Pain. It hurt so much.
It was a throbbing, sour ache. It started around her eyes, then spread until her entire head was filled with agony.
The ache pierced straight to the bone, making her instinctively want to sit down and cradle her head in her hands.
But if she did that, she wouldn't be able to continue the competition.
The pain seed to co from nowhere, yet it consud her entire mind, freezing her senses and awareness.
Tears stread uncontrollably from Chen Luwan's eyes.
However, as an experienced talisman master, her very first thought was that her tears would ruin the materials on the talisman table.
'I can't let them drip onto the materials. I still have a chance. I still have a chance to win. I can't let them drip down.'
And so, she forced her upper body backward, keeping her tears far away from the materials on the talisman table.
"Mother!"
Noticing his mother's harrowing situation, Yu'an cried out in agonizing worry, startling Zhou Yingxi beside him.
Wang Yulou, who was standing nearby, didn't flinch. His expression was incredibly grave, and his heart sank heavily, plunging straight into a dark abyss.
Auntie Chen was a wonderful elder. Back when he and Yu'an were studying at the clan school, whenever Yu'an's family had sothing delicious, Auntie Chen would always remind Yu'an to bring so to Yulou.
That scoundrel Wang Yu'an had been quite the glutton as a child. When Auntie Chen told him to give Yulou two fresh peaches, Wang Yu'an would end up eating one and a half himself, leaving only half a peach for Yulou.
Of course, as Yu'an grew older and more sensible, he stopped doing such things.
The deep bond between the two brothers had been forged step by step since those early days.
Therefore, seeing Auntie Chen's eyes blinded by the light yellow stone powder, it wasn't just Yu'an who was anxious—Yulou's heart was burning with worry as well.
Down in the arena, the mother naturally heard her child's cry. How could a mother ever miss the anxious voice of her own child?
She could always hear it. She had always heard it.
From the mont a child was born crying into the world to the ti they grew up, all a mother ever looked forward to was the child coming ho safely every day and saying, "Mom, I'm hungry."
Yet, even though Yu'an's cry was filled with such panic, Chen Luwan's hands remained steady. They were just as steady as they had been before she was poisoned.
She hadn't given up yet. The pain of the light yellow powder pierced her very soul, but she still wanted to win. She wanted to advance, to claim the winner's reward.
She wanted to win that talisman brush spiritual artifact.
As Foundation Establishnt cultivators, the three judges naturally noticed Chen Luwan's condition imdiately.
At first, Wang Xianmao intended to step down and rescue this junior of his clan who had been poisoned.
But Chen Luwan's actions made the patriarch realize that this young woman still wanted to continue the competition.
"Daoist Xianmao?" Wu Jinyan asked in confusion, noticing that Wang Xianmao had shifted slightly but then stopped.
"It is fine. Let us watch."
Wang Xianmao sat back down, closed his eyes, and carefully used his divine sense to observe Chen Luwan's situation.
'Little Wan, hold on. You can do this.'
When a clan junior encountered a trial and wanted to overco it themselves, Wang Xianmao would not lightly intervene.
It was never a good thing for elders to overmanage, but he wouldn't completely ignore it either.
If Chen Luwan's condition worsened, Wang Xianmao would undoubtedly step in at the very first mont.
Mu Changze frowned slightly but said nothing.
The Wang Clan of Anbei Kingdom was truly extraordinary; even a random clan mber possessed such resilience.
But how could she not be resilient?
A woman is weak by nature, but a mother is strong. As a cultivator mother, Chen Luwan was naturally unbreakable.
"Mother! Stop writing! Hurry up and treat your injuries!"
Yu'an roared from the sidelines. Many cultivators turned to look at him, but he was completely oblivious to them.
His big brother had taught him that the opinions and views of others were total garbage, even worse than garbage.
Yu'an didn't care how the surrounding cultivators judged his rashness; he only wished for his mother to stop and tend to her wounds imdiately.
Yu'an's thoughts were simple.
"Mother, forget about the competition! You're still a talisman master of the Wang family! We don't need to compete anymore!"
Yet, Chen Luwan's movents never stopped.
'Silly child, how could I stop competing?'
'Your mother doesn't know many things, but fortunately, I have so skill in making talismans. This is a family secret passed down to by your grandfather.'
'Our Chen family line may have ended with , but this secret technique will not die.'
'Because this was the very reliance your grandfather used to establish himself in the world. By relying on it, your grandfather beca an external guest elder for the Wang family.'
'I relied on it too to beco a well-known talisman master in the Wang family and found a wonderful husband in your father.'
'It's not that I just want to win; I must win. This is what I am most proud of in my life. If I don't win, I will never be at peace.'
As a high-level Qi Refining cultivator, Chen Luwan could use her divine sense to help maintain her talisman-crafting movents even though she was temporarily blinded.
She only needed to overco the pain, and she could continue drawing the toxic mist talisman.
However, the effects of the light yellow powder were potent enough to easily decide a magical combat between two equal opponents. If one was afflicted by this poison during a spiritual duel, death was practically guaranteed.
No one could comprehend what it took to withstand such agony.
Because it was simply too difficult, far too difficult.
No one knew how Chen Luwan was enduring it.
Perhaps she was thinking of her husband, who was preparing for Foundation Establishnt.
Wang Rongwen might not succeed in his Foundation Establishnt on the first try; he would need her support.
Perhaps she was thinking of her son, whose talent was better than Yulou's, but whose temperant fell far short of Yulou's.
She thought about how Yu'an's future path might not be easy to walk.
In short, supported by her obsession and her love, this mother held on, step by step, continuing her talisman-making movents.
The toxicity of the light yellow powder was incredibly fierce, having brought down countless cultivators, yet at this mont, it could do absolutely nothing against this great mother.
'What does the pain you bring even matter?'
'Physical pain has a limit.'
'Living in this cultivation world that feels like a cage, the pain in my heart when I am awake is infinite.'
The grand cultivators had turned the world into a cage. A child like Yu'an could cultivate for ten years and still not match a single year of Zhou Yingxi cultivating inside a grotto-heaven.
If she didn't have a child, Chen Luwan might have accepted this cruel world.
For the young girl she once was, becoming a Qi Refining cultivator and living for one hundred and eighty years would have been enough.
Faced with a hopeless world, Wang Yulou could accept becoming a flawed Purple Palace cultivator, because even a flawed Purple Palace cultivator could live for over seven hundred years. Yulou could accept that.
But Chen Luwan refused to accept it. This mother was greedy—she wanted her child to beco an immortal.
'Light yellow powder, did you think you were formidable?'
'No, you are nothing!'
The mother's heart scread inside her.
She pushed past the hellish pain and crossed the bitter sea of sensory deprivation.
She wrote furiously with her brush, carving out her own path stroke by stroke, carving out her child's path.
The grand cultivators had locked away the heavens and the earth, establishing a cage, and she could accept becoming the price for it.
But Chen Luwan was unwilling! But Chen Luwan refused to accept it!
Chen Luwan refused to accept her child becoming the price!
'I will secure a better rank. I will beco the victor. I will help my child walk a little further.'
'Just a little further, a little further!'
'Even further!'
'I will make sure his path isn't so difficult!'
This mother was greedy. She wanted her child to beco an immortal; she wanted Wang Yu'an to leave this boundless sea of suffering.
She wanted him to beco an Immortal Venerable who would never be bullied again, soone whom no one could ever turn into a re price to be paid!
The pain made her long for it even more, and that longing drove her to grip the brush tightly in her hand, as if that talisman brush could truly help her change her fate, help change her child's fate.
But the cruelty of destiny lay in the fact that it never easily smiled upon rebels.
The essence of rebellion lay in brave action, not in how loudly one could scream.
Just as Chen Luwan was about to finish drawing her second toxic mist talisman, the bone brush snapped under the sheer force of her desperation.
Success failed at the final step, and a surge of chaotic vital energy rushed to her chest.
Amidst Yu'an's sorrowful cry, his mother, who had dared to challenge an unjust fate, collapsed.
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