CHAPTER 222: THE OTHER THREE.

"In those days, the cultivation world was dominated by men in every sense. All the great sects, the clans, the dynasties—they were ruled by patriarchs, not matriarchs. Cultivation manuals were written for the male body, their techniques harmonized with masculine meridians and anatomy. For men, cultivation was like swimming downstream. For women, it was like climbing an endless mountain with shackles on their feet."

She paused, her gaze sharpening. "But the difficulty was not the cruellest part. What was crueler was the way women were treated."

Her voice grew heavier.

"Daughters of noble families were treated as bargaining chips. They were married off in polygamous arrangements, not as wives, but as concubines, secondary partners—objects of exchange to cement alliances between powerful clans. Their value was measured not in their talent or intelligence, but in how their beauty might secure influence for their fathers and brothers."

Mo Yuxin’s hands clenched against her knees. Shen Mingyue continued, unflinching.

"In the mortal world, it was worse. A farmer’s daughter could be stolen by a passing cultivator with no consequence. A merchant’s wife could be humiliated in public, and none would dare intervene, because the men of power saw women as vessels—vessels for pleasure, vessels for heirs, vessels for venting their frustrations."

She spoke the next words with quiet venom.

"Women were looted of their wealth, their health, their dignity, and even their flesh. When a sect master grew old, he would marry a young girl to harvest her Yin energy, stripping her cultivation and life to extend his own. There were men who gathered harems of hundreds, treating women like trophies, forcing them to cultivate only enough to maintain beauty but never enough to become threats. Those who resisted... were broken."

Su Yubing’s breath hitched, her chest tight.

Shen Mingyue’s eyes grew distant, as though reliving the cruelty she had once witnessed. "I saw women sold in auctions, paraded on platforms like cattle. I saw widows burned alive for daring to outlive their husbands. I saw daughters killed at birth because their families wanted sons. And I saw female cultivators, brilliant and talented, crushed under the weight of men’s arrogance because the world itself denied them the tools to rise."

Her lips curled faintly, though it was not a smile. "That was the state of women before the Battle Maiden Sect. Forgotten. Abused. Their lives dictated by men who saw them as accessories at best, and commodities at worst."

The room fell into silence. Mo Yuxin’s eyes were damp, her fists trembling. Su Yubing had paled, her body taut with quiet fury.

Shen Mingyue leaned back, her aura simmering, restrained but palpable.

"Yin, with her endless compassion, hated this. She wanted change. She dreamed of a world where women could stand tall, equal to men, where their talents would not be squandered, where daughters would not weep into the night wishing to be born sons. She planted that seed in my heart. And though I am not Yin—I am not as soft, nor as forgiving—I carried out her wish in my own way."

She lifted her hand, and a faint ripple of energy shimmered in her palm, like the glint of steel under moonlight. "I created a cultivation manual. A method designed entirely for the female body—honed to harmonize with Yin meridians, to draw strength from the cycles of heaven and earth that men ignored. For the first time, women could cultivate without bleeding themselves dry trying to fit into a mold never meant for them."

Mo Yuxin inhaled sharply.

"And alongside the manual," Shen Mingyue continued, "I built the Battle Maiden Sect. A sanctuary where no man could dictate the terms of their lives. Where women were disciples, elders, leaders. Where they could grow without fear of being harvested, stolen, or sold. At first, it was small. A handful of women who found their way to me, desperate and broken. But word spread quickly. Soon it was not dozens, but hundreds. Then thousands. Women from every walk of life—peasants, widows, noble daughters, disgraced concubines—they all came. Like a sea of the starving who had finally found bread."

Her voice grew quieter, tinged with something Mo Yuxin had never heard before—bittersweetness. "They came because they had nowhere else to go. And I accepted them all."

Shen Mingyue’s gaze turned inward. "Do you know what it was like, Yuxin, Yubing? To see a courtyard filled with women weeping simply because they were allowed to hold swords without being mocked? To see mothers clutching daughters and thanking me as though I were a goddess, when all I did was give them a roof and a chance? The world had starved them of dignity for so long that the smallest kindness felt like salvation."

Mo Yuxin pressed her lips together tightly, her throat aching.

Shen Mingyue smiled faintly. "And so it grew. Generation after generation, the Battle Maiden Sect became a fortress. My disciples flourished, wielding blades, mastering arts that men claimed women could not touch. Some of them rose to stand among the world’s strongest. Dozens of sects tried to crush us. Hundreds of men spat that women had no place in the heavens. And yet, we endured. Because once you give a starving person bread, you cannot take it away. Once women tasted freedom, they would never go back."

She looked at them both, her expression calm but firm. "That is why the Battle Maiden Sect exists. Not because I cared for power or prestige. To me, it is still little more than a pastime. But for the women of this world, it is a beacon. And I will not let it fall."

The silence that followed was thick with the weight of her words.

Mo Yuxin finally exhaled, her voice trembling. "So while you were waiting for Mother Yin... you changed the lives of half the world."

Shen Mingyue chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Perhaps. Or perhaps the world changed itself—I only gave it a push. Either way, it kept me from losing my mind while waiting for her."

Su Yubing met Mo Yuxin’s gaze. Both of their eyes were damp, but neither spoke. What words could they possibly find in the face of such history?

Shen Mingyue poured herself tea at last, sipping lightly as though she hadn’t just rewritten their understanding of the world.

For her, it had been boredom.For the women of the world, it had been salvation.

..

..

"Do you want us to join the Battle Maiden Sect, Mother?" Mo Yuxin asked, her voice carrying a mix of curiosity and hesitation. The words seemed almost foreign, as though she were dipping a toe into an ocean much deeper than she’d expected.

Shen Mingyue shook her head slightly, her expression soft but her eyes steady, like an ancient statue that had seen too much to be easily shaken. Her voice remained light, gentle, and almost unconcerned, as if discussing a mundane household chore rather than the fate of the universe.

"No. The Battle Maiden Sect already belongs to both you and Fengfeng," she said calmly, as though that settled everything. "The reason I told you all about it is nothing more than to bare all the hidden sides of me. We are the Seven Beings of Chaos. Besides just this world, we have countless other worlds to look after and manage." Her gaze was steady, focused, as if she were recounting facts from a ledger kept in a dusty attic. "I only took a little more care of this world because of your mother."

Her tone was so casual that it made Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing exchange glances. The gravity of the moment was lost neither on them nor the air that seemed to thicken around Shen Mingyue’s words.

Then, as if flipping a switch, Shen Mingyue abruptly stopped. She inhaled deeply, and an entirely new air of seriousness descended upon her. The subtle lightness in her voice vanished, replaced by a steady, commanding tone that seemed to reverberate through the very walls of the room.

Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing instinctively clasped their hands tightly together, bracing themselves. Both knew from experience: when Shen Mingyue got serious, it wasn’t to discuss family dinners or mundane responsibilities.

"We are the Seven Beings of Chaos," Shen Mingyue began, her voice unwavering, each word dropping like a heavy stone into a still pond. "The fate of countless worlds resides on our shoulders."

Mo Yuxin swallowed hard, feeling the weight of those words sink deeper into her chest.

"And within those countless worlds scattered across the multiverse," Shen Mingyue continued, "reside countless souls. Human souls, non-human souls, innocent souls, and those tainted by darkness. Every single one of them is under our protection."

The gravity of the claim was overwhelming, but Shen Mingyue’s tone made it sound almost routine—as if being responsible for the fate of infinite worlds was simply part of her job description.

Mo Yuxin felt her pulse quicken. Her breath hitched slightly, while Su Yubing kept her eyes fixed on Shen Mingyue, silently absorbing every syllable.

"We, the Seven Beings of Chaos, used to manage all of these worlds properly," Shen Mingyue said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "But now... only four of us have been left with all the responsibilities and pressure which has been immense for the past few thousand years."

Her words hovered in the air like ominous clouds, heavy and unavoidable.

"You, Su Yubing, and Yin are the other three," Shen Mingyue continued, her voice grave. "But none of you are in the state or form of a proper Being of Chaos, nor are you in any shape to fulfill your roles."

Mo Yuxin’s heart sank. She felt the weight of destiny press against her shoulders, colder than she had ever imagined.

"You, Yuxin," Shen Mingyue said, pointing a long, elegant finger toward her daughter, "need to fully master the power of Rule and complete the inheritance left to you by your predecessors. Your power isn’t something to toy with; it’s a law of existence, an elemental force that governs not just this world, but all realms of life and death."