Free Web NovelChapter 201: Song Yanyan
The warm embrace of the Matriarch lingered for a moment longer before she finally stepped back, her hands resting lightly on Ye Jun’s shoulders as she leaned her head to the side, examining him with an affectionate, teasing glint in her eyes.
"Look at those shoulders. No wonder my Liangxue didn’t want to stay in the capital for even a day extra," she laughed softly, her voice light and musical. "I was worried she would pick some stiff, overly serious old scholar from the southern academies, but you have some real marrow in you."
"Mother!" Song Liangxue’s face flushed slightly, her cold, regal composure completely fracturing as she stepped in between them, pulling Ye Jun a half-step back. "Can you please save the teasing for later? We just arrived, and everyone is watching."
"Oh, let them watch," her mother waved her hand dismissively, her long, dark silk sleeves catching the faint warmth radiating from her skin. "They’re just as happy as I am."
Ye Jun stood beside Song Liangxue, a bit surprised by the sudden display of familial warmth.
Back in Bright Star City, every family gathering was an exercise in veiled insults, calculated moves, and endless posturing. To be wrapped in a genuine, unpretentious hug by the absolute powerhouse of the Northern Domain within seconds of arriving was a complete contrast to what he had prepared himself for.
Deciding that honesty was the best approach with people who clearly didn’t care for southern court scheming, he offered a respectful smile.
"I must admit, Matriarch, I expected a line of elders ready to test my sword before I could even see the front gates," Ye Jun said honestly. "This is far better."
"Call me Mother, or just Yanyan when we’re in private," she corrected gently, her pale face lighting up with a brilliant smile. "And there will be no sword-testing today. You’ve already survived nine Purple Tribulations. Anyone in our clan who thinks they can test you after that is welcome to try, but I doubt they want to embarrass themselves in the snow."
Song Yanyan turned toward the massive marble staircases, her expression shifting slightly into something more formal, though the warmth in her eyes never faded. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"But while we won’t be fighting you, a proper welcome ceremony must still be held. The men have shown their respect with their steel, but the foundations of our home belong to the hearth."
At her signal, the grand jade-tiled doors of the ancestral palace fully parted. From the inner courtyards, a procession of women from the core and branch families of the Song Clan stepped forward.
Unlike the armored legion and the sword-bearing men who stood rigidly in the snow, these women wore deep blue and silver ceremonial robes, their movements fluid and rhythmic.
Two elderly women walked at the front, carrying a massive, ancient chalice carved from glaciated crystal, filled with a shimmering, pale blue liquid.
"This is the Ritual of the Winter Hearth," Song Liangxue whispered closely to him, her hand gently slipping into his to offer comfort. "It’s an ancient northern tradition derived from the legends of the Everfrost Phoenix. When a new soul joins the lineage, we share the essence of the northern frost to ensure our paths never diverge in the blizzard."
The oldest woman approached Ye Jun, her expression solemn but kind. She dipped a small, white feather into the crystal chalice and lightly tapped Ye Jun’s forehead, his chest, and then the hilt of his sheathed Ember Sword.
The moment the pale blue liquid touched his skin, a refreshing, incredibly pure wave of Qi rippled through his pathways. It didn’t fight his Yang Circulation, instead, it settled over his skin like a protective layer, grounding his presence to the northern earth.
Following the blessing, the women opened their hands, releasing hundreds of small, glowing ice lanterns into the sky. The lanterns drifted upward, catching the weak winter sunlight and shattering into brilliant, harmless shards of sparkling dust that cloaked the entire outer courtyard in a dome of light.
Ye Jun looked around at the genuine, smiling faces of the entire Song Clan, then turned to the Grand Elder and the Matriarch. He bowed deeply from the waist, his voice carrying a sincere, unforced weight.
"Thank you, everyone, for such a wholesome welcome. I am truly honored to become a part of your family."
A collective murmur of approval rose from the branch leaders. The northern people valued strength, but they valued honesty and respect even more. Ye Jun’s straightforward demeanor had cleanly bypassed any lingering doubts they might have held about a young master from the distant south.
"Good! Now that the formalities are finished, let’s get out of the cold. The kitchens have been working since sunrise," Song Yanyan declared, hooking her arms through both Ye Jun and Song Liangxue’s, leading them directly toward the palace entrance.
As they entered the massive structure, the scale of the palace became truly apparent. Meihui, still perfectly maintaining her disguise as the arrogant Young Master Rong, caught Ye Jun’s eye from the edge of the procession. She gave a subtle nod and quietly stepped to the side, accompanied by two polite attendants who guided her toward the guest wings.
She knew this was the core family’s stage, and as an outsider, she had no intention of crowding their space. Ye Jun gave her a brief nod of appreciation before he was pulled further into the interior.
The Matriarch led them into a vast, high-ceilinged banquet hall that managed to feel incredibly cozy despite its grand proportions. Massive pillars carved from single blocks of white marble supported a roof made of translucent jade, allowing the pale light of the setting sun to filter through in soft hues of gold and blue.
A long, heavy wooden table stretched across the center of the hall, already piled high with mountains of steaming northern delicacies—roasted spiritual beasts, thick winter stews, and bottles of aged amber ale that radiated a dense, comforting Qi.
There were no outside guests, no noble representatives from the city, and no political allies. The hall was filled strictly with the core members and important elders of the Song Clan.
Ye Jun was seated directly between Song Liangxue and her mother at the head of the table. As the dinner began, the tense atmosphere he had anticipated completely failed to materialize. Instead, the hall filled with the hearty laughter and clinking cups of people who treated each other with absolute trust.
"So, Cousin Ye Jun," a bold, clear voice called out from further down the table. A young man, roughly around Ye Jun’s age with sharp northern features and a lively expression, leaned forward, his cup raised.
"The news that reached the capital said your ninth tribulation didn’t even come from the sky, it manifested directly inside your Sea of Consciousness as a Purple Memory Trial. Is that true? How did you even manage to shatter a tribulation like that?"
The entire table grew slightly quieter, the elders and branch leaders turning their gazes toward him with intense curiosity. Even Grand Elder Song Chenfeng stopped his cup mid-air, listening intently. An ascension of nine tribulations was a legendary event, and every cultivator present wanted to understand the mechanics behind it.
Ye Jun took a slow sip of the amber ale, enjoying the rich, warming sensation it left in his throat before he set the cup down with a light click.
"The rumors aren’t wrong, but also not right. The Memory Trials were in the Yellow Tribulations," Ye Jun said, a small, mysterious smile playing on his lips. "The Yellow Tribulations don’t just target your physical body or your Qi reserves. They look inside you. They find the things you’ve hidden deepest in your mind, your regrets, your secrets, and the paths you decided not to take. They build a whole world out of them and challenge your will to see if you’ll lose yourself in the illusion."
He paused, his eyes gleaming faintly beneath the lantern light.
"As for how I shattered it... let’s just say that when you’ve already decided on your path, no ghost from the past can force you to turn back. You either cut through the illusion, or you let it bury you."
Inwardly, he couldn’t help but think,
’Finally, I’ve learned to spout bullshit like people in the cultivation world.’
"Spoken like a true swordsman!" Song Chenfeng laughed heartily, slamming his palm against the table in approval. "The heart must be as unyielding as our Frostwall. If the will wavers for even a second, the cultivation base is nothing more than an empty shell."
The young cousin nodded in awe, thoroughly satisfied with the answer, while the older elders murmured among themselves, clearly impressed by the depth of his comprehension at such a young age.
Ye Jun had intentionally kept the specific details of his past-life trials hidden, wrapping the explanation in standard cultivation philosophy, which only made him appear more profound to the gathered masters.
Throughout the entire banquet, Song Yanyan completely doted on the two of them. She constantly piled choice cuts of spiritual meat onto Ye Jun’s plate, poured more ale into his cup before it could even reach the halfway mark, and repeatedly scolded Song Liangxue for not taking better care of him during their long journey south.
"Mother, he’s a Soul Tempering cultivator, not a child," Song Liangxue grumbled helplessly, though she didn’t actually pull her plate away. "He doesn’t need his food cut for him."
"Hush now. He survived a nine-tribulation breakthrough while you didn’t do anything," her mother retorted with a sweet smile, placing another piece of roasted venison onto Ye Jun’s plate. "He needs to rebuild his essence."
Ye Jun watched the interaction, feeling a bit overwhelmed. He had spent his previous life entirely in the dark, moving from one contract to another where a single mistake meant death, and his early days in this world were defined by cold, calculating survival against a treacherous clan.
To be surrounded by this level of unreserved, aggressive care was entirely foreign to him. Yet, looking at the soft smile on Song Liangxue’s face and the relaxed expressions of the elders who clearly found their Matriarch’s behavior completely normal, he simply accepted it, a genuine sense of comfort settling deep into his chest.
The banquet didn’t drag on for too long. The journey from the White Gale Pavilion had taken an entire day, and by the time the initial courses were finished, the pale winter sky outside the translucent jade roof had completely darkened into a deep, star-studded night.
Recognizing the fatigue on the travelers’ faces, the Grand Elder rose to conclude the gathering, allowing the branch families to dismiss themselves.
Song Liangxue guided Ye Jun through the winding white-marble corridors of the inner palace toward her personal courtyard. The air here was incredibly peaceful, the silver runes on the pillars filtering the midnight chill into a soft, refreshing mist.
However, they didn’t go to rest immediately. Song Liangxue turned back to her mother, who was walking quietly beside them, her playful, extroverted demeanor from the banquet hall completely shifting back into the sharp, commanding presence of the sovereign of the North.
"Mother, come with us," Song Liangxue said, her tone turning serious as she unlocked the heavy sandalwood doors to their chambers. "We have important things to discuss regarding what we found at the Heaven Opening Chasm."
Song Yanyan nodded, her dark silk robes rustling softly as she stepped into the room behind them, the doors clicking shut to seal their conversation from the rest of the world.
