"Fairy, it was a misunderstanding. You were eating at the table, and suddenly disappeared. The divine stone emitted a golden light, and the boat suspended in mid-air was sucked into the divine stone," explained the clan leader of the Xuanyuan clan, beads of sweat on his forehead, his tone anxious. He hadn't known the divine stone would emit golden light and swallow things. If he had, he wouldn't have dared to move the divine stone out of the underground ancestral hall, almost endangering their savior.
Ye Ju merely looked at the clan leader coldly, remaining silent. Her gaze suggested that if he didn't explain properly, she would annihilate his entire clan.
"Fairy, please look. When the divine stone sucked you in, a floor tile in the ancestral hall activated a switch, revealing this Divine Grace Record. It details our clan's history. I am ashamed, for as clan leader, I was unaware of Xuanyuan clan's greatest secret and mission. My father, the previous clan leader, took the clan's able-bodied men out when I was young. He returned severely injured and before he could pass on the clan's legacy, he only managed to say that the divine stone must be protected... and then he passed away. When I was placed as clan leader by the people, I knew nothing of the clan's secrets or what this divine stone truly was," the clan leader respectfully handed the bamboo slips to Ye Ju.
"What does this bamboo slip say?" Ye Ju asked, holding the slips, her heart silently questioning if this was a deliberate trap. If so, she would ensure they never saw the light of day again. She recalled Xiao Bai and the others in that desolate secret realm space. If her strength had been insufficient, she would have fallen prey to the evil demon's mind manipulation and ultimately been devoured.
"Fairy, it turns out this divine stone sealed a demon. In the time of Xuanyuan clan's first ancestor, he accompanied a divine maiden in conquering the Nine Provinces... Please examine it, and you will know." Xuanyuan Hong, being the clan leader, presented the clan's Divine Grace Record to Ye Ju. The others had no objections.
Yue Ju opened the bamboo slip called the Divine Grace Record. As she did, the slip transformed into a beam of light and entered her Sea of Consciousness. It turned out the Divine Grace Record documented the first ancestor of the Xuanyuan clan, who was a divine general under a divine maiden. During their conquests, they encountered an incredibly powerful enemy. The enemy emanated demonic energy, its form unseen, its aura incredibly dark. Its demonic power could confuse the minds of divine soldiers, causing them to kill each other, resulting in countless casualties. Ultimately, all lower-level divine soldiers were slain by this demon, even the divine maiden was injured. The enemies grew in number.
At this moment, the Xuanyuan clan ancestor and his mount, the Gluttonous Beast, stepped forward. He stepped forward to draw away the demon, so that the divine maiden would not be attacked from both sides. The Xuanyuan ancestor and his divine beast mount engaged in an increasingly fierce battle with the demon. That battle shook the heavens and even shattered the void, causing them both to fall into this world. However, neither side possessed the ability to kill the other. In the end, the Xuanyuan ancestor used a secret clan technique, burning his divine soul, and commanded his divine beast mount to devour the demon, transforming its powerful body into a cage to forcibly seal the demon.
After the Gluttonous Beast devoured the demon, its divinity changed drastically. From then on, it was insatiably greedy, consuming whatever it encountered, never knowing satiety. Thus, the world gained an evil beast, the 'Gluttonous Beast'.
The ancestor's cultivation greatly diminished. Unable to bear his mount becoming a despised evil beast, he used his last divine power to turn the Gluttonous Beast into stone, hoping that one day the divine maiden would descend and save the Gluttonous Beast. Because he knew the divine maiden possessed the art of resurrection, he wrote the Divine Grace Record for this purpose.
The Xuanyuan ancestor exhausted his divine power for the sake of his divine beast, gradually becoming mortal. He married and had children in this world, leaving behind a legacy so that the Xuanyuan clan would not be severed. He also left a dying wish, instructing the Xuanyuan clan to guard this divine stone from generation to generation, and to set up formations so that only when the divine maiden arrived would the divine stone reveal itself.
Alas, the Xuanyuan ancestor did not know that the secret technique he used with his bloodline would harm his descendants. The demon sealed within the divine stone did not die; its divine soul battled with the divine beast's soul for dominance within the space, attempting to break the seal and escape. It exploited the bond of bloodline to slowly absorb the cultivation of the Xuanyuan clan members in the outside world, while the divine beast, in order to suppress the demon, also absorbed the divine power of the clan members in the same manner. The Xuanyuan clan members remained oblivious to all of this, believing that the heavens were not suitable for cultivating Xuanyuan clan techniques. In the end, all clan members gradually lost their divine power for cultivation. Subsequent generations of children possessed increasingly diluted divine power, blending in with ordinary people.
It was only in the recent few hundred years that an exceptionally talented clan disciple discovered this. That was Xuanyuan Hong's father. He discovered that his cultivation was being absorbed by the divine stone, which was why he ventured out to find a solution. Unfortunately, he was attacked during his travels and died from his injuries.
After Ye Ju finished reading the bamboo slips, she remained silent for a long time, her heart feeling as if it were being squeezed, causing her immense pain. Ye Ju did not know that currently, only Xuanyuan Che, known as the cultivation genius of the Xuanyuan clan, possessed cultivation, and his cultivation was the highest. However, no matter how he cultivated, he could not break through. This was because once his cultivation reached the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, his spiritual energy would slowly dissipate. Even leaving the village was of no avail!
Ye Ju finished reading, her eyes feeling sore and her heart blocked. The dark figure she encountered in the divine stone space had an obviously evil voice that had gained the upper hand. The young voice clearly belonged to the divine beast's soul. Without the replenishment of divine power, the barrier sealing the demon had weakened.
And the absolute devouring was clearly the demon's cultivation technique. The Xuanyuan clan's divine power could no longer be absorbed; they had all become mortals incapable of cultivation. Then, the beast tide of the snow beasts was very likely the demon attracting them to devour, thus aiding its escape.
"Clan Leader Xuanyuan, was your father Xuanyuan Hao?" Ye Ju asked. The bamboo slips concluded by stating: the divine stone would absorb clan disciples with cultivation, and only clan members without spiritual power could approach the ancestral hall.
"Fairy, yes, my father's name was Xuanyuan Hao. Have you read this bamboo slip?" This bamboo slip was discovered too late. If not for the accidental triggering of the mechanism, it would not have seen the light of day again.
"I have read it. Do you know your clan's origin?"
"Fairy, when you were sucked into the divine stone, I had already read the bamboo slips. It turns out that my clan members couldn't cultivate because of this divine stone. It's a pity it was discovered too late. Currently, only a few in the clan can gather Qi, and the Xuanyuan clan's techniques have long been lost," Xuanyuan Che stepped forward to answer for his father. This was because the bamboo slips required Foundation Establishment cultivation to be opened.
Before Ye Ju arrived, Xuanyuan Che had already sensed something was amiss and had decided to find the reason. He wanted to know why, even with the most talented children born into the clan, they could not cultivate to the Golden Core stage! However, before he could do anything, the village was suddenly surrounded by a beast tide of snow beasts.
And now, all these questions had answers. Only a divine maiden could enter the divine stone space. After reading the bamboo slips, Xuanyuan Che knew that only this Fairy Ye, the divine maiden, could resolve the Xuanyuan clan's curse.