My father? Ye Si blinked her eyes, and started to recall her parents.

It was a memory from a long, long time ago. A lot of time had passed, and she didn’t even remember what her father and mother looked like at this point. In addition, Ye Si had ‘died’ once, and although Cheng Lin brought her back to life with a secret technique, her memory was greatly affected.

As if that wasn’t enough, her father was a cultivator with ordinary strength. By now, so much time had passed that not even his bones remained.

After thinking up to this point, Ye Si started to get sentimental.

Since she got all sentimental, the ❮Tome of Never-Ending Tears❯ was activated, and her tears started to fall uncontrollably.

Once the ❮Tome of Never-Ending Tears❯ was activated, tears wouldn’t stop easily.

Tears streamed down Ye Si’s face, and even if she was continuously wiping them away with her small hands, they just weren’t stopping. She looked very charming and delicate right now.

“???” The Great Northern Emperor was confused.

Heavens! What is happening? Why has this girl suddenly started crying? And why does she look this sad? Did I ask something I shouldn’t have?

“Master, I feel you shouldn’t inquire any further. I just can’t keep watching,” the green sea turtle said.

“…” The Great Northern Emperor.

What indiscreet question did I ask?

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I felt somewhat sad. Sob, sob, sob… Senior, you don’t need to worry. I’ll be fine after crying for a while. Sob, sob, sob…” Ye Si waved at the Great Northern Emperor. Then, she covered her face and drilled back into Song Shuhang’s body, disappearing without a trace.

“…” The Great Northern Emperor.

In the end, what indiscreet question did I ask?!

Sure enough, whether it is Cheng Lin or her daughter, their train of thought travels on a different rail from mine, and we simply can’t have a normal exchange.

“Forget it. Let’s put this matter aside for the moment.” The Great Northern Emperor sighed. Then, he said, “Little friend, give me back the Palace of Winter for now.”

“Senior, wait a moment,” Song Shuhang said.

He was someone that would leave to the police even the pennies he had found by the roadside, let alone the caravan of the world of cultivators!

However, his heart was somewhat in pain. If his bamboo leaf hadn’t activated the formation, the Great Northern Emperor wouldn’t have come back to life, and he would have kept the Palace of Winter.

A few seconds later.

Ye Si reappeared again with tears streaming down her face. This time, she directly appeared beside Song Shuhang, holding a scale model of the Palace of Winter in her hand.

“Sob, sob, sob~ Senior, this is your Palace of Winter. Sob, sob, sob~ I’ll now return it to you.” Ye Si returned the Palace of Winter.

The Great Northern Emperor took the Palace of Winter and looked at Ye Si, who seemed especially sad, and felt somewhat uncomfortable.

“Master, I can watch no longer. Bullying the younger generation is a bad habit, and you should definitely correct it,” the green sea turtle said righteously.

The corner of the eye of the Great Northern Emperor twitched. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the tail of the green sea turtle, spinning it around and throwing it far into the distance. “Stupid turtle, get lost!”

“Boom~” The green sea turtle slammed into an ice mountain far away, smashing it to pieces. It looked to be in great pain.

The Great Northern Emperor stretched out his hand and quickly passed it over the Palace of Winter.

Sure enough, the valuable medicinal materials he had left in the Palace of Winter had disappeared. The only thing inside right now was some medicinal materials that had been collected not too long ago.

The Great Northern Emperor sighed, and looked at Song Shuhang.

After a short moment, he suddenly asked, “Little friend, do you like the Palace of Winter?”

“Yes, I like it quite a bit,” Song Shuhang replied. His Inner World just happened to lack a Palace of Winter.

“Since you like it, I’ll gift it to you. After coming back to life this time, I cut off all my relationships with the ancient Heavenly City… and this Palace of Winter is something that belongs to the ancient Heavenly City. To tell you the truth, I already considered getting rid of it,” the Great Northern Emperor said.

Song Shuhang patted his chest, and said, “Senior, you can just leave it to me in that case.”

The Great Northern Emperor faintly smiled, and said, “Since you are Cheng Lin’s son-in-law and someone that Fairy @#%× attaches great importance to, I won’t lie to you. This Palace of Winter is a portion of the ancient Heavenly City, and there is some deep karma between it and the Heavenly City. If you accept the Palace of Winter, you’ll take my place and inherit the karma between the Palace of Winter and the Heavenly City as well. Therefore, think carefully before making your choice.”

Song Shuhang paused for a moment, and then asked, “Senior, can you tell me in detail about this karma?”

Speaking of karma with the Heavenly City, Song Shuhang was already deeply embroiled in it.

The cultivation technique he practiced, the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Technique❯, came from the Divine Beast Department of the ancient Heavenly City.

His ghost spirit Ye Si was Cheng Lin’s daughter, the Jade Lake Empress of the ancient Heavenly City.

His light of virtue—in other words, Fairy @#%×—was related to the ancient Heavenly City as well.

In addition, he’d visited the ‘mysterious island’ in the past, and that island had a very complex relationship with the Heavenly City. But, this portion of his memories had been sealed, and he had recovered only a small part of it so far.

After that, he explored the Jade Lake Realm alongside Senior White, obtaining the authority to freely go in and out of it.

As if that wasn’t enough, the scholarly faction had gifted him several immortal caves, and according to what True Monarch Eternal Fire had said, these immortal caves were small fragments of the ancient Heavenly City. During the next few days, True Monarch Eternal Fire would deliver him those immortal caves.

There was also another matter… several members of the ancient Heavenly City had a certain ‘Imperial Pearl’ with them, which was somehow related to the Heavenly Emperor. Whenever this Imperial Pearl was in front of him, it would break to pieces.

If the ancient Heavenly City was a quagmire, Song Shuhang already sunk halfway into it.

“I can’t explain this karma in just a few sentences. I can only say that the Palace of Winter might represent a great opportunity for you, but might also bring you great misfortune. Let’s not talk about the long-term karma, and only concentrate on the short-term one. Do you know that some influences had been secretly hunting down the survivors of the ancient Heavenly City after the fall of the latter? If you take the Palace of Winter, you might become the target of those influences,” the Great Northern Emperor said.

“I understand,” Song Shuhang said with a nod.

“Therefore, are you sure you want the Palace of Winter? I won’t force you, and the choice is entirely up to you. This way, you won’t have regrets in the future,” the Great Northern Emperor said.

“Senior, I’ll accept the Palace of Winter,” Song Shuhang said. He already had a deep relationship with the ancient Heavenly City, and didn’t really mind accepting the Palace of Winter as well.

“You are ambitious. I really like youngsters like you, full of enthusiasm and easy to deceive!” the Great Northern Emperor said.

“…” Song Shuhang. What do you mean by ‘easy to deceive’?!

The Great Northern Emperor laughed and stretched out his hand again, caressing the Palace of Winter.

Song Shuhang clearly felt the ‘mark’ of the Great Northern Emperor disappear from the Palace of Winter.

Soon afterward, the Great Northern Emperor gave the Palace of Winter to Song Shuhang. “I’ll leave the palace to you. Be sure to take care of it properly.”

The Palace of Winter was his symbol, and by giving it to Song Shuhang, he was leaving behind his identity as Great Northern Emperor of the ancient Heavenly City.

“Senior, can I ask you why you decided to cut off your relationship with the ancient Heavenly City?” Song Shuhang suddenly asked.

“How can I explain it… the ‘ancient Heavenly City’ was the path that belonged to the Heavenly Emperor. This path was truly terrifying, and had the Heavenly Emperor succeeded, the entire universe would have undergone great changes. At that time, the other fellow daoists and I were part of the great path of the Heavenly Emperor,” the Great Northern Emperor said with a smile. “But the path of the Heavenly Emperor failed. As such, it’s only natural for me to get away from this path.”

“Is that so?” Song Shuhang asked out of curiosity. He felt that things weren’t this simple.

“For now, I can only tell you this much. The rest is a secret, and I won’t easily tell you about it—not even if you are Cheng Lin’s son-in-law or related to Fairy @#%×,” the Great Northern Emperor said with a smile.

“…” Song Shuhang.

“Take the Palace of Winter. Afterward, we’ll discuss again the method to treat the daughter of your dead friend. The Ice Soul Pill needs to be refined quickly. In the next days, I’ll take out the time to check my old treasure houses and see how many medicinal materials I can gather. If there are some missing medicinal materials, I’ll contact you, and we’ll go look for them together. It would be best to gather all the medicinal materials within ten days and start refining the pill,” the Great Northern Emperor said.

“Sure, no problem,” Song Shuhang said.

“In addition, bring this back and give it to the daughter of your dead friend.” The Great Northern Emperor stretched out his hand and slashed at the glacier beneath his feet, cutting off a thick piece of ice.

Then, he stretched out his finger and poked at the block of thick ice, engraving a supplementary cultivation technique within.

“This is my supplementary cultivation technique. Immediately bring it back to the daughter of your dead friend and make her practice it so that she can be ready. Then, as I finish refining the Ice Soul Pill, we can cure her cold disease.” The Great Northern Emperor handed over the thick block of ice.

Song Shuhang received the block of ice.

“In that case, let us meet again, little friend,” the Great Northern Emperor said. After saying this much, he stretched out his hand and waved it, summoning over the green sea turtle.

The Great Northern Emperor jumped on the back of the turtle. After pondering for a moment, he said, “Little friend, I didn’t ask your daoist name.”

“Senior, my daoist name is Scholar Mountain of Books,” Song Shuhang said as he cupped his hands.

“A scholarly disciple? But don’t you practice a buddhist cultivation technique? Your light of virtue is so dazzling that it almost blinded my eyes,” the Great Northern Emperor said, puzzled.

“No. Actually, the cultivation technique I practice is the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Technique❯,” Song Shuhang said.

“Heavens! The ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Technique❯ of the Divine Beast Department?” the green sea turtle gasped in amazement.

“Indeed,” Song Shuhang said.

“Interesting. In that case, let us meet again, little friend Scholar Mountain of Books.” After saying this much, the Great Northern Emperor cupped his hands.

Then, Song Shuhang felt as though the entire world started spinning.

When he recovered, he found himself outside the forbidden area.

Was the Great Northern Emperor planning to send him off when he said ‘let us meet again’…?

Song Shuhang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

When he looked at his posture earlier, he even thought that the Great Northern Emperor would ride the turtle and leave the forbidden area…

Just as he was in deep thought, a sword light suddenly popped out of the ground, slashing toward him!

The sword qi was extremely sharp, and it made Song Shuhang’s balls— ahem, scalp go numb!