Chapter 38 p1
“Jielang(A’jie)…do you know…I am your birth mother?”
As she spoke, Si Ling’s tears began to flow.
A femme fatale is heartless and cannot be moved by emotion. But if she grows a heart, every teardrop that falls is heart’s blood, an elixir that drives the world into madness and preserves eternal youth.
Seeing the bloody tear streaks run down his mother’s pale cheeks, Wei Jie restrained himself again and again before finally raising his hand to wipe them away. “Mother, don’t cry anymore. These are tears of heartache that will harm your spiritual essence…”
This single word “Mother” only made Si Ling’s tears flow even more uncontrollably.
Wei Jie let out a silent sigh and pressed his mother’s side windpool acupoint. “This is a technique you taught me when I was young. If you cannot control yourself, just press here to guard your inner spirit. I’ve always remembered…”
With this press, Si Ling did indeed stop crying, though her emotional agitation still could not be reined in.
She gazed at her son with lingering affection, reaching out to caress his handsome face before finally suppressing her emotions to murmur, “I was always afraid you would not be accepted by the Wei Family. But now I see you have taken refuge under the Talisman Sect, with a master to guide you and fellow disciples to support you. I can rest assured. If there is nothing pressing, you should leave this place soon, as it is not a blessed land for you…”
As she said this, her gaze fell on the whip wound around Wei Jie’s waist, its handle bearing the distinct Wei Family’s demon-subduing insignia.
This insignia was an honor only bestowed upon the Wei Family’s recognized adult scions.
It seemed the Wei Family treated Jielang well and did not look down on him for his mixed bloodline.
With this assurance, Si Ling was completely relieved. Just as Xiao Xiao had said, Jielang had a bright future ahead of him. As his mother, how could she hinder him and force him into the abyss of vengeance?
As for the blood debt owed by the Four Great Sects for killing her husband, she alone would bear that burden.
She had painstakingly established herself in Luoyi City for a long time. Now that Prince Can had become her subordinate, granting her every request, as long as she controlled him and the extraordinary figures he had gathered, overthrowing the Four Great Sects would not be difficult.
As for Jielang, it was better for him to stay as far away from these sordid matters as possible. That was why she wanted the Talisman Sect’s master and disciple to leave Luoyi City soon.
However, when Si Ling advised him to leave, Wei Jie remained unmoved. He scrutinized his mother’s eyes before saying, “This city is not a blessed land for you either. You need to leave Luoyi City immediately!”
Si Ling shook her head, as if looking at a naive child, and still urged, “You go ahead. I really won’t be in any danger…”
Before his mother could finish, Wei Jie suddenly removed two silver rings from the whip handle and slipped them onto Si Ling’s arms.
These silver rings were forged from mines near the underworld, inherently yin in nature. Combined with the Wei Family’s enchantments, they could reveal demonic forms and detect ominous auras.
The Wei Family always wore silver armor, not only because they were wealthy, but also because silver warded off evil.
As the silver rings encircled Si Ling’s wrists, she immediately felt a burning, unbearable pain on her skin. It was as if something within her body was being drawn out by the silver rings, wrapped in her vital energy and surging forth.
If it were anyone else, Si Ling might have retaliated then and there. But she knew her son must have a profound reason for this, so she endured.
The two silver rings began rapidly spinning around her wrists, causing the blood vessels between them to swell slightly, as if something was wriggling inside… Then, the rings suddenly constricted, tightly clamping down on that section of her meridians.
Wei Jie took out a silver dagger and deftly picked out a voodoo worm from his mother’s skin.
When Wei Jie dropped it to the ground, the black worm was still writhing.
Wei Jie casually drew the precious sword from Xiao Xiao’s waist and sliced the worm into a bloody pulp with a single strike.
Si Ling had never noticed that she had been inflicted with a voodoo worm, and was greatly shocked to see her still-bleeding wrist.
Wei Jie looked at the worm’s remains and slowly said, “This is no ordinary voodoo worm, but a puppet worm from the underworld. It is born from the muds of the River of Oblivion. It is said that those unwilling to reincarnate often drown themselves in that river. Thus, the riverbed is laden with resentful energies, giving birth to worms that feed on those grudges. When nurtured with ferocious beast’s blood, they can then be used to control ghosts and gods.”
Si Ling had never realized she was inflicted with a puppet worm, and was shaken speechless when Wei Jie exposed it. She seemed to be recalling when this could have happened.
However, Wei Jie provided the answer, “Mother, you only recently entered the prince’s manor, didn’t you? The night you performed at the Ocean View Pavilion for Prince Can, I was actually on the roof…”
Xiao Xiao was also stunned, recalling that this was the very night she had almost fallen from the building.
At that time, Wei Jie had given up his room for her, saying he would share Tang Youshu’s room. But Yu Ling’er had said Wei Jie never went to Tang Youshu’s room.
It turned out that on that day, he had recognized Si Ling and stealthily made his way onto the roof of the Ocean View Pavilion.
His lightbody technique was peerless, allowing him to lurk undetected and eavesdrop on the secrets within.
He had heard Prince Can ask the serving girl when the voodoo worm would take effect.
The girl replied, “The puppet worm is transparent and odorless when seeded, so it is hard to detect. But after seven days, it will travel through the meridians and reach the heart, at which point the voodoo will take hold.”
Prince Can did not say anything further. But that worm-cultivating maidservant, perhaps eager to flaunt her achievements, continued, “Your servant has nearly finished cultivating a new batch of worms. Not only can they control a person’s mind, but they can also command various extraordinary beasts. It’s a pity the likes of Hunter King seem to have failed this time. Otherwise, Your Highness’s collection of rarities would have grown considerably.”
Prince Can only rose and calmly told the worm cultivator, “Zhuer, you speak too much.”
The maidservant named Zhuer immediately fell silent and stood behind Prince Can as he left the pavilion.
If Wei Jie had not lingered after his mother’s performance to overhear this conversation between Prince Can and the voodoo cultivator, he would never have known the truth.
From the cryptic words of that cunning worm cultivator, once the puppet worm entered the body, it would travel through the meridians. Once it reached the heart, the voodoo would be complete, allowing the possessed victim to be controlled.
When Wei Jie realized his mother had been inflicted, but didn’t know how to resolve it, he contacted the Wei Family’s undercover agents in the city and wrote to his grandmother. He finally obtained these silver rings that could expel the voodoo worm.
However, this method was only effective for those recently inflicted. Fortunately, it arrived in time to cleanse Si Ling of the worm.
Si Ling frowned in contemplation, still unwilling to believe Prince Can would inflict her with a voodoo worm. “How is that possible? Prince Can has always obeyed my every command without making excessive demands…”
As a femme fatale, her bewitching charm allowed her to play men in the palm of her hand. Those men would offer up everything just for a taste of her beauty.
Si Ling excelled at controlling men’s hearts, so she could not fathom how a man who submitted to her would secretly plot against her.
If this worm was truly planted by Prince Can, why had he never opposed her demands? Was his infatuation with her a ruse?
Si Ling had always thought she was the hunter lying in wait, holding Prince Can as her chess piece.
But now, she realized that the man who professed such deep affection for her was the true hunter.
She furrowed her brows and muttered to herself, “Is it because he discovered I am a femme fatale that he did this?”
Wei Jie said indifferently, “This man’s thoughts run deep, and he is fond of collecting strange beasts. Mother may not be the only one inflicted with the puppet worm.”
Listening silently from the side, Xiao Xiao suddenly recalled how Wei Jie had refused to let her eat or drink at last night’s banquet.
At the time, even the toast offered by Prince Can had been snatched away by Wei Jie to drink first as a gesture of respect.
Although Wei Jie had jokingly said he was worried about Xiao Xiao’s unrefined table manners, now it seemed he might have been preventing Prince Can from tampering with her food and drink.
When had he discovered that his mother was in Luoyi City?
After his brief reunion with his mother, Wei Jie had the Wei Family’s undercover agents escort her out of the city.
If it were just a normal persuasion, Si Ling would not have left willingly. But being unknowingly inflicted with the puppet worm meant she had already become a piece on someone else’s chessboard.
From Wei Jie’s words, Si Ling learned that the Wei Family had detected the undercurrents in Luoyi City and made corresponding arrangements. If she remained, she would inevitably disrupt the Wei Family’s plans. For her son’s sake, she was willing to temporarily set aside her vendetta against the Four Great Sects and seek an opportunity another day.
On the day Wei Jie sent his mother away, Xiao Xiao silently watched from the side, truly relieved.
Regardless, with Si Ling leaving the city, perhaps her fate of being forced to death by the Four Great Sects could be avoided. And Wei Jie would not have to witness his mother’s tragic demise, falling into an unbreakable demonic obsession and slaughtering the Four Great Sects’ elders.
Xiao Xiao had never expected the matter that had constantly troubled her to be resolved so easily.
She suddenly realized that despite their daily interactions, she did not truly understand this man.
It seemed he had concealed many things from her.
Of course, she had also hidden much from him. So the master-disciple bond between them was indeed quite hypocritical!
As if to make amends for the harm done to their relationship by these secrets, on the way back to the city, Wei Jie did explain things to Xiao Xiao.
It turned out that in the letter he had received from his grandmother in the Wei Family, she had informed him of his mother Si Ling’s presence in Luoyi City.
However, his grandmother did not write to facilitate a reunion between mother and son. Rather, it was to notify him to assist the Wei Family’s undercover agents in investigating the city lord, Prince Can.
His grandmother suspected that the incident of the Corpse-Eating Beast escaping from the underworld was no accident.
Upon further investigation, they discovered that one of the Wei Family’s guards watching over the underworld had been inflicted with this puppet worm.
The seeds of these puppet worms had actually been brought out from the underworld by a renegade member of the Wei Family long ago. Now that their existence had been discovered, the Wei Family matriarch immediately sealed the information and began a secret investigation.
That guard had been inflicted for a very long time, and the puppet worm had grown to the size of a fist, impossible to remove. On his deathbed, coughing up blood, he revealed the truth.
It was under someone’s command that he had secretly released the Corpse-Eating Beast.
At that time, many beast hunters had gathered around Mount Qilao, as if anticipating the escape of a demonic beast from the underworld.
Such an elaborate arrangement could not be attributed to the peculiar hunting hobbies of a mere nobleman. The matriarch suspected there was another objective behind this, so she began a covert investigation along that trail.
Fortunately, there were not many people in the world capable of cultivating these puppet worms. Based on the lead of the renegade who had originally escaped, the Wei Family quickly traced his daughter, who had become a guest at Prince Can’s manor in Luoyi City. They also unexpectedly discovered that the femme fatale Si Ling was in the city as well.
Knowing that her grandson Wei Jie would also be coming to Luoyi City, the matriarch wrote him that letter and returned the enchanted whip – the ceremonial item bestowed upon coming-of-age Wei Family scions.
Hearing Wei Jie’s explanation, Xiao Xiao was filled with profound reflections.
So that was it – no wonder Wei Jie had hesitated so long before entering the city.
He had been separated from his mother at a young age. Even after growing up and understanding her difficulties, he would still have unresolved feelings. His hesitation then was likely due to uncertainty about reuniting with her.
The Wei Family matriarch was indeed a tough old nut, with many twists and turns in her mind.
Xiao Xiao guessed that apart from preventing her grandson from being caught off guard by Si Ling’s presence, the matriarch’s actions were also another test for Wei Jie – to see if he would follow his father’s path and how he would handle his relationship with his demonic mother.
Perhaps in the original trajectory two hundred years ago, the Wei Family had also deployed undercover agents in the city.
However, in that original trajectory, Wei Jie had a notorious reputation, made even worse by the disastrous Ghost Quarter medical case, earning him infamy.
The Wei Family’s undercover agents in the city would likely not have given him any favorable reports.
Shouldering such an important responsibility, the Wei Family naturally would not welcome a crooked scion back into the fold, let alone associate with Wei Jie again.
If Xiao Xiao’s conjecture was correct, how tragic and helpless the Wei Jie of the previous life must have been!
At the very least, up until now, Xiao Xiao felt that the Wei Jie of the original trajectory had unfairly borne far too much undeserved infamy.
Even if he might turn demonic in the future, Xiao Xiao did not consider him to be an unforgivable villain at present.
The Wei Jie who originally shouldered false accusations, witnessing the tragic death of the mother he had been separated from since childhood – how furious and resentful he must have felt, yet with no outlet to vent?
Thinking of this, Xiao Xiao could only sigh silently. Amitabha Buddha, she actually had the thought that the Four Great Sects deserved to be slain by Wei Jie in the previous life.
She herself was possessed by the demon bead, so having such malicious thoughts was unacceptable! Xiao Xiao hurriedly recited a mind-purification mantra to dispel the wicked notion.
However, from this perspective, that low-profile Prince Can from the previous life was quite the remarkable figure!
Few men in this world could resist being beguiled by a femme fatale’s charms. This Prince Can had to be one of them.
A man’s ability to remain unswayed by feminine beauty generally fell into two categories: one was eunuchs, the other was those with an obsession more intoxicating than beauty itself.
This Prince Can did not seem to belong to either category.
However, recalling Prince Can’s meaningful gaze towards Wei Jie, Xiao Xiao suspected he might fall into the latter.
Could it be that this Prince Can preferred masculine beauty?
Upon hearing his master’s preposterous conjecture, Wei Jie gave her a sidelong glance and coldly laughed, “Are you saying I’m effeminate enough to submit beneath another man?”
Um… Xiao Xiao grinned, implying that perhaps Prince Can himself preferred to be on the receiving end.
Wei Jie continued his cold laugh, agreeing with Yu Ling’er’s earlier remark that Cui Xiao Xiao was well-suited to lead the Passion Sect.
“You think being unswayed by a femme fatale’s charms means one prefers men? In this world, there are actually things more intoxicating than beauty,” Wei Jie said slowly.
