"You did what?!" Luo Ming almost jumped to his feet, looking at his mother with shock in his silver eyes.
"I know you didn’t want to enter a sect, Ming’er." Meng Lin said immediately, tightening her hand around his. "I also know that you have no aspirations to cultivate and walk the path of immortality. However, Ming’er, can you do this for me? I am afraid I cannot always protect you."
Her voice lowered, filled with insecurity as she watched him with a love and fondness whose taste and sight Luo Ming had long forgotten.
"You must learn to protect yourself, Ming’er. Just yourself, and I will be satisfied. I have made sure the Sect will not treat you badly and you will receive many cultivation resources. I will also send you my own."
She smiled sweetly, trying to coax him. "Will you do it for me?"
Luo Ming’s lips twitched slightly. He suspected that even if he hadn’t wanted to go, with how his mother was speaking, he would have folded faster than anything.
However, he had already decided to grow strong for his goal. And so...
"I understand, mother." He nodded, surprising Meng Lin slightly with how quickly he accepted. "I also understand the importance of strength after being framed so unjustly. But, how did you get me admitted into the Sect without me even passing the entrance test?"
He arched an eyebrow. "What kind of negotiations did you conduct?"
’I would certainly like to learn, mother. That skill might come in very handy.’
From what he could gather through his inherited memories, entering the Descending Sun Sect was no simple matter.
The Sect was the closest one to the Three Cities Kingdom — where the Luo clan lived under the leadership of the Wei Clan, a Chosen Clan — and its strength was known to surpass even the Chosen Clans that controlled each City for the Silver Throne.
Admission was notoriously difficult. Only the most gifted were said to have any chance of stepping foot inside it. And only those truly blessed by the Heavens could pass beyond the Outer Ring and enter the Inner and Core Rings.
It was simply that powerful.
Because of this, a child who managed to get in was guaranteed at least moderate success — if death did not take hold of them — and considerably more if they were lucky.
With all of that in mind, it was obvious that being inside the Sect would, somehow, shift the balance in any succession battle.
Luo Ming’s heart sank at that realisation. ’Don’t tell me it’s because of this?’
"Nothing to worry about." Meng Lin said at last, pulling his attention back. "An Elder of the Outer Ring owed me a favour. She agreed to take you as her disciple for my sake."
She smiled proudly, nodding to herself. "With her guidance you will learn a great deal and grow stronger. Just don’t be lazy, Ming’er."
"Mother, first, who else knew of this arrangement?"
"I only told the Patriarch, your father, about it."
"But others could have found out, right?" Luo Ming pressed. "First Madam, for example?"
Meng Lin’s face turned serious at the mention of the Luo Clan’s first wife. She thought for a moment, then could only nod, acknowledging the real possibility.
"She might indeed know." She said. "The Patriarch could have told her. She is the first wife, after all."
"And First Madam has a son, Elder Brother Luo Wan, one year older than me, and a daughter, Sister Luo San, the same age as me." Luo Ming’s mind was moving quickly. "So... perhaps?"
"You think First Madam framed you because of the Sect admission?"
"It is just a thought, mother." Luo Ming said. "After all, no matter how lazy and unserious I am, entering the Descending Sun Sect would mean having their potential support. The matter of clan succession would no longer be certain."
"And by framing you with this rape accusation," Meng Lin followed, brows knitting together in thought, "your reputation would be completely destroyed, and knowing the Descending Sun Sect..."
She smiled wryly, understanding exactly where her son was going.
In a world where reputation mattered more than almost anything else, having yours destroyed was the equivalent of a foul odour clinging to your body like a tail that would follow you everywhere.
No one would want you near them.
"But this is just a thought." Luo Ming insisted again, not wishing to point a finger at someone innocent. "I might be wrong, mother. And even though I was never particularly close to Elder Brother Luo Wan, he never caused me any real trouble either."
"That means nothing, Ming’er."
"Well... I know."
"And I don’t think we should limit ourselves to the Sect as the only possible reason for this."
Luo Ming frowned slightly. "What else?"
"Have you forgotten? You used to love playing the zither for her."
His eyes widened slightly, understanding immediately.
"Your arranged marriage with the youngest daughter of the Wei Clan, Wei Ting." Meng Lin said with a tense expression, as if remembering something. "You were supposed to visit the Wei Clan this very morning to conclude the arrangements. Only after that would we have announced the news to the rest of the Kingdom. But with this incident..."
Meng Lin didn’t even finish her own sentence, realising the timing of the framing was far too convenient to be a coincidence.
Why had she not thought of this from the beginning?
And besides, why did everything have to be this complicated?
All she had wanted was for her son to grow strong and find a talented, worthy wife. And he was being framed for it?
Was it truly First Madam? Or someone else? Then who?
Who could possibly want her son’s downfall?
’Is it even my son they are after...or me?’
Meng Lin’s mind spiralled into a storm of questions with not a single answer. Frustration began to creep in.
Luo Ming, meanwhile, didn’t know what to think either.
First the Descending Sun Sect. And now a marriage with the Wei Clan, a literal Chosen Clan sitting above all others under the Silver Throne.
His Luo Clan might be just below the Wei Clan in power and reputation, but that was clearly not sufficient reason for such a marriage to have been accepted.
’Then why—!’
Luo Ming stopped abruptly. He looked more carefully at his mother and realized, or rather remembered, something he had completely overlooked.
’Of course. It’s all her.’ He almost wanted to slap himself. ’With my mother’s identity, of course they would not easily refuse.’
After all, his mother was the youngest illegitimate daughter of the King of the Kingdom. The first and only illegitimate daughter ever formally acknowledged by the Silver King himself because of her talent and beauty.
Meng Lin still appeared on the List of Peerless Beauties of the Kingdom, despite being married and having an eighteen-year-old son.
There were certainly downsides to her identity, but the benefits were plain to see when looking at everything he was receiving without having done anything to deserve it.
’Shall I cry tears of joy or sadness for having a mother like this? I can already see certain troublesome plots coming from miles away. Wait, maybe all of this is actually about hurting her, and not me specifically?’ He thought, feeling as though he was beginning to find a thread, just as his mother spoke again.
"Ming’er, we need to go immediately to the Hall of Elders and clear your name before you go to the Wei Clan." She said urgently, rising to her feet. "If you eat the meat of the Jurk with your feet soaked in hot water, no lie will pass your lips for three full minutes. The Elders will then know you are innocent. That is exactly what these disgusting heaven-cursed bastards wanted to avoid by trying to drag you to the punishment hall! Vicious creatures! I will deal with them later! Now come quickly, Ming’er!"
"O-Okay!"
Luo Ming understood his mother’s urgency and obeyed at once, rising to his feet.
He wavered slightly, still not fully adjusted to the structure of his new body, and stood upright only with his mother’s help.
He offered her a small smile, and the mother and son walked out of the room together, heading toward the Hall of Elders.
However, the moment they stepped outside the door, Luo Ming and Meng Lin both stopped.
There, in front of them, were two fairy-like young women with bright blue hair that seemed to ripple like water in the sunlight overhead.
They looked like siblings.
The shorter of the two had braided her hair into one large knot that she let fall over her left shoulder. She wore a pristine white robe bearing the pattern of a fish leaping through a gate with water spraying around it.
Her matching blue eyes were fixed on Luo Ming with unconcealed suspicion.
The second was clearly older, though not by much, and wore her hair in a ponytail. Two straight scars stretched from her upper lip to her lower lip, framing the corners of her mouth. Her face was as still as the surface of a frozen lake. No emotion visible.
She wore the same robe as her sister.
Luo Ming had never met them in person, but his mind was filled with memories of playing the zither with the very girl now glaring at him.
"So what I heard is true?" Wei Ting said coldly, arms crossed over her chest. "You actually raped your own maid, Luo Ming?"
—End of Chapter 4—