"Yaozhu-jie, you promised you wouldn't get mad… don't hit my face…"
Hearing Leng Yaozhu's voice filled with extreme anger, Xia Yi almost instinctively covered his head, bracing himself for the storm of attacks that was surely coming.
"I haven't even hit you yet, why are you yelling?" Leng Yaozhu glared at Xia Yi. However, when she saw Leng Yulai still clinging to his arm, her anger instantly dissipated.
"Leng Yulai, do you have no shame?" Leng Yaozhu immediately pulled Leng Yulai off Xia Yi's arm.
Though her fury had reached its peak, she didn't lash out—she could tell that Leng Yulai was completely throwing herself at him. This wasn't Xia Yi's fault.
"I'm just afraid that Master will abandon me." Being forcibly pulled away, Leng Yulai looked pitiful, her voice full of grievance.
"You two talk, I'm leaving." Looking at the two absolute beauties—both with jade-like complexions, one exuding a fiery and dominant aura, while the other was a petite and obedient maid, making people want to protect her—Xia Yi knew it was best to stay out of this. Even though he knew Leng Yulai was acting, he still decided to flee the scene as soon as possible.
"Master, don't leave me!" Seeing that Xia Yi was about to slip away again, Leng Yulai quickly chased after him and clung to his arm once more.
"Leng Yulai…"
Smack!
Leng Yaozhu finally lost control. With a furious roar, she slapped Leng Yulai across the face.
Both Xia Yi and Leng Yaozhu were stunned, except for Leng Yulai herself.
In just a split second, a bright red handprint formed on Leng Yulai's fair, delicate cheek, swelling up noticeably.
"Sister…" Leng Yaozhu stared blankly at her still-trembling hand, unable to believe that the first thing she did upon reuniting with her long-lost sister after decades was hit her.
However, Leng Yulai didn't get angry at all. Instead, she bit her finger, turned her tear-filled eyes to Xia Yi, and sobbed, "Master, Sister hit me… it hurts…"
Seeing her like this, Xia Yi and Leng Yaozhu both stumbled, nearly falling over.
"I order you to stay here and talk with your sister." Xia Yi took a deep breath and said through gritted teeth.
"As Master wishes, I will talk with Sister." Leng Yulai acted obediently, but her demeanor gave both Xia Yi and Leng Yaozhu chills.
Xia Yi couldn't bear it any longer and turned to leave.
If it weren't for being pushed into this situation by Leng Yulai, he really didn't want to talk to her this way in front of Leng Yaozhu.
"Wait for me in the living room. I still have questions for you." Just as Xia Yi was closing the door, Leng Yaozhu spoke in a cold voice.
There was no way she would let him go before she got to the bottom of things.
"Sister, you still have no taste. No wonder you lost to Yali."
The moment Xia Yi closed the door, Leng Yulai's meek maid persona vanished entirely.
She casually took a premium drink from the shelf behind Leng Yaozhu, then turned and sat on the sofa, crossing her long legs. She patted the seat next to her and shook her head. "Just look at this sofa—pure black. If nothing else, it could at least have some patterns, right?"
"After decades apart, is this really what you want to talk about?" Leng Yaozhu's chest heaved with emotion.
Seeing her long-lost sister should have been a joyous occasion.
But right now, she felt like she had endured more frustration today than in her entire life.
She had no joy left.
"If we don't talk about this, then what? Cry and embrace each other? I can do that too. Come on, give me a hug." Leng Yulai spread her arms as if inviting an embrace.
"You're deliberately trying to make me angry, aren't you?" Leng Yaozhu gritted her teeth.
"How could you say that? We're family. Why would I try to anger you?" Leng Yulai pouted, acting indifferent. "You're just being too distant. Family should talk about everyday matters. Even if there's anger, it's just an expression of love—like when you just slapped me. I didn't get mad at all."
Leng Yaozhu clenched her jaw in frustration. "Can't you just talk properly?"
"I am talking properly." Leng Yulai took a sip of her drink and said, "If you have questions, just ask directly. No need to be polite, and definitely no need to build up slowly. Don't worry, no matter what you ask, I won't get mad. Like I said, we're family."
Seeing Leng Yulai's attitude, Leng Yaozhu took a deep breath before finally asking, "Where have you been all these years?"
"That day, I saw you confess to Yun Ming, got upset, and left." Leng Yulai shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Not long after I left, I met the Ghost Emperor of the Holy Spirit Cult. That's when I found out that old bastard had been watching me for a long time. He tricked me with words and some… other methods. Consumed by love-turned-hate, I joined the Holy Spirit Cult and became an evil soul master. Over the years, I've done plenty of terrible things. If you want, I can tell you about them one by one. And if you feel you need to carry out justice, whether imprisoning or killing me, I won't resist. Before deciding to see you, I had already prepared myself for that."
"How can you say these things so indifferently?" Leng Yaozhu asked coldly.
"I practiced saying them to myself a few times. After repeating them enough, they come naturally." Leng Yulai replied flatly.
Back in Mingdu, when Xia Yi told her to meet with Leng Yaozhu, she had already imagined countless possible scenarios.
Crying and embracing…Fighting to the death…
But none of those were what she wanted.
In the end, she remembered—she was Leng Yaozhu's sister.
They were family.
Since they were family, she should meet Leng Yaozhu as family.
No matter what they talked about, it should just feel like an ordinary conversation between relatives.
"You said the Ghost Emperor had been watching you for a long time and tricked you into joining the Holy Spirit Cult. What exactly do you mean?" Leng Yaozhu sat down beside Leng Yulai, still holding onto a sliver of hope. If Leng Yulai had been forced into this, if she had committed those crimes under duress…
Then perhaps her sins could be forgiven.
"For years, the Holy Spirit Cult has been looking for soul masters who could potentially fall into darkness. Back then, you and I were the famous Phoenix Sisters—Black Phoenix and Heavenly Phoenix, renowned across the soul master world. My Black Phoenix wasn't inherently evil, but it was one of the easiest martial souls to corrupt into an evil soul master. Naturally, the Holy Spirit Cult took interest in me. Seeing me consumed by love-turned-hate, they struck at my weakest moment, using forbidden techniques to amplify my negative emotions over and over again, until I ultimately fell."
"What forbidden techniques?" Leng Yaozhu's hands clenched into fists.
"A thousand years ago, two Holy Spirit Cult Saintesses betrayed the cult. To prevent that from happening again, they refined their methods for corrupting soul masters—using drugs, vengeful spirits, mind control… These combined to create relentless mental and physical torment. Trust me, it was far from pleasant." Leng Yulai shook her head. "Now, even an Ultimate Douluo, once corrupted, could never be saved."
"Then you…" Leng Yaozhu's face turned pale with fear. She didn't even have the courage to finish her sentence.
"Me?" Leng Yulai smiled sweetly. "I was only able to escape because of you, Sister. When I was suffering through all that pain, the only thing on my mind was you. Normally, unless you had died and my obsession disappeared, I could never have woken up. But I was lucky—I met my brother-in-law. With his help, I miraculously regained my clarity."
"Brother-in-law?" Leng Yaozhu blinked in confusion.
"My Master." Leng Yulai giggled.
"You mean Xia Yi." Leng Yaozhu was momentarily stunned, then immediately rebuked loudly, "Xia Yi is my student. Stop talking nonsense."
"Student! I know that, my master has already told me." Leng Yaozhu looked at Leng Yaozhu with a teasing expression and said, "I never expected that back then, you were madly in love with Yun Ming, yet now you've transferred your affections to a child—your own student, no less. Sister, you sure know how to play."
"If you keep talking nonsense, don't blame me for being rude." Leng Yaozhu abruptly stood up and said sternly, "I am already of an age where I don't care about my reputation, but Xia Yi has a bright future ahead of him. If such rumors were to spread, do you know how much damage it would do to his prospects?"
"Haha, so you do know how to protect your little boyfriend, huh?" Facing Leng Yaozhu's anger, Leng Yulai remained indifferent and said, "Sister, you may be able to deceive others, but do you think you can deceive me? Do you know what the Phoenix Heart Jade represents? Do you think I wouldn't know?"
"He is too dazzling, and many organizations do not want to see him grow stronger. Even the upper echelons of Shrek Academy have acted against him before. The Phoenix Heart Jade I gave him was only meant to protect him." Leng Yaozhu spoke calmly.
"'O phoenix, o phoenix, return to your homeland, roaming the four seas in search of your mate. Without the bright wings of a twin phoenix, only the hearts can resonate as one.'" Leng Yulai looked at Leng Yaozhu and smiled, saying, "Sister, you don't actually think I don't know that the Phoenix Heart Jade is all about hearts resonating with each other, do you? When crafting the Phoenix Heart Jade, one must be thinking deeply of a person, pouring their emotions into it—only then can that person use the Phoenix Heart Jade."
"Stop making wild assumptions. I'll tell you the truth: I made two Phoenix Heart Jades—one for Xia Yi, and the other for another student of mine, who happens to be Xia Yi's girlfriend." Leng Yaozhu spoke in a deep voice.
"Impossible. Stop lying to me. The Phoenix Heart Jade can only be used by oneself and the person they truly yearn for." Leng Yulai shook her head in disbelief.
"When I made the Phoenix Heart Jade, I took a special medicine that allowed me to think of both of them at the same time. But that was merely the effect of the medicine." Leng Yaozhu spoke truthfully. She could not allow Leng Yulai to continue making baseless guesses.
"What kind of medicine is that miraculous?" Leng Yulai asked curiously.
"Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. All you need to know is that it took me nearly three years to prepare that medicine." Leng Yaozhu said indifferently.
The first time she met Xia Yi, she had already decided to give him the Phoenix Heart Jade.
Her purpose in giving Xia Yi the Phoenix Heart Jade was to guard against Leng Yulai.
She had left a contingency within the Phoenix Heart Jade.
If Leng Yulai ever acted against Xia Yi and Xia Yi used the Phoenix Heart Jade, the full-powered attack hidden within her own Phoenix Heart Jade would leave a mark on Leng Yulai. That way, she could track Leng Yulai's location through the mark.
To craft a Phoenix Heart Jade that Xia Yi could use, Leng Yaozhu had prepared for nearly three years.
It could be said that over the years, Leng Yaozhu had exhausted all her efforts just to find Leng Yulai.
Giving Xia Yi the Phoenix Heart Jade was just one of the countless efforts she had made to locate Leng Yulai.
"To have spent nearly three years preparing just to protect him—sister, do you still dare say you have no feelings for him at all?" Leng Yulai laughed mockingly.
"I don't want to discuss this topic with you." Leng Yaozhu snorted coldly, staring icily at Leng Yulai. "Master this, master that—you say it so smoothly. What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Sister, I know what you're worried about. Just put your mind at ease—I will not harm our master." Leng Yulai raised her head and gazed at the ceiling. She picked up her drink and took another sip, then said, "Since I have called him 'Master' once, I will truly regard him as my master. To be honest, the first time I uttered the word 'Master,' I was extremely unwilling, my teeth nearly grinding to dust. But over time, I got used to it. I admit it—I have my own motives and selfish intentions in recognizing him as my master. But I will never do anything to harm him. I simply want to use my master's status to accomplish some wishes. As long as I can fulfill those wishes, serving him as my master for a lifetime—what does it matter? Sister, you may think I am shameless, that I have lost my pride, but that is not the case. I crawled out from a den of evil soul masters. Being my master's maid is a thousand times more comfortable than the days I spent in the Holy Spirit Cult."
"Besides, I can't leave him now either. Even though I am clear-headed now, the evil energy in my soul power has not been completely purged. If I leave Master for too long, this evil energy might resurface. If that happens, do you think we'd be sitting here having a peaceful conversation? More likely, we would be fighting to the death. Sister, you wouldn't want that, would you?" Leng Yulai sighed softly.
A thousand years ago, after two saintesses had betrayed the sect, the Holy Spirit Cult's methods of controlling evil soul masters had become terrifyingly strict.
Until the evil energy within her soul power was completely eradicated, Leng Yulai did not dare to stay away from Xia Yi for too long.
Sitting here having a heartfelt conversation with Leng Yaozhu made her recall the days in the Holy Spirit Cult when she had desperately wanted to tear Leng Yaozhu apart.
She did not show it outwardly.
But right now, she felt truly good. Really, really good.
Even when Leng Yaozhu had slapped her hard just now—
She wasn't angry at all.
The more furious Leng Yaozhu was, the more it proved that she still cared about her.
After decades, she once again felt the warmth of home.
She would never allow herself to fall back into the ways of an evil soul master.
"No matter what you intend to do, as long as you promise me not to commit any atrocities, I will have Xia Yi help you. There is no need for you to call him 'Master.'" Leng Yaozhu gently embraced Leng Yulai.
The more nonchalantly Leng Yulai spoke, the more it made her heart ache.