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Chapter 155 - Hope Returns to Yun Gu Sect

Yun Dehe looked at the child before him with loving eyes. Ignoring the pain from his injuries, he forced a smile. "Hui'er, do not worry. Once your father's body recovers, Yun Gu Sect will return to its former glory."

"Father, stop lying to me. I know… Yun Gu Sect probably won't survive this winter…"

Yun Hui bowed his head in anguish, leaning against the bedpost, unable to meet his father's gaze.

"Hui'er, do not speak nonsense! Cough… Yun Gu Sect has stood firm in the Eastern Wilderness for tens of thousands of years. How could it fall so easily!" Yun Dehe's emotions surged, pulling at his entire body. His wounds reopened from the strain.

"Father, father, don't scare me. It's all my fault… I shouldn't have spoken such despairing words in front of you…"

Yun Hui nervously supported him, each cough of blood leaving Yun Dehe's lips. His face turned pale as paper in an instant.

"Father, what is wrong with you? Are you hiding something from me?"

Yun Hui's right hand trembled as he held the blood that spilled from his father's mouth. It overflowed, dripping onto Yun Dehe's robes from all directions.

Yun Dehe felt exhausted. He longed to close his eyes.

"Father… father… father!" Yun Hui shook him in terror, as if he feared losing him in the next moment.

Yun Dehe forced his eyes open, painfully pulling a smile. "Hui'er, your father is fine, your father is fine…"

"Do not lie to me anymore. Hui'er has grown up. I will no longer misbehave, and I will not compete with Senior Brother for Senior Sister Qing Ting…"

"Hmm… hmm? What did you say?" Yun Dehe struggled to open his eyes fully.

Yun Hui cried so heavily that his nose ran. "Father, I mean I will never compete with Senior Brother for Senior Sister Qing Ting again. I will not waste my time playing and ignoring cultivation! I will obediently follow your orders and work hard to take over Yun Gu Sect. I will make Senior Brother the next elder and give him everything he deserves!"

Yun Dehe opened his eyes completely. "Good, good, good. Hui'er, it is rare for you to show such insight. No matter how exhausted I am, I will talk with you all night!"

"What…" Yun Hui sobbed. "But… weren't you supposed to die?"

"Cough… Are you cursing your father? I am not gone yet, and you cannot wait to take over Yun Gu Sect?"

Yun Dehe was so angry he coughed up another mouthful of blood.

Yun Hui hurriedly denied it. "Father, I never thought that. It's just… weren't you about to go?"

Yun Dehe weakly lifted his hand and tapped the top of Yun Hui's head. "I was severely injured by a trap set by Piao Miao Sect's sect master. My Golden Core shattered, making it impossible to advance, and I cannot form a Yuányīng. But that does not mean I am about to die immediately!"

"Then…" Yun Hui's tears fell again. "Father's Golden Core is destroyed, he cannot form a Yuányīng, and when his lifespan ends… he will… he will…"

"I will simply pass into meditation. It is nothing. Your father has already prepared his heart," Yun Dehe said with a faint, relieved smile.

Yun Hui cried uncontrollably. "Father… as the sect master, do you not know if there is any way in this world to repair a broken Golden Core?"

Yun Dehe's gaze drifted into the distance, a weak smile on his lips. "Yun Gu Sect has a long-standing legacy. There may be ways, perhaps recorded even in ancient texts…

But, we cannot accomplish them ourselves," he sighed deeply.

After leading Yun Gu Sect for over a hundred years, he had never felt so powerless.

"So there is a way to repair a broken Golden Core?" Yun Hui understood his meaning. Clutching the last hope in his heart, he cried, "Father, what must we do? Even if it means cutting my flesh and spilling my blood, I will save you!"

Yun Dehe tenderly held his hand. "Foolish child, the things recorded in the ancient texts no longer exist in this world. Even if you flay yourself, you will not find a trace of this treasure."

Yun Hui stared in disbelief. "Then what exactly is it?"

A bitter smile appeared at the corner of Yun Dehe's mouth. "Hui'er, that treasure is the blood of the divine Phoenix, a sacred beast that vanished in the ancient times."

Yun Hui staggered and collapsed to the floor. "How could it be this? Why must it be this… why must it be the divine Phoenix's blood?!"

He roared in pain, venting his despair, as if wanting to shatter the room and release all the emotions caged inside him.

"Why must heaven treat me this way? Why must my father, who has devoted his life to vanquishing demons and upholding the Path, suffer this punishment?

Divine Phoenix blood… where in this world is there a Phoenix? Where is there Phoenix essence?"

It was absurd.

Yun Hui's hair fell in disarray as he sat on the ground, completely hopeless.

"Sect Master, there really is a Phoenix, there really is Phoenix blood! Yun Gu Sect can be saved! Sect Master can be saved! The righteous path can be saved!"

Bang!

The main gate burst open. Zhao Lingyi stepped in against the light, wearing a cloud-patterned robe, shining like a hero who had come to save the world.

Yun Hui stared at him, stunned.

Their eyes met. For a moment, Zhao Lingyi did not recognize him.

"Which peak are you from? Why are you sitting here babbling like a madman, disturbing the sect master?"

Zhao Lingyi drew his sword, preparing to chase him away.

Yun Hui blinked, a cold light flashing in his eyes. In an instant, he regained himself. "Senior Brother, it's me, Yun Hui!"

Zhao Lingyi froze. The bright blade reflected his face, and he immediately recognized him.

"Junior Brother, how did you end up like this? Did Piao Miao Sect send another assassin?"

His expression turned serious, sword at the ready, scanning the surroundings.

Yun Hui awkwardly pushed back falling strands of hair. "Senior Brother, there's no assassin. It's just… my father is near death…"

"Cough, cough… Hui'er, a man must not admit defeat. Your father can still hold on a while longer!"

Hearing there was no assassin, Zhao Lingyi withdrew his sword like lightning and moved to Yun Dehe's bedside.

"Sect Master, your Golden Core can be saved! Yun Gu Sect, and even all the lives in the Eastern Wilderness, will have a chance to start anew!"

Zhao Lingyi's normally calm face flushed with rare excitement.

Yun Dehe gazed at the light in his eyes, confused. "Lingyi, what are you saying?"

Zhao Lingyi said, "Master, do you remember the collapsed Eastern Wilderness secret realm? The woman we met inside with Yun Hui and Junior Sister Qing Ting… she is truly a reclusive expert!"

"You… you are not ill, right?" This expression from his senior disciple, Yun Dehe had never seen before.

He wondered if he was not the only one injured.

Could his senior disciple have been affected as well?

Zhao Lingyi paused briefly, then quickly produced the jade identity token from his chest. "Master, remember? I told you before that I left a jade token as a gift for the benefactor who saved us. This token flew back just now along with the transmission talisman."

Yun Dehe weakly looked at the jade token, then at Yun Hui, as if asking silently: is this true?

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