Chapter 476: Runaway

The umbrella sword was equally important to Ye Wenxin. There was no way she would hand it over. She flickered and dashed with Phantom Steps towards the Yin Fetus, recklessly swinging a few blows at it. Her strikes were messy, almost comically clumsy, like a beginner.

Ye Wenxin couldn’t reveal her true identity in front of others, so she had no choice but to pretend, while trying to plant a Flower Burial seed on the Yin Fetus. If successful, she could still track it down, even if it were to run to the ends of the world.

The Yin Fetus, upon seeing someone blocking its path, became even more violent. The umbrella sword struggled ineffectively against it. The Yin Fetus was bleeding green blood, but despite that, it held on with a death grip.

More and more cultivators gathered on the scene, while the Yin Fetus had grown to a gigantic height, rampaging through the streets. People fell down left and right, clearly no match for the monster. Jin Xiaoqin also stepped in, swinging her golden axe to help Ye Wenxin retrieve the umbrella sword, when suddenly, a person beside her transformed into a Yin Fetus.

As the second Yin Fetus appeared, a third and fourth followed closely, launching attacks on the cultivators one after another. Ye Wenxin chased closely behind, but there were too many obstacles in her way, making her nearly lose control and use her real strength. Frustrated and anxious, Ye Wenxin’s agitation grew, until Fairy Fengya finally arrived and wiped these Yin Fetuses off the face of the world.

Green blood splattered everywhere, carrying a highly corrosive effect. Ye Wenxin picked up the umbrella sword from the ground. She shook it a few times, only to realize that the weight was off.

She found, upon closer inspection, that it was just a normal umbrella sword, not the Southern Dipper Temple’s secret treasure. Ye Wenxin immediately sensed something was wrong. Turning around, she saw that each Yin Fetus had identical appearances, and each held a replica of the umbrella sword, making it impossible to tell the real one from the fake just by looking.

Liu Churan was determined to get what she wanted. The recent encounters between them were clearly part of her meticulous plan. Without losing any strength or causing a major conflict, she quietly managed to obtain the thing Ye Wenxin desired most.

In Ye Wenxin’s opinion, Liu Churan was indeed clever, but such cleverness would always be petty-minded. Ye Wenxin looked at the distant muddy ground and called out, “Furballs. Are you here?”

Answering her call, eight furballs of different colors emerged from the ground. By now, they had grown to nearly a meter in height, and upon hearing Ye Wenxin’s call, they hopped around excitedly. However, when they noticed that Ghost Mother was not nearby, each furball became agitated.

It was unclear whether Celestial Master Zhong’s love had carried over to them, or if they shared a deep daughter-mother bond with Ghost Mother. Ye Wenxin gave her orders to the furballs, who immediately scattered and charged at the Yin Fetuses.

The furballs seemed to be natural nemeses of the Yin Fetuses. As soon as they pounced, the Yin Fetuses let out ghastly shrieks before vanishing entirely. These furballs, born to vanquish evil, had ironically come into existence within a certain Ghost Mother’s belly.

“Gui Gui, Sword Ghost, where are you!?” Ye Wenxin surveyed the bedlam, still searching for the Yin-Yang ghosts. Just then, she saw Sword Ghost, who had just slain a Yin Fetus, floating unsteadily toward her.

Sword Ghost showed some signs of injury, and there was visible wear and tear on the sword blade, something that had never happened before. Ye Wenxin found this odd, but there was something even odder—Ghost Mother was missing.

“Where’s Gui Gui?” A sense of foreboding grew in Ye Wenxin’s heart. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Ghost Mother might have betrayed her and left with Liu Churan.

Sword Ghost gave a bitter smile. “She went with Ah Ran. I tried to stop her, but she beat me.”

In such a short time, Liu Churan had taken Ghost Mother away. However, Ye Wenxin knew that Ghost Mother had always wanted to escape from her, so this was inevitable.

But would Liu Churan really treat Ghost Mother, who no longer had the Yin Pearl, well? Ye Wenxin had her doubts.

Sword Ghost murmured that she was tired, then settled back into Ye Wenxin’s sword belt. Without the matching umbrella, the umbrella sword was now just an ordinary sword, with no distinctive features whatsoever.

Ye Wenxin continued searching the area. If she saw Liu Churan, she was definitely going to spank her a few times, upholding her dignity as a Demon Lord. However, there was no trace of her. Ye Wenxin was genuinely angry, cursing her foster daughter’s reckless behavior. Despite her frustration, as Liu Churan’s foster mother, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything truly harsh.

Ye Wenxin quickly calmed down and reported her situation to Jin Xiaoqin. Although Ghost Mother was gone, and couldn’t stir up too much trouble without the Yin-Yang Pearls, Ye Wenxin was still deeply worried. She wasn’t just concerned about what Liu Churan might do with Ghost Mother; she was also anxious that Ghost Mother, knowing her true identity, might reveal it to Liu Churan.

However, being irritated served her no benefit, so she had no choice but to wait for more information.

Nothing came.

As another night fell, Sword Ghost tried to contact Ghost Mother, but Ghost Mother stubbornly refused to respond to the telepathic link. It seemed she had made up her mind to run away with Liu Churan forever.

Ye Wenxin was furious. From the first day she had wrestled with her, she had already regarded Ghost Mother as hers. And now that her property had betrayed her, Ye Wenxin found it impossible to stay calm. She had Sword Ghost establish a soul link with Ghost Mother, and then relentlessly wrestled with her, syncing those intense emotions to Ghost Mother.

As they did it over and over, it wasn’t just Ghost Mother—Sword Ghost, too, began to feel physically exhausted. She trembled violently before eventually passing out. Yet, there was a satisfied smile on her face, clearly pleased with Ye Wenxin’s technique.

Ye Wenxin herself was also worn out, but she was still unwilling to give up, and started pestering Sword Ghost again. Sword Ghost and Ghost Mother had once been one person. When they split, the bad parts passed on to Ghost Mother, while the good, perfect traits went to Sword Ghost. However, Ye Wenxin couldn’t explain why she found herself more attached to the flawed Ghost Mother.

“Wenxin, you’re still up?”

The light in Ye Wenxin’s room was on until the early hours of the morning, prompting another reminder from Jin Xiaoqin. Her fingers were trembling non-stop, and if Jin Xiaoqin asked for another round, Ye Wenxin feared her fingers might completely give out.

“I’m going to sleep soon,” Ye Wenxin quickly replied, then turned off the light and continued exploring Sword Ghost’s body.

As long as Ghost Mother was still alive, she would feel the punishment coming from this side. Ye Wenxin persisted with this thought in mind, while Sword Ghost was already crying soundlessly. After yet another deep venture into the clouds, she fainted once again.