Double-edged Sword

"So, when are you leaving?"

Those words came out toneless and dull, heartless even, perfectly exuding a kind of sagely nonchalance only those with utter disregard to the world could pull off.

Coupled with Ye Mo's disinterested expression and cold stance... well, who was this old fogey trying to hoodwink? A real five-year-old kid?

Yin would not be Yin if she bought this obvious scam.

Standing right beside him, she could technically see his hands trembling. His paleness literally screamed, 'I am affected by this!'

Besides, he was acting way too stiff!

What a noob!

"No wonder Brother Hua already got himself married, yet you, his uncle ten years his senior, is still single."

Annoyed, Yin muttered her thoughts out loud, so loud that even the two door guards standing by the entrance of the Ye residence heard her loud and clear. One had to note that they were merely in the early stages of the Foundational Spirit Realm, yet to have developed their own divine senses. Their hearing abilities, at most, would have been the peak of a normal mortal's.

One of the door guards actually burst into laughter, only to have it covered up as a coughing fit when Ye Mo glared at him.

"If you are so sick, why are you outside doing guard duty, ah!"

Ye Mo brought Yin inside because he felt he had lost too much face already. They then settled on a large and peaceful garden by a manmade lake. With the darkness falling, several lanterns could be seen being propped up near the lakeside pavilions. Ye Mo and Yin stayed a distance away from the people, simply standing as they observed the ripples on the water surface of the lake.

"I'm talking about your family, Little Yin," Ye Mo recited his true concerns with closed eyes. "Since you never talked about your parents, also you never mentioned or asked to me about those who were killed with you in the forest, I would take that you are not related to them by blood. Still, those cultivators were high-leveled. It would only mean you came from a considerable background."

Yin could actually not fault Ye Mo for thinking that way. If she were truly an orphaned child, there would be signs of depression or even a constant questioning about going back home. The problem was, she was not interested in playing the role of a damsel in distress.

Truth be told, Yin does not give a flying fuck.

Why should she? She never planned to embrace this little girl's true identity.

Not that she was not thankful to her host body, just that she knew that from the moment she settled inside this Spiritual Body, countless karma threads had inevitably covered her. Therefore, even if she does not actively seek for her 'real family members' or 'school of thought', she knew she would be required to pay an equal price to resolve their karma.

When that happens, she would have to personally deal with cutting these ties. But not now. That would be for later.

She would still meet them, okay? She's just not thrilled to do it so do not expect her to come running to them.

Ye Mo, unaware of her thoughts, seriously asked her. "Don't you want to go back to your family? Don't you miss them?"

Yin studiously stared at him with her dark, dark eyes.

"Will someone come to look for you, or will you rather you travel back to your home? Where is your family? How do I send you back? "

When he turned to face her, his gaze was complicated. It made her want to throw her stick of tanghulu straight to his face.

'Was she... a burden he wants to send away?'

A bitter smile gently formed somewhere along the corners of her lips.

"I wish my parents can be here, but they aren't," she said slowly, unblinking, "I want them to take me back but they couldn't."

"Then..."

"I'm hungry. I would like to go back inside now and taste Elder Sis Xuan'er's cooking."

Ye Mo was left behind by Yin, who had actually run up following the lighted lanterns without bothering to look at him.

As he watched her small back, he could sense that his questions... probably made her angry.

To stay or leave? Ye Mo did not actually know what answer he'd like to hear.

Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten (1).

If Yin opts to leave, then it meant that she only considered the Ye Clan as a stop in her long cultivation road. Ye Mo did not understand the circumstances covering their meeting. He could not understand why this little girl is so different, why she is so powerful, why she likes to cause trouble yet was also evasive and secretive.

However, as a sword cultivator, his keen senses told him that Yin was not hostile to him or his family. In fact, she genuinely liked their company.

If she wanted to leave, no one in Leaf City could probably stop her. There was probably nothing worthy or valuable to her eyes in the city. There was actually nothing holding her back.

In fact, Ye Mo realized that maybe the outbreak of her Spiritual Body did not need to go such lengths to be solved. It seemed like Little Yin could control and manipulate it as she pleases.

So what's in it for her to stay? She even offered to give them a part of her loot from the Ming Yue Sect branch.

It was as if Yin... craved for something neither of them could truly understand.

And so if she chooses to stay...

One can't tell the cost of the fuel and rice without being the head of the family (2). Maybe it would be hard, but if Yin chooses to stay, then Ye Mo would give it his damnest to protect her and guide her. He knew that she would raise storms and hell just by existing. The fact that she owned a precious Spiritual Body would cause unfriendly forces to converge around her.

Yet, despite this, he could feel that she was a child heavily favored by the heavens. Afterall, she came just at right time.

With her with them... maybe she was the 'double-edged sword' mentioned by 'that' person's prophecy... maybe she could help him... maybe she's the answer...

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(1) 家,就是不會有人被拋下或遺忘.Chinese idiom saying, "Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."

(2) 不当家,不知柴米贵."One can't tell the cost of the fuel and rice without being the head of family", means that he who takes charge of the family knows the responsibility.