Chapter 1599: Chapter 972: Consort of the Chief

Baili An gave Ye Shu a glance and said, "So by that logic, Ye Shu, you must have already been targeted as well?"

Ye Shu’s eyes flickered, as if something in his heart had been faintly stirred:

"I was careless. I thought that after leaving the Langya Demon Sect for so many years, after lurking in the Demon World for so many years, the Mortal World had long since lost all trace of me.

I thought the matter would thus come to an end.

Yet I didn’t expect those Demon Sect elders had never once relaxed their search into this affair, and in the end still came knocking at my door." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Lin Zheng said coldly, "So my father should never have brought back a disaster like you."

"Young Marquis Lin."

Baili An suddenly cut him off, fixing his gaze on the enraged Lin Zheng.

"In your view, for a woman as a mother, why would she leave such a dangerous thing on her own child in such a resolute manner?

That Demon Sect Saintess you disdain, abhor, and look down upon—why would she not carefully guard a treasure that could strengthen and stabilize the Langya Demon Sect?

Instead, she chose to pay with her life, and even let her only child bear the filthy, lowly, disgusting life you speak of.

If she could have fully mastered the power of the spirit key and opened one of the Nine Gates,

the Demon Sect could have made a comeback; to oppose the Three Sects would have been an easy matter. She could have placed her child high above, seated upon supreme power.

But she did not. Instead, she chose a self‑destructive way to seal the power of the spirit key forever within her child’s body.

Young Marquis Lin, have you really never been curious.

Your father, as a prince and marquis of Ze Country, a Disciple of the Upper Sun Palace—

why would he risk his life to sneak into Beizhao to save a child who had absolutely nothing to do with him?

Have you really never wondered: if not for Ye Shu struggling in that purgatory‑like world back then,

if he had ever yielded and given up, if he had failed to withstand the torture and the spirit key had finally been successfully opened by the Demon Sect, what would the situation in the Mortal World be like today?"

Lin Zheng was rendered speechless by the questions, yet inwardly he still refused to accept it.

It was clearly Ye Shu who had done wrong; it was Ye Shu who had seduced his mother; it was Ye Shu who had hidden the truth and deceived him.

His father had even died because of Ye Shu.

Why should a few words be enough to wipe all his deeds clean?

Why wash him so thoroughly of guilt, paint him as so innocent and aggrieved, praise him as so strong and great, like some hero?

The one whose home was destroyed and whose family was ruined was him; the one whose clan had fallen was him; the one who had always been deceived and endured all those noble scornful looks was also him.

It was clearly Ye Shu who had taken everything from him—on what basis was he expected to generously let it go and understand him, even admire him?

Lin Zheng’s heart twisted in struggle and torment. Though he knew all that Baili An said was fact, he still clung stubbornly to what he believed in his own heart.

"But even so, it cannot change the fact that he is the son of a Demon Sect Saintess.

Demon Cultivators have always been greedy and cunning, selfish by nature. What good thing could a Saintess worshiped and revered in that kind of ghost place possibly be?!

Who knows if there wasn’t infighting inside their Demon Sect, dogs biting dogs—maybe she wanted to monopolize that spirit key and thus used lies to get my father to help her escape.

But she ended up captured by the Demon Sect, reaping what she sowed, harming herself, and even dragging her own child down to become someone else’s plaything!

A taste for scabs—people the world over are all the same. In a world that dark and filthy, how many raised there could possibly be kind and normal?"

Seeing Lin Zheng still obstinately clinging to his views, Baili An couldn’t help raising a hand to his forehead.

"A textbook case of ’born guilty,’ is it? Young Marquis Lin feels that being born the child of a Demon Sect Saintess,

even if he has never done a single bad thing, never harmed a single person, then no matter what he does, it must be with ulterior motives, it must be insidious and ill‑intentioned.

You keep saying you’ll believe him, yet from beginning to end, you’ve judged him with the greatest malice in your heart."

The accusation was a heavy one. Lin Zheng’s expression did not change, and he was about to deny it flatly when Baili An lifted his eyelids and swept him with a faint glance.

"Young Marquis Lin Zheng, you yourself said it: your Lin Family has fallen. Even as the Lin Family’s Young Marquis, you still have to endure the scorn of those nobles.

Since that is the case, what value do you think you have that would be worth Ye Shu deceiving you for?

Not to mention the decades of companionship as a war slave in the Demon World.

Just look at today: to smooth things over for you, that pouch of Spirit Stones Ye Shu tossed out—your entire Marquis Mansion couldn’t scrape together that much.

You keep saying Ye Shu owes you, owes the Lin Family, that he could never pay it back in this lifetime. Perhaps you’re simply too arrogant. Your lifetime..."

Baili An gave a faint smile and said, with layered meaning, "might not be worth that much at all."

As if striking directly at a vital point, Baili An’s calm, indifferent words inexplicably made Lin Zheng feel a flush of embarrassment, even humiliation.

Yet at the same time a wave of powerless emptiness washed through his heart, leaving him nothing to refute with.

He seemed to deflate and sank back into the chair, covering his eyes with the back of his hand. "How unsightly I am now..."

Ye Shu was silent for a moment. Then he suddenly drew a fine silver thread from his sleeve, infused it with Spiritual Power, and the soft thread instantly tightened into a needle.

"You’re far too emotionally unstable tonight, Lin Zheng. Likely the drug in the wine hasn’t worn off yet. Sleep for a while—this will feel easier."

Ye Shu walked over and lightly inserted the silver needle into an acupoint behind Lin Zheng’s ear, sending him into a deep, complete sleep.

Baili An looked at Lin Zheng, now slumped over the desk in heavy slumber, and let out a sigh.

"Though your father was a house servant of the Lin Family, you no longer owe the Lin Family anything, and you are not sold to them besides. Why indulge him like this?"

Ye Shu put the silver needle back into his sleeve. He gave a faint smile and said, "Brother Si Chen, there’s no ’why indulge him.’ It’s just that, at this moment, I am Ye Shu."