The evil female is weak and the males of the whole continent are out of control and fall.

Chapter 488 Lost Her
Jin Ying's eyes were like shattered glass, filled with unspeakable pain.

He stared intently at the two people entwined in the moonlight, his heart feeling as if it were being repeatedly kneaded and torn apart by an invisible hand.

Every breath was accompanied by the burning pain and the metallic taste of blood.

But he knew perfectly well that even in the face of excruciating pain, he had no right to blame her, nor any right to disturb her tenderness at this moment.

Because... he was the one who lost her!

Deep within my memory surges endless regret and self-blame.

At that time, he arrogantly believed that if he were given just six months, he could completely control the family's power, clear away all obstacles, create an absolutely safe haven for her, and then give her everything and make her happy!

But time was not on his side.

The harsh reality slapped him hard across the face!

Less than six months later... she encountered an accident and disappeared completely from his world without a trace.

"Ugh..." A muffled groan, suppressed to the extreme, escaped from deep within Ember Shadow's throat.

He felt the original owner's consciousness, which he had suppressed, begin to stir again, violently impacting the cage and frantically fighting for control of the body.

Jin Ying gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, and cold sweat poured down his face.

He mustered all his willpower, like the strongest chains, to suppress the madness that was about to break free of its shackles.

Before his consciousness was completely pulled back into the cold darkness, he took one last greedy, almost desperate look at Bai Wanwan.

Her beautiful profile, nestled in Zhu Xiu's arms, was bathed in a soft glow from the moonlight...

It was as if he wanted to etch this scene into the depths of his soul, making it the only starlight that supported him as he continued his journey through the boundless darkness.

Finally, after a violent tremor in her soul, those eyes, brimming with desperate love, were replaced by a bottomless, cold stillness.

Ember Shadow regained control of his body.

He slowly raised his hand and touched his chest, where the tearing pain still lingered, and where unfamiliar emotions churned.

The intense possessiveness, the deep-seated jealousy, the despair of loss... made him feel utterly alienated and distressed.

He silently gazed at the figures still embracing on the wooden platform in the distance, sighed with confusion and helplessness, and finally turned and left without a sound...

***

Jiaoyuan eventually returned to the residence he shared with Lanyi.

The door was tightly shut, and he knew that the woman in blue was silently resisting.

"Blue shirt, open the door!"

"If you don't open it, then leave!"

This time, faced with Lan Yi's temper, he did not indulge him. He simply raised his hand and easily dismantled the wooden door.

Blue-clad, holding Coral's hand, saw Jiao Yuan burst in and retreated like a startled rabbit, her eyes filled with fear and evasion.

"Get out, I don't want to see you."

Even now, the man in blue still stubbornly tries to avoid the truth by ignoring him.

But this was no small matter; in Jiao Yuan's mind, it had crossed his bottom line. "Look at me! Blue Robe." Jiao Yuan's voice was terrifyingly deep, carrying an undeniable pressure.

"Tell me what exactly happened back then? Why were our female offspring switched?"

The woman in blue did not answer, nor did she look up at him.

Jiao Yuan approached step by step, his gaze like a tangible blade, trying to uncover the truth from every expression and every look in the blue-clad figure.

The woman in blue trembled all over, her lips quivering as she turned her head away, tears streaming down her face: "I...I don't know what you're talking about..."

Looking at his female form, Jiao Yuan would have comforted her without hesitation in the past.

He subconsciously raised his hand, but the thought of his own female offspring possibly having suffered countless hardships made his heart feel as if it were being repeatedly cut by a bone knife.

Ultimately, reason prevailed, and he did not move or pull the female into his arms to comfort her.

His voice was several degrees colder than usual. "Blue Robe, things have come to this point. Coral isn't our cub; that little female is. How long are you going to keep lying to me?"

Blue-clothed girl knew in her heart that with the appearance of that little female, everything could no longer be hidden.

As if provoked, she suddenly turned her head and glared at him.

"What could I do?" she said, as if she had found an outlet for her emotions. "Do you think I wanted to? What could I do in that situation?"

Jiao Yuan's pupils shrank sharply: "So... you really did switch our female cubs?"

His voice trembled; his last hope had been utterly shattered.

He never imagined that his gentle wife would do such a thing!

Realizing she had let something slip, the woman in blue turned deathly pale, her eyes filled with panic: "No...it wasn't me! I didn't mean to! It was...it was..." she stammered, trying to salvage the situation.

"You don't want to? Is someone holding a knife to your throat and forcing you?" Jiao Yuan's voice suddenly rose, filled with rage and incredulous disappointment.

The woman in blue flinched at his anger and cried out, "Back then... back then I gave birth to a 'useless female'! And she was weak and on the verge of death. The clan shaman said that I damaged my health by giving birth to her and that it would be difficult for me to have children in the future."

She cried uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face. "Jiaoyuan, if you weren't the clan leader, if your child didn't bear the inheritance of the Tree of Life, how could I bear to abandon my own female offspring?"

"Since you know she is related to the inheritance of the Tree of Life, why did you abandon her?" Jiao Yuan stared at his wife in disappointment, not understanding what she was thinking.

The woman in blue collapsed and roared, "Do you think I want this? If I can't have any more children and only have a 'useless female' offspring, what will the elders of the clan think of me? They will force you to immediately form a bond with another powerful holy female!"

"No!" Jiao Yuan said painfully, "You should have discussed it with me back then, instead of making a decision on your own and harming our female cub."

The woman in blue's arrogance subsided. "Jiaoyuan, I didn't mean to. I was out of my mind, worried that you would be snatched away by other holy maidens. At that time... there happened to be a beastman... she said she knew a cat-beastman female who had just given birth to a cub, and the cub looked very healthy..."

She covered her face and wept bitterly, "At that time... I was so afraid of losing you, and I wanted to save our little family! In a moment of confusion, I... I agreed to the transfer..."

Jiaoyuan was frozen in place as if by ice.

As he listened to the blue-clad woman's tearful lament, every word felt like a poisoned ice pick piercing his heart!
It turns out that... his female offspring was considered a burden by her biological mother as soon as she was born, and was abandoned by her mother.

He took a deep breath, and the icy air stung his lungs.

He stared at the man in blue, trying his best to suppress his emotions. "Just a swap? Then why does Coral have my bloodline aura? But we real females have no dragon aura at all?"

(End of this chapter)