“My daughter!” As Yun Ruoyan carried Rong Yuehong to the Yun manor, Rong Tianling had been standing beside Yun Lan and complaining about his resentment and discontent. He had hurriedly run over as soon as he heard his daughter’s enraged shouts, but it was already too late.

By the time Rong Tianling was at Rong Yuehong’s side, she had already been forcefully pulled off Yun Ruoyan’s back. Quickly afterwards, she fell to the floor, spurted out blood, and stopped breathing. Till the very end, her gaze was fixed on Yun Ruoyan.

Rong Tianling curled his arms around his daughter’s dead body as he sobbed. Then he suddenly raised his head, and his piggish eyes shot daggers at Yun Ruoyan. Hatefully, he cried out, “Yun Ruoyan, did you kill my daughter by underhanded means! I won’t spare you!”

“Elder Rong, what’s the meaning of this?” Xiao Lan supported the Yun matriarch as she walked over, blocking Yun Ruoyan with her own body. “Everyone here can serve as witnesses that it was your daughter who first struck Ruoyan!”

Rong Tianling hadn’t seen what had occurred and wasn’t satisfied by the Yun matriarch’s explanation. “Yuehong consumed a high-grade spiritual pill that will prolong her life. The physician himself told me that, as long as she takes good care of herself, she could easily live another three to five years! How could she have died so suddenly? Yun Ruoyan must have done something ignoble!”

“Elder Rong, I’ve been considerate to you out of pity for your daughter, but I won’t allow you to frame my family without any evidence.” Yun Lan also stood in front of his daughter, but he turned around to peer at her as soon as he finished speaking. In that glance, Yun Ruoyan could clearly see the suspicion in his eyes.

“Grandmother, I really haven’t done anything!” As if scared, Yun Ruoyan stood up and hid behind her grandmother, clutching her right cheek as she did so.

The Yun matriarch patted her hand. “Ruoyan, don’t be afraid. I’m right here.” She instructed Xiao Lan to pick up the gauze patch, clean it, and re-affix it to Yun Ruoyan’s face. Then, she turned toward Rong Tianling with a pair of gleaming eyes unbefitting her age. “Everyone here saw how your daughter died! Do you still insist on blaming Ruoyan?!”

Murmurs had rapidly circulated amidst the crowd regarding Rong Yuehong’s death.

“How did Miss Rong die just now? Did any of you see? Was it Miss Yun’s doing?”

“No, Miss Rong suddenly went crazy, attacked Miss Yun, then died!”

“Right, I saw it too. After scratching Miss Yun’s face, she was pulled off her body, spat out blood, and then passed away!”

That Miss Rong didn’t look like she had long to live, at any rate. Did she deliberately come by the Yun family as an ill omen?”

“Even though she’s a wife-born daughter of the Yun family, that Miss Yun didn’t complain at all about carrying Miss Rong on her back! And Miss Rong’s bossy and domineering personality clearly hasn’t changed at all, sick though she might be. I’m sure she intended on making a big fuss but died because her body was too weak!”

“Right, right. Yun Ruoyan didn’t do a thing!”

Quite a few bystanders had once been bossed around by Rong Tianling, and they immediately began making a fuss upon seeing an opportunity to take revenge. Someone even shouted, “Elder Rong, Miss Rong has already passed away! You’d better bring her corpse back home and prepare for her funeral!”

“How can you continue standing here, blocking the way and disrupting the Yun family’s celebration? Isn’t that too much?”

Not only had Rong Tianling lost his daughter, the crowd had completely turned against him. When he heard the scathing remarks insulting him and his daughter, his face flashed red and green. He could no longer suppress the anger and resentment that had been building up, and his hands clawed at Yun Ruoyan.

In that moment, Yun Ruoyan could see a few motes of spiritual energy beading around his palms, and she could tell that Rong Tianling was an early ninth-rank blademaster.

Yun Ruoyan was only at peak seventh-rank herself, and she could only condense a meager amount of spiritual energy outside her body. On the other hand, Rong Tianling’s palms had already gathered an egg-shaped ball of light, revealing the clear difference between their abilities.

“Grandmother, watch out!” Yun Ruoyan knew that Rong Tianling’s attack was aimed at her. At a time like this, she surely couldn’t hide behind her aged grandmother. Bracing herself for the blow, she stepped in front of the Yun matriarch.

As Rong Tianling’s blow struck at her, Yun Ruoyan spread her arms wide and closed her eyes.

“How dare you hurt my family!” At that moment, Yun Lan’s voice rang out beside her, and then she heard an explosion resulting from the clash of opposing spiritual energies.

The resulting shockwave broke against Yun Ruoyan’s face, making her skin smart. Her eyes remained shut as surprised gasps came from the crowd all around her.

When she finally felt the spiritual energy dissipate, Yun Ruoyan opened her eyes once more. Yun Lan was shielding her with his body, his back straight. To Yun Ruoyan, he had never been more imposing.

On the other hand, Rong Tianling was clutching his chest, his waist bent and his face pale. Clearly, he had suffered from Yun Lan’s counterattack.

“And to think he’s the brother of the empress himself! How could someone like him dare to attack a girl and the elderly? It’s shameful, utterly shameful!”

“Disgraceful! He’s ruining the name of the imperial family!”

Before Yun Lan could say a word in rebuke, the crowd had already begun vilifying Rong Yianling.

Li Qianxiao was hiding behind his brother, afraid that Rong Tianling would spot him in the crowd and divert attention to him. Although this uncle of his had an impressive cultivation, his behavior was so tyrannical that even he, as the crown prince, could hardly stand him at times. His cousin, Rong Yuehong, was an exact replica of her father. That she had been reduced to such a state and still tried to target Yun Ruoyan spoke volumes, and her death was rightly deserved.

“Second brother,” Li Qianxiao whispered, “there’s an entrance on the west side, so let’s take a detour that way.”

Li Qianyuan was staring closely at Yun Ruoyan, who continued standing in front of the Yun matriarch. When he heard Li Qianxiao speak to him, he mumbled, “She’s truly someone to be reckoned with.”

“To be reckoned with?”

“I’m talking about Yun Ruoyan. She’s not as naive as she appears.”

“Of course not, she’s frightening! Oh, but her birthmark doesn’t look as bad now.” Only then did Li Qianxiao turn his attention to Yun Ruoyan’s face.

Now that she both had to cultivate and accompany the Yun matriarch, Yun Ruoyan didn’t have much time for herself. In order to save time and make herself feel more comfortable, she’d begun using less ointment when preparing her fake birthmark. As a result, it did look smaller and fainter, and was far less foreboding than before.

Yun Ruoyan felt that, since she had a gauze patch to cover her face with, no one would be able to see it anyway. Even if they did, no one would take a careful glance at something so disturbing.

When Rong Yuehong had batted away her gauze patch, Yun Ruoyan had still carefully covered her cheek up with her hand. After all, everyone knew that she was hiding a birthmark, and no one would pay attention, surely?

No one besides the crown prince, that was.

“It really did get smaller!” Li Qianxiao gasped as he scrutinized it carefully. It was then that he remembered Yun Ruoyan’s words: her birthmark would slowly vanish as she used her grandfather’s medication. Initially, Li Qianxiao had thought that that was a lie, but was it actually true? He couldn’t help but start to regret spurning her.

Rong Tianling finally stopped panting. “You’ve got a far better cultivation than I expected, Yun Lan.”

Since Yun Lan was a scholarly official, he rarely had the desire or opportunity to end up fighting with others. Regardless, he had focused on his cultivation, knowing that it might well be his trump card given the current emphasis on martial skill in the Li kingdom. Rong Tianling simply hadn’t expected that Yun Lan was already a mid-ninth-rank blademaster.

Yun Lan snorted. “Elder Rong, if you’d like a duel, I’d be happy to humor you some other day. Please, leave with your daughter so that I may celebrate my mother’s eightieth birthday. If you still have a grievance with Ruoyan, you may present it to the emperor himself.”

Yun Lan was a shrewd man. Before his promotion, he had been at Rong Tianling’s beck and call, so Rong Tianling had never thought much of Yun Lan. However, he had well and truly lost to him today.

Rong Tianling’s greatest asset was his domineering strength, but Yun Lan had soundly beaten him even in that. “I’m not as skilled as you are, I admit, but I will seek revenge for my daughter.”

Rong Tianling finally left with his daughter’s body in tow.

“Apologies for the disruption, honored guests.” After Rong Tianling left, Yun Lan cupped his hands and faced the crowd, though no one seemed all too upset by the show.

The Yun matriarch went back to the manor. Rather than returning to her quarters, she sat in the seat of honor at the great hall, pulling Yun Ruoyan with her all the while.

“Ruoyan, let me see whether you’ve been hurt anywhere.” The Yun matriarch looked Yun Ruoyan up and down as she spoke. When Yun Ruoyan had risked her own body to shield her against Rong Tianling, she had been very touched by her granddaughter’s gesture.

“I’m alright, Grandmother,” Yun Ruoyan smiled. “Just a scratch on my face, but my gauze patch will hide it.”

“Good girl.” The Yun matriarch glanced at her granddaughter once more, her eyes flecked with guilt. “Ruoyan, are you upset that your father and I told you to carry Rong Yuehong on your back?”

The Yun matriarch had clearly detected the fleeting emotions in her eyes right before she agreed to do so.

“Grandmother, I was indeed a bit upset at first. However, both of you shielded me when I was in danger. It’s clear to me now that both Father and you truly do care about me, so how can I still remain upset?”