Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 212: Porcelain Doll

The ice around Zhao Mingfeng slowly melted like snow thawing in spring. He could not help it. Anji was such a warm-hearted child that he could not remain unaffected. Although he knew it was a false sense of serenity, like the calm before a storm, he allowed himself to be fooled.

Over the next few nights, Anji spent her time sneaking into her father’s study to spend some quality time. She would talk about her time at the Mystical Qilin Sect. Zhao Mingfeng listened without pressuring Anji to share about the things she did not want to. Her daughter had experienced more of what the world had to offer, and while she had adopted some of the sect’s eccentric behaviour, she was still the same girl he loved a year ago. This only made him certain that he would love Anji regardless of her past, present or future self. A father’s love was just unconditional like that.

"And of all the things you could eat at the Mystical Qilin Sect, you want to drink the wine that Aunt Wine brews?" he chuckled. "Aren’t you a little too young to be thinking about it?"

Anji pouted. "But the senior researchers and researchers there claim that it’s a seasonal thing! Aunt Wine brews the best wine not only because of her skills. Did you know that the cooks and gardeners, as well as clinic assistants, are retired researchers who have higher cultivation levels than those in our outer court disciples? It’s not just ordinary plum wine! It has spiritual energy imbued into the brewing technique, said to assist with clearing the mind and reducing heart demons!"

Nodding along, Zhao Mingfeng found it amusing how his youngest daughter was thinking about doing adult things. If her mother knew this, she would demand to have a chat with Sect Leader Yan about the bad influences the Mystical Qilin Sect was having on her daughter. Truthfully, none of his children were strictly law-abiding. They were only on their best behaviour in front of Zhao Wanting out of respect for their mother. Anji had eaten her fair share of hawthorn candies even when Doctor He told her no. Mingshen was already drinking wine with Hong Nian Niang outside the sect, pretending to be older than his age, when meeting with other business conglomerate owners. Yihao had never been a rule follower. Their oldest daughter was someone who only pretended to follow the rules. Ruiting was someone who frequently bent the rules to fit her needs, something not even Zhao Wanting could fault her for.

"Your mother will cry if she knew you’re thinking about drinking wine at this age," he mused.

Anji sighed heavily like an old woman, something Zhao Mingfeng noticed was a habit of Yan Ping’s. Children at this age were too easily influenced. Their youngest daughter used to be more youthful until she started studying under Doctor He. She adopted his habit of walking with arms locked at the back and stroking her chin with furrowed brows when deep in thought because the doctor would stroke his beard whenever he faced a tricky problem. Now, Anji had adopted her blind teacher’s unconscious habit of sighing heavily through her nose in exasperation unbeknownst to her.

"But what if I can’t live until the age of an adult to try it?’ she asked. "There are just too many things I want to do, but I must become an adult for it."

These were worries that an ordinary child should never have to worry about. Hearing it coming from his daughter’s lips was like a knife to his heart. Zhao Mingfeng knew they would have to have this conversation sooner or later. However, it was not one he was looking forward to. He had his fair share of difficult conversations in this life. Anji’s birth was both a miracle and a tragedy. Zhao Mingfeng swore he spent his days smiling and his nights drowning his sorrow in alcohol more than his wife knew he did. A man should not shed tears. Yet, he had shed more tears for his youngest daughter than his reputation allowed.

"You will be able to drink that wine when you become an adult," he reassured, sounding hollow even to his ears. "We will celebrate it grandly. You can host a wine buffet."

Leaning back onto her father’s chest while in his lap, Anji’s voice became even softer than before.

"But there’s a very good chance I won’t make it until adulthood without the seal modification. Shifu and I calculated it. The rate of my growth and the seal’s strength are not guaranteed. Without improving my body to contain the golden core’s suppressed growth for assimilation, I still have one foot in the coffin."

Hugging Anji tightly in his lap, Zhao Mingfeng shook his head and fiercely kept his voice steady even as his nose burned.

"No," he tried to reassure. "I talked with your shifu. The seals will hold as long as you don’t forcefully increase the base of your current cultivation. You don’t have to rush the successor’s training in the next three years. You don’t have to participate in this war either. Nobody will blame you for taking your time. The war will be all over by the time you become an adult, and even your shifu did not complete the successor’s trial in three years. There’s no need to tempt fate for the third time."

It was true. Anji knew she was the youngest successor in the Mystical Qilin Sect’s history. In addition, nobody else had cleared the successor’s trial in three years, not because it was impossible, but because it was foolish to risk the only attempt at clearing it without ample preparation.

However, that was not what Anji wanted. It wasn’t about aspiration. It wasn’t about duty. It was about reclaiming her rights to live, and she wanted to fight for that chance. Although she could understand how her family felt, Anji was not someone who wanted to constantly wait like a damsel in distress. Her father was a murim war hero. She was the proud daughter of the Celestial Dragon Sect and the successor representing the Mystical Qilin Sect. What use was power if she could not create the change she sought?

"But father," Anji turned around slightly so she could face him. "Am I truly living if I can only be a porcelain doll sitting on a shelf without the ability to dance when I’m happy?"

The clarity in Anji’s voice as she spoke scared Zhao Mingfeng. There was truth in her daughter’s words — truth he knew but denied for years, hoping she never realised it because he was too afraid to lose her. Yet, the day had finally come, and even their youngest daughter was ready to spread her wings to leave the nest, possibly with no return.

Zhao Mingfeng grieved. He cursed the heavens for introducing joy into his life, only for it to hurt him later as he looked at the youngest of four children who took after his heart the most.

Tears collected at the bottom of his eye. A man should not cry. But tonight, it was difficult to be a man.