Long Aotian resealed the jar and was about to return to the courtyard when he heard footsteps approaching from outside.
He recognized the rhythm immediately. His mother.
The door slid open, and Xiao Yue stepped inside. Her face was tight with worry, and her eyes scanned Long Aotian from head to toe as if searching for injuries. When she spotted him standing there unharmed, some of the tension left her shoulders, but the concern in her expression only deepened.
"Tian'er." Her voice trembled slightly. "My son, are you well? Are you feeling pains anywhere?"
Before Long Aotian could respond, Xiao Yue crossed the room in quick steps and began touching him—pressing her hands against his arms, his chest, his back. Her fingers moved with practiced efficiency, checking for broken bones or internal injuries the way a healer might examine a patient.
"Mother, I'm fine—"
"They're saying you used a forbidden pill to attack Xiao Rong."
Long Aotian's words died in his throat. He stared at his mother, momentarily speechless. A forbidden pill? That's what people were claiming?
Xiao Yue's hands stilled on his shoulders. Her eyes locked onto his, searching for truth. "Tell me honestly. Did you consume some kind of pill? Something that might harm your body or damage your foundation?"
Long Aotian felt his mind racing. He'd expected rumors, certainly. Speculation about how a cripple had managed to defeat a seventh stage Body Tempering cultivator twice in one morning. However, he hadn't anticipated people would jump to pills as the explanation.
Then again, it made sense. In the cultivation world, sudden increases in strength almost always came from external aids—pills, elixirs, treasures. The idea that someone could simply wake up stronger through natural means was nearly unthinkable.
Long Aotian took a breath and looked at his mother seriously. "Sit with me."
Xiao Yue hesitated for only a moment before moving to the edge of the bed. Long Aotian sat beside her, his hands resting on his knees. He'd prepared several cover stories on his walk back from the resource hall, different explanations he could offer depending on who asked. For his mother, he'd settled on something close to the truth—close enough to be believable, vague enough to avoid dangerous details.
"Mother," Long Aotian began, keeping his voice steady and sincere. "I didn't use any demonic pill. Ever since I woke from that injury, I felt a great strength awaken in me. I don't understand it completely, but something changed. While I still can't cultivate normally, I can defend myself now."
Xiao Yue shot to her feet, her eyes wide with shock. "Tian'er, you felt a great strength in you? But that should be impossible. You have to be at least peak Qi Condensation Realm before you awak—"
She cut herself off abruptly.
Long Aotian's brow furrowed. Before you awaken what? His mother's reaction suggested she knew something—something specific about sudden strength manifestations that required reaching a certain cultivation realm first. However, her expression had shifted from shock to something else. Fear mixed with… recognition?
Silence fell over the room. Xiao Yue stood frozen, her eyes distant as if seeing something far away. Long Aotian watched her carefully, noting the way her shoulders had tensed and her breathing had quickened.
After what felt like an eternity, Xiao Yue lowered her hand. Her expression hardened into something resolute, as if she'd made a difficult decision. She reached into the small pouch hanging at her waist and withdrew something wrapped in black silk.
Her hands trembled slightly as she unwrapped the cloth.
A necklace lay in her palm. The chain was ordinary—simple silver links that showed signs of age and wear. However, the pendant caught Long Aotian's attention immediately. A blood-red jewel, roughly the size of a thumb, carved into a perfect teardrop shape. It seemed to glow with inner light, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
Xiao Yue stared at the necklace for a long moment before extending it toward Long Aotian.
"Tian'er." Her voice was soft but steady. "This is all that is left of your father."
Long Aotian's breath caught. His eyes snapped from the necklace to his mother's face and back again. In fourteen years, his mother had never spoken about his father. Not once. Whenever Long Aotian had asked as a child, she would deflect or say "now is not the time." Eventually, he'd stopped asking, accepting that his father was a forbidden topic.
And now she was offering him this?
Xiao Yue's eyes glistened with unshed tears, but her voice remained controlled. "I know I've never spoken about your father. I want you to know that he loves us more than anything in this world. But he has to stay away to keep us safe."
Long Aotian took the necklace with numb fingers. The blood-red jewel felt warm against his skin, and when he held it up to the light, he could see patterns swirling inside it—like smoke frozen in crystal.
Questions exploded through his mind. Who was his father? Why did he have to stay away? What danger required him to abandon his family? And most importantly—what did this necklace have to do with the strength Long Aotian had suddenly manifested?
"Mother, who is—"
"That's all I can say."
Xiao Yue's voice was firm despite the tears now running down her cheeks. She reached out and closed Long Aotian's fingers around the necklace, holding his hand in both of hers.
"Please, Tian'er. Don't ask me more. Not yet." Her grip tightened. "Just… keep that safe. And be careful. If you truly have awakened something, there will be people who notice. People who might ask dangerous questions."
She released his hand and stepped back. For a moment, she simply looked at him—really looked at him—as if memorizing every detail of his face. Then she turned and walked toward the door.
"I'll bring dinner soon. Rest for now."
The door slid shut behind her, leaving Long Aotian alone in the gathering darkness.
He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the necklace in his palm. The blood-red jewel pulsed with that strange internal rhythm, warm and alive. Long Aotian's mind churned with questions, theories, half-formed connections that refused to coalesce into anything solid.
His father. A man he'd never met. A man whose absence had defined much of Long Aotian's childhood, fueling whispers and speculation throughout the clan.
And now he had proof that this man existed. That he'd left something behind.
Long Aotian lifted the necklace and slipped it over his head. The jewel settled against his chest, directly over his heart. The warmth intensified for a moment, then faded to a comfortable temperature that matched his body heat.
Outside, the last rays of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon. Darkness filled the courtyard, broken only by the distant glow of lanterns throughout the clan compound.
Long Aotian remained seated, one hand pressed against the jewel at his chest, his thoughts a tangled mess of confusion, curiosity, and something that might have been hope.
The mysteries surrounding him had deepened. However, for the first time in three years, he had the strength to pursue answers.
That would have to be enough.