Another Unexpected Turn of Events?

Upon arriving at Su Muyu’s residence, Yan Yun’s face was utterly crestfallen.

“Mother! I’m absolutely furious. Tell me, does that old man have any courage at all? It’s been almost half an hour since I returned, and he hasn’t uttered a single word.”

Yan Yun grumbled as soon as she entered.

Seeing Yan Yun’s evident displeasure, Su Muyu immediately let out a sigh.

“Don’t even get me started. It’s much the same for me. Since I came back, that ‘old man’ of yours hasn’t said a single word either.”

Hearing that her mother had also been met with Yan Long’s silence, Yan Yun grew curious.

“Mother, what do you think he’s truly thinking? In the past, when you and I held no value, his coldness was understandable. But now, I’m so capable, and you’ve even become a disciple of the Yunhua Sect’s Sect Master. By all accounts, a man so fixated on personal gain should have changed his attitude towards me, shouldn’t he?”

Su Muyu shook her head.

“You know as well as I do that I’m hardly familiar with him. Since coming to the Yan family, my only real interaction with him was on the night of our wedding, and then you came along. After that, we barely exchanged another word.”

Yan Yun found herself speechless.

“Ah, well, forget it. I won’t hold out much hope for him anymore. I’ll just pretend I don’t have a father. Once this first matter is concluded, I truly won’t come back.”

Su Muyu covertly glanced at Yan Yun, and seeing her daughter’s gloomy expression, she couldn’t help but ask,

“What’s wrong? Do you suddenly crave a father’s love?”

This question was so unexpected that Yan Yun nearly bit her tongue.

“What are you talking about? Who needs a father’s love? I merely wanted to use my own abilities to slap him in the face. Have you forgotten? I once said that one day, I’d make them all realize they couldn’t possibly associate with me. I fully expected him to fawn over me, but who would have thought he’d remain silent the entire time, leaving my expectations completely unmet?”

Yan Yun spoke with a dejected air.

Humans are, in truth, incredibly complex beings. Though Yan Yun voiced these sentiments, if she were offered a perfect, harmonious family, she would undoubtedly revel in it.

Perhaps a part of her still harbored that very expectation, though she simply refused to admit it.

“Come here, my precious son—oh, no, now my precious daughter. Now that you’ve transformed into a girl, surely we can be closer, can’t we?”

Su Muyu opened her arms to Yan Yun.

In the past, Yan Yun would likely have shown a look of distaste. However, having been a woman for nearly two years now, her internal sense of self-identity had gradually shifted.

Believing herself to be a woman, she naturally no longer felt any particular resistance to physical contact with someone of the same s*x.

Yan Yun’s eyes darted about, then she giggled, rising to approach Su Muyu.

She happily settled into Su Muyu’s embrace.

“You grew so big all at once. It’s rather boring. It would have been better if you hadn’t grown up at all,” Su Muyu murmured, holding Yan Yun close.

Yan Yun chuckled.

“If I hadn’t grown up, wouldn’t I have become your toy? Mother, tell me, how does it feel to raise a child? Are you accustomed to my current identity yet?” Yan Yun asked.

Su Muyu feigned a moment of contemplation before offering her reply.

“To be honest, when you were little, I often wished I’d given birth to a daughter. Having a son, they always used excuses like ‘a grown man avoids his mother, a grown daughter avoids her father’ to brush me off. But it’s not too late now, is it? Look, I still got a daughter.”

Yan Yun looked at Su Muyu’s amused eyes, her expression immediately falling.

“Mother, you make it sound as if I, as your son, used to bump into you or something.”

“No bumps, no scrapes. Oh, by the way, would you like to sleep with Mother tonight? To relive a bit of that childhood maternal love?” Su Muyu suggested playfully.

This suggestion startled Yan Yun, causing her to instantly scramble out of Su Muyu’s embrace.

“Absolutely not! Don’t even think about it. I’d be too shy. I think it’s better if I go find my wife instead,” Yan Yun declared, righteously rejecting Su Muyu’s proposal.

This time, it was Su Muyu’s turn to be displeased.

“What a tragedy! Is this truly a case of having a wife and forgetting your mother? I never thought Su Muyu would see such a day. We’re both women, after all. Is there really any difference between your mother and Yao’er?” Su Muyu asked, feigning sorrow.

Yan Yun chuckled mischievously.

“Oh, the difference is enormous! You wouldn’t understand even if I told you. By the way, Mother, let me ask you something serious. You must answer me truthfully.”

Seeing Yan Yun suddenly turn serious, Su Muyu nodded in bewilderment.

“Go on. If it’s something I can answer, I certainly won’t refuse.”

Yan Yun didn’t mince words. After pacing a few steps in front of Su Muyu, she posed her question.

“How do you truly view your relationship with him in your heart?”

Su Muyu had initially thought Yan Yun’s question would be easy to answer, but her daughter had asked something that even she didn’t know how to address.

Su Muyu, who had been smiling moments before, gradually grew a look of sorrow.

Upon seeing Su Muyu’s expression, Yan Yun instantly understood her mother’s thoughts.

“Never mind, I won’t ask. But Mother, everyone has the right to pursue their own happiness. If you truly have no feelings for that old man, I suggest you divorce him and find someone you truly love. I’ll support you.”

Yan Yun’s words, however, somewhat angered Su Muyu.

“You impudent girl, give you an inch and you take a mile! You even dare to tease your own mother?” Su Muyu rose, making as if to strike her.

Yan Yun let out a yelp, then, as if her feet were oiled, she made a swift escape.

“I’m leaving first! You should take your time to think things over. We’ll probably have to stay in Qifeng City for a while longer,” Yan Yun called out, and then quickly vanished from sight.

“That brat, she’s getting more and more mischievous,” Su Muyu cursed with a smile, but after saying it, she fell silent once more.

****

Meanwhile, Lin Xiong arrived at the Azure Nether Sect, the second largest sect in Jiang Country, to pay a visit to its Sect Master, Qingxuanzi.

Currently, the two of them were engaged in conversation over tea in a secluded pavilion within the Azure Nether Sect.

“There’s an old saying, ‘one doesn’t visit a temple for nothing.’ Family Head Lin, what brings you to pay a visit to my Azure Nether Sect so suddenly?” a wizened old man with a goatee, clad in a green robe, asked with narrowed eyes.

Lin Xiong pondered for a moment before offering a faint smile.

“Senior Qingxuanzi, will the animosity between your Azure Nether Sect and the Heavenly Poison Maiden extend to her successor?”

The question Lin Xiong posed caused Qingxuanzi’s expression to subtly shift.

He slowly set down his teacup.

‘What are you trying to say?’

Lin Xiong chuckled.

“Senior, why do you think Yan Yun is spreading the poison cultivation technique? Didn’t she flee to Xiang Country?”

Qingxuanzi could discern the hidden meaning in Lin Xiong’s words.

“My Azure Nether Sect and that Heavenly Poison Maiden are irreconcilable enemies. Her successor, naturally, cannot be allowed to live in this world. As for why she’s spreading the poison cultivation technique, I believe it’s to divert attention. If this humble Daoist is not mistaken, she should still be in Jiang Country, and the poison cultivation technique she’s spreading might not be the original version,” Qingxuanzi stated calmly.

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiong became somewhat agitated.

“Then, why, Senior, and why aren’t the other factions with a deep grudge against the Heavenly Poison Maiden pursuing this Yan Yun?”

Qingxuanzi stroked his beard and chuckled.

“The enemy is overt, while we are covert. Blindly pursuing her would yield no results. We have been waiting for her to reveal herself voluntarily.”

“Is that so? Then, if she does appear, what do you and the others intend to do, Senior?” Lin Xiong pressed.

Qingxuanzi’s gaze instantly turned cold.

“Naturally, we will uproot the weeds and eliminate future troubles.”

Lin Xiong smiled.

“With those words from Senior, this junior can rest assured. I implore Senior to dispatch powerful cultivators to guard the vicinity of Qifeng City during this period. I’m willing to bet that Yan Yun will certainly appear.”

Qingxuanzi neither nodded nor shook his head, but this was taken as tacit agreement.

This Lin Xiong was indeed clever. Hadn’t he just visited the Yunhua Sect? He had discovered a problem: the Yunhua Sect seemed to be developing faster than any other faction in the realm of poison cultivation techniques.

Thus, a bold conjecture formed in his mind.

This audacious theory made him increasingly uneasy, leading him to travel to various factions in Jiang Country that harbored grudges against Yan Lingyun from years past.

He was simply preparing for all contingencies.

Even if his guess proved wrong, it wouldn’t be a major issue; at most, he would be reprimanded by these sects. But if he won this gamble, there might be unexpected rewards.

In this unseen realm, it seemed an invisible hand was perpetually working against Yan Yun.