"You're holding my greatest weakness in your hands, Brother Xin. How could I ever turn the tables on you? You could have your way with me for the rest of your life."
Dai Yueying felt that Lianshan Xin was far too cautious—cautious to the point of being unreasonable.
Yet her explanation failed to move him.
He did indeed hold leverage over Dai Yueying at this moment.
However, that leverage only worked against the Demon Cult enchantress Dai Yueying.
It held no sway over Princess Dai Yueying of Great Yu.
If Dai Yueying truly was an imperial princess, the moment her identity came to light, what would happen if he reported her ties to the Demon Cult?
What if His Majesty simply remarked, "Our own daughter colludes with demons?"
How would Lianshan Xin answer then?
"How much do you know about your mother's identity?" Lianshan Xin asked.
Dai Yueying found the question quite strange. "My mother died of a difficult labor while giving birth to me. Didn't you already know that, Brother Xin?"
Lianshan Xin did know, because that had been Dai Yongzhen's public excuse.
He detected no sign that Dai Yueying was lying. Of course, he could not be a hundred percent certain.
He could only judge for himself that Dai Yueying truly seemed unaware of Blood Guanyin.
That made sense. If Dai Yueying knew she was Blood Guanyin's daughter, taking Thousand Faces as her master would have been exceedingly strange.
The Demon Cult was rife with internal intrigue, and the Four Great Elders represented four distinct factions. From the complete lack of contact between Dai Yongzhen's network and Chairman Qu, it was evident that Blood Guanyin and Thousand Faces had no intention of collaborating for mutual benefit.
Allowing Thousand Faces to control the life, death, and future of her own daughter would naturally have been an act of sheer folly.
Blood Guanyin did not care about Dai Yueying.
One could venture an even bolder guess: Blood Guanyin might not even know that the man who seduced her all those years ago was now the reigning Emperor of Great Yu.
Otherwise, Dai Yueying would currently be a prized asset held for immense leverage.
If all these deductions held true, then even if he killed Dai Yueying, Thousand Faces would have no reason to threaten him over her death.
With that thought, Lianshan Xin breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Your father was a member of the Demon Cult. Did it never cross your mind that your mother might have been one as well?"
Lianshan Xin's counterquestion left Dai Yueying stunned.
"You possess an innate internal charm physique. Did you never consider that it might have been inherited from your mother? Who else within the Demon Cult possesses an innate internal charm physique?"
Dai Yueying blurted out, "Blood Guanyin."
Lianshan Xin's brow arched slightly.
His suspicion shifted from ninety percent certainty to ninety-nine percent.
In truth, at this stage, there was no need to agonize over the remaining one percent.
"Master once said he wanted to mold me into a second Blood Guanyin," Dai Yueying hurriedly added.
Lianshan Xin smiled. "You're a clever woman. By now, you should already realize what I'm trying to say."
"Impossible, Brother Xin. Blood Guanyin has always treated men with utter disdain. What right or ability could my father have had to father a child with her?"
"Indeed. Dai Yongzhen was far from qualified."
Lianshan Xin spoke softly, "That is why your parentage holds far deeper secrets. Dai Yueying, your origins are exceedingly noble. Tell me, do you think I can truly hold leverage over you?"
Dai Yueying shuddered, instantly snapping back to reality. "You can! You certainly can! Brother Xin, I would never dare betray you."
"Words like that are fine to listen to, but you don't actually expect me to believe them, do you?"
"I'll take poison. I'm willing to consume poison and submit completely to your command. Uncle Lianshan is the divine physician of Jiangzhou—he must have that kind of medicine."
For a fleeting second, Lianshan Xin was genuinely tempted.
Unfortunately, it lasted only a second.
The proposal Dai Yueying put forward was indeed feasible, and from her current perspective, it showed immense sincerity.
Yet she did not know just how formidable her true background was.
Nor did Lianshan Xin know the depth of the foundation accumulated by the millennium-old Great Yu imperial clan.
No matter how brilliant Lianshan Jingcheng was as the divine physician of Jiangzhou, how effective could his methods possibly be before the Emperor of Great Yu, who held the entire world in his grasp?
Lianshan Xin lacked that confidence.
This was, after all, a high-martial world where one could even cultivate immortality. There were simply too many unknowns.
"Brother Xin, take me. Take me, and I'll be yours. No matter what background I have, I will belong to you from now on."
Dai Yueying was truly straining every nerve to survive this desperate situation.
Lianshan Xin smiled and patted her pretty cheek. Rewarding her while offering genuine praise, he said, "I'm starting to admire you. In the end, both of us are fighting desperately for our lives. I come from ordinary stock, and you are trapped in a whirlpool. To climb upward, one has to put everything on the line. As fellow wanderers at the edge of the world, we ought to help each other. What's more, you can aid my cultivation."
A glint of joy finally surfaced in Dai Yueying's eyes.
Had her acupoints not been sealed, she would have nodded vigorously.
She was only eighteen years old, in the prime of her youth, and was nowhere near ready to die.
"Brother Xin, unseal my acupoints. I'll aid your cultivation right now."
Lianshan Xin did not release her.
"The feud of a father's death is an irreconcilable enmity that cannot stand under the same sky. Can you truly let that go?"
"A father's death is indeed an irreconcilable enmity, but he is already dead, and it's impossible for me to seek revenge against you, Brother Xin. If you're still worried, I will sever all father-daughter ties with him right now."
Dai Yueying displayed her ruthless decisiveness. "As long as I am not his daughter, there is no feud of a father's death between us."
Lianshan Xin laughed despite himself. "You certainly know how to cut your losses."
"Brother Xin, according to what you said, he was never my true father to begin with," Dai Yueying offered as her reasoning.
"The grace of raising a child outweighs the grace of giving birth."
That was Lianshan Xin's conviction.
He did not believe Dai Yueying would normally hold birth above upbringing either.
Of course, if the one who gave birth to her was the Emperor of Great Yu, while the one who raised her was merely an ordinary member of the Demon Cult, that would be another matter entirely.
Dai Yueying did not want to linger on the issue. Taking the initiative once more, she said, "Brother Xin, if you still don't trust me, then give me a child, all right? Once the deed is done and the rice is cooked, even if my biological parents find me in the future, they will have no choice but to accept you."
Lianshan Xin felt his impression of the woman before him overturned yet again.
She was truly fighting with all her might.
In some respects, she was just as relentless as he was.
Moreover, the solutions she proposed were not entirely without merit.
Lianshan Xin was not a bloodthirsty man by nature.
He gave serious thought to Dai Yueying's suggestion.
Just then, Du Jiu knocked on the door from outside.
"My lord, your subordinate has a matter to report."
Lianshan Xin set Dai Yueying down and stepped out of the room.
"What happened?"
Du Jiu lowered his voice to report, "I arranged men near the medical clinic to protect your parents, my lord. Just moments ago, the men stationed there apprehended someone outside the clinic."
Pausing, Du Jiu said in a heavy tone, "It is a Demon Cult disciple whose identity had already been documented by Nine Heavens. He was severely injured this time and went to your father seeking medical treatment."
Lianshan Xin's expression turned cold. "Framing my father for secretly colluding with the Demon Cult?"
Judging others by his own tactical instincts, he immediately grasped the scheme.
Du Jiu nodded. "Our men used a few methods and already uncovered that a woman secretly instructed him to go."
With that, Du Jiu pointed toward the room.
Lianshan Xin glanced at the Demon Cult disciple lying beneath Qi Wenbin's feet.
He walked over, rested his blade against the man's throat, and interrogated him once more.
After obtaining a definite answer, Lianshan Xin looked up at the sky and let out a long, quiet sigh.
At this moment, his thoughts drifted to Dorgon.
How difficult it was to tame an ambitious woman into submission through intimacy alone.
Dai Yueying's advantage was that she was unencumbered; if she truly bore his child, she would be far easier to win over than Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang had been.
However, Lianshan Xin had no intention of fathering a child right now. Having a child would not only be Dai Yueying's vulnerability—it would become his as well.
Most importantly...
Building trust was exceedingly difficult, yet destroying it required almost nothing.
The safety of his parents was Lianshan Xin's inviolable line.
"Kill him."
Lianshan Xin did not personally strike the Demon Cult disciple down.
He returned to his room.
Looking at Dai Yueying, whose face was filled with anticipation, his tone and gaze were both remarkably gentle.
"Enchantress, fulfill your promise. Aid my cultivation."
"All right—"
Before Dai Yueying's overwhelming joy could fully spread, her body froze. Her gaze locked in place, filled with complete disbelief.
Lianshan Xin gently swept his hand across her eyes to close them. Pulling the blade from her heart, he lightly drew it across her throat.
"Leaving you untouched before taking your life is my baseline of human decency. If your spirit knows anything in the underworld, you ought to feel grateful!"
Chapter 34