Ye Lingling: I'm still alive and you held a funeral?

Silence hung heavy in the garden, engulfing Ye Xiuying, Xu Shuang, and Ye Lingling in its somber embrace. They stood motionless, their gazes locked, unable to comprehend the reality before them.

A moment passed, and Ye Xiuying snapped out of her stunned state, her eyes fixed on Ye Lingling with an incredulous stare. Doubt shrouded her every thought, for the situation seemed too surreal, too elusive to grasp.

"Is it truly you, Lingling?" Ye Xiuying uttered, her voice laced with disbelief, as if still grappling with the unfathomable. Each step she took towards Ye Lingling was hesitant, cautious, as if fearing that a single touch could shatter the fragile illusion.

Her hand trembled as it extended towards Ye Lingling, desperate to bridge the gap between reality and the ethereal. But she recoiled, fearing that the touch would dissolve the enchantment, reducing it to mere fragments of a dream.

Yet, her longing to immerse herself in this blissful reverie outweighed her apprehension—a dream where her daughter, her precious Lingling, remained alive. She would willingly endure the anguish of awakening to sorrow the following day.

Sensing her mother's conflicting emotions, Ye Lingling reached out and gently guided Ye Xiuying's trembling hand to her cheek. The warmth that radiated from her touch spoke volumes, as if to reassure her distraught mother.

"I am your Lingling, Mom," Ye Lingling whispered, her voice laden with tenderness and pain. "I have returned to you, so let go of your worries. I am here to stay."

Unable to contain her emotions any longer, tears cascaded down Ye Xiuying's cheeks, as if a dam had burst within her soul. The touch of her daughter's cheek against her hand brought a bittersweet solace, mingling joy with the sorrow that had consumed her for so long.

Ye Xiuying's tears transformed, shifting from sorrow to joy, as the realization sank in. The torrent of emotions surged within her, a tumultuous blend of relief, disbelief, and overwhelming happiness she thought she would never experience again.

A radiant smile spread across Ye Xiuying's face, illuminating her features with newfound light. It was as if the sun had broken through the clouds after a long and relentless storm. She embraced Ye Lingling tightly, her daughter's presence reaffirming the strength of their bond.

"Oh, my dear Lingling, you're really here!" Ye Xiuying exclaimed, her voice trembling with elation. "I've yearned for this day, prayed for it, and now you stand before me, alive and breathing. It's a miracle!"

"I'm sorry for having you worry too much, Mom." Ye Lingling spoke softly, feeling regretful for not visiting her mother first before leaving with Xu Shuang, making her mother worry so much about her.

After a while, Ye Xiuying calmed down and then she remembered that she still didn't know the reasons why Ye Lingling has gone missing. So, she pulled them to sit down where she was previously drinking tea at.

"Now tell me Lingling, where did you and Xiao Shuang been, that you two went missing for 6 whole months?" Ye Xiuying's aura suddenly changed from a worried mother to a domineering matriarch of a clan.

Xu Shuang and Ye Lingling took a big gulp of saliva and nervously explained what happened in the last six months and the months before that.

At the start of the retelling of their journey, Ye Xiuying was surprised that they found immortal herbs and asked Ye Linglign to show her martial spirit.

Ye Lingling summoned her martial spirit, a pure white begonia that radiated a feeling of vitality and innocence to its surrounding.

Ye Xiuying walked around the pure white begonia, admiring its beauty while also feeling surprised at the quality of life energy it exudes.

Yet, the more she looked the more surprised Ye Xiuying was, then without any forewarning she took out a rather old-looking jade slip.

Only after repeatedly reading the words engraved on the jade slip and comparing them with Ye Lingling's martial spirit did she know that she was not hallucinating.

Ye Xiuying burst out into a peal of loud laughter at the results of her findings, Xu Shuang and Ye Lingling were confused so they asked why she was laughing.

"It's great, Lingling! Rather than your martial spirit evolving, it should be more fitting to call it returning to its ancestry."

She then spread the jade slip onto the table and pointed to a particular section of the slip that recorded information, it read.

"With petals as white as the snow, the begonia stood in resplendent bloom, its exquisite beauty captivating all who beheld it. Each delicate petal shimmered with an otherworldly luminescence, radiating a sense of purity and serenity that transcended earthly realms."

"Tsk, such a classy description, it seems that your martial spirit is quite renowned in ancient times, Lingling." Xu Shuang praised when she read the martial spirit description.

"Hey, this legend is even more exaggerated than the last one." Xu Shuang said while pointing to a section of the jade slip.

In that section of the jade slip recorded:

"Even if one wanted to die in front of the user of [Redacted], one will not die as long as the user of [Redacted] does not want them to die."

[A/N: Haven't thought of a name for the new martial spirit, so I'll leave it at that, you guys can suggest some names and I'll edit the one I find most fitting.]

"Lingling, it's great that your martial spirit has become [Redacted], you will be much stronger from now on." Ye Xiuying smiled gently, her eyes overflowing with motherly love. "You can tell me the rest of your journey later, I'll gather up the rest of the clan to explain your matter to them."

"After all you are already proclaimed dead for three months already and the funeral has been held long ago."

Ye Lingling was stunned when she heard that, she didn't expect that she would be proclaimed dead and have a funeral dedicated to herself.

"You actually proclaimed me dead and held a funeral for me, how could you do this, Mom?" Ye Lingling asked while crying crocodile tears.

Ye Xiuying looked at Ye Lingling's tears and was speechless thinking, girl if I didn't raise you for most of your life I would have believed your tears.

She then flicked Ye Lingling's forehead and spoke in a doting manner, "Lingling, behave. I'll go gather the clan members, you can come with me if you want."

"And it's not like I can do anything about it, I was devastated when I heard a clan member awakened the Nine Hearts Flowering Apple Martial spirit, it can only mean that something happened to you for that to happen." Ye Xiuying explained helplessly, to which Xu Shuang and Ye Lingling understand since she was pretty gloomy before knowing Ye Lingling is alive.

[Ye Lingling: behave?! Am I a dog to you?!]

Ye Lingling rubbed her forehead and nodded, she then followed Ye Xiuying with Xu Shuang to the square used to announce announcements in the clan.

Half an hour later the square was full of people from the Nine Hearts Flowering Apple clan, the square was full of chatter as the members tried to guess what was going to be announced.