Chapter 878: Ling Ruoyu

The instant Ling Ruoyu grasped the sword, all the fear and anxiety she had felt, imagining she might fare even worse than Tang Buqi and be directly killed by the sword, vanished as if it had never existed.

In its place arose an intimate, bone-deep familiarity. She felt as though the sword had always been a part of her own flesh and blood.

She could feel the sword tremble with joy, its pulse echoing her every emotion. The terrifying energy it held obeyed her thoughts with perfect ease, as if it were merely her own cultivation, extending from her heart.

Within the sword, the demonic spirit that had once sought to usurp it had not even completed its possession before it found itself abruptly displaced. The sword had regained its sentience. The sword spirit had returned, fusing wholly with Ling Ruoyu in a flawless and unbreakable manner.

The demonic spirit never even had a chance to react. It was simply ejected, thrown out like an idiot in broad daylight, exposed before the watching crowd.

And just then, Ye Wuming’s palm descended. The mighty suction force of her palm captured both Ling Ruoyu and the expelled demonic spirit into her space.

The demonic spirit tried to escape, but against Ye Wuming, it could flee no more than a fish from a closed net. No matter how it writhed, it could not break free. In the next moment, River of Stars directly tore through the demonic spirit, reducing it to fragments. Ling Ruoyu raised her head to look at Ye Wuming, her gaze riddled with complex emotions. She knew that River of Stars had not been aiming at the demonic spirit. The spirit had merely been an ant trampled by coincidence. The target of the sword strike... had been Ye Wuming’s hand.

Within Ling Ruoyu’s gaze gleamed the detachment and aloof pride for which River of Stars was known... and something else—something sorrowful and mournful.

Ye Wuming felt a strange chill prickle down her spine.

The way this girl looked at her—it was like a child staring at a mother who had long since abandoned her.

Is that what this is? My struggle with Zhao Changhe over River of Stars... is it, in essence, a custody battle?

That idle, absurd thought had barely flashed across her mind before the clash of energy arrived.

Clang!

Ye Wuming’s palm turned into a single finger, flicking precisely against the tip of River of Stars.

The impact churned Ling Ruoyu’s innards. She tried to retreat by borrowing force from the blow but was instead pulled forward. Ye Wuming had never intended to simply attack. Her moves were about capture. Layer after layer of energy coiled around Ling Ruoyu, binding her tightly and pulling her in.

Ling Ruoyu shouted, “I’m not going with you!”

Boom!

Countless blades of sword qi erupted around her, transforming into a torrent of stars that crashed against the prison seeking to enclose her.

All of this took but an instant. Just as Ye Wuming was preparing to forcibly carry her away, a familiar burst of sword qi exploded behind her. Yue Hongling was upon her once more.

Ye Wuming raised her left palm to parry Yue Hongling’s sword, and suddenly thought,

Am I... am I getting caught up in a master-disciple harem fantasy?

Damn it. I’ve watched way too much trash from Earth. My brain’s fried...

Before she could even digest her own embarrassment, saber light flared at her flank. Zhao Changhe charged in, saber cleaving through the air with fury.

At the same time, Piaomiao and Tang Wanzhuang soared upward from below, and even Ye Jiuyou, who was just finishing up her own battle, turned toward her.

Ye Wuming stared at the gathering storm of enemies and let out a long, mental ellipsis.

If she lingered even a breath longer, she would find herself encircled by Jiuyou, Vermillion Bird, and Black Tortoise. There would be no need for them to assault the Night Palace—it would be over right here.

She had to retreat. As for the custody dispute, that could wait.

Casting one last glance at Ling Ruoyu, whose face was flushed crimson from unleashing such a desperate strike, Ye Wuming’s form began to blur.

Zhao Changhe’s saber swung down only to slice through an afterimage. Ye Wuming had already vanished into the skies, gone without a trace.

Zhao Changhe looked up at the sky, his brow faintly furrowed.

Now fully merged with the Heavenly Tome, Ye Wuming had essentially become the Heavenly Dao. The former Heavenly Dao, once the very order of this world, had been overthrown and cast as a mere “otherworldly heavenly demon.” As long as she remained within this realm, she was the very air, the elements themselves—shifting between forms at will, untouchable and untraceable.

To strike her down, one would have to target her source, which was the Night Palace itself.

The monk might flee, but the temple remains.

He turned his gaze. Ye Jiuyou had already wiped out the phantom of the heavenly demon. Below, the demonic agents were being rounded up by Cui Yuanyang and her forces. The manifestation of the heavenly demon of the Eastern Sea had likewise been thrashed clean by Huangfu Qing and Lady Three.

So, Lady Three had broken through to the third layer of the Profound Control Realm as well. Joined with Huangfu Qing, the two were now an unstoppable force within their tier.

Everyone was now looking at Zhao Changhe. Some smiled faintly, while others pouted just a little.

Not one among them had anticipated his early return. The entire operation had been devised under the assumption that Zhao Changhe would not be present. And yet, even without him, the dying embers of the old Heavenly Dao’s influence had been shattered down to the roots. Whatever scraps might still remain, they no longer had the power to stir up anything meaningful.

So all that secrecy, all that pretense—the “hidden tiger playing the fool” routine Zhao Changhe had crafted—had turned out to be entirely unnecessary. The one he thought he was preparing to outwit had been watching him awaken from the very beginning.

Just as Piaomiao had once said, the world did not stop turning just because he was not in it.

And as Jiuyou had claimed, the three realms already belonged to them.

These were all unparalleled figures in their own right, each one powerful enough to be a calamity on their own. And now, drawn together by this man, they had become a single unbreakable rope. The three realms were no longer as fragile as they once had been.

It was as if their very presence posed a question to Zhao Changhe:

Still think everything rests on your shoulders? Still think you have to abandon us and sacrifice yourself for the greater good?

At the heart of it... they were angry.

Zhao Changhe understood the message. With a solemn expression, he cupped his hands and bowed to them all in a full circle.

Ye Jiuyou stretched and said lazily, “Let’s call it for now. There’s enough time to talk. I’m guessing the person he wants to speak with most right now... is Hongling.”

Tang Wanzhuang smiled. “Buqi, on this beautiful, moonlit night, with this perfectly gentle breeze, what better time to carry out your birthday banquet? Aren’t you going to fetch the wine?”

Tang Buqi: “...”

You’re still making me hold this birthday banquet? You’re the ones who want a family reunion. Why are you forcing this excuse of a banquet? The birthday boy is half-dead, wrapped up like a corpse, and you still want me out there grinning for the crowd? Do you people even hear yourselves?

Whatever. There’s no arguing with the world’s biggest syndicate—especially not when one of the goddamn ringleaders is my own aunt.

Tang Buqi slumped off to prepare the banquet. The guests, having just witnessed a climactic battle that reshaped the fate of the world, left the Tiger Hill Sword Pond in high spirits, eager to rejoin the festivities. The sword pond quickly returned to quietude.

Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling stood in silence at the edge of the pond.

A young girl trailed behind them, fiddling with the hem of her sleeve, clearly unsure of what to do. Should she go off and join the others at the feast, or stay with her master here and be a third wheel?

Zhao Changhe turned to glance at her, finding it all a little funny. “Didn’t I say you were the main character? This whole battle was about setting the stage for you.”

Ling Ruoyu cast him a furtive glance before lowering her head again, speechless.

She could not stop thinking about the ridiculous things she had said to him before. Her cheeks burned so hot she wanted to throw herself into the pond and never come back up.

Thank heaven I didn’t meet Master before I finally figured out his identity. If I’d really gone to her and said, “Don’t talk to that pervert senior,” would she have buried me alive, or whipped me before burying me alive?

Zhao Changhe found her expression even more amusing. “So? What do you call me now? Still going with pervert senior[1]?”

Ling Ruoyu sneaked a glance at Yue Hongling. “M-Master’s husband...”

“Huh?” Zhao Changhe snapped. “Brat, I’m your father!”

“I...”

“What, you haven’t awakened River of Stars’ memories yet?”

“I... I have,” Ling Ruoyu murmured. “But River of Stars didn’t have a lot of memories... It’s nowhere near as rich or full as my sixteen years of life.”

Zhao Changhe: “...”

Right. By the time I was gone, River of Stars had only been around for a year at most.

Although it was born with awareness and exposed to many grand encounters through Zhao Changhe’s southern and northern campaigns, it was still just a year. It could hardly be considered a life. To Ling Ruoyu, that little wisp of memory was nothing more than a passing dream. A dream in which the only companionship was a father who was often absent, and one very, very noisy saber spirit named Dragon Bird.

She glanced sideways at Dragon Bird, still slung across Zhao Changhe’s back.

Just you wait. You said that River of Stars only knows how to stab people in the ass? That River of Stars is just some small fry? I remember everything you said!

Dragon Bird looked up at the sky.

Zhao Changhe chuckled and unstrapped Dragon Bird from his back, handing it over. “Go play with Dragon Bird. I need to talk to Hongling for a moment.”

Dragon Bird: “...”

Ling Ruoyu grinned, mischief lighting up her eyes as she took the saber and darted off.

The young couple watched their “child” run off with the saber, and both laughed aloud at the sight.

Zhao Changhe asked, “So, what happened, exactly? This doesn’t look like reincarnation. River of Stars didn’t die, so there shouldn’t have been a reincarnation at all.”

Yue Hongling replied, “As you saw, River of Stars never severed its bond with you. Its fate was tied to yours. When you fell silent, it followed suit, disappearing into the void. The moment you awakened, River of Stars returned. Anyone skilled in divination could’ve foreseen this, whether it was the Heavenly Dao, the Ye sisters, or Piaomiao.”

“I get that now, but then why couldn’t I sense it?”

“At first, even though River of Stars’ spirit was dormant, it hadn’t severed its bond with you. Naturally, it would have tried to seek you out. But you were already hidden by Jiuyou within her tangle of distorted spacetime. River of Stars had nothing to anchor to and wandered aimlessly in the void for years... until it found the person it knew best.”

“It found you?” Zhao Changhe frowned. “But if we’re talking about familiarity, wouldn’t it make more sense for it to go to Qing’er? She helped forge it.”

“True,” Yue Hongling nodded. “But the sword spirit didn’t have much interaction with Qing’er after its birth. It spent far more time with me. Have you forgotten? Back then, I borrowed River of Stars for quite a while, trying to awaken my own sword’s spirit. Of everyone besides you, I spent the most time communing with it. Also, you may have forgotten, but I’m an actual swordswoman.”

Zhao Changhe suddenly remembered.

Right. That did happen. River of Stars has been closest to Hongling all along. No wonder.

“Once River of Stars found me, it emerged from the void and reentered the world. Naturally, both Jiuyou and Piaomiao sensed it and came over. After some discussion, we all came to an agreement. There was no hiding it from Ye Wuming. She would come for River of Stars without a doubt. Technically, she forged the sword blank to begin with... so if you think about it, she’s practically River of Stars’ mother. Jiuyou may contend with Ye Wuming on many fronts, but in this regard, she readily admitted defeat. We figured it would be better to change the approach entirely and make it so Ye Wuming couldn’t find it at all.”

Zhao Changhe chuckled.

Yue Hongling said, “Since Piaomiao had experience creating a physical body, she proposed extracting the sword spirit and reconstructing it as a human. Let it be reborn like you were, completely severed from the influence of the former Heavenly Dao. After all, by original design, River of Stars was inextricably tied to the Heavenly Dao. Left alone, it might’ve eventually become a second Ye Wuming. This way, that possibility was eliminated.”

Zhao Changhe nodded. That made sense. He himself had once worried that neither Dragon Bird nor River of Stars could ever deal true damage to the Heavenly Dao. But now, if Ruoyu were to return to the sword... that concern would no longer exist. Piaomiao and the others had clearly thought this through.

Still, now that he saw Ling Ruoyu in front of him, alive and vivid, Zhao Changhe found he had no desire to let her return to the sword.

Yue Hongling went on, “And considering that River of Stars originally appeared as a young girl, it wasn’t hard for Jiuyou and Piaomiao to recreate a human body with no prior cultivation. We thought it might be best if the child didn’t even recognize Ye Wuming.”

Zhao Changhe: “...”

Heavenly Dao this, sword forging that... Isn’t this just palace intrigue at the end of the day? Well, I guess no battlefield is deadlier. When it comes to things like this, men are trailing far, far behind women.

Yue Hongling said, “At the time, the sword spirit was in hibernation, its past forgotten. The newly reborn little girl was only close to me. So, of course, I raised her. And since she had once been a sword, her innate affinity for swordsmanship is beyond belief—none of those so-called sword prodigies in legends even come close. She’s the disciple I always dreamed of. I even gave her her name.”

Ling and yu

[2]

, no wonder.

Zhao Changhe finally understood everything. Smiling, he said, “So, in a way, it fulfilled that old idea of you and me being master and disciple, didn’t it?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Yue Hongling replied. “You think you’d make a better disciple than Yu’er? She’s more obedient, more adorable, and even her talent puts yours to shame. She’s probably the most insanely gifted sword cultivator in all of history.”

Zhao Changhe laughed aloud.

Sure, Ruoyu was talented, but he had forged River of Stars himself. What was there to be embarrassed about if his daughter surpassed him? That was the goal.

Back when she was just a sword spirit, that connection had felt abstract. River of Stars had always been cold, with barely any communication. It felt like taking care of a high-end action figure rather than raising a child. But now, this living, breathing girl stood before him—laughing, pouting, swinging her sword. It was an entirely different feeling.

Come to think of it, River of Stars originally had a round face and big eyes, like a porcelain doll. Now, Ruoyu had an elegant oval face and long, phoenix-like eyes. She looked nothing like the original.

“But speaking of adorable, is that her original appearance? It doesn’t seem that way to me...”

Yue Hongling smiled. “She looked like what you know when she was... five. You know what they say, a girl changes eighteen times before reaching womanhood[3]. There was never any interference with her appearance. The way she looks now is simply what she would have eventually come to look like.”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

From behind the trees came the loud clashes of saber against sword.

The couple extended their divine sense and saw Ling Ruoyu, wielding River of Stars, locked in a ferocious duel against Dragon Bird.

No one could tell what had sparked the fight.

Yue Hongling cleared her throat. “That transformation also had another big advantage. Once the sword spirit was extracted, River of Stars’ shell became an empty vessel, so there was no need for us to hold back anymore. We could use it however we wanted. Whether we used it to lure Ye Wuming or bait out the remnants of the old Heavenly Dao, it made the perfect trap. And as you saw, it worked. But now...”

She paused, then pointed sheepishly toward the clanging of blades in the distance. “Do you think we might’ve created a bit of a problem? I mean, what happens now? Yu’er is technically supposed to go back inside River of Stars, right? But now we’ve got a Profound Mysteries-level teenage girl wielding a spiritless River of Stars. What do

you

do when you want to use River of Stars?”

Zhao Changhe did not seem bothered in the slightest. “Eh, who cares. Do I have to use River of Stars? Look at Ruoyu, she’s so cute and lively. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier.”

Yue Hongling chuckled as well.

Why dwell on minor complications? What could possibly matter more than having a living, breathing child?

Zhao Changhe smiled. “That said, her temperament really isn’t like the old River of Stars at all. She takes after you. Even her personality seems to have changed?”

“Well, she’s not a sword spirit anymore. She was reborn as a human, and with that came a lot of human instincts. Well, at her core, she’s still fairly aloof. That part hasn’t changed. But is that really surprising? We sword cultivators are aloof by nature. Did you think people like me or Wubing aren’t?” Yue Hongling smiled and continued, “Over the years, she’s been raised with all my preaching about chivalry and honor, about what a swordsman should be—steadfast, upright, unswerving. And to top it off, she idolizes her father. She imitates your behavior. Over time, she simply... became like this.”

Zhao Changhe was moved to tears.

Now this is what a proper mother and master is. Meanwhile, when I raised Dragon Bird, she just grew up to be such a little delinquent. Just look at Ruoyu, so sweet and well-behaved.

“How’s that?” Yue Hongling asked with a teasing smile. “Have I done justice to your precious River of Stars?”

“Of course.” Zhao Changhe swept her into his arms and spun her in a joyful circle. “You’re always the most dependable, Hongling.”

“

Ptui

.” Yue Hongling snorted. “I’m supposedly the wicked stepmother, remember? I’ve smacked her around plenty. Just thinking that I raised her all these years, and she might end up calling Ye Wuming her mother makes my blood boil.”

Zhao Changhe rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Given Ruoyu’s mysterious origin, there was no way Ye Wuming had not noticed the sudden emergence of a strange girl with no background. With her ability to read the world’s movements, she probably guessed a long time ago that this was River of Stars.

No wonder the Tome of Troubled Times had kept pushing her up the ranks despite her lack of real combat experience, placing her first on the Ranking of Hidden Dragons, no less. Everyone joked about how she must have connections or something... and it turns out they were right.

What next? A webnovel by Ling Ruoyu titled “My Mother Is The Heavenly Tome”?

Time and again, the sky would flash gold with an update, as if heaven itself were endorsing her. On the surface, it looked like a trap for the child, but seen from another angle, it looked suspiciously like an overachieving mother showing off on social media.

Look, everyone! My daughter just won first place in a piano competition! Oh, she won the math Olympiad, too... again!

Just then, Ling Ruoyu’s head peeked out from behind a tree.

Yue Hongling: “...”

Once Ruoyu merged her aura with River of Stars, even the sharpest senses could not detect her. Not even Zhao Changhe or Yue Hongling could sense her lurking. Thus, things had become a little awkward.

Did she hear the bit about the wicked stepmother and the beatings?

The girl in question crept forward nervously. “Master... I, uh... buried Dragon Bird. Is that going to be a problem?”

1. This is the first time this term is being used. You’re not misremembering. ☜

2. The name that Yue Hongling chose really just came from her name, so it isn’t actually all that meaningful in terms of the characters/words themselves. The ling in Yue Hong

ling

and

Ling

Ruoyu’s names is the same ling (翎), while yu (羽) is just the right side of ling. ☜

3. This is a Chinese saying. ☜