Xi Yu’s gaze darted around in every direction.

But that was already an answer.

He was the one who had awakened them.

While Xi Yu was busy looking around, his hand suddenly became empty.

Xiaoman grabbed the jade-colored flower and squeezed it hard with astonishing speed.

“Don’t!” Liu Mu screamed.

The jade-colored flower was fragile. The stem and flower instantly separated, and the shimmering jade light on it disappeared at once, turning gray-white and becoming completely useless.

Xi Yu hissed.

His heart ached.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Xi. I ruined your things.” Xiaoman looked apologetic, her eyes red.

“You foolish girl! Why did you have to do this?!”

Liu Mu collapsed onto the floor, sobbing her heart out.

Xiaoman crouched down and hugged her.

Liu Mu was furious and kept pounding Xiaoman with her fists, crying until she could barely make a sound.

Liu Fu simply stared blankly at the now-useless jade-colored flower on the floor.

Xiaoman held Liu Mu in her arms, but her eyes turned toward Shen Linchuan.

With her lips, she silently mouthed,

I’m sorry.

…………………..

Shen Linchuan’s feet moved, and he stumbled down the stairs.

In fact, he had known all along that Xiaoman would never trade her life for another, no matter what.

He shouldn’t hate her.

This was their final time together. He shouldn’t hate her.

Shen Linchuan crouched beside Xiaoman. Liu Mu had occupied Xiaoman’s embrace, so he took Xiaoman’s soft hand and interlocked their fingers.

Liu Fu crouched on her other side and gently stroked Xiaoman’s hair.

Xiaoman thought,

How happy.

Even if it was only for a short while, it was enough.

Xiaoman’s life force was slowly fading away.

Everyone was in agony.

Everyone except one person, who was celebrating.

Liu Tanghuan’s entire body trembled with excitement. The knife in her hand was dripping with blood.

She had smashed at the door for so long before finally breaking it open. Her injuries had not been for nothing.

“Hahahahahaha,” Liu Tanghuan laughed wildly. “What goes around comes around! What goes around comes around!!!”

“This demon is finally going to die. Once she’s dead, you won’t be under her spell anymore!”

Liu Tanghuan laughed as though she had lost her mind, the hand holding the knife trembling.

“I’m the eldest daughter of the Liu family! Once she’s dead, all of you will love me! You’re supposed to love me!”

Liu Mu no longer had the strength to argue with Liu Tanghuan. She simply held Xiaoman, her eyes filled with despair and grief.

Liu Fu looked at Liu Tanghuan with disappointment.

He had already given the servants time off to prevent anyone else from seeing Xiaoman die.

He couldn’t call anyone to drag Liu Tanghuan away.

He had to do it himself.

He walked up to Liu Tanghuan, snatched the knife from her hand, and threw it onto the floor.

“Get out. Even if Xiaoman isn’t here anymore, the Liu family will never want you again.”

The smile on Liu Tanghuan’s lips froze.

As Liu Fu dragged her away, she cried, “Dad! All of you have been bewitched by her demonic magic! Once she’s dead, you’ll love me again! I’m your only daughter, your only daughter!”

“You’re treating me like this for a demon!”

“You’ll regret this! You’ll regret it!!!”

Liu Fu ignored her completely and continued dragging her away.

Just as she was about to be thrown out the door, Liu Tanghuan somehow found the strength to break free.

She shoved Liu Fu aside.

Then she picked up the knife from the floor and charged straight toward Xiaoman.

Why wasn’t she dead yet?

Why wasn’t she dead yet?!

This demon was taking too long to die!

Too long!

Then she would help her along.

Once she was dead, Dad, Mom, and Shen Linchuan would all come to their senses!

Liu Tanghuan moved incredibly fast, thrusting the knife toward Xiaoman.

“Die! Die!”

Liu Fu was shoved to the ground. His pupils contracted violently as he watched Liu Tanghuan’s movement.

“Don’t!!!”

Shen Linchuan and Xiaoman had their backs to Liu Tanghuan and had no idea what was happening.

But Liu Mu saw everything clearly.

As the knife was about to stab Xiaoman, her body reacted before her mind could.

She shoved Xiaoman away.

The muffled sound of the short blade sinking into flesh was especially piercing in that moment.

Xiaoman’s body was already becoming translucent.

She turned her head, and warm blood splashed across her face.

“Mom!!!”

Shen Linchuan’s heart lurched. He kicked Liu Tanghuan to the ground.

Liu Tanghuan had not expected this either. She fell hard, her face twisted with pain.

Terrified, she cried, “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t mean to! It was her! She threw herself in front of the knife for a demon! She’s crazy!”

Xi Yu’s fingertip moved slightly.

Liu Tanghuan immediately fell unconscious.

Xiaoman held Liu Mu in her arms, pressing her hand against the wound as she screamed through her tears.

“Mom!!!”

Liu Fu crawled over on his hands and knees.

“Liu’er!!!”

“Call an ambulance!”

“Quick!!!”

Xiaoman shouted at Shen Linchuan.

Shen Linchuan frantically pulled out his phone, but Xi Yu snatched it away.

Shen Linchuan looked at Xi Yu, his lips trembling.

A possibility he did not even dare to imagine surfaced in his mind.

Xiaoman didn’t notice what was happening over there. She simply cried out,

“Why…”

“Why!!!!”

“Why did you block it?! I was already going to die! Her knife couldn’t have hurt me! Why did you do it?!”

Blood flowed from Liu Mu’s body, but she felt no pain at all.

There was no why.

Protecting one’s child was a mother’s instinct.

“No mother can just watch her own child die.”

Liu Mu held Xiaoman’s hand.

“This is good too. On the road to the Yellow Springs, Mom can accompany my Xiaoman.”

Xiaoman’s body trembled uncontrollably.

Her translucent body was covered in blood. Her throat felt as though it were being twisted again and again by a dull blade, producing broken sounds that eventually gathered into a piercing cry, like a cuckoo crying blood.

Xiaoman’s grief pierced to the bone.

Yet she did not notice that the blood covering her body was seeping through her translucent flesh and entering her blood vessels.

Shen Linchuan’s eyes widened.

He watched as Xiaoman’s once-transparent body gradually became solid and clear.

Seeing that the time was right, Xi Yu took a pill from his ring.

He crushed it between his fingertips, turning it into a jade-colored butterfly, which flew into Liu Mu’s body.

Liu Mu’s consciousness had already begun to blur, but she suddenly felt a warm current flowing through her.

The pain in her abdomen suddenly disappeared as well.

She thought it was the return of consciousness before death, or perhaps that she had already reached the Yellow Springs.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

Xiaoman’s face was pressed against Liu Mu’s head, her entire person dazed and numb.

Liu Fu had originally been weeping quietly.

When he saw Liu Mu open her eyes, he then noticed that Xiaoman’s body had returned to normal.

Shen Linchuan tremblingly crouched down and shook Xiaoman.

“Xiaoman… Mom’s wound… is gone…”

Not only had the wound disappeared.

Even the blood was gone.

It had all melted into Xiaoman’s body.

Xiaoman hurriedly lowered her head when she heard him.

Only then did she notice that Liu Mu’s eyes were open.

And there wasn’t a trace of blood left.

“Am I dreaming?” Xiaoman murmured.

“You’re not dreaming.”

Xi Yu’s face was somewhat pale.

“The Heavenly Dao has spared you.”

Lu Zhixing wrapped an arm around Xi Yu’s waist to support him. He took a piece of candy from his pocket and fed it to him.

Xi Yu bit into the candy.

Spiritual power spread from the tip of his tongue, and only then did he feel considerably better.

Shen Linchuan pulled Liu Mu and Xiaoman up from the floor and carefully examined both of them together with Liu Fu.

Xiaoman touched her lower abdomen.

“My demon core has recovered too…”

Shen Linchuan looked at Xi Yu.

“What do you mean, the Heavenly Dao spared her? Will there be punishment later?”

Xi Yu sat down on the sofa.

He picked up the cup of tea, which had already gone completely cold, and drank it all in one gulp before speaking.

“No. The Heavenly Dao has acknowledged them as mother and daughter. Therefore, the punishment imposed on Xiaoman for taking Liu Tanghuan’s identity—in other words, taking the identity of Madam Liu’s daughter—no longer applies. Her demon core will naturally repair itself.”

“This is the true way to save Xiaoman.”

Shen Linchuan was confused.

“Then what you said earlier about trading one life for another…”

Xi Yu said,

“There must be the courage to face death. Only then can they become mother and daughter.”

“If it had been any of you today, even with me here, I wouldn’t have been able to help. Only a mother can gain the acknowledgment of the Heavenly Dao.”

“Perhaps there are fathers who would be willing to give everything for their daughters.”

Xi Yu spoke seriously.

“But from the moment a mother becomes pregnant, she has already placed life and death aside. She nourishes her child with her own body and blood, sharing the same body.”

“Only a mother and daughter are truly connected by blood.”

………………..

“Madam Liu’s life now belongs to Xiaoman. Her bloodline has merged into Xiaoman’s body. From now on, they are truly mother and daughter.”

“The jade-colored flower’s method of saving Xiaoman was not false either. It also required a blood connection. Even if Madam Liu had used the jade-colored flower today, I would have ensured that she did not die. But if she hadn’t used it, or if Madam Liu hadn’t stepped in front of that knife for Xiaoman today, their bloodlines would not have become connected, and Xiaoman would not have survived.”

“But I couldn’t tell you that. You had to make the choice yourselves. Otherwise, the Heavenly Dao would not have acknowledged it.”

Liu Fu seemed to understand only part of it, but he wiped away his tears.

“So that means neither my wife nor my daughter has to die?”

Xi Yu nodded.

“Madam Liu’s body may be weak for a few days. It’s nothing serious.”

Xiaoman hugged Liu Mu and cried tears of joy.

Suddenly, she bowed deeply to Xi Yu.

“Thank you, Mr. Xi.”

Liu Mu was overwhelmed with emotion. She followed Xiaoman and bowed as well.

“Thank you, Mr. Xi. Thank you for saving Xiaoman.”

“You don’t need to thank me. You saved yourselves.”

He had merely been the one who pushed things along.

Xi Yu had always felt that motherhood was the divinity of mortals.

For their children, mothers could give everything without asking for anything in return or demanding anything in exchange.

After Xi Yu finished speaking, he looked toward Shen Linchuan, who was carefully watching Xiaoman.

He saw that the red thread around Shen Linchuan’s fingertip, which had originally been about to disappear, had become vivid red once again.

Xiaoman had been punished because she had altered the fates of everyone around her.

But Shen Linchuan’s fate had barely changed.

Because his destined partner had always been Xiaoman.

Shen Linchuan had originally been destined for two marriages.

The first was with Liu Tanghuan.

The second was with Xiaoman.

Xi Yu didn’t know where things had gone wrong.

Originally, Xiaoman would not have transformed so soon.

She would only have been able to take human form after Liu Fu and Liu Mu had already been buried, and the real Liu Tanghuan had married Shen Linchuan.

She had watched with her own eyes as Liu Tanghuan murdered her parents, yet she had been powerless to do anything.

Without transforming, she could not save Liu Mu.