Wei Hai turned to leave as soon as he finished speaking.

“Where are you going?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

“I’m bringing your blood to an old man to find out what sort of creature you truly are,” Wei Hai replied. “This cave is high up in the mountains, so don’t try to escape while you’re under the effects of my paralytic poison unless you want to fall and die.”

Wei Hai spread his wings and jumped out of the cave, morphing into a different form as he did so. Because of how quickly he vanished, Yun Ruoyan couldn’t see his true appearance, but his feathered arms suggested that he was probably an avian-type beast.

“Qiuqiu, am I really not a human? Is my surname really not Yun?” The questions that had lain buried in her heart had finally been addressed, but Yun Ruoyan only felt more and more confused.

“Mistress, I don’t think you can trust this Wei Hai’s words fully. To be certain, you have to check the Farsighted King’s records for yourself.”

“Right. Right! I have to see the records myself.”

Actually, Yun Ruoyan still thought it quite possible that her father was indeed Yun Lan. Before her cultivation stagnated and began falling, before the birthmark on her face had become larger and more grotesque, Yun Lan had been quite a caring father to her. Additionally, she had always been treated as a daughter of the Yun family.

It was only after her cultivation began to flag and her birthmark began to spread that Yun Lan’s attitude toward Yun Ruoyan had become colder and her status in the Yun family fell. If Yun Lan weren’t her birth father, would he have borne with her for so many years? But if the reason he distanced himself from her was solely because of her lost talent and beauty, then why did he still treat her so poorly even after she had regained both those qualities?

And who was that Young Master Long? Why had he taken her mother away, then left her to return to the Yun manor alone?

Yun Ruoyan felt as though her past was shrouded in even deeper a fog than before. 

Sensing its mistress’ confusion, Qiuqiu advised, “You won’t be able to resolve this mystery just by thinking about it, Mistress. When the time comes, I expect the answers to your questions will naturally resurface. Before then, we should figure out how to keep ourselves alive.”

Qiuqiu’s words immediately cleared Yun Ruoyan’s mind. “Qiuqiu, is there an antidote for this paralytic poison?”

“Yes,” Qiuqiu affirmed. “The ingredients you need for the antidote are all within the bracelet’s pocket dimension. Do you remember that medicinal rabbit’s beast core, Mistress? Its core will be the central ingredient for the pill.”

“But I can’t use my spiritual energy at the moment, and if I can’t use my spiritual energy, then I can’t refine any pills!”

This advanced form of the standard paralytic poison caused even her spiritual pathways to become clogged up, preventing her from making use of her spiritual energy.

“Mistress, even if you can’t, I can!”

“You… can use your own spiritual energy to refine pills?” Ever since Qiuqiu had become Yun Ruoyan’s contracted spirit, it had never seemed to have much spiritual energy. Only recently had Yun Ruoyan found out that this was because it had suffered a grievous injury while trying to defend the Beast King, causing most of its stored spiritual energy to dissipate.

Yun Ruoyan was naturally surprised to hear Qiuqiu claim that it could make use of spiritual energy once more.

“Yes, Mistress,” Qiuqiu replied. “During this period of time, I’ve been cultivating within the pocket dimension, and I’ve recovered a small bit of spiritual energy—surely enough to help refine a small antidote. But there’s one other thing, Mistress…”

“What?”

“The sage-grade amaranthine sun you acquired contains highly potent fire-attuned spiritual energy, and I’ve been using it to aid my cultivation without letting you know,” Qiuqiu confessed. It was a fire 

qilin

, and the fire-attuned spiritual energy in the amaranthine sun perfectly met its needs. It was purely by accident that Qiuqiu had discovered that the spiritual energy in the amaranthine sun would enter its spiritual vortex along with the spiritual energy in the silver bracelet’s pocket dimension, augmenting his cultivation greatly.

However, Qiuqiu knew how important the herb would be for Yun Ruoyan, a pillmaster for whom the amaranthine sun was a priceless treasure.

“That’s great!” Yun Ruoyan exclaimed, without any of the anger that Qiuqiu had expected. She naturally didn’t mind Qiuqiu using the amaranthine sun; in fact, she was happy that Qiuqiu could recover part of its spiritual energy. “Now that you’ve recovered somewhat, Qiuqiu, you can help me out too!”

“Yes, Mistress! Once my spiritual energy’s mostly recovered, I’ll be able to break the seal on the bracelet and regain my freedom.”

Because Yun Ruoyan was unable to use her spiritual energy, she was unable to enter her silver bracelet’s pocket dimension. Instead, she lay quietly in her cage as she waited for Qiuqiu to refine the antidote. With nothing she could do, her thoughts returned to the mystery of her birth, and her mood worsened once more.

“Mistress, the antidote’s ready.” After about fifteen minutes—though seemingly an interminable amount of time to Yun Ruoyan—Qiuqiu’s voice rang out once more. “Mistress, I’ll have to try to drop the pill directly in your mouth.”

Yun Ruoyan obediently opened her mouth wide and swallowed.

After about another fifteen minutes, she slowly raised an arm. On her palm blazed a bright flame. The antidote had clearly taken effect, and Yun Ruoyan’s spiritual energy had been unblocked.

She sat up, a steel dagger clutched in her hand, and slowly began to infuse spiritual energy into her blade. Gleaming white, the blade’s penetrating power increased at least twofold. Yun Ruoyan was just about to slash at the bars of her cage when Qiuqiu suddenly called out, “Mistress, that lad’s back! If you break out of your cage now, you can teach him a lesson.”

However, Yun Ruoyan thought for a moment before choosing to stow her dagger and sitting back in her original position instead. “Didn’t he say he was going to show my blood to someone to figure out what sort of creature I am? I’d like to know, too.”

As she finished speaking, a black shadow flew into the cave from outside. This time, Yun Ruoyan clearly saw the form of the bird: a strange, gray-feathered bird whose name Yun Ruoyan didn’t know.

It trembled at the mouth of the cave before returning to its human form. 

“Still here? Not bad.” Wei Hai smiled when he saw Yun Ruoyan sitting quietly where he had left her.

“It looks like I must be some wonderful creature if you’re so happy,” Yun Ruoyan began, blinking as she looked toward Wei Hai.

Wei Hai chuckled and sat down by her side, scrutinizing her carefully. His eyes were filled with such greed that Yun Ruoyan involuntarily shivered and tried to draw away. “What are you looking at?!”

Wei Hai chuckled once more, his eyes gleaming even brighter. “I hadn’t expected to discover such a treasure.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re a treasure,” Wei Hai emphasized. “I was going to kill you, but now I’m going to raise you instead.”

Yun Ruoyan glared at him. “Since I’m in your hands now, there’s no need to keep my origins a secret, is there? Tell me what the results of your testing were!”

Ever since Yun Ruoyan found out from the demonic dragon elder that she might possess a demonic dragon bloodline, she had kept it a secret from one and all, not even telling Li Mo. She had intended on affirming the truth of the matter for herself, and clearly Wei Hai seemed to know something.

Wei Hai continued to look at her greedily. “No wonder the Slaughtering King was attracted to you, even though he’s famous for not being close to women, no wonder he wanted to take you as a disciple… He must have known of your unique constitution, if he’s willing to go to such ends.”

What did this have to do with Li Mo? What unique constitution? Yun Ruoyan frowned as she waited for Wei Hai to continue.

“Judging from your expression, you don’t know about this at all, do you?” Wei Hai sounded as though he were pitying her.

“There’s no need to beat around the bush!”

“I’m far more honest than the Slaughtering King, at least—I’m not lying to you while trying to raise you and take advantage of you, am I? The truth, and nothing but the truth: I brought your blood to an old turtle acquaintance of mine to have him figure out why your blood was so fragrant. In the end, he didn’t manage to uncover your origins, but he 

did

 discover that you had a precious constitution that appears once in a century.”

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