But Yun Fei quickly brushed aside that bizarre and absurd thought.
Even if she hadn’t been well-liked in the past, her mother wouldn’t have gone as far as to castrate her little brother down there, right?
“Fei… do you want revenge?”
At that moment, just as Yun Fei was letting her imagination run wild, Yun Ming suddenly leaned in close and spoke to her in a mysterious tone.
Yun Fei was baffled by her mother’s question.
“Revenge? For what?”
“For what? Ah, it seems Fei really doesn’t care about being turned into a girl anymore. So, what could the grudge be? It’s so hard to guess.”
Yun Ming arched her eyebrows playfully, her restless hand rhythmically pinching Yun Fei’s somewhat bouncy cheek.
“Ugh… that grudge… of course I want revenge! I’ll definitely make that woman Mu Lingxi understand the price of provoking me!”
As she spoke, she pumped her fist in the air… it was incredibly cute.
Seeing this, Yun Ming nodded with great satisfaction.
“In that case, you’ve been added to the first group of candidates for Dawn Academy. Your enemy, that little Saintess from the Evergreen Sect, is also a freshman this year.”
“What? I’m going?”
Yun Fei was shocked.
Given her mother’s previous attitude, she would never have allowed her to wander off to the Profane Realm. For things to be like this now…
“Mother, why? Don’t you hate…”
But Yun Ming simply shook her head.
“You only need to listen to me. When has your mother ever harmed you? However, before you set out, let’s go see your father.”
“Father?” Yun Fei hadn’t heard that word in a long time. In her memory, her father’s image had already begun to blur.
***
In the back mountain of the Purple Ethereal Palace, a mausoleum stood tall.
Its owner was none other than Yun Fei’s father, Mo Xingfeng.
Yun Ming traced a profound demonic seal on the stone tablet beside the tomb using her magic.
Then, the ground vibrated slightly, gradually revealing a spiral staircase leading straight down.
Yun Fei was stunned by the sight.
Could her old man actually still be alive?
If so, wouldn’t her previous prayers to his spirit in heaven be a case of ultimate “filial” mockery?
No, no, no, it would be better if that didn’t happen.
She hoped her father was still just lying there; she really didn’t want him to pull a stunt like this!
Of course, Yun Ming had no way of knowing Yun Fei’s inner thoughts at that moment; otherwise, both of the girl’s legs would have already been broken.
Yun Fei followed her mother’s footsteps onto the spiral staircase.
The ground closed behind them, and torches lit up one by one as it sealed, illuminating the path downward.
The staircase was long, and the mother and daughter didn’t speak much.
Yun Fei could sense that her mother’s mood was quite somber; therefore, she didn’t want to provoke her or challenge her boundaries.
They walked all the way to the bottom.
The structure below was simple: a secret room completely sealed on all four sides, with a massive coffin placed prominently in the center.
Clack, clack, clack…
The sound of shoes hitting the floor echoed in the empty space.
While it emphasized how quiet the environment was, Yun Fei keenly sensed a hint of dissonance.
As for where this dissonance came from?
There was only one coffin here, so the answer was perhaps obvious.
“Mother…”
Yun Fei whispered a warning and reached out to grab the hem of Yun Ming’s clothes.
“Yes, I know. Stay where you are and don’t move. I’ll handle it.”
As she spoke, Yun Ming rubbed Yun Fei’s head.
A flash of golden light instantly sank into the girl’s forehead, and a light shield about one meter wide rippled outward from her.
She recognized this; it was her mother’s Golden Flame Shield.
Several times when she had accompanied her mother to the front lines, her mother would wrap her in this.
Although it looked like it would break at a touch, that wasn’t actually the case.
A massive version of her mother’s Golden Flame Shield had been running long-term at the Void Border Frontline to block the invasion of The Void, and it still provided excellent defense to this day.
Yun Fei watched her mother approach the coffin.
Her mother’s firm, upright figure did a wonderful job of calming Yun Fei’s worries.
That’s right, her mother was among the top tier of combat power in both realms.
How could anything go wrong?
Just as Yun Fei thought this, she saw white patterns gradually emerge on the surface of the previously silent black wooden coffin. It was eerie… yet elegant.
A chilling aura rushed toward her, making Yun Fei’s face turn much paler.
“Void Slime… how could it appear here? And even… on father’s coffin?”
Yun Fei felt her brain stall for a moment.
In an instant, her mind began to spiral with strange possibilities—like how her father might have been deeply corrupted by The Void, or how her mother had been forced to take his life with her own hands in a tragic twist of fate.
At that moment, the Golden Flame Shield around Yun Fei began to grow hot.
Golden flames tumbled and shifted on the transparent shield, a sign that the shield was beginning to perform its actual defensive function.
This meant that something dangerous in the room was already attacking.
Sure enough, as her father’s coffin lid vibrated, milky-white Void Slime suddenly began to seep upward through the floor of the secret room.
Once the slime broke free from the ground, it rushed like a wild horse toward the top of the coffin, aggregating into a sphere.
The sphere gradually evolved, growing two sturdy arms from its sides.
To Yun Fei, she had initially been able to perceive the sphere’s strength, but later, the monster’s power spiked rapidly. Now, it had perhaps reached a terrifying level.
“The moment in the Prophecy is coming… Xingfeng… you finally turned into this ghostly state…”
Yun Ming stared at the nauseating thing in the air with a face full of melancholy, and a single tear actually fell from the corner of her eye.
“Gurgle… it’s fine… a necessary move… gurgle… kill me… glub glub…”
Blurred and disjointed words came from the sphere, finally dissolving into the sound of drowning bubbles.
“Since this is our last meeting… I shall do as you wish…”
Yun Ming closed her eyes slightly.
Then, purple flames ignited on her right hand, and a long blade of dark purple appeared within them.
It emitted a heaven-toppling majesty, allowing even Yun Fei, who was some distance away and protected by a shield, to feel the soul-burning heat unique to the Nether Realm Purple Fire.
The purple flames spread everywhere in the secret room, even though there were no combustible materials present.
Yun Fei was so shaken by the pressure that she had to thrust her spear into the ground to forcibly support her body.
At the same time, Yun Fei stared fixedly at her mother’s back, her eyes burning with a fiery intensity.
So powerful… would she be able to possess such strength in the future?
“I will use your own technique… to end these ten-plus years of pain…”
Yun Ming murmured.
Then, golden phantoms appeared in different directions, but their blades were all pointed at the same target.
There were nine such phantoms in total. Holding long blades burning with golden fire, they struck together toward “Mo Xingfeng.”
Their phantoms turned into sharp blades, leaving nine deep gashes upon it.
It let out a shrill wail, but Yun Ming had already swung her final blade.
A purple blade beam sliced through space, dealing the creature its final, terminal blow.