Chapter 304: Why the Change?
If he had never t Lin Yuei, Yun Lan would have taken Madam An as his wife according to his family’s plans, then taken Qin Jiani as concubine following his own wishes.
However, at a flower-viewing party two months after eting Qin Jiani, Yun Lan t Lin Yuei. When Lin Yuei walked out from amidst the peach blossoms dressed in a dark red brocade, it was love at first sight. He knew his emotions were misplaced, but he couldn’t bring himself to forget about her. Even when he found out that she already had a man of her dreams, his feelings for her didn’t change.
When Lin Yuei went on excursions with his good friend, Long Yin, they would frequently bring him along. Yun Lan looked on helplessly as the girl of his dreams flirted with his friend, his spirits falling but his emotions yet unchanging.
But just as Yun Lan thought that he wasn’t fated to be with Lin Yuei, Long Yin suddenly vanished. To make Lin Yuei give up on him, Lin Zainan began making plans for her wedding. While Lin Yuei was distraught, Yun Lan jumped in to save the day, caring for her as ticulously as he knew how.
Initially, Lin Yuei was unwilling to marry him, but when Yun Lan promised not to touch her for two years and that he would divorce her imdiately if Long Yin were to make a reappearance within those two years, Lin Yuei finally acceded.
At the sa ti, Yun Lan manipulated the Yun family into agreeing to the marriage between him and Lin Yuei, though he was forced to take Madam An, with whom he had a prior engagent, as a concubine as well.
In the end, just as he had wanted, Yun Lan married Lin Yuei. What he didn’t know was that, the day he married Lin Yuei and took Madam An as concubine, a fair maiden stood crying the entire night long outside the walls of the Yun manor.
Yun Lan had intended on watching Madam Qin and Li Mo duel quietly, but after hearing her ambitious claims, his eyes began to spark with killing intent.
“If you want your daughter back, unsummon this puppet imdiately. Otherwise, you’ll never see your daughter for the rest of your life.”
“Such big words,” Qin Jiani scoffed, laughing in her anger. “But just as you intend on coercing with my precious daughter, so can I threaten you with your precious woman!”
Qin Jiani pointed a finger at Yun Ruoyan, and the demonic puppet imdiately spat out black and red mists at her. As they intermingled in mid-air, they turned into over a dozen claws that pounced on her.
“Protect Miss Yun!” Su Nan commanded, and his five n ford a barrier encircling her.
Li Mo frowned. As an eighth-rank blademaster, Yun Ruoyan had a relatively advanced cultivation on the Chenyuan continent, but facing sothing like a demonic puppet, which wasn’t native to the Chenyuan continent, was still a highly dangerous prospect.
Li Mo was about to turn around to save her when, with the flick of a hand, Qin Jiani surrounded him with the demonic claws that had retreated to the side.
Su Nan and the guards that he commanded all boasted a cultivation beyond Yun Ruoyan’s, but the demonic claws were so unusual and present in such great quantities that the guards couldn’t handle them all.
Two of the guards were trussed up by several of the claws, then tossed aside. One claw caught Su Nan’s wrist, and the other tried to take his blade away. With a shout, Yun Ruoyan drew her Scarlet Eye.
In order to combat the demonic claws, Su Nan and the others had to infuse spiritual energy into their weapons. Even so, the damage that they caused was minimal. On the other hand, Yun Ruoyan’s Scarlet Eye imdiately caused a sizzling sound as soon as it made contact with one of the claws.
“Miss Yun, your sword can extinguish demonic aura!” Su Nan exclaid.
“In that case, let attack them,” Yun Ruoyan volunteered, charging ahead and chopping through the horde of claws that flocked toward her.
When Yun Ruoyan had cleared away most of the claws in her vicinity, she noticed Li Mo once again being surrounded by claws.
“Su Nan, take care of yourself!” Yun Ruoyan grit her teeth and rushed toward the demonic puppet, intending on relieving the pressure on Li Mo.
“You’re asking for death!” Qin Jiani shouted, commanding the puppet to strike her with its fists.
Yun Ruoyan dodged the attack with an elegant vault, then hacked at the puppet’s gigantic fist with her sword. The mont the Scarlet Eye t the puppet’s fist, it was as though a red-hot brand had landed on flesh.
The puppet was evidently able to feel pain, because it howled and flung Yun Ruoyan aside. She landed on the ground gracefully, holding up the Scarlet Eye in front of her as she defended against the puppet’s onslaught.
The pain seed to have honed the puppet’s will to fight, because even without Qin Jiani’s command, it focused all its attention on Yun Ruoyan. Without the puppet’s control, the demonic claws that had engulfed Li Mo were weakened significantly. With his newfound freedom, Li Mo looked below him to see Yun Ruoyan facing off against the demonic puppet.
“You fool, get back! You’re not its match!”
But it was already too late. The demonic puppet suddenly opened its mouth wide at Yun Ruoyan, releasing two gusts of demonic aura in rapid succession, one black and one red. Four red and black claws clawed at Yun Ruoyan. She cut one down, but the other three attacked her simultaneously.
They caught her neck, wrist, and one ankle.
With a snap, one claw broke her wrist, causing the Scarlet Eye to clatter to the ground as the other three claws held her body up in mid-air.
“Cease your resistance, or I’ll kill her now!” Qin Jiani threatened. Li Mo had no choice but to surrender, allowing the claws to capture him as well.
Within the suite, Yun Moxiao was so dismayed by Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo’s capture that he announced, “Father, I can’t wait any longer!”
He kicked the door to the suite open and rushed out into the hall, yellow sword aura appearing by his feet as he rushed toward Yun Ruoyan.
When Qin Jiani turned and saw Yun Moxiao, she stilled for a mont before smiling brightly once more. “Good timing! Once I kill you, Ruoyu will have one fewer competitor in the Yun family.”
Yun Moxiao unsheathed a sword by his waist as he chopped at the claw clutching Yun Ruoyan’s neck. As she struggled, Yun Ruoyan yelled out to Yun Moxiao, “Watch your back!”
Yun Moxiao turned around to see a red sword composed of demonic aura about to stab at his chest. He thought that he was about to perish, but monts before that sword struck his chest, it vanished.
At the sa ti, the claws surrounding Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo all vanished. Yun Moxiao caught the falling Yun Ruoyan, then landed on the ground with Li Mo.
By the other end of the room, Qin Jiani opened her eyes wide as she glanced at the sword that had skewered her heart. She turned disbelievingly toward Yun Lan, his face a frozen mask.
“Jiani, how did you end up in such a wretched state?!” Yun Lan exclaid, his voice shot with disappointnt and coldness.
“How did I end up in this state?” Qin Jiani laughed as she parroted Yun Lan’s question. “You dare ask that?”
The steel through her heart felt as cold as ice. Light shrunk from her. Qin Jiani found herself back in her bleak mories, trapped in silence and smothered by the dark.
“Beat her, beat her up! She’s a demon!” ca the voices of a few raucous kids. They surrounded her and yelled out, “She’s from that shamanic tribe, and they’re all demons! We won’t play with her!”
The children left, leaving a heartbroken little girl sobbing quietly to herself.
When a middle-aged man appeared in front of her, the little girl looked up even as tears fell from her eyes like beads strung on a necklace. “Father, we’re not demons! Father, tell them I’m not a demon!”
Qin Jiani awaited her father’s consolation, but all she received was a slap to her face.
“How many tis have I told you not to tell others that we’re from that shamanic tribe?! Now we’ll have to move all over again!”
The man pulled her up roughly and dragged her away.
The scene disappeared, quickly replaced by another. A handso youth stood on a bridge with a shy girl.
“Jiani, you like , don’t you?” the youth asked.
“I… I…” The girl hesitated and lowered her head, unused to the youth’s scrutiny.
“You must,” the youth continued, before she could respond. “Otherwise, why would you blush the mont you saw ? Do you blush when you look at other young n?”
“N—No, I don’t.” The girl continued lowering her head.
“No what?” The youth continued. “You don’t like , or you don’t blush?”
“I… I…” Even the tips of the girl’s ears had turned red as she tightly clutched the hem of her dress.
The youth smiled and tugged on her hands. “Jiani, if you like , would you like to get married? However, given your status, you could only be my concubine. Would you accept that?”
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