nyslfriends Chapter 127: Today is Not Yesterday
Chapter 127: Today is Not Yesterday
Chapter 127: Today is Not Yesterday
Daoyi didn’t let her blood relatives bow too long. Deriving pleasure from such a meaningless act was too petty for her. Although such an act was something her senior brother might commit, Daoyi inwardly smiled at the thought.
Following the steward, Daoyi stepped through the gate first with Duke Qi, the duchess, the heir apparent, and Jiang Qingwa following behind her. Along the way, she didn’t deliberately hide her Core Formation cultivation base, so the people around her could clearly differentiate her superior strength. None felt it clearer than Duke Qi. Having interacted with his father numerous times, he knew what a Core Formation Master’s pressure felt like. But neither was Daoyi purposely pressuring them. It was just a small negotiation tactic so that Duke Qi wouldn’t feel she was easy to trick.
From the years Daoyi spent in the Duke Qi Estate, her father had always been a distant figure, even towards his children with the duchess. Cold and calculating were where the words Daoyi would use to describe him, weighing everything on a scale and choosing the option with the greatest benefits. This was also one reason that Daoyi didn’t ask her master or Tianyi for aid. A man such as him should realize what battles he should or should not pick.
Of course, there was an off chance that his pride would be wounded her, this unfilial daughter, and resist her demands. But even then, Daoyi wouldn’t mind severing all relationships between them. She was family only in-name and blood. Even if her Core Formation Master grandfather appeared, she wouldn’t be afraid.
Upon entering the main hall of the estate, Daoyi was given the seat of most importance. She didn’t reject it. According to custom, the rank of a princess of the second rank was greater than a duke. Upon sitting down, she could see everyone except the duke below her, like a teacher in front of the class. She silently wondered where her concubine-born brother was but didn’t put too much thought into it.
Daoyi looked on amusement at the duchess silently wringing her hands as if sitting below her was a huge humiliation. Since young, the duchess had always despised her and the concubines even if they were unwilling, seeing them as vixen who took Duke Qi’s attention away from her. In other words, she was just a normal jealous woman. The only reason Duke Qi took a Qi Gathering Pupil like her as his main wife was due to the immense benefits brought by her maternal clan.
If the duchess’s reaction was within Daoyi’s prediction, then Jiang Qingwa was beyond her expectations. Gone was the proud -some might even call arrogant- miss of the duke’s estate, and in her place was a defeated woman. The face was still that face, only slightly aged. But if you were to compare the current Jiang Qingwa to the one ten years ago, unless you looked closely, you wouldn’t be able to identify them as the same person. The air around them was completely different, Daoyi thought she resembled Jiang Chunye before she nearly drowned.
Since young, Jiang Qingwa had always been praised as a genius. The future of the Jiang Clan, people called her. Even her brother from the same mother did not attract as much attention as her, being inferior to her in talent and appearance. So she placed even less attention on her concubine-born siblings. As long as her younger siblings did not aggravate her, she wouldn’t do anything to them as it was below her stature to do so.
But everything changed from the moment Jiang Chunye publically defeated her during the banquet celebrating Sword Empress Xi’s arrival. After that day, Jiang Qingwa challenged Jiang Chunye again, but the result was the same. Her second sister had thoroughly destroyed her confidence at the time, but never did she imagine her third sister would be the one dealing the finishing blow.
Jiang Qingwa hadn’t thought much of it when Jiang Daoyi had been summoned to the palace. At most, she had derided that sure enough, a concubine’s daughter was destined to be a concubine. Never in her wildest dreams did Jiang Qingwa imagine that Daoyi would be titled a princess of the second rank. But the final blow was the announcement that Daoyi had become the fabled immortal’s disciple.
For what reason was she proud for so long? Her reputation as the capital’s most outstanding young miss turned out to be nothing more than a joke. Her idiotic second sister turned out to be pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger. And her third sister, although she was a mortal that hadn’t even cultivated, had been blessed with a Heavenly Spiritual Vein. All the pride she had accumulated in her life, all that confidence was worth shit!
Her self-confidence destroyed, Jiang Qingwa couldn’t walk out of the shadow of her defeat under Jiang Chunye, especially after she left to join the Buzhou Immortal Sect. The fact that Jiang Chunye failed was a small comfort at best. If Jiang Chunye failed, didn’t that mean she, Jiang Qingwa, was even less qualified?
Despite this, she hadn’t given up just yet. Through her hard work and resources, she managed to raise her cultivation to the twelfth stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. But she failed her Foundation Establishment Heavenly Tribulation not once but twice. Had it not been for her mother and her clan, Jiang Qingwa would have died on both accounts, unable to recover. Even Jiang Qingwa’s father, who had not treated her any differently after her defeat under Chunye’s hands, began to neglect her.
From that day on, she began to lose hope and all motivation. Jiang Qingwa severed all her relationships external of the duke’s estate, unable to face them after failing twice. She began to just wait, waiting for her father to marry her away just like Daoyi once had.
As for her elder brother, the sole male among Duke Qi’s children, he didn’t seem to have changed not much. Not too outstanding but not incompetent either. Slightly above average among the scions among the capital’s famed families.
After making a round of observation, Daoyi ignored the duchess’s hateful glare and glanced at her father. Naturally, she had come prepared before arriving. So she knew about the general happenings of the duke’s estate. “Since I’ve left, I believe the duke’s estate has been well?”
“Naturally,” Duke Qi said, his tone impassive. “With the emperor’s blessing, the duke’s estate has been on the right track. Your grandfather is even preparing to undergo his Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation.”
Duke Qi ordered the servant to bring what possession Daoyi’s mother had when she was taken in. He tried to convince Daoyi to let her mother’s remain rest in the estate, but upon seeing Daoyi’s adamant attitude, he relented.
Her mother’s possession came first, and she inspected all of them. But the one that caught her attention the most was the jade box. Upon opening it, she saw a jewel-like shard and an even more unique aura emanating from it. She was sure this was the fragment of the Xu Clan’s Spectral Soul Rise Jewel. She had half expected the duke to switch the Artifact with a fake.
Next was an elaborate coffin where Daoyi’s mother had been entombed in. Her mother had originally been buried in a plain coffin, but the duke ordered her body to be moved into a better coffin after Daoyi left for the Buzhou Immortal Sect in preparation for her return. Daoyi traced her hand across the coffin as if her sight could pierce through the coffin and see her mother’s face. Her eyelashes trembled as she suppressed the turbulent emotions within. When Daoyi faced the duke once more, her eyes were dry and clear, without a hint of emotion.
“Since father has treated me well, then what a daughter of the Jiang family ought to do, I will still do.” Saying this, Daoyi brought several chests and placed them on the floor. “In these boxes are Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Artifacts.”
Hearing this, the hearts of the people in the room trembled. But Daoyi wasn’t done yet as she brought out two boxes and handed the larger one to Duke Qi. “This box contains several Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Pills. Both Eldest Brother and Sister are in the twelfth stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. It will be of use to them. And the Core Formation Pill is for father. I asked Master; she said the pills of the Xi Dynasty cannot even compare to these. “
The duke’s hand trembled for a moment as he received it. Although the imperial palace had Foundation Establishment Pill and often distributed them to the officials, the Core Formation Pills were rarely distributed. Only those acknowledged by the emperor would be blessed by one. Both of Daoyi’s siblings, who were present, felt jubilation run up their spines, even Jiang Qingwa. Surely this was her final chance.
Daoyi then handed the smaller and more ornate box to the duke. “As for this box, this contains a Nascent Soul Pill. It seems that I did not prepare it for nothing, what a joyful happenstance.”
If the Core Formation Pill made Duke Qi’s hand tremble for a moment, his hands couldn’t stop shaking as he received the box. The root of the Jiang Family’s power was bound to Jiang Ziya, the previous Duke Qi. If he were to successfully ascend to the Nascent Soul Realm, then the Jiang Family would be second to none, rising about all four ducal families.
Daoyi left soon after. Since the Jiang Family was this understanding and gave Daoyi her mother’s possession and coffin, she would give a few benefits when she could. She was still the duke’s blood-related daughter in the end. She will just treat them as strangers who she would occasionally give some benefits from now on.
“Father, I’ve done as you asked.”
Duke Qi placed the ornate box in front of him towards his father, Jiang Ziya. Jiang Ziya appeared to be a middle-aged man with elegant features, long black hair, and a long beard. He took in the box and opened it. Jiang Ziya’s eyes flashed with a pleasant surprise before closing it.
“Take it, use it for when you are ready to ascend to the Nascent Soul Realm.”
Surprise flashed through Duke Qi’s eyes, but he quickly calmed down. “Father, son thinks it would be best for you to use it. You are preparing to undertake the Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation soon.”
Jiang Ziya shook his head. “I’m unwilling to use external aid. The more external aid I use, the weaker my future potential will be. I didn’t need pills to enter the Foundation Establishment Realm or the Core Formation Realm. I won’t need pills to enter Nascent Soul Realm either!”
“Father is wise!” Duke Qi praised before he frowned. “Did we really have to give the Artifact to Daoyi? If used well...”
Jiang Ziya looked at Duke Qi with an amused expression and said. “Naive. If my guesses are correct, that shard isn’t a fragment of an immortal artifact but something more. Keeping it in our hands will only invite disaster. Better leave it to more capable hands.”
Duke Qi still felt regret but accepted it in the end. “But will Daoyi be able to identify it and protect it? What if news of this leaks and harms the Jiang Family?”
“It won’t. Don’t forget who stands behind that daughter of yours. It’s none other than the legendary Sword Immortal Xi, the pubically acclaimed number one expert.” Jiang Ziya sighed. “If you were able to develop feelings with Daoyi before all this... forget it, there is no use in regretting the past. You can leave.”
“Understood, father.” Bowing once more, Duke Qi left Jiang Ziya to his own thoughts.