Chapter 144: Chapter 144: The Tiger Doesn’t Roar, and You Take Me for a Sick Cat?

Chu Feng had a bit of a talent for cooking, so he had been making all their meals recently.

"Don’t go too far. There are wild beasts nearby."

Yu Huang had always been a woman of few words, but whenever she looked at Yu An, she couldn’t help but say a little more.

Someone had even joked that ever since Yu An showed up, Yu Huang had already used up her word quota for the entire next year.

Yu An agreed with a beaming smile and, grabbing a small basket, scampered off.

The sight made Chu Feng’s eyelids twitch, and even Yu Huang frowned.

"Ma’am," Chu Feng couldn’t help but say, "should I follow and keep an eye on her? Miss An is pregnant, after all."

They had only learned of Yu An’s pregnancy a few days ago. Seeing that Yu An didn’t intend to bring it up, Yu Huang had told Chu Feng not to mention it.

Things were mostly the same as usual, except that Chu Feng had taken over all the cooking, and every time Yu An felt like skipping, Yu Huang would stop her.

"By the way," Yu Huang asked casually, "where is Ao Yun?"

Chu Feng glanced around. "I saw Miss Yun helping with the fire just a moment ago. She probably went hunting with the others."

’Digging for bamboo shoots is part of the plan, but so is finding a quiet place to talk to Zaizai.’

Yu An rubbed her belly, trying to strike a deal with her baby. "Zaizai, Female Mother wants to make a deal with you. Can you give Female Mother a heads-up before you decide to come out?"

"Move once for yes, twice for no."

The words had barely left her mouth when she felt a gentle kick in her belly. She quickly added, "Then it’s a deal. The day before you’re ready to come out, you kick three times, and Female Mother will know."

Her belly moved again, signaling its agreement.

Once their negotiation was complete, Yu An took some bamboo shoots out of her storage space, ready to pass them off as freshly dug and head back.

As she turned around, she saw Ao Yun.

Ao Yun was standing under a nearby tree, staring intently at her. Yu An’s hand trembled in shock.

’Thankfully, the basket was covered by a cloth. Ao Yun shouldn’t have seen me pull something out of my storage space.’ 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

’I have to be more careful next time,’ Yu An thought to herself.

"Ao Yun, what are you doing here?"

She walked over, her expression unchanged. "Let’s go. I dug up some bamboo shoots. We can make a soup with the wild pheasant back at camp. It’ll be incredibly fresh."

’Ao Yun has been causing petty trouble lately, but for Female Mother’s sake, I’ve just been turning a blind eye and not making a big deal out of it. If Ao Yun is Female Mother’s child, then we’re half-sisters. A child’s possessiveness is understandable. I can just wait for Female Mother to regain her memories and then teach her better. But if she isn’t Female Mother’s child...’

"Yu An, all that stuff you said before was made up, right?"

Ao Yun’s sudden outburst shattered Yu An’s train of thought. "All that nonsense about Daming Lake and ’The Handsome Little Yu’—you made it all up. Your Beast Father is the Dragon Clan Leader."

"And you! You were supposed to be on the Beastman Continent, living as an Imperial Princess! Why did you have to come back?!"

Her voice was low, deliberately hushed, but her face was twisted in rage. Yu An took an imperceptible step back.

’My Beast Father is the Dragon Clan Leader? So Female Mother is the woman that both the Dragon Clan Leader and the Invincible Alliance Hierarch fell in love with!’

Before she could say a word, Ao Yun spoke again, struggling to contain her fury. "Fine, you came back. But you could have gone to the Dragon Clan! Why did you have to come here and steal Female Mother from me?!"

"Female Mother is mine! No one can take her from me, not even her own biological daughter!"

"What do you mean by that?" Yu An clasped her hands behind her back, unable to hide the shock on her face. "You’re not Female Mother’s child?!"

Over the past few days, Yu Huang’s unconscious gestures of affection toward Yu An had been like daggers to Ao Yun’s eyes. The jealousy in her heart had festered, and now, thinking about how Yu An was about to disappear for good, she decided to drop the pretense.

"That’s right. I’m not really Female Mother’s child..."

"But I spent more than ten years by her side just to earn a tiny scrap of her affection! What right do you have to show up and steal her away so easily?!"

Only a handful of people knew the truth of Ao Yun’s origins. She had always kept it buried deep inside, but today, she would be "merciful" and let Yu An die knowing the full story.

Then, a wide smile spread across her face, but when she looked at Yu An, her eyes were brimming with malice.

"But it doesn’t matter. Soon, I’ll become Female Mother’s *true* child. As for you... from this day forward, you will cease to exist!"

Yu An had been watching her every move. When she saw Ao Yun grab the Jade Pendant from her waist and throw it, Yu An instantly leaped back a great distance.

Ao Yun froze for a second, then burst out laughing so hard that tears streamed down her face. "Trying to run? It’s useless! You’ve just made it easier for the Jade Pendant to suck you in!"

Before she had even finished speaking, a powerful suction force erupted from the Jade Pendant. With lightning-fast reflexes, Yu An threw her arms around a nearby tree.

"Ao Yun, aren’t you afraid Female Mother will find out? They’re not far from here!"

Yu An said grimly, "You said yourself you’ve been with Female Mother for more than a decade. Even if you aren’t her biological child, you’ve developed a bond."

"Even if you kill me, you won’t magically gain Female Mother’s bloodline. Why don’t you stop this now? I’ll pretend none of this ever happened."

Yu An’s tone softened as she tried to coax her. "We’re both Female Mother’s children. There’s no need to blow a little squabble between sisters up for the adults to see."

’Her eyes flickered. Yu Yun was loose-lipped, but Poisonous Insect Granny had interrupted too quickly. I didn’t get a chance to trick them into revealing why they wanted to take me back to the Invincible Alliance. Ao Yun is usually tight-lipped, so this is a good opportunity to get some answers.’

"Female Mother will never know. I put a sedative in the fire. They won’t be waking up anytime soon."

"As for how I’ll obtain Female Mother’s bloodline," Ao Yun sneered, "that’s none of your concern."

"Besides, what right does a useless female like you, with absolutely no spiritual power, have to be my sister?!"

Yu An: "..."

’Great. She’s tight-lipped and resorts to personal attacks.’

’In that case, I’m done playing games.’

’The Jade Pendant’s pull is strong, but I can enter my storage space at any moment, and I still have my Wood Element Ability. This isn’t really dangerous for me.’

Ao Yun seemed absolutely certain she would be sucked in, making no preparations in case she tried to escape.

’Come to think of it,’ Yu An mused, ’it’s been a while since I used my Wood Element Ability. It might be getting a little rusty. Besides, whenever we run into wild beasts, I’m always the one being protected in the middle. I never get a chance to do anything, which seems to have given certain people the impression that I’m an easy target.’

So, she scrapped the plan to hide in her storage space. The power of her Seventh-level Superpower began to gather, and the ground started to tremble.

Caught off guard, Ao Yun staggered and had to grab a nearby tree to keep from falling.

She whipped her head around to face the perfectly composed Yu An. "Yu An, what kind of trick are you playing?!"

Yu An shook her head and corrected her precisely, "Not a small trick. A big one."

As her final word fell, countless thick vines erupted from the ground. They grew with wild abandon, quickly sealing off the entire area.

The Jade Pendant was also entangled in the vines, its suction now so weak it could barely stir a few strands of hair.

Ao Yun’s pupils constricted. "Yu An, what are you doing?!"

She possessed Advanced Spiritual Power, yet in this moment, she was being crushed by a pressure so immense she could hardly breathe.

Yu An smiled faintly. "The same thing you were just trying to do to me, of course."

’That time in the Mist Forest, I didn’t get to see my enemy draw their last breath. This time is different. I have all the time in the world.’