Chapter 2. Worldly ties are like fleeting clouds to me.
One day later.
In front of the creaking wooden door of the Xujing Temple, a black Maybach stood out starkly from its dilapidated surroundings.
Shen Yuepo stood on the steps of the Taoist temple, his Taoist robe fluttering in the mountain breeze, his gaze calm and unwavering as he surveyed the group of people below.
The middle-aged couple at the head of the group were well-dressed and had an outstanding presence, especially the well-maintained lady.
He was staring intently at her with tearful eyes, so excited that his breath trembled.
They were followed by several bodyguards and assistants.
"Ningning...is she my Ningning?" Madam Shen could no longer restrain herself. She rushed forward and opened her arms to embrace her.
Shen Yuepo instinctively stepped back.
“Madam, you must have mistaken me for someone else,” Shen Yuepo said calmly. “I am an orphan and have no parents.”
"No, there's no mistake!" Madam Shen pointed urgently at her neck, "You have a crescent-shaped birthmark here, my daughter had it when she was born! And..."
With trembling hands, she took a yellowed photograph out of her bag. "Look, this is a picture of you when you were three years old."
Shen Yuepo looked down and saw that the little girl in the photo did indeed resemble her in seven or eight parts.
Chairman Shen, a powerful figure in the business world, now had a hoarse and choked voice:
"Eighteen years... Ever since you were kidnapped by villains in the mall, we've sent people to search every corner of the country. Heaven has eyes, yet you've been left to wander here..."
He looked at his daughter in her Taoist robe, her demeanor aloof and distant, and felt a pang of heartache.
Shen Yuepo's gaze swept over the photo, a ripple passing through his eyes before returning to calm.
She took a deep breath, her tone remaining indifferent:
"What you say, Madam, is impossible to verify. Even if it were true..."
She raised her eyes, her gaze clear yet distant. "I have transcended worldly life. Worldly ties are like fleeting clouds to me. I will not go with you."
"Little Moon." A voice came from behind.
Lin Yanxin was already standing inside the threshold of the Taoist temple, her Taoist robe billowing in the wind.
"They are indeed your biological parents."
Shen Yuepo looked at Lin Yanxin with icy eyes, her gaze full of threat, as if to say, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
Lin Yanxin, enduring that gaze that seemed to want to tear her apart, swallowed hard:
"Before his death, Master told me about your background."
He avoided Shen Yuepo's increasingly cold gaze, his voice lowering:
“Back then, my master was passing through a poor mountain village when he found you in the mud of a pigsty.”
He paused, seemingly unable to bear the memory, "Back then, you were covered in wounds and chained up. Those beasts said you were an ominous creature, born with the ability to see ghosts and evil spirits..."
Shen Yuepo lowered her eyes slightly, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow under her eyes.
Her memories of being abducted were already blurred; the only physical evidence of her past was the cold jade pendant around her neck.
She has worn a piece of mutton-fat white jade engraved with the character "Chen" ever since she can remember, and it has never left her side.
According to my master, when they were about to take her away, she dug herself out of a corner of the pigsty.
"Master saw that you were born with the ability to see ghosts and had a special destiny. He took pity on you and brought you back to the temple to raise you..." Lin Yanxin added, her tone heavy.
"Heh." A cold laugh escaped from Shen Yuepo's lips, laced with mockery.
She raised her head, her gaze sweeping once more over the stunned Shen couple standing below the steps.
Finally, the image settled on Lin Yanxin's face, her eyebrows raised defiantly:
"So... even if it's true, so what?"
After finishing speaking, Shen Yuepo turned and left.
Lin Yanxin's voice followed from behind, carrying an unusual solemnity:
"Sinking Moon Soul!"
She paused slightly, but did not turn around. Only the hem of her gray-blue Taoist robe seemed to freeze for a moment in the mountain wind.
Lin Yanxin took a few steps forward, not getting close, but her voice was clear enough to reach Shen Yuepo's ears, and also to the couple gazing down the steps.
His gaze passed over Shen Yuepo's shoulder, looking towards the distant, mist-shrouded mountains, his voice low and solemn:
“Master had already foreseen this in your life. Before he passed away, he not only told me about your background, but also repeatedly gave me instructions.”
"The blood ties between relatives are already intertwined with one's destiny from the moment of birth, and cannot be easily severed by external forces."
Shen Yuepo's back remained as straight as a pine tree, seemingly unmoved.
Lin Yanxin emphasized:
“Master said that this thread of cause and effect is not an ordinary matter of gratitude or resentment. If one forcibly reverses it, attempting to sever it by one's own will…”
He took a deep breath. "Not only will it bring back the backlash of one's destiny, but it may also disrupt one's own fortune, causing unexpected obstacles on the path of cultivation, and even... attracting unpredictable calamities!"
Upon hearing this, Madam Shen, who was standing at the bottom of the steps, clenched her hands tightly, her nails almost digging into her palms, and tears welled up in her eyes again, but she dared not utter a sound.
The mountain wind seemed to fall silent, leaving only Lin Yanxin's heavy words echoing in the air.
Shen Yuepo finally turned around slowly.
Her face remained expressionless, but a tiny crack seemed to have appeared in her eyes.
Those who cultivate themselves should avoid getting involved in cause and effect, lest they be burdened by karmic debts.
“Go with them.”
A chilling voice suddenly rang in her mind.
It wasn't the sound from the outside world, but rather the cool white jade bracelet on her wrist.
"reason."
"Shen Yuepo said coldly."
Lin Yanxin was clearly taken aback, looking at her in confusion: "What reason?"
He clearly couldn't hear the voice transmission from the person inside the bracelet.
“They carry the scent of what I need. You help me find it, and I will help you… sever this kinship.”
Shen Yuepo looked down at the white jade bracelet on her wrist, then looked up at the couple below the steps who claimed to be her biological parents.
a long time.
The mountain breeze ruffled the stray hairs on her forehead and dispelled the last trace of hesitation in her eyes.
She raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping over Lin Yanxin's worried face before finally settling on the Shen couple.
"Alright. I'll go down the mountain with you."
“But…” she changed the subject, “Don’t call me Ningning.”
"My name is Shen Yuepo."
After saying that, she stopped looking at anyone, turned around and walked straight to her simple room deep inside the Taoist temple.
Lin Yanxin let out a long sigh of relief, but her heart was filled with mixed feelings.
At the bottom of the steps, the Shen couple exchanged a glance. Madam Shen covered her mouth, tears silently streaming down her face.
Chairman Shen gripped his wife's hand tightly.
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