Lu Xingzhou stopped his retreat, eased his shaken injuries, stood smiling, and cupped his hands.

There was no need for words; everything was understood.

Yuan Muyu stood there in a daze, silent for a long time, her mind completely blank. In fact, all that had happened was her cloak being flung off, which didn’t hinder her movement. She could have pursued, but she completely forgot.

The two stared at each other, and whispers spread across the island, almost drowning out the sound of the waves.

Yuan Muyu’s temporary illusion could fool most people, but it clearly couldn’t deceive those seasoned elders who were at least First-Rank cultivators and familiar with Fuyao Xianzi.

At this moment, the leading elders from each sect exchanged bewildered glances.

Everyone had heard that Fuyao Xianzi and Tianyao Shengzhu had a falling out and that Fuyao Xianzi had left home many years ago, although Tianyao Sacred Land hadn’t expelled her from their lineage. However, no one knew that the Yan Jun, who now awed the Great Gan, was Fuyao Xianzi. The change in demeanor was enormous…

Leaving Yan Jun aside, what was going on now?

How could you, Ye Fuyao, still have the audacity to participate in this competition? Don’t you have any shame?

Moreover, she was standing opposite Tianyao Sacred Land. Was this… well, since she was against Tianyao Sacred Land, and everyone wanted to embarrass Tianyao Sacred Land, perhaps they shouldn’t expose her?

And wasn’t Lu Xingzhou said to be Fuyao Xianzi’s disciple, who had been taken back by Tianyao Sacred Land?

How was he fighting Fuyao Xianzi now?

And he even publicly flung off his master’s cloak, severely humiliating her?

Come to think of it, the sight of Fuyao Xianzi smiling sweetly on the stage… always made a group of old elders feel a sudden flashback to the past, as if nothing had changed after all these years.

People’s thoughts were complicated, and for a while, no one exposed her. They just turned to look in Ye Tinglan’s direction, waiting to see what the host would say.

Ye Tinglan straightened up from her relaxed posture, leaning against the chair back, set down her teacup, and slowly said, “This young lady said before coming on stage, ‘Let’s see if the opponent can lift your cloak’… Now it’s been lifted, what do you say?”

Yuan Muyu glared at her but didn’t reply.

Ye Tinglan smiled and said, “My disciple also suffered a minor injury, so it’s even. Your battle just now was well-matched and very intense. If it continues, there will inevitably be casualties… In my opinion, this match should be considered a draw, with no winner or loser. How about it?”

Those who didn’t understand whispered among themselves. From the looks of it, one only had her cloak flung off, while the other had blood at the corner of his mouth. The injured one seemed to be at a disadvantage, so Tianyao Shengzhu’s words seemed a bit unfair.

Those who understood sat calmly, “a draw is a draw, let’s see the next match. If your Angry Flood Dragon Island wins the next match and successfully embarrasses Tianyao Sacred Land, we won’t say anything. If you lose the next match, we’ll say Tianyao Sacred Land manipulated the competition, creating a dark scheme by having their own person go to the opposite side, deliberately drawing a match they could have won.”

Speaking of which, if you yourself suggest a draw, will Ye Fuyao be happy with that?

She had directly confronted Tianyao Shengzhu for being only a Third-Rank cultivator at twenty-something years old, and she wouldn’t give Shengzhu Daren any face. Logically, she should have retorted immediately, but people only saw her silently looking at Lu Xingzhou, and after a long time, she slowly replied, “Alright.”

People from Angry Flood Dragon Island: “…”

You said we would go soft if we met handsome men, but aren’t you the same? Do you dare say you’re not?

Since the parties involved agreed, others temporarily had nothing to say, and this battle was declared a draw. It was strange, however, that neither of them left the stage voluntarily; they continued to stare at each other.

Ye Tinglan couldn’t sit still. She floated onto the stage and embraced Lu Xingzhou.

Yuan Muyu seemed to have been pricked in the backside by a huge needle. Her previously dazed self was instantly activated: “What are you doing!”

Ye Tinglan gave her a strange look: “What am I doing? My disciple is injured. As the sect master, it is my duty to carry the injured back for treatment. Your question is quite odd.”

Others also looked at her with strange eyes. The sect master carrying her disciple back for treatment, although a bit excessive, as such a minor injury didn’t warrant the Shengzhu’s personal involvement, it was still a display of her concern for her disciple. Why was Yuan Muyu so agitated?

No one would ever imagine that Tianyao Shengzhu would actually show affection to her lover in full view of everyone, and do so deliberately to provoke someone.

Yuan Muyu gnashed her teeth in anger: “His injury is so slight, can’t he walk himself!”

“How my sect handles its injured seems not to be of concern to outsiders.” Ye Tinglan slowly carried Lu Xingzhou off the stage: “Young lady, please step down first. It’s time for your third person to enter the stage. Do not disrupt the order of the competition.”

“Outsider, I…”

“Are you not?”

As Ye Tinglan spoke, she had already descended from the stage, deliberately not flying directly to her main platform, but slowly circling behind the stage, as if looking for a quiet place to treat her disciple’s injuries. Yuan Muyu almost instinctively chased after her, tugging at her sash, and hissed in a low voice, “Ye Tinglan! What are you doing!”

Ye Tinglan didn’t stop walking: “Haven’t I already answered, young lady Pinglan?”

As she spoke, her gaze flickered to Yuan Muyu’s chest, emphasizing the “ping” (flat) to give “Pinglan” another meaning.

As in, “a rather flat Ye Tinglan.”

Yuan Muyu was fuming, teeth grinding: “Lu Xingzhou, how old are you, don’t you have legs yourself!”

Lu Xingzhou leaned comfortably in Ye Tinglan’s arms, his calm eyes fixed on Yuan Muyu, remaining silent.

It wasn’t until these words were uttered that Lu Xingzhou’s gaze subtly wavered, and he slowly spoke: “My legless state… isn’t that… exactly what you wished for?”

Yuan Muyu stood there as if struck by lightning, unable to follow any further.

She watched helplessly as Ye Tinglan circled to the backstage, their ambiguous figures disappearing around the corner, out of sight.

Occasionally, someone curiously glanced at the edge of the high platform, where a young lady, her face obscured by an illusion, stood quietly alone, a solitary figure amidst the shouts of ten thousand people in the arena.

Behind the stage, there was no one, only the rocky shore.

Ye Tinglan held Lu Xingzhou, placing him on a rock to sit, and leaned down, smiling as she playfully tapped his nose: “I thought you would be reserved, not wanting to be intimate in front of her. But you truly don’t care at all.”

Lu Xingzhou strangely countered, “She’s not my wife, why should I be reserved?”

“She’s not… well…” Ye Tinglan pondered for a long time before saying, “She’s considered your family, she raised you.”

“Yes. She is also my benefactor and teacher; I still remember her kindness,” Lu Xingzhou said. “But since she doesn’t want me, what do my romantic affairs have to do with her? It’s not as if she doesn’t want me, and also prevents others from wanting me. Where is the logic in that?”

Today, Ye Tinglan was happier than ever before.

No matter what was said before, that subtle, lingering worry about being a “substitute” was always hard to completely erase, but today it was thoroughly proven: the real person was right in front of him, why would he need a substitute? This was not a substitute; it had absolutely no connection.

Not only was she not a substitute, but the so-called real person had long ceased to be “real” at all; she was nothing.

Worrying about that was less worthwhile than worrying about Shen Tang.

“Alright, alright.” Ye Tinglan leaned down indulgently: “Shifu is going to treat your injuries. How do you plan to be treated?”

Lu Xingzhou directly pouted.

Ye Tinglan leaned in, about to kiss him.

Meanwhile, Yuan Muyu stood alone in silence for a long time, her mind a tangled mess of thoughts she couldn’t quite articulate.

It was she who wanted to end their relationship, so she distanced herself from Xingzhou. Yet, she feared that by distancing him, he would no longer belong to her, so she simply kept him close. This was inherently contradictory.

That day, when words escalated and Xingzhou left in a fit of pique, she might have secretly harbored the thought, “Let it be.”

From then on, they would go their separate ways, which wasn’t so bad, and there would be no more agonizing over it.