"Mm, that makes sense. Let's ask how they feel about it first. If they're willing, that would be best."
"If they aren't, there's no need to force it. I'll talk to Dugu Bo and have him spend more time with you, so you can grow closer."
In the end, Xue Ye settled on a compromise, but he also sent a clear message.
He absolutely would not let Fang Xuan go. No matter what it took, he would bring him over to his side.
"By the way, keep him away from that old fox Ning Fengzhi. That man's got sticky fingers."
Xue Ye still thought highly of the man he had personally chosen to tutor the Crown Prince.
After placing his final piece, Xue Ye rose and left.
The Immortal Herbs were absorbed quickly. By dusk, the process was complete.
As Fang Xuan had expected, both Ye Qinru's and Ye Lingling's Martial Souls had undergone a transformation.
The nine stamens in Ye Lingling's Nine-Heart Begonia had become twelve.
Ye Qinru's Nine-Heart Begonia still had the same number of stamens, but their color had changed completely.
The Nine-Heart Begonia had originally been a blend of pale white and pink. Now, that pink had turned a glaring crimson.
The petals looked even more alluring, with an eerie quality to them. They had lost all their original purity.
"Mom, your Martial Soul..."
The mutation in Ye Qinru's Martial Soul was beyond Fang Xuan's expectations. It seemed to have taken a turn for the worse.
"Mom, how did your Martial Soul become like this? And the aura around you..."
Ye Lingling was also startled by her mother's Martial Soul.
Ye Qinru herself, however, remained eerily calm.
She gently stroked the blood-red petals, her eyes glistening with tears. She said nothing, only gazed silently at the mutated Nine-Heart Begonia in her hand.
No. To be precise, it could no longer be called the Nine-Heart Begonia. It was the Nine-Nether Blood Begonia.
"So this is fate? Even after all these years, I still can't escape it."
Ye Qinru stood there, muttering to herself in a daze, as if she had gone mad.
Ye Lingling was beside herself with worry.
She was about to go over and say something when Ye Qinru suddenly looked up at her.
A tear slid silently down her cheek. She looked utterly fragile, as if she had become someone else.
"Lingling, didn't you want to know about your father? Now that you've started your own family, it's time I told you everything."
"Son-in-law, you should listen too."
Fang Xuan silently nodded. He stepped forward, took Ye Lingling's slightly chilly hand, and followed Ye Qinru out.
The three of them entered the bedroom where Ye Qinru lived. She went to her vanity and slowly sat down.
Then she tugged at several inconspicuous wooden slats on the vanity.
Her movements were gentle, but her fingers trembled unconsciously, as if she were afraid of what she might find.
Ye Lingling could see her mother's pain and wanted to stop her, but Fang Xuan held her back.
She looked at him anxiously. Fang Xuan only shook his head, saying nothing.
Creak—!
A mechanism clicked. Ye Qinru stopped moving, and a hidden compartment appeared in the vanity before her.
She reached inside and felt around. A moment later, she drew out a bloodstained longsword and a broken jade hairpin.
The blood on the sword had dried and congealed, yet it remained bright red. Even from this distance, Fang Xuan could catch a faint metallic tang.
Fang Xuan looked at the longsword in Ye Qinru's hand, then at the broken jade hairpin. He seemed to understand.
"Lingling, I killed your father with my own hands. This is the weapon I used."
The words struck Ye Lingling like a bolt of lightning. Her legs gave way, and she nearly collapsed. Fang Xuan caught her just in time, but shock had already filled her eyes.
Ye Qinru gave a bitter smile and continued.
"I planned to hide this for the rest of my life, but I'm afraid I can't anymore."
"I can't lie to myself, and I can't lie about the past."
The Nine-Nether Blood Begonia in her hand bloomed again. Its crimson petals seemed even more vivid than before, as if they had been steeped in fresh blood.
"Why? Didn't you tell me he abandoned us? Was that not the truth?"
Ye Lingling's lips quivered violently. Her eyes were fixed on the longsword in Ye Qinru's hand.
The dried blood on it looked like a hideous scar branded across her vision.
Ye Qinru let out a bitter laugh, her voice edged with sorrow and despair.
"I didn't lie to you. He did abandon us. He betrayed me, and he abandoned you."
"He wasn't fit to be a husband, much less your father. So I killed him—and in doing so, I killed myself too."
The Nine-Heart Begonia's wielder had little fighting ability. Killing a Soul Master of the same level, let alone someone even one level below, was extremely difficult.
Ye Qinru must have paid some price to succeed back then.
"Son-in-law, do you know why I was so hostile toward you when we first met?"
Fang Xuan was silent for a moment, then shook his head.
Perhaps he had guessed, but some things were better said aloud.
"Because he used the same approach you did. Just like Lingling, I chose to believe him. But in the end, he betrayed me."
By the time she finished, tears filled Ye Qinru's eyes. Her hoarse voice brimmed with hatred and resentment.
"Because Lingling was a girl, because the Nine-Heart Begonia's fate meant I was unlikely to have another child, he cast me aside without mercy."
"The day after Lingling was born, he went looking for another woman. So I killed him. I drove this sword into his chest with my own hands, then used the hairpin he'd once given me to pierce his heart."
By then, Fang Xuan understood everything.
The Nine-Heart Begonia had been born to heal, and its wielder was naturally kind. What Ye Qinru had done went against the Martial Soul's very nature.
A Nine-Heart Begonia stained by bloodshed and hatred could hardly still be what it once was.
"After that day, my body began to change, and my Martial Soul was tainted. My Soul Power also stopped forever at the Soul Emperor level. I could never advance another step."
Ye Lingling trembled violently, as if all her strength had been drained away.
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She could only stare at the bloodstained sword in her mother's hand.
Fang Xuan pulled her tightly into his arms. He felt the chill in her fingertips but said nothing, silently bearing the weight of her wordless collapse.
Seeing her daughter like that, Ye Qinru's tears finally spilled over.
She lowered her head and, with trembling hands, placed the broken jade hairpin and the sword back in the hidden compartment. Her movements were so gentle, as though afraid of waking a sleeping soul.
"Lingling, I'm sorry I did this to you." Her voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible. "But I don't regret it."
Ye Lingling jerked her head up, her eyes bloodshot as she stared at Ye Qinru.
"What gave you the right to decide for me? Why did you have to carry everything alone? Do you know how I've felt all these years...? Every time I asked about him, why did you lie to me?"
"Because I hated him."
Ye Qinru's voice suddenly rose, breaking into a roar she had suppressed for years.
"I hated myself even more for being blind back then. But I didn't want you to hate me, and I didn't want you to live in the shadow of a mother who killed your father."
Her chest heaved. The Nine-Nether Blood Begonia appeared against her will, its crimson petals quivering gently in the air as it gave off a heart-chilling aura.
Ye Qinru closed her eyes and took a moment to steady herself. When she spoke again, her voice was as weary as that of someone on the verge of death.
"I thought I could hide it for the rest of my life, but the appearance of the Nine-Nether Blood Begonia told me... blood debts can never be hidden forever.
"The mutation of my Martial Soul was the curse I brought upon myself by killing my husband. It was also a reminder never to forget my sin."
She finished speaking, then slowly rose and walked to the window.
The setting sun fell through the lattice onto her, but its light could not reach the abyss in her eyes.
"Truth is, I've wondered all these years: if I hadn't killed him that day, if I'd let him go, might you have had a better life?"
Ye Qinru's voice was as faint as a whisper to herself.
"But every time I remember the look in his eyes before he left... the contempt and disgust, I know that even if I could live it over a hundred times, I'd still draw my sword."
Ye Lingling's tears flowed freely, but she couldn't say a word.
Fang Xuan finally let go of Ye Lingling and stepped forward. His voice was steady, yet carried an unyielding force.
"Mom, the Nine-Nether Blood Begonia was born from the knot in your heart, but the mutation of your Martial Soul isn't necessarily a curse.
"If you hadn't killed him back then, would that really have meant letting Lingling grow up consumed by hatred?
"Perhaps what you did was wrong, but it was the choice you made as a mother."
Ye Qinru turned to look at him. For a moment, a glimmer of light appeared in her clouded eyes.
Fang Xuan continued.
"Now that the Nine-Nether Blood Begonia has awakened within you, it means fate hasn't let you go. But that doesn't mean you can't change its course.
"If the blood-red color was born of resentment, why can't it be erased by love? I'll stay by Lingling's side, and we'll walk with you through this karma."
Ye Qinru stared at him in a daze. Her lips moved for a long while, but in the end, all she managed was a soft, heavy sigh.
Behind Fang Xuan, Ye Lingling wiped away her tears and stepped forward to take Ye Qinru's cold hand.
"Mom," she said, her voice still choked but much firmer than before. "From now on... don't bear it alone."
Tears slid down Ye Qinru's face again. This time, she didn't hide them. She held her daughter's hand tightly.
That night was bound to be sleepless, but with family by their side, it was no longer so hard to endure.
The sun rose as usual the next day. Everything seemed unchanged.
Fang Xuan was enjoying his breakfast at the table when a knock came at the door. Right after it, Dugu Yan's voice rang out from the other side.
"Lingling, I'm here to hang out! Hurry up and open the door."