We Won This Round Without Lifting a Finger

In her previous life, Immortal Ziyang's cultivation partner had exposed the news that

after they married,

she had affairs with dozens of men. Her reputation was terrible.

Going by the timeline, Immortal Ziyang should already have several kept men tucked away in her back courtyard by now.

Li Zi hadn't said anything wrong.

Immortal Ziyang's clear, cool voice rang out above everyone's heads.

"You may have misunderstood. I have no daughter. This young girl probably just looks a little like me."

Everyone turned to look at her, reverence on their faces.

Fu Chaoqing and Ji Zheng, who stood at the very edge of the crowd, bowed to her respectfully.

Immortal Ziyang flicked her sleeves. "No need for formalities."

She floated down beside Li Zi.

"What's your name?"

Li Zi blinked. Excitement she could barely contain shone in her almond-shaped eyes, and she was already cheering inside.

"Senior, my name is Li Zi."

At the sound of that familiar, soft young voice, Immortal Ziyang's tightly drawn brows finally relaxed.

It really was her!

If Immortal Ziyang hadn't heard Li Zi's thoughts, she would never have discovered that the man who shared her bed had long since conspired with villains to take her life.

Immortal Ziyang suddenly took Li Zi's hand.

"I feel quite a connection with you, little girl..."

The Second Elder hurriedly said, "The Fifth Elder has already taken her as his final disciple."

Immortal Ziyang changed course mid-sentence, her smile growing gentler. "Then why don't you become my goddaughter?"

We Won This Round Without Lifting a Finger

Li Zi was stunned.

What was going on?

She had only come to watch the drama unfold!

How had she suddenly stumbled into another windfall?

The last time that happened, the Fifth Elder had personally chosen her as his direct disciple.

Immortal Ziyang gently held her hand, untied the sachet at her waist, and pressed it into Li Zi's palm.

"This is a Heaven-and-Earth Artifact. Inside are medicines to widen the meridians, antidotes, various cultivation manuals for Spiritual Energy Tempering, and Spiritual Pills and Medicines. I originally prepared them for someone else. She was born with a Mixed Spiritual Root, and for years I've ventured into Secret Realms and cave abodes to find medicine for her. But now, all of this is yours."

What an enormous windfall!

The disciples around them understood what she meant.

Every word was a veiled jab at Ran Zirou.

Ran Zirou had a Mixed Spiritual Root.

Immortal Ziyang had never forgotten her all these years. She had even braved countless dangers in Secret Realms to find medicine for her.

But what Ran Zirou had said just now had cut far too deep.

A pillow for a thousand men, ridden by ten thousand.

Even rough people like them couldn't bring themselves to say such a thing.

How filthy must Ran Zirou's mind be?

No wonder Immortal Ziyang refused to acknowledge her as a daughter.

As for Ran Zirou, the delicate, fragile expression on her face was nearly impossible to maintain.

She hadn't expected Immortal Ziyang to hear what she'd said.

In her previous life, though she had indeed looked down on Immortal Ziyang, she had never said it aloud.

After Immortal Ziyang found her, she had even kept up the appearance of a loving mother and daughter.

The woman had a bad reputation and a foul temper, but she had treated her daughter well enough, sending over plenty of spiritual medicines and medicinal herbs that Ran Zirou had considered beneath her.

But back then, she had looked down on those medicines and herbs because Ji Zheng's yang energy had already flushed through her meridians, and she had obtained Li Zi's Myriad Flower Divine Bone.

Besides, all her fellow disciples in the Spirit Sword Sect had doted on her then, placing every good thing they found into her hands.

Now, she had none of that. She desperately needed those things.

Ran Zirou reacted at once.

She slid forward onto her knees, stopping right in front of Immortal Ziyang.

"Mother."

That single word twisted through a thousand turns, full of heart-rending longing.

With her grief-stricken expression, Ran Zirou wept as though her heart and entrails were being torn apart.

"Mother, when I was at the palace, everyone told me I had to remember the parents who raised me in the mortal world. They said I mustn't forget their kindness once I met my birth mother. They also said my birth mother was a prostitute. I only repeated what they told me!"

"But now that I've met you, Mother, I never imagined you'd have such an immortal bearing. I know I was wrong. Please don't disown me."

She slapped herself twice across the face.

The blows rang out, crisp and clear.

She was beautiful to begin with. Kneeling there now, her body trembling slightly like a tender flower battered by a downpour, she moved everyone who saw her.

One disciple murmured, "She does have a point. Junior Sister Ran only just entered the Sect. She grew up in the mortal world and had never met Immortal Ziyang. Who knows how many people whispered lies in her ear all those years?"

"Ah, she grew up in the imperial palace. That's hardly a clean place. Without her birth mother to protect her, she was probably deceived by malicious people."

Immortal Ziyang hesitated too.

Looking at a face that resembled her own, she still found it hard to steel her heart.

But she had already said what she'd said...

Li Zi suddenly spoke softly. "Senior, you only said those things to provoke Sister Ran, didn't you? I understand. Please take your things back."

Those words also gave Immortal Ziyang a way to back down.

Looking into Li Zi's clear, guileless almond-shaped eyes, Immortal Ziyang couldn't help feeling guilty. She reached out and stroked Li Zi's head.

Then she turned to help Ran Zirou up.

Ran Zirou was her own flesh and blood. In the end, she couldn't bear to see her suffer.

[Host, this is why she's the heroine. Just look at that acting! If you learned even one ten-thousandth of her skill, you and I might just rule the martial world together.]

Li Zi stared longingly at the sachet that was about to be taken back.

I feel bad for Immortal Ziyang. She's a good person. We're strangers, yet she gave me something. Too bad she met a rotten man and ended up with a rotten daughter too. Those two squeezed every last bit of value out of her, then threw her away.