Book 2 - Fame Spreads - Chapter 53.1 - Elder Brother's Distress

From the feeling coming from his hand, He Yiming could tell that this was not an ordinary sheepskin scroll.
It seemed to have gone through some special maneuver, enabling it to gain some resilient properties.
He Yiming gently opened the scroll and saw a series of clearly visible patterns. These patterns didn’t seem to be drawn on the surface, but seemed to be sewn using some tenacious needlework. Moreover, to his further surprise, the strings didn’t share the same color at all.
The whole design resembled a gigantic apple and appeared quite alive, even carrying a temptation to make one take a bite.
Suddenly, He Yiming felt somewhat excited. He raised the scroll above his head and examined it closely.
Under the bluish-green outer skin was the white-colored pulp. Inside the pulp, at the center of the fruit, was a red, peach-shaped heart. Under the illumination, this heart emanated a bizarre feeling of transparency.
As he stroked the scroll, he seemed to have experienced the centuries and millenniums of changes that it had gone through.
He could distinctly tell that this thing was not created by Lu Xinwen, but was something he’d found somewhere.
This scroll’s history was certainly not brief. However, even so, there wasn’t even a crease on its surface. The color of the patterns was also quite bright, as if knitted not too long ago.
If not for the extraordinary feeling that was telling him of its long history, he could never have made this assertion with such certainty.
He suddenly thought of a strange idea. Hesitating a bit, his hands gently gripped the corners of the map before he began to slightly exert some force, tearing it.
However, the outcome was vastly out of his expectations.
He couldn’t even budge it.
He decided to exert a little more strength, but the outcome was nevertheless the same.
Eventually, He Yiming didn’t dare exert any more strength. However, this experience was enough for him to understand this object’s tenacity was far from what he’d expected. If it fell into an ordinary person’s hands, it would never suffer any damage.
With this in mind, he was quite certain that this map’s origins were extraordinary.
He then recalled the dying words of Lu XInwen- in that cave there were many other mechanisms which even he couldn’t understand- and it gave him even more of a queer feeling.
Lu Xinwen was but a Xiantian cultivator. There were such mechanisms that could even trap or stop such a high level expert? This was indeed too strange.
This moment, he felt an intense desire to immediately go and look for that place and see for himself what was so dangerous about that cave.
Skimming over the map once again, his brows creased.
The terrain depicted in the map, he couldn’t recognize it at all.
He didn’t feel it was strange. After all, the mainland had vast territories and a wide variety of resources. Not to mention him, nobody would dare claim with certainty that they knew all the places.
On some of the important places, there were a few small characters knitted. Anybody could tell that these characters represented the names of these places.
However, the issue was that even if these characters recognized He Yiming, he couldn’t do the same for the characters at all.
He’d never come across such a strange form of writing.
Pondering for a few moments, He Yiming gently and cautiously collected the scroll back. This thing was not fit to be exhibited outside. As for the directions in the map, they could be slowly sought out.
Although these characters were quite hard to understand, the world was vast beyond measure. There would certainly be people who could recognize these characters. Otherwise, Lu Xinwen also wouldn’t have handed it over to Fan Vastsun with such certainty, being so confident that the latter would certainly find the cave.
Therefore, even if these characters were not widely recognized, those who recognized it wouldn’t be too lacking either.
Moderating his thoughts, He Yiming turned around and headed back.
During the course of his arrival, he’d been following Lu Xinwen’s tracks and was naturally quite cautious. However, this time, with no such restrictions, as soon as he unleashed his agility technique, his figure immediately began to float like a cloud, borrowing the power of wind, as he advanced towards the Yuan manor with a speed far surpassing that of ordinary person.
Seven days passed by in a flash.
In these days, He Yiming indeed enjoyed the treatment like that of an emperor inside the Yuan manor.
Without his instructions, there wasn’t a single person walking inside the courtyard of the three members of He family. Even the true owner of this courtyard, Yuan Earnest, would ask permission through the servant in charge of this courtyard’s maintenance before entering.
Before these seven days, although Yuan family was quite polite and courteous, it was nowhere like the current state of fear and trepidation shown by them.
When He Yiming’s true strength was revealed, the bearing of the entire Yuan family underwent a drastic change.
Sounds of long breathing could be heard outside He Yiming’s residence. Be it inhaling or exhaling, both seemed extremely prolonged, seeming as if it would continue for eternity.
Hereby, it could be seen that He Yiming’s lung capacity far outstripped that of an ordinary person. Even the tenth layer expert He Quanxin was no different.
Suddenly, He Yiming stopped, opened his eyes and spoke in a displeased voice, “Eldest brother, if you have something on your mind, just come in and say.”
The door immediately opened and He Yitian entered with an awkward expression on his face.
“Sixth brother, how did you know I’ve come to find you?”
He Yiming rolled his eyes and said, “You’ve been moving about outside the door, even my head is feeling dizzy. If I still couldn’t tell, wouldn’t I be too stupid?”
Seeing that his sixth brother’s bearing was not different than before in any way, He Yitian calmed down. He then bitterly smiled and said, “You actually advanced to the Xiantian realm without giving away a sound. This is simply unbelievable.”
He Yiming faintly smiled. At this point, giving any sort of explanation would be inappropriate. It would be better to simply preserve silence.
“Actually, when I discovered that you’ve entered the Xiantian realm, I was quite worried.”
“Why were you worried, eldest brother?”
“I was worried if your bearing will have some change.” He Yitian resolutely said.
He Yiming faintly started and sighed inwardly. Actually, his attitude indeed had undergone some transformation. However, this transformation was not too big.
After all, he’d not entered the Xiantian realm too long ago, and he’d been interacting with his family for several years. Such a sentiment couldn’t be erased within a short time period.
“Now, I’m relieved.” He Yitian said in a gratified voice, “You are still my sixth brother, still the most hardworking youngster of the He manor.”
He Yiming gave him a bright smile and said, “Eldest brother, I won’t change.”
He Yitian heavily nodded before revealing a bitter smile on his face.
He Yiming felt quite strange. He vaguely felt that his eldest brother had probably ran into some trouble. That was the reason the latter had come to find him.
“Eldest brother, what’s going on?”
He Yitian hesitated a bit, then said, “Sixth, yesterday I had a meeting with Lord Master Yuan Zeyu.”
“What did he say to you?” He Yiming felt curious. His brother would never have mentioned this topic if it didn’t serve any purpose.
“Lord Master Yuan Zeyu wants me to take a concubine.” He Yitian said with a slightly red face.