Obligations of the Past

Upon seeing Mo Caihuan in such a state, Han Li knew that this was not the time to press for details, and so he dropped the matter. Following her lead, they arrived at a small shop front on a nearby street.

“Here?” Han Li was slightly surprised, looking at Mo Caihuan with a questioning gaze.

“Yes, this is the place! Mother and I run a small business. We only need to earn a few spirit stones to buy her some medicine to suppress her old injuries.” A faint blush crept onto Mo Caihuan’s face as she spoke with some embarrassment. Then, she took the lead and walked inside.

Han Li smiled at this, said nothing, and followed her in.

“Mother, look who I’ve brought with me!”

The moment Han Li stepped through the door, Mo Caihuan’s voice rang out, as if she were presenting a precious gift. Then came another voice, familiar to Han Li, but sounding much older and wearier.

“Who else could it be? Ever since Uncle Zhu passed away, only Aunt Xianglian from next door still comes to see us.”

The voice was unmistakably Madam Yan’s, though much hoarser than before.

“No, it’s Senior Apprentice Brother! I ran into Senior Apprentice Brother inside the fort!” Mo Caihuan shouted excitedly.

“Senior Apprentice Brother? Didn’t all your senior apprentice brothers pass away long ago? Child, are you losing your senses?” Madam Yan’s voice was filled with concern.

By this time, Han Li had taken in the interior of the shop.

It was a small room, about seven zhang square, with a few wooden counters. On top of them, several dozen low-grade talismans were neatly arranged, along with some inexpensive materials. A wooden door led to an inner room. Behind the counter, a woman was lying in a bamboo taishi armchair, looking worriedly at Mo Caihuan standing before her.

It was Madam Yan, whom he had not seen in nearly ten years.

But she had aged considerably. Her face was haggard and lined with illness, and only the faint outline of her former beauty could be discerned in her features.

Han Li’s entrance naturally drew Madam Yan’s attention. When she recognized him, she froze for a moment, then instinctively tried to stand. But her frail body could not comply. She managed to lift herself only halfway before collapsing back into her chair. Mo Caihuan, seeing this, quickly reached out to steady her.

“You are… Han Li?” After taking a few labored breaths, Madam Yan was just as shocked as her daughter, but a flicker of desperate hope gleamed in her eyes beneath the surprise.

Han Li knew exactly what she was thinking. After a moment’s hesitation, he stepped forward, gave a slight bow, and spoke.

“Greetings, Fourth Master’s Wife.”

“You… you’re still willing to acknowledge me as your master’s wife? You don’t hold a grudge for what happened back then?” A flash of joy crossed Madam Yan’s face upon hearing him address her as such, but she still sounded incredulous.

“As for what happened back then, let’s not discuss who was right or wrong between Master Mo and me. But the fact remains that he was my master, and you were his wife. So, calling you ‘Master’s Wife’ is only proper.” Han Li’s tone was calm and matter-of-fact.

“As for the antidote matter later on, there’s no need to mention it. Am I not standing here, perfectly fine?” Han Li added with a dismissive air. Indeed, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he had no reason to hold a grudge against mere mortals. The conflicts and interests he had once shared with Madam Yan and the other wives were no longer worth his attention.

“Yes, with your intelligence, you must have done quite well in the world of cultivation… unlike myself and the other wives, who have become homeless dogs…” Madam Yan had just begun to sigh when her face suddenly flushed a deep red, and she was seized by a violent fit of coughing.

“Mother, are you alright! Senior Apprentice Brother…” Mo Caihuan panicked, quickly rubbing her mother’s chest as she looked at Han Li with pleading eyes.

“Let me take a look.”

Unable to withstand Mo Caihuan’s desperate gaze, Han Li let out a soft sigh. Reaching out, he took hold of Madam Yan’s wrist to feel her pulse. After a moment, he released it with a composed expression.

“It’s nothing serious. Just a flare-up of old injuries, compounded by years of poor rest and overexertion.”

“Is it curable?” Mo Caihuan asked anxiously.

“Don’t worry. Ten years ago, these old injuries might have given me some trouble, but now it’s a trivial matter.” Han Li said reassuringly. Then, he took out a needle case from his storage pouch and performed a set of acupuncture techniques on Madam Yan. Her coughing stopped almost immediately.

“Take one of these pills every day. In just over ten days, you’ll be completely healed.” Han Li produced a small bottle and handed it to Madam Yan with a confident tone.

Feeling an unprecedented level of comfort throughout her body, it was as if the chronic illness that had plagued her for years had vanished without a trace. She seemed to have been rejuvenated, looking several years younger. As she accepted the bottle, her heart swelled with emotion, and she was at a loss for words.

“Han Li…” she began, but he cut her off.

“Can you tell me now what happened back then, and how you ended up here at Yanling Fort?” Han Li was still intent on getting to the bottom of things.

A look of grief spread across Madam Yan’s face as she slowly began to recount the events of the past.

It turned out that after Han Li had eliminated Ouyang Feitian of the Overbearing Villa, the Astounding Flood Dragon Society, which had been preparing for the opportunity, had indeed swooped in to claim the lion’s share of the territory and profits. The Five Colors Sect, another power in Lan Province, had reacted quickly as well, swallowing up the remaining portion. Thus, Lan Province was left with two dominant powers locked in a standoff.

But once the fragile balance of three kingdoms was broken, it was inevitable that two tigers could not share the same mountain.

The Astounding Flood Dragon Society, led by the Mo Estate, clashed with the Five Colors Sect. It was only then that they realized their grave mistake: they should never have let Ouyang Feitian die so easily. The Five Colors Sect’s true strength far exceeded what it had shown on the surface, and in a single battle, the Astounding Flood Dragon Society was utterly routed.

The society was then eradicated, root and branch. The Mo Estate found itself besieged by a large number of the enemy’s elite fighters. With no other choice, the wives were forced to fight their way out. During the desperate escape, Second Wife Li and Fifth Wife Wang were killed. Once they had broken free of the encirclement, the survivors scattered to flee and hide separately.

Madam Yan and Mo Caihuan were pursued relentlessly. Just when it seemed both mother and daughter would die, a middle-aged man named Yan Zhu appeared and saved them. With their consent, he brought them into Yanling Fort, where they settled as ordinary mortals.

Yan Zhu was only a low-level Qi Condensation disciple of Yanling Fort, with limited power, but he treated Madam Yan and her daughter well. To repay his life-saving kindness, Madam Yan remarried him a year later. Fearing that Mo Caihuan’s increasingly striking beauty would cause trouble, Yan Zhu publicly declared that she was an ill-fated widow who had been married outside the fort long ago, and that her husband had died, forcing her to return. This way, they could keep her safe until she eventually found a true love and could be properly remarried.

For a couple of years, they managed to live in peace. But misfortune struck when Yan Zhu died in an accident while carrying out a family mission. Once again left without support, mother and daughter were unable to leave the fort. They had no choice but to continue living in Yanling Fort, relying on each other. Using the small pension granted from Yan Zhu’s death, they opened this little shop and scraped by as best they could.

If things had continued this way, the shop’s meager income would have been just enough to pay for Madam Yan’s medicine and keep her injuries under control. But recently, the wholesale suppliers who had been providing them with low-grade talismans all simultaneously cut off their supply, plunging the little shop into a crisis of closure.

Madam Yan, a shrewd woman, immediately saw the problem. After analyzing the situation, she quickly identified the person behind it.

It was a cultivator living nearby who had taken a fancy to Mo Caihuan after seeing her pass by his residence. Ignoring the rumors of her ill-fated widowhood, he had proposed taking her as a concubine. Madam Yan, of course, refused. This infuriated the cultivator, who had left in a rage.

The identity of the saboteur was thus an open secret.

The very reason Han Li had run into Mo Caihuan on the street today was that she had just come back from a loud argument with one of the suppliers.

As Madam Yan narrated the story in detail, with Mo Caihuan occasionally adding a few words, Han Li quickly grasped the full picture. When he heard about the cultivator’s attempt to force Mo Caihuan into concubinage, he couldn’t help but let out a light chuckle.

So, the little vixen of years past was now being fought over. But then again, she had indeed blossomed into a full-fledged enchantress, the type who could bewitch a man to death without even trying.

“Han Li, after all these years of cultivation, your skill must have advanced to the ninth layer or beyond by now, right?” Madam Yan, having studied him anew, asked politely. Having lived in Yanling Fort for so long, even though she could not cultivate herself, she had picked up a fair amount of common knowledge about the cultivation world.

“It’s alright.” Han Li replied with a slight smile. Then, getting straight to the point, he said, “You want me to deal with that cultivator’s harassment, don’t you? Is he a troublesome person?”

Madam Yan was taken aback. A mixture of embarrassment and relief showed on her face. From his tone, it seemed he was willing to help.