At the same time.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The commotion from the battle had drawn the attention of the Elders from the Taichu Holy Land, who now flew over from afar.
Qin Luo sensed something and seemed to recall an idea in his mind.
"Young Mistress."
"Hmm?"
"I’ve figured out a way to return."
Su Muwan froze for a second—then—
Whoosh!
The Elders of the Taichu Holy Land descended.
"What happened here?"
"Gasp! That demoness beside the Holy Son! Doesn’t she look exactly like the Frostfiend?!"
"Impossible! The Sect Master is supposed to be suppressing that fiend!"
"Could it be...?"
"The fiend has broken free!"
"Demoness! Release our Holy Son at once!"
A barrage of accusations flew their way.
Su Muwan rolled her eyes so hard she might’ve strained them.
These people were beyond hopeless.
Instead of responding, Qin Luo simply wrapped an arm around Su Muwan’s shoulder in full view of everyone.
Then—
BOOM!!!
A surge of shadowy energy erupted from his body, causing everyone’s pupils to shrink in shock.
This—! Such overwhelming demonic energy!!
Qin Luo, still holding Su Muwan, slowly levitated into the air. His gaze swept over the crowd as he spoke calmly, "Since you’ve all discovered the truth, I’ll drop the act."
"Su Muwan, the so-called ‘demoness’ in your eyes..."
"...is my Dao Companion."
BOOM—!!
In an instant, everyone’s minds went blank.
Mu Xueyi collapsed to her knees with a thud.
Her lips trembled, her face pale, as she stared in disbelief at Qin Luo holding Su Muwan mid-air.
How... could this be?!
"Demoness!! You’ve bewitched our Holy Son!!"
"Disaster! The demoness has corrupted our sect’s treasure!!"
"Qin Luo, the Holy Son, has fallen to the demoness’ corruption!!"
Su Muwan: ??? What kind of nonsense are they spouting?
The next moment—
As if some condition for their return had been triggered—
A radiant white light enveloped Qin Luo and Su Muwan.
In the blink of an eye, the two vanished into the sky.
The demoness had taken Qin Luo and fled!
Mu Xueyi finally snapped. Clenching her fists—
BANG!
She smashed them into the ground, tears streaming as she sobbed, "Waaah!!"
"What’s the use of all this cultivation power?!"
"My senior brother has become another’s plaything!"
"And I—I couldn’t do anything to stop it!"
"Pure love? What good is pure love?!"
"If I’d confessed sooner, if I hadn’t clung to my pride, he never would’ve been seduced by that demoness!"
"This is all my fault... for letting her take him away."
"That’s right..."
Before the Elders, Mu Xueyi picked up the Demon-Slaying Sword from the ground and pressed it against her throat, declaring with finality:
"Su Muwan! I hate you!!"
"If I can’t defeat you... I’ll make sure to disgust you to death!!"
"If there’s a next life... I’ll become that ‘Su Bailian’ you always talked about!!"
"I’ll steal everything you hold dear!!"
Splat!!
Mu Xueyi reincarnated.
That day, the Taichu Holy Land lost two of its greatest treasures.
Oh, and the Sect Master was gone too.
......
......
9:00 AM.
"Mmm..."
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, casting a soft glow over the bed.
Su Muwan slowly opened her eyes, greeted by the achingly familiar ceiling above her.
Tears welled up instantly, spilling down her cheeks as she choked out, "Finally... we’re back."
Uwaaaah!!
Can you believe it, folks?!
Finally back from that godforsaken ancient era with no phones, no internet, and no potato chips!!
Hallelujah! Time to indulge in all the entertainment I’ve missed for nearly a month!
"Young Mistress, you’re awake?"
Qin Luo’s voice came from beside her, laced with amusement.
Su Muwan turned her head to see Qin Luo sitting by the bed, holding out a glass of water with a gentle smile. His expression was as calm and warm as ever.
She nodded, accepting the glass while rubbing her eyes and sitting up. After blinking a few times to confirm she was truly back in the real world, she let out a long sigh of relief.
"Luo Luo, how did we get back?" she murmured, puzzled. "How did you figure out the return condition?"
"Simple," Qin Luo replied with a chuckle, brushing a stray lock of hair from her forehead. "Remember the first two times we entered the dream?"
"Once, when you were a child and Jiang Xueqi tried to steal your doll—we fulfilled the return condition after I protected it for you."
"The other time, you became a calamity in the Profound Heaven Realm—we returned after wiping out the pursuers."
"Both instances had one thing in common."
He pinched Su Muwan’s clueless, chubby cheek playfully.
"We advanced the plot."
"This time, by openly declaring our relationship, we triggered the next phase of the story."
"So we returned."
Su Muwan nodded slowly. "Oh! Got it."
"Wait, how much time passed in the real world? Did people notice we were gone?"
Qin Luo raised an eyebrow. "Oh, just one night."
"???"
Su Muwan’s eyes widened. "What?! One night?! That’s impossible! We were there for days!"
"Young Mistress, you still don’t fully grasp the mechanics of this crossing," Qin Luo said, amused.
"Ten years in the Fate Dream Cauldron equals one day in reality."
"Different timeflow rates are a pretty common trope, you know."
"Hey! Don’t say it so casually like it’s no big deal!" Su Muwan grumbled.
"Then how should I say it, Young Mistress... Here, wipe your face."
"Hmph, figure it out yourself... Mmmph—!"
......
......
Meanwhile.
Taichu Holy Land.
Beast Spirit Mountain, back hills.
Su Bailian stared blankly at the ice-blue sword embedded in the rock before her.
[After ten thousand years, Mu Xueyi, I’ve finally found your reincarnation... Draw me forth, and inherit the memories and cultivation of your past life... Hey! Where are you going?!]
"Tch! Who has time for fighting? Sounds like a hassle. Right, Boqi?"
"Woof!"
Su Bailian rolled her eyes and walked off without a second glance.
Just taking Boqi for a post-meal stroll, and she runs into this nonsense?
Expecting her to fight?
Please, did they think she was some battle junkie like Su Muwan?
[Hey! HEY!]
The Demon-Slaying Sword was utterly baffled.
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
+【Epic Battles!】 "Your Highness, they say Linxi Temple is miraculous. Won’t you make a wish?" "A wish? It should be making wishes to me." "That may be so, but since you’re already here..." "..." "Fine. Then grant this princess a consort to play with." "He must be obedient, devoted, and utterly infatuated with my body—so much so that he’d kneel and kiss my feet." "Your Highness, that’s not a consort. That’s a dog." "Then add clever, witty, heroic, ambitious yet pragmatic..." "Hmm, that’s enough for now. I’ll add more later." After tossing out these words half in jest, Princess Anle departed the temple—only to catch a fleeting glimpse of the Bodhisattva statue smiling at her. Meanwhile, Yang An, fresh out of university, was having a very bad day. Good news: He’d transmigrated into another world with a cheat granting tenfold combat power. Bad news: He’d immediately fallen into the clutches of a certain villainess. Good news: Said villainess possessed peerless beauty and royal status. Bad news: She was absolutely monstrous!!! In the frozen wilderness, Yang An knelt beneath Qin Guo’er’s feet, drenched in sweat despite the cold. Desperately clutching her porcelain-perfect foot—the very one poised to crush his throat—he could only think: How do I survive this?! Need answers NOW!
esick Sect? Well, at least it's considered a respectable orthodox sect. Wait a minute— What kind of vibe are you all giving off? Shouldn’t this be a love-struck, romance-obsessed sect? Why does everyone here sound more like demonic cultivators? "Master, today he’s getting married. This disciple wishes to descend the mountain and crash the wedding, then toy with him to death right in front of his wife..." "Elder, I only got into your sect through connections, so why won’t you teach me anything?" "Because I also became an elder through connections." Thankfully, Su Ji was just an outer sect labor disciple. Surely, nothing too crazy would— "Junior Brother, you’ve broken through to Qi Refining. Once you sever your useless spiritual root, you can officially become an outer sect disciple." "The Great Dao is merciless. Don’t let a worthless spiritual root waste your essence and spirit, hindering your cultivation." Is this really the Lovesick Sect? ... Three years later, Su Ji sat in the seat of the Lovesick Sect’s sect master, sighing with emotion. His rise to this position all started when his junior sister adamantly insisted on preserving his "spiritual root." "Mmm... Senior Brother, what’s our relationship now?" "Stop talking. Keep going." "By the way, that newly promoted top-tier sect—didn’t they come to buy our Love Beans?" "One top-grade spirit stone per Love Bean—is that really so expensive?" "I suspect they’ve eaten too many Love Beans." "Now they’re lovesick." Well, this really is the Lovesick Sect after all.
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
