At the same time, Ye Tinglan, having concluded the spring sacrifice, returned to the Guo Guan.

As soon as she entered, Su Yuan anxiously reported, “Sect Master, something bad has happened! Lu Xingzhou has been captured by Yan Jun.”

Ye Tinglan exclaimed, “?!”

She knew her younger sister was a lunatic, but for the past few days, she seemed to be doing well. Ye Tinglan thought she was gradually turning over a new leaf. How could she have known that her sister was still brewing such a major plot?

It’s true; she should have realized it sooner. As Lu Xingzhou’s wedding date drew nearer, even Ye Tinglan felt a pang of unhappiness, let alone Yuan Muyu. At least Ye Tinglan was engaged under the identity of Ye Zhuoyu and could marry anytime she wished. Yuan Muyu didn’t even have that opportunity; she was already out of the game.

Moreover, Yuan Muyu had one important difference from others: Lu Xingzhou’s heart once belonged entirely to her. She had experienced that past, so her needs were different from others.

She didn’t wish to marry him as well, but rather to return to the past.

But how was that possible?

Even if she only wanted to join them, Lu Xingzhou might not agree. Previously, Ye Tinglan didn’t quite believe that Lu Xingzhou no longer had feelings for Yuan Muyu, and she had tested him many times, finally confirming that he genuinely felt nothing. No feeling means no feeling. Just like any random passerby asking to marry him, Lu Xingzhou wouldn’t just agree; he wasn’t lacking beautiful women around him.

He might not even agree to her simply joining; did she still want to monopolize him?

Or… perhaps she knew in her heart that even joining was difficult, and she genuinely didn’t know what to do, so she had become desperately insane.

Now, Ye Tinglan was more afraid that the madwoman would harm Lu Xingzhou. For instance, some crazy deviants in the demonic path would turn their beloved beauties into human effigies or something similar… Yuan Muyu shouldn’t have been like that, but who knew what she was capable of now?

As Ye Tinglan thought of this, she grew incredibly tense. “Where did she go?”

Su Yuan replied, “Initially south, we thought she was returning to Miaoyin Shan, but she didn’t fly far before changing course to the west. She probably realized that going to Miaoyin Shan would be too obvious and unsuitable. Now we can’t determine where she’s gone; no one can keep up with her.”

“Search! Mobilize all forces to find her! Send a jade talisman message anytime there’s news.” Ye Tinglan threw out these words and immediately flew westward, her divine sense spreading out, searching for thousands of li.

At the same time, Ji Wenchuan also received a secret message from Ying Shuang and was stunned.

“My friend…”

Their recent actions had already started to make Lao Lu remember their affection, and his heart might have softened a little. Why would she do this now? What was she trying to achieve?

On reflection, Ji Wenchuan could also feel Yan Jun’s despair. She had abandoned years of assassination formations and even her path of cultivation, all to try and win him back. Ji Wenchuan didn’t know the outcome of their attempt to reconcile, but given the current situation, it was likely a failure. Thinking from Yan Jun’s perspective, Ji Wenchuan felt quite desperate for her; she had run out of options.

Unless she stopped trying to win him back and simply tried to join his life, there might still be a glimmer of hope. But Yan Jun must be unwilling, after all, she was once his only one.

So, from Lao Lu’s perspective, he would only feel her unwillingness, which would only make it harder for them to communicate.

If he put himself in her shoes, it probably felt like that, but what could be done?

Ji Wenchuan paced around for a while, then finally gritted his teeth. “This can’t go on; it will lead to enmity. I’m too far away to make it in time. Go notify Governor Meng Guan and have him find a way to inform Tinglan Zhenren or Shen Tang.”

Then he activated his communication jade talisman and directly called Yuan Muyu. “Calling Yan Jun, Ji Wenchuan has an urgent matter to report!”

Yuan Muyu didn’t answer.

Ji Wenchuan cursed, “Damn it… She hasn’t already climbed on top of him, has she?”

It must be said that virgins and straight men have a significant bias when it comes to such matters, as this amount of time isn’t even enough for foreplay.

Yuan Muyu stripped Lu Xingzhou, making him resemble a small, bare boat, then stood up and gently untied her sash.

Her dress slipped to the floor, revealing her jade-like, milky-white legs and arms.

Lu Xingzhou was acupunctured and couldn’t move, but his eyes weren’t closed. He just stared at her blankly, his gaze no different from looking at a roadside pork stall.

Yuan Muyu endured the shame and continued to remove her undergarments, also becoming a small, white fish.

It must be said that although flat, there was still a slight curve, delicate pink, paired with a slender, fair body, creating a unique girlish beauty. Perhaps some people particularly liked this aesthetic.

Like the Lu Xingzhou of yesteryear.

If it were back then, he might have instantly become engorged, both in mind and body.

But now, his gaze remained calm.

Yuan Muyu bit her lower lip and glanced at the “small boat,” which was like an uninflated rubber dinghy, soft.

Yuan Muyu’s shame turned into humiliation. “Xingzhou… are you really that uninterested?”

Lu Xingzhou didn’t respond.

Being forced wasn’t new to him; Long Qinghuang had done it before.

But to say he was forced back then was inaccurate; it was more like he also enjoyed her domineering charm, half-heartedly resisting until he turned the tables and took control, thoroughly enjoying the experience with her dragon horns.

But this time, he truly had no desire, not even the natural lust of a man was aroused… It wasn’t because of her figure; he genuinely felt no emotion.

She felt humiliated, but how could he not?

Yuan Muyu took a deep breath, burrowed into his embrace, and gently kissed his neck and chest.

She didn’t know much about intimacy between men and women. She hadn’t studied how to actively arouse a man’s interest. At this moment, she was simply instinctively doing what she wanted to do… wanting to kiss him, wanting to possess him.

But after self-gratifying for a long time, she found that the “rubber dinghy” still hadn’t inflated.

Yuan Muyu: “?”

Logically, even if he had no interest in her, being so intimately teased by such a soft and fragrant body would naturally elicit a reaction. That was a biological instinct, a physiological response, unless he was impotent.

Ji Wenchuan’s communication came through at this moment, but Yuan Muyu had no mind to pay attention to it.

After a moment of thought, she took a deep breath and, with a fierce resolve, bent down and extended her tongue.

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

But after much effort, there was still no reaction.

Yuan Muyu was struck as if by lightning, raising her head to look at him blankly.

She finally realized it wasn’t impotence; he was deliberately using some method to suppress his reaction.

The Yin-Yang Jiyi Dahuanxi Jile cultivation method, which Lu Xingzhou practiced, was all related to this path. Even if his cultivation was sealed, it was still easy for him to achieve such simple control over his desires.

He was doing it on purpose.

Yuan Muyu’s tears streamed down her face. “Xingzhou… I’m already so debased, do you really have to humiliate me like this?”

Lu Xingzhou said, “Aren’t you humiliating me? You know women deeply resent being raped; do men enjoy it? For anyone, it’s a great shame.”

Yuan Muyu cried out, “But I truly have no other choice!”

Lu Xingzhou calmly said, “Giving up is already the best choice. Reaching this point means you want to make it so that you and I can’t even be like siblings.”

Yuan Muyu sobbed for a while, and her expression began to show that previously disheartened blankness. “If I didn’t say I wanted to go back to how things were… if I just said I was willing to marry you along with them, would you still want me now?”

Lu Xingzhou said, “But why go through all this? You might not have understood one thing…”

Yuan Muyu asked blankly, “What?”

“You keep saying you want to go back to the past… The Lu Xingzhou you love, or rather, the Lu Xingzhou you want to possess, is the one who once had eyes only for you. But that Lu Xingzhou no longer exists. Even if you forcibly obtain him, what you get won’t be the person in your memories. You say you’ll marry me along with them, and then watch me with Tangtang, Chuyun, Yuanyao, and your sister. Is that what you want?”

Yuan Muyu stared blankly, speechless.

Lu Xingzhou continued, “If I hadn’t had the means to control myself today and you had succeeded… would what you got afterward truly be what you wanted? You gave up your purity, lost your dignity, and what did you gain in the end? You gained a Lu Xingzhou who hates you.”

Seeing Yuan Muyu looking a little moved, Lu Xingzhou continued, “You said your sister was chasing a wild goose, and left in anger, but you yourself have always been chasing a wild goose. Perhaps I was like that too once… Maybe our pseudonyms already destined today’s outcome. But I have now found what I want, and I hope you find yourself, and then soar up to the Ninth Heaven, rather than being confined by the past.”

Yuan Muyu finally got off the bed and stood quietly beside him, looking into his eyes. Just as she was about to say something, a sudden palpitation struck her.

A powerful pressure suddenly descended, and a phantom image of Ye Tinglan appeared out of thin air before them—a千里神降 (Qianli Shen Jiang), or “thousand-li divine descent.”

“Ye Fuyao! Do you know what you’re doing?!” Ye Tinglan’s furious voice boomed, and her phantom image had already assumed an attacking posture.

Yuan Muyu, however, merely calmly picked up her clothes from the floor and put them on one by one. “I know. Your shameless sister tried to solicit a man, and she failed.”

Ye Tinglan: “?”

She had rushed here in such a hurry, but she never expected this turn of events.

What did her attitude mean?

“I was originally thinking of letting go, as he said, but I truly couldn’t bear it, so I thought I’d at least keep him captive for a few more days. Since you found me so quickly, it helped me make a choice.” Yuan Muyu finished dressing and looked at Lu Xingzhou again. “Perhaps you’re right. I still haven’t distinguished whether I love you or just a beautiful memory and obsession… That’s why, in this situation, I’m still unwilling to settle for marrying you along with the others, insisting on going back to the past, which I know is impossible.”

As she spoke, Ye Tinglan had already unsealed Lu Xingzhou’s acupoints. With a wave of her phantom hand, she draped his clothes over him.

“You’re right, I will distinguish them.” Yuan Muyu paused, then suddenly smiled. “Xingzhou, do you know… you’re more charming now. I once didn’t understand why my old-fashioned, ascetic sister would also fall in love, but now I vaguely understand.”

Ye Tinglan: “…”

Yuan Muyu said, “The Soul Banner is different from before, and is the wheelchair also different? Let me see it.”

Lu Xingzhou took out his wheelchair and placed it in front of her.

Yuan Muyu gently caressed it. “Indeed, everything is moving forward, only I am still trapped in the past.”

She looked up, the madness still flickering in her eyes. “Today I was wrong, and I will atone. Also… my past mistakes, for which I apologized verbally but received no substantial punishment, will also be punished today.”

Lu Xingzhou and Ye Tinglan simultaneously had a bad premonition. Before they could react, Yuan Muyu slammed her palm into her own knee with a “crackle,” breaking both her legs.

She then groaned in pain and neatly collapsed into the wheelchair, her face pale, cold sweat beading on her forehead.

“Damn it,” Lu Xingzhou said, quickly taking out a bottle of healing medicine, crouching in front of her to apply it, and angrily. “Are you sick?”

“Yes, are you just realizing it?”

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

*Damn lunatic.*

Yuan Muyu watched him apply the medicine, and the madness in her eyes finally transformed into a gentle glow. “Long Qinghuang said I couldn’t empathize. Well, it starts now.”

“So, what did you empathize with? My legs weren’t broken by you, you’re sick.”

“But if you weren’t rushing to heal me, but stood by, or even stopped others from treating me, what would I feel? I know now. Compared to your subconscious reaction, it seems… I don’t deserve to say ‘I’m sorry.'”