31: Chapter 31 Coercion

Inside the palace, the faint, ghostly blue light of the cold jade bed flowed silently in the darkness. Yao Yao turned over in Hun Feng's arms and reached out to grab the grapes on the bedside table. Her fingertips brushed against the edge of the plate, making a faint, crisp sound. She stuffed a grape into her mouth, her cheek bulging slightly, and asked indistinctly about the situation in the Northern Region.

"The allied forces have retreated. Gu Dao covered the rear, Gu Qingyang had his right arm frostbitten by Hun Qinger, Lei Ying lost thirty percent of his men, and Yan Jin's flank was thrown into disarray by Hun You. The Gate of Dead Silence was not opened, and Xiao Yan returned alive." Hun Feng leaned against the head of the bed, one hand resting on the back of her neck, kneading it rhythmically. His tone was as flat as if he were reading a procurement list.

"You let him go again." Yao Yao spat the grape seed into the plate, her peach-blossom eyes half-closed. There was no regret in her tone, only mischief. "Young Master, how many times have you shown mercy to that good-for-nothing now? Even that old thing Gu Yuan doesn't have as much face as you do."

"It's not for Gu Yuan's face. It's because I promised Cai Lin I wouldn't kill him." Hun Feng pinched her neck gently, just enough to make her shrink her neck. "Sleep. We still have to go to the East Courtyard tomorrow—Xiao Xiao drew another picture yesterday and promised to show it to me."

Yao Yao didn't ask any further; she simply turned over, buried her face in his chest, and let out a muffled hum. The silver bell on her ankle chimed twice softly before being swallowed by the night.

The next morning, when Yao Yao woke up, Hun Feng had already gone to cultivate. She lay alone on the cold jade bed, staring at the palace ceiling for a long while before sitting up. She stepped barefoot onto the cold soul-devouring iron floor, bent down to pick up the robes scattered from the previous night, and put them on one by one. She didn't follow behind Hun Feng with the tinkling sound of her strappy sandals as she usually did. Instead, she sat on the edge of the bed in a daze, her fingers unconsciously twisting the silver bell on her wrist.

Last night, after Hun Feng fell asleep, she had woken up once. Moonlight spilled down from the soul crystal skylight on the palace roof, illuminating his profile. The crease between his brows had not fully relaxed even in his sleep. She reached out to smooth it for him, but pulled her fingertips back the moment they touched his brow—he was too tired. Mobilizing troops in the Northern Region, deploying defenses in the Soul Realm, secret lines in the Ancient Clan, supplies for the Snake-People Tribe—every single matter had to pass through his mind. And the part of him that was most tired was never these things.

Yao Yao stood up and walked to the weapon rack to take down the bone whip. She looked down at the ghostly green spots of light on the whip and suddenly whispered to herself: "You aren't comfortable playing the villain, so I will."

East Courtyard. The bamboo curtain was half-rolled, and the morning light leaked through the gaps, plating the newly refilled plate of honey cakes on the stone table with a thin layer of pale gold. Xiao Xiao was squatting under the dark-leaf osmanthus tree, using a small shovel to build a new nest for two Soul-Eating Ants, humming a disjointed nursery rhyme. Medusa leaned against the soft couch by the window, twisting the list of supplies newly sent by the Hall of Souls' External Affairs Division—three hundred more Bone-Sculpting Pills, a thousand more bolts of cold-resistant fabric. At the end of the list was still that line of small vermilion characters: "Personally approved by the Young Master, delivered directly to the Snake-People Tribe."

A faint sound of a silver bell suddenly came from outside the bamboo curtain. Medusa's purple eyes narrowed slightly. She placed the list in her hand on the low table, her voice remaining in that indifferent tone: "Come in."

Yao Yao lifted the bamboo curtain and walked in. She hadn't changed into her dark-patterned martial outfit today; she was still wearing the same black dress from last night, the coldness of the sleeping palace's cold jade bed still lingering on the high-slit hem. Her peach-blossom eyes still held that sweet smile, but Medusa had lived for so many years that she could tell at a glance that Yao Yao was different today—after entering the courtyard, she didn't go to tease Xiao Xiao as she usually did. Instead, she walked straight to the stone table, stood still, and looked directly at her.

"Sister Cai Lin, I have something I want to tell you." Yao Yao's tone was very calm, but Medusa could hear the seriousness pressed beneath that calmness. She tilted her head to look at Xiao Xiao, who was playing engrossed in the courtyard, and tapped her finger lightly on the low table. A faint nine-colored light barrier isolated the courtyard from the room—Xiao Xiao could not hear.

"Speak." Medusa picked up the teacup again, her purple eyes looking at Yao Yao indifferently.

Yao Yao didn't beat around the bush. She sat on the rattan chair opposite Medusa, her fingers resting on the bone whip, and the very first sentence she said made the knuckles of Medusa's hand holding the teacup tighten slightly.

"Sister Cai Lin, the Young Master promised you he wouldn't kill Xiao Yan—and he did it. In this battle in the Northern Region, Soul Yuan Tian's Gate of Dead Silence was pressed against the retreat line behind Xiao Yan, Senior Hun Qinger's Ice Soul Dou Qi sealed him for a full stick of incense, and Hun You's assassination order had been on the table since the first day of the war. Any one of these three killing moves could have fallen, and Xiao Yan would never have returned to the Ancient Clan. But the Young Master suppressed them all. It wasn't for Gu Yuan's face, and it wasn't for the situation of the Sky Mansion Alliance—it was because of you."

Medusa didn't speak. She put down the teacup, the coldness in her purple eyes neither increasing nor decreasing, like a lake that would never ripple. Yao Yao didn't wait for her answer and continued, her tone unhurried, yet every word sounded like it had been rehearsed many times in her heart.

"The Young Master is someone who never explains himself to others. As long as he knows what he has done, he doesn't care if others appreciate it. But I have followed him for twenty years. There are some things he cannot say, so I must say them for him." She paused, the smile in her peach-blossom eyes fading completely, replaced by a seriousness Medusa had never seen on her face before. "He isn't being nice to you on a whim. Every batch of supplies for the Snake-People Tribe in the Magical Beast Mountain Range was approved by him personally, and he handled the approval procedures for the Hall of Souls' External Affairs Division from beginning to end himself. Xiao Xiao calls him 'Daddy.' He goes to cultivate before dawn every day, spends time with her after he finishes, and then returns to approve battle reports until midnight. These things haven't been happening for just a day or two—they've been like this every day for the months you've been here."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Medusa finally spoke, her voice still in that cold, hard tone, but the end of it trembled almost imperceptibly.

"I want to say—give him an answer." Yao Yao's voice was very soft, but it brooked no evasion. "Sister Cai Lin, your daughter has long regarded him as her father. How much longer are you going to drag this out? Do you still have Xiao Yan in your heart? Do you still not understand the Young Master's feelings for you?"

Medusa raised her eyes abruptly, a sharp light flashing in her purple eyes. But Yao Yao didn't retreat. She met her gaze straight on, without the slightest hesitation in her peach-blossom eyes.

"I'm not forcing you. I'm just asking for him—what are you waiting for? Waiting for Xiao Yan to rebuild the Sky Mansion Alliance? Waiting for him to attack the Soul Clan? You should know very well that is impossible. With the current strength of the Soul Clan, the Sky Mansion Alliance plus the Ancient Clan might not necessarily win. You can wait, and Xiao Xiao can wait—but the Young Master's patience may not last forever." After saying this, Yao Yao stood up, wrapped the bone whip around her wrist, and turned to walk out of the courtyard. When passing the stone table, she paused for a moment, tilted her head to give Medusa a faint smile, and whispered that Xiao Xiao's braid was crooked.

The bamboo curtain closed softly behind her. Medusa sat alone by the window, the tea in her hand long since cold. Outside the window, the leaves of the dark-leaf osmanthus were still falling silently, landing beside the untouched plate of honey cakes on the stone table. She placed the teacup on the low table and found that her fingertips had clenched at some point, her knuckles showing a pale white. She slowly released her hand, looking down at the shallow red marks left by her nails in her palm, and suddenly remembered Yao Yao's last sentence—"What is he waiting for?" She didn't answer. Because she knew what the answer was. The answer was squatting under that dark-leaf osmanthus tree in the courtyard, using a small shovel to build a new nest for two Soul-Eating Ants, humming the nursery rhyme her daddy taught her. The answer was in that plate of honey cakes on the stone table that was refilled every day, in the cold-resistant fabric that her clansmen would not freeze in this winter, in the word "Daddy" her daughter called out in her sleep while hugging that Void Beast cub doll. The answer was in her heart—that layer of ice was already so thin it could let light through.

In the afternoon, Hun Feng came out of the cultivation room and went to the East Courtyard to see Xiao Xiao as usual. When he pushed open the courtyard gate, Medusa was sitting at the stone table combing Xiao Xiao's hair. Her matte white dress glowed with a soft, moon-white halo in the afternoon sun, and the diamond patterns on the gold waist ornament swayed gently with her movements as she lifted her hand to gather her hair.

"Daddy!" Xiao Xiao took the freshly picked ghost bell orchid from his hand, held it up to Medusa, and shook it. "Look, Mom! The flower Daddy picked! It's even bigger than yesterday's! I want to put it in a vase and place it by Mom's bedside!"

Medusa took the flower and lowered her head to smell it. Actually, the ghost bell orchid had no scent, but she smelled it anyway. Then she raised her head and looked at Hun Feng.

That look was different from usual. It was no longer the consistent indifference, nor was it the guarded scrutiny from before. It was a very quiet, very serious gaze, as if she were looking at someone she had known for a long time, but only truly saw clearly today. Hun Feng was slightly stunned by her look, and then that familiar, roguish smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he was just about to say something to tease her. But before he could speak, Medusa spoke first.

"Tonight, have Yao Yao take Xiao Xiao to eat at the Madam's place." She stood up, inserted the ghost bell orchid into the vase on the table, and lowered her purple eyes, as if talking to herself. "I'll wait for you."

Hun Feng was taken aback. Then, his smile spread from the corners of his mouth to his eyes, and the arc of his lips could not be suppressed at all. He didn't speak, just nodded. When he turned to push open the courtyard gate, his steps were clearly much lighter than usual. But he didn't see—the moment the bamboo curtain fell, Xiao Xiao hopped off the stone stool, ran to Medusa's side, tugged on her skirt, and added a sentence.

"Mom, the way you looked at Daddy just now is different from before."

Medusa's fingers paused, and she looked down at this little girl who understood nothing yet seemed to understand everything. The smile on Xiao Xiao's face was sweet enough to be cloying. She tilted her little face and added, "Before, you looked at Daddy like you looked at Grandpa Hun Qian who always comes to deliver letters. Now, you look at him—like Yao Yao said, the way you look at a sweetheart."

Medusa picked up her daughter and placed her on her lap, neither admitting nor denying it. Xiao Xiao didn't press further, just leaned contentedly in her mother's arms, her little legs swinging back and forth, humming the nursery rhyme her daddy taught her. Medusa looked down at her daughter's big, bright eyes and suddenly smiled very faintly. The smile was so shallow it was almost invisible, but it was there—like a crack finally appearing on the ice, with spring water surging silently underneath.

That night, Xiao Xiao was taken by Yao Yao to the side hall of Lin Qingwan to eat silver fungus soup. Along the way, the little girl's silver bells chimed non-stop, and she kept telling Yao Yao that her mother was in a particularly good mood today and even told her daddy to come find her tonight. Yao Yao held her, her peach-blossom eyes filled with half-smile and half-gratification, and whispered that her daddy had been waiting for this meal for several months, so he had to have a good meal tonight.

As night fell, Hun Feng pushed open the bamboo curtain of the East Courtyard. There were a few small side dishes and a pot of warmed Soul Yuan Wine on the stone table. Medusa sat by the stone table, her matte white dress glowing with a soft, faint light in the moonlight. She didn't get up when she saw him enter, but simply picked up the wine pot, poured him a cup, and pushed it in front of him.

"Sit."

Hun Feng sat down opposite her. Moonlight leaked through the gaps in the dark-leaf osmanthus canopy, falling between the two. The night breeze was very light, unable to blow the stray hair on her forehead, nor could it dissipate the steaming heat rising from the cup of Soul Yuan Wine on the table. There are no four seasons in the Soul Realm, but the wind tonight was warm.