The Black Lotus Stole The White Moonlight [Rebirth] - Chapter 9

As the saying went, when the Dao rose by one foot, the devil rose by ten.

As a demoness of the demonic path, Bai An’an had always prepared several contingencies while surviving the bloody turmoil of the Demon Realm.

So what if Mu Tianyin was the foremost leader of the righteous path?

Every profession had its own specialties, and Bai An’an loved researching unorthodox techniques like these.

When it came down to it, Mu Tianyin might not even be her match.

Bai An’an smiled faintly. Watching Mu Tianyin raise a finger and touch the space between her brows, she slowly closed her eyes.

Within the darkness, a flame no larger than a bean illuminated a tiny area.

Bai An’an’s small body was curled beneath a round rosewood table. She tilted her head slightly and examined her surroundings.

Without question, she had returned to when she was five or six years old.

She glanced down at her hands. They were as thin as sticks and clearly belonged to a child, yet they were covered in thick calluses.

Narrowing her eyes, she remembered those unpleasant things from her past and secretly pursed her lips.

Naturally, not everything she had told Mu Tianyin was false.

To guard against Mu Tianyin doing something like this, Bai An’an had merely embellished her childhood memories a little.

Did Mu Tianyin not want to see who her father was?

Then Bai An’an would show her everything and let her look to her heart’s content.

The candlelight suddenly brightened.

Someone pushed open the door and walked gracefully into the room.

The person’s footsteps were heavy, proving that she was merely an ordinary mortal.

Crouching beneath the table, Bai An’an hugged her thin little body, her face expressionless.

Too much time had passed. She had already forgotten how weak she had been back then, but she still remembered how she had interacted with the people in the brothel.

The footsteps drew closer before stopping beside the round table.

“An’er, why are you hiding? You’ve made Mother search everywhere for you.”

The seductive voice sounded almost identical to Bai An’an’s adult voice.

Bai An’an’s heart jolted. She instinctively prepared to attack, but remembered just in time that Mu Tianyin was watching her from somewhere and narrowly restrained herself.

She closed her eyes to conceal the impatience on her face. When she opened them again, her little face was filled with the fear of a child who had done something wrong.

“An’er, if you don’t come out, Mother will become angry.”

Bai An’an felt a powerful urge to roll her eyes.

This so-called mother of hers was insane.

Bai An’an’s father was a demon, not a yao.

He had abducted her mother from the human world, originally intending to toy with her before killing her. Unexpectedly, the woman became pregnant with Bai An’an.

What else could a powerless woman do after becoming pregnant with a demon’s child?

Although Bai An’an’s so-called father was demonic scum, he had unexpectedly released her pregnant mother.

After giving birth to Bai An’an, however, her mother had no means of surviving.

She could only enter one of the Demon Realm’s pleasure houses and sell her body.

Bai An’an knew she had been born carrying an original sin. The fact that her mother had not strangled her in her swaddling clothes meant she was fortunate.

However, Bai An’an had been raised beneath constant beatings from the moment she was born. Before transmigrating, she had been her parents’ cherished treasure since childhood, so this left her deeply conflicted.

On the one hand, she knew her mother was a victim. It was understandable for her to hate Bai An’an.

On the other hand, Bai An’an could not tolerate being treated as an outlet for the woman’s anger, enduring her rage whenever she became upset.

If Bai An’an made even the slightest mistake, her mother would seize upon it as an excuse to beat her violently.

After experiencing enough beatings, Bai An’an grew smarter. Whenever her mother became angry, she found somewhere to hide.

But the brothel was only so large. Where could she possibly hide?

After finishing her recollection, Bai An’an slowly crawled out.

She gradually raised her head and looked at her so-called mother.

The woman’s appearance bore a sixty-percent resemblance to Bai An’an’s true body. Naturally, her beauty was beyond reproach.

Bai An’an had barely looked up when a slap struck her across the face.

The blow left her stunned. Her small body was knocked to the floor and rolled several times.

Years of malnutrition had left this body little more than skin and bones.

She was also extremely young. It was perfectly natural for a slap from an adult woman to send her flying.

Bai An’an abruptly raised her head, a fierce glare sweeping across her face as she prepared to lose her temper. Then she suddenly remembered that Mu Tianyin was observing her from some hidden corner, and her gaze immediately changed.

After a brief pause, her large eyes became wet. Covering her cheek with one small hand, she stared at her mother in terror.

“Mother!”

The women of the brothel all favored brightly colored clothing. Her mother wore a loose purple gown made of sheer fabric, and her long, pale legs could be faintly seen as she walked.

The purple-robed woman approached and looked down at her darkly.

Bai An’an’s fingers abruptly clenched against the floor—not from fear, but because she wanted to tear the woman apart immediately.

But she could not.

Thus, the hand braced against the floor slowly relaxed. Bai An’an stared up at her in terrified unease, trembling as though frightened out of her wits.

The purple-robed woman had no idea she had just narrowly escaped death.

Looking down at the small child, she crouched slightly, suddenly seized Bai An’an by the hair, and lifted her.

The pain almost made Bai An’an curse aloud.

People often called young girls “yellow-haired little brats.”

At her age and in her malnourished condition, Bai An’an truly was a yellow-haired little brat.

She already had pitifully little hair on her head. If her mother kept yanking it like this, would she not go bald?

She kicked her limbs wildly in the air, deliberately pretending to struggle.

Where was Mu Tianyin? Was she simply going to stand there and watch Bai An’an get beaten?

Righteous cultivators truly were hypocrites!

“Stop moving!” the woman shrieked, glaring viciously at her. “What kind of look is that? If it weren’t for you, how could my life have become so miserable?!”

As she spoke, the woman abruptly slapped her again with her free hand.

The previous blow had merely sent Bai An’an rolling across the floor.

This time, she genuinely went flying.

Bai An’an crashed directly into the wooden bedframe. Her skull struck the wood with a tremendous bang.

She fell facedown on the floor, blood immediately pouring from her wound.

Her thoughts became muddled. Blood streamed down from her head, running over her brows and obscuring both eyes.

Lying on the floor, Bai An’an looked through the blood at her mother’s deathly pale face and tugged faintly at the corner of her mouth.

She remembered when this had happened.

When Bai An’an was six, her mother had lost control and nearly beaten her into a concussion.

In any case, Bai An’an had spent three full months bedridden before she could get back up.

She had assumed she would die such a miserable, suffocating death. Unexpectedly, her mother used medicine to keep her alive and somehow forced her to endure.

Bai An’an had both hated and feared her. At times, she had desperately wished the woman would die.

Or perhaps it would have been better if her mother had simply beaten her to death and ended everything.

Anything would have been better than enduring her daily torment and unpredictable moods.

Bai An’an lay there weakly, watching her mother flee the room in a panic. Her heart was cold and completely unmoved.

Her hatred for that woman had already vanished like smoke when her mother died.

Bai An’an no longer hated her, but neither did she love her.

She closed her eyes briefly and turned her head. A pair of pristine white embroidered shoes appeared before her.

The person stood tall and elegant beside her, looking down at her from above.

Dressed entirely in white, she appeared as graceful as an immortal. Her bearing was utterly out of place inside such a house of pleasure.

Mu Tianyin had actually been standing nearby for quite some time. She had witnessed the defenseless Bai An’an being brutally beaten from beginning to end, yet had not intervened.

She knew this was merely a fragment of Bai An’an’s memories.

Even if she stopped it, she could not erase what had already happened.

Furthermore, rashly interfering might disturb Bai An’an’s memories.

However, when she saw the small child lying there covered in injuries, utterly silent and motionless, she could not suppress her concern. Despite knowing Bai An’an would survive, she appeared to examine her carefully.

Mu Tianyin gently placed her fingers upon Bai An’an’s delicate shoulder. The tiny body beneath her hand was shockingly thin, every bone clearly perceptible through her skin.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and even her fingers seemed to quiver.

Treating her a little should not affect anything.

Mu Tianyin lowered her lashes and sent an unbroken stream of spiritual energy into Bai An’an’s body.

Lying there, Bai An’an almost sneered aloud.

Mu Tianyin had not appeared to stop the beating earlier, yet now she had come over to play the benevolent saint.

Still, although Mu Tianyin’s body was frighteningly cold, her spiritual energy was warm and made Bai An’an feel rather comfortable.

The bleeding from her head gradually stopped, and the wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Bai An’an remained dazed from losing too much blood.

When Mu Tianyin saw that the injury on her head had nearly healed, she withdrew her hand.

Since Bai An’an was safe, Mu Tianyin had no reason to interfere further. She turned to leave.

However, she had barely taken a step when a small hand caught the hem of her skirt.

Bai An’an’s thin, dark fingers clutched Mu Tianyin’s immaculate white skirt, staining it with a considerable amount of blood.

Mu Tianyin lowered her eyes to the stained fabric before looking expressionlessly at Bai An’an.

Bai An’an struggled to open her enormous, watery eyes. Resembling an innocent fawn, she gazed at Mu Tianyin pleadingly.

“Fairy Sister, don’t go!”

Seeing that Mu Tianyin remained silent but made no move to leave, she continued, “Am I already dead? Did Fairy Sister come to take me to heaven?”

After speaking, she suddenly blossomed into a pure, immaculate smile.

“That’s wonderful!”

Mu Tianyin looked down at her. Her lips moved, but only after a moment did she ask, “You can see me?”

Bai An’an blinked in surprise. “Am I not supposed to? An’er is already dead, so naturally I can see Fairy Sister!”

Mu Tianyin considered the matter. Bai An’an was supposedly of mixed human and Dream Demon blood, so it was plausible that she could control the dreamscape formed from her memories.

However, now that Bai An’an could see her, Mu Tianyin temporarily did not know how to respond.

Hurried footsteps sounded outside the door, and more than one person was approaching.

Bai An’an’s face rapidly turned deathly pale. She clutched Mu Tianyin’s skirt even more tightly and raised her pitiful little face.

“Fairy Sister, please take An’er away with you!”

Bai An’an tilted her head upward and bit her lip, her entire body trembling.

Mu Tianyin stared down at her without speaking.

…

The footsteps of the purple-robed woman and an elderly physician drew closer.

The purple-robed woman pushed open the door and immediately paled. “An’er?”

A pool of blood on the carpet bore witness to the violence that had occurred moments earlier, yet the small child had disappeared.

The purple-robed woman’s lips turned white. Completely drained of color, she frantically searched the room.

Bai An’an wrapped both arms around Mu Tianyin’s neck and pretended to examine their surroundings curiously.

“Fairy Sister, where are you taking me?”

Mu Tianyin remained silent for a moment before slowly saying, “I’m not a fairy.”

“That’s not true!” Bai An’an loudly protested. “You just carried An’er through the air!”

Mu Tianyin felt an oncoming headache. She did not understand what had possessed her to carry the child away.

Perhaps it was because the things Bai An’an had told her in the real world bore no resemblance whatsoever to this memory, leaving her confused.

Not knowing what to do with the child, Mu Tianyin could only extend one finger and touch the space between her brows, instantly returning to the real world.

Bai An’an abruptly opened her eyes. After taking a moment to recover, she blinked and looked at Mu Tianyin with a bright smile entirely untouched by darkness.

“Senior Sister!”

Mu Tianyin silently studied her. Recalling the battered and wounded child in the memory, she could not bring herself to speak.

Bai An’an knew Mu Tianyin’s thoughts had to be extremely complicated. Her own childhood had certainly never been as tragic as Bai An’an’s.

Since Mu Tianyin wanted to examine her memories, Bai An’an had shown them to her.

How many romances had begun with pity before slowly turning into love?

Bai An’an intended to make Mu Tianyin sympathize with her and eventually grow tender toward her.

Concealing the glimmer in her eyes, she raised her face with innocent cheerfulness. “Senior Sister, did you see my mother? Wasn’t she beautiful?”

Bai An’an continued chattering, “Mother treated me best! She never hit me and always saved the most delicious food for me—”

What made someone truly pitiful?

Being unaware of her own suffering—that was true pitifulness.

When attacking an enemy, conquering the heart was the finest strategy.