Exposed

"Father, you called for me?" Yu Mingling said, standing in front of the door cautiously.

"Yes, come in."

Yu Mingling opened the door hesitantly and let herself in. With each step, she anxiously fiddled with her slender fingers but made sure her face did not display such nervousness. But she wasn't as good at keeping her emotions intact as her sister or cousin, so it was clear that her face had paled to green and purple.

Her father sat behind a thin red curtain that only revealed his silhouette.

"How is Yangguang Peak doing? I asked you to check up on them a few days ago," Yu Yang asked.

His voice was extremely hoarse, dry, maybe even dictatorial. Every time her father spoke, it always made Yu Mingling's body grow heavy as though bricks kept layering on her back the longer she was near him.

But upon hearing his words, Yu Mingling sighed in relief and regained her composure back.

"I have talked with Senior Chang and the disciples have been training extremely hard. Some have already completed the third rank of Qi practice while others are already advancing to fourth," she informed.

"Third rank?" Yu Yang scoffed. "Those old disciples who have been at Yangguang peak have trained for so long and they're still only at the third rank? Inform Senior Chang to increase their workload and if the disciples don't reach rank four in cultivation practice in two weeks, they're banished from HaiShen Yu."

"Yes, father."

"The Annual Demon Hunting Competition is coming up and they're still lacking," Yu Yang muttered.

Hearing about the competition, Yu Mingling remembered everything that had happened with her elder sister regarding that strange black-clothed girl, but she remained silent.

...

They continued discussing the situation of the disciples at Yangguang Peak. Yu Mingling was relatively calm, knowing that their father didn't seem to notice what happened to Liu Bu.

However, she suddenly flinched when he advanced the topic to what she feared the most.

"How is your contract with ShenMing Wu? Weren't the spirit stones supposed to arrive yesterday?" Yu Yang questioned.

Yu Mingling went pale and stuttered, "It, it is going fine. There have just been some miscommunications but they will arrive soon."

Yu Yang stayed silent, but Yu Mingling clearly knew he was fuming in disappointment. She bit her soft lips anxiously that it started bleeding and she just wanted to escape this tense atmosphere.

After a long silence, Yu Yang finally spoke up, "Alright, you may leave."

She raised her head and slowly turned around, yet her steps soon paused after reaching the door.

Yu Yang saw his daughter hesitating since she kept turning back and then front, repeating this process twice.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

The atmosphere suffocated Yu Mingling, and she blurted, "Yu Xuelan is alive!"

Yu Yang instantly stood up from his seat and could not fathom his daughter's words.

After a slow process, there was a rising swell of anger that flowed rapidly up his body, pushing all his boiling blood to his head and to his eyes.

"What did you just say?"

Although there was a silk curtain blocking Yu Mingling's view from the man, he instantly stormed out of his seat and pushed through the hanging drape.

The girl froze on the spot and stayed silent, watching veins of rage protruding from his temples.

"I said, what did you just say?" He snapped.

Yu Mingling stuttered, "Yu Xuelan is alive. But I-"

"Yu Xuelan is alive? She's alive? Yu Mingling, you are too old for such childish jokes," he scolded, which made Mingling tremble, regretting that she had ever blurted those words.

"Why are you staying silent? Did you lose your tongue?"

"No, father... I..."

"Yu Mingling. You better tell me this instant what you mean by Yu Xuelan is alive while I'm still calm."

Yu Mingling took a deep breath, "Liu Bu was killed in the Feather Temple and they threw his body in front of my bedchamber and then I requested to conduct a memory projection and then I found out that this girl was the one who killed Liu Bu and I knew the girl was Yu Xuelan because she was cultivating with blood!"

The girl talked so fast that she had to take a few breaths before calming down.

Yu Yang was absolutely speechless upon this information and narrowed his eyes. "Are you done? Are you done joking around?"

Yu Mingling's heart was suffocating from the tension, but it was too late to go back. She had already travelled too far down the path of thorns.

"I'm not joking, father! You can conduct the memory projection once again if you like! If everything I am saying right now is a lie, then you can cut my head off and display it along with her head!"

Yu Yang was taken aback by her declaration, but was still heated in vexation that he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"The girl was not in ShenMing Wu's robes so she was clearly just only taken in! Yu Xuelan's soul must have come back somehow and now she's going to come and kill-"

"I killed her eight years ago and now you're telling me her soul has come back? Do you realize how stupid you sound right now?"

"Father, even Jiaying confirmed the girl was extremely similar to Yu Xuelan!"

Yu Yang blinked confusedly and stopped talking. If Yu Jiaying was the one to say this, then it must have been the truth.

The man didn't say anything further to rebuttal this issue. Yu Mingling, on the other hand, was choking up in tears.

Seeing that her father stopped denying her words after she mentioned Yu Jiaying made her blood boil, but not because of her dear sister but towards her father and herself.

He rubbed his temples and walked left and right before setting down. Yu Mingling was drenched in guilt since Yu Jiaying had just told her to not mention the issue regarding Yu Xuelan to their father, yet she did. She was still slightly proud her mouth did not fully slip and reveal the entire conversation she had with Yu Jiaying.

"Where is Liu Bu's body?" He asked.

"They're preparing to extract his spiritual core."

"Have they done it yet?"

"Not yet."

"Alright, go retrieve his body back and I'll watch the memories of his last moment."

...

Yu Yang and Yu Mingling entered the Deep Sea Room and threw Liu Bu's body onto the ground like he was a sack of rotten lettuce.

He ordered the attendants to leave the room, which left only the father and daughter alone, dead in silence. Yu Yang watched the Whale's Orb while it projected Liu Bu's last memories.

Even though it was Yu Mingling's third time seeing this, she still could not help but feel her heart heat every time she saw Wu Zhitian and the girl.

After the projection ended, Yu Yang's fists were curled and bare his teeth in rage.

Without saying a thing, he stormed out of the room.

...

Yu Yang slammed the door of his study and sat down on his desk. He rubbed his face in distress, yet frosty to where it was frightening.

The silence was soon disrupted by a burst of hysterical laughter and Yu Yang whipped his head back from the sudden noise.

"I've never seen you look so stressed in my entire life! That look you had there was so amusing!" A man laughed.

The numbing rage began swelling inside Yu Yang once again upon seeing the man that sat on his window still.

"What do you want?"

"The Zheng Long Sect is putting me under their radar."

"What do you want me to do?"

The man snickered, "I don't think I'm ready to give up on the tasty people in Hufeng. Cover up for me, will you?"

"Why don't you just stop eating?"

The man could not believe his ears and began laughing till tears started flowing out. "Do you even hear yourself? If I don't eat, then I'll starve! You know what happens to your little secret, don't you?"

Yu Yang clicked his tongue and remained silent for a while before an idea appeared in his muddled head.

"I'll cover your disgusting feasts in Hufeng if you accept my request."

"Request?! I'm already keeping my mouth shut and you have more to ask?!"

"All you have offered was to keep your mouth shut while I gave you two villages and a city to eat. Shouldn't you have more to offer? " Yu Yang seethed.

The man rolled his eyes. "Fine. What is it?"

Yu Yang handed the man an ink painting of a portrait. It was Lin Yuhe's face. Well, to be precise, he was not looking for Lin Yuhe herself but Yu Xuelan.

"The heck is this?" He squinted his eyes and inspected the portrait.

"Send your demons to look for this girl and send her to me."

The man stared at the portrait before breaking out into another phase of laughter.

"You want me? To search? For this girl?" He cackled, yet Yu Yang kept a stern face and glared at the person who still sat on his window still.

Seeing Yu Yang's serious face, the man stopped his laughter. "I don't care what kind of shameful thing you're doing now, but yeah, whatever. As long as you cover me for the stuff in Hufeng City."

The man rolled the painting and slipped it into his robe before jumping off the window, disappearing into thin air.

Yu Yang sighed and clenched his jaw, muttering. "I will destroy every single one of them. Filthy demons."