The more she pondered about this matter, the more it seemed to be mired in mysteries. And at the heart of all of this was a single youth: Wuzhi.

"Finding Wuzhi and getting him in our grasp is our most important priority. Only with him can we even begin unravelling this tangled mess of mysteries," explained Second Sister. She then levelled a confused gaze at her fellow sister-wife and asked, "Can you simply not divine his location?"

At her question, Third Sister let out a mirthless laugh. "Ever since learning this truth, I've spent every waking second over this past month, trying to scry for his location. During this process, I've sacrificed no less than three hundred years of my remaining lifespan," she revealed.

The others inhaled shortly, shock appearing on their faces.

"Wuzhi, this youth," she said; hatred, admiration, and interest appearing within her eyes, "is able to hide from heaven's eyes!"

Another bolt of lightning struck the three spectators. There simply seemed to be no end to today's shocking revelations.

"How can this be!? He's not supposed to have a Core!" shrieked Second Sister.

Third Sister shook her head at this. "We do not know that for certain. After all, we only have his words to rely on."

Everything that they knew about Wuzhi had come from the youth's very own lips. It was unknown just how much of it was the truth and how much of it was lies.

"In any case," continued Third Sister. "We can only rely on luck to find him. Physically searching for him is also possible but that is akin to finding a droplet of water amidst a vast ocean."

Second Sister added to her words. "Not only is it impossible but highly suspicious as well. Even now, the Mu Household is not without enemies. Every action of ours is being closely scrutinized by them. If we were to act suspicious, it would only serve to alert and inform the enemy."

Only then did a bolt of inspiration strike Second Sister. She immediately looked over at the unconscious Chu Mingxi before turning to look at Third Sister. "No wonder you invited Chu Mingxi here and spoke the truth to her. You want to use her karmic connection with Wuzhi to bolster our chances of finding him."

Karma existed and its strings tightly bound every single being in this world. If Wuzhi really was Yuechen's son then Chu Mingxi, being the youth's maternal aunt, would surely have a tighter karmic bond with the youth. This increased their chances of finding him.

"Indeed. That was my plan," Third Sister admitted to it. "I was planning to use her to find Wuzhi and feel out his intentions."

"You want to test the waters? Why? Do you think he might be hostile towards his family?" asked Second Sister.

"Wouldn't you be? Think about it. You have been abandoned to live a poor life with only your crippled mother to keep you company. Meanwhile, your father is one of the most powerful people in the entire world and is the patriarch of the richest family. Also, your younger sibling sits upon your rightful seat and is accorded every luxury that, rightfully, belongs to you."

"Not to mention, there is also the matter regarding the engagement to the Crown Princess of the Heavenly Spirit Empire." Finishing her statement, Third Sister asked, "Tell me, Second Sister, if it were you, would you be able to keep calm and not feel any hatred?"

Second Sister shook her head.

"That is why we must feel out his intentions first. If he is positively inclined and can be appeased then he must naturally be invited back into his ancestral home," explained Third Sister. "Yes, there are some risks with this method but it is the most surefire way to resolve our husband's ailment. And once he has recovered, we need not fear anything."

"However," Third Sister's eyes took a sharper glint. "If he intends to harm the family, all for petty, childish revenge, then he must swiftly be eliminated. We must then seek another method to resolve our husband's Heart Demon."

"Is there another method?" asked Second Sister. Third Sister did not reply, giving her answer.

Second Sister took a deep breath and forced her tired mind to continue with deductions. She understood why her fellow sister-wife had revealed these truths to her; it was because she was a [Wisdom Path] cultivator.

Third Sister was accomplished in schemes and plots. However, when compared to a veteran [Wisdom Path] cultivator, these schemes and plots were filled with innumerable, easy-to-exploit holes.

Second Sister's role in this matter was to identify and fill these holes.

Minutes later, the azure-haired fairy had already finished her preliminary calculations. She then turned to Fourth Sister and instructed, "Wake Chu Mingxi up."

In other words, she had consented to Third Sister's plans.

---

[Plant Path] possessed the greatest self-recovery and healing property among all the major Paths.

Fourth Sister sent a few pulses of her green-coloured energy into Chu Mingxi's head, rousing her from her unconscious state. The latter's eyes opened up and a set of unfocused eyes came into existence.

Her unfocused state did not last long, however, as she instantly snapped to her senses and entered a battle-ready state. Just as she gathered her energy to lash out, she heard an even voice talk to her.

"Chu Mingxi, if that frozen heart of yours feels any gratitude at all then I ask that you stay your hand and allow us to explain ourselves."

"Oh, so it's the scheming Second Wh*re," scoffed Chu Mingxi. "Tell me, why must I grace you all with a few minutes of life when I can end it right now?"

"You will do it because you owe us for not taking your life whilst you were unconscious," said Second Sister.

"Pah!" Chu Mingxi snorted. "As if you could've done anything to me. You would've died even sooner had you attempted harm upon me."

"Exactly. And that is why you will grant us this mercy." The azure-haired fairy then directed an evaluative gaze at the other party and said, "Don't tell me that the Grand Elder of the Sacred Snow Heart Sect, a venerable senior of the cultivation world, possesses the heart of a dog?"

"You're the dog, b *tch!" Chu Mingxi roared, furious. She then calmed the energy flowing through her body and assumed an icy state. "Speak quickly," she ordered. "You have earned five minutes of mercy."

"That is all that I require," said Second Sister. Taking a deep breath and organizing her thoughts, she began. "I understand that the matters regarding your Elder Sister are complicated and that we, the Mu family, have greatly wronged her. What has happened in the past cannot be overwritten. And the dead… cannot be brought back to life."

Chu Mingxi's fists clenched at that statement. However, she kept her calm. A promise was a promise.

"But I also ask you this; has the Mu Household ever slackened in its attempts to search for your Elder Sister!?" Second Sister's words were akin to a peal of thunder.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Chu Mingxi has no counter to this statement; it was the truth. Ever since Mu Wudi came to power he had spent an exorbitant number of resources in search of her Elder Sister. Regarding this, she had no complaints.

"Not a single day goes by where my husband does not sincerely lament losing your Elder Sister," continued Second Sister. "In fact, he laments it so much that we other wives enviously ask ourselves; just what does this woman possess, and we do not, that she has left such an indelible mark in our husband's heart? Just how are we inferior?"

Chu Mingxi scoffed at this notion. Her Elder Sister was the most perfect woman to exist. No other woman could compare. She was simply in a league of her own.

"Alas, now we will never know," Second Sister seemed to truly bemoan this fact. The envy and jealousy that she had spoken of were indeed very real. "We also understand that with her death, your Elder Sister has left such a mark on our husband's heart that none of us will ever be able to match her value in his heart. All of us shall forever be second to your sister."

Shaking her head, Second Sister said, "Forget it. We were never fated to be your sister's equal. Let us talk about your sister's final wishes."

Chu Mingxi's pupils shrunk. A dry feeling emerged in her throat. "Elder Sister's final wishes?" she hoarsely asked.

Second Sister nodded her head. "Indeed. She left behind two wishes; the first was for her ashes to be buried in the Mu Household's Ancestral Graveyard. Unable to spend her life with our husband, she wished to do so in the afterlife."

This line of hers was… sort of true. Or at least, that is how the Mu Household had interpreted Wuzhi's action of leaving behind the urn containing his mother's ashes.

"And her second wish had to do with her son; her very own flesh and blood and her final proof of existence in this world." It was from here that Second Sister's carefully crafted lies started.

Without stopping her breath or blinking her eyes, Second Sister calmly continued. "Wuzhi is, without a doubt, the progeny born between your Eldest Sister and our husband. He is a true member of the Mu Household and has the Mu family's blood running through his veins. The family would simply not be complete without his inclusion."

"Your Eldest Sister wished for Wuzhi to be recognized by the Mu family and be accorded his rightful status. She was worried that his non-cultivator status would cause him to be discriminated against and ostracized within the family, and wished that he be awarded a peaceful but fulfilling life."

"Elder Sister's son… Wuzhi," Chu Mingxi etched this name into her memories. Her mind then quickly turned as she realized a matter. "Wait a moment; if Wuzhi is Eldest Sister's son then he should be twenty-six, twenty-seven years old."

"That must be the case," Second Sister nodded her head.

"Then, as the Eldest Young Master of the Mu Household, he should be…" Chu Mingxi's eyes widened. She inhaled a sharp breath of air.

"It is exactly as you think," Second Sister admitted to this matter. "However, we believe that it would be better to hide this matter."

"Hide this matter? Why do you want to hide this matter!?" Chu Mingxi raged. "Do you want to rob my nephew of his rightful status!? Do you want him to be robbed of his promised fiancé!?"

Facing her accusations, Second Sister deeply frowned. "Chu Mingxi, Wuzhi is not a cultivator. He is a very, ordinary youth. Ask yourself this; just how much pressure and trouble will this poor boy face if he is to be engaged to the Sacred Daughter? Just how much will the world jeer at him and taunt him?"

"A little taunting has never hurt anybody!" Chu Mingxi wasn't the sort to easily admit defeat. "That engagement was promised to him twenty years ago!"

"Chu Mingxi, you know very well that that engagement was made with Yuelong in mind. It is a union promised between the Son of the Heavens and the Sacred Daughter. You know as well as me what considerations lay beneath this decision."

"An alliance between your force and the Heavenly Spirit Empire, am I right?" scoffed Chu Mingxi. "If it is merely for the sake of an alliance, then why not let my nephew represent your force all the same? After all, he does have the Mu family's blood flowing through him, doesn't he?" She returned Second Sister's logic back to her.

"This…" Second Sister looked stunned and without a reply. She then lowered her head and softly spoke, "This is a very complicated matter. You or I cannot make any decisions regarding this."

Chu Mingxi scoffed but did not say anything more about it. Inwardly, however, she had already decided to try her utmost to challenge this decision and get it changed.

'That brat Yuelong might be the Son of the Heavens, however, I refuse to believe that my Elder Sister's son could be any lesser!'

"You said that he isn't a cultivator," asked Mingxi, remembering her words from earlier.

Second Sister nodded her head.

A small frown appeared on Chu Mingxi's head before disappearing. "Doesn't matter," she said. "I'll just take him as my disciple and have him start on the path of cultivation. Better late than never."

Second Sister merely smiled and made no mention of Wuzhi's crippled body.

"So? Where is he?" asked Chu Mingxi, finally arriving on this topic. Her eyes held an obvious look of excitement and longing.

After nearly thirty years of silence, she was finally going to come across the trail of her Elder Sister. She couldn't wait to hear about everything from her nephew and shower him with love.

"We… don't know," answered Second Sister. She then immediately continued, "After delivering to us his mother's remains and her final words, he left the compound and disappeared. We do not know where."

"The boy," she hesitatingly continued. "Seems to hold some resentment towards the family."

"Of course, he would!" Chu Mingxi roared. "He has been floating outside like rootless duckweed for nearly thirty years! It would instead be ridiculous if he didn't feel any resentment after all of this."

"Did he tell us where Elder Sister and he had been living for all this time?" asked Chu Mingxi. Originally, she had another question that she wanted to ask; why hadn't they reached out to them earlier? However, she instantly arrived at the answer to this question on her own; her Elder Sister's pride!

Knowing her sister, she would rather suffer in silence than be willingly shamed. She would break before she bent.

Facing this question, Second Sister replied, "Isilda Continent. As for where exactly in the Isilda Continent, he did not mention."

"Isilda Continent," Chu Mingxi mouthed. "No wonder…"

At this moment, Third Sister stepped up and spoke. "Chu Mingxi, we need your help to find this boy. Not only do we wish to honor your Elder Sister's last words but we also want this boy to help our husband resolve his Heart Demon. I believe that his ailment is related to Yuechen's passing and this boy is the key to resolving it."

"His mother has already passed and I don't believe that he is the sort to coldly watch on as his father suffers."

Chu Mingxi did not scoff or mock in response to this. No matter what had happened in the past, family was family. Blood was thicker than water. And as a son, it was Wuzhi's duty to care for his parents.

Besides, this was good too. Should Wuzhi be able to help in Mu Wudi's recovery then he would become the object of doting for the Sovereign. If there was one thing that Chu Mingxi did not doubt, it was Patriarch Mu's love for his family. Facing his long-lost son, Patriarch Mu would go above and beyond his duty as a father.

"Can't you simply divine his location? I thought you were good at that stuff?"

"The [Scrying Path] is one of infinite mysteries. We lack critical information to make such an attempt," Third Sister smoothly lied.

Chu Mingxi simply nodded her head towards this. She did not doubt Third Sister's words for she understood just how complex and mysterious the [Scrying Path] was. After all, it was the Path with the closest relation to the heavens!

"Normally, we would use our own forces to search for him. However, with the recent establishment of the alliance with the Heavenly Spirit Empire, our enemies are watching us closer than ever. I am afraid that if news about our husband's condition or Wuzhi were to leak to them, then the results would be disastrous!" explained Second Sister.

"Chu Mingxi, we have hidden nothing from you. We even shared grave news regarding our husband with you. If you want to, we are nothing but lambs awaiting your slaughter. But please, before you do anything hasty, do think about your nephew and the impact that your actions will have on his future."

"I beg you. Help us search for the boy in our steed. The Mu family will forever remember this kindness," beseeched Second Sister sincerely.

Chu Mingxi did not immediately reply. Instead, she pondered and considered in silence. A few breaths later, she sighed heavily and spoke. "I do not doubt the Mu Household's sincerity. And while I hate that bastard, I'm also… indebted to him."

Chu Mingxi knew that Sovereign Mu's guilt toward her sister was genuine and unfathomably deep. She knew this much better than any other person.

For all these years, she had been rude and disrespectful towards Sovereign Mu; however, he had never done anything to prevent her from being so and had tolerated her. Others might not understand the meaning behind his actions. However, as one of the involved parties she knew better.

Sovereign Mu had been using her anger as a sort of appeasement toward his guilt. The angrier that she behaved, the less he would be burdened by that soul-crushing guilt.

In fact, owing to this guilt, he had given her many, many things and had directed an inestimable amount of resources toward her. Most of her current strength could be attributed to the resources that he had given her.

That is why, as much as she hated the man for what he had done to her sister, she was also indebted to him. What happened in that year was a terrible tragedy, and no amount of power or wealth could allow one to go back in time to prevent it.

Besides, there was another point of view to consider too; her sister's.

Her sister had been an adult too, hadn't she? She had willingly chosen to lay down her life to save her lover.

While Chu Mingxi found this decision disagreeable, she still had to respect it solely based on the fact that it was made by her sister. Denying her decision would be akin to denying her sister!

"I will help," Chu Mingxi decided. "I will use all my power to search for this boy. But make no mistake; I am not doing this for you: the Mu family. I am doing this for the boy. Because he is my sister's son. Because he is my family!"

Second Sister, Third Sister, and the others smiled at her declaration.