“Young Miss, please eat your food,” Yue Dongmei pleaded to the little girl. She had a concerned look on her face as she held a spoonful of food in her hand.

“Xia’er, if you don’t eat, you’ll get sick you know? Your papa will be worried,” Yun Zhan softly spoke to his granddaughter.

“I miss Papa,” Yun Xia sadly said. She normally wouldn’t refer to herself as ‘I’ but because of Yun Ling’s departure, she unconsciously started speaking normally.

The rest of her family looked at her in worry. Ever since Yun Ling left, she only stayed in the courtyard and kept looking towards the direction of their compound’s gate. She didn’t even have breakfast. At first, they thought she simply wasn’t hungry so they waited until she would. Now, it’s already past noon yet she even skipped her lunch.

“Should I buy some candies?” Yun Yi said unsurely. He had no idea what to do in this situation.

“Xia’er, your papa will be back soon. Just wait for him okay? In the meantime, is there something you want? Any food you like? Do you want some toys?” Li Jing asked.

“Grandma, I want Papa,” Yun Xia answered Li Jing pitifully, pulling on her heartstrings.

“Oh, my poor great-granddaughter,” Ye Lin then looked at her husband, Yun Wei, and smacked him at his head. “What are you doing? Go comfort her. Cheer her up!”

Yun Wei who had originally been thinking about what to say to his great-granddaughter suddenly felt a dull pain on the back of his head. His right cheek was still aching from his grandson’s fist and now his wife hit him. He was truly having a bad day.

He looked at his wife grumpily but still did what he was told. He walked towards his great-granddaughter and put on a warm, grandfatherly smile as he started, “Xia’er, do you want som—”

“I don’t like you. You hurt Papa earlier,” Yun Xia snappily said.

“Wha?! Great-grandpa shocked!” Yun Wei fell on all fours on the ground in shock.

Yun Zhan gave his father a contemptuous look as he watched him despairing on the ground, muttering, “My great-granddaughter hates me. My great-granddaughter hates me. My great-granddaughter actually hates her great-grandpa.”

‘This is my father,’ Yun Zhan sighed. He then turned to his wife, Li Jing, and asked. “What do we do with her now?”

“We’ll just have to force her to eat,” Li Jing stated strictly. She didn't really want to force her granddaughter but they couldn't just let her be. She’d only hurt herself that way.

“Yeah, but…” Yun Zhan had a complicated expression on his face. Had it been any of his sons being this difficult, he would’ve smacked their butts until they became obedient. He couldn't exactly do the same to his great-granddaughter as she might come to hate them. They weren't even that close to her yet as they had only known each other for a few weeks. He truly couldn't bear to hit or scold her.

“My great-granddaughter hates me...”

His father though, Yun Zhan had no qualms about hitting him. In fact, he felt the old man deserved some beating.

That was how the day in the Yun Clan went after Yun Ling left the capital.

…

Three days later, somewhere outside the Jin Empire.

“Kill three demonic cultivators recently seen at the borders of the empire,” Yun Ling smiled to himself, “That was what I told them.”

He took out the scroll containing his task from his storage ring and unrolled it. Inside the scroll was his task, saying:

Kill and collect the carcass of the Trinity Giant Serpent.

Cultivation Realm: Four Transformation

This was his real task.

Back then in the banquet, he said in front of the fourth prince and the other competitors that his task was to kill three demonic cultivators in the Four Transformation Realm.

He lied.

His real task was to kill the Trinity Giant Serpent, a lesser beast. It was certainly not to kill demonic cultivators as he said before. That was merely a bluff on his part.

Yun Ling was not a fool. There was no way he’d ever tell his real task in front of all his competitors. He wouldn’t want any of them to know, and potentially interfere with his task. Moreover, it wasn't only the competitors he had to watch out for, the fourth prince was also there. He didn't know what exactly his problem was but the fourth prince seemed to have something against him.

Although Yun Ling wasn't afraid of any of them, he would rather avoid any unnecessary trouble if he could help it. Only braindead people would truly say what their task was in front of all those potential enemies.

Crown Prince and Yu Shan too. Those two weren’t stupid either. Yun Ling doubted that the two were also being completely honest about their tasks back then. Both of them most likely lied just like him to misdirect the other competitors from knowing what their real task was.

Yun Ling had an amused smirk on his face, “I suppose there are probably already some people waiting for me at the borders of the empire. Too bad for them, they won’t find me there.”

Yun Ling had long since left the borders of the empire as his real destination was the Thousand Mountain Valley, the home to many lesser beasts. His target, the Trinity Giant Serpent lives in there. It was a very dangerous place for both humans and weaker lesser beasts alike. In the Thousand Mountain Valley, rarely do humans were able to get out alive after making their way deep into the mountains. Most people who managed to reach there had become food for the powerful lesser beasts living in there.

The Thousand Mountain Valley was located in the territory of the Riverspan Sect. The sect regularly sends some of their disciples in the place to temper themselves. However, these disciples were only allowed to stay at the outermost part of the Thousand Mountain Valley. Any deeper and their lives would be at risk, which was something the Riverspan Sect didn't want.