"Then… does Mother know about your identity?"Mo Yuxin finally spoke after calming down. Her voice trembled slightly, betraying the storm of emotions raging inside her heart.

Shen Mingyue, who had been quietly watching her, smiled faintly. Her smile was calm, serene—yet there was an ancient weight behind it, as though it carried countless lifetimes of sorrow.

"No," she replied softly, shaking her head. "She hasn't remembered yet. And this is also one of the reasons I came to you two."

Mo Yuxin blinked, startled by the answer. She turned instinctively toward Su Yubing, whose brows furrowed ever so slightly. The two exchanged a look filled with confusion before Su Yubing spoke up.

"Why?" she asked, her tone careful but firm. "Is there something wrong with her memories? Can they not be recovered?"

At her words, Shen Mingyue's faint smile deepened. There was something affectionate, even admiring, in the way she looked at Su Yubing, as if she had just been reminded of the younger woman's insight.

"Yes," she said gently, "you're still as sharp as ever."

Her gaze drifted off into the distance, as though she were no longer standing in that room but peering back into the endless river of time. Her voice grew heavy with memories that did not belong to just one lifetime.

"After Sha struck her with that devastating blow, she was forced to endure the cruelest of punishments. Her body could not withstand the force, and so she was cast into the endless cycle of samsara—reincarnation after reincarnation, life after miserable life. In every one of those lives, she was fated to die young, her body succumbing to frailty and disease before she could even glimpse the fullness of the world."

Her words painted a harrowing picture. Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing listened in silence, both of their hearts tightening at the thought of Mother Lan's suffering.

Shen Mingyue continued, her voice quiet but firm.

"If not for the essence I left with her in that final moment—an imprint of my very soul—she would have been consumed by despair long ago. That fragment of me was the only thing keeping her tethered to hope, the only light in all her lifetimes of darkness. Without it…" She paused, her lips pressing into a thin line. "Without it, I dare not imagine what she might have become. What kind of twisted, broken lives she would have been forced to live."

Mo Yuxin felt a sharp ache in her chest. She clenched her fists at her sides, trying to suppress the wave of emotions swelling inside her. Suddenly, a thought struck her like a bolt of lightning. Her eyes widened, and she leaned forward urgently.

"Wait!" she blurted out. "If your essence was always there, protecting her… saving her from despair in all those lives… does it mean that in this life—"

Her voice broke. She could not bring herself to finish the sentence, terrified that her fragile hope might be crushed if she was wrong.

But Shen Mingyue's next words confirmed it, though her tone carried a subtle tremor that betrayed her own inner turmoil.

"Yes," she said slowly, her eyes softening. "In this life, she was spared the greatest torment. Do not worry. Your mother never suffered under that beast you called your father." Her lips curled in disdain, and her eyes burned with a cold, protective fire. "Do you think I would ever allow another to defile what is mine? My Yin… my lover… belongs to me alone. Not even in death would I let anyone else lay their filthy hands on her."

The certainty in her voice reverberated through the air like an oath.

Mo Yuxin's breath caught, her chest loosening as though a crushing weight had been lifted from her. Tears stung her eyes. For so many years, she had lived with the quiet, unspoken agony of imagining her mother enduring the worst kinds of suffering at Mo Futian's hands. To know now that it had never truly happened—that her mother had been spared that final humiliation—was like having her soul freed from a shackle she hadn't even realized she carried.

Her relief was so overwhelming she nearly stumbled. She pressed a hand to her chest, whispering almost inaudibly, "Fortunately… fortunately…"

Mother Lan had endured so much in the Mo family—endless labor, constant scorn, and the venomous cruelty of those who saw her as nothing more than a servant. Those wounds were deep enough. But compared to what Mo Futian might have done… compared to that nightmare, all of it seemed almost bearable.

Fortunately, Shen Mingyue's essence had been there to protect her.

Yet another question quickly rose in Mo Yuxin's heart. She frowned, confusion replacing her relief.

But… how? If Mother Lan had been untouchable by Mo Futian, then how had she given birth to children—how had she given birth to her and Mo Feng?

Her eyes flickered with doubt and curiosity. Shen Mingyue's gaze, in turn, softened even further. Her eyes lingered on Mo Yuxin with such warmth, such unspoken affection, that Mo Yuxin felt her heartbeat falter.

Su Yubing, however, noticed something else. She was quieter than usual, but her sharp instincts had already begun connecting the scattered pieces. A faint shiver ran down her spine as she pieced together the puzzle.

Her gaze traveled to Mo Yuxin's face. How many times had she studied those features? How many times had she kissed that face, memorizing every curve and angle, every tiny freckle and faint expression that even Mo Yuxin herself might not be aware of?

She had always thought Yuxin's eyes were special—bright, piercing, unlike anyone else's. But now, as her gaze shifted between Mo Yuxin and Shen Mingyue, realization dawned with startling clarity.

The two faces might not look alike at first glance. Cultivators often changed subtly as their cultivation refined their bodies, shedding mortal imperfections and growing ever more ethereal. Resemblance in features could fade across time and cultivation.

But the eyes…

The eyes never lied.

And Mo Yuxin's eyes—those very same eyes Su Yubing had fallen for—were identical to Shen Mingyue's.

It was as though someone had taken Shen Mingyue's eyes and placed them on Mo Yuxin's face. The resemblance was undeniable, like twin flames flickering with the same light.

Su Yubing's heart trembled violently. Her hands curled into fists in her lap, her knuckles white. The realization was staggering, almost too much to believe.

Could it be…?

Her gaze darted back and forth between the two women, her breath catching in her throat.

Shen Mingyue seemed to notice her turmoil. She let out a soft sigh, her expression a mixture of love and hesitation. When her eyes fell on Mo Yuxin again, they were filled with something only a mother could hold—tenderness, longing, and a sorrow too deep for words.

Mo Yuxin, startled by the intensity of that look, felt her heartbeat accelerate. A strange warmth spread through her chest, as though her soul were responding to something it had always known but never understood.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Shen Mingyue's voice cut gently through the silence.

"In all her previous reincarnations," she said, "your mother, my Yin, always died young. Each time, her life was cut short before she could even reach adulthood. A deadly illness consumed her from birth—a curse born from the backlash of Sha's power. It ate away at her body, eroded her spirit, and each time it claimed her before she reached the age of fifteen."

Shen Mingyue's tone darkened, her brows knitting with remembered anguish.

"It was an unspeakable torment. Her soul was forced to endure pain again and again, until it grew weaker with every cycle. The only mercy was that an early death spared her from living a life that was never meant to be hers. She is Yin, a being of chaos and freedom. To force her to remain as a mortal for long… would have driven her to madness. The laws of the mortal world are a cage. To a soul like hers, it is unbearable."

Her eyes glistened faintly, though her voice remained steady.

"Life after life, death after death… her soul frayed. But in this reincarnation, the curse finally broke. This time, she was free of Sha's backlash. This time, she had the chance to live. To truly live as herself."

Mo Yuxin's lips parted, her chest rising and falling unevenly. Shen Mingyue's words settled into her bones like pieces of a puzzle she had never known existed.

"But…" Shen Mingyue continued, her voice lowering, "because this was the last reincarnation, her life would inevitably be longer. She was meant to endure, to remain in this world until she could awaken once more as Yin. Unfortunately…" Her jaw tightened. "Unfortunately, she crossed paths with that wretched man, Mo Futian."

Her voice dripped with loathing at the name.

"The essence I left within her—it is a fragment of me, forged from the purest chaos energy. For all her lifetimes, it sheltered her, gradually dissolving the backlash of Sha's curse. It is no different from my own soul. And because of that, whenever her life or her dignity was threatened, it acted on its own. It defended her in my stead."

Her eyes hardened, a flash of killing intent surfacing for just an instant.

"When Mo Futian dared to touch her, dared to soil what was mine, the essence acted. Though it had weakened from centuries of reincarnations, it still had strength enough to weave an illusion. To him—and to all who witnessed—it appeared as though he succeeded. But in truth, he never laid a hand on her. Not once."

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Thanks for reading.

Next chapter coming tomorrow at around the same time as now.