Novel: I attained the Dao through Music, accompanied by Twin Sugar Mommies?
Chapter: 007 ("I am a Bastard!")
'Crap. As expected, the old Patriarch is coming back here.' He whined as he refrained from taking a glance at the cave's exit. 'I would have secretly fled the clan and lived in seclusion at the bottom of some lake with a different identity if not for her presence and that damnable barrier.'
'Back then, the yet-to-be-Clan-Leader Dongfang Qincang fell for a rogue cultivator but broke her heart to protect her from his overreaching mother, who was the Clan Leader back then. Unknown to him, she was pregnant. She raised that child without telling him for almost a millennium before she was nearly pressed down on the bed by a certain powerful sect's Elder.'
'She managed to kill the Elder and flee, but that man's sect pursued and gravely wounded her. Only then did she tell her son who his father was and sent him here, to the Emptiness Butterfly Clan, for his safety. The predecessor couldn't get past the gates as the guards didn't believe him and even threatened to kill him,'
'He refused to give up though. He sold some of his precious items and pills to pay people to spread the news of what happened to his mother, and it eventually reached the newly ascended Clan Leader, Dongfang Qincang's ears.'
'Enraged and anxious, he rushed out of the clan, ignoring his mother for the first time, but only managed to find her corpse… and not in a good state. The corpse had been refined into a Puppet by the sect that pursued her.'
'That day, Dongfang Qincang fought six Immortal Saints, while being merely an Early-Stage Immortal Saint himself, and none of his enemies got to see the next sunrise.'
The tale took a bagful of words to be told but it was only a moment of thought in reality; not more than a second.
"My father? I… I have a father? Hey, friend, it's not good to lie. My memories may be a tad incomplete but this I will always remember. I don't have a father. Never have, never will. As far as I remember, it's always been only mother and I. That bastard abandoned us long ago, only to fall at the hands of a powerful Fierce Beast."
He dusted the nonexistent dirt off his green robes and walked towards her.
Her: "…"
He continued, "Right, I don't even know your name. What do I call you, Miss?"
"…I am Family Name Luo, Given Name Yu." Was the response he got after a brief moment of her silence. Her brows were slightly knitted as she thought, 'The damage to his memories… has set him to before he joined the clan? When he finds out about what happened to his mother…' she continued with her back turned to him. "You used to call me Senior Sister Yu."
"So, we do know each other?" he probed but got no response for a couple of heartbeats. Still, he pressed, "How did we meet? Where and when? Are we… are we Dao Companions?"
Luo Yu glanced back at him over her shoulder, a faint pinkness crawling onto her cheeks. "You… what are you saying?!"
"We aren't?" he frowned. "I wasn't an empty bowl, right? You are such a beauty, how could I refrain from pursuing you?" a glint of enlightenment lit up his face. "I understand! It must be that I made advances but you rejected me in the end, right?"
Luo Yu's blush deepened as she spat, "Brother Jing, so this is how you were back then? What a tongue!"
With a huff, she walked away from him.
He followed after her after watching her departing figure. "Sister Yu, now that you have decided to stop playing mute, can you tell me where we are?"
Slowing down to sit on a white boulder, she spoke blandly, "The Clan's Sacred Mountain."
"Clan? What clan?"
"Emptiness Butterfly Clan." She answered patiently.
"So, it is Emptiness Butterfly Clan's Sacred Mountain… Emptiness…" He smacked his lips as he seemed to mull her words over. "Wait, Emptiness Butterfly Clan?! As in… THAT Emptiness Butterfly Clan that is said to lord over the entirety of the cultivation world?!"
'So back then, his worldview was this limited. Well, it's not surprising.' Luo Yu sighed, seeing him like this, "Our clan is not the top force in the whole world. Just this continent; Burning Peach Continent."
"Eh, you are from the Emptiness Butterfly Clan?" he noted. "This… to be allowed into such a place, do you happen to be a high-ranking Elder's daughter or similar? That way, as the son-in-law, I got the benefit of cultivating here?"
Luo Yu's mouth opened wide as she was about to say something but someone else's voice interrupted and forced her to swallow whatever was in her throat.
"You are finally awake, son!"
Both youths turned to see none other than the Patriarch.
"Clan Leader Uncle." The lady stood up from the boulder and gave him a cup-and-fist greeting.
Dongfang Jing on the other hand, felt like he was standing on quicksand. He immediately jumped back, creating a sizable distance between himself and the old man whose approach he had failed to sense.
He pointed at the man with a wary expression, "It-It's you!"
"Jing…" The red-haired old man, focused on his son, ignored Luo Yu's greeting as he took a step forward.
"Old man, don't come near me!" Dongfang Jing widened the gap even further. "I may only be an Earth Immortal but I'm not a soft persimmon!"
The old man stopped trying to approach the youth and glanced at Luo Yu, "Xiao Yu, I hoped your words were untrue but now it seems… Sigh."
Luo Yu asked. "Clan Leader Uncle, what do we do now?"
The old Patriarch remained silent for a moment as he observed Dongfang Jing's mannerisms closely. 'After knocking him out I checked again and again but found no anomalies with his souls and spirits; like the cultivation deviation never happened. No signs of possession either. There are too many mysteries and doubts in this!'
"Jing…" Clasping his hands behind his back, he spoke to his little boy. "Jing, I understand you are wary; I would be too." "I didn't mean you any harm last time we met. I knocked you out so you could be safe while I checked on your injuries. There could not be any accidents."
"Good heavens! As expected, one can't really judge the depth of a sea without diving into it." Dongfang Jing's expression turned stranger as he gestured at the two. "Everyone thinks the Emptiness Butterfly Clan is just, fair, and honest, yet didn't expect the first two members I run into to spew lies so shamelessly."
"Gasp!" Luo Yu's mouth widened enough to swallow eggs whole.
Dongfang Jing ignored their reactions as he continued. "Red Elder, I clearly remember you calling me a wraith before the darkness took me. Speak the truth, what did you do to me while I was unconscious? Don't spout nonsense about me being injured." He stretched his body. "I feel fine. No injuries."
"Brother Jing, you… you…" Luo Yu started, her voice trembling and her eyes wide.
Dongfang Qincang raised a hand to signal her to stop but did not say anything himself.
"What do you mean "you…you…"? Cat got your tongue?" Dongfang Jing smacked his lips. "And you, Red Elder, why are you silent? Taking your time to concoct more convincing lies? Haha. Don't tell me you are going to say something like "Son… I'm your father," or something like that. I already told her earlier; I may have incomplete memories but that part I remember clearly… I am a bastard!"
Immediately after Jing's proclamation, a terrifying pressure filled the entire cave, forcing both youths to their knees.