Chapter 63: Love and Hate

Jiang Fengnian had nothing to say.

He silently let his wife tug at him until his wounds tore open. The piercing pain left him more lucid than ever. He had thought he would carry this secret into the grave, never imagining that one day it would be dragged out into the sunlight.

It was a secret that, originally, only he had known.

Jiang Fengnian came from a poor background. From childhood, he and his younger sister had depended on each other for survival. Life had been bitter then. Children without parents were like rootless duckweed, liable to die at any moment.

When he was captured by an evil cultivator, Jiang Fengnian knew he would not survive. Fortunately, he had hidden his sister well. Even if he died, he would still have done right by his parents in the underworld.

But by some stroke of luck, he did not die. He even turned disaster into fortune and stumbled through the gates of cultivation.

His aptitude was poor, but at the time, he had been overwhelmingly grateful to the heavens. What had he thought back then? He had been thankful—he had even cherished his spiritual root.

So what if his aptitude was low? As long as he could cultivate, he could live like a proper human being on Hengze Continent.

Thus, at first, his path of cultivation could be considered smooth.

But people were selfish. They were never satisfied. They were even ruled by desire.

By the time he realized it, it was already too late. His cultivation had ceased to advance. His spiritual root was like a stagnant pool. His path of cultivation had somehow reached its end almost as soon as it began.

Jiang Fengnian was unwilling to accept it.

But what good did unwillingness do?

After struggling for forty years, he gave up. He decided to find somewhere he could enjoy the privileges that came with being a cultivator.

He wandered across the continent for a long time before finally arriving in Langyuan City. Situated at the foot of Yonglu Mountain, it was both safe and prosperous. He married and had a daughter there. Barring any accidents, he would spend the remainder of his life in that city.

But an accident happened all the same.

Jiang Fengnian had never imagined that, after a century apart, he would find someone of his own bloodline in a clandestine brothel in Langyuan City.

After investigating carefully, the anguish he felt nearly tore him apart.

The younger sister he had risked his life to hide had actually fallen into such a place!

After escaping from the evil cultivator, he had gone back to search for her. But even after traveling from place to place, he could not find her anywhere.

Hengze Continent was simply too vast. A low-level cultivator trying to find a single person faced nearly impossible odds. Bloodline-tracking talismans could be purchased, but low-level talismans had a limited range. He had exhausted all his spirit stones and still found nothing.

Later... he had given up.

All he could do was comfort himself with the thought that perhaps his sister had escaped long ago and was now living a good life.

He had never expected to find her bloodline now.

Mortals did not live long. Unless his sister had also become a cultivator, she would certainly have been buried long ago. Jiang Fengnian understood that clearly. It was also the main reason he had ultimately abandoned his search.

But could he turn a blind eye to someone who carried his sister’s blood?

He could not.

Judging by her age, she should have been his sister’s great-great-great-granddaughter.

People were prone to transferring their emotions onto others. Jiang Fengnian poured all the guilt he felt toward his sister into this great-great-great-granddaughter.

He could not stop himself from buying her freedom and settling her in a small courtyard within the city.

To his surprise, she was already pregnant—and she did not even know who the child’s father was.

Jiang Fengnian had been furious at the time. But there was no one for him to confront, and he could not bring himself to force his great-great-great-grandniece to end the pregnancy.

Her body was far too weak. Even though he was a cultivator, he could not restore her failing health.

He could only let her give birth first and decide what to do afterward.

Yet some shortsighted gossip somehow carried the story to his wife, claiming that he had kept a mistress outside the household. Not only was the woman seven months pregnant, but she had once worked in a clandestine brothel.

A clandestine prostitute ranked even lower than an ordinary courtesan. Even in the cultivation world, divisions of class could not be avoided.

His wife was every inch a proper young lady from a wealthy family. She immediately stormed over to catch him in the act.

In the end—

His great-great-great-grandniece died after going into premature labor.

As she died, she clutched his hand tightly and begged him to give her child a bright future.

She said she was already covered in filth, but she hoped her child’s future could be filled with light.

And so, the confession Jiang Fengnian had intended to make never left his mouth.

Once Madam Jiang learned that the child came from a contemptible background and shared only the faintest trace of blood with him, she would never agree to let him bring the infant home.

Only if the child was his could she remain by his side.

The child of a clandestine prostitute and an unknown customer would have almost no hope of a bright future once the truth became known.

Unless she possessed a spiritual root.

But how could that be possible?

Even Jiang Fengnian had thought it utterly impossible at the time.

Yet even after he tacitly accepted the child as his own, his wife still refused to let the matter go.

Not only did she want the dead woman’s remains ground to dust and scattered, but she also wanted the infant dealt with.

The child did not necessarily have to be killed, but she had to be sent away. She absolutely could not cross the threshold of the Jiang household.

Madam Jiang would never allow the daughter of a clandestine prostitute to call her Mother. She found the very idea filthy.

The two of them had the fiercest argument of their marriage.

His wife even cursed him for being so indiscriminate that, despite being a respectable cultivator, he had gone to such a foul place in search of a woman—and had even fathered such a sinful bastard.

Jiang Fengnian considered himself a cultivator. Although his cultivation had not advanced in the slightest, the difference between him and his wife’s family was still as vast as heaven and earth.

To put it plainly, their marriage benefited both sides. He enjoyed a comfortable life, while her family rose in status by relying on his identity as a cultivator.

He had thought that the matter concerned only a tiny infant. No matter how displeased his wife felt, surely she would bring the child home and raise her.

He did not even demand that the child receive the same treatment as Baozhu.

But his wife could not be reasoned with at all.

Whenever he tried to bring the child home by force, she caused a scene. She declared that if he brought the infant back, she would hang herself at the gates of the Jiang residence.

Jiang Fengnian felt that the woman was completely beyond reason.

He forcibly reclaimed his great-great-great-grandniece’s remains, selected an auspicious burial ground, and laid her to rest.

When he returned, he discovered that the infant he had named Ying had been thrown away by Madam Jiang.

His fury drove him nearly insane.

He had named the child Ying because he hoped she would be welcomed and accepted—not because he wanted her to follow the same path as his younger sister!

At that moment, the demon in Jiang Fengnian’s heart broke free of its cage.

How could a pampered young lady from a wealthy family possibly understand the suffering of rootless duckweed like them?

What gave her the right to control their lives?

She refused to welcome the child, did she?

He had plenty of ways to make her cherish that child like a precious pearl.

Baozhu was already more than two years old at the time. She was fair and adorable, and she knew how to call him Father.

For a brief moment, Jiang Fengnian had hesitated.

But his wife’s hysteria hardened his resolve.

In any case, they were both his daughters now.

He would never allow his wife to send Jiang Ying away again.

As it happened, Jiang Fengnian had learned the Soul-Swapping Art when the evil cultivator captured him.

That evil cultivator had actually taken an interest in Jiang Fengnian’s spiritual root and intended to swap souls with him, but the attempt had failed.

Only later did Jiang Fengnian learn that for the art to succeed, both parties had to share the same bloodline.

The closer their blood relationship and the smaller the difference in age, the higher the chance of success.

Moreover, after only ten years, the exchanged souls would become perfectly compatible with their new bodies. Unless a high-level cultivator used the Soul-Searching Art, no one would be able to detect anything with the naked eye.

The reason Jiang Fengnian understood this evil art so well was because...

He had once wanted to attempt it himself.

Unfortunately, he feared death. Even more than that, he feared taking one wrong step and condemning every step that followed.

He could no longer remember clearly how he had coaxed little Baozhu into crawling onto the soul-swapping array, or how he had tempted her with candy until she personally agreed to the soul-swapping contract.

In truth, Ying had been so young at the time that he was not even certain the exchange had succeeded.

But what happened afterward proved that it had.

That was not particularly surprising.

As their father, he knew both children’s exact birth dates and times. He could also extract blood from his own heart without hesitation.

The Soul-Swapping Art had been completed to an exceptionally high degree.

After the soul exchange succeeded, Jiang Fengnian regained his senses.

He began repairing his relationship with his wife. Although they were never as close as before, they were finally no longer locked in open conflict.

He watched “Baozhu” grow up under his wife’s loving care day after day. Naturally, he felt a certain satisfaction.

At the same time, however, a powerful sense of guilt toward “Ying” began to grow within him.

He worked hard to persuade his wife to bring “Ying” back into the household. All the child needed was an identity.

At the time, his wife’s family required his strength. With no other choice, Madam Jiang agreed.

But Jiang Fengnian knew that the two daughters’ positions within the household were worlds apart.

Especially after “Baozhu” was discovered to possess three spiritual roots, “Ying” became practically invisible within the family.

But that child was covered in thorns. The way she looked at him, with those dark and frightening eyes, made her seem nothing like his daughter.

Jiang Fengnian was coldhearted by nature. Since he felt he had done enough to satisfy his own conscience, he stopped paying attention to the child.

Who would have thought that she also possessed a spiritual root?

Although it was the worst possible five spiritual roots, she—

Regret rose in Jiang Fengnian’s heart.

If he had known...

If he had known that the child possessed a spiritual root, why would he ever have lied from the beginning?

Cultivators had never cared about a person’s origins. As long as she had a spiritual root, who would care who her parents were?

Everything he had done over the years seemed to have been completely pointless.

What made him even more jealous was that “Baozhu,” whom he had painstakingly nurtured, could only enter an obscure minor sect like the Yunxia Sect.

Yet “Ying” had received a mountain-entry quota and could become an outer disciple of a great sect.

Bone-deep jealousy drowned him.

Once a cultivator strayed from the proper path, there was no returning to it.

When Jiang Fengnian was struck to the ground by a Qi Refining Realm disciple of Yonglu Mountain, he suddenly understood that he had been beyond redemption from the very day the thought of swapping their souls first entered his mind.

A secret was a secret because only one person knew it.

Once a second person learned of it, its exposure became only a matter of time.

“Baozhu’s” spiritual root had been destroyed. It could not be repaired by anyone below a Venerable of the Soul Transformation Realm.

Yet the strongest cultivator in the Yunxia Sect was only at the middle stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. How could they possibly know a Soul Transformation Venerable?

If her spiritual root could not be repaired, then “Baozhu” would be reduced to an ordinary mortal for the rest of her life.

Not only was “Baozhu” unable to accept that—Jiang Fengnian could not accept it either.

And so, he and his wife went to “Ying.”

They wanted her to beg the Soul Transformation Venerable who had given her the mountain-entry quota.

Had she not saved his father?

Had that Venerable not been willing to take her as a concubine?

As long as she agreed, “Baozhu” could be saved.

Jiang Fengnian had to admit that his wife’s words were outrageously cruel.

But he had not stopped her.

Unfortunately, “Ying” remained stubborn and refused to compromise.

She would not even acknowledge “Baozhu” as her elder sister.

At those words, Madam Jiang broke down completely.

“You little bitch! Of course you’re not worthy of being Baozhu’s younger sister, but you still have to go! You owe us! We raised you, so you must repay us! Once you save Baozhu, she’ll remember your kindness. She has three spiritual roots—she’ll definitely look after you in the future! Do you understand gratitude at all?”

“Ying” still refused.

Jiang Fengnian looked at her.

She bore no resemblance to his wife, so why was she just as stubborn and just as incapable of listening to reason?

“Baozhu’s” path of cultivation should not end here.

As Jiang Fengnian stared at “Ying’s” face, he thought it was time for everything to return to its rightful place.

But this time, he did not intend to act alone.

The current “Baozhu” and “Ying” were both grown. After the exchange, he could no longer dismiss any discrepancies by claiming that children were too young to remember things.

If their souls were switched back, “Baozhu” had to know the truth.

His wife also had to cooperate.

Jiang Fengnian had thought persuading the two of them would take some effort.

To his surprise...

They were even more impatient than he was.

Thus, everything proceeded remarkably smoothly.

Aside from Jiang Baozhu nearly escaping after the soul exchange, everything remained within Jiang Fengnian’s calculations.

She was his daughter, after all. He had no intention of taking her life.

Besides, her spiritual root had already been damaged. It was only a matter of time before she became a mortal.

When that happened, he would marry her off to some distant place.

Separated by mountains and rivers, even if she knew the truth, she would have no chance to speak of it.

The gulf between cultivators and mortals was an abyss.

Those words were not merely an exaggeration.

He had believed that everything had been carried out flawlessly.

He had never expected—

It was riddled with holes.

Jiang Fengnian had assumed that because he had succeeded by chance once, he could succeed a second time.

But...

Fate did not favor him this time.

He drew a spiritual key from inside his robes.

“This is the spiritual key to the secret chamber where Baozhu is being held. She isn’t at the Jiang residence. She’s at an estate twenty kilometers from here.”

He understood the daughter he had raised.

She was not broad-minded.

After the soul exchange succeeded, she had been busy adjusting to her new identity as an outer disciple of Yonglu Mountain. That was the only reason she had not immediately eliminated every possible threat.

But the moment she settled into her new life, she would certainly kill the original Jiang Baozhu.

She would never tolerate her remaining alive.

Wen Xu took the spiritual key before Madam Jiang could reach it.

“Jiang Fengnian, do you know why your cultivation hasn’t advanced at all after so many years?”

Jiang Fengnian murmured, “Why?”

Because you are selfish and self-serving. There is nothing in your eyes but your own desires. How could an empty shell ruled by greed ever cultivate any true attainment?

You do not even possess the most basic love a parent should have for their child.

Now you act as though you are consumed with regret, but that is only because the truth has been exposed and you hope to win a little sympathy.

Throughout this entire affair, Jiang Fengnian had been the source of all evil.

And so, Wen Xu said, “After thinking it over carefully, I’ve decided not to tell you. Perhaps you’ll understand once you’re dead.”

Chen Zui: ...Why did he faint? I didn’t even strike that hard. Is this really all a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator can take? What an insult to Foundation Establishment.

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