Flirting with the Villain's Mother - Chapter 3

More passing cultivators could be seen in Luoyue City these days. Golden streaks of light crisscrossed the sky as sword-riding practitioners flew by. Shen Su found the glinting light irritating and chose to stay cooped up in her room, refusing to step outside even half a step.

She had no idea when the male lead, Yu Muhan, would finally appear and follow the cultivators from Linxian Mountain to embark on his path of cultivation, bringing peace back to Luoyue City.

Her fingers lightly brushed the thin pages as ink-black characters leaped into her vision. A frosty chill settled between Shen Su’s brows.

Over the past few days, Shen Su had been carefully studying the books of this world, acquainting herself with things beyond her previous understanding. Fortunately, the Shen family was wealthy and influential, allowing her to dig up some useful information. The book in her hands now detailed the origins of Luoyue City—and also recorded the slim hope she had of leaving.

Luoyue City had once been one of Linxian Mountain’s martial arenas. However, due to frequent battles, the city’s protective jade marrow vanished, causing the spiritual energy within the city to spiral out of control. As a result, Linxian Mountain abandoned this arena. Linxian Mountain had always been the strongest sect in the cultivation world, with countless followers and admirers. The first settlers in Luoyue City were those who had failed to join Linxian Mountain, and over time, more and more ordinary people arrived.

From a distance, Luoyue City resembled a broken sickle. The western district was prosperous, bustling with life, while the eastern district was impoverished and treacherous in terrain. The gap between them was a vast desert, where yellow sand swirled endlessly.

Ironically, though the western district was thriving, the city gates were located in the east.

According to the book, the western district was too close to Linxian Mountain. When the sect abandoned Luoyue City, they deliberately sealed off all exits in the west. The area should have become desolate, but remnants of spiritual energy from the jade marrow still lingered there, making even ordinary people prefer to live in the western district. However, traveling from the eastern to the western district was an arduous task for common folk.

The stretch of yellow sand separating the two districts was nothing more than a brief journey for cultivators, but for ordinary people, traversing those hundred miles of desert was nearly impossible. Fortunately, some kind-hearted predecessors had left a narrow path marked by scattered stones to guide travelers between the eastern and western districts. However, the path was too narrow for carriages or horses—only human feet or the hooves of donkeys could tread steadily. Straying from the path risked losing one’s way in the swirling sands, making it difficult to find direction again. As a result, most who entered the western district were unwilling to endure the ordeal of leaving. Meanwhile, outsiders, hearing rumors of the faint spiritual energy there, flocked in, causing Luoyue City to grow increasingly crowded.

No wonder the white horse had been so hard to sell—its frail frame would never have made it through the desert.

The original story had followed the male lead’s perspective. As the chosen one with an exceptional cultivation physique, Yu Muhan had surpassed ordinary people from the moment he appeared. Through his eyes, Shen Su had never realized just how difficult it was for a commoner to leave Luoyue City.

Now, thinking back to Cui Tao’s extreme reaction upon learning of her plans to leave, Shen Su found it almost amusing. Cui Tao shouldn’t have been so anxious—given her frail physique, leaving would have been a challenge for her too.

This cultivation world was truly unkind to ordinary people.

Damn this world!

Shen Su had indeed considered pursuing the path of immortality, but cultivating immortality required talent. Those without it would meet their end even faster. Moreover, the world of immortal cultivation was limited, with various conflicts of interest among the major sects. Once she stepped onto that path, she would inevitably cross paths with the protagonists—antagonizing them would lead to death, befriending them could be just as fatal. She knew she stood no chance against the protagonists or the antagonists.

Immortal cultivation was unwise. It would be better to stay in Luoyue City and live out her days in peace.

There were still over a hundred years before Luoyue City would be massacred—plenty of time for her to pass away naturally.

Shen Su had no grand ambitions; she only sought stability. But to achieve that, she needed to uncover Cui Tao’s schemes and figure out just what the beauty she had picked up really was.

With that thought, Shen Su glanced toward the bed. Though several days had passed, the beauty transformed from the white horse still lay unconscious, showing no signs of waking.

Cui Tao had repeatedly suggested moving the beauty to another room, but Shen Su insisted on keeping her in her own chamber. Instead, Shen Su slept on a wooden chair every night—simple reasoning, really. She hadn’t yet determined whether the beauty was human or demon, and she didn’t want to miss even the slightest transformation.

The original host’s body wasn’t particularly robust, but its healing ability was decent. The faint red marks left by the white horse on her delicate skin had already vanished, leaving her hands smooth and fair once more.

The beauty’s healing, however, wasn’t as efficient. Three days had passed, yet she remained deep in slumber. Her palms and feet, wrapped in bandages after being treated with medicine, concealed the gruesome wounds.

Shen Su set down the book in her hands and walked to the bedside.

After days of unconsciousness, the weariness on the beauty’s face had faded somewhat. Yet, despite being in a deep sleep, her brows remained tightly furrowed, as if burdened by endless sorrow.

For some reason, the unfamiliar voice Shen Su had heard that day echoed in her ears once more: “From this day forth, you are no longer a goddess, but a lowly beast. You shall now experience the hardships of a fragile life.”

Shen Su remembered hearing those words when the horse’s tail had pricked her hand, and her bl00d had stained the white horse’s mane. Could there be a connection between the two?

The beauty’s aura was gentle, laced with an elegant fragrance. If she were to be called a goddess, it would be far more believable than labeling her a demon.

But in the world of immortal cultivation, a true goddess would possess cultivation strong enough to sustain an extended lifespan—how could she age?

Though the beauty didn’t appear elderly, she certainly wasn’t young either, nor did she exude any divine presence. Yet, recalling the latter half of that mysterious voice, Shen Su’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

A goddess fallen into the form of a beast! Could it really be such a coincidence?

Shen Su remembered clearly—in the original story, the great antagonist Jiang Xu’s love for the male protagonist stemmed from losing her horse in Luoyue City. The male protagonist, having grown up there and being naturally helpful, offered to assist the distraught Jiang Xu in finding it. Once the horse was recovered, Jiang Xu’s heart was swayed.

The reason the horse held such significance to Jiang Xu was simple—it was her mother, transformed.

Later, Jiang Xu did indeed turn her love into hatred, slaughtering countless lives and annihilating sects. But that hatred wasn’t solely born from unrequited love for the male protagonist; it was more deeply rooted in her loathing for her father.

Jiang Xu’s father was named Jiang An, the current Grand Elder of Linxian Mountain and the future master of the male protagonist, Yu Muhan.

Jiang An treated Yu Muhan extremely well, but that couldn’t change the fact that he had once harmed his own wife and daughter.

In the original text, there were only a few words describing Jiang Xu’s mother, but it was enough to piece together a tragic story. Jiang Xu’s mother, Wei Nanyi, was originally the senior disciple of Linxian Mountain, possessing extraordinary talent and being the most likely successor to the sect leader position. Jiang An was her junior brother, and under their master’s arrangement, the two became Daoist partners and had a daughter—Jiang Xu.

No one knew that Jiang An had once had a lover—a snake demon. One day, when the two were secretly meeting, the snake demon’s demonic nature erupted, biting and injuring dozens of Linxian Mountain disciples. In the end, Wei Nanyi stepped in and killed the snake demon. Though the snake demon was at fault, Jiang An blamed Wei Nanyi for it. Unfortunately for him, he was no match for Wei Nanyi.

Finally, as the previous sect leader’s life was nearing its end, Jiang An devised a sinister plan—killing his wife to alter his Dao path.

He used Jiang Xu to trap Wei Nanyi, imprisoning her before slowly shattering her spiritual bones. Using her bones, he condensed a new Nascent Soul. Disgusted by Wei Nanyi’s decisiveness and arrogance when she killed the snake demon, he collected the bl00d of a hundred demons, refined it, and force-fed it to her. Wei Nanyi’s path to immortality was severed, and her bloodline was altered, causing her to transform into various lowly beasts.

She couldn’t even be considered a demon, as she could barely gather any spiritual energy.

By then, the previous sect leader of Linxian Mountain was already on the verge of death. By the time she realized what had happened, it was too late, and she no longer had the power to seek justice for Wei Nanyi. All she could do was help Jiang Xu flee Linxian Mountain with Wei Nanyi, who was barely alive. Fortunately, Jiang An didn’t dare to kill his master, allowing the previous sect leader to pass the leadership to Jiang An’s junior sister.

From then on, Jiang Xu wandered with Wei Nanyi, enduring the torment of watching her mother transform into various beasts. At a young age, she developed an unyielding will. After struggling for ten years, her cultivation improved significantly, and she found a way to restore Wei Nanyi’s human form temporarily. This gave her the idea of returning to Linxian Mountain to seek justice—after all, though the previous sect leader was gone, the sect still had its Supreme Elders. While Jiang Xu had no say in Linxian Mountain, Wei Nanyi did.

But just as Jiang Xu arrived at Luoyue City, she lost her horse and soon discovered that she had become a target of Linxian Mountain’s pursuit because she had taken the sect’s most powerful divine artifact—the Yuling Sword—when she left. She had no choice but to flee Luoyue City with Wei Nanyi.

The sword had originally belonged to the previous sect leader, who had given it to Jiang Xu out of concern for her inability to protect herself. Little did she know it would bring Jiang Xu trouble instead. Still, the sword played a crucial role in allowing Jiang Xu to kill so many people.

To survive and seek revenge, Jiang Xu took Wei Nanyi and joined the Demon Sect, believing this would give her the power to protect her mother. However, later, while rescuing the male protagonist in a secret realm, she lost much of her cultivation. Coincidentally, she encountered Jiang An and the female protagonist, who had also come to rescue the male protagonist. She watched helplessly as Jiang An killed Wei Nanyi, who had transformed into a rabbit at the time, driving her nearly insane. Yet the male protagonist dismissed her reaction as an overreaction—after all, his master had merely killed a rabbit.

No one believed that the most talented disciple of Linxian Mountain had become a rabbit devoid of all spiritual power. They dismissed the dead creature as nothing more than a mindless beast, ignoring Jiang Xu’s despair entirely.

Jiang An forged a new path to immortality by utilizing Wei Nanyi’s spiritual bones, and by sacrificing Wei Nanyi’s life, he fully embraced the path of heartlessness, his cultivation soaring to unprecedented heights. Jiang Xu saw almost no hope for revenge. In desperation, she forcibly fused with the sword spirit of the Yuling Sword, turning herself into a half-human, half-weapon abomination, fully descending into demonic madness. She slaughtered Jiang An and annihilated Linxian Mountain—only to meet her end at the blade of the male lead.

By the time Shen Su reached the end of the book, she still couldn’t bring herself to hate this villain who had nearly wiped out the entire cast. Because if she were Jiang Xu, she might have gone even madder.

Jiang An had always been indifferent to Jiang Xu. She had grown up under Wei Nanyi’s care, nurtured with meticulous devotion. Even the man she loved could never outweigh the mother who had raised her.

From the perspective of most characters in the book, Jiang Xu was the epitome of evil. But from Jiang Xu’s perspective, Jiang An was the true monster.

So… was she really Wei Nanyi?

If she was Wei Nanyi, then everything made sense—except, according to the book, Wei Nanyi shouldn’t have been able to maintain human form in front of her for so long.

Shen Su glanced at the smooth skin of her hand as the voice in her ears grew clearer.

If she let her bl00d touch her again, would she hear even more?

Slowly, Shen Su raised her hand and bit open a small wound. Bl00d seeped onto her skin, but instead of hearing more voices, the beautiful woman lying on the bed suddenly opened her eyes. Those dark, luminous orbs locked onto Shen Su’s, her long lashes trembling faintly. Her gaze shifted from confusion to sheer terror in an instant.

“Don’t!”

It was that voice.

Shen Su finally heard the woman speak, and just as expected, it matched the soft, delicate voice she had heard before—except her reaction was far more intense.

Just as Shen Su was about to reassure her, familiar red mist drifted before her eyes again. This time, she saw clearly—the mist originated from the woman in front of her. The shadow of a larva had barely appeared when the woman suddenly seized her hand, pressing the wounded hand beneath the blankets. The moment the wound was concealed, both the larva and the red mist vanished.

The scene from the sedan chair flashed through Shen Su’s mind, and she nearly bit her tongue.

She had been too reckless just now.

But it seemed those larvae disappeared if they couldn’t see her wound—so her earlier instinct to cover the injury with an embroidered handkerchief in the sedan had been the right move, albeit by accident.

Shen Su’s hand remained trapped beneath the blankets, pressed against the woman’s soft body. In her haste to help, the woman hadn’t realized where she had pinned Shen Su’s hand.

The plush, yielding warmth sent Shen Su’s mind blank for a brief moment. Her ears tinged pink as she silently slipped the handkerchief beneath the covers.

The woman finally noticed and quickly released her hand.

Shen Su wrapped her hand with the handkerchief before pulling it free, but the lingering warmth in her palm only deepened the flush on her ears.

The woman opened her mouth to speak, but before any words came out, a faint cough escaped her lips instead.

Her face flushed crimson, an unusual rosy hue spreading across her pale, delicate features as a misty glimmer welled up in her eyes. The shimmering tears made her appear even more fragile and pitiable. Shen Su’s mind buzzed, her fingertips that had just touched the beauty now burning with warmth.

The beauty’s coughing grew increasingly violent, faint traces of bl00d seeping from the corners of her lips. Startled, Shen Su quickly helped her sit up halfway, gently patting her back to ease the congestion in her chest. Yet the beauty only clutched Shen Su’s embroidered handkerchief-wrapped hand tighter, as if terrified it might slip and reveal her injured hand. Her words, however, contradicted her actions: “Cough… stay away from me, miss. The thing inside me… it craves your bl00d.”

Shen Su glanced at her tightly gripped hand, ignoring the first half of the beauty’s plea to focus on the latter: “Thing? What thing?”

The beauty parted her lips slightly, as though she had much to say, but before any words could emerge, tears fell first.

Drop by drop, the scalding teardrops landed on Shen Su’s arm, searing an opening straight through her heart. A faint itch suddenly rose in Shen Su’s throat, her fingers climbing to press against her neck to suppress it.

Her voice was soft, laced with a sob: “Miss… you bought me, you saved me. I don’t want to harm you.”