Yun Niang's Story

Yun Niang slowly rose to her feet.

Perhaps her voice was too gentle and devoid of emotion, making the story sound a little dull.

About ten years ago.

The Cheng Family was a wealthy, influential household in Blackwater City, with close ties to the Yamen.

Thanks to those connections, they had a firm grip on the medicinal herb trade in the city.

The family head may have suffered from some hidden ailment. He had a whole flock of wives and concubines, yet no children save one daughter, whom he treasured like the apple of his eye.

One day, the young son of a lord from the county Yamen came to visit the Cheng Family with his elders.

He secretly slipped into the back courtyard and, beyond the high wall, saw a lovely young girl perched atop it.

Their eyes met, and both of them laughed.

The children ran off together from the Cheng Family. After amusing themselves in the city for a while, they suggested going outside the city to take a look at the Blackwater River.

Rumors claimed that a Flood Dragon blocked the river and had sealed off the entire city. The tale had caused quite a stir at the time.

Most people, however, treated it as a joke.

They arrived at the riverbank.

At the young miss's slightly goading question, the young master—who was just as green as she was, despite boasting of his swimming skills—stripped off his clothes in a few quick motions and plunged into the water with a splash, eager to see for himself.

And then... he never came back up.

The Cheng Family depended on the Yamen for its livelihood. They couldn't afford to sever those ties.

No matter how precious their only daughter was, she couldn't compare to the livelihood of the hundred or so people in the household.

"So you're the young miss who ran away from the Cheng Family?"

Lin Shu raised his eyelids and looked at the woman before him.

Yun Niang lowered her gaze, a trace of faint envy passing through her eyes.

If she wanted her benefactor to spare her, she had to show that she was worth keeping.

For instance, she could promise that once the lord from the Yamen had finally calmed down, the Cheng Family would provide enough pills to support her benefactor's cultivation, as long as he returned her to them.

Unfortunately...

That really wasn't who she was.

"My father was a guard for the Cheng Family. I was the young miss's companion maid."

"There were actually three of us when we went to the Blackwater River. The young miss was shy, so she brought me along too."

Yun Niang lifted her face, a helpless smile on her lips.

With that faint smile, the whole story changed.

If the young miss couldn't die, then someone else had to die in her place.

So the young miss who should have appeared atop the wall became a girl inside the house, studying intently.

The one who mischievously climbed the courtyard wall was the maid, taking the chance to slack off.

To make the story more believable,

the greedy maid had heard that a young master was coming to visit.

She had even stolen the young miss's finery and put it on, hoping to catch his attention and use the opportunity to marry into a better family.

Perhaps she had happened to be a pretty, well-behaved-looking girl.

The Yamen lord's son had actually been fooled into leaving the Cheng Family with her.

What happened afterward was more or less the same.

The life of a mere lowly servant girl was nowhere near enough to appease the anger of that lord from the Yamen.

So her father, who worked as a guard, her mother, who served as a maid, and the rest of her family were all hanged in the courtyard, every last one of them!

The story didn't need to be too precise. It was only a stepping stone, after all.

What really mattered was the huge offering of precious medicines for cultivation they had presented. Even a family with the Cheng Family's means would have felt the loss.

"Then why are you still alive?" Lin Shu asked, his eyes flickering.

By her account, the maid's parents had died, but the most important person had escaped. It didn't quite add up.

Yun Niang fell silent for a moment. At last, her gentle voice rippled with emotion. "Because I never went back."

Everything that happened afterward was something she had gradually learned over the years.

"The young miss treated me well. She kept only me by her side, told me everything, and my whole family depended on the Cheng Family's food."

"By all rights, I should have died in her place."

"But when we found out that the young master had died in the river, we were both terrified. In that moment, she looked at me through her tears."

That look gave the young Yun Niang a sudden premonition.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. "When the young miss dragged me back to East City, I suddenly shoved her, then ran south without looking back. I'd heard my teacher say that the South Suburb was the most chaotic place."

"..."

Lin Shu pressed his lips together.

Even dressed like a widow and looking more mature, Yun Niang seemed barely in her twenties. In truth, she might have been younger still.

Ten years ago, she had been no more than a little girl who hadn't even grown up.

Having to deal with something so terrible in such a short time—

She had not only figured out the consequences and seen through the young miss's intentions, but had even thought of exactly how to escape.

It made the story sound almost absurd.

Thinking of this, Lin Shu glanced sideways at the bundle on the bed.

He was a seasoned old hand, yet all it had taken was one extra look at her that afternoon.

And the woman had already prepared to run.

He couldn't believe that wasn't some kind of talent.

"Because I ran, the Cheng Family's fabricated story not only failed to fool that lord, it enraged him even more. In the end, they had to pay for the herbs as well, and the young miss gave her life to atone for the young master's death."

Yun Niang softly brought the story to its end.

In doing so, she had effectively placed her life in Lin Shu's hands.

She knew that what made her benefactor wary was her identity.

So she'd skipped over how she'd survived in the South Suburb, how much she'd suffered, how terrified she'd been, and how she'd gradually grown used to that kind of life.

She did her best to keep her voice calm.

The sorrow in her voice earlier had mostly come from remembering the past.

Her cowardice had made her run for her life, leaving her parents to die without even knowing why.

And she hadn't even been able to gather and bury their bodies.

"Actually, Granny and she treated me well. They were both good people."

Yun Niang remembered how, after some ruffians set their sights on her, she'd been forced to flee to West City and had nearly passed out outside this Broken Firewood Courtyard.

Stumbling, she'd crawled into the courtyard. Drawn by that faint, indistinct aura, she'd stumbled into the child's room and seen the rice paste on the table.

When she woke the next day, the old woman who greeted her immediately ordered her to hurry up and empty the chamber pot.

Yun Niang had been nervous at the time.

But with nowhere else to go, she soon realized the old woman wasn't entirely clear-minded. Delighted, she accepted this new identity.

That was why she'd felt she owed this family.

"I..."

Yun Niang let out a long breath and looked anxiously at the person across from her. "Can I still stay here?"

Nearly two years of peaceful living had made her almost forget how to survive in the South Suburb.

"Whatever you want. It's up to you."

Lin Shu stood up and replied softly, then reached over and picked up the infant on the bed.

He had only wanted to use Yun Niang's explanation to compare it with what the girl had said earlier, so he could judge how dangerous this Immortal Scion infant was.

What she'd said was far too easy to verify. It involved a wealthy family in the city and the Yamen; a little discreet asking around would reveal whether it was true.

Unless the woman didn't want to live, there was no reason for her to make up such a clumsy story.

Now that he'd achieved his goal, and the two of them had no real connection to each other,

Lin Shu had no interest in using this matter to make Yun Niang do anything for him.

Whether she wanted to stay or leave was hardly something she needed his permission for.

Besides, the Immortal Aura came from the infant itself.

This Broken Firewood Courtyard had already lost its value.

Whether she stayed or not, he certainly wouldn't be lingering here.

"Thank you, benefactor!"

Yun Niang froze for a moment, then delight spread across her face.

Given the way her benefactor had acted earlier, she had assumed she and the Immortal Scion would probably receive the same treatment.

She hadn't expected him to let the matter go so easily.

For a fugitive wandering for her life, having a place to stay in the more peaceful West City was the greatest gift she could ask for.

She bowed deeply, then watched as he returned to the Side Room.

Back in his room,

Lin Shu sat on the edge of the bed and picked up the sleeping infant, giving it a shake.

Black energy welled from his fingertip again as he tried to pierce the infant's crystal-clear cheek.

His finger felt as if it had pressed into a lump of soft, tender fat. The skin was springy and smooth, but he simply couldn't pierce it.

"Ridiculous."

Seeing this, Lin Shu couldn't help but marvel.

If his own body had this kind of defensive power, he could sleep much more soundly at night.

He held the Immortal Scion against his chest to see how it fit.

If he tied it to his chest during a fight as a breastplate, tsk... Never mind how ridiculous it would look; it didn't seem very practical anyway.

While Yun Niang had been telling him about her past,

Lin Shu had also been investigating the extra drop of Essence Blood inside him.

It didn't seem to have established some kind of contract. It was more like the infant had unilaterally let down its guard and stopped resisting.

Not only could he sense the Immortal Scion's thoughts and condition, he could also force the Essence Blood out of his body and sever the connection.

Beyond that, he could even issue simple commands. For example...

"Hold your breath!"

At the flicker of Lin Shu's thoughts, the infant's snoring stopped. As time passed, its fair cheeks gradually flushed red.

He waited quietly for a while.

"Can't you suffocate?"

Once the infant's face turned bluish-purple, it suddenly began gasping in great heaving breaths. Lin Shu had a rough idea of how the Essence Blood worked.

The infant would instinctively obey his commands, but not beyond the limits of its body.

If he couldn't destroy it,

Lin Shu's expression grew grave. He would have to think carefully about what to do with this thing.

After all, why did cultivators hold such a high status in Blackwater City?

It was because Immortal Family Treasures were impossible to come by, and the aura on them vanished once someone comprehended an Immortal Method.

Those who had never come into contact with the corresponding Immortal Aura couldn't learn the Immortal Method that came from that being.

But what he had in front of him was a living, breathing "Immortal Family Treasure"!