Chapter 7: The True Heir
Shen Yanzhou obediently stood to the side, diligently massaging Yu Chenyu’s shoulders.
Upon hearing these words, he also confirmed the current situation within the mansion.
Most likely, several clan elders had already received the Demon Suppression King’s secret letter and were planning to secretly make contact with Shen Tian.
However, the matter of the true versus false heir was of great consequence.
If all the groundwork was not laid properly in advance, it would easily arouse suspicion from that one within the Hall of Virtuous Enlightenment.
All these years, the Demon Suppression King had left a false heir in the Imperial Capital as a hostage, while his true son was in fact tempered outside, growing steady and outstanding, with the talent to command?
Which emperor could tolerate such deception?
Therefore, at present, the Demon Suppression King was also waiting for the right opportunity and justification before making everything known to the world as if pushing the boat along with the current.
Naturally, the Demon Suppression King could not speak plainly to Yu Chenyu, telling her that Shen Yanzhou was not truly their son.
He could only hint in various ways, attempting to let Shen Tian and Yu Chenyu first make contact.
To this, Shen Yanzhou held only mocking laughter in his heart.
From various clues in the original plot and from the prophecy the Demon Suppression King once received in the Temple of Heavenly Secrets, Shen Tian was most likely not his biological son either.
In fact, the Demon Suppression King might not have had any offspring at all.
As for all these schemes and arrangements, they were absolutely inseparable from the Demon Suppression Princess.
It was precisely because of this that Shen Yanzhou could be certain—when the so-called “biological son” Shen Tian and himself, the “false son” raised for twenty years, stood together before her, the Demon Suppression Princess would reveal her true bias.
“Chunchao.”
Once she had dismissed all the maids in the bamboo pavilion, Yu Chenyu suddenly called softly.
As her voice fell, it seemed as though a breeze stirred through the bamboo grove, rustling the leaves.
A flash of red leapt down from the secluded bamboo treetops, light and graceful like a spirit cat.
This was a girl in crimson robes, with dark hair tied at the tips by a red ribbon.
Her figure was slender as bamboo, her eyes bright and clear, her face stunning, her skin pale as snow.
In her arms she held a gleaming longsword, like spring tides and rippling waves.
“Madam…”
The crimson-robed girl stood quietly by Yu Chenyu’s side, like a delicate doll.
“If in these days within the mansion any rumors spread, take my sword and cut them down. Show no mercy.”
“In addition, Zhou’er’s safety during this time shall be entrusted to you,” Yu Chenyu instructed casually.
Raising a pet for twenty years would breed some attachment, let alone raising a son for twenty years.
The whispers in the mansion these past two days, she had naturally heard, and she was not unaware of the Demon Suppression King’s thoughts either.
It was just that before, she had little intention to intervene.
“Yes, Madam.”
The girl Chunchao, upon hearing this, cast Shen Yanzhou—who was dutifully kneading Yu Chenyu’s shoulders—a quiet glance.
A trace of confusion flickered in her eyes, yet she still nodded as instructed.
“Thank you, Mother.”
Joy appeared on Shen Yanzhou’s face, and the movements of his hands became even more attentive and sincere.
He had come to pay respects, and by displaying a demeanor inconsistent with his former profligate self, he only sought to stir in Yu Chenyu some measure of calculation, along with a faint maternal instinct.
After all, even though the original body had been raised by Yu Chenyu, she held little true affection for him.
In the original work, when the original body was harmed, Yu Chenyu had merely ordered her personal maid Chunchao to bring a straw mat and collect his corpse.
Now, Yu Chenyu had ordered Chunchao to protect him personally.
In Shen Yanzhou’s eyes, this was entirely an unexpected delight.
This prodigious girl had emerged from the Sword Mound of Qilin City, bearing the Pure Sword Heart.
At merely sixteen years of age, she had already stepped into the sixth rank of martial cultivation—the Sea-Cleaving Realm.
By the banks of Qilin City, wielding her Chunchao Sword, she had defeated several masters who had immersed themselves in swordsmanship for decades, shaking the land with her name.
The three sacred places of swordsmanship under heaven were: the Ten-Thousand-Mile Sword Court of the North Sea, the Sword Lodge of Tianshui’s Qilin City, and the Nameless Sword Tomb.
Qilin City’s Sword Mound was known as the land where swords broke.
Those who entered and emerged were all peerlessly gifted sword cultivators.
Yu Chenyu turned her gaze to him and said: “You have already noticed that Shen Tian is unusual?”
Before this hidden mastermind, Shen Yanzhou was frank.
He smiled and said: “Father had already mentioned him many times before. How could your son not pay attention?”
“Then who do you think he is?”
Yu Chenyu lightly nodded, confirming that Shen Yanzhou had indeed been concealing his sharpness all along.
“He should be the true heir—the true child of Mother.” Shen Yanzhou restrained his smile and replied solemnly.
“The true child?”
Yu Chenyu smiled, as if recalling something, then shook her head lightly: “I have never once seen that child.”
“Your son is but an adopted child, a substitute. In the end, Shen Tian ought to be Mother’s biological child. Even if separated for many years, blood is thicker than water—how could Mother not acknowledge him?”
“Besides, Father had always kept him hidden, never letting him be exposed before the world. Now that he is stepping out from behind the curtain, your son should naturally know when to disappear.” Shen Yanzhou lowered his eyes.
Yu Chenyu sighed softly: “You are even more perceptive and intelligent than I imagined. These years must have been hard to conceal.”
Shen Yanzhou said quietly: “But Father never liked me being too intelligent. He did not wish for me to practice martial arts or cultivate the Dao. He did not even want me to read or write, to nurture literary talent. For twenty years, enduring countless assassination attempts large and small—if I had not acted as he wished, playing the good-for-nothing wastrel, I would not be alive today.”
The crimson-robed girl Chunchao, standing nearby, heard these words, and the astonishment in her eyes deepened.
She could not help but look long at Shen Yanzhou, as though seeing him for the first time.
In her impression, this hedonistic heir was always stirring up trouble—either harassing noble girls or cursing officials.
He had even once clamored for Madam to bestow her upon him.
Who would have thought he also had this side, that all these years he had sullied his name only to hide his brilliance?
Yu Chenyu fell silent.
She too seemed to be seeing this son she had raised for twenty years for the first time.
Strangeness mingled with a trace of comfort.
“Then do you hate him?” Yu Chenyu asked.
Shen Yanzhou seemed to fall into thought.
After a moment, he shook his head: “Your son does not know who his true parents are. But without Father, I would not have had these twenty years of luxury and retinue.”
An ambiguous answer.
Yu Chenyu nodded softly.
It seemed there was indeed hatred.
“Do not worry. No matter how ruthless your father may be, he cannot make you disappear. If you vanish, that one in the Hall of Virtuous Enlightenment would become suspicious, and that cannot be explained away.”
“Your father is the most meticulous man under heaven. He would never leave behind any handle or flaw.” Yu Chenyu spoke softly.