Chapter 399: Ahead, It's Happiness!

No one knows how long had passed, but the people who learned the truth no longer knew how to describe their feelings at this moment.

They looked at Ye Qingran with an incomparably complex gaze.

Their eyes were filled with sympathy.

Six years ago, the one who had a relationship with Ye Qingran was not some rustic villager, but the Emperor Sovereign of Zhu Lu Zhi Dian.

Upon careful thought, as the legitimate eldest daughter of the Ye Family, hiding the news of her lost chastity would be easy. Yet the next day, the rumor spread like wildfire, and the whole city knew.

Now, looking back, the mastermind behind it seems self‑evident.

In the following period, even while bearing unbearable infamy, the kind Ye Qingran steadfastly refused to abort the child in her womb.

She said the child was innocent.

Nine months later, Ye Qingran was deceived by Lin Xueyan and Ye Huanhuan and taken to Jiufu Forest Duanhun Abyss.

Lin Xueyan, jealous of Ye Qingran's beauty and resenting that she had taken the title of Xiliang Cheng First Beauty, harbored malice, disfigured Ye Qingran's face. Then they extracted her holy Spiritual Root, slit open her belly, removed the still‑unripe child, and let it wail in the cold wind until its cries tore the heart!

How cruel!?

One atrocity after another, hidden by night, lawless!

Hell is empty, demons walk among men!

Ye Huanhuan merged Ye Qingran's holy Spiritual Root; when Lin Xueyan sensed this fusion, she realized the child's special identity. The two cruelly tossed the barely‑alive Ye Qingran into the bottomless Duanhun Abyss, then Lin Xueyan slipped back up to the Abyss' rim, attempting to snatch the two children away.

But fate outdid their plans; one child was taken away, and Lin Xueyan carried the remaining child to Zhu Lu Zhi Dian.

She claimed to be the child's savior, risking her life to keep the child alive.

Lin Xueyan assumed the role of the little prince's savior from Zhu Lu Zhi Dian, and remained so for five years!

During those five years, Ye Huanhuan, infused with the holy Spiritual Root, grew ever more radiant, becoming not only Xiliang Cheng First Beauty and the city's top talent, but also, because of the Spiritual Root, caught the eye of Qingyun Sword Immortal of the Xuan Yuan Sword Sect and became a glorious Xuan Yuan disciple!

Their glory and wealth were bought with Ye Qingran's blood!

How ironic!

Perhaps Ye Qingran's fate was not to end; even after being cast into the Duanhun Abyss, she stubbornly survived.

Five years later, the king returned, and blood debts must be repaid in blood!

The events that followed need not be elaborated.

Such a tragic past, when heard by the crowd, shocked them beyond measure!

They looked at Lin Xueyan and recalled the Ye Huanhuan who had once been called Xiliang Cheng First Talent.

What kind of ruthless person could commit such a mad, heartless act?

These are not two stunning beauties; they are demons cloaked in human skin!

As for Ye Qingran…

What will of steel supports her, allowing her to persist resolutely even under disfigurement, child‑taking and other inhuman torments?

She must be seething with hatred, right?

Her enemy, who leveraged her holy Spiritual Root to become a world‑famous prodigy, entered a top sect, and rose straight to the Qingyun!

The other, who stole her child and went to the child's biological father, claimed to be the child's savior, and was protected by the top forces of Xi Ji Shengyu, getting whatever he wanted, basking in glory.

The grievance cannot be settled, the grievance cannot be settled!

Not to mention Ye Qingran herself; even we outsiders can't help but feel our blood boil when we think of it!

No wonder, when Ye Qingran returned after five years, she showed no mercy toward the Ye Family, especially Ye Huanhuan, even that day she publicly ripped out and crushed Ye Huanhuan's holy Spiritual Root!

No wonder, after Lin Xueyan returned from Zhu Lu Zhi Dian, Ye Qingran obstructed her from selling her heart‑method pills, and even struck her despite knowing she was from Zhu Lu Zhi Dian.

No wonder…

The things that once puzzled them now make sense!

Many things aren't without cause; the truth is just too cruel!

Glares shot at Lin Xueyan, full of disgust and anger.

Originally, when they saw Lin Xueyan being abused by Ye Qingran, they felt some sympathy for her, and were rather dissatisfied with Ye Qingran's actions.

After learning the truth, they even thought Ye Qingran hadn't been harsh enough!

A woman as vicious as Lin Xueyan should be made to taste the pain and despair Ye Qingran once endured!

The effect of the Truth Pill wore off, and Lin Xueyan returned to normal.

But the memory from earlier did not disappear.

She covered her mouth, panicked, her eyes filled with terror.

What did she say?

She admitted her past crimes!

"No!" Lin Xueyan shook her head, "Don't believe what was said earlier; it was Ye Qingran, she controlled me!"

She had originally planned to die rather than speak.

Because as long she stayed silent, the truth from that time, spoken by Ye Qingran, would always be met with doubt.

But now…

Lin Xueyan's gaze was pleading as she looked at the crowd.

But how could everyone be deceived again and again?

"Lin Xueyan, now that it's come to this, won't you die and refuse to admit it?"

"Indeed, you just verbally admitted it! I never expected you to be such a swine‑like beast!"

"Don't talk about Ye Qingran controlling you,"

Condemned by the masses.

Lin Xueyan trembled all over.

In the past five years, wherever she went she was revered.

At Chasing Deer Summit, she is the little young master's lifesaving benefactor; to outsiders, she is a person of Chasing Deer Summit, even its future female mistress!

When has she ever been treated like this?

At this very moment, even the Thirteenth Princess who had previously stood on Lin Xueyan's side finally fell silent.

It's not that her conscience awoke; it's because she could see that Lin Xueyan's fortunes were spent and she had no more use.

"Lin Xueyan, for fairness' sake, let you try what I once tasted? How about this: if you can survive, I promise to let bygones be bygones."

Ye Qingran smiled faintly.

But her smile didn't reach her eyes.

She knew Lin Xueyan wouldn't survive.

If it weren't for her borrowing a corpse to return to life back then, Ye Qingran would have vanished from this world long ago.

Delight welled up in everyone's eyes.

Mutilation? Disembowelment? Dig out the spiritual root? Cast into the Soul‑Severing Abyss?

Who among ordinary people could endure such a thing?

Ye Qingran had a nine‑deaths‑one‑life escape back then, but Lin Xueyan doesn't have that kind of fate!

"No! I don't want it!"

Lin Xueyan wailed.

She certainly doesn't want to try!

"Father, Mother, save me!"

She looked at the Lin family, as if she had seen the dawn of hope.

Lin Zhishang was already scared stupid.

He never imagined his daughter would commit such heinous acts!

He was never the type to bounce back; right now he just wants to be a turtle pulling its head into its shell.

Lin Mother, however, didn't bother with all that; she gritted her teeth staring at Ye Qingran, clutching her chest as she wailed, "Ye Qingran, the past is past—you and your child are still doing well, aren't you? If so, why can't you be a little kinder and spare our family's Xueyan?"