Cutting off the tail to survive

Yan Long watched Yan Yun depart, his face etched with guilt.

As for Yan Yun, the moment she reached the doorway, she spotted Yan Kun, who seemed to be waiting for her specifically.

“Returning so soon? Are you truly not treating the Yan family as your own home anymore?” Yan Kun asked, his tone laced with sarcasm.

Yan Yun, whose heart had been heavy moments before, involuntarily rolled her eyes at his words; it had almost become a habit for her.

“Brother, focus on your cultivation,” Yan Yun replied, moving past Yan Kun. “Become strong sooner, and you will be the only one in the Yan family with a chance to rise as a true powerhouse. I’m heading back now.”

Yet, as she descended the steps, Yan Kun suddenly spoke, posing a question.

“Hey, Third Brother,” he called out, “do you harbor some secret? That silver-haired girl who killed the Lin family members not long ago—I don’t know why, but I always feel she bears a striking resemblance to you.”

Yan Yun’s steps faltered at his words, but this time, she felt no panic.

Having already decided to leave, what was there to fear?

Moreover, she believed she should leave something behind for the Yan family.

After a moment’s thought, she retrieved a storage pouch from her person and returned to Yan Kun’s side.

“Take this,” she instructed. “Once you’ve looked through it, everything should become clear.

Consider these items a repayment for the family’s nurturing grace.

I believe they will prove useful someday.

I’m leaving now.”

With those words, she turned and strode away without a glance at Yan Kun’s expression, moving swiftly until she disappeared into the Jiang family compound within moments.

Only after Yan Yun had departed did Yan Kun belatedly open the storage pouch to glance inside.

What he saw made his pupils contract sharply.

Inside were millions of spirit stones and various pills plundered from the Lin family members, though these pills held little use for her.

Yet, the most valuable item was undoubtedly the half of the Divine Venerable Mirror.

This artifact, left for the Yan family, could serve as a trump card in times of dire need.

“This? Isn’t this the half of the Divine Venerable Mirror that the Lin family acquired at auction? How did it end up in their hands?”

After a moment of stunned silence, Yan Kun hastily turned and made his way to Yan Long.

“Father, Third Brother, he…” Yan Kun began, intending to speak the moment he entered.

Yan Long, however, sat in his chair, his face clouded with worry.

“So rash,” Yan Long questioned, his voice subdued. “What matter is so urgent that it makes you burst in without even a greeting?”

Yan Kun immediately handed the storage pouch he held to Yan Long.

“Father, didn’t Third Brother just visit?” Yan Kun asked, his voice full of doubt. “When he left, he suddenly tossed me a storage pouch.

I opened it and was utterly startled—isn’t this the half of the Divine Venerable Mirror the Lin family acquired at the last auction?”

Yan Long’s brow furrowed as he opened the storage pouch and took a glance, yet his expression betrayed only a hint of mild surprise.

“Is this child truly severing ties with our Yan family?” Yan Long murmured to himself.

“Father? You… you’re not surprised at all?” Yan Kun exclaimed, bewildered.

Yan Long let out a long sigh.

“Alas,” he began, “your younger brother came to me just moments ago to discuss this very matter.

Naturally, I am not surprised.”

Yan Kun stood dumbfounded.

Yan Long did not conceal anything from Yan Kun.

After all, Yan Yun’s true identity was likely to be exposed very soon, so he recounted everything Yan Yun had said during their recent conversation.

Upon hearing it all, Yan Kun was utterly thunderstruck.

Setting everything else aside, the revelation that his easily bullied younger brother had actually been a younger sister was enough to cause his mind to freeze.

****

As for Yan Yun, the moment she returned to her dwelling, she began to pack her belongings.

Her original plans, too, had to be altered because of this turn of events.

She penned a letter, leaving it inside the room, then gathered her possessions and scaled the wall to depart from the Jiang family compound.

Before leaving, she cast a glance in the direction of the Yan family.

“Old man, old man,” Yan Yun murmured softly, “I hope you make a wise choice.

Otherwise, my plan of ‘severing the tail to survive’ (TL Note: A Chinese idiom, ‘duanwei qiusheng,’ referring to a drastic measure taken to escape danger or preserve oneself, even if it means sacrificing a part.) will have been for naught.”

From that day forward, she would no longer need to deliberately disguise her identity; she departed Qifeng City openly and without pretense.

Not long after Yan Yun’s departure, Yan Kun, the fellow, rushed impetuously into the Jiang family compound and arrived at Yan Yun’s dwelling.

“Third Brother!” Yan Kun called out from outside.

Receiving no response from within, he pushed open the door and entered.

Upon entering, however, he found the room utterly empty.

Nevertheless, he noticed the letter Yan Yun had left behind and, without hesitation, opened it to read.

The first sentence on the page read:

‘Ah! I have a feeling the first to discover this letter will be my annoying Second Brother, Yan Kun, won’t it?’ This was Yan Yun’s opening line.

She could guess that Yan Kun would undoubtedly be the first to come looking for her.

It was only natural; members of the Jiang family rarely visited her quarters, save for Yan Kun, who would drop by every now and then to check on her.

Yan Kun was momentarily speechless.

Yan Yun’s primary intention was to inform the letter’s first reader to help deliver a message to Jiang Yao and Su Muyu of the Yunhua Sect.

The message was that they shouldn’t worry about her; she simply could no longer remain in Qifeng City and had gone to wander the world.

“This kid,” Yan Kun sighed heavily, “I never imagined her courage would be greater than I thought.

Alas!”

****

Not long after Yan Yun’s departure from Qifeng City, Yan Long, his face still clouded with worry, arrived before an imposing pavilion in Qifeng City.

This was the Immortal Alliance’s supervisory office within Qifeng City.

Upon Yan Long’s entry, an Immortal Alliance disciple swiftly came forward to greet him.

“You must be Family Head Yan, correct?” the Immortal Alliance disciple inquired. “May I ask the purpose of your visit?”

After careful deliberation, Yan Long’s expression gradually turned grave as he stated, “I am here to report my third son, Yan Yun, for secretly cultivating a forbidden technique proscribed by the Immortal Alliance.”

The moment these words left his lips, the Immortal Alliance disciple was utterly shocked.

She quickly ushered Yan Long into a private room, simultaneously summoning the supervisory envoy.

Once the supervisory envoy arrived, Yan Long elaborated on the reasons, also taking the opportunity to mention the matter of their Yan family’s ancestor from two years prior, Yan Lingyun, to the Immortal Alliance’s inspection envoy.

This news was, without a doubt, a bombshell.

The Qifeng City supervisory envoy immediately summoned the Lin family.

While they ordinarily wouldn’t have needed to involve the Lin family, considering the Yan family’s righteous act of sacrificing a family member for justice (TL Note: ‘Dàyì mièqīn’ refers to upholding justice even if it means harming one’s own relatives.), they naturally had to protect the Yan family from incurring the Lin family’s wrath.

Upon Lin Jingbo’s arrival and learning of this news, he was both surprised and enraged.

The Lin family had already obtained evidence sufficient to annihilate the Yan family, and that evidence was already en route.

However, the Yan family’s sudden, preemptive staging of a righteous act of sacrificing a family member for justice (TL Note: ‘Dàyì mièqīn’ refers to upholding justice even if it means harming one’s own relatives.) threatened to render all their efforts futile.

They had, after all, intended to make a grand issue out of Yan Lingyun’s past.

“Yan Long?” Lin Jingbo demanded, his gaze fixed on Yan Long with murderous intent. “You claim your useless third son accidentally discovered the legacy left by your Yan family’s ancestor from a millennium ago, Yan Lingyun, within the Yan family’s library, and thus cultivated a poisonous technique.

How, then, did you come to know of this?”

He sensed a problem within this account; it was far too coincidental.

“Alas!” Yan Long began, rising to his feet and speaking with earnest sincerity. “I, too, discovered this by chance.

Only after my repeated questioning did he finally confess the truth.

However, esteemed Supervisory Envoy, he is, after all, my son.

Forgive me, but I cannot personally deliver him to the supervisory office.

Yet, I can assure you that our Yan family and the Jiang family will publicly sever all ties with him.

His fate hereafter will be entirely at the discretion of the Immortal Alliance.”

This was an act of righteous sacrifice (TL Note: ‘Dàyì mièqīn’ refers to upholding justice even if it means harming one’s own relatives.), which, in the eyes of the Immortal Alliance’s supervisory envoy, was absolutely commendable, yet simultaneously despicable.

“Understood,” the envoy acknowledged. “Family Head Yan’s profound sense of righteousness, to personally report his own son, is highly commendable to this envoy.

Rest assured, my Immortal Alliance will never implicate the innocent.”

“Fellow Daoist Lin,” the supervisory envoy stated gravely, “this matter is now quite clear.

This Yan Yun is the culprit who killed your Lin family members.

Cease your disturbances in Qifeng City.

Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor (TL Note: ‘Yuan you tou, zhai you zhu’ is an idiom meaning that justice should be sought from the true offender, not from others.).

I hope your Lin family will not trouble the Yan family over this incident.”

Lin Jingbo’s expression was beyond grim, yet with matters having reached this point, what more could he say?

He could only concede that Yan Long possessed a truly ruthless heart.

If it were him, he wouldn’t be able to commit such an act.

“Hmph! I understand,” Lin Jingbo grunted. “This old man takes his leave.

I shall now go apprehend Yan Yun.”

With that, he departed, his face radiating murderous intent.

The Jiang family, having naturally received Yan Long’s notification in advance, proved highly cooperative when the Lin family arrived to apprehend the individual.

Unfortunately, their efforts proved fruitless, though this outcome was largely anticipated.

Consequently, the Immortal Alliance began to draw portraits of Yan Yun, including her appearance after activating her cultivation technique and transforming into a woman, instructing its various branch divisions to keep a watchful eye.

The Lin family, naturally, intensified their search efforts, while Yan Yun deliberately left behind traces, drawing everyone’s attention away from Qifeng City.

Thus began Yan Yun’s path of escape.