A Cunning Pervert in the Cultivation World Chapter 539: The Burning Dynasty (2)

Li Feng stood frozen in place.

The words he had been about to speak died in his throat.

His eyes remained locked on the woman standing before him... on the crimson hair that flickered like living flames, on the amber eyes that glowed with an unnatural light, and on the orange-red robes that seemed to have been born from fire itself.

For a long moment, he could not move.

The question rose in his mind... heavy and cold.

Had it started the first time he met her?

Or had it been much earlier... long before he even stepped into the Fen Dynasty?

The gentle, caring but sickly Concubine Zi who always spoke softly, who always wore that fragile smile, who always seemed one step away from collapsing and worried about her daughter’s safety...

...Was any of it real?

Li Feng’s face remained pale.

As a deep, uncomfortable self-doubt and repulsion began to coil inside his chest.

Or perhaps...

...Perhaps some part of him had already known the truth.

And he had simply been avoiding it.

Suddenly, a nauseating wave rose from the depths of Li Feng’s chest.

His face turned even paler.

He instinctively raised one hand and covered his mouth, as if trying to force down the urge to vomit.

The truth pressing against him was so heavy, so twisted, that his body reacted before his mind could fully accept it.

Even so, he forced himself to look up.

The burning capital behind her, the strange calm in her tone, the way she had spoken about the fires as if they were beautiful scenery...

Everything... Everything connected.

And yet, a part of him still wanted to deny it.

"...Who are you?" he finally asked, his voice low and hoarse.

Concubine Zi watched him quietly, the faint smile still resting on her lips.

The amber glow in her eyes did not waver.

She seemed completely at ease, as if the transformation that had just taken place was the most natural thing in the world.

Concubine Zi’s gentle smile deepened just a little.

Then she answered in that same calm, almost affectionate voice.

"I am still Concubine Zi, Envoy Li."

"The same Concubine Zi who has lived in this palace for many years... the same mother who watched Ziyan grow up... the same sickly woman you met."

Her amber eyes curved slightly with her smile.

"I simply... no longer need to pretend."

Li Feng stared at her.

For a long moment, he could not speak.

The hand that had been covering his mouth slowly lowered, revealing a face filled with disbelief and a deep, aching pain.

It was the look of a man whose ideal had just been betrayed.

"...Why?"

The single word left his lips roughly, almost unwillingly.

His jaw tightened as he forced the next words out through gritted teeth.

"...You are Fen Ziyan’s mother..."

At those words, the glowing amber in Concubine Zi’s eyes softened slightly.

The faint, almost playful smile on her lips faded into something quieter... something that carried a trace of genuine emotion beneath the flames and the transformed appearance.

"I know," she said softly.

Her voice remained calm, yet there was a subtle warmth within it as she continued,

"And I still love Ziyan."

She looked at Li Feng without looking away.

"That part... was never a lie."

Li Feng’s expression twisted.

"Then WHY!?"

His voice suddenly exploded across the outer wall.

At the same time, he turned and smashed his fist into the stone wall beside him.

A deafening boom erupted as the thick section of the outer wall shattered into flying debris and dust, crumbling into smithereens under the force of his strike.

His chest heaved as he glared at her, eyes burning with anger and pain.

"...That is not what a mother is!!"

The broken fragments of the wall still clattered against the ground around him as his voice rose once more, raw and filled with accusation.

"You restricted her talent... kidnapped her... and used her for some kind of ritual..."

His fists trembled at his sides as he forced the final words out through gritted teeth.

"...Tell me! What kind of love is that!?"

The moment those words left his mouth, everything finally connected in Li Feng’s mind.

The poison that had restricted Fen Ziyan’s talent all these years...

It had probably been administered by her own mother.

He still remembered the system’s notification from long ago that... Fen Ziyan had been poisoned since she was a child.

At the time, he had assumed it was the work of some hidden enemy within the palace.

He had never once considered that the culprit could be the gentle, sickly woman who always spoke of her daughter with soft affection.

And her disappearance...

No wonder he had found no clues even after nearly turning the entire palace upside down.

There was one place he had never thoroughly investigated.

...It was Concubine Zi’s residence.

The night wind carried the distant roar of the burning capital between them.

And Concubine Zi remained calm.

Even under Li Feng’s furious, pain-filled gaze, her expression did not change.

She simply looked at him with those glowing amber eyes and answered in a quiet, steady voice.

"I just did what was best for her."

Li Feng’s face twisted.

The answer was so simple... so utterly detached from the weight of what she had done that for a moment he could not even process it.

His chest rose and fell sharply as anger surged up once more.

He was just about to shout again—

But then he stopped.

A different thought had suddenly pierced through the chaos in his mind.

His lips trembled slightly.

And when he finally spoke, his voice had become unsteady, almost shaky.

"...Concubine Zhao..."

He forced himself to look straight into her amber eyes.

"Did you... kill her?"

For the first time, a slight change appeared on Concubine Zi’s face.

The calm composure she had maintained until now flickered slightly.