Of Foxfire and Cultivation Ch.13 (Patreon)

“I’m… I’m your mother…”

Yu Wu went rigid at the woman’s words. Her world seemed to freeze on that moment. The woman’s words… her mother’s words echoed in Yu Wu’s brain. With three words, the truth of something that Yu Wu thought she had known her entire life was brought into question.

The full spectrum of emotions flashed through Yu Wu’s heart and showed on her face. Disbelief that this could be happening, that her mother could be alive. Anger and hate at her father for lying to her for years. A sliver of hope that she actually had blood-related family that loved her. Resentment for being left with that leech of a father for her whole life.

“Where…” Yu Wu said with a dry throat and a cracked voice. “Where were you?”

The woman was on the verge of hysterics. All she could say was “I’m sorry” over and over again as she held Yu Wu. They were starting to draw a crowd. People around them were whispering and murmuring, wondering what the hell was going on.

Suddenly, Onari swooped in to prevent the situation from getting even worse. He had left Lavinia in the care of his mother, something he knew he would soon come to regret. He didn’t have much of a choice though. Feeling Yu Wu’s chaotic heart through their bond had forced him to act without hesitation.

Upon seeing the woman holding his Dao Companion tightly and sobbing, Onari did what he could to take charge of the situation. He flexed his will, throwing up an illusion over the pair and himself to make the growing crowd ignore them. He ran up to the two women, placing a cautious hand on the shoulder of the woman he didn’t know and a comforting hand on Yu Wu.

“Let’s take this somewhere more private,” he suggested, already leading the two of them out of the party.

Yu Wu was still a little shell-shocked when they reached an area where the three of them could talk in private, but over the short walk, her agitation at the woman’s hysterics had begun to grow. The woman hadn’t stopped sobbing for a single second to explain anything other than “I’m your mother”.

Onari ushered the two women into the room and sat them down. He quickly layered a privacy spell over the room. Joining the two of them, he let out a sigh and grabbed Yu Wu’s hand. He squeezed lightly, feeling Yu Wu’s tension relax slightly through their bond.

“Alright, now that we have some privacy, what’s going on?” Onari asked Yu Wu. The woman still hadn’t stopped crying, but her tears had slowed down when she was physically separated from Yu Wu. She was now visibly trying to pull herself together.

“She said she’s my mother… I… I believe her…” Yu Wu replied.

The woman’s hiccuping sobs redoubled. They seemed more relieved after Yu Wu said she believed the woman was telling the truth. It took another minute for the woman to pull herself together enough to speak.

The woman took a shaky breath, “M-My apologies for how I acted. Such hysterics is unbecoming of a woman of my position. My name is Yu Long, and as I said before, I am Yu Wu’s mother.”

Onari tried his best to take the revelation in stride, “Nice to meet you, Yu Long. I am your son-in-law, Onari.”

“I-I know who you are, Onari.”

Both Onari and Yu Wu stiffened at that, “How do you know who my darling is?”

Yu Long hesitated, “... That brings me to yet another thing I must atone for… You may hate me for this, but all I ask is that you hear me out…”

That gave Onari an ominous feeling in his gut, “... We’ll try.”

“I must humbly apologize for the actions of my subordinate, Xiao Li… I understand that you have been wronged, and all I can do is ask for forgiveness. I assure you that Xiao Li’s actions have not gone unpunished. If necessary, I am willing to turn her over to your hands so that you may enact justice yourselves.”

Blood-red rage rushed through Yu Wu’s veins. She tried shooting to her feet, but was stopped by Onari’s hand on her shoulder. She was basically hissing at Yu Long now. Yu Long’s reveal had instantly killed most of the hope and good will Yu Wu had for her ‘mother’.

“Thank you for the apology. I don’t know if we will be able to forgive you, but you’ve given us face by apologizing and offering to make amends,” Onari said, forced to be the reasonable one out of the Dao Companions. “Yu Wu, sit. I promised that we will try to hear her out. Put aside your anger at Xiao Li for a moment. There are more important things for the two of you to talk about.”

“She was the one who sent that… that bitch,” Yu Wu hissed.

“I know this will not do much to make you feel better, but that meeting was not supposed to go that way. Xiao Li’s actions are her own. Her attitude in no way reflects mine,” Yu Long reassured.

Yu Wu calmed slightly, but was still subtly bristling with anger, “This is not over… Don’t think I’m forgiving her for what happened that day. I’m only giving you a chance to explain yourself because you’re my mother and Onari promised we’d hear you out.”

Yu Long nodded, “That is all I ask.”

Yu Wu took a couple breaths to center herself. The past 20 minutes had been an emotional rollercoaster. She had gone from shocked hope, to resentment, to rage, and they hadn’t even gotten to the meat of this conversation yet. She still wanted to know where her mother had been.

“Now… Where have you been?”

The guilt and pain on Yu Long’s face was obvious, “... As you might remember from your meeting with Xiao Li, I run a sect. This means I am almost constantly busy, either with cultivation or with the affairs of the sect. Still, years ago, I unfortunately managed to find the time to have an affair with Da Shuizhi.

“By the luck of the heavens, the affair resulted in a child. I… I was scared. No, I was terrified. I didn’t think I was ready to have a child. I knew nothing of parenting, and I was worried I would end up ruining my child’s life.

“So it was decided that Da Shuizhi would raise the child so that I could focus on my sect and prepare until I felt I was ready to be a mother… That was the single greatest mistake of my life. Da Shuizhi immediately cut contact with me. He blocked me from seeing you. I could only watch from afar as you grew up and Da Shuizhi became more and more twisted and corrupted…

“When Onari rescued you from that man’s clutches, I could not have been happier. I thought I could finally have a chance to get to know my daughter, to atone for my mistake. But I was still scared. Something… deep inside me was preventing me from reaching for you like I wanted…”

“What changed?” Yu Wu asked quietly.

“Apparently not enough… I was still too scared to meet you in person. I sent one of my subordinates to do my dirty work. And only after her actions threatened to ruin any relationship I could potentially have with you did I take action myself.”

Yu Wu’s young mistress persona had long since been dropped in the face of Yu Long’s bare emotions, “And what do you want from me now that you’ve suddenly come into my life? I don’t know you… I literally thought you were dead for my entire life…”

“I want to atone for my many mistakes. I want a chance to have the family that my own decision robbed me of. I… I want to get to know my daughter and the life she now lives.”

Yu Wu stood quickly and turned her back on her mother, “... I need to think.”

Yu Long stretched her arm out after Yu Wu’s retreating back like she was desperately trying to grasp grains of sand that kept slipping through her fingers. Onari let Yu Wu go. Through the bond, he could feel that she needed a couple of minutes to herself before he would need to go after her.

Crystal tears beaded in the corners of Yu Long’s eyes. The flame of hope in her bosom flickered and waned. Something malicious inside her clawed at her heart.

‘She doesn’t want anything to do with me,’ Intrusive thoughts invaded her mind. ‘She’s the only real family I have and I’ve driven her away.’

“She’ll be back. This is all a lot for her to process. Just give her some time…” Onari said, sitting next to Yu Long and laying a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Yu Long let out a choking laugh, “You’re too kind to an old woman like me, Onari. But I know my actions have driven her away. First my decision to abandon her with that leech… Then my constant cowardice once she was free of him… And finally, the short-sighted way I went about reuniting with her. It’s all my fault…”

Onari kept quiet. It wasn’t his place to share what Yu Wu was projecting over their bond. Yu Wu’s were mostly dominated by confusion. In less than half an hour, her mother had suddenly showed up, she found out that Xiao Li worked for her mother, and heard the real reason she was left with Da Shuizhi. To say she was processing things was an understatement.

Onari could feel Yu Long’s Qi beside him. It was starting to twist in on itself in a disturbingly familiar manner. The emotional stress of her reunion with Yu Wu was pushing something inside her to the breaking point. Onari discreetly began to use Senjutsu to cycle the local Qi.

With Senjutsu giving him a clearer picture of Yu Long’s being, Onari could see the darkness in her heart. It wasn’t a part of her. It was aimed at her. It was gnawing away at her heart, and after the tribulation that came with his breakthrough to the Fourth Stage, Onari recognized a Heart Demon when he saw one.

Onari sent a hurried message through his bond with Yu Wu. He could feel her shock and worry respond almost instantly. Any grievances she had about her mother were shoved to the side as she hurried back into the room.

Yu Long was hyperventilating at this point. Fueled by her distressed emotions, her internal Qi was trying its best to run wild through her body. A battle was being fought within Yu Long’s heart.

For more than a decade, a shaky balance had existed in Yu Long’s mind. A balance between her desire to see her daughter and the cowardice that kept her from acting. A balance between being content to watch her daughter from afar and worry about what Da Shuizhi was doing to her.

When Onari had stepped into Yu Wu’s life and shaken everything up, that balance was another casualty. Her daughter now had a savior: one straight out of a storybook. But she was still so far from Yu Long. She was happy for her daughter for finding her fated partner, but at the same time, she resented Onari for being able to be with Yu Wu.

It was irrational, but it still made perfect sense to Yu Long’s deeply hurt mind. She hated herself just as much as she longed to see her daughter. As the years went on, she began to feel more and more that she wasn’t even worthy of her daughter’s time.

After all, who would want a mother that abandoned them? Who would accept a coward as their mother? She had often cried herself to sleep, looking at the reports that the watchers she had assigned had sent about Yu Wu. She was so happy that Yu Wu was happy. But… she wanted to be a part of that happiness.

A looming shadow appeared in Yu Long’s vision. A shadow of her past. A shadow of the past that she had inflicted on her only daughter. She saw the similarities there and she cried. Just as Yu Long had been orphaned when she came into this world, she had essentially orphaned Yu Wu, leaving only a leech to ‘care’ for her.

Outside of Yu Long’s mind, Onari was pushing his abilities with Senjutsu to their very limits in an effort to keep Yu Long’s Qi from violently exploding from her body. Yu Wu knelt in front of her catatonic, yet still crying, mother. She held Yu Long’s hands, trying to get through to her mother.

“Stay with me! Y-You’re not allowed to die now. Not when you finally came into my life. T-This young mistress commands it!”

There were flashes of comprehension on Yu Long’s face as Yu Wu’s words fought through the Heart Demon’s dark trance. Yu Long’s face froze in a smile.

“Yu… Wu…” Yu Long spoke haltingly with tears streaming down her face. “Please… don’t hate… your… coward… of a mother…”

“You… You don’t get to decide how I feel about you,” Yu Wu said, surprised to find herself blinking back her own tears. “I get to decide that. I get to decide how I feel about you… after we get to know each other. You’re not allowed to die yet… Not before I know you well enough to call you mom…”

The word ‘mom’ sent a surge of energy rushing into Yu Long’s heart. It wasn’t enough to kill the Heart Demon, but it was enough for Yu Long to resist. She would not go gently into this goodnight. She would fight, fight to be a part of her daughter’s life.

Something clicked. Yu Long separated from the Heart Demon that had held her heart hostage for years. No longer was she being eaten from the inside. Now, she was directly faced with her Demon, and she stood strong. Her love for Yu Wu came surging to the forefront.

Even then, it… wasn’t enough. This Heart Demon had been allowed to fester and gain strength for more than a decade. It had put down roots in Yu Long’s heart and mind. It would not stop until it claimed her soul.

There was only silence as Yu Long’s eyes closed. Her Qi slowly settled into a stable equilibrium. Within Yu Long’s mind, she was still waging war against the Heart Demon. But to the outside world, she had been cast into eternal sleep.

Onari exhaled, sweaty and exhausted from channeling so much Senjutsu. Yu Wu felt her mother’s hands go limp in her grip. Both of them could still feel Yu Long’s lifeforce. It was weak, but steady and determined to live. For now though, Yu Long was lost to both of them.

A gasping sob escaped Yu Wu’s lips as Onari wrapped his arms around her, “I was so close… so close…”

Onari hummed, stroking Yu Wu’s hair, “I know, love. I know. She’s not gone though. We just have to get her back so you can finally get to know your mother… And maybe slap her and hug her as well.”