had an accident," Xiang Beifei said. "You still haven't answered my question. What was his cultivation level?"

Elder Luo was silent for a moment and then shook his head, "He never mentioned it to me. After graduation, he left the school. Although he occasionally came back to visit me, it was just to chat. Later, there was a year when I couldn't contact him at all."

"But definitely more than God Refining," Ye Changfeng said.

More than God Refining.

Such a powerful person still had an accident in the Northern District of the Essential Domain?

What exactly does the Essential Domain represent?

Xiang Beifei looked at the words in the diary; the handwriting of Xiang Tianxing was both familiar and strange to him.

[... it seems like their destiny's shackle] The missing words in front could be: this thing.

They, it must surely refer to Youmeng.

So the reason Youmeng Trees can switch between tree and humanoid forms, is it bound by something?

Is it that piece of black wood?

But the black wood had already been devoured by Xiang Beifei's Spirit Gathering Book, yet Youmeng later still reverted to a tree. If that piece of black wood were the shackles of fate, it wouldn't make sense.

Although the power of that piece of black wood could suppress Xiang Beifei and his companions, it was at most equivalent to the God Refining level. If it truly were the shackles of destiny, why didn't Xiang Tianxing break it?

Xiang Beifei knew that his SR-level father was no ordinary person; resisting that piece of black wood seemed not too difficult.

Or maybe… the shackle is called "something west"?

——

Xiang Beifei sat on a chair by the lake, opened the diary, and read through it line by line, thoroughly reviewing the text Elder Luo had printed.

[... When we walked past that place, the bones made a strange noise; this path is very dangerous, we can feel it...]

[But I must seek the answer.]

[July 20th, the situation was too perilous, we barely survived; Lian saw them, she believes deeply…]

[We got lost, not knowing which way to go. But Lian made a decision, to head north, Beifei! Because our son's name is Xiang Beifei. At such a moment, we decided to entrust our fates to our son, it may seem silly, but perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, this is an answer?]

...

Upon reading this passage, Xiang Beifei looked up at Elder Luo, surprised.

"They went north?"

Lian, Xiang Beifei's mother, her full name is Yu Tinglian, which means "fish listening to the lotus." Xiang Beifei's impression of his own mother, like that of Xiang Tianxing, was also very vague.

If Xiang Tianxing left this journal, was it intended for those who would come looking for them? Then, wouldn't it mean that one only needed to travel north from where the journal was discovered?

He had never imagined that his own name would be the clue to finding those two.

After a while, Elder Luo sighed, "I've been there, always following the direction indicated by the journal, flying northward——but to no avail. Either the region is too bizarre or I flew for two days and ended up back where I started."

Xiang Beifei was silent.

What exactly had happened to his parents?

Where had they gone when they flew north?

Or, as mentioned by the frontier stone, was the situation too dangerous and they had already...

Elder Luo, seeming to perceive Xiang Beifei's thoughts, said, "I believe they are still alive."

He had always believed so.

Because Elder Luo possessed an intuition far beyond ordinary people, he could allocate all system points to intuition.

In his eyes, his disciple, Xiang Tianxing, was no ordinary person. Originally, Xiang Tianxing was a genius capable of capturing various SSRs and beating them!

Therefore, when Xiang Tianxing's son, Xiang Beifei exhibited all sorts of incredible talents, Elder Luo was shocked yet able to accept it.

Xiang Beifei remained silent and turned to the next page, where the imprinted handwriting was fairly complete.

[Miss my son, he is only fourteen, still at a rebellious age, every time we come home he doesn't want to talk to us, always holding a grudge against us. Our son doesn't want to get close, usually taciturn, listening to no one except his grandfather]

[Before we left home this time, the last thing he said to us was shouting for us not to come back.]

[I am very sad, and Lian is also very sad. Alas! To reach the point where a son doesn't want his parents to come home, I think we are probably the most failed parents in the world...]

[But we must seek this answer, it's very important, it not only concerns us but also...]

The text on this page broke off here, and there was nothing written beyond this point.

——

"Shouting for you not to come back?"

Xiang Beifei felt a surge of emotion as he read this sentence.

Suddenly, he remembered that vigilant boy.

The boy who had stood by the window, watching for four years, once he realized his parents were missing.

The last thing he had said to his parents before losing them was to tell them not to come back!

Apparently, the boy's parents thought he was at a rebellious age.

They thought the last thing he wanted was to see them.

But had they ever carefully considered why the silent boy chose to rebel?

Each time his parents would come home, they would leave hastily after just two days, and the duration of their absence was even longer than the time spent at home. When the parents left, the boy could only stand by the window, silently watching their retreating figures as their shadows stretched longer and longer in the sunset, disappearing into the horizon.

As parents, they never realized it.

What does the word "rebellious" really mean?

It is only when one deeply desires something that they pretend to reject it.

That was what rebellion was.

Did they understand that when the boy shouted for them to leave, he actually desperately wanted them to stay?

That proud boy, never wanting to be treated as a child, scorned to reveal his emotions to his parents because he viewed it as childish behavior. Opposing his parents was his proof of maturity.

But deep within the teenager's heart, there was also a longing of his own.

Like the young couple at sunset, holding their son's small hand.

The son, supported by his parents' arms, swung cheerfully on a swing between them.

The sunlight was warm.

The child's laughter was brilliant.

That image was perpetually fixed in the youth's mind.

Only in his mind.

Every time his parents left, it felt as if that image was being torn apart.

The youth hated that feeling.

So he shouted angrily, "Don't ever come back!"

He had never imagined

that those words would become reality.

They truly never came back.

When the youth received the news, it struck him like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.

From then on, he spent every night by the window, watching the end of the street.

Full of regret and torment.

He continued this vigil for four years.

——

Xiang Beifei remained silent.

The young man had kept watch until he went mentally unstable and suddenly died in an examination hall.

But that intense obsession never faded away.

Perhaps only when the misunderstanding was erased would that obsession disappear.

"May I borrow this diary?" Xiang Beifei asked.

Elder Luo nodded slightly, "Take it! Take the pioneering stone as well, after all, it is your father's legacy and should belong to you. But you must promise me, if you find any clues, don't act alone, consult with me."

He had originally planned to wait until Xiang Beifei reached the God Refining stage before giving it to him, ensuring that even if Xiang Beifei secretly ventured into the Essential Domain, he would have the power to protect himself. However, this encounter made Elder Luo understand that Xiang Beifei was not just a reckless child.

He had his own judgment.

"I don't know what they're doing, but you've grown up, and you should understand some things; they didn't want to leave home, they are pioneers with their own duties," Elder Luo said to Xiang Beifei as he looked at that page of the diary.

He had read the entire contents of the diary and knew about the previous conflicts between Xiang Beifei and his parents. Everyone has their youthful follies; now, Xiang Beifei was an adult, and Elder Luo saw a significant change in his personality, at least much more composed than before.

"I understand,"

Xiang Beifei looked at those words and fell into deep thought.

For a while, no one spoke again.

The leaves in the woods rustled, and the birds chirped contentedly.

After a long pause, Xiang Beifei stood up.

He walked towards the edge of the woods.

But halfway there, he stopped.

"Thank you," Xiang Beifei said.

Elder Luo was taken aback, then shook his head, "I only did what I could."

"I understand, but still, thank you,"

Xiang Beifei still felt immense gratitude towards Elder Luo.

Regardless of the reason, he respected such an elder.

"You're going to find them, aren't you?" Elder Luo asked.

"Yes."

"But?"

"God Refining stage."

"That's good."

Elder Luo nodded slightly.

Not being rash, that's a good thing.

"I don't know what answers he is looking for, but once your cultivation improves, I will accompany you to find the answers you seek," Elder Luo said, looking at Xiang Beifei.

Xiang Beifei turned around and looked at Elder Luo.

"Who let you all be my foolish disciples? I've lived too leisurely, not having many disciples, but since I've taken disciples, I must bear this responsibility; I can't just let you fend for yourselves."

Elder Luo smiled, stretched lazily, and said, "Besides, I also want to know the answer."

His last trip north had taken two months without finding them, but perhaps Xiang Beifei might have a way? So many years had passed, and there had been no news from the Xiang Tianxing couple; many thought they were more likely dead than alive.

But he always had that intuition.

Whether dead or alive, they needed closure. The Essential Domain was too dangerous, but once Xiang Beifei attained the God Refining stage, he would take him there.

"Then I will also take a trip there."

Ye Changfeng was, of course, aware of this, being the most composed person in the Leisure Clouds and Wild Cranes family, but still, he had to take care of his own.

"Just don't know how long it will take you to reach the God Refining stage," Ye Changfeng said.

"As soon as possible,"

Xiang Beifei spoke, then turned and left the woods.

That piece of black wood on the withered forest's mountain had some connection to his own constellation, and whatever the reason, he had to go back to the withered forest once more.

He knew what his next goal was.

To cultivate, continuously, until he had the power to travel to that place.

To investigate what exactly those two were doing among the pioneers.

And then—

Head north.