73 - Divine Mastering Dragon System

Chapter 73: Woman Zhu Cheng's conjecture was indeed not incorrect. Xiang Shi Yan was conscious of being hated by many within the demon clans, particularly by the Black Scale tribe. When their leader was absent, they were oppressed by other tribes, causing their status to plummet, thus harboring deep resentment towards her. However, Du Ruo was different. One of the reasons she was willing to help was because, much to Xiang Shi Yan's surprise, she harbored a profound aversion to her own clan. "When my mother's family fell from grace, nobody extended a helping hand. She fell into a life of hardship to survive until finally being redeemed by Master Du." Recalling the past, Du Ruo couldn't help but grit her teeth. "When the Du residence was attacked, the bloodline of the Yu Hu family was taken in by the various branch families, living without worry, but my mother was shamed and rejected by the Black Scale clan for marrying an outsider, ultimately dying of starvation on the street..." The demon clans were not without their divisions; mixed-bloods were universally shunned by the demon society. This was due to clear boundaries between clans, morally castigating those who dared to cross them. Such condemnation targeted not only mixed-bloods but demon women in particular. Humans often harbored unrealistic fantasies about the demon clans, believing they were unified. In truth, the clans were as distinct as the various nations among humans. Though they were brought closer by the demon emperor, they exhibited similar phenomena, shaming women who married outside their clan while viewing men who married outside as bringing honor. In essence, there wasn't much difference between humans and demons. The rest was known to Xiang Shi Yan. Young Du Ruo, too weak from hunger to move, wept beside her mother's stiffening, decomposing body, attracting the attention of a passing noble's carriage with the stench in the alley. If not for an accidental rescue by the current demon emperor and later discovering her innate talent for water magic, Du Ruo would not have reached her current standing. Hence, in the original story, after the demon emperor's assassination, Du Ruo was willing to conspire with the mysterious Xuan Jiu to avenge her master. "In the end, it was my lack of foresight back then..." Xiang Shi Yan lowered her brow, gently stroking the small snake within her sleeve. She had been focused solely on revenge, overlooking the fact that leaving the Du family's protection could inadvertently harm unrelated individuals. Keep stroking me. Du Ruo rubbed her soft snake belly against Xiang Shi Yan's fingertips, a sly glint appearing in her amber vertical pupils. Her earlier sentiment was genuine, though the events were over a decade old, and her resentment primarily targeted the Black Scale tribe, unrelated to Xiang Shi Yan. Nonetheless, a free touch was always welcome, so Du Ruo allowed Xiang Shi Yan to indulge in her guilt briefly. While the warmth of a woman's body might be considered low from a human standpoint, it was pleasantly warm for her, causing the snake to relax completely. Du Ruo disliked high body temperatures in others, like most scale-kind; the heat from beast-kind was unbearably high. Humans were the same, not scorching but uncomfortable when touched by someone with a fire affinity. The last time she was touched by a fire cultivator was just before leaving Xin Yang City, shortly after Xiang Shi Yan confided her grievances with the Du family to her. Huai Ye had suddenly approached her, shyly asking what Xiang Shi Yan had said. Du Ruo refused to answer, and she seemed to feel it was inappropriate to pry into her master's private matters, so she didn't press further. Her awkward demeanor was amusing, prompting Du Ruo to tease her, which quickly escalated into conflict. Xiang Shi Yan’s neck patch accidentally fell off, and they were overwhelmed by each other's scent. Naturally, Du Ruo was no match for Huai Ye, a body practitioner, and soon found herself pinned to the wall by her neck. At that moment, Du Ruo genuinely felt as if her neck might be snapped in two, despite being of higher cultivation. Yet in close combat, she was quickly pushed to the brink. Huai Ye’s body heat was intense, leaving an unpleasant warmth lingering on her neck, so this time Du Ruo chose to face Xiang Shi Yan almost entirely as a snake. The sensation of suffocation and pain came simultaneously, but Du Ruo gently touched Huai Ye's hand, a strange smile on her flushed face. Physical pain was far easier to endure than emotional distress; she'd learned to find solace in bodily pain from a young age. She was too embarrassed to tell Xiang Shi Yan that the scars she’d been pityingly stroking weren’t inflicted by others. This habit had developed a new significance as she aged. Recalling Huai Ye’s perplexed expression after releasing her, Du Ruo wondered if she had frightened her… Recovering from the precious memory of teasing Huai Ye, Du Ruo coiled around Xiang Shi Yan’s wrist and posed her small snake form adorably. "I was born into the Du family, ate their food, used their resources until I was seven or eight. I can't easily say that the Du family’s grievances have nothing to do with me." "I had not intended to involve the innocent," Xiang Shi Yan sighed, lifting Du Ruo off and placing her on a table before sitting cross-legged on the bed, motioning for Du Ruo to guard her. The grandmaster of Xin Yang City, though not particularly skilled, possessed an intriguing artifact. This artifact was called the Mirror of Insight. Despite its name, suggesting it could dispel illusions, its primary function was to create golems. No matter how crude, as long as a humanoid shape and channels for spiritual energy were present, holding the mirror would animate the golem to resemble a real person. The artifact appeared very ancient, likely from the primordial era. Even with protective spiritual energy, it was worn and degraded over time. Xiang Shi Yan presumed it once had the potential to be a heavenly-grade artifact. Though golems created by the mirror could only be detected by those two realms higher than the creator, its limitations were evident. It required an actual person as a template, using their spiritual energy and appearance. It couldn’t fabricate a golem out of nowhere. Before being invited to Zhu's residence, Xiang Shi Yan left a self-fashioned golem in the territory of Song He Hall. She was cautious since she seldom used such artifacts. Xiang Shi Yan held the circular bronze mirror, her spirit diving into it. It felt as if she were pulled into a water vortex, a sensation of consciousness traversing water, but Xiang Shi Yan was certain she remained stationary. It was as if the mirror split her mind, providing an alternate viewpoint, a peculiar feeling. She controlled the golem, identical to her in appearance, stepping down shakily and grabbing a nearby table for support. Stabilizing her mind, she gradually adapted to the artificial body. She stretched, then opened the door and walked out. Her vision and hearing matched her actual body, and Xiang Shi Yan squinted at the sun, heading west within the estate. After discovering the captive women had vanished, the Zhu family quickly deployed personnel to seal off the surrounding area. Eight women in total, even in a group, couldn’t be transferred far within a short time, let alone escape the city. Huai Hai city had only one entrance, making escaping under the Zhu family’s search impossible. The Zhu family was likely still searching house to house, as Xiang Shi Yan entered the hidden chamber guarded by Song He Hall’s people and formations. In the dim underground space, eight modest beds were arranged, each occupied by an unconscious woman. Logically, Du Ruo, as a single snake, couldn’t have transported eight individuals to the Song He Hall headquarters on the opposite side of Huai Hai City in a quarter-hour. Spatial artifacts became obsolete after the primordial era, making this feat incomprehensible to the world’s inhabitants. To "this world’s" residents, perhaps. To the system and logistics personnel in a higher-dimensional world, entities like Xiang Shi Yan weren’t perceived in the same three-dimensional "existence" as humans understand. They weren’t fake but composed differently, allowing the system to make limited alterations by infiltrating the world. Directly rewriting the plot was impossible; otherwise, it wouldn’t be so troublesome. However, granting Xiang Shi Yan a buff, masking her weakened spiritual sense in Huai Hai City, or relocating Du Ruo and marked individuals across space were simpler tasks. Xiang Shi Yan entrusted the system’s markers, mistaken for ancient artifacts, to Du Ruo. Mastering concealment arts, Nascent Soul cultivator Du Ruo easily hid from distant watchers of the same level, breached the formation before the chamber, and tagged the eight pregnant women inside. Until recently, Du Ruo marveled at the "ancient item's" ability to breach space and instantly relocate eight living beings. Xiang Shi Yan couldn't very well explain to her that her existence was akin to a pawn on a chessboard—moved at someone's whim, as long as certain rules were followed. She had even inquired if the system could transport her to the Hunyuan Realm so she could retrieve the Cloud Veil herself. However, the system explained that while insignificant actions might escape the notice of the world's consciousness, manipulating individuals recklessly could easily be detected, potentially leading to the system itself being expelled from this world. Since this timeline aligned with the "Hunyuan Realm Arc," where Du Ruo hadn't yet appeared, the world's strict monitoring of her was looser, allowing the system some leeway. Xiang Shi Yan had once envisioned surprising Xuan Jiu in a showdown using this ability; unfortunately, that opportunity would never arise. Nevertheless, it was still an incredibly convenient power. Xiang Shi Yan approached a nearby woman. Oblivious to her surroundings, she lay there as if in an endless dream, her expression relaxed despite her circumstances. Her belly was swollen, probably six to seven months along. Due to prolonged lying, not only was her body swollen, but her previously bright appearance had dulled. Her back and hips had developed skin diseases, with her exposed skin under thin garments looking ravaged, emitting a faint, nauseating smell. The woman appeared very young, seemingly in her twenties. But as Xiang Shi Yan assessed her bone age, it revealed she was closer to thirty or forty. For long-lived cultivators, thirty or forty was not the peak of life but rather the beginning of their journey in the cultivation world, with much left to explore and dreams to chase. Under Xiang Shi Yan's spiritual stimulation, the woman displayed a pained expression even in her sleep. Gradually, a layer of crimson runes appeared on her pallid, bloated body, resembling blood-red thorns that ensnared the woman in her nightmare, binding her to the delivery bed, to hell itself. Xiang Shi Yan withdrew her hand, her expression going cold. The prestigious Zhu family of Huaihai, renowned for their formation arts, truly lived up to their name. People said the Zhu family had declined, losing their ancestors' famed formation techniques. Zhu Cheng was indeed a fine patriarch, able to not only revive but also innovate these techniques. How many lives did he claim in perfecting the art of inscribing formations with spiritual power on human bodies? How many swelled and burst before his eyes during his experiments with modified Spirit Gathering formations on human bodies? How many stillbirths did he cause when manipulating fetuses through an array, delivering monstrous creatures upon birth? The Zhu estate housed over twenty concubines, none of whom were pregnant. With Zhu Cheng's low fertility, were these women impregnated by him? Or was it merely a business, exploiting women as luxury prostitutes for aristocrats, making money twice? How many horrors did he commit to build this terrifying industry, extending the precarious Zhu family for years to come? Xiang Shi Yan’s vision blurred, shoulders trembling. She covered her mouth, slowly kneeling on the floor. While she stubbornly avoided her senior sister after she got married, what had Zhu Cheng done to Gong Ning to make her quickly bear his child? Did she endure the same suffering as these women? Based on the woman's unconscious spiritual modulation, her cultivation was about mid-Golden Core stage. What did mid-Golden Core stage at thirty-something mean? Ignoring the protagonist monsters, consider the prodigious Long Rui Qing. Blessed with clear meridians and a single wind affinity spiritual root, she had formed her core by twenty-two. Normally, if diligent and fortunate, she could reach Golden Core Great Perfection by forty-five. Achieving Nascent Soul or even Ascension would depend on her fate. For someone like He He, born with three spiritual roots, lifelong diligence might never yield even Foundation Establishment. The mid-Golden Core stage doesn’t come from mere idleness, requiring countless nights of rigorous cultivation before a genius emerges... Long Rui Qing, the cherished disciple of Yu Ming Jun, protector elder of the Jade Green Mountain, was admired as a senior sister. Receiving love and respect from her peers and master, her disappearance would undoubtedly cause her master indescribable pain. At thirty-something, regardless of worldly or cultivation origins, her parents should still be alive. Would they not weep incessantly if their daughter vanished without a trace? She was meant to be a revered senior sister, an endearing junior, a prodigious disciple, a pride-worthy daughter, and a promising cultivator... She was never meant to be parasitized, dying in obscurity. The beloved gem of others, how did she become a tool to sate your desires, a pawn for your profit, a sacrifice for your contemptible family and bloodline? Author's Note: I revised the outline for the Zhu Family arc during the New Year. Seeing the coverage of that incident gradually decrease, I feel quite wistful. I thought writing about it might make me feel better, but it only grows harder. I hope for peace and safety for everyone, and for an end to human trafficking and surrogate exploitation. Thank you to the angels who voted or offered nutrient solutions between 2022-03-15 15:25:33~2022-03-15 22:51:00~ Special thanks to the angel who threw the landmine: ブリタニア魔女保護協会 1; And to the angel who offered nutrient solutions: 论如何把昵称凑足十五 10 bottles; Many thanks for everyone's support! I will continue to strive forward!