Chapter 26

As she spoke, the corner of her mouth rose, AK could barely hold it back, and then she sneered: "When Ye family's Ye Xuan was good-for-nothing, you clung to the young sect master Su Chen; later Ye Xuan rose, you rushed to fawn over him; now that Ye Xuan has become an imperial consort, you know you're not worthy, and you're thinking of the young sect master Su Chen's kindness again."

"Your taste is really not bad, keep up your manipulative act, why don't you try manipulating them? Hahaha..."

"The young sect master Su Chen isn't playing with you anymore."

"He has had a change of heart; the Purple Yang Sect is now engaged to the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect! Do you think you can still manipulate him? With your sorry state, you're still daydreaming about marrying into the Dao Sect?"

"It's laughable; I'll give you a taste of your own medicine, yet you actually think you're a white swan?"

"Now Ye Xuan, Ye Xuan doesn't look at you; Su Chen, Su Chen already has a good match—have you messed up? Lord Lin, Miss Lin, your plans have gone awry. Hahaha..."

Qin Elder laughed, slapping his chest.

The more she looked at Lin Jianran's liver-colored face, the more delighted she felt inside.

All the pent-up frustration she had been carrying was released at this moment; the sect's holy son had been toyed with by Lin Jianran until he was dizzy, and she had long wanted to lash out. Today she let it all out, seeing Lin Jianran looking like she'd lost her soul, how could he not be pleased?

"You, you lied to me, didn't you?" Lin Jianran's face was deathly pale.

In an instant.

She recalled the illusion created by her inner demon during last night's cultivation.

Scenes from the illusion surfaced in her mind.

The man who had pursued her for three years, who had been willing to sacrifice his life for her, actually turned back and held hands with Liu Liyan to marry.

Lin Jianran thought and thought, suddenly feeling an empty void in her heart, as if she had lost something important, her limbs turning cold, a wave of panic surging up.

She began to feel inexplicably uneasy, no matter how she tried to comfort herself: "No, absolutely impossible—how could awakening abandon me and choose Liu Liyan? You're lying to me, aren't you? You just want to see me make a fool of myself?"

"Ha! Don't be so self-important; do you even deserve me to fabricate lies to deceive you?"

"This morning I personally saw the Liu sect leader bring Miss Liu to the door, personally exchanging betrothal gifts between the two families."

"Now? I'd say this marriage is already settled!"

"Ayoyo, what's this expression? Resentment? Unwilling? Unexpected? Your face is paler than a corpse's—weren't you just putting on that manipulative act earlier?" Qin Elder clicked his tongue in disdain and pursed his lips.

Lin Jianran's mind went blank from the impact of those words, her whole body feeling light-headed.

Her beautiful eyes widened, her eyeballs almost popping out, she clenched the hem of her skirt tightly.

Incredible.

Shocked beyond belief.

Unable to accept.

Uneasy.

Dazed and stunned, various complex emotions intertwined.

Before Lord Lin could come to his senses and voice his shocked question, Lin Jianran snapped back to awareness, as if possessed, she shoved Qin Elder aside and flew in panic toward the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect: "It won't happen, it won't..."

"This is just Su Chen's tactic to force me into marriage, meant to scare me."

"Liu Liyan is cursed, an ill-omened person; how could he possibly agree to be engaged to her? He personally promised me he would love me for lifetimes."

"He would appear when I needed support, help me punish those who bullied me when I felt wronged, and rack his brains to obtain mystical weapons for me..."

"He would love only me and treat only me well; it's impossible for him to betray me."

"I... I'm going to the Dao Sect now to ask Su Chen..."

Lin Jianran muttered to herself, transformed into a long rainbow, and vanished into the horizon.

This time, preparing to let go of her act, she was truly frightened, not daring to put on airs again.

She kept reassuring herself inwardly, that this was Su Chen scaring her, words meant to make her bow her head.

She was now heading to the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect, where they had already prepared the betrothal gifts, waiting to welcome her with eight six-grade black flood dragons.

Exactly!

That's definitely the case.

Thinking this, her tears kept flowing uncontrollably...

Just as Lin Jianran rushed toward the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect...

Here, the Ye family's steward, bringing the betrothal gifts for marrying the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect's holy maiden Su Lingxue, left the Ye household, and as soon as he stepped out he heard about the marriage between the Purple Yang Sect and the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect.

I don't know if the Purple Yang Sect's leader has a screw loose; previously their own holy maiden had her engagement broken by Su Chen and suffered repeated humiliations, yet now the Purple Yang Sect is still willing to let their holy maiden marry down.

It's a pity the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect will become a stepping stone for the Ye family's rise.

The Ye steward snorted inwardly.

By the time he reached the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect's mountain gate, the sect leader Su had already departed via a teleportation array.

Only Lady Su and the others remained.

"From now on, the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect and the Ye family will be one family; I don't know where the Second Miss is now, but let her come with this old servant into the Ye household—the unicorn horse is waiting outside."

Now the Ye family, backed by the Star Pavilion and the two major powers of the imperial dynasty, even a gatekeeper steward has ample confidence.

He spoke to Lady Su and the others with his nose in the air.

A hint of hatred crossed Lady Su's still-charming face; she personally led the Ye steward to Su Lingxue's quarters.

Su Lingxue lay on the bed, her pretty face as pale as paper, traces of blood at the corners of her mouth; she had just tried to sit up, but in the next instant she went limp and collapsed again.

A appearance of weakness that could break her breath at any moment.

The Ye steward couldn't help but his face darkened.

Lady Su immediately put on a mournful face and sighed: "Steward Ye, last night Lingxue, in her haste to break through, almost suffered a qi deviation; fortunately my husband noticed in time, which barely saved her life. She now needs proper recuperation—what do you think of this marriage..."

I hope Steward Ye will truthfully report Lingxue's condition to the Ye family head, and I hope the Ye family will understand.

The matter of marrying into the Ye family will likely be postponed.

Saying this, Lady Su didn't forget to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

Even before arriving, the Ye steward had received instructions from the Ye family head.

Looking at the current situation, it truly is as the Ye family's young master predicted: upon hearing some rumors, the people of the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect are now unwilling to marry off their daughters and have begun preparing a fallback plan.

Last time the Su Sect Leader said the reason for not handing over the Seal Sect Technique was that his son needed it to prolong his life, all just excuses.

Now even marrying off his daughter is being met with repeated obstructions...

This abnormal scene undoubtedly proves the Young Master's expectation that the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect is involved with the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.

A flicker of ruthlessness flashed in Steward Ye's eyes, yet his expression feigned sympathy: 'This Su Holy Maiden neither had deviation earlier nor later, but today on your wedding day, I don't know if it's illness or you look down on the Ye Family's young master.'

Cough—

Second Sister Su Lingxue directly spat a mouthful of fresh blood, staining her handkerchief red, her pallid lips trembling as she said: 'Steward Ye, it's not that I don't wish to marry into the Ye Family, but my cultivation has regressed, injuring my meridians...'

Su Lingxue's eyes rolled back, and she simply fainted.

Madam Su hurriedly summoned an apothecary.

This scene was completely anticipated by their Young Master; the claimed need for the Seal Sect Technique to prolong his son's life is clearly just an unwillingness to hand over the technique.

Watching Madam Su worry over Su Lingxue's injury, Steward Ye coldly sneered in his heart.

He also had no mind to continue pretending with the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect's people, and decisively said: 'Since the Holy Maiden's meridians are damaged, I will immediately return to the Ye Family to inform the family head, casually request the family head to bestow a spiritual elixir, send an apothecary to attend to the Holy Maiden's injury, until she is unharmed.'

'Madam Su, what do you think?'