At this moment, Madam Xia sat upright in a side hall of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect's main altar, her slender fingers constantly stroking the rim of her teacup. The tea had long since gone cold, but she seemed oblivious, only glancing out of the hall from time to time, her eyes gleaming with a sickly expectation.

"Why haven't we heard anything yet...?"

She muttered to herself, her voice filled with anxiety. On her well-maintained face, there was not a trace of the worry a mother should have; only a deep-seated hatred surged in her eyes.

Madam Xia truly had no feelings for Xia Qingdai.

The child was taken away shortly after birth and did not return to the mansion until he was a teenager.

At that time, she felt no pity for Xia Qingdai, who was pitiful to the extreme.

She wasn't thinking about whether Xia Qingdai had suffered a lot over the years.

She was maliciously replaced; were she subjected to physical and verbal abuse by those people...?

What she was thinking was, how could her own daughter be so disrespectable?

Compared to Yuwei, whom she personally taught, Xia Qingdai was far inferior.

She had considered taking the daughter in, but the girl's petty and narrow-minded manner truly disgusted her from the bottom of her heart.

She had thought more than once that if Xia Qingdai hadn't been found, then no one would have been able to upset Yuwei...

Yes.

In fact, Madam Xia had always known what Xia Yuwei had done to Xia Qingdai...

It's not that she can't care, she just doesn't care.

After all, in her heart, Xia Qingdai was just a stranger who had suddenly barged into her life, and Yuwei also needed a way to vent her inner pain.

She even felt a little happy when she thought about the things Yuwei had done to hurt Xia Qingdai out of jealousy, after all, it was a way for Yuwei to show her love.

"My Yuwei..." Thinking of her youngest daughter, whom she had cherished since childhood, Madam Xia's eyes reddened. She still remembered Yuwei's shrill screams when she was torn apart by those demonic beasts, and how she desperately tried to get Xia Qingdai to save her.

"That bitch!" Madam Xia suddenly slammed her teacup to the ground, shards of porcelain flying everywhere. "She's so powerful! Yuwei was just trying to teach her a lesson, and she went to such lengths! This time, she can finally die!"

The Wan Du Sect disciples standing in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment.

They had already witnessed Madam Xia's madness, but they never expected it to reach this level. Those were her own flesh and blood!

"You all say..." Madam Xia suddenly looked up, her eyes bloodshot, "With my life's work, that bitch will surely die, won't she?" She nervously grabbed a disciple's sleeve, "I want to hear of her death! Immediately! Right now!"

The disciple was so frightened by her crazed gaze that he took a half step back.

Although these evil cultivators were ruthless, they could hardly understand why a mother would hate her own daughter so much.

You have to understand, that's a peerless genius who reached the Nascent Soul stage at such a young age! Anyone else would be laughing in their sleep.

But Madam Xia wished Xia Qingdai would die immediately, which is truly incomprehensible.

"Don't worry, Madam..." an older disciple said with a smile, "With Elder Crimson Scorpion personally taking action, and with your blood as the catalyst, Xia Qingdai is doomed."

Madam Xia calmed down slightly, a twisted smile playing on her lips: "Good, very good..." She touched the still-healing wound in her chest, where it throbbed faintly. "I want to see her body dragged back, to see her punished."

"You can rest assured about that." The Wan Du Sect disciple stepped closer, a lewd grin spreading across his face. "Elder Crimson Scorpion is most skilled at crafting living puppets. Once we capture Xia Qingdai, we'll completely annihilate her primordial spirit, then refine her body into a top-grade furnace." He licked his dry lips. "At that time, the entire sect will be able to enjoy this Nascent Soul stage expert."

Mrs. Xia looked at them in disbelief.

The scene of her first meeting with Xia Qingdai uncontrollably flashed before her eyes: the frail girl hiding behind the housekeeper, timidly peeking out, her eyes filled with longing for maternal love.

Those clear eyes stood in stark contrast to the tragic scene the disciple was describing.

She clenched the handkerchief in her hand, her knuckles turning white from the force. As a mother, she instinctively felt a pang of discomfort. But in an instant, this faint sense of reluctance was swallowed up by overwhelming hatred.

"This is the retribution she deserved," Madam Xia said through gritted teeth, her voice trembling slightly. "Who told her...who told her to be better than Yuwei in every way?" She nervously twisted her handkerchief. "My Yuwei was so obedient and sensible, yet she died so tragically. Why...why does she deserve to live so well?"

By the end, she was practically screaming hysterically. The flickering candlelight in the hall cast a distorted shadow, mirroring the twisted state of her heart.

"Since Yuwei is gone... then she doesn't deserve to live."

She turned to look out the window, where the sounds of fighting could be faintly heard in the distance. But at this moment, she had only one obsession: she didn't care what means were used to kill Xia Qingdai.

Before she could finish speaking, a commotion suddenly arose outside the hall. Madam Xia abruptly stood up, her eyes flashing with a sickly light: "They've arrived! The news has arrived!"

However, when she saw who had barged in, the smile on her face froze instantly. It was not a triumphant disciple of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect at all, but a gatekeeper cultivator covered in blood.

"No, this is terrible!" The disciple practically crawled into the main hall.

"The Xuantian Sect... the Xuantian Sect has come knocking on our door!" With each word, he vomited a mouthful of black blood. "Elder Red Scorpion and the others... they're all dead! Not even... not even a trace of their remains..."

With a sharp crack, the jade cup in Madam Xia's hand fell to the ground and shattered. She staggered back several steps, her back slamming heavily against the incense table.

"This is impossible..." Her lips trembled violently, her face deathly pale. A terrifying thought gnawed at her reason like a venomous snake: that wretched creature... was still alive?

Chaos erupted instantly inside the hall. The disciples of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect turned pale, and some had already quietly moved towards the side door.

"Halt! All of you!" a black-robed elder shouted sternly. "Activate the sect's protective formation! Activate all the poisonous miasma restrictions!"

With a sickening clang of machinery, the entire headquarters of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect trembled violently. Seventy-two stone pillars, engraved with patterns of poisonous insects, rose from the ground, spewing out dark green poisonous mist. Countless cracks appeared in the ground, and countless venomous snakes, scorpions, and other poisonous creatures surged out from the earth, forming a writhing barrier around the protective array.

Madam Xia stood frozen in place, the panicked shouts of her disciples ringing in her ears:

"Activate the Blood Sacrifice Array immediately!"

"All the restrictions on the Poison Dragon Pool have been lifted!"

"Let all the drug slaves push forward!"

She mechanically turned her head towards the mountain gate, only to see that the distant sky had been dyed an eerie purplish-black. And within the churning poisonous clouds, a white figure was walking through the air, and wherever it passed, the poisonous mist dissipated, and all poisons were repelled.

She knew that figure all too well...

It was her own daughter, Xia Qingdai, whom she had been longing to kill day and night!