A previously ordinary courtyard in New City was now under heavy guard. Sun Yu, Xu Henshui, and Feng Chutang all stood in the yard, none of them stepping inside.
When Wei Yuan's figure materialized in the courtyard, he was startled to see the three of them waiting there. He asked, "You martial uncles have all arrived? Why haven't you gone in?"
The three chorused in unison, "You go in first."
Wei Yuan was baffled, though he could guess with his toes that something fishy was going on. But knowing the three martial uncles would not harm him, he pushed the door open and walked in.
Inside, the room reeked of blood. Stains soaked the bed, where the young woman who had just given birth lay breathless and still. Several other young women of the Xu family were in the room, currently bathing the newborn infant with warm water from a wooden basin.
Their expressions were serene, paying no heed to the corpse on the bed. They focused single-mindedly on washing the little baby, as though nothing else existed in the world.
Seeing that the child's mother was dead, Wei Yuan was momentarily taken aback. Then, sweeping his divine sense over the scene, he understood what had happened.
The woman's interior was completely withered, her life force extinguished, whereas the infant possessed an exceptionally powerful aura and an intense vitality comparable to a strong adult man. Likely, the infant had been too powerful and the mother too frail, draining her essence until she died.
Wei Yuan looked toward the infant. It was a baby girl, exquisitely formed, with skin like top-grade mutton-fat white jade. She neither cried nor fussed, merely gazing steadily at Wei Yuan with deep, unfathomable eyes.
Wei Yuan frowned slightly, feeling this was not a look a baby should have. Suddenly, Xu Shiba came to mind. Alarmed, he turned, wanting to flee.
Yet the moment he turned, the tiny infant opened her mouth and called out, "Daddy..."
The instant those words left her mouth, the karmic ties were sealed.
Wei Yuan was well-versed in the ways of karmic luck and cause and effect, and he knew he could no longer escape. Trapped between leaving and staying, he frowned and said, "Change that form of address!"
The baby girl called again: "Senior Martial Brother."
Wei Yuan immediately felt a sinister chill creep around him, so he said, "Change it again."
"Master."
"Again!"
"Daddy..."
After cycling through this a few times, Wei Yuan had no choice but to settle on "Master" among the three options.
"Senior Martial Brother" seemed nice on the surface, but Wei Yuan's intuition was powerful; his instincts warned him that resuming the role of senior martial brother would bring endless trouble later. In comparison, the karmic ties of "Master" were the purest and cleanest.
After the baby was bathed, the maid carried her over and placed her into Wei Yuan's arms. Looking at this porcelain-doll-like little thing, Wei Yuan felt an indescribable bizarreness in his heart. Still, fulfilling his duty as a master, he carefully inspected her body and root bone.
Having coalesced the essence of several thousand of her kind into a single vessel, the little girl's aptitudes were naturally peerless, on par with Xu Shiba's. However, her innate destiny pattern was bizarre—it was completely empty.
After all, she had only just been born, and before long she fell fast asleep in Wei Yuan's arms. Although the birth mother of this physical vessel had perished, feeding her would be no trouble. All it took was having Xu Henshui refine a few pills to be dissolved in water and fed to her; that would not only strengthen her body, but also enhance the quality of her physical constitution.
Wei Yuan handed her back to the maids, ordered them to care for her well, and stepped out of the delivery room.
Emerging outside, Wei Yuan put on a cold face and said, "A fine scheme, Martial Uncles!"
Feng Chutang looked sickly and feeble, as if unable to speak, while Sun Yu looked up at the sky with an expression that seemed to say the clouds were simply too fascinating to look away from. Only Xu Henshui wore a sly grin, asking, "Did she call you Daddy?"
Wei Yuan's gaze turned sharp. "So you martial uncles knew all along?"
Sun Yu said, "Drop the 'all'. I just got here, and only found out after arriving, so I decided to wait for you a bit."
Feng Chutang also said, "This is entirely internal business of your Water Moon Hall. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to get involved."
That was indeed true. Wei Yuan snorted to show his displeasure, though there was nothing he could do.
However, Xu Henshui's eyes sparkled as he pressed, "What did she end up calling you? Daddy or Senior Brother?"
Wei Yuan fixed him with a glare. "Why are you so invested in this, Martial Uncle Xu?"
Xu Henshui chuckled and said, "It's not every day you run into something like this! How could you not share it to brighten everyone's spirits? In the blink of an eye, our little martial nephew has become a father."
Wei Yuan finally understood why Zhang Sheng and Ji Liuli always took every opportunity to rough up this Martial Uncle Xu.
He looked pretty and delicate on the outside, but whenever an opening presented itself, he would bounce around relentlessly, drawing aggro like no other, practically wearing "Come hit me" written on his face.
At this moment, Wei Yuan's thoughts were a tangled mess. This was not as simple as his junior martial sister's reincarnation. His karmic ties with her were heavy enough to begin with; now that she had reincarnated through the infant of a Xu family girl, it also implicated an Immortal.
For some reason, Wei Yuan suddenly recalled the green-eyed woman he had glimpsed within Xu Shiqi's memories during the illusion, and his heart gave a jolt. Could this also be one of her carefully placed chess pieces?
The more he pondered, the deeper the murky waters seemed. Just as he desperately strained to seize a flash of divine insight to discern the future course of cause and effect, Xu Henshui was still tugging at his sleeve, babbling incessantly:
"Not Daddy? Then what else could it be? Surely not Senior Brother?"
"Why aren't you answering... Wait, it really is Senior Brother?!"
"Aiya, now this is getting interesting! What will your master think when she finds out? What will Ji Liuli think? What will Girl Bao think? And Feng..."
That flash of insight finally slipped away amidst the relentless chatter. Unable to bear it any longer, Wei Yuan roared, "Shut up!"
Sun Yu and Feng Chutang were both taken aback, then quietly took a few steps back, clearing the open ground in the courtyard.
Still oblivious, Xu Henshui protested aggrievedly, "You're yelling at me! What's wrong with Senior Brother? That's an unbreakable bond! Plus, you can raise her from infancy, nurture her however you want, and she grows fast too—how great is that..."
Killing intent gathered above Wei Yuan's head. The surrounding world shifted, and the temperature plummeted.
The wind died, the chirping of insects ceased abruptly, and everything capable of motion froze, like a world trapped in amber.
Xu Henshui felt as though his entire body were draped in nether iron, struggling to lift so much as a finger!
Both Sun Yu and Feng Chutang changed color slightly. Even they had not expected that if Wei Yuan acted with full strength, he could manipulate the surrounding environment to such an extent. A slightly weaker Dharma Idol cultivator wouldn't even need to be fought; they would be crushed to death outright by the worldly power Wei Yuan mobilized.
Seeing this display of might, Xu Henshui knew things were bad and moved to flee. But the surrounding world shifted once more, conjuring illusory, bustling streets dotted with lanterns and woven with streams of people.
Xu Henshui cried out, "I am your martial uncle! What—what are you doing?! This is defying your masters and betraying your ancestors!"
Wei Yuan paid no heed to his squawking. Besides, while he had never betrayed his ancestors, he had bullied his master quite a few times already.
Thereupon, Wei Yuan continued manifesting the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, suppressing the surrounding heavens and earth. Around the courtyard, space seemed sealed in amber, rendering all living things immobile.
Xu Henshui knew he absolutely could not let Wei Yuan fully materialize his Dharma Idol. This martial nephew's Dharma Idol was simply terrifying. How was this a Dharma Idol? It was clearly a mindscape world! Fighting Wei Yuan within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World was virtually no different from battling a Scenery Command grandmaster.
Light flashed above Xu Henshui's head as a colossal immortal orchid appeared. The orchid blossomed, and a graceful fairy rose from within. Sweeping out a halo of light, she blasted a path through the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, then grabbed Xu Henshui with one hand, preparing to flee.
With a cold sneer, Wei Yuan manifested three immortal orchids one after another, surrounding Xu Henshui's orchid and fighting with desperate abandon!
Xu Henshui was dumbfounded. How could he fail to recognize these immortal orchids? He hadn't expected them to develop sentience so quickly, yet in besieging his orchid, they fought with ferocious savagery, as if bearing a mortal vendetta.
Xu Henshui felt both grief and relief. What consoled him was that of the four immortal orchids he had given Wei Yuan back then, at least one of them remembered past affection and hadn't shown up...
No sooner had this thought crossed Xu Henshui's mind than another immortal orchid draped in layers of nether cold qi appeared before him, plunging into the fray. The orchid stationed in the Nether Cold Realm had also rushed back to join the battle!
The four immortal orchids were an entire major realm below Xu Henshui's Dharma Idol, but they fought with extraordinary savagery. The orchid that had returned from the Nether Cold Realm whipped out wisps of pale-black qi, wrapping layer upon layer around the Bell Orchid Fairy. The moment she was snared by the black qi, her movements slowed instantly.
Though the delay lasted only a fleeting instant, it was enough to shatter any attempt to flee, leaving her trapped under siege.
Xu Henshui had not expected four newly born immortal orchids to fight evenly against his own orchid, which had achieved celestial form.
He raised a hand to form an incantation gesture, intending to intervene personally to assist his Orchid Fairy, but seeing Wei Yuan watching him with piercing eyes, he had to abandon the thought.
Only a Dharma Idol cultivator with a broken brain would think of dueling Wei Yuan. That shout Wei Yuan had bellowed that day—"Xu family Dharma Idols are all trash!"—held largely true even if one replaced "Xu family" with most aristocratic clans and factions.
Yet the sight before him made Xu Henshui feel deeply uncomfortable. He couldn't understand why the four immortal orchids he had given away harbored such deep hatred for him, nor could he fathom why Wei Yuan was so vicious as to unleash his own orchids against him.
In truth, the battle turning out like this was beyond Wei Yuan's expectations as well. Once hostilities commenced, the moment the immortal orchids saw Xu Henshui, they clamored desperately to fight, like a pack of hounds that couldn't be leashed. Left with no choice, Wei Yuan had let them all out.
The four immortal orchids were like four rabid dogs, leaving the other immortal plants watching in stunned silence, unable to find an opening even if they wanted to join in.
After a few more breaths of fighting, Wei Yuan felt the commotion was growing too loud. He decided to play his trump card and settle the matter in a single stroke. Reaching out with a giant hand, he grabbed straight for the Bell Orchid Fairy!
The Bell Orchid Fairy's expression changed drastically. Seeing the colossal hand pressing down from all directions, she spun around to flee. But the moment she turned, her entire body stiffened. Before her, several immortal swords floated quietly in the air; one step forward, and she would instantly be pierced with several holes.
Wei Yuan's giant hand also halted in midair. Zhang Sheng had appeared right beside the Bell Orchid Fairy, looking her up and down. If Wei Yuan swept his hand down, he would scoop up both of them together.
The Bell Orchid Fairy was one thing, but scooping up Zhang Sheng right now was an easy way to get poked with several hundred holes.
The Bell Orchid Fairy tried to flee again, but turning around, she found several more immortal swords blocking her way. In an instant, over a dozen immortal swords pressed forward together, hemming her in on all sides and pinning her in place.
Zhang Sheng reached out, pinched the Bell Orchid Fairy's chin, and turned that panicked, touchingly delicate little face this way and that, examining her thoroughly.
After inspecting her for a good while, Zhang Sheng finally turned her head and said to Xu Henshui, "Grown quite capable, haven't you? Starting to bully my disciple now?"
Xu Henshui's face flushed bright red as he yelled indignantly, "Was I the one bullying him?! He was clearly the one bullying me, okay?! You two husb—no, master and disciple are truly cut from the same cloth!"
Chapter 566