Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 337 Sealed Past (Part 2)
That night, a large army surrounded the village where the Ning clan lived, making it completely impassable.

Yang Ziyuan threatened the lives of the entire clan to force the clan leader to hand over the Longevity Manual. The clan leader had no choice but to compromise, but he was cunning and tore out the last three pages of the Longevity Manual beforehand.

In this way, the Longevity Manual becomes an incomplete version, and practitioners will eventually suffer from qi deviation due to the incompleteness of the technique, turning into mentally unstable madmen.

If Yang Ziyuan truly keeps his word and spares the Ning clan, then the clan chief will dictate the contents of the last three pages to him.

However, the moment Yang Ziyuan obtained the Longevity Manual, he killed the clan leader, followed by a brutal and merciless massacre in which the entire Ning clan was wiped out.

All of this is because Yang Ziyuan does not want anyone else in the world to know about the existence of the Longevity Formula. The reason why the treasure is regarded as a treasure is because it is unique and cannot be replicated.

"Yang Ziyuan ordered his men to set fire to the village, completely erasing any trace of the Ning clan's existence. The fire lasted for two days and one night. The only fortunate thing was that the few young men the clan chief had sent out on patrol escaped. They became the last remaining members of the Ning clan. Besides them, the clan chief's wife and Ning Juexia were also alive. Yang Ziyuan took them back to the Southern Capital Palace and placed them under house arrest. Ning Juexia hated Yang Ziyuan intensely and tried to kill him several times, but all her attempts ended in failure."

When Nie Xiayun said this, a look of reluctance appeared in her eyes.

Ning Juexia carelessly let a wolf into her house, bringing disaster upon herself and her clan. All her relatives and clansmen died tragically, and she was pregnant with her enemy's child. She wanted to die but couldn't, and she wanted to take revenge but couldn't succeed. She was truly living a life worse than death.

Yan Ciwan imagined what it would be like for her to encounter such a thing; she would surely be driven mad.

She asked softly, "Did Grandpa tell you all these things?"

Nie Xiayun nodded: "Yes, my husband said that when he was born, Yang Ziyuan was already the Crown Prince of Heng Dynasty. He is Yang Ziyuan's eldest son, but Yang Ziyuan never publicly revealed his status as the eldest grandson of the emperor, nor did he give Ning Juexia any title."

Yan Ciwan thought to herself that it was truly a miracle that Ning Juexia was able to give birth to the child safely, given her circumstances at the time.

If it were her, she would definitely abort the child in her womb and then try every means to take Yang Ziyuan down with her. She would rather die than let her family's enemy get away with it.

Nie Xiayun saw through her thoughts and said helplessly.

"Actually, Ning Juexia's thoughts were similar to yours. She had tried to abort the fetus in her womb. She was unwilling to give birth to the child of the enemy who had wiped out her family. However, Yang Ziyuan threatened her with the life of the clan chief's wife and forced her to give birth to the child. For her mother's sake, Ning Juexia could only submit with resentment."

Yan Ciwan fell silent.

It seems she had underestimated the situation. The reason Yang Ziyuan spared the clan chief's wife's life was probably to use her to control Ning Juexia. This man was even more insidious and vicious than she had imagined.

Nie Xiayun sighed again: "But what Ning Juexia didn't know was that the clan chief's wife had already committed suicide by swallowing gold. She couldn't bear the blow of the clan's extermination, and she didn't want to be a burden to her daughter, so she chose to end her own life. Yang Ziyuan didn't tell Ning Juexia this bad news. Ning Juexia always thought that her mother was still alive. She endured humiliation and gave birth to a son."

The old emperor was already incompetent and foolish. In his later years, he became obsessed with cultivating martial arts and neglected state affairs, which led to rampant corruption in the court. The people were overwhelmed by various exorbitant taxes and levies, and many were driven to desperation to become bandits.

With the people's hearts broken and their grievances growing, cracks have appeared in the Heng Dynasty's rule.

Yang Ziyuan realized this. He knew very well that he was powerless to change the status quo with his status as a prince. His only way was to become the crown prince and ascend the throne in the future. Once he held power, he could carry out sweeping reforms to prolong the Heng Dynasty's rule. He tried every means to find the secret of immortality and presented it to the old emperor, thus winning the emperor's favor and being named crown prince. His plan had taken its most important first step.

The old emperor began cultivating the Longevity Technique. Whenever he encountered something he didn't understand, he would call Yang Ziyuan over to ask him. Since Yang Ziyuan didn't know how to cultivate it, he would take the questions back and interrogate Ning Juexia.

In order to save his mother's life, Ning Juexia had no choice but to tell the truth.

Yang Ziyuan would then relay the answers he received from her to the old emperor. As a result, the old emperor grew closer to and trusted him more, and his position as crown prince became more secure.

Although the Longevity Manual did not cure the old emperor's illness, it improved his spirits considerably. This made him practice even more diligently, believing that as long as he mastered the entire Longevity Manual, he would surely be able to cure all his ailments and regain his health!
What he didn't know was that the longevity manual he held was actually an incomplete copy.

No matter how hard he cultivated, he could not reach the highest level of the Longevity Technique.

In the end, the old emperor went mad from practicing his martial arts, becoming a mentally unstable lunatic.

Yang Ziyuan sensed something was wrong, so he pressed Ning Juexia for answers, wanting to know why his father had gone mad and whether there was a problem with the Longevity Formula.
Upon hearing his description, Ning Juexia knew it was because the cultivation technique was incomplete.

She seized this opportunity to negotiate with Yang Ziyuan, forcing him to let her mother leave. Yang Ziyuan wanted to pretend to agree, but then turn his back on her after she revealed the reason for her demonic possession.

However, Ning Juexia was no longer the naive young woman she once was. She wanted to see her mother leave Nandu safely with her own eyes, otherwise she would say nothing.

Even when Yang Ziyuan threatened her with her son's life, she remained unmoved.

Her toughness angered Yang Ziyuan, who ordered his men to break her limbs, chain her neck, and force her to crawl on the ground like a dog, but not to kill her. He wanted to destroy her dignity and force her to submit in this way.

When Yan Ciwan heard this, she involuntarily clenched her fists.

She asked, "Did Grandpa tell you all this too?"

"Yes, Grandpa saw his mother being treated like livestock. He wanted to save her, but he was too young at the time and couldn't do anything. Until one day, he overheard Yang Ziyuan talking to someone and learned the truth that the clan chief's wife had already died. Yang Ziyuan discovered him, but Yang Ziyuan was not angry because of this. Instead, he showed him unprecedented gentleness."

Yan Ciwan had a bad feeling: "What does that beast want to do?"

Nie Xiayun said, "Yang Ziyuan tried to brainwash my husband and get him to tell Ning Juexia the truth about how the Longevity Formula causes people to go into qi deviation. He promised that if my husband could accomplish this, he would write my husband's name into the family genealogy and make him a noble prince with endless glory."

Yan Ciwan pressed on impatiently, "And then? Grandpa didn't agree, did he?"

"He agreed."