Chapter 5

“Bring it here.” Master Yu fixed his cold gaze on Gong Miaohua and her husband. “This isn’t for me or for little Youyou—whoever dares to take it, I’ll cut them down.”

“Senior Brother!”

“Master Yu.” She looked at him, unable to hold back her tears.

Gong Miaohua had never seen such a stern glare directed at her by a fellow disciple.

“I’m pregnant now and need nourishment.”

Over the past three years, Master Yu had indeed sent her many precious items.

Raising a young cultivator required rare heaven-and-earth treasures and spiritual materials suitable for children. No matter how rare or expensive, Master Yu had gathered them all and sent them to her.

Because he wasn’t by her side to nurture their daughter and was too busy to visit, he felt guilty and wanted to compensate her with everything he could.

At first, Gong Miaohua, though selfishly hoarding some rare spiritual items, still fed quite a few to little Youyou.

But Youyou was already over one year old and still unable to speak, often staring blankly. Then she fell seriously ill. Resentful that this useless daughter was a disgrace, Gong Miaohua felt all those treasures were wasted on such a failure.

So she simply kept the good things for herself.

Moreover, now pregnant again, she felt the child in her womb was extraordinary and thought it better to save the treasures for this baby rather than waste them on Youyou.

How could Master Yu possibly understand such a mother’s compassion?

“Is the Red Flame Demon Lord dead and unable to support you and the child, so much so that you have to pinch your own daughter’s rations? A proud Demon Lord taking advantage of his child, living off her? Useless!”

Master Yu glared at the Red Flame Demon Lord. Though a demon lord himself, he still had some pride. The Red Flame Demon Lord’s handsome, otherworldly face flickered with emotion. Wiping the blood from his face, he whispered to Gong Miaohua, “Give it to him.”

As he spoke, his eyes lingered on Youyou, who lay in Chu Xingyun’s arms, seemingly very close to him.

This little one had a fever for half a year, looked so dull she could barely speak, yet she still remembered not to suffer losses.

“But, but…” she hesitated, unwilling to part with it.

“Brother Yu is right. You are my wife; I should cherish you and not let you worry over such trivialities.”

The Red Flame Demon Lord’s gaze softened as he spoke gently to his sulking wife. “Besides, I don’t want you to endure the cold stares of others just because of some spiritual treasures.”

His kindness moved Gong Miaohua so much that tears shimmered in her eyes.

Little Youyou, soft and small, lay quietly on Chu Xingyun’s shoulder, not paying attention to their exchanges, only thinking about her own “different” worries from those in the book.

She felt her fate was clearly different from the Youyou in the story. Being taken from the Demon City by Master Yu years earlier was not so unreasonable.

She never intended to follow the book’s Youyou step by step.

If she hadn’t changed, she would have been a villain who harmed her father, senior brothers and sisters, and nearly destroyed the sect’s legacy.

Now, this seemed quite alright.

She wanted to live a life unlike the Youyou in the book and hoped to bring good fortune to those she cared about, not endless hardship.

“Let’s go.”

Gong Miaohua tearfully threw the storage ring containing Youyou’s spiritual treasures into Master Yu’s arms. He didn’t care about her sulking attitude.

Having gotten what he wanted, he strode forward eagerly, saying to his disciple, “Let me hold Youyou.”

He looked at his daughter carefully, as if afraid of hurting her, slipping the storage ring onto her finger and reaching out to her.

The fragile little child faced a large, rough hand that seemed as if it might crush her.

Instinctively, Master Yu withdrew his hand.

But almost instantly, a tiny hand quickly grasped his palm.

The tall and dignified man nearly shed tears.

Holding the child, he watched her obediently lean on his shoulder, using her spiritual light to shield against the demonic energy and biting cold wind of the Demon City.

He then said to Chu Xingyun, “Take the ten-thousand-mile boat home.”

If it were just the two of them, both strong cultivators, they could have flown back on their spiritual light, even if the wind was harsh.

But now he had his daughter with him—how could he let her suffer?

Chu Xingyun summoned a small golden longboat.

“This treasure was obtained by your senior brother from the immortal’s cave of a transcended celestial being. The cabin is full of spiritual energy and comes with its own…”

Since entering the path of cultivation, Chu Xingyun had many fortunate encounters and collected many spiritual treasures ordinary cultivators could not obtain.

Simply put, he was lucky.

In truth, from a cultivator’s perspective, this meant he had great destiny and was favored by heaven and earth.

Otherwise, he couldn’t have reached the verge of the Great Ascension stage in only eighty years.

For other cultivators, even reaching the Golden Core stage within eighty years would be considered a prodigy.

“Brother!”

The little weakling lifted her small head enthusiastically as her father spoke of the wonderful longboat.

“Truly worthy of your senior brother, isn’t it?”

Although Master Yu was worried about his daughter’s condition, seeing her lively expression made him laugh heartily.

He couldn’t help but stroke her sparse, yellowish hair.

Chu Xingyun smiled faintly, seeing the once dull and stiff little one now lively and cheerful, and noticing his usually weary master in a rare good mood.

Master Yu must have sensed the younger sister’s difficult words.

But he showed no pity or sorrow in front of her.

In his eyes, she was just a normal child, just like any other.

“Let’s go. We still have many elders to visit; they all miss our Youyou.”

Master Yu laughed freely for a while, then stopped as a beautiful female cultivator hurried after him.

Gong Miaohua, clutching her belly pitifully, looked at him as she once did during their days at the Ancient Sect, begging for his help after every mistake.

His smile faded, and he said coldly, “Take care of yourself from now on.”

Though known as Immortal Miaohua in the cultivation world, admired and loved, and comfortably the Demon Lord’s wife, cherished by someone like the Red Flame Demon Lord, it was certainly because of her extraordinary beauty.

But there were plenty of beautiful female cultivators in the world.

Her only superiority was her origin from the Ancient Sect, being the beloved disciple of the former sect leader and the junior sister of the current sect leader.

If he ceased to recognize her, what pride would she have left?

Demon Lord’s wife?

Master Yu lowered his eyes coldly.

“Senior Brother, are you really going to sever ties with me over such a small matter?”

“Youyou is my treasure; there’s no such thing as a small matter. And now that I’m leaving, you haven’t even asked how your master is doing.”

Master Yu said coldly, “Since you’ve forgotten your master’s grace and hurt my beloved daughter, you are no longer under my protection.”

He protected her only because he didn’t want to disobey his master’s instructions.

His master had been a close friend of the fallen patriarch of the Gong family since their youth, like brothers.

Because of this, when the Gong family was wiped out, a loyal servant risked everything to send the orphaned Gong child to the Ancient Sect. His master treated her as his own daughter.

He cared for her for over a hundred years.

Now his master’s body was never found, and the enemy was unknown. She saw him but never even asked how the search for their master was going.

Unkind to the daughter and unfilial to the master, there was no longer any sibling affection to speak of.

“I just, I just…”

Master Yu was tired of hearing such nonsense. Holding the frail little daughter, he boarded the golden longboat.

Youyou, lying on her father’s shoulder, curiously observed the interior of the longboat. It was extravagantly decorated, with sparkling spiritual stones and jewels everywhere, exquisitely beautiful.

Even the soft couch seemed softer and more comfortable than others’.

The small side tables held cups carved from spiritual stones filled with fine nectar and various exquisite spiritual fruits.

The little one instinctively looked at her senior brother dressed in splendid robes.

Clearly, this was his taste.

So luxurious and elegant, even the cup he gave her to drink water from before was a carved jade cup.

“Your senior brother comes from a mortal royal family and loves these things. I also think he has good taste.”

“Oh.”

Her senior brother was truly the favored son of heaven in the story.

Born a mortal prince, enjoying wealth and honor, he stepped onto the path of cultivation and became the sect leader’s top disciple. In just over a hundred years, he was already a high-level cultivator.

He had many fortunate encounters and lifelong friends, with nothing to trouble him.

…Perhaps the unluckiest in the book was meeting this little villain Youyou.

Out of deep respect for Master Yu, even though Chu Xingyun didn’t like Youyou much, he kept his distance without ever speaking ill of her.

Even after suffering so badly because of Youyou, he barely survived to return to the sect, saw the devastation, and could have executed her.

But he didn’t kill her.

Because she was the only bloodline of his master, the beloved daughter.

Instead, he crippled her cultivation and sealed her forever in a harsh spiritual wasteland.

Not killing her was not just mercy, but a punishment worse than death—making her endure a life worse than a mortal’s, filled with despair and terror.

The little one thought about Youyou’s fate in the book and felt relieved.

Master Yu was not the type to force hardship. Though he came from a lowly background, he did not think that those born into good families were inherently superior.

As long as cultivation was not hindered, enjoyment was a happiness.

He did not dare put his curious daughter down on the soft couch, but held her himself.

The longboat shot toward the Ancient Sect, swiftly leaving tens of thousands of miles behind the Demon City.

The boat was very stable. Although they still had some time before reaching the sect, the most important thing on Master Yu’s mind was one question.

“Youyou, do you still feel sad anywhere?” he asked eagerly.

Youyou had been ill for over half a year. Though the high fever seemed to have passed, she was still fragile. Master Yu naturally worried about her health.

The little one shook her head vigorously and said, “No!”

She claimed she was all better now, though obviously she only said so to ease her father’s worries.