Xun Xue Arrives

“Wan Shuang!”

Not long after, the wooden door of the hut was suddenly pushed open. An aquamarine figure swept in like the wind, her azure eyes urgently scanning the room. “Where is my daughter? Where is she now?”

Her gaze instantly locked onto its target—on the hard wooden bed by the window, a small blue figure lay listlessly, her face buried in the crook of her arm, her tail hanging limply over the edge of the bed. And by the wooden table, the silver-gray-haired wolf clan leader was leisurely sipping hot tea, flipping through a yellowed scroll.

“There you are!”

Xun Xue instantly forgot about Wan Shuang, rushing to the bedside in a few quick strides. She carefully yet intimately scooped the small blue bundle into her arms. She pressed her face against her daughter’s soft hair and small ears, nuzzling her again and again like a rediscovered treasure, her face filled with pure joy.

“Mew~”

The small body in her arms flinched almost imperceptibly, letting out an extremely faint, aggrieved whimper.

“Hmm?”

Xun Xue sharply caught this hint of strangeness. She paused her nuzzling in confusion, pulled back a little, and looked down carefully at her daughter in her arms—the little one was listless, burying her face even deeper.

Xun Xue tilted her head and asked Wan Shuang, who was off to the side, “What’s wrong with this little one? She doesn’t seem to be in high spirits today?”

“She made a mistake, so I taught her a lesson.”

Wan Shuang put down the scroll in her hand, picked up her teacup, and blew on it lightly. “She made a mistake, so I disciplined her a bit,” she said faintly. She looked up at Xun Xue, her silver-gray eyes carrying a serious, scrutinizing gaze. “The discipline might have been… a little severe. You, as her mother, had better console her first.”

“Ah…?”

Xun Xue was taken aback for a moment, then she tentatively asked, “What mistake did this little one make?”

“She colluded with a human cultivator to steal our clan’s treasured herb. Not only did she show no remorse, but she also insisted she was a disciple of the Tianyuan Sect, a human, not a demon.”

Wan Shuang’s brows furrowed slightly. She put down her teacup, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Xun Xue with a scrutinizing gaze. “Xun Xue, I don’t think the problem lies with her, but with you, her mother! Did you just focus on breaking through to the next realm and leave your daughter to fend for herself in some corner? You didn’t even know your child had been abducted by humans and had forgotten her own roots?!”

“I did not!”

Xun Xue pouted and protested to Wan Shuang, “Sister Wan Shuang, don’t wrong me! I was too heavily injured this time… I couldn’t even leave my cave, so I could only focus on recuperating!” As she spoke, she subconsciously nuzzled her daughter’s furry head with her chin, as if seeking validation, which earned her another faint “mewing” protest from Lu Qiancha.

“So that’s your reason for letting your child run wild?”

Wan Shuang gently pressed her forehead, her words laced with helplessness. “Xun Xue, oh Xun Xue! You are a mother now. You can’t be as willful and reckless as you were in the royal palace back then. And you can’t let your child run amok, to the point where her own identity has been clouded.”

“Then… what can I do! I want to be with my little Qiancha every day too…”

Xun Xue grumbled pitifully, her fingers unconsciously twirling a few strands of her daughter’s blue hair.

Suddenly, she belatedly remembered the main point. “Wait! You just said she stole… cough, took what herb from your clan? The Origin Returning Fruit? Oh, whatever it is, I’ll compensate you! Double compensation! Name your price, and we’ll just say those fruits were sold to my daughter, alright?”

Her expression instantly became that of a wealthy patron, as if any problem that could be solved with spirit stones was not a problem at all.

“It’s just a few Origin Returning Fruits. They’re not particularly important herbs.”

Wan Shuang waved her hand and continued, “There’s no need for compensation. Consider it my welcome gift to this child.”

“Hehehe, Sister Wan Shuang is the best. Then I’ll thank you for this generous gift on behalf of Little Qiancha.” Xun Xue’s face immediately lit up with a smile, and she didn’t forget to shake the little one in her arms. “Quick, Qiancha, thank Sister Wan Shuang.”

Lu Qiancha: “…” (Plays dead)

At that moment, Wan Shuang, with a hint of seriousness and confusion, dropped another bombshell, “By the way, Xun Xue. You… when did you get married? To think you even kept it from me? Although we haven’t been in touch much these years, I should have at least received a wedding invitation, right? I didn’t even prepare a proper gift for my niece…”

Her tone carried a hint of displeasure at being kept in the dark by a close friend.

“Ah…?”

Xun Xue was stunned for a moment, then she hurriedly explained, “I’m not married.”

“Huh? You’re not married?! Then this child… where did this child come from??? She couldn’t have just fallen from the sky, could she?!”

Wan Shuang’s mind went blank at these words. Her eyes darted back and forth between Lu Qiancha and Xun Xue, who looked like sisters.

“More or less… you could say I found her?”

Xun Xue blinked, causing the originally calm Wan Shuang’s brows to furrow even more.

“F-found her?!” Wan Shuang’s voice was a little strained. She felt as if her well-tempered Dao heart was about to crack. “You mean… you were outside, and you just happened to find a little one who looks almost identical to you and has a pure royal bloodline aura?! Just by coincidence?”

“Mmm-hmm, although that’s not entirely accurate, it’s more or less like that.”

Xun Xue nodded, agreeing with the other’s point of view.

“???”

Wan Shuang was now completely bewildered. She had lived for so long, and this was the first time she had heard of such a strange and bizarre thing.

“Oh, let me put it this way…”

Xun Xue slapped her forehead and explained to Wan Shuang how she had met Lu Qiancha on the Eastern Purvavideha Continent and, after giving her her essence blood, had gained a daughter.

“…This.”

Wan Shuang was lost in thought for a long time. This was the first time she had heard that essence blood could be used to transform a human into a demon. And not a half-demon, but a demon with a pure bloodline.

“Then what the little one said earlier about being a disciple of the Tianyuan Sect…”

Wan Shuang said softly, wanting to see Xun Xue’s reaction.

“Eh? So my daughter is from the Tianyuan Sect?”

Xun Xue blinked, and an idea popped into her head. Perhaps she could find an opportunity to stay at the Tianyuan Sect for a long time… that way, she could be with her daughter every day.

“You didn’t know?”

Wan Shuang asked with a frown.

“How could I possibly know? We only met once, and then I ran home to recuperate.”

Xun Xue’s voice was a little aggrieved.

“…I give up on you.”

Wan Shuang gently pressed her forehead. After taking a deep breath, she said with some helplessness, “Xun Xue… you’re a mother now, for goodness’ sake! Can you… please learn to be… just a little bit more reliable?”

“Hehe…”

Xun Xue knew she was in the wrong. She quickly hugged her daughter and offered an apologetic smile, her tail wagging behind her ingratiatingly, trying to muddle through by playing dumb.