“So you’re saying that ten years ago, you left the valley to travel, ran into the Hehuan Sect, and just happened to stumble upon their Yinyang Platform Ceremony? You were so bored that you hopped on stage to join the fun, were defeated by Yun Xuechang, and turned into a woman as a result?”
After listening to Hua Yan’s sobbing account, Hua Yuheng slapped her own forehead with a loud thwack.
She stood there with her hands on her hips for a long while before exploding in anger:
“Hua Yan, are you a pig?!”
“Waaaah… I didn’t want this either…”
Hua Yan was currently sprawled on a soft lounge chair that Protector Liu had thoughtfully brought over.
The piercing pain from her buttocks made tears well up in her eyes.
“How was I supposed to know what that Yinyang Platform was! That despicable Su Feiyao, the Saintess of the Hehuan Sect, lied to me. She said it was just a grand martial arts competition where the winner gets a reward and the loser gets a penalty. I thought with my skills I couldn’t possibly lose, so I went up…”
“But who could have guessed that woman, Yun Xuechang, was a total freak! No matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t beat her!”
Recalling the humiliation from those years ago, Hua Yan’s tears flowed uncontrollably down her smooth cheeks once again.
“Waaaah… and then I lost the match and she turned me into a woman!”
“I went to settle the score with the Hehuan Sect, but that Su Feiyao actually said their Yinyang Platform only opens once every 500 years and it can’t be changed back!”
“I was so angry I wanted to hit her, so she took out a Disguise Magic Treasure that could change one’s appearance as an apology. She even promised to help change me back 500 years later…”
“After that… I’ve been using the magic treasure to disguise myself until today…”
As she spoke, Hua Yan suppressed her shame and indignation to glare fiercely at Hua Xiangrong, who was teasing the Gold-winged Magpie with Protector Liu. Her voice still carried a sobbing tone.
“Until today, when this little fellow appeared out of nowhere and you beat me like that. I really couldn’t hold it in, so I told the truth…”
‘I didn’t expect that Hua Yan was originally a man and was turned into a woman by the female lead…’
099 was deep in thought after hearing Hua Yan’s account.
‘But Host, how did you know that Hua Yan would have an intersection with the female lead outside of the script?’
At this point, 099 couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.
‘I guessed.’
‘?! You guessed?!’
‘Yeah.’
Hua Xiangrong spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
‘I saw in the book that she was beautiful, and yet she was chasing the female lead to hack her down from her very first appearance. I refused to believe there wasn’t some history there.’
‘I originally thought it was some kind of love-hate relationship, a melodrama where they chase each other’s hearts. I didn’t expect Hua Yan to be a man who was turned into this state by the female lead.’
Hua Xiangrong giggled foolishly in his heart, the corners of his mouth twitching upward.
‘Heh heh heh, I never expected it to be a gender-bending yuri! It doesn’t matter, I’ll ship it anyway! If anything, this is even more exciting! Heh heh heh heh!’
‘Shipping a couple? But Host, you’re clearly the one forcing them together, right? Can this really work…’
099 didn’t dare say these words out loud, only muttering them internally.
‘Sigh, I didn’t expect to run into such an unreliable Host for my first mission. I can only take things one step at a time…’
……
On the other side, after Hua Yuheng finished listening to Hua Yan’s chaotic explanation, she didn’t even know where to start scolding.
Her mind was a tangled mess.
The grandson she had raised for so many years had suddenly become a granddaughter?!
Wait, no…
Hua Yuheng suddenly snapped back to reality as a crucial question occurred to her.
“Hua Yan, wait! If things are as you say, how did you and Yun Xuechang end up having a child?”
She pointed at Hua Xiangrong, who was currently tugging at the little yellow bird’s wings, and furrowed her brows.
“Besides, that child of Yun Xuechang’s told Rongrong that you were a heartbreaker. How do you explain that?”
“Uh…”
‘Right, how did that happen?’
Hua Yan raised her head and carefully sized up the pink-haired little girl.
The more she looked, the more she felt that nose and mouth were carved from the same mold as that woman, Yun Xuechang.
She tried hard to recall her only, unpleasant encounter with Yun Xuechang.
Wait, could it be…
“Grand… Grandmother, I remember now…”
After a long while, the red-haired girl spoke hesitantly. Although her voice was slightly raspy from crying, it was still clear and pleasant to the ear.
“Back then, after I was defeated, I fell from mid-air due to exhaustion. Before I lost consciousness, I felt like I was caught by something soft. At that time, my body felt a sudden heat, and then I completely blacked out…”
“Could it be that the person who caught me was Yun Xuechang? And then, something… something actually happened between us?”
As soon as she said this, even Hua Yan found it hard to believe.
Was this a joke?! Why would Yun Xuechang catch her and do that kind of thing? She even gave birth to a daughter?!
They had only met that one time, and it was on a dueling platform!
This was simply too ridiculous!
“Now that you mention it, that actually makes some sense.”
To Hua Yan’s surprise, Hua Yuheng actually nodded in contemplation after hearing the description.
“I don’t know much about the Hehuan Sect’s Yinyang Platform, but during the transformation process, the loser will indeed experience varying degrees of aphrodisiac effects depending on their constitution.”
“If you say something happened between you and that Immortal Yun because of that, it would be quite reasonable.”
“Then… then why didn’t she reject me?!”
Hua Yan’s face was full of disbelief.
This wasn’t some cliché plot from a storybook.
If she were in heat, Yun Xuechang could have just ignored her or fed her some Heart-Clearing Pills—after all, they were at the Hehuan Sect!
Where couldn’t they find Heart-Clearing Pills?!
Why would she directly do that with her? Could it be that the woman Yun Xuechang had also fallen for Su Feiyao’s scheme and been poisoned by Charm Poison?!
“You blockhead, you can’t even figure this out. To think she’s been thinking about you for all these years.”
Hua Yuheng glared at her irritably.
“Based on yours and Rongrong’s descriptions, is that Immortal Yun a sword cultivator?”
“She is a sword cultivator, yes.”
Hua Yan nodded blankly.
“Then that’s it!”
The Old Valley Master clapped her hands, looking at her still-dazed granddaughter with exasperation.
“Sword cultivators have always loved and excelled at fighting. They are best at sensing another’s spirit and soul during battle!”
“In my opinion, that Immortal Yun must have been captivated by you while you were dueling. That’s why she didn’t reject you when you lost your mind. After all, this appearance of yours does have some charm.”
Hua Yuheng glanced at Hua Yan on the lounge chair.
The girl’s red hair cascaded like a waterfall, and she was still loosely wrapped in those overly large men’s robes, which instead accentuated her impressive figure.
As she lay there, tear stains were still visible on her jade-like face.
The corners of her eyes were red and slightly drooping, and her pale gold eyes were misty, making her look pitiable and endearing.
Hiss… Looking at it this way, it was indeed hard for those sapphic immortals not to be moved by Hua Yan’s appearance, even if they were wooden sword cultivators…
Hua Yuheng turned her head back imperceptibly, becoming more certain of her guess.
“It’s just that she might have felt it was too shameful to lose her virginity before marriage. Considering the constant conflicts between the Righteous and Demonic Paths, she kept it from you and gave birth to Rongrong in secret.”
At this point, the old woman couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.
“Sigh, she must have been ostracized by others in her sect recently and couldn’t hold on any longer. That’s why she sent little Rongrong here. After all, the Righteous sects have strict rules, regulations, and many restrictions. How could they be as casual and unrestrained as our Demonic Path? Getting pregnant out of wedlock would certainly lead to being looked down upon, not to mention she’s the Chief Disciple of the Xiaoyao Sword Sect…”
“Poor Yun Xuechang has really suffered…”
‘Whoa! I didn’t expect Great-grandmother to come up with such an explanation! Could it be that she usually likes to read novels too? Or as they call them in this world, storybooks?’
Hearing the tragic backstory her Great-grandmother had fabricated for her two mothers, Hua Xiangrong couldn’t help but clap secretly in his heart.
‘No way? You can even fool people like this, Host?’
099 was completely stunned. It originally thought that with the Host messing around like this, at the very least, his identity would be questioned.
Who knew that Hua Yuheng and Hua Yan would actually find a reason for the Host’s background themselves? Why was this happening?
‘Because when people can’t find the answer to a question, they subconsciously make up an explanation, even if that explanation is wrong.’
As if sensing 099’s confusion, Hua Xiangrong answered leisurely.
‘Since I am indeed the daughter of Hua Yan and Yun Xuechang, the first thing they think about isn’t the authenticity of my identity, but rather delving into—how exactly did they give birth to me?’
‘Even if their interactions were few, they will desperately find a reason within those few encounters that would allow for my birth.’
‘Then what if there wasn’t even an incident like Hua Yan losing her mind? What would you do then, Host? Besides, your lie will be exposed sooner or later, right?’
099 asked in confusion.
‘If even that kind of thing didn’t happen, it just means they weren’t meant to be! We could just find someone else and start over, right? You definitely wouldn’t leave me hanging, 099, right?’
Hua Xiangrong answered with a smile, his tone full of carefree indifference.
‘As for the lie being exposed—we’ll just figure something out when that day actually comes!’
‘It wasn’t easy to get a second chance at life. Living in the moment is the true meaning of life!’