Although her father, Yi Caishi, lacked talent in cultivation, he had also knocked open the gate of immortality. Therefore, he did not look too different from eleven years ago.
“Who’s that woman beside him?” Yi Xiao could only see the woman’s side profile. “Why is she so intimate with Father?”
Yi Xiao repressed the agitation in her heart as she carefully followed them from afar.
And on the other side.
“Caishi, Grand Dominance might be quite nice now, but we should have come in March. It’s said that March is when it looks best.” The purple-dressed woman said as she clung to Yi Caishi’s arm.
“Third Madam, didn’t you say that I have to accompany you to every city in the world? By visiting one city after another, it’s already autumn when we reached Grand Dominance. Why don’t we come again in March next year?” Yi Caishi said with a smile. He looked slightly older than thirty but he had a scholarly look and was rather handsome. He had a smile that warmed people, and it was this smile that had smitten the purple-dressed woman.
The purple-dressed woman said with a chuckle, “There’s no rush. Let’s come to that after we finish touring the world. The world is so large with its myriad of cities both big and small. We haven’t even visited half of them all. Let’s talk about it again after we are done.”
“As you wish.” Yi Caishi said with a smile.
“Okay.” The purple-dressed woman smiled sweetly in return.
The couple walked without heeding their surroundings as they took in the sights. Occasionally, they would buy some snacks at the hawker stalls by the roadside and in a while, it was noon.
As for Yi Xiao, she followed them a kilometer away. The more she saw, the more anxious and puzzled she became. “Who is this woman? Why is my father so intimate with her? Is she my mother? Or is she some other woman? Is she the reason why my father has never come to see me after the age of nine?” Upon thinking back to how her father had never visited her once but engaged in such intimacy with the woman, Yi Xiao felt even more upset.
At noon.
Yi Caishi and the purple-dressed woman returned to their temporary residence in Grand Dominance City. It was a rather large manor.
Inside the manor.
“Princess.” A voice transmission sounded in the purple-dressed woman’s ear.
She turned around and saw a hunchbacked elder standing far away around a bend. He nodded at her slightly.
“I’ll have a chat with Elder Sun,” said the purple-dressed woman.
“Sure.” Yi Caishi proceeded into the inner compound.
The purple-dressed woman walked over to the hunchbacked elder and asked, “Elder Sun, what’s the matter?”
The elder whispered, “Princess, when both of you were out, a woman was secretly trailing the both of you.”
“Following me and Caishi?” A cold glint flashed in the purple-dressed woman’s eyes. “Who wants to deal with me?”
“We have already locked onto her. She’s currently in the manor,” said the elder. Suddenly, he frowned and added, “That woman has already flown into the manor. She is heading for Yi Caishi.”
“Protect Caishi well,” said the purple-dressed woman immediately.
“Don’t worry. We have set up an array formation in this manor,” said the elder. “We know her every move in the manor.”
“Caishi is only an ordinary cultivator with no standing in the Yi family. Find out who she is and why she’s pursuing Caishi.” The purple-dressed woman frowned as she headed for the inner compound with the hunchbacked elder.
…
In the inner compound.
Yi Xiao cast an Invisibility Spell and silently entered the compound. When she flew into the manor, she had discovered her father already in the inner compound.
In a small yard in the inner compound.
Just as Yi Caishi was about to enter a study, he suddenly realized a female silhouette standing in the corridor beside him.
“Oh?” Yi Caishi turned his head to give a careful look. Instantly, his expression changed. The woman was looking at him with tears in her eyes.
“Xiao’er.” Yi Caishi felt disbelief. “Why, why are you here…”
“Father, so you still recognize me.” Yi Xiao looked at the scholarly and handsome man. She could not help it as tears streamed down her cheeks. “It’s been eleven years. Eleven years! Father, how could you steel your heart and not seek me. Can you tell me why you are this heartless? Why didn’t you ever come looking for me? Why!?”
“I… I…”
Yi Caishi wanted to say something.
All these years, he had been secretly been keeping up with news of his daughter. He could recognize her at a glance as he had long seen a picture of a grown-up Yi Xiao.
“I’ve let you down.” Yi Caishi said softly.
“Tell me. Why did you do it?” Yi Xiao’s eyes were red as she stared at the man in front of her with tears gushing out her eyes. He was her father, her only relative in the past! Now, there was an additional Qin Yun in her heart but she could not get over her father. She never understood why her father had abandoned her.
“Father, do you hate me?” Yi Xiao asked. “Do you think of me as a burden that will affect your good times with that woman?”
“You…”
Yi Caishi looked angered but when he saw his crying daughter, he sighed with a heart filled with shame. “Don’t ask any further. It was all my fault. I was selfish and heartless. Yi Xiao, you are grown up now. You are also a Divine Firmament Chapter disciple. You can already take care of yourself. In the future, it’s best we not meet again. Forget that I was ever your father!”
Yi Xiao’s face drained of its color as her body quivered.
Although she was filled with rage and sadness, he was still her father. She still wanted to reunite with him! But after anticipating this reunion for eleven years, her father had told her to forget that he was ever her father. He even proposed that they never meet again.
“Father, how can you be so heartless? What made you ostracize me, that you would not want your daughter?” Yi Xiao looked at Yi Caishi.
“Xiao’er, I didn’t ostracize you.” Yi Caishi frowned as he bellowed. “Leave, let’s not meet ever again.”
…
Not far away, outside the yard’s entrance, the purple-dressed woman and the hunchbacked elder were being concealed by the array formation as they watched the scene play out inside the yard.
“So she’s the daughter of Caishi and that slut.” The purple-dressed woman chuckled. In the deep recesses of her eyes were coldness. “I remember her name is Yi Xiao, a Divine Firmament Chapter disciple. Hmph, she sure is pretty. That slut must be equally beautiful. It’s no wonder she managed to seduce Caishi. This Yi Xiao is likely also a seductive slut.”
“Princess,” the elder asked in a hushed tone. “How shall we deal with this Yi Xiao? Should we send her to the door, or?”
“Hmph! How can it be as simple as sending her to the door?” The purple-dressed woman laughed as she glanced at the elder beside her. “Elder Sun, do you think I have turned soft-hearted after all these years of having Caishi accompany in my travels?”
The elder smiled obsequiously. “Princess, you had previously promised Yi Caishi, so I thought you would only want to send that Yi Xiao off.”
The purple-dressed woman said indifferently, “Yes, I promised him that but he had also promised me to never meet his daughter, that he would dedicate himself to accompanying me and compensate me. But now, he has not held up his side of the promise, so it’s no longer my fault.”
“Yes,” answered the elder immediately.
“That slut has run and vanished. I shall let that slut’s daughter have a taste of everything I suffered,” said the purple-dressed woman with a chuckle.
The elder listened to her obediently. He knew very well that the princess was sixteen years old back then. Her heart had been given to Yi Caishi and she was extremely naive. But ever since she was heartbroken by Yi Caishi, she had a drastic change in personality. Her schemes turned more brilliant and with her wielding power, it made many people willing to pledge their allegiance to her.
“Swoosh.”
The purple-dressed woman took a stride and walked out of the concealment region of the array formation.
Yi Caishi and Yi Xiao turned their heads over and saw the smiling purple-dressed woman walk over. The way the purple-dressed woman smiled at Yi Xiao while she looked at her was as though she was seeing fish on the cutting board.
“Third Madam! Third Madam!” However, Yi Caishi was panicking in horror. He said immediately, “She only happened to enter. Why aren’t you leaving now!?” Saying that, he glared angrily at Yi Xiao.
“Since you are here, there’s no need to leave!” The purple-dressed woman said with a chuckle.
******
And elsewhere, at Yi Xiao’s residence.
Qin Yun came outside the small yard and was about to knock on the door.
“Young Master Qin, our Missus isn’t back yet.” A maidservant said from the outside immediately.
“She’s not back? We agreed on having lunch together.” Qin Yun was somewhat astonished. “When did she leave?”
“It has been more than two hours,” replied the maidservant.
“It’s already noon. Where did she go?” Qin Yun was puzzled.