A Mother’s Fierce Resolve

Seven days ago, a report arrived at Shanghua Heaven: the Little Crown Princess had run away.

Such incidents were not unprecedented. In the past, the Little Crown Princess always returned by the next day.

Yunjie mused that she herself had done the same as a child when tired from studying. She would find a serene and beautiful spot to sleep the entire day, waking refreshed the following morning.

Yet, each time her child went missing, Yunjie’s anxiety remained, her face still paling with fright.

“Where did she go? Did you not send anyone to search?”

Weili immediately sought to reassure her. “I have, and they are searching. I never told you before, but this isn’t the first time this has happened.”

Weili needn’t have spoken; Yunjie already knew. Her daughter never kept secrets from her, always proactively sharing any news when they met. It was only their silent agreement to conceal things from Weili that kept him in the dark.

Fearing her distress, Weili even joked with her, attempting to divert Yunjie’s attention. “Yunjie, you are so gentle and quiet. How is it that the daughter we bore together is so mischievous and unruly?”

Yunjie remained silent. Weili, holding her, asked again, “Yunjie, our daughter has run away repeatedly, refusing to properly cultivate her skills. Could it be that she dislikes her training grounds or the masters who accompany her?”

Yunjie looked at him, her brow furrowing slightly, unsure of his meaning.

Weili continued, “She carries half of your Mermaid clan’s bloodline, yet she has never visited the Southern Sea, nor has she ever interacted with other Mermaids.”

“Yunjie, do you think she might like the Mermaid clan? What if we send her to the Southern Sea next time?”

Yunjie was momentarily stunned by his suggestion, almost believing she was hallucinating. Xilin had been different from the other young merfolk of her generation since birth.

She was the last remaining dragon in the world, revered by all beings across the Nine Provinces, the master of Shanghua Heaven, and the child of Emperor Weili.

When Xilin was born, her name was not chosen according to the Mermaid clan’s minor customs, where the clan leader and elders would name a child and hang a plaque on the divine tree.

Yunjie had mentioned this custom to him once, but Weili had dismissed it. Gazing at the little golden dragon in the cradle, he had simply smiled, saying, “Why go to such trouble?”

Weili declared, “She is the daughter of a true dragon, and she possesses your Mermaid bloodline. Others would be extraordinary for having just one of these, but she has both. The Heavenly Dao will naturally protect her.”

Yunjie was too weak, and Weili was unwilling to discuss it further, so she could not press the matter.

Xilin’s name had been chosen to align with the will of the Heavenly Dao. The years Xilin spent in her swaddling clothes were Yunjie’s happiest days in Shanghua Heaven.

With her daughter by her side, intelligent and adorable, Xilin was mischievous yet never annoying, always delighting in clinging to Yunjie.

Perhaps owing to her Mermaid bloodline, Xilin adored water.

Yunjie often transformed her fish tail, playing with Xilin in the pond’s stream. Xilin would turn into a small golden dragon, and Yunjie’s tail would playfully splash water all over her. The little golden dragon would then “giggle” ceaselessly, swimming softly towards Yunjie, continuously calling out, “Mama, Mama.”

Yunjie gathered her into her arms, gently performing a hand seal. The little golden dragon transformed back into her human form, settling onto Yunjie’s lap. She was so tiny, like a soft, white glutinous rice dumpling.

“Mama, what happened to your tail?”

Yunjie paused, instinctively hiding her tail. She asked with a touch of sadness, “Wha—what do you mean?”

Young Xilin, her voice still childishly soft, asked, “Mama, are you hurt? Does it ache?”

Yunjie’s heart softened, and her thoughts drifted back to the time before Weili’s ascension. During the Great Immortal-Demon War, the Mermaid clan had allied with the Immortal clan.

Yunjie, appearing delicate and aloof, had charged into battle with a long blade, fighting fiercely for Weili.

The injury on her fish tail had been sustained during the fiercest battle of that war. Yunjie had been in excruciating pain at the time.

She could no longer recall many details, only the blur of blood and flesh, and how she had nearly lost her tail. After it healed, the greater part of her fish tail was covered in scars, unable to grow scales, appearing particularly deformed and unsightly.

For the Mermaid clan, their fish tails were akin to the Bird clan’s wings or a mortal’s appearance.

Yunjie was, of course, heartbroken. For a long time, she couldn’t bear to look at it directly, unwilling to transform and see her own fish tail. Now, with the passage of time, she had gradually grown indifferent to it.

She told Xilin in a calm tone, “I was injured a long time ago, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Yunjie hesitated before asking her, “Does Mama’s tail look very ugly like this?”

‘Children speak innocently. Even if Xilin tells the truth, I won’t be sad or blame her.’

But Xilin simply hugged her, her small, chubby hands reaching to grasp Yunjie’s. “It’s not ugly. Mama is the most beautiful.”

Though so young at the time, she earnestly looked up at Yunjie and declared, “When I grow up, I will surely find good medicine to heal Mama’s injuries.”

Yunjie didn’t take her childish words to heart. She simply stroked Xilin’s head, smiled, and replied, “Alright, Mama will be waiting for little Xilin then.”

Yunjie possessed a gentle nature. She never found her child bothersome, always treating Xilin with unwavering tenderness and patience. She had never once laid a hand on Xilin.

Weili, however, was her complete opposite. He often told himself that he should not spoil Xilin so excessively.

He was decidedly a strict parent, never having engaged in playful banter or games with Xilin. From their earliest meetings, the atmosphere between them grew increasingly stiff and cold.

Weili argued that Yunjie’s temperament was unsuitable for raising a child. Xilin was their sole heir, destined to become the future leader of Shanghua Heaven.

Yunjie was too soft-hearted, unable to bring herself to scold or punish her child. The moment she saw Xilin’s tear-filled eyes and heard her call “Mama,” Yunjie wished to give her everything.

Knowing this approach wouldn’t work, Weili adopted a firm stance, sending Xilin away. He enlisted nine High Gods to serve as her masters, ensuring she received rigorous instruction in cultivation.

Xilin left her at a very young age. During that period, Yunjie and Weili erupted into the fiercest and most prolonged arguments and cold wars they had ever experienced.

Even back then, when Yunjie discovered Weili’s deception, she hadn’t argued with him like this.

He had feigned weakness to approach her, deliberately maneuvering the Mermaid clan into an alliance with the Immortal clan. They became a mere stepping stone for his ascension, and she herself had nearly lost her tail in the great war.

“Little Xilin is so young! How could you be so cruel as to send her away from Shanghua Heaven?!” Yunjie yelled, furious, as she argued fiercely with him.

Weili’s demeanor remained unyielding as he reprimanded Yunjie. “The day before yesterday, I tested her on the ‘Chronicles of the Nine Provinces,’ and she couldn’t recite it past the halfway mark. Her cultivation progress is incredibly slow. If she stays by your side, she will only grow more lax in her studies day by day.”

“A strict teacher produces exceptional students, while a doting mother spoils her child. Yunjie, you are harming her by doing this.”

“She’s still so small!!!” Yunjie fumed, her words laden with explosive anger. “At her age, in our Mermaid clan, she would only need to play without a care every day, and she wouldn’t…”

“That is *your* Mermaid clan!!!” Weili interrupted sharply.

After their child was sent away, Yunjie argued with him daily. Weili, burdened by heavy official duties and already vexed, spoke with a harsh tone, uttering grave words.

“She is the Little Crown Princess of Shanghua Heaven, a rare Dragon-kind in this world! The Mermaid clan is inherently timid and weak. If she were raised your way, she would only become a useless puppet, easily manipulated by others.”

His words were too harsh. Yunjie froze for a moment, and Weili realized his mistake. “That’s not what I meant…”

Yunjie pondered for a moment, then turned her back, taking a deep breath. “Yes, everything you say is correct…”

“I am indeed timid and weak. And now, confined here, am I not a puppet at your mercy?”

“Yunjie, you know I didn’t mean that. I was just too anxious earlier.”

The argument ceased. Afterwards, Yunjie only asked him to bring little Xilin back, but Weili did not agree. Instead, he told her, “I will have her return once every half month.”

He had lured Yunjie from the Southern Sea back to the restrictive Shanghua Heaven, only to then send away her most cherished “treasure” within it.

A rift had already formed between them, and after this, Yunjie found herself with nothing more to say to him, becoming increasingly silent.

Weili disliked her silence. He constantly spun lies, trying to coax Yunjie into intimacy with him.

He even claimed they could have another child, suggesting Yunjie would then feel less lonely and less angry with him.

Yet, how could he speak so casually? The Dragon clan was almost extinct, and Xilin had only come to them after thousands of years together.

Weili’s promise of Xilin returning every half month was a falsehood. Sometimes, when he was in secluded cultivation, not only half a month but even half a year would pass before they could rarely meet.

Fortunately, Xilin was no different from the little dragon girl who used to cling to her as a child. Every time she returned to Shanghua Heaven, she would rush straight to Yunjie, her cries of “Mama” audible from afar.

Even after long separations, mother and child never grew distant. Xilin would confide in Yunjie about her dislike for certain masters, her confusion during cultivation, and her epiphanies during enlightenment.

Yunjie would always gently unravel her emotional knots.

Like Yunjie, Xilin would transform back into her dragon form and skip lessons for a day if she was truly exhausted. However, this time, she had been missing for seven days and still hadn’t been found.

She had never done this before. How could Yunjie not be in a panic?!

For the first two days, she managed to maintain her composure.

Two more days passed, and Weili was still able to offer comfort.

Then, a subordinate reported that the Little Crown Princess had been sighted in the Ghost Realm.

Across the Nine Provinces, it was widely known that the Demon Venerable Xiyue resided in the Ghost Realm. It was also known that the Ghost King intended to ally with the Demon clan to jointly oppose the Immortal clan.

How could Yunjie remain still? She immediately rose, intent on rushing to the Ghost Realm.

Weili forbade her from leaving Shanghua Heaven and promptly blocked her path. Yunjie, consumed by urgency, couldn’t hear a word he said.

She argued fiercely with Weili, even drawing her magical long blade and pointing it at him.

The usually gentle Yunjie turned cold, displaying the same fierce courage she had shown during the Great Immortal-Demon War. “You dare to stop me?!”

Weili allowed her to leave, likely realizing that persistently blocking her would only further diminish the affection between them.

Yunjie departed Shanghua Heaven, heading directly for the Ghost Realm.

‘Fortunately…’

‘Fortunately, she had arrived in time…’

‘What would have become of her daughter if she had been even a moment later? It was simply unimaginable.’