Chapter 280: Demonic Bloodline
“Luckily, Ruoyu was ill and unfit to participate in Kongming Academy’s trial. The three of you must work together so that the Yun family will continue to prosper for generations to co.” The Yun matriarch glanced somberly at her three grandchildren, her eyes doting.
“Grandmother, don’t worry. We’ll honor the Yun na,” Yun Moxiao promised.
“Sister, you really must stay ho for a few more days this ti!” Yun Ruoyu nudged Yun Ruoyan. “I’m the only girl left in the Yun manor now, and there’s no one at all for to talk to!”
“That’s right, Second Miss,” Qin Jiani added, smiling. “Ruoyu was originally quite lively, but now that she’s been living with , reciting Buddhist mantras at dawn, spending ti with her grandmother in the afternoon, and remaining in her own rooms at night, I’m worried that she’s smothering herself.”
“Ruoyu has indeed been visiting a lot lately.” The Yun matriarch bead at her youngest granddaughter, having gotten much closer to her. “I’m simply afraid that I might be boring her too much.”
“I don’t feel bored, Grandmother!” Yun Ruoyu replied. “I enjoy spending ti with both Grandmother and Mother, but now that Sister Ruoyan’s ho, I’ll be visiting her quite a bit as well!”
Yun Ruoyu seed to have beco a different person entirely: not only had her personality changed, so had her taste in clothing. In the past, she had always dressed in bright reds and pinks, but she had now switched to far plainer greens and browns.
And Qin Jiani, who had always secluded herself in her cottage, now seed more amiable and friendly.
“I might not be able to stay for a long ti during this visit, but I’ll be ho in the mornings these two days. Sister Ruoyu, if you’re bored, please feel free to co find .”
The skies grew dark as they chatted. Because the Yun matriarch could only eat soft foods and was concerned that her grandchildren wouldn’t be able to stomach her usual fare, she didn’t bid them stay for dinner. Instead, they left her residence and each returned to their own cottage.
Yun Ruoyan walked together with Yun Moxiao. As they passed by Madam An’s cottage, she could hear a woman’s laughter, wavering sharply between high-pitched and low-pitched, which sohow turned into shrill shouts and cries.
As she cried, she began to wail in lant, her voice lancholy and desolate.
Yun Ruoyan frowned and looked toward Yun Moxiao, who told her, “It’s Madam An. Right after Yun Ruoyao’s death, she grew deathly ill. Father sent for quite a number of physicians, none of which were able to help. In the end, it was Madam Qin who slowly nursed her back to health, but her ntal faculty has been in decline ever since. Now, it looks as though she’s gone completely mad.”
Yun Ruoyan nodded. Yun Ruoyao and Madam An’s downfall was neither sothing that left her happy or overly concerned; she hadn’t been and wasn’t willing to expend any more effort on them than was necessary.
She returned to her own cottage, where her maids were overjoyed to have her back. Xi Lan and Peony prepared a feast for Yun Ruoyan, each dish sothing that she liked. Her brother accompanied her for dinner at her cottage before leaving.
After dinner, Yun Ruoyan took a bath before proceeding through her daily cultivation routine. That night, she prepared to concoct poison. She took out her cauldron and successfully concocted a fifth-grade cultivation-dissociating pill, one which Qiuqiu had promised would be able to completely destroy the cultivation of an eighth-rank or lower blademaster.
“It’s that strong?” Yun Ruoyan clutched the dark gold surface of the pill.
“This is nothing! All the poison pills you’re able to make at the mont are only able to deal with cultivators of the sa or lower rank than you. Against soone as strong as Li Mo, your poison would be all but useless!” Qiuqiu warned.
“Qiuqiu, I rember you telling that I’d be able to study from that to of poison that you have once my cultivation’s high enough…”
“I did ntion it,” Qiuqiu replied, “but I believe my exact requirent was for you to beco a ninth-rank blademaster first, Mistress. As of the mont, it seems like you’re rely an eighth-rank blademaster.”
“Alright,” Yun Ruoyan deflated, seeing that Qiuqiu wasn’t about to give in.
“Soone’s coming,” Qiuqiu suddenly called out. Yun Ruoyan could also feel an aura drawing near her back window, one that she found familiar but not overly so.
“Miss Yun, long ti no see.” The man who entered her room through her back window was draped in a black robe exactly like Li Mo’s—the third prince Li Qianhan, whom she hadn’t seen for quite a while.
“I regret that I’m unable to welco you properly so late at night, Third Prince.” Yun Ruoyan smiled mischievously.
Yun Ruoyan and Li Qianhan had known each other even before Li Mo; for a very long period of ti, Li Qianhan had been their courier, and his sudden appearance today undoubtedly had sothing to do with Li Mo.
“Is sothing wrong with Li Mo again?”
“Yes. He had to leave the capital for a few days, but he’ll be back as soon as possible.” Li Qianhan sat languidly at her table, glancing at the tea and snacks still on it.
Now that it was winter, however, the cold tea was unsuitable for drinking. Luckily, there was still a platter of snacks set on her table, and Li Qianhan began snacking on a small piece.
“What’s so urgent?” Yun Ruoyan hugged her knees, a slight frown marring her face.
“Uncle’s gone to prepare a betrothal gift,” Li Qianhan replied, between bites.
“A betrothal gift? For what?”
“What else? To marry you, of course!” Li Qianhan glanced askance at Yun Ruoyan. “He understands your father, Yun Lan, very well. In order for him to agree to this marriage, one which could very well make him lose face, Uncle has to offer him a gift he can’t refuse—so high-rank beast cores, for example, or even high- or sage-grade spiritual pills and herbs. These aren’t so easy to procure, even for a man like Uncle.”
Li Qianhan swallowed another bite of a pastry, then wiped his hands against each other and stood up. “Uncle told to tell you to stay here and wait for him to co for you.”
Li Qianhan left after delivering his ssage, leaving Yun Ruoyan curled up in bed. She blinked for a few monts, then slowly began to smile.
A thousand miles away from the Yun manor, in the beastkin valley deep within the Yueli Mountains, an ancient castle stood stark against the winter night. Beneath the castle was a secret vault, and within the vault was a jade-white statue of a woman.
“Your son greets you, Mother.” Li Mo bowed toward the stature.
“Rise,” ca a pleasant but cold voice. “Mo’er, are you here for sothing important?”
“Mother, Yun Ruoyan is now an eighth-rank blademaster, and I plan on taking her as wife next spring. I ca here to inform you of the matter.”
“That girl still isn’t of age, is she?”
“She will attain her majority next spring.”
“An eighth-rank blademaster before the age of fifteen… an uncommon sight on the Chenyuan continent, surely.”
“In one of Kongming Academy’s training grounds, a forest of giant trees, we obtained a heavenly spirit fruit. She managed to break through after consuming the fruit,” Li Mo explained.
“Even so, that she managed to reach such a realm with a single heavenly spirit fruit is remarkable. Taking her as your wife will be no issue, Li Mo, especially since her constitution will help advance your cultivation. I shall, of course, aid your efforts. Su Nan, bring over the fruit of cloud and sky.”
Su Nan bowed and walked into an antechamber, quickly returning with a box lined in gold and jade. Empress Xue Tong nodded almost imperceptibly, allowing Li Mo to open the box. The mont he did so, the room beca bathed in multicolored light.
The fruit of cloud and sky was a potent spiritual treasure even above the heavenly spirit fruit itself, able to help a peak ninth-rank blademaster break into the realm of a sword saint. However, it also had a significant drawback: one who consud such a fruit would always remain the lowest rank of sword saint, never to improve once more.
Despite this drawback, the fruit was a treasure beyond compare. Even Li Mo hadn’t expected Empress Xue Tong to bring out such a valuable gift.
“I have so understanding of this Yun Lan. He might appear to be honorable, respectable, even old-fashioned, but he’s shrewd and wily deep inside. As long as you can pay the price, he’s certainly willing to break a rule or two,” Empress Xue Tong continued mildly.
Lin Mo knew that Yun Lan was an early ninth-rank blademaster, one hardly likely to reach the realm of a sword saint on his own might alone. However, with this fruit of cloud and sky, this realm would no longer be a dream. All cultivators sought to advance their cultivation, and Yun Lan was no exception.
“I thank you for your generosity, Mother.” Li Mo bowed deeply.
“Mo’er, we share a common goal: to raise your cultivation as high as possible, then to slaughter the silver dragon clan in revenge for your father. All that we’ve done, we’ve done for this goal. I will give all that I have to this end, and I expect the sa of you, my son.”
“Yes, Mother. I will spare no effort to slaughter the silver dragon clan.” Li Mo’s eyes were steely with resolve.
“You may leave.”
Li Mo followed Su Nan out. After they left, a person walked out from another side chamber—Li Mo’s master, the first elder of Kongming Academy.
“You claim that Mo’er doesn’t know that Yun Ruoyan’s a descendant of the demonic dragon clan?”
The first elder mulled it over for a mont. “I think he only suspects that Yun Ruoyan might be connected to the demonic dragon clan. After all, he’s not as familiar with them as we are, and it’s not an easy fact to ascertain.”
Long before Yun Ruoyan had been possessed by the demonic ring, the first elder had already begun suspecting her identity. During this period of ti, he had focused his efforts on investigating her background—that she had once been poisoned, that despite her status as a wife-born heir, she wasn’t particularly liked by her father.
These findings only deepened the first elder’s suspicions of her identity. When he sent soone to investigate her mother’s tomb, he finally confird his hypothesis. Yun Ruoyan wasn’t Yun Lan’s child; her birth father was soone else, and her mother, Lin Yuei, was likely still alive...
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