A secret?
What secret?
Hearing Ye Zhilan's words, Ye Yu couldn't help but grow curious.
Could it be related to the mystery of why only two Nine-Hearted Begonia Martial Souls could exist in the world at the same time?
Soon, Ye Zhilan began slowly explaining.
"Actually, in the distant past, the inherited Martial Soul of our Nine-Hearted Begonia Clan was also called the Nine-Hearted Begonia, but its healing effect was far weaker than it is now."
"In the beginning, our Nine-Hearted Begonia Martial Soul was completely pink."
"Until one of our ancestors, during a Spirit Ring hunt in the Life Forest, accidentally entered a secret realm."
"In that secret realm, that ancestor claimed to have encountered a legendary God and accepted its trial."
"If one could pass the trial, not only would their Martial Soul evolve, but they would also inherit a God position and ascend as a God."
"But the trial… was far too difficult."
"Our ancestor fought with everything he had and only managed to pass a little more than half of it, allowing the Nine-Hearted Begonia Martial Soul to evolve halfway."
"As for the last stages of the trial, he had no confidence at all, so he abandoned it halfway, returned to the clan, and passed down the half-evolved Nine-Hearted Begonia Martial Soul."
"But perhaps because he quit midway and angered that God…"
"Although the half-evolved Martial Soul was successfully passed down, from then on, only two Nine-Hearted Begonias could ever awaken within the clan at the same time."
Ye Zhilan sighed bitterly.
At those words, Ye Yu finally understood.
So it was true—
The Nine-Hearted Begonia's restriction of only two existing at once was not a defect of the Martial Soul itself.
It wasn't a natural flaw of the Martial Soul!
If it were a defect, it should be similar to the Blue Silver Grass and Blue Silver Emperor. One person might awaken as the Blue Silver Emperor, while others would only awaken as the common Blue Silver Grass.
But the Nine-Hearted Begonia wasn't like that. There could only ever be two, and everyone else in the clan could not awaken it at all.
So this was the curse of the gods!
In Ye Yu's perspective, the problem of the Nine-Hearted Begonia Clan was clearly the result of divine punishment.
Most likely, it was the curse of the Goddess of Life.
Although the Goddess of Life was known for her gentle temperament, she was the consort of the God of Destruction.
The two God Position were bound together—either both were passed down, or neither.
Since the Goddess of Life once chose the Nine-Hearted Begonia ancestor to undergo the God Nine Trials as her successor…
Then surely, at the same time, the God of Destruction must have chosen another candidate.
If both candidates succeeded in the trials, they would inherit the God positions of the Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction, ascend to the Divine Realm, and take over their duties.
As for the Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction, they would have reincarnated in the mortal world to bear a child.
After all, in their God forms, due to the absolute conflict of their attributes, they could not conceive offspring—this was their greatest regret.
But the Nine-Hearted Begonia ancestor, after receiving the benefits, had chosen to retreat halfway.
Abandoning the trial completely sabotaged the gods' plan.
Naturally, both the Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction were furious.
Cursing the Martial Soul so that only two could exist simultaneously… in hindsight, that was them being merciful.
Yes—this must have been the case.
Ye Zhilan continued with a complicated smile:
"We too have long suspected this was divine punishment."
"But since our ancestor failed that god, none of us have ever dared to reenter the secret realm to beg forgiveness."
"After so many years, that god may have already forgotten our clan."
"But if we went to seek pardon, what if it remembered us and imposed an even harsher punishment?"
Her words were heavy with helplessness.
"Ye Yu, your Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree Martial Soul is also of the life attribute, much like our Nine-Hearted Begonia."
"If you were to enter that secret realm, perhaps you could gain the recognition of that god."
"With your strength, you would surely be able to pass the trial."
"If you truly succeeded and inherited that God position, you might even be able to lift the curse on our Nine-Hearted Begonia Clan."
"Our clan still preserves the map to that realm."
"Would you be willing to take a look?"
Her eyes shone with expectation as she looked at Ye Yu.
Ye Yu only smiled.
"Aunt Ye, give me the map. I'll go take a look."
Although he had no intention of inheriting a god position himself… he still had Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, Ning Rongrong, and the other girls by his side.
And the truth was, collecting faith and condensing a godhood was not easy.
He couldn't guarantee he could help each of them condense a God Position on their own.
To gather faith and condense a God Position was no easy matter. He couldn't guarantee he could help all of them achieve godhood.
He couldn't guarantee he could help each of them condense a god position on their own.
He himself had already condensed a Golden Core and no longer had to worry about lifespan.
But the others at most had about a thousand years to live.
For them, the safest path was still to inherit an existing god position.
And with his current strength, Ye Yu no longer feared even gods of the Divine Realm.
Even the Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction, kings among gods, posed no threat.
Because he knew: their greatest wish was to find successors, pass down their God Position, and then reincarnate together to have children.
So Ye Yu intended to enter this secret realm and see for himself if it was indeed the legacy ground left by the Goddess of Life.
If it was, he would draw her attention first… and then negotiate with both the Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction.
Although he did not plan to inherit a god position himself…
Lingling and Dugu Yan, however, were highly compatible with their god position.
Why couldn't the Goddess of Life and God of Destruction choose them instead?
"Here, this is the map. The entrance route is already marked."
Seeing Ye Yu agree, Ye Zhilan was so moved she immediately took out an ancient-looking map from her storage-type soul tool.
It showed that the secret realm lay deep within the Life Forest, hidden in a mountain valley.
To enter, one had to descend from the air, breaking through the crown of a colossal ancient life tree.
"Aunt Ye, I'll go see it tomorrow," Ye Yu said as he accepted the map.
"But today, I came to the Nine-Hearted Begonia Clan to deliver gifts for you and Uncle Ling."
As he spoke, Ye Yu retrieved several Spirit Bones from his storage soul tool.
For Ling Zhantian, he had prepared the hundred-thousand-year Silver Moon Wolf King Skull, as well as a torso bone obtained from killing Tang Hao.
As for Ye Zhilan, though he did not have anything especially suitable, he chose to gift her the hundred-thousand-year Evil Spirit Orca left leg bone.
Among the Evil Spirit Orca tribe led by the Evil Spirit Orca King, the king himself had cultivated for three hundred thousand years.
Aside from him, the tribe also had two hundred-thousand-year Evil Spirit Orca.
Ye Yu had slain both, obtaining one left leg bone and one right leg bone—both at the hundred-thousand-year level.
And now, the left leg bone was given to Ye Zhilan.