Looks Like We Won Without Lifting a Finger

In her previous life, Immortal Ziyang's Dao Companion had exposed the news that

after they married,

she had affairs with dozens of men, ruining her reputation.

By Li Zi's reckoning, Immortal Ziyang should already have several kept lovers tucked away in her back courtyard by now.

I wasn't wrong.

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

"You may have misunderstood. I have no daughter. This young girl might simply look a little like me."

Everyone turned to look at her, their faces full of reverence.

Fu Chaoqing and Ji Zheng, who stood at the very edge of the crowd, also 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 shone in her almond-shaped eyes, impossible to contain, and her heart was already cheering.

"Senior, my name is Li Zi."

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

It really is her!

If Immortal Ziyang hadn't heard Li Zi's thoughts, she never would 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 a certain affinity with you, little girl..."

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

Immortal Ziyang changed course mid-sentence, her smile growing gentler. "Then why not become my adopted daughter?"

Looks Like We Won Without Lifting a Finger

Li Zi was dumbstruck.

What's going on?

I only came here for the gossip!

How did I suddenly stumble into another windfall?

The last windfall was when the Fifth Elder personally chose me as his Direct Disciple.

Immortal Ziyang held her hand gently, took the Perfume Sachet from her waist, and pressed it into Li Zi's palm.

"This is a Heaven-and-Earth Artifact. Inside are medicines to widen your Meridians, antidotes, various Cultivation Method 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 all these years I've braved one Secret Realm and Cave Abode after another to find medicines for her. But now they're all yours."

I've struck gold this time!

The disciples around them understood what she was saying.

Every word, spoken and unspoken, was a jab at Ran Zirou.

Ran Zirou had a Mixed Spiritual Root.

Immortal Ziyang had never forgotten her all these years. She had often ventured into Secret Realms, risking countless dangers to find medicine for her.

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

Bedded by a thousand men, ridden by ten thousand.

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

How filthy did Ran Zirou's mind have to be?

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

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

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

In her previous life, although she had indeed looked down on Immortal Ziyang, she had never said such things aloud.

Later, after Immortal Ziyang found her, she had even maintained the appearance of a loving mother and daughter.

The woman had a bad reputation and a worse temper, but she had treated her daughter well enough, sending her plenty of Spirit Medicine and medicinal ingredients she'd had no use for.

The trouble was, she had only looked down on those medicines back then 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 the senior brothers in the Spirit Sword Sect had doted on her then, showering her with every good thing they had.

But now she had none of that, and she desperately needed these things.

Ran Zirou reacted with startling speed.

She dropped to her knees and slid straight in front of Immortal Ziyang.

"Mother."

That single word twisted through a thousand turns, brimming with heartbreaking devotion.

With grief written across her face, Ran Zirou wept as though her heart had been torn apart.

"Mother, when I was in the palace, everyone told me 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 heard all of that from them!"

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

She slapped herself twice across the face.

The cracks rang out, sharp and clear.

She was beautiful to begin with. Now, kneeling there with her body trembling faintly like a tender flower battered by a rainstorm, she moved everyone who saw her.

One disciple murmured, "She has a point. Junior Sister Ran only just joined the Sect. She grew up in the Mortal World and had never met Immortal Ziyang before. Who knows how many people whispered those things in her ear since she was little?"

"True. She grew up in the imperial palace, and that's hardly a clean place. Without her birth mother to protect her, she was probably deceived by people with ill intentions."

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 the words...

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

Those words gave Immortal Ziyang a way to step down gracefully.

Looking into Li Zi's clear, innocent almond-shaped eyes, Immortal Ziyang felt a pang of guilt and reached out to stroke her head.

Then she turned to help Ran Zirou up.

Her own flesh and blood—her heart still ached for her in the end.

[Host, this is why she's the heroine. Just look at that acting. If you could learn even a ten-thousandth of it, you and I might be able to rule the martial world together.]

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

[I do feel bad for Immortal Ziyang. She's a good person. We're complete strangers, yet she still gave me something. What a shame she met a rotten man and then got stuck with a rotten daughter. Once those two have squeezed every last bit of value out of her, they'll throw her away.]

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