novelraw Chapter 514: The Cannon Fodder Mother of the Child of Destiny (28)
Chapter 514: The Cannon Fodder Mother of the Child of Destiny (28)
For most people, the cultivation world truly hasn't been very peaceful lately!
Good news: A world-shaking spiritual treasure has appeared! And it's a celestial-grade spirit sword that has undergone lightning tribulation.
A treasure undergoing tribulation—this is something that hasn't happened in the cultivation world for nearly a century. Especially those who happened to be present at the scene that day spread tales that were almost mythical.
The heavens and earth changed colors, thunderbolts tempered its form.
It stirred countless people, making them restless with envy.
However, the bad news:
Oh, turns out the spiritual treasure already has an owner, and it has an indelible connection with those two dreaded deities that everyone in the cultivation world least wants to mention right now.
It was like a huge basin of ice water poured over everyone in the dead of winter, instantly washing away most of their soaring enthusiasm.
"Heaven has no eyes! How come all the good fortune in the world ends up with this one family!"
Some people practically wanted to howl at the sky, their hearts itching with frustration. But in today's world, those who know how to read the situation ultimately outnumber the rest. Before long, many sects and prominent families, including their old acquaintance the Xie Family, sent congratulatory gifts.Even the Qingyun and Lingshu sects, which had been keeping their heads down until now, sent particularly generous gifts this time. Their visiting disciples were all extremely polite and respectful.
There's no choice but to be respectful! This family, from top to bottom, their talents are simply unparalleled...
Just thinking about it makes everyone feel a sense of awe without fully understanding why. Not to mention the former Third Miss Fu—despite being in a small family like the Fu Family with scarce resources, and as an adopted daughter at that—she still achieved Foundation Establishment early and made a name for herself.
As for the current Miss Shen, there's even less need to mention her. She's the one who sliced open a thousand-year-old mountain-protecting formation with a single sword strike. Just thinking about it makes people shake their heads involuntarily.
Ah, utterly terrifying!
And then there's that one from the demonic sect. Now this little one is even more incredible. Not even twenty yet, and it's said his cultivation is already approaching late-stage Foundation Establishment. The spirit swords he forges are even more extraordinary.
It seems his talent surpasses even his father's...
Three great demon kings, and what's worse, there are many connections among them.
Just thinking about it, the various sect leaders feel like the sky has darkened before their eyes. They fear they might never be able to straighten their backs again in their lifetime.
In the end, they can only silently take stock of their inventories, hoping these "insignificant" treasures will let the two who haven't yet strayed onto the evil path feel the "sincerity" of their righteous sects. So they won't misunderstand the righteous path because of some shameless scoundrels from before.
Some with particularly crooked ideas even specifically sent beauties—elegant and refined ones, seductive ones, charming and handsome ones, all sorts. An Ning gave them a cursory glance and thought... well, the variety was quite comprehensive.
An Ning didn't really care. Accept the gifts, send the people away. No matter how good-looking they are, keeping someone with an unclear background by your side is just annoying, isn't it?
Even if there were any... physiological needs, you wouldn't necessarily look for this kind.
But this spectacle gave Xiao Yi, who had never experienced such matters, a real fright. Especially seeing those men and women deliberately striking those seductive poses, it nearly scared him into running two miles away.
Afterward, he kept cracking melon seeds while complaining to An Ning: "These people are really... have they gone mad!"
He wasn't lacking in that department. Why act like he's some great demon king?
But even so, aside from those beauties, Xiao Yi still accepted everything else. One, because there was no reason to refuse what's offered.
Besides, as his aunt said, after someone demonstrates overwhelming power, the more they appear desireless and wantless afterwards, the more others will tremble with fear.
Accepting the gifts actually puts those people more at ease, saving them from constantly overthinking and stirring up trouble for no reason.
However, there was one family that made Xiao Yi pay special attention. He rubbed the cyan jade hairpin in his hand, said to be a memento left behind by his mother from her maiden days.
Inside the pavilion covered with roses, A-Yi's expression was uncharacteristically dazed: "The Fu Family... they're actually still around?"
The Fu Family... it wasn't that Xiao Yi looked down on them. After all, considering the temperament of that person from the Xuanming Sect, his mother leaving was one thing, but she also took him and ran away. Could it be he didn't take his anger out on them?
"Ahem... probably because the family is too small, plus their presence is too weak, your father just didn't remember them!"
As for the others in the Xuanming Cult...
Thinking of the information she had investigated earlier, casually accepting a freshly peeled spirit fruit, An Ning couldn't help but let out a cold laugh:
"In this world, even small characters have their own survival wisdom. Don't look down on that Fu Family head just because he's somewhat incompetent in cultivation. That man is shrewd!"
Not to mention anything else, wasn't the original owner completely manipulated by him?
Recalling the memories she had received from the original owner, An Ning inwardly sneered.
Actually, from the moment she was drugged and sent to the Xuanming Sect, until she completely submitted and even gave birth to Yi'er, during that entire period, did the original owner have a choice?
The answer was actually yes.
After all, Nangong Ding, while indeed not a good person and prone to killing, was still a genuine powerhouse of his era, a hegemon in his own right. Forcing himself on a drugged woman—such a thing would be too degrading for someone of his status.
Given his arrogance, he probably wouldn't stoop that low.
Just looking at the original owner's condition, and knowing the Sect Leader's temperament, those trusted subordinates wouldn't dare to send her over like that.
Yet what happened afterwards only caused the original owner even more pain. Just when she thought she had finally escaped disaster...
What was that Fu Family head's attitude at the time?
On one hand, he pushed all the responsibility onto his wife, while putting on a pained, self-blaming act as if he never expected her to do such a thing. On the other hand, he kept talking as if burdened with countless hardships:
"Ah, if only it were before, if Qingyu you hadn't yet stepped into the Xuanming Sect... But now, with things having come to this, ah, I can only hope that Sect Leader won't be too angered! And won't slaughter the innocent..."
"Even if the Sect Leader doesn't... there are still those people below him!"
Finally, he specifically took out a qiankun bag prepared earlier, wearing a resolute expression: "Ah, Qingyu, you should leave. After all, you aren't a true Fu family member. But as the family head, I am different. If something happens to the Fu Family, as the head, I can only step forward and take the first blow..."
"In the blink of an eye, Qingyu has grown so big. Thinking back to when I bought you from those human traffickers, you were just a skinny, small thing..."
"Ah, actually, back then I just wanted to prevent an innocent girl from ending up in such a place, that's why I was moved by compassion. I never expected to gain such a filial child like Qingyu. Thinking about it, even if I were to die right now..."
Every word was filled with bitterness and helplessness.
But how much of this person's emotion was genuine, and how much was fake? Could the original host tell at the time?
An Ning thinks she probably could.
But was this tactic effective?
Naturally, it was...
With the Xuanming Sect's notorious reputation, and the Fu Family head putting on an act as if his family faced imminent disaster and his own life was nearly over, coupled with the debt of nurturing grace—ask yourself, given the original owner's personality, what choice would she make?
"Ah, that's just too much!"
Even if it's the debt of nurturing grace, it's not worth that!
The original owner was just too foolish!
Hearing her host mention this, inside the spiritual sea, the system couldn't help but secretly complain.
"Look who's talking!"
Returning from her thoughts, An Ning couldn't help but roll her eyes at it:
"Don't just talk about ancient people who inherently valued gratitude and righteousness. Even many modern people take it for granted that if you've received family support, lived in luxury, you should sacrifice and dedicate yourself to the family later.
Even for the family's prosperity, becoming some old emperor's concubine is considered proper, right?"
If modern people are like this, for an ancient woman to escape the shackles of gratitude and righteousness—especially someone like the original owner, kind-hearted and valuing gratitude to her core—frankly, it was too difficult...
Besides, the original owner wasn't a biological daughter, just an adopted one.
A biological daughter could at least complain about various injustices, but what about an adopted daughter? And one who nearly ended up in such a place...
Without relatives or connections, being given a bite to eat was already a tremendous act of grace. Wanting anything more would be called ingratitude...
Unsurprisingly, from childhood, people would constantly remind you in various ways that every bite of food you eat, even every grain of rice, is an enormous favor from the master family! Something you must repay a thousandfold in the future.
Not to mention precious spirit stones and various cultivation resources.
Even if you encounter all sorts of unfairness and demands, what can you say? Just one sentence: Without our Fu Family, you'd probably have starved or frozen to death by now, or be suffering abuse in some filthy place.
Ask yourself: which part of your spiritual energy, knowledge, or cultivation wasn't given by our Fu Family? Isn't it only right that you give everything in return?
Just these words alone could render the vast majority speechless.
In An Ning's view, the reason the original owner finally resolved to leave in the end...
Wasn't because she overcame gratitude herself, but because familial love, or her guilt towards A-Yi, overcame everything at that moment...
"But system, there's one thing you said that's quite right!" An Ning agreed.
"If the original owner hadn't been this kind, gratitude-valuing personality, that family—not to mention anything else—would never have dared to scheme and pressure her like that!"
"Exactly!" Rarely hearing her host agree, the system instantly perked up:
"Not to mention the original owner's cultivation was already quite good. If they weren't certain she wouldn't hold resentment, how would those people dare to send her to the Xuanming Sect, and to the Sect Leader at that? Weren't they afraid that once she gained power, she might one day turn the blade against their own family?"
"Tsk, basically, they were just bullying a kind-hearted person!"
Weren't they just bullying a kind-hearted person?
Actually, it wasn't just the original owner. Wasn't A-Yi the same?
An Ning's heart couldn't help but grow slightly cold.
Especially thinking about what Yan Xing said before his death in the previous life:
"Yi'er, ahem, pro... promise Master. The demon realm seal concerns the lives of thousands upon thousands of people. No matter what happens in the future, you must not allow the slightest mistake."
"Yi'er, your abilities, Master understands best. Master believes in you, you definitely... definitely can..."
Ask yourself: facing the final wish of the master who raised you from childhood, whom you personally killed, at his deathbed—how could A-Yi at that time harden his heart and refuse?
What other choice did he have besides tearfully agreeing?
Even though this dying wish itself was an immense hardship. It even completely blocked the disciple's last path of escape...
Probably the original owner at that time would never have imagined that the path she chose for her son through immense hardship, even abandoning everything, would invisibly completely overlap with her own experience.
Logically speaking, in his previous life, Yi'er, as a half-step Golden Core cultivator and the number one expert of that era, even if he didn't want to slaughter openly, couldn't he at least run away? Or as a formation path expert, find a place to completely seclude himself?
But the problem was, if he left, what about this seal that was on the verge of completely failing?
So the final answer remained unsolvable...
After an unknown length of time, An Ning spoke in an exceptionally soft voice:
"System, as benefactors, do you think there's a difference between the actions of the Fu Family head from the previous life and Yan Xing?"
"Ah, there should be, right?"
Thinking carefully, the system tentatively spoke.
"Yes, there is!" An Ning couldn't help but laugh:
"And it's a heaven-and-earth difference!"
"After all, one was for personal gain, the other was for the greater righteousness of the world, for the lives of tens of thousands of common people, right?"
System: "..."