A Cunning Pervert in the Cultivation World Chapter 546: The Burning Dynasty (9)

"..."

Zi Yuanling paused.

For a moment, she said nothing.

The soft evening light continued to reflect across the lake, and the cool water gently lapped against their legs.

Something unreadable flickered deep within her eyes before she quietly lowered her gaze and head.

Beside her, Fen Ziyan turned her head and smiled.

It was a bright, sincere smile... simple and full of warmth.

"But still," she said softly, "I’m really glad... and happy that I get to spend time with you, Mother."

In the next moment—

Zi Yuanling abruptly pulled her into an embrace.

Her arms wrapped tightly around the small figure beside her, holding her close as if afraid she might suddenly disappear.

One hand rose and gently but firmly caressed the back of Fen Ziyan’s head, fingers carefully smoothing through her hair in a trembling, protective motion.

"M-Mother...?"

Fen Ziyan was a little surprised by the sudden warmth, but after a brief moment of hesitation, she still raised her small arms and hugged her back.

Zi Yuanling’s face stiffened slightly.

Her lips trembled for a moment, as if something unspoken had nearly broken through.

But before that emotion could fully surface, she slowly pulled back from the embrace.

Then, a teasing smile appeared on her face.

"Hehe... it’s just that my daughter is too cute."

She lightly poked Fen Ziyan’s cheek with one finger, her tone turning playful.

"Ah~ Your husband in the future is going to be one lucky man~"

Fen Ziyan’s face immediately flushed.

She puffed up her cheeks in a flustered pout.

"Mother! I’m still a kid!"

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Time quietly passed.

By the time the sun had sunk halfway past the horizon, the sky was washed in deep orange and soft crimson light.

The lake reflected the fading glow, and the earlier playful sounds around the water had long since settled into a peaceful stillness.

After spending the whole day together... walking, laughing, splashing by the lake, and simply staying by each other’s side.

Zi Yuanling was now walking slowly along the path with Fen Ziyan resting on her back.

The young girl had her arms lightly wrapped around her mother’s shoulders, her head nestled comfortably against the side of Zi Yuanling’s neck.

A content, sleepy smile lingered on her lips as she let herself be carried, the gentle rhythm of her mother’s steps swaying her slightly with each movement.

Zi Yuanling supported her daughter’s legs with steady hands, her expression calm beneath the warm light of the half-set sun.

Before long, the familiar white stone path of the courtyard came into view once more.

Zi Yuanling slowed her steps and gently patted Fen Ziyan’s leg.

"We’re back," she whispered.

Her voice was soft, careful not to startle the girl resting against her shoulder.

"Mhmm..?"

Fen Ziyan let out a small, sleepy sound.

Blinking drowsily, she looked around with a slightly dazed expression, as if she hadn’t yet realized they had already returned to the courtyard.

Zi Yuanling felt the dampness on her shoulder and glanced down.

Then she saw a large wet patch had been left behind by her daughter’s drool.

She shook her head and let out a wry smile.

"...An elegant young lady should never drool like a bucket in her sleep," she said softly, her tone carrying a gentle teasing as she carefully lowered Fen Ziyan from her back after arriving at the center of the courtyard.

Fen Ziyan immediately puffed up her cheeks again.

Still half-sleepy, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and complained in a small, dissatisfied voice,

"Mother! I already told you... I’m still a kid!"

Zi Yuanling only smiled faintly at her daughter’s protest.

Reaching out, she carefully adjusted Fen Ziyan’s slightly messy clothes, smoothing the fabric and fixing the displaced ornaments in her hair with gentle, practiced movements.

Once everything was neat again, she stepped back a few paces, leaving Fen Ziyan standing alone in the center of the courtyard.

The evening light had grown softer.

Fen Ziyan stood there with her small hands lightly clenched at her sides.

A trace of nervousness showed on her young face as she looked toward her mother in the distance.

Her crimson eyes, however, still carried a clear and determined light.

...It’s time.

The technique she had been practicing all this while...

This time, she would show it properly.

And she would make her mother proud.

Taking a quiet breath, Fen Ziyan slowly brought both hands together in front of her.

Her small fingers spread open as a faint heat began to gather in the air between her palms.

Soft crimson light first flickered into existence, fragile and unstable, before gradually taking shape.

Strand by strand, pure flame condensed together.

The outline of a lotus slowly formed, its petals unfolding one after another in a gentle, controlled motion.

Though still small, the Heaven-Burning Lotus in her hands burned steadily, its light reflecting clearly in her focused eyes.

Then, she began activating it.

A deeper crimson radiance surged from the Heaven-Burning Lotus in her hands.

The soft flame at its center suddenly intensified, and the petals of the lotus started to tremble as if responding to a hidden force.

Heat spread outward in invisible waves.

Without Fen Ziyan realizing it...

...The world around her began to change.

The white stone tiles beneath her feet first showed faint scorch marks, then started to blacken and curl as if being quietly consumed.

The flowers nearby withered in silence, their petals turning to drifting ash.

Even the air itself shimmered unnaturally, as though the fabric of reality was being slowly burned away from the edges.

Yet Fen Ziyan remained focused on the technique.

But at that moment, in the middle of that concentration, a strange, inexplicable urge rose within her chest.

Almost without thinking, she turned her head and looked toward her mother.

And her small movement paused.

...Zi Yuanling was standing there in the distance, her figure still elegant beneath the fading light.

But the expression on her face was... wrong.

There was a clear, deeply pained look in her eyes... one that Fen Ziyan had never seen so openly before.

A faint confusion passed through the young girl’s heart.

But only for a moment.

She soon pushed the feeling aside and turned her attention back to the lotus in her hands.

A bright, earnest smile returned to her face as she poured her full focus into the technique.

Then, she activated the Heaven-Burning Lotus completely.

The moment the technique fully bloomed, the crimson light exploded outward.

And the world around her began to burn like paper.

The trees in the distance caught fire without flame, their forms peeling away layer by layer as if reality itself were being consumed.

The sky above warped and cracked, its colors scorched into distorted shades of red and gray.

Everything within reach of the lotus’s power was being reduced to nothing in silence.

Even Fen Ziyan herself felt it.

A deep, piercing pain spread through her small body... not only in her flesh, but in something far more fundamental.

It felt as though her very existence was being burned along with the world around her, scraped away bit by bit by the power she had unleashed.

Her brows furrowed under the pain.

Tears nearly welled up in her eyes from the intensity of it.

But then she clenched her teeth and forced herself to endure.

With that,

The flames engulfed the entire world... along with the little girl whose devotion and love burned brighter than the fire itself.

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Outside,

In the burning ruins of the capital.

Li Feng’s figure flashed once more through the smoke-filled air, his fist tearing through empty space as Apostle Zi’s form dissolved into a glowing feather yet again.

He landed heavily on a collapsed rooftop, his expression darkening.

This teleportation trick was beginning to wear on his patience.

Every time he closed the distance, she slipped away at the last moment.

Every time he forced her into a corner, she reappeared somewhere else.

The pattern was clear enough now that a colder thought surfaced in his mind.

Before he could pursue that thought further, a flicker of crimson light appeared some distance away.

Apostle Zi had reappeared.

And Li Feng’s eyes sharpened at once.

Without hesitation, he prepared to rush forward—

But then he suddenly paused.

"...?"

His figure froze mid-step as his eyes locked onto her face.

There were... tears.

Clear tears were streaming down Apostle Zi’s cheeks, trailing across her pale skin even as the residual flames and destruction burned around them.

Her amber eyes, usually calm and composed, now carried a deep, unmasked sorrow.

Li Feng was completely dumbfounded.

For a brief moment, he could only stare.

Then his gaze shifted lower... and his pupils contracted.

Something was wrong.

A dense, unnatural darkness was slowly climbing up her neck, spreading beneath her skin like living ink.

The black stain moved with a quiet, invasive certainty, creeping higher with every passing second.

"...What—"

Before he could finish the word, Apostle Zi’s soft voice cut through the air.

"...Envoy Li."

Her tone was quiet, almost fragile.

"Please... Please... make sure to run and escape."

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[Here an video of Fen Ziyan activating ???:]

[Here an illustration of Zi Yuanling crying:]