"Mother." Xinya supported her mother back to her room and helped her lie down on the bed.

Since the moment Zhelan had been reduced to nothing but a powerless human, Fan Jian had lost all her spirits. Her eyes had relinquished their sparkle and her face was gaunt. In just a few days, she seemed to have aged all of sudden and Xinya felt her heart twisting in pain on seeing her mother suffer this way.

'Zhelan, where are you?' She sighed as she pulled the duvet and covered her mother until her neck. 'Please come back home. I miss you a lot.'

If not for her grandfather's orders, she would have rushed out to look for her beloved brother.

Xinya did not blame her brother for what had happened, for his mistakes. She never did. To her, her brother meant a lot and being the elder sister she was, she always doted on him.

Among all the people in the Xie clan, she was the only one who knew that her brother was using unethical means to cultivate. However, she never stopped him. Her brother's progress only made her jubilant and she never cared if he was being evil and unscrupulous.

"How is she?" She heard her father speak from the door and Xinya gritted her teeth to suppress her fury. The person she loathed the most was her father. He was fickle-minded and timid and even more so when he was facing his father, her grandfather.

In front of the old man, her father had never dared to speak a word boldly, let alone argue and fight with him.

How annoying!! She thought and patted her mother's forehead gently.

"She is weak but fine." She replied, not nonchalantly, not giving him another look and Xie Zhiyao stared at his beloved wife, his heart shattering into pieces on seeing her in such a critical situation.

However, the situation was beyond his control. He could do nothing about it. On one side, there was his son who had brought him and his family utter shame with his deeds and on the other side, there was his father who valued dignity and reputation more than anything in the world.

Stuck in between, he did not know who to choose, and eventually, to save his family's name and pride, he had to accept his father's decision and sacrifice his son.

Zhiyao did not miss the anger in his daughter's eyes. But he did not say a word to explain his silence. There were things that others did not know and it was best it remained that way.

"Take good care of her. I will come back once she is awake." Zhiyao glanced at his beloved wife who had slipped into sleep long back before he departed from the room, leaving Xinya fuming behind his back.

'Despicable!' She spat and let out deep breaths to calm herself down.

Xinya sat beside her mother for quite some time before she too left the room. Her emotions, which were already somber, fell all the more when she saw her half-brother sauntering towards her with a huge smile on his face while his underlings followed him.

Xinya remained unfazed by him and he looked at him coldly as she folded her hands. Her temperament was too strong for Xie Yimu and his group to bear and for a moment, they faltered.

Yimu hesitated when he saw her indifferent gaze. But when he recalled what their grandfather had done and how Zhelan, the man he despised the most, had fallen from his grace, he regained his pride and confidence and he picked up his pace.

"Sister Xinya, how is Mother? I am worried about her. May I meet her?"

Xinya rolled her eyes at the man's pathetic attempt to appear filial towards his stepmother. He could fool anyone in the kingdom but not her. She especially hated the facade he had donned in front of others, showing himself as a gentle and caring family member when in actuality, he was just a vicious snake, prepared to attack and bite at any instant.

"Are you worthy? Do you even deserve to step inside this manor?" Xinya did not hold back and showed Yimu his place, her eyes filled with contempt for him.

Yimu's smile slipped and he felt humiliated in front of his friends. Yet, he did fly into a rage, trying to portray a gentle and polite character.

"Sister Xinya, why are you are furious? I was just worried about Mother. I..." He put on an aggrieved expression and lowered his eyes while his friends just looked on, not knowing what to say.

Just like Yimu, they too were disgruntled with the way he was being treated by his own family member. But they did not dare argue with her. Xinya was well-known in the kingdom of Idora being an outstanding cultivator. She was more powerful than them and if they irked her more than she already was, then there was no way they could save themselves from her wrath.

"Save your breath. I do not want to see your horrendous acts. You and your underlings may get lost from here." She darted her eyes at the group of people before focusing on Xie Yimu whose face had turned red in embarrassment and fury.

"Sister Xinya, how can you do this to me? I am your young brother and..."

"Hold on. I have only one brother and he is Xie Zhelan."

"But..."

"And just because Grandfather severed ties with him does not mean I did too. He was, is and will always be my brother. And..." Xinya took a few steps towards Yimu, forcing him to put his guards up. "Do not think that I am oblivious to what you are doing. I am not blind and I am definitely not a fool. I, Xie Xinya, as long as I am alive will never allow you to succeed in your plans."

She took a step back and looked down at the group of men. "You may now leave. The air here is filled with the disgusting smell of wickedness and it is suffocating me."

Xie Yimu glared at her before he strode away, his face morphing in anger, not knowing that his grandfather had witnessed all his actions and his squabble with Xinya.

"As expected of my granddaughter." The man stroke his beard and smiled faintly before he made a decision, one he had no problem with at all whatsoever.