Do You Blame Me?

In the Cultivation World, inside a stone house.

"This Madam Shen... no, raising the favorability of Madam Yun, Yun Xian, is truly difficult."

A series of three side quests, and even the final one was comparable to a tutorial level!

Even then, it only reached 45 favorability points.

"The Little Heroine is still better..."

Mu Ye looked at the settlement panel, sighing repeatedly.

Sometimes, just saying a few nice words could increase favorability by a few points. The Little Heroine is just so... simple.

The most important part of this side quest should be the Dynasty Widow achievement.

Only with this achievement could he know this Madam Shen's real name and her hidden identity.

"Yun... Dynasty Widow. It seems this Yun Xian is royalty from the Tianqi Dynasty?"

Madam Yun's confession inside the carriage had a sense of confiding in him.

Because clearly, this identity was extremely important to her, something she could only tell someone she was very close to.

Looking at it from this perspective, even Shen Qingchan seemed to be unaware of it.

Inside the carriage.

Because Mu Ye had been immersed in the sense of accomplishment from the side quest completion panel, he hadn't given any response.

So much time had passed that there was only the sound of wheels rolling over the bluestone floor outside, mixed with the noisy chatter of pedestrians on the street, which made the interior of the carriage seem incredibly quiet by contrast.

Madam Yun seemed to be waiting after she finished speaking.

She looked at him again and again, but there was no response... not even a question.

A normal person's first reaction should have been to ask for the reason, such as why she could be called Miss Yun? Or what exactly the Feng family was plotting against her?

As it turned out, the other party... didn't react at all.

A subtle emotion couldn't help but sprout in the depths of her heart.

Until...

"You... why aren't you saying anything?" Madam Yun looked outside, using a tone of casual conversation.

"?" Mu Ye.

Say what?

He was still immersed in the thrill of having just unleashed his might, defeating several third-rank experts and crushing Feng Wuque with a single blade strike.

Of all the side quests, that was the one Mu Ye had enjoyed the most.

It gave him the distinct illusion of playing a Souls-like game: through repeated save-scumming, he had predicted his opponent's attack patterns and cleared the encounter without taking a single hit.

So what if they were third-rank experts?

Of course, someone like Feng Wuque, who had a second-phase "burst" mode, was purely a matter of cheating-level prediction.

To an outsider, this would likely appear as the work of someone with extremely seasoned combat experience and an intimate knowledge of their opponent.

As for the Old Man in Black behind him.

In truth, if they were to fight purely on skill without the Demon Subduing Body, relying only on the Geng Metal Grass-Cutting Sword, he could only barely suppress the opponent; defeating him would be quite difficult.

His condition wasn't optimal, after all.

Plus, the man was a fourth-rank expert.

However, judging by the Old Man in Black's previous encounter with the Thief and the chains on his body, there was a high probability he was being kept at the Feng Family against his will.

If he were truly some honored guest or senior, who would shackle him with such incredibly tough chains?

Therefore, before entering Real Mode, Mu Ye had already pondered how to deal with this Man in Black.

He figured he could simply try to use the Geng Metal Grass-Cutting Sword to sever the chains during the fight and see if he could turn an enemy into an ally; if that failed, he would then fight to the death.

Unexpectedly, it seemed... the Thief had actually been right.

Even if they didn't become allies, once the chains were broken, the old man clearly had no more will to fight.

It had been a logical progression: defeat the surrounding Xifeng Army, break through the doors, and successfully rescue Madam Yun, who had been on the verge of being coerced by the Feng Family!

Mu Ye felt strange. What else was there to say?

Your side quest is already complete; I'm logging off to rest.

"You must be very curious..."

Seeing the Demon Sealer remain silent, Madam Yun withdrew her gaze and decided to take the initiative once more. "The Feng Family's attitude toward me is different; it seems they don't just want to annex the Shen Family's assets... what they want is to cooperate with me."

"Actually..."

Madam Yun sighed softly. "Have you heard of the Prince Liang of Beishan?"

Mu Ye's heart stirred. He had heard of him.

Apart from grinding secret martial arts these days, he would occasionally hear about the affairs of the Tianqi Dynasty at the martial arts hall, as it involved the background of this world.

Prince Liang of Beishan was said to be the twenty-fifth generation legitimate royal grandson of that Tianqi Emperor, separated from the current era by only two generations.

What was interesting was that during the era of Prince Liang of Beishan, because the dynasty was rotting and the people were living in misery, Prince Liang of Beishan, who had been guarding the south against demons, simply rebelled because the imperial court had severely withheld military pay. He then led tens of thousands of Beishan Army soldiers straight to the imperial capital of the dynasty.

And then... he broke through, pulling his own brother—the emperor of that era—off the throne.

He became the twenty-sixth Beiliang Emperor of the Tianqi Dynasty.

The Beiliang Emperor was somewhat better than his brother, barely extending the life of the Tianqi Dynasty for several decades, yet the next generation was no better.

Moreover, because this Beiliang Emperor's usurpation was illegitimate, none of his descendants were content to stay in their place.

Not many years after he passed away, the new emperor who ascended the throne did not care about state affairs, but instead began to wield the knife with great force, wanting to slaughter his brothers and sisters. Under the pretext of reducing the power of the vassal states, he planned to eliminate them one by one.

When the remaining ones saw this, they thought, Good grief, if you want to kill us, then don't blame us for disregarding brotherly affection.

The imperial throne can be taken in turns, and this year it's my turn. Our father usurped the throne back then, so what are we afraid of?

Thus, chaos erupted everywhere, wars raged without end, and demons plagued the world. A scene of the dynasty's final days was thus formed.

"I am a descendant of Prince Liang of Beishan..." Madam Yun said in a low, lingering voice, "I am of legitimate royal blood... The Feng family wants to use my identity to ostensibly establish the Taiping Martial Alliance, but in reality, they want to use Taiping City as a base to launch an uprising."

"The Feng family was originally the right-hand man of the Grand Ancestor Emperor. Back then, they were known as the Prince of Equal Rank and have long plotted to seize the imperial throne..."

"..." Mu Ye.

She really was a Dynasty Widow.

Fine, this world was truly chaotic enough.

No wonder this Madam Yun was extraordinary from beginning to end; that kind of bearing was not something that could be cultivated by an ordinary wealthy family.

"So..." Mu Ye suddenly thought of something, "You actually knew... the Feng family's goal from the very beginning?"

Wait, Mu Ye suddenly thought of a question. The two demons in the tutorial stage were trying to kill Madam Shen.

In the second side quest, Madam Shen had asked him to investigate the origin of these demons, which was how he deduced that the Feng family was behind them.

But according to what Madam Yun said, the Feng family did not want her to die.

If she died, how could the Feng family hold the emperor hostage to command the vassals? Without Madam Yun's identity, the Feng family wouldn't have the legitimacy to start an uprising, would they?

"Those two demons... were not the Feng family's doing... it was someone else," Madam Yun said indifferently. "The incident in Chishui Village was their doing... they wanted to get rid of Shen Tianxing so that I would have no one to rely on."

"So, you asked me to investigate the demons just to find a reason to point the finger at the Feng family?"

"Because they will eventually make a move against you."

Mu Ye felt quite impressed. Perhaps Madam Shen had been considering having him deal with the Feng family ever since he completed the tutorial stage.

The subsequent side quests... were nothing more than what she had planned all along.

"Beside the Couch..."

"So, the name of this side quest didn't just refer to the Shen Mansion... but to herself as well..."

The carriage fell into silence once more.

"Do you blame me?" Madam Yun suddenly asked.

"?" Mu Ye.

Blame you for what?

Without these side quests of yours, I wouldn't even know how to earn so many Paradise Coins.

[1, Madam Shen, you truly are resourceful. When I saved you back then, you were probably already planning to use me, weren't you? Is this how you treat your savior? (Get off the carriage with cold eyes)]

[2, The world bustles for profit, and the world hustles for gain; it is nothing more than that. There is no question of blame or no blame. (Heart like a calm lake, indifferent as still water)]

[3, Woman, do you know the consequences of doing this? (With an evil, charming expression)]

[4, Then have you ever wondered why I chose to help you in the first place?]

"..." Mu Ye.