The commotion at Qionghua Hall had been enormous. Almost all the prominent disciples of major sects and noble families in the city had suffered under the so-called "poisonous hand," yet the main culprit, Tang Yue, was merely punished with six months of house arrest. The common folk in Kunwu City realized they'd best tread carefully around this pampered and arrogant second young miss. Her outrageous behavior was clearly backed by her noble mother—she was even more brazen than the usual arrogant scions who bullied lesser cultivators. And this time, she'd taken them all down in one swoop.
During her house arrest, Tang Yue had no plans to be idle. Although she could no longer attend lectures at the academy, she still needed to take the year-end Qi Refining examination. So, she discussed with Shui Yingrou about inviting cultivators to teach her privately at home to make up for lost lessons.
Naturally, Shui Yingrou supported her daughter's desire to study well. They discussed what kind of teachers to hire. Tang Yue had always preferred crafting her own study plans, and this time was no exception—she gave clear requirements for her tutors.
She wanted to improve her martial skills—not just swordsmanship, but any practical combat techniques. After all, she had made a lot of enemies lately and might be ambushed or attacked in revenge. Strengthening her martial abilities was crucial. She also wanted to learn about pills and talismans. For medical and artifact-related knowledge, she planned to go to the Divine Farmer Pavilion and Heavenly Smithing Hall on her own.
Though under house arrest, Tang Yue reasoned that using teleportation arrays to go to the Pavilion or the Hall didn't count as leaving the City Lord's estate. It also saved a lot of time, even if it did burn through a fair amount of spirit stones.
Shui Yingrou arranged for Foundation Establishment cultivators ranging from the sixth to the tenth stage to serve as her tutors. She even added a Core Formation master to lecture on Daoist classics and supplement Tang Yue's theoretical knowledge. This setup was even better than the classes at Zixiao Sect.
Most of the instructors weren't yet at Core Formation stage, but they had extensive combat experience and knew far more practical knowledge than the academy's book-bound lecturers.
And besides, the academy taught groups. It could never compare to the effectiveness of a personalized curriculum. Once again, Tang Yue felt the perks of being a second-generation cultivator.
At the third stage of Qi Refining, she could start using more advanced medicinal supplements. After clearing out the residual toxins from earlier pills, she began researching new supplement formulas.
The Hibiscus Body-Tempering Sutra included medicine prescriptions tailored to its cultivation method. She planned to start with a medicinal bath to detoxify and temper her body—strengthening her physique and bones to lay a better foundation for future cultivation.
Shui Yingrou didn't trust her daughter to use medicines alone, so she helped prepare the medicinal decoction and stayed by her side during the bath, ready to act if anything went wrong.
According to the recipe, the first bath couldn't be interrupted. The medicated water had to be changed continuously until it turned clear, indicating all impurities had been expelled. Shui Yingrou stood by and helped with the refills.
The bath lasted a full day and night. Tang Yue emerged without incident, but Shui Yingrou was increasingly grim. The amount of impurities flushed from Tang Yue's body was far beyond what any ordinary cultivator should have. This could only mean one thing: innate fetal poison.
At dawn the next day, Shui Yingrou sent a message to the Divine Farmer Pavilion, requesting Pavilion Master Shang Lingyi to come diagnose her daughter in person. This was Tang Yue's first medical consultation since arriving in the cultivation world. In the past, Shang Lingyi had simply sent over prescriptions, never seeing Tang Yue herself.
Tang Yue had noticed something odd about her detox, and when she asked her mother, Shui Yingrou only offered vague reassurance that it wasn't serious.
Pavilion Master Shang brought her daughter Shang Fangling along—the same girl who had accompanied Tang Yue to the academy previously. It was partly for Fangling's learning, but also to help the girls form a bond so that in the future, Tang Yue could go directly to Fangling without troubling the pavilion master.
Shang Lingyi assumed Shui Yingrou was just overly worried about her daughter. But after checking Tang Yue's pulse for a while, she realized something was seriously wrong. She spread her divine sense through Tang Yue's body, then took out a snow-white spirit toad. She pricked Tang Yue's finger for a drop of blood and placed it on the toad's back.
The toad's back revealed red veins. Shang Lingyi's expression darkened. "Madam, I'd like to speak with you privately about Tang Yue's condition."
Shui Yingrou agreed and asked Tang Yue to take Fangling to stroll through the garden, while she spoke to the pavilion master in the flower hall.
Tang Yue wasn't too worried. What could be worse than the Curse Ring? Besides, the Curse Ring hadn't signaled any urgent need to detoxify, meaning whatever this was, it probably wasn't fatal.
She led Fangling to a pond where they fed spirit fish and chatted. Tang Yue asked, "Senior Sister, what kind of rare spiritual beast is that white toad? What does it do?"
Fangling answered, "That toad is called a Snow Spirit Toad. Our family raises it using a secret method. It detects and expels toxins. If someone's poisoned, its back turns black. It can usually suck the poison out."
"But I've never seen red markings like today. I don't know what that means. Still, don't worry—my mother will definitely figure it out."
Tang Yue smiled, "Alright, I believe in Pavilion Master Shang. Let's fish instead of feeding them!"
She pulled out a couple of fishing rods from her storage pouch and handed one to Fangling. The two girls caught several spirit fish. Some were brightly colored and ornamental, others were black-backed and white-bellied, perfect for soup.
Fangling had brought handmade pastries flavored with spirit flower honey. Tang Yue returned the favor with her freshly caught fish. The two got along very well.
After half an hour, Shui Yingrou walked Pavilion Master Shang out of the flower hall. The pavilion master was usually busy running her establishment and could only spare an hour—this visit had already pushed the limit.
Once they were gone, Tang Yue followed Shui Yingrou to her bedroom and asked directly, "Mother, what's wrong with my body? Please don't hide it. If you don't tell me, I'll just keep worrying."
"Alright," Shui Yingrou relented. "Pavilion Master Shang discovered a type of congenital fetal poison in you—even she doesn't know exactly what it is. It's a very sinister toxin. When I was pregnant with you, I was the one who got poisoned. It didn't harm me, but it caused your innate vitality to weaken and your spiritual bones to under-develop. That's why your aptitude is poor."
"Your father and I both have single spiritual roots—high-grade aptitude. You should have inherited that, but because I failed to notice I'd been poisoned, you were born with weakened foundations. People mock your cultivation struggles, but it's all because of this."
Tears welled in Shui Yingrou's eyes. She was usually tough and never cried easily. But discovering that her daughter's potential had been ruined by poison made her heart ache deeply.
"I was so careful that year. I stayed in Ruoshui Residence the whole time—no one could have tampered with anything. Except… once. During the Lantern Festival, Zhuang Qiaohui held a lantern exhibition in the manor and invited the city's noblewomen. I had to attend. Shortly after arriving, I felt chest tightness and left early."
"Later, Pavilion Master Shang and Zhang from the Talisman Hall both checked me, but no one found anything wrong. This poison is very well hidden. If not for your medicinal bath, I might never have known."
Tang Yue said firmly, "Mother, how can you blame yourself? That wretched woman used such a vicious poison—you're a victim too."
She recalled that in the original novel, this poisoning had never come up. It seemed the original Shui Yingrou never discovered her daughter's condition.
Suddenly, Tang Yue remembered how the Curse Ring had urged her to become more beautiful. In the cultivation world, beauty was linked to one's innate aptitude. Her poor spiritual roots weren't natural—it was due to fetal poison robbing her of her innate vitality. If she wanted to be beautiful again, she'd need to restore that vitality, rebuild her roots, and temper her body.
The Curse Ring responded just then, confirming her thoughts. It didn't have a complex will and could only react to her realizations, not explain things in advance.
Now that she understood, Tang Yue comforted Shui Yingrou instead. "Mother, it's okay. Now we know my poor roots come from a lack of innate vitality. If we fix that, won't everything improve?"
Shui Yingrou sighed inwardly. If only it were that easy. Even Pavilion Master Shang had no method to restore innate vitality. Still, having hope was better than despair. "You're right. I was too anxious. We'll have your senior brother look for remedies."
Seeing that her mother still looked troubled, Tang Yue tried to cheer her up. "Mother, even though we don't have direct evidence against that poisonous woman, we can still make her suffer. Let's respond to the city's new austerity policies and cut back household expenses."
"We don't lack for money, but that vile woman is always dressed up and flitting from one banquet to another. The City Lord's estate isn't made of spirit stones—why should we fund her luxuries?"
"Alright, we'll do as you say," Shui Yingrou agreed. Even if she couldn't take down Zhuang Qiaohui yet, she could certainly make her life difficult. If the City Lord wanted to blame her, so be it. That woman wouldn't have an easy time anymore.
She no longer wished to act like a gentle stepmother to Tang Wan either. Mother and daughter were a unit. Since Zhuang Qiaohui had hurt her daughter, even her own daughter Tang Wan would bear the consequences. Shui Yingrou felt she was already being magnanimous by not striking at Tang Wan directly.
"Mother, the Hibiscus Body-Tempering Sutra is really a good cultivation method. It cleared out my fetal poison and impurities. If I keep practicing it, maybe I'll fully recover. And since the sutra came from Huayue City, surely someone there knows how to replenish innate vitality."
Shui Yingrou nodded, feeling encouraged. "You're right. I'll have your senior brother look around Huayue City. There are many capable people there—someone might know a way."
Seeing her mother cheer up, Tang Yue felt relieved. She lifted her fish basket. "Mother, let me make some soup for you. Try my cooking."
"You can make soup?" Shui Yingrou smiled. "Let me taste it, then."
In her modern life, Tang Yue had always loved cooking. A foodie had no choice but to learn. In the cultivation world, she loved experimenting with spiritual ingredients. Using spiritual meat and vegetables, her dishes had become quite tasty. She'd been wanting to cook for her mother for a while—today was the perfect chance.
She even knew how to wrap the fish meat in spiritual energy, which preserved the flavor and spiritual essence. When the soup was served, Shui Yingrou immediately smelled the aroma.
After a taste, she praised, "My daughter is truly talented—this fish soup rivals the chefs at Baoyue Pavilion."
Baoyue Pavilion was a famous local restaurant staffed by well-known culinary cultivators.
"Mother, you're teasing me. How can I compare to them? They've been cooking for decades. I've only been doing it for a few months—it's just barely edible."
"Come now. Your soup is better than anything I can make. I'm truly blessed to have a daughter like you."
At that moment, Shui Yingrou genuinely felt joy and pride in being Tang Yue's mother. In the original novel, she had never regretted giving birth to her daughter—only that she hadn't taught her better.