The front doors of the Luo Mansion suddenly swung wide open.
A figure dressed in fine silks and satins stepped out briskly from within. Looking around in all directions, their gaze immediately landed on Luo Mingyue.
"Mingyue?"
Luo Mingyue's body trembled. Subconsciously turning back, her eyes instantly reddened, and she reflexively let go of Aunt Liu's hand. "Father."
The middle-aged man who had emerged was plump in build, yet bore a two-tenths resemblance to Luo Mingyue. He was none other than the master of the Luo Mansion.
Luo Jingping.
He was also Luo Mingyue's father.
Seeing the old master of the Luo family come out, Aunt Liu could only offer a bitter, heavy sigh.
Immediately after that, just as Luo Mingyue took two steps forward, about to be reunited with her father, more people came streaming out of the estate one after another.
"I wondered who it was that could make the master leave his meal unfinished to come out. So it turns out Mingyue is back."
A harsh and spiteful remark drifted over.
Luo Mingyue stopped in her tracks, her pretty face instantly frosting over.
Zuo Suhuan.
The mistress of the Luo Mansion.
She was also the paternal cousin of the current emperor of the Dawei Dynasty.
By all rights, she was imperial royalty.
More than twenty years ago, Luo Jingping was still a poor scholar with a wife in the countryside. But he was unwilling to live an ordinary life. After discussing it with his wife, he sold all their farmland and traveled to the capital for the imperial examinations.
Perhaps he truly possessed great learning; although he did not place first in the palace examination, he secured the runner-up position.
Because of this, he won the deep favor of the emperor, who bestowed a royal marriage upon him, giving him his cousin Zuo Suhuan as a wife.
Luo Jingping did not refuse. He also concealed from the emperor the fact that he already had a wife in his hometown, ultimately marrying the emperor's cousin Zuo Suhuan.
From then on, his official career was smooth sailing.
However, Luo Mingyue's mother tracked him down a year later.
Only then did Luo Jingping have no choice but to confess the truth to Zuo Suhuan. Eventually, with Zuo Suhuan's permission, she entered the Luo Mansion as a concubine.
Heh, how ironic it was. Her mother was clearly the legitimate wife, yet she ended up relegated to a concubine, living in the most wretched quarters, subjected to endless cold glares and humiliation, and passed away from illness within two years.
At the age of twelve, Luo Mingyue entered the Sword Sect by a twist of fate. From that day on, she had never returned.
Such was Luo Mingyue's background.
"What? You've become a Sword Immortal, and you don't even know how to greet me, the mistress of this house?"
"Or perhaps those immortal sects and estates never taught you what respect between high and low means, or what basic manners are?"
Zuo Suhuan continued, her tone indifferent and dripping with contempt.
"Mother, what are you saying?"
Another voice rang out, carrying a hint of mockery.
"Mingyue hasn't been home in ages, and she's only just returned. Why are you saying such things to her? If word gets out, won't people say our Luo Mansion can't even tolerate a daughter born of a concubine? How will Father ever serve as an official in the imperial court then?"
This was Luojiaojiao, Luo Mingyue's half-sister by the legitimate wife, and Zuo Suhuan's biological daughter.
"Am I right, Mingyue?" Luojiaojiao looked over at Luo Mingyue after speaking, her pretty brows arching high.
Yet just as she expected Luo Mingyue to panic and apologize profusely as she had in the past, Luo Mingyue simply nodded calmly.
"What the mistress says does make sense. The Sword Sect indeed values order between high and low, but the so-called superiority is always decided by the sword. By the rules of the Sword Sect, the mistress must either surpass me in swordsmanship or surpass me in cultivation. Mistress, would you like to compare notes with Mingyue?"
As her voice trailed off, the iron sword behind her gave a low, vibrating hum.
It instantly caused Zuo Suhuan's expression to turn unsightly. Yet a moment later, she flicked her sleeve and strode back inside.
Luojiaojiao also stared fixedly at the iron sword on Luo Mingyue's back, letting out a cold snort and cursing, "Unmannered thing, utterly devoid of respect!" She likewise turned around and left.
Only Luo Jingping remained standing in place, smiling bitterly.
"Mingyue, come inside," Luo Jingping finally said.
"Mm." Luo Mingyue walked toward the Luo Mansion.
But just as she took two steps, Jiang Chengan's voice echoed in her mind.
"Be a little careful. This Luo Mansion still has some tricks up its sleeve."
"What is it, Senior Sword Spirit?" Luo Mingyue asked casually, not showing any outward reaction.
"Why do you think your old man knew you were back the moment we arrived outside the estate?"
Luo Mingyue froze.
Right. Why? She had actually overlooked that detail just now.
"There is another formidable cultivator hidden within the Luo Mansion," Jiang Chengan said. "They possess roughly the strength of the Golden Core stage."
"Golden Core stage?"
In an instant, Luo Mingyue's expression shifted slightly, and her footsteps paused involuntarily.
"Mingyue, what's wrong?" Luo Jingping, walking ahead, turned back to ask.
"N— nothing..." Luo Mingyue shook her head, while urgently asking in her mind, "How is that possible? How could there be a Core Formation cultivator here?"
Even in the Immortal Realm, a Core Formation cultivator was considered a regional powerhouse; how could such a person lower themselves to staying in a mere Luo Mansion? Furthermore, she had returned to the Luo Mansion in her past life. That visit had ended in bitter acrimony, and she had fought her way out of the capital. If there had been a Core Formation cultivator, they surely would have intervened long ago.
"I wouldn't know about that, but the Luo Mansion indeed has a Core Formation cultivator," Jiang Chengan said.
Luo Mingyue's expression turned grim. Looking at her father's retreating back as he walked ahead, her heart turned as cold as ashes in that instant.
Must it truly come to this?
Before they even stepped into the inner hall, Luo Mingyue could hear the clatter of shattered bowls echoing from within, accompanied by Zuo Suhuan's furious scolding: "Unmannered, low-born wretch who knows nothing of hierarchy! Does she really think that after spending two years in an immortal sect, she's actually an immortal? And what if she is an immortal? In the end, she's still just the base-born daughter of a concubine!"
"Cough." Luo Jingping hurriedly let out a cough.
Zuo Suhuan turned back, her tone filled with utter contempt. "I thought that since you became an immortal, you'd fly right in. I never expected you'd still walk in on your own two feet. It seems an immortal is just a human after all."
Her words were directed straight at Luo Mingyue, overflowing with malice.
"An immortal is naturally still a person," Luo Mingyue replied, her attitude remarkably cold given what had transpired in her past life. "It's just that some people aren't fit to be called people at all."
"You!"
Zuo Suhuan flew into a sudden rage. "Luo Mingyue, as the mistress of the Luo Mansion, I order you to kneel right now!"
Luo Jingping's face darkened. "Suhuan."
"Luo Jingping, there is no place for you to speak here!" Zuo Suhuan pointed straight at his nose. "I told you back then not to send this little bastard to that damned immortal sect. But you refused, insisting that having the status of an immortal would make it easier for her to marry a prince. And look at us now! We've sent how many messages, and has this ungrateful wretch ever deigned to acknowledge us? Now that she's back, she still dares put on airs with me? If I don't properly put this little wretch in her place today, who knows what kind of trouble she'll bring upon our Luo Mansion when she eventually marries the crown prince?"
Zuo Suhuan's words came fast and furious like a string of firecrackers, making Luo Jingping's expression exceptionally grim. He could only turn his head away.
Seeing that Luo Mingyue was still standing frozen in place, he sighed and said, "Mingyue, just kneel and apologize to the First Madam."
"Luo Mingyue," Luojiaojiao stepped forward as well. Gone was her previous beaming smile, replaced entirely by venom on her face. "A base-born spawn of a concubine. Do you really think that playing immortal for two days makes you a true immortal? Kneel down this instant!"