An Extra Villain in Cultivation World-Chapter 68: “Yanmei’s Hidden Jealousy”

"You don’t really hate Lingling... do you?"

Yanmei averted her gaze from Xuanyan, clearly unwilling to answer his question. "Since when is that any of your business?"

But Xuanyan wasn’t about to back down. "Actually it does," he said. "Lingling is my wife now. Her problems and her family relationships concern me too."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "And honestly... it doesn’t look like you truly hate her. To me it feels more like some misunderstanding between the two of you."

Yanmei chuckled lightly, covering her mouth when she heard Xuanyan’s reasoning. "You think I’m your sweet, dumb Lingling who would fall for those smooth words?" she said with faint amusement. "Nice try by the way." It was obvious she was trying to end the conversation there.

But Xuanyan only looked more amused. "You’re right," he said. "Your life decisions have nothing to do with me, and neither does your relationship with Lingling."

He shrugged slightly. "I just hope you don’t mind me telling her about what happened between us."

Yanmei’s face darkened instantly. "You—!".

She stopped herself halfway, clearly realizing she had reacted too strongly. She immediately looked away, clearly irritated, but the faint redness on her cheeks made it obvious she wasn’t as calm as she wanted to appear.

"Nothing happened between us," Yanmei said quickly, her face still flushed. In truth, nothing improper had happened. Earlier that day, when she finally found Xuanyan inside the outer sect courtyard after searching for him, he had suddenly pulled her into a hug.

At that moment she thought he must have been shaken after everything that had happened with the bounty hunters. Because of that, she hadn’t pushed him away immediately. But even after that few moment passed, Yanmei still didn’t create any distance between them.

Instead, almost without thinking, she had returned the hug. Maybe she simply didn’t want Lingling to know about that moment... especially when Lingling had been crying alone in her room because Xuanyan had disappeared.

The worst part was that Yanmei didn’t regret it. If anything, the memory of that brief hug had stayed in her mind since yesterday, returning again and again no matter how much she tried not to think about it.

Xuanyan chuckled softly when he saw her reaction. "Relax," he said lightly. "I didn’t say anything happened." He leaned back slightly in his chair, watching her with quiet amusement. "If someone heard you just now, they might think we did something truly scandalous."

Yanmei’s face flushed even more, though she tried to keep her expression stern. "I already told you nothing happened," she replied sharply, clearly annoyed that he was still teasing her.

"It’s nothing serious," Yanmei said after a moment, her voice calmer now. "Our relationship simply became awkward because of my own stupidity."

"When Mother adopted me, I was still very young. Around that time Lingling had just been born. We grew up in the same courtyard and for many years I never thought about the difference between us. To me she was simply my little sister.

When she was small she followed me everywhere like a little shadow. If I went to the herb garden, she went to the herb garden. If I went to the alchemy hall, she insisted on sitting beside me even though she didn’t understand anything about refining pills."

A faint smile appeared on Yanmei’s lips as the memory surfaced. "Once she even sneaked into the herb garden behind my back and started pulling out spiritual herbs because she thought they were ordinary flowers. Mother had spent days cultivating those herbs, and Lingling ruined half of them before anyone noticed. She looked so frightened afterward that she hid behind me and refused to come out until Mother promised not to punish her."

The smile faded slowly as the memory moved forward.

"For a long time I didn’t think about it at all. But as we grew older... I started noticing things I hadn’t paid attention to before. Lingling was Mother’s real daughter, the only one she had. I was just the adopted child among many. Mother never treated me badly and Lingling never looked down on me, but the more I thought about it the more that difference began to bother me."

Xuanyan didn’t interrupt her. But hearing her speak like this, he could finally understand where the distance between the two sisters had begun.

She gave a faint, self-mocking smile. "It wasn’t Mother’s fault and it wasn’t Lingling’s fault either. The problem was simply my own childish jealousy. Every time I saw Lingling smiling beside Mother or being praised for something small, I would start comparing myself to her without realizing it. The more I compared, the more uncomfortable I felt."

"So instead of admitting that jealousy, I started pushing her away. I spent more time inside the alchemy hall, telling myself I was focusing on cultivation and alchemy so I could impress Mother one day. In reality... I was just avoiding the feeling that I was somehow standing behind Lingling."

"By the time I grew older and realized how childish that thinking was, the distance between us had already become normal. Lingling no longer followed me around like she did when we were young. When she looked at me, it wasn’t with those carefree eyes anymore... and that was when I finally understood what I had thrown away."

Yanmei’s gaze shifted briefly toward Xuanyan. "But after Lingling met you, something changed again. The way she smiles now is the same as when we were children. She talks to me normally again, as if the distance that existed between us for years simply disappeared."

"And that’s why I said it’s my own fault. Lingling didn’t hold onto the past... she simply moved forward."

Her eyes lowered slightly again before she added the last part more quietly. "And the person she chose to move forward with... was you."

For a moment Yanmei fell silent, her fingers resting lightly on the edge of the table as if she hadn’t meant to say that much. For a brief moment she looked as if she regretted letting those words slip out so easily in front of him.

I used to think Lingling would always keep a little distance from me after what happened between us," she continued quietly. "But when I saw her worrying about you yesterday... and smiling again the moment you returned... it felt strangely familiar."

Her lips curved faintly with a mixture of relief and self-mockery. "It reminded me of the way she used to smile when we were children." Her voice lowered slightly. "And for the first time in years... she looked at me the same way again."

"Sometimes I wonder... if I hadn’t pushed her away back then..."

"Oh? That sounds like a very interesting story." The voice came from directly behind her ear.

Yanmei froze. She turned around instantly and saw Mei Lingyao standing quietly behind her chair, her black robes flowing gently as if she had been there for some time already. A faint amused smile rested on the alchemy elder’s face as she looked between Yanmei and Xuanyan.

"So this is the kind of conversation happening in my hall while I was refining pills?"

Yanmei’s face flushed immediately.