Chapter 112: The Five Night Mothers and Sons

The Poison Lady’s debut battle was marked by her audacious abduction of Ye Wu right in the territory of the Thousand Poisons Palace. She escaped the relentless pursuit of the palace’s elite, and ten days later, a naked Ye Wu was discovered in a brothel. What transpired during those ten days remained a sealed secret; Ye Wu refused to divulge anything, nor did he permit the palace’s masters to hunt down the Poison Lady.

Rumors swirled wildly within the Thousand Poisons Palace, and Ye Wu never bothered to dispel them—even when whispers grew so bizarre as to claim that the Poison Lady had abused him, that he had grown addicted to her torment and fallen under her spell—he remained silent.

From the Thousand Poisons Palace, these rumors quickly spread from the cultivation world into the secular realm. The Poison Lady sought out Ye Wu again, beating him into a bloody pulp and forcing him to call her “Aunt.” That year, she was merely ten years old.

It was also then that Ye Yinchen, upon hearing the gossip and following it as a jest to see her sister-in-law, unexpectedly discovered that Ye Wu was her long-lost biological son, and that the man she had thought dead was none other than Ye Tianjian, the Lord of the Thousand Poisons Palace.

Years ago, a man clad in blue arrived at the Ye family of the Hundred Flowers Valley, bearing the ancestral token—the Hundred Flowers Talisman—and was accepted as a disciple to study poisons. His name was Tian Jian. With honeyed words, he ensnared Ye Yinchen, the eldest daughter of the Ye family patriarch, into a passionate affair and secretly obtained the family’s treasured “Ye Family Poison Scripture.”

Just as Ye Yinchen was silently carrying his child and preparing to confess to her father, a deadly vendetta struck overnight, destroying her family and killing many. She fled with her father and younger brother, never forgetting to take her beloved with her. They escaped to a coastal village in the secular world, where she married him and lived in seclusion with her siblings, enjoying a brief period of peace.

On the day she gave birth, their enemies caught up with them. Her brother was brutally slain. Ye Yinchen used her poisoned wedding gown to transfer her remaining power to her husband, then lured the foes away herself, urging him to escape with their son.

After imparting her power, Ye Yinchen lost control over the potent poisons within her body and became a poison-woman. Escaping the cultivation world for the secular realm, she finally subdued the toxins after eighteen long years living in a miasma-filled swamp. Yearning for her son, she returned to the cultivation world to search but found nothing. In a desperate move, she infiltrated her enemy’s home to poison them but was discovered and gravely injured. She escaped to the back mountain of the Mu family estate in the secular world, barely clinging to life.

It was there that the then five-year-old Yu Youwei found her lying among poisonous vines and carried her to a wooden hut atop the mountain.

That hut was hardly the sturdy cabin it is now—it was little more than a makeshift shed, built by Yu Youwei herself. Possessing memories from a past life, she had long been ostracized by the children in the village and chose instead to train alone on the mountain. After Ye Yinchen settled in, the hut was rebuilt into something far more remarkable.

Over nine years, Ye Yinchen received Yu Youwei’s care and carefully instructed her in cultivation, becoming both mentor and friend.

Once her health was restored, Ye Yinchen ventured out to seek her husband and child, often accompanied by Yu Youwei. Only Mu Yuqi and Mu Yuyan, the siblings of the Mu family estate, and Ye Yinchen herself resided there. Each time they left, the siblings helped conceal their movements. Since Yu Youwei never practiced cultivation in the estate’s training room but always in the back mountain, no one ever suspected a thing.

Ye Yinchen had never dreamed that Tian Jian was actually Ye Tianjian, the second son of the former palace lord of the Thousand Poisons Palace.

Bearing the token to the Ye family, Ye Tianjian’s true goal was the “Ye Family Poison Scripture.” He never expected Ye Yinchen to be so foolish as to give away all her power. Originally planning to return to the palace with Ye Yinchen and their son, he soon deemed her useless and took only their son back to the palace, never sending anyone to search for her.

To strengthen his claim to the palace lordship, Ye Tianjian concealed his paternal ties to Ye Wu, married the granddaughter of the palace’s Senior Elder, and took Ye Wu as his direct disciple. Only after his own son with his wife died in infancy did he recognize Ye Wu as his heir and began grooming him accordingly.

Yu Youwei first approached Ye Wu under the pretense of bonding through poison, but in truth, one of his subordinates had provoked Ye Yinchen, enraging her. Though Ye Yinchen wished to avoid trouble, Yu Youwei secretly retaliated, capturing one of his men without anyone knowing and delivering a harsh lesson.

Actually, Yu Youwei had Yu Yinchen test her newly concocted poisons on Ye Wu, which led to the spread of scandalous rumors. Ye Wu never bothered to explain, and Yu Youwei, merely amused, followed along, eventually discovering the birthmark on Ye Wu’s body. The recognition between mother and son unveiled the true identity of her husband.

For the sake of their son’s future, Ye Yinchen advised Ye Wu to keep her survival a secret. Fearing that her identity might invite harm, Ye Wu agreed to maintain the secret until he assumed control of the Thousand Poisons Palace. Even visits to his mother, even to his closest confidants, would be under the guise of paying respects to the Poison Lady.

“Ye Wu, what brings you here, boy?” Yu Youwei asked, feigning casualness.

“If not for little Wu’er, your family would be doomed to extinction,” Ye Yinchen retorted harshly.

Ye Wu’s appearance here confirmed Yu Youwei’s suspicion that he had saved Mu Yuyan and the others. She clasped her hands in salute and bowed deeply. “Thank you, little Wu’er. When you marry, Auntie will make sure to give you a big red envelope.”

Ye Wu’s melancholic eyes darkened further as he murmured, “No need to keep reminding me not to be a toad lusting after a swan.”

Ye Yinchen felt a pang in her heart and opened her mouth to speak, then shook her head silently.

“Oh, little Wu’er, you don’t mind Auntie’s appearance and are willing to hang yourself on this crooked-necked tree in the forest—that kind of loyalty is truly moving. Auntie is terrified!” Yu Youwei joked nervously, feeling somewhat guilty. Without her past life’s memories, she might have long since succumbed to Ye Wu’s deep affection.

Ye Wu was exceptional, dazzling, and ambitious. To seize control of the Thousand Poisons Palace, he inevitably needed allies, for he was not the only heir. Choosing a wife with a strong background was his shrewd strategy. Though he persistently pursued her, who could say it wasn’t the classic case of “what you cannot have is always the best”?

Yu Youwei feared that if her heart fell, she would have to surrender her dignity to be trampled upon—just as in her past life, talented yet oppressed by the legitimate wife’s cruelty, living a life of degradation, ultimately cast out, self-destructive and ruined.

In a flash, Yu Youwei’s thoughts raced, her shifting expression betraying her to those who watched closely. Despite the shadow in her eyes, she quickly regained a calm, serene demeanor. Ye Wu even mimicked her tone to tease, “Hearing Auntie say that makes me feel like my pitiful, scrawny figure instantly grows tall and imposing.”

Ye Yinchen’s gaze swept over them both, her brow furrowed slightly as she sighed softly. “Enough joking, Youwei. What do you intend to do with those people downstairs? If there’s nowhere suitable for them, have little Wu’er take them to the Thousand Poisons Palace. He mentioned the Wu family has made a major move this time, hiring several unparalleled old monsters.”

“No rush yet. Good and evil cannot coexist; the Yu family may not want to walk the path of evil. Besides, such a grand scheme isn’t something the Wu family could pull off alone. There’s a hidden hand behind it all. The Yu family’s holdings are insignificant to them,” Yu Youwei said candidly, unafraid that the secret might cause discord between Ye Wu and his mother.

“You think there’s a bigger conspiracy at play?” Ye Wu asked thoughtfully.

“On the way here, I ran into Yuan Jiuzhou. The Water Ancestor of the Xianchen Sect blocked him, which allowed my husband and me to escape.”

Ye Wu grimaced at the unpleasant news. “No need to keep reminding me, Auntie—you’re already married.”