Chapter 3: Purple Yang Sect

This sentence!

It was like a bolt from the blue that shook the area, silencing all birds.

Sect Master Liu, the servants, the sect guards, and all the sect disciples present all jerked their heads up, their gazes toward Su Chen filled with shock and horror, obviously frightened out of their wits.

Does he even know what he's actually saying?

Could he have taken the wrong medicine today?

"You, what did you just say?" Liu Liyan felt her brain short‑circuit, her mind going blank, emotions welling up in her beautiful eyes as she could hardly believe the truth of Su Chen's words.

She had even anticipated that Su Chen was going to humiliate her.

Wait for her to say she is willing.

Su Chen would then burst out laughing, immediately turn hostile and say, "You're not even worthy!"

Then he would stab a knife into her chest, saying that from beginning to end only Lin Jianran was the one he liked, telling her to stop daydreaming.

In the past, Su Chen would humiliate her many times in front of Lin Jianran; seeing her humiliated, Lin Jianran would become especially pleased and proud.

"Liu Liyan, are you still willing to become engaged to me?"

Liu Liyan lifted her jade finger slightly, her fan‑like eyelashes trembling as she asked, "Are you joking with me?"

"It's not a joke; I'm serious."

"And Miss Lin? She..."

"Lin Jianran, that two‑faced vain woman—I've had terrible luck for eight lifetimes to meet her. I used to obey her every word out of necessity, but in truth I never liked her! I swear—I will never hurt you again!"

Liu Liyan's heart seemed to pause for a moment.

A wave of sour bitterness swept over her body; she lifted her gaze to Su Chen, at this moment her heart could hold only his image.

She smiled, and the world once shrouded in gloom seemed to brighten: "You don't need to tell me all this; as long as you turn back, I'll always be here."

"I am willing."

Never mind.

Whether true or false, or whatever Su Chen's motive, even if he's just coaxing or deceiving her, it's fine.

Just because these words truly grasped her lifeline, she willingly accepts it.

Su Chen was truly moved this time, thinking of Liu Liyan in the book, who seemed to have fallen into the demonic path and become a reviled demonic cultivator only after being killed by the Child of Fate.

He silently cursed the system for being utterly unreliable, and regretted all the harmful things he had done earlier to win Lin Jianran over.

Thinking this.

Su Chen instinctively reached out and embraced Liu Liyan, full of remorse.

Liu Liyan first froze, then her whole body felt like an electric shock, a tingling sensation, and her heart began to pound.

"He… he hugged me?"

"But… but isn't he averse to touching me?"

【Ding!】

【Ding!】

【Ding!】

The Myriad Worlds Mall Card in his pocket suddenly heated up, chiming with a ding‑dong sound, then turned into a ball of white light that entered Su Chen's sea of consciousness.

Vaguely.

He felt the soft, delicate texture in his arms… no, stop!

He felt the illusory shopping panel appear before him, countless techniques, martial skills, and divine weapons flashing by, requiring five thousand points.

Various magic treasures, holy medicines, immortal pills, spirit beasts, and mounts swept across the panel, costing five hundred thousand points, plus all kinds of pills and materials!

The longer he held Liu Liyan, the faster the points in the upper‑left corner increased!

One second of bodily contact equals one point…

Ten seconds equals ten points…

Fifteen points…

He maintained this pose for a full two breaths, until a heavy cough sounded behind him, whereupon Su Chen hastily released the stiffened Liu Liyan.

【Cough—】

"Aunt Liu." Su Chen called out politely.

Madame Liu sheathed her spirit sword, tidied her appearance, then walked over with lotus steps.

After sizing him up from head to toe, the drastically changed Su Chen thought to himself, "What the hell, this shameless thing actually dares to call me aunt?"

Yet her exquisite face bore a stern, angry expression: "Hmph! Aunt! Our sect cannot bear such a title!"

"What have you done to the relationship between the Purple Yang Sect and the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect? Over these three years, for that woman, how many absurd deeds have you committed, dragging the Purple Yang Sect's reputation through the mud!"

"Su Chen, answer me seriously."

"Are the words you just spoke to my daughter half‑false? You said them just to curry favor with that woman, deliberately humiliating my daughter!"

Upon hearing this, Su Chen's eyes filled with sincerity, his expression solemn, showing no trace of joking.

He stepped straight up to Liu Liyan.

As she lowered her beautiful eyes, gazing at her delicate jade hand lost in thought, he directly seized her jade hand.

Ten seconds earlier, Liu Liyan's thoughts: "When Su Chen hugged me just now, he touched this garment; maybe I shouldn't wash it today—is today enough? Or maybe I won't wash it tomorrow either…"

Ten seconds later, Liu Liyan's thoughts: "!!!"

She lowered her gaze, looking at the wrist he had seized; her thoughts surged like a tide, finally turning into realization and endless bitterness.

At the same time.

The points shot up!

Two hundred fifty points!

Two hundred sixty points!

Three hundred points……

The point value kept climbing.

Su Chen locked eyes with Lady Liu, his expression dead serious: "Aunt, I swear before the Heavenly Dao that in this life I will never let down Liu Liyan! Before, I was a mess, blind as a bat, mistaking a streetlamp for moonlight!"

"Now I have truly awakened; the person I should cherish is far away yet near at hand—only she is worth my cherishing."

Lady Liu nearly dropped her jaw in shock, her mouth opening wide.

She had wanted to sneer some more, but meeting her daughter's warning gaze, she swallowed it back.

She merely turned away, snorting coldly: "You'd better keep your word; I'll consider the marriage based on your conduct. If you dare hurt my daughter again for that woman, I'll make you suffer!"

"A lone man and woman, embracing like that—what propriety is this?!"

"Come here, I have something to ask you."

"And you, as a young lady, don't you know how to be reserved?"

Su Chen reluctantly let go.

Until Su Chen followed the cold‑faced Lady Liu away, Liu Liyan couldn't snap out of what had happened today; she just kept staring at her own robes.

She looked, then looked again.

Then she lightly pursed her lips, a flicker of smile crossing her mouth: "Do you truly like me, or are you just deceiving me? It's fine if you deceive me—at least you're willing to put thought into it."

"Su Chen."

"I thought I'd never see the day you'd turn back…"

Just then, within the Purple Yang Sect, the atmosphere gradually livened up and returned to its cheerful bustle.

At that moment, at the Lin Manor.

Lin Jianran sat unrestrained in the grand tutor's chair, now and then picking up the bronze mirror to glance at her lovely face in it, then occasionally lifting her eyes to scan the main hall entrance.

As time passed.

Originally indifferent, Lin Jianran grew restless, a hint of impatience showing in her brows.

She was merely a pretty petite beauty, not reaching peerless looks, but her purity made up for it.

Wearing the rosy‑mist gauze skirt that Su Chen had forced her maid to make, and the twin‑lotus gilded hairpin on her head, this outfit alone was enough for an ordinary cultivator to train up to the Martial Emperor Realm.

"What on earth is Su Chen up to?"

"Half an hour ago, the Lin Manor steward heard the wind—he said he'd already left the Heavenly Mystery Dao Sect; by now, with the speed of that Black Flood Dragon, he should have arrived long ago."

"He's the one who begged me to accept his gift, making me wait half a day—he clearly doesn't care about me at all!"

"When he comes, I'll leave him hanging for a while; no matter what he says, I'll firmly refuse to take anything from him."

Lin Jianran thought darkly to herself: "If Su Chen doesn't come kneeling to coax me, he'd better not dream of getting me to accept that Flowing Immortal Skirt—I'm not the sort of vile woman who treasures trinkets."

But……

That thought had just sprouted in her mind.

The steward came running in a panic, his face grim: "Miss."

"He's finally here, right? Don't let him in—tell him I'm not at the manor, have him wait at the gate until I return."

"Hmph, men are all like that: the easier something is to get, the less they cherish it; what they can't have forever stirs them up."

"I'm not the kind of girl who'd be moved by a few measly spirit stones!!"

The steward used to hear such remarks and still thought his miss had a real knack for handling those sectarian young masters.

But now……

A flicker of complex emotion crossed his eyes, his tone shifting: "Miss, Master Su hasn't come; the underlings say… they say… he took the Flowing Immortal Skirt to find the Holy Maiden Liu!"