She actually felt her own actions were a bit excessive.
Ding Nan, in his mentally unstable state, could barely take care of himself. He needed to be fed, helped with bathing, and accompanied to sleep.
Whenever Xian Yuyan’s expression turned slightly stern, he would lower his head and turn his back, as if waiting for something.
Caring for someone like that was troublesome and inconvenient.
After all, she was a two-hundred-year-old unmarried woman. Taking care of Ding Nan’s meals was fine, but the other aspects were a big problem.
Yet, what could she do? She just couldn’t forget this man.
She was originally born Duanmu, a concubine’s daughter of the prestigious Duanmu Family of Zhongzhou.
Her mother was a maidservant, impregnated by her drunken father on a night many years ago, resulting in her birth.
Her father acknowledged her bloodline, allowing her to bear the surname “Duanmu.”
Her mother was granted the status of a concubine.
But, as often happens in such households.
The father’s main wife, the woman with the most power in the backyard, and the father’s mother, the highest-ranking woman there, both disliked her birth mother.
They believed her mother had lowly blood, seduced men, and was morally corrupt and sycophantic.
Thus, the entire Duanmu Family considered her mother a lowly woman.
That woman then took out all her grievances on Duanmu Yuyan, often punishing and beating her under the guise of discipline.
It was in this environment that Duanmu Yuyan grew up.
When she turned sixteen, her mother, overcome with depression, fell ill and died.
When she died, no one knew she was dead.
The Duanmu Family was too powerful, the backyard too vast. Its walls were as high as those of an imperial palace.
It wasn’t until the smell of her decomposing body wafted out that people discovered she had died.
This included Duanmu Yuyan, who had received the family’s education.
But when she learned of her mother’s death, she felt nothing but numbness.
Her only memories of that woman were of hysteria and a contorted face. If anything slightly displeased her, she would be beaten, and verbal abuse was the norm.
The servants never interfered. Perhaps it was on the orders of the mistress or the matriarch, or perhaps they were just servants.
Likewise, these servants did nothing to Duanmu Yuyan—no disdain, no beatings, nothing.
The mistress and the matriarch were the same.
Duanmu Yuyan could eat at the Duanmu estate, but she couldn’t sit at the table. She had to stay in her small courtyard, doing nothing all day.
She was not allowed to leave her father’s backyard.
She couldn’t watch her siblings train.
She had no tutors, not even an etiquette teacher.
So, what was there in the backyard?
The backyard held her father’s women.
These women never spoke to Duanmu Yuyan; she was often ignored.
No one responded to her, the servants treated her with cold formality. Bored with nothing to do, she started planting flowers in the yard.
At first, she planted wildflowers in the house, drawing ridicule from the other concubines. The mistress punished those concubines.
And then… then everything returned to how it was.
To be honest, growing flowers wasn’t that interesting.
Flowers bloomed red and leaves green, swaying prettily, just like those concubines of his.
But after a long time, she gradually felt that planting flowers wasn’t a bad hobby.
Especially watching these vibrant flowers wither, decay, and rot one by one brought her a sense of joy.
She, Xian Yuyan, was just that dark-hearted.
On the day after her fifteenth birthday, the family arranged a marriage for her.
The target was the Sixth Young Master of another big family, the Tong Family of Zhongzhou. He was low-ranking in his family, but better off than Duanmu Yuyan—he wasn’t an illegitimate child. He looked decent and seemed like a good match.
But later, when she became Xian Yuyan, she learned this Sixth Young Master had a terrible reputation.
He was a notorious profligate, kept by the great families.
In aristocratic circles, any girl who had a choice wouldn’t pick a man like him.
Unfortunately, she had no choice.
She didn’t even know what marriage was; she was muddled into becoming his fiancée.
The two families agreed to marry a year later, when she turned sixteen.
If it hadn’t been for Xian Xinghuan, she wouldn’t be at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage now. She would have rotted away in some backyard, like those concubines.
Fortunately, she was lucky.
Every month, things went missing from the Duanmu Family’s treasury.
Medicinal herbs, ores, claws, nails, fur, and such.
These raw materials were neither too expensive nor too cheap—things that could be bought outside or artificially bred.
The number of lost items wasn’t large, but it was enough to keep the whole Duanmu Family on edge.
For the Duanmu elders, including Duanmu Yuyan’s father, this matter was like a sword hanging over their heads, ready to fall at any moment.
Unfortunately, the Duanmu Family could never catch the thief. They never even saw a shadow.
She hadn’t cared about this thief at all until one day.
She couldn’t remember the exact day.
She woke up with a pain in her lower left back and felt ravenously hungry. Taking advantage of the night, she snuck to the kitchen to steal some chicken—her meals were strictly rationed.
Unexpectedly, in the backyard kitchen, she saw Xian Xinghuan silently eating.
Their meeting was incredibly awkward.
Xian Xinghuan wore a full set of night clothes, clearly marking him as a thief.
Duanmu Yuyan, using only a glowing piece of fluorite for light instead of a lantern or oil lamp, also looked furtive.
That was her first meeting with Xian Xinghuan.
Thankfully, Xian Xinghuan was a chivalrous thief with a sense of justice.
If he had been an ordinary bandit, her neck would have been slit the moment he saw her, instead of just being tied up, gagged with a cloth, and thrown into a corner to watch him eat.
After Xian Xinghuan had eaten and drunk his fill, he fed her something and knocked her out.
When the drugged Duanmu Yuyan woke up, she found herself in her own room. Her clothes were intact, and there were no signs of being molested.
The only difference was a faint, unfamiliar scent lingering on her, not very strong, somewhat like a light herbal medicine smell.
She was amazed she was still alive, especially since she had seen Xian Xinghuan’s face.
Not only that, but on her bedside table was a medicine prescription with a formula for soothing the liver and relieving depression.
Xian Xinghuan was like a candle flame in the dark night, bringing a glimmer of light to her gloomy, oppressive life. He was also like a stone, stirring ripples in her numb heart.
At just sixteen, she cried. It was the first time in her life someone had cared for her like that.
She kept that highly memorable medicine prescription by her side to this day.
That was how Xian Xinghuan left an indelible mark on her mind.
Even though Xian Xinghuan was only in her life for less than a year out of her two hundred years.
But that less than a year was precisely what changed the course of her life.
“Sigh…” Thinking of the past, Xian Yuyan couldn’t help but sigh.
knock knock knock.
A knock on the door interrupted Xian Yuyan’s thoughts.
“Customer, are you in? There’s a letter for you,” the innkeeper’s assistant said from outside.
“A letter? Just slip it under the door,” Xian Yuyan replied.
“Understood.”
A brown envelope was slid through the gap under the door.
Xian Yuyan used telekinesis, and the envelope on the floor floated into her hand.
It was a letter from Nanyang Academy.
Ji Lanruo of the Xishan Sect, Lin Yue’er, the Fairy Jade Frost, the Master of Mystic Weapons—though Xian Yuyan didn’t know the identity of that female cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage—and Ding Nan.
For now, she only knew Ding Nan’s name.
She opened the letter, reading its contents with some urgency.
She had to admit, Ji Lanruo had done a good job.
A few days ago, she had sent Li Qihua to propose marriage at the Ding Clan in Qingquan City, using that as a clue to find information about Ding Nan.
Then, based on Ding Nan’s characteristics, they dug up several people from the historical archives who shared the same traits.
A fallen genius, carrying an ink-colored rounded Wushi plaque, unable to cultivate before the age of eighteen, after which their strength skyrocketed.
Although there were many “fallen geniuses” in history, not all of them carried the ink-colored jade plaque.
Thanks again to Ji Lanruo.
Ji Lanruo’s master, the founder of the Xishan Sect, Ji Yang, had once broken through from the Nascent Soul Stage to the Spirit Transformation Stage. He was also a fallen genius and was confirmed to carry the ink-colored jade plaque.
Lin Yue’er’s early history was unclear, but Nanyang Academy students still found her figure in old files, past portraits of the Medical Saint of the Northern Territory, and the edges of images recorded on Image Recording Stones.
She was once the Medical Saint’s medicine attendant.
Whether the Medical Saint himself was a fallen genius wasn’t clear, but he was also confirmed to carry the ink-colored jade plaque.
As for the Master of Mystic Weapons, using Ji Lanruo as a clue, they found her name was Luo Yao. When Ding Nan was nine, he rescued her, and she later acted as his personal maidservant.
But with such a background, it was impossible to raise a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage. Resources alone would be a dead end, let alone the issue of knowledge.
Before Nanyang Academy appeared, to become a top powerhouse, one had to join a sect, beg the old monsters there for favors.
Unfortunately, in the past, the one who left behind deeds and fame was the Mystic Weapon, not Luo Yao.
Therefore, Luo Yao’s true past remained unknown.
But since she had fought with Ji Lanruo over Ding Nan, she was the enemy.
Xian Yuyan knew Ji Lanruo well. For years, no man had ever made her heart flutter, yet she suddenly felt this way for such a young man.
People of age don’t instantly become crazed enough to fight to the death over love at first sight. And this young man hadn’t been possessed.
The answer was obvious.
Just as Xian Yuyan was certain Ding Nan was Xian Xinghuan, Ji Lanruo was also certain Ding Nan was someone important to her.
What’s more, the weapons used in the famous battles of Ji Yang and later Xian Xinghuan were both powerful Weapon Puppets.
“Ji Yang and Xian Xinghuan are the same person…” Xian Yuyan mused.
Then everything made sense.
Although Xian Xinghuan’s early history was unclear, he also carried that same low-quality-looking ink-colored jade plaque.
And from a historical perspective, he had a clear trajectory of development.
Starting with the easy-to-learn Artifact Refining, then the Alchemy that formed the foundation of sects, the Formation Arrays that brought sects prosperity, and finally, the ultimate achievement: Nanyang Academy and herself…
Suddenly, she realized something.
“Luo Yao was someone he picked up. Lin Yue’er was someone he picked up. Ji Lanruo was also someone he picked up. Why are they all girls he raised from childhood?”
Realizing this, the light in Xian Yuyan’s eyes faded completely.