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In a low voice, Zhangsun Wuji said, ”Fuyao, I'm not letting go.”

In response, she sighed a long and dejected sigh—what else could she say? How could she convince him? Just as he could never convince her, she had no way of being a hypocrite to try to convince him either.

Yet, Zhangsun Wuji suddenly began laughing and said, ”I believe that my sincerity can be felt by the heavens and the earth, and I believe that even though all beings on earth have a destiny above one's will, there will eventually be a way to break it.”

He gently held onto Meng Fuyao, saying, ”You should sleep, you've had a tiring day. Some things, when you think too much, will hurt others. On the other hand, it would be better if you forget about it.” Not waiting for Meng Fuyao's retort, he lifted a finger and habitually tapped her vital sleep points.

Seeing Meng Fuyao fall asleep while having a bitter expression on her face, Zhangsun Wuji reached out and placed a hand on her back. Closing his eyes, he sent inner energy flowing, going one round through her meridians swiftly.

After a while, he let go, quietly watching Meng Fuyao sleeping features. He brushed his finger past her slightly swollen lips as he murmured, ”Since it was fated to be so, I will let you fly even higher, and instead of watching you struggle painfully and obsessively for a lifetime, I will help you overcome all obstacles.”

After that day, Meng Fuyao returned to Zhan Beiye's secret manor to nurse her wounds. She had no interest in listening to the rumors spreading outside about the True Martial Arts champion. Instead, she spent every day desperately training and nursing her wounds. She had already reached the sixth layer of Cleaving Nine Heavens and had successfully combined the inner energies of Gale and Moon Soul together with Cleaving Nine Heavens. Yet, though she had managed to do that, it was still as that old priest had said, only during the moment of critical danger between life and death would she be able to unleash her power with great speed beyond what she was capable of reaching under normal circumstances. According to the old priest, he had attained the sixth layer when he was 24, but nobody before him had ever attained it and deemed it a miracle. Now, it could still be considered that there were no predecessors, and the future generation wouldn't be able to receive any guidance from him anymore.

When Meng Fuyao thought about the old priest admitting defeat, her mood lifted greatly. Although she managed to attain it successfully, she had suffered serious injuries. The combined inner energies were also unstable, sometimes appearing and sometimes disappearing. It would require a long period of recovery and meditation, and now that her target was set, she could only follow through with her training without any distraction and not run off impulsively to Qiongcang before she attained all layers of Cleaving Nine Heavens. She only had one chance — once she went to Qiongcang, there was simply no room for failure!

Hence, Meng Fuyao should stick to the plans in order to do what she wanted to do, and raise some trouble in Tiansha during this period of recovery.

Zhangsun Wuji had 'returned home', and Zhan Beiheng had personally sent Zhangsun Wuji out of Pandu, gifting him a horse carriage filled with jewelry and gifts that the noble ladies in Tiansha had implored him to pass on. Zhangsun Wuji laughed goodnaturedly and really took the horse carriage and left.

However, this was just what was know on the surface, but in actual fact… Meng Fuyao sighed again—that person had put on a disguise and was still by her side. According to what he had said himself, his father's condition had improved recently and was able to attend to matters, or else it would have been difficult for him to rush to Tiansha. Since Zhangsun Wuji had traveled from afar, he should rest a little longer before leaving.

Meng Fuyao didn't think that there was a need to rest, but since he did look a little unwell, and thinking that chasing him away after he had traveled thousands of miles was utterly shameless, she remained silent.

Xuanyuan Yun had also left as well. That was real; not daring to not follow her father when he returned home, she had tearfully requested to see Zong Yue again before she left. That day, Meng Fuyao returned in a semi-conscious state after the battle at the golden palace and did not know how the conversation between the two was going. Thinking that the other party was already aware, she had taken the initiative to let her in only for Xuanyuan Yun to be chased back out of the herb garden by a swarm of venomous bees that Zong Yue had been breeding recently. That evening, Meng Fuyao's medicine resembled human excrement, smelly beyond comprehension.

Zong Yue had returned to his old self, apart from his eyes prickling slightly upon hearing her voice call out, ”Big Brother A-Yue”, he acted as though he was not affected at all. His sentiment was like the glow from a lamp in a faraway village, warm yet distant.

After recuperating for several days, Meng Fuyao received a banquet invitation from Zhan Nancheng, and before she left for the banquet Zhangsun Wuji had reminded her, ”Zhan Nancheng is indeed sincerely inviting you, present the military tactics that I've taught you well, but don't be too proficient in matters of the court. Zhan Nancheng needs a courageous but easy to control and of average wisdom general, not an all-rounded genius who is both skilled and intelligent, so don't overdo it.” After finishing his sentence, he had stuffed something into her hands, continuing, ”If something happens and you find yourself extremely angry yet unable to retaliate, then open this.”

'What kind of genius kit strategy is he trying?' Meng Fuyao scrounged her nose. ”Do you think I've ever encountered such a situation in my life where I was unable to retaliate?” Despite what she said, Meng Fuyao still agreed, and clutching the invitation, she left to attend the banquet with Ya Lanzhu. The guards behind them were investigating a bag horse carriage, and Tiansha guards flanked both sides of the carriage. When the carriage went past her, it stopped, and a pale, frail-looking youth poked his head out to greet her, ”I see it's General Meng, are you here to attend the banquet?”

Meng Fuyao raised her head and met Fourth Prince Feng's smile. Zhangsun Wuji had already 'left', why had these siblings not left yet? Looking at his scrawny appearance, was he still not aware of her cursing the rotten lotus? And where was the rotten lotus? Had she been hiding in her room and crying these few days?

Speaking of the devil, the curtains of the horse carriage suddenly whipped open as Princess Lotus's face peeked through from behind the carriage, laughing as she said, ”General Meng, what a coincidence.”

Her laugh was as pure and light as ever, her tone harmonious. She even gave off a vibe that resembled Zhangsun Wuji's noble elegance.

Meng Fuyao glared at her, hissing coldly.

She was laughing? She was actually laughing? She was actually laughing at her?

'Damnit!' Meng Fuyao had never been truly angry at any woman before in her life, but now she was truly pissed off at Feng Jingfan!

Despite having been cursed to such extent by someone, this woman still was not angered, even being able to laugh at the person who had cursed at her. It was truly incredible, did she curse the wrong person that day because her injuries were too severe? Or was it because a rotten lotus had contracted a kind of selective amnesia?

Nonetheless, the rotten lotus's next words completely dispelled her thoughts, and she felt as though her vision turned black after hearing those words—how could anyone be this powerful in the world…