After being jilted by the saintess at the beginning, why is she crying?

After a while.

In the deepest part of Qingzhu Peak, in that secluded cave, the two sat cross-legged facing each other.

Lin Fengmian frowned and went through the whole matter from beginning to end.

Situ Yanran, the engagement ceremony, Gongsun Mili being coerced, and that inexplicable and insidious plan.

"The fact that the Situ family dared to attack the Gongsun family and even plotted to frame the Gongsun family shows that they must have a trump card that even Nascent Soul cultivators are wary of."

Lin Fengmian's gaze was deep and heavy.

"No matter what cards they have up their sleeve, I'm going to wade into this mess."

He raised his head and his gaze fell on Li Cheng.

The demonic corpse's aura was still unstable; the journey had taken a considerable toll.

In addition, his soul was still injured and had not yet healed, so the demonic energy around him was now slightly disordered.

Lin Fengmian remained silent for a moment, then suddenly flipped his wrist and took out a delicate and exquisite jade bottle from the spiritual spring space.

The liquid in the bottle was as clear as water, yet it exuded a strange vitality that was impossible to ignore.

It's as if an ancient and pure life force overflows from it with the slightest shake.

He casually tossed the jade bottle to Li Cheng:

"Stop pretending. Drink this, and tomorrow you'd better give it your all, work like crazy."

Li Cheng instinctively caught the jade bottle, which felt slightly cool to the touch.

He didn't pay much attention at first, thinking it was just an ordinary healing elixir.

But when his divine sense swept over the single drop of clear, transparent liquid inside the bottle—a liquid that seemed to condense a wisp of primordial energy from the beginning of time—

"Buzz".

He froze completely.

It is no ordinary thing.

It is by no means an ordinary thing.

The overwhelming vitality was so pure it was breathtaking, as if it had been condensed from a wisp of "primordial energy" left behind when heaven and earth were first separated.

In the spirit world, even a single drop of this level of innate spiritual dew would be enough to cause a group of old monsters to fight each other, but the bottle... was completely full.

"First, innate spiritual dew?!"

Li Cheng stared wide-eyed at those ghostly fire-filled eyes, his voice trembling.

"So pure... how could this be possible in this world..."

He suddenly recalled that when he entered the spiritual spring space inside Lin Fengmian's body, he did indeed sense that the spiritual energy was exceptionally rich, and even faintly revealed a vitality that exceeded the rules of this world.

At the time, he only thought it was caused by some kind of spirit-gathering formation or a special grotto-heaven, never expecting...

That seemingly insignificant puddle in the space was actually formed by the gathering of innate spiritual dew!

After using this small bottle of spiritual dew, not only would his injured soul be fully restored, but it could even forcefully push the cultivation level of this demonic corpse to the Nascent Soul stage.

At that time, relying on the spiritual realm techniques and thousands of years of combat experience,

Even when facing those old monsters in the lower realm who were at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage or had one foot in the Divine Transformation stage, he was confident that he could fight them head-on without being at a disadvantage.

Just as a surge of immense joy welled up inside him, he suddenly looked at Lin Fengmian—the boy was smiling at him, slowly turning another empty jade bottle in his hand.

Li Cheng's ecstasy was instantly extinguished.

The soul is in someone else's hands, and the spiritual dew is just bait provided by them.

Li Cheng had dominated the Spirit Realm for thousands of years, yet now he was being completely controlled by a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator. He wanted to curse, opened his mouth, but ultimately only managed a long sigh.

"Fine... kid, you win."

He held the bottle of innate spiritual dew, silently walked to a corner of the cave, sat down, and began to refine and absorb it.

Silence returned to the cave, broken only by the faint hum of swirling spiritual light. But the air was thick with the tension of an impending storm, the oppressive stillness before a tempest.

On the other side—

Inside Situ Yanran's palace, the lights were bright, and an intoxicating fragrance wafted from the incense burner.

"What?! Lin Fengmian ran away?!"

Situ Yanran suddenly sat up straight on the soft couch, a cold killing intent flashing across her charming and alluring phoenix eyes.

She slowly rose, walked to the subordinate who had come to report the news, gently lifted his chin with her delicate fingers, and spoke in a voice as sweet as honey:

"It escaped? So many of you couldn't even keep an eye on a mere Core Formation stage kid?"

Before she finished speaking, a wisp of pitch-black yin energy suddenly burst forth from her fingertips.

Before the subordinate could even scream, he turned into a pool of foul-smelling pus and blood, which slowly flowed down the cracks in the brickwork.

"Useless trash, you don't deserve to live."

She took out a plain white handkerchief and slowly wiped the bloodstains from her fingers, her tone gentle yet chilling.

However, when she rushed into the side hall and saw the four people she had carefully nurtured and cherished as her confidants—Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum—lying haphazardly on the ground in a pitiful state—

Her exquisitely beautiful face suddenly froze, then crumbled inch by inch into a hideous rage.

"Lin Fengmian!!"

She threw her head back and let out a long howl, causing the glazed tiles of the entire palace to tremble violently.

"I, Situ Yanran, hereby swear—I will not be human until I have torn you to pieces and extracted your soul!"

Inside Situ Yanran's palace, the floor was in complete disarray.

The four maids—Mei, Lan, Zhu, and Ju—were neatly arranged on the jade couch in the center of the hall.

His clothes were disheveled, his face was as pale as paper, and his aura was extremely weak, like a flickering lamp about to go out.

Situ Yanran stood before the bed, her phoenix eyes fixed on the four sword marks, her chest heaving violently.

She crushed the nail polish on her fingertips herself, and bright red juice flowed down between her fingers.

These four were selected by her from hundreds of highly qualified girls over a period of thirty years.

Each person was carefully selected, using the finest elixirs to nourish their foundation and the most advanced cultivation techniques to build it up. More importantly...

They were all virgins, their Yin essence pure and flawless, serving as an important furnace for Situ Yanran to advance to the late Nascent Soul stage.

Now, it's all ruined.

Thirty years of hard work were uprooted overnight.

Situ Yanran slowly, very slowly, turned around. Her usually charming and alluring face was now twisted like a vengeful ghost.

She stared in the direction of the palace gate, as if she could see through the layers of palace walls to the hateful figure in the green robe.

"Lin Fengmian"

A heart-wrenching roar exploded from the depths of her throat, causing the glazed tiles of the entire palace to tremble. The exotic fragrance in the incense burner was dispersed by the sound waves, and the candles went out for a moment.

"You little rascal!"

She clenched her fists tightly, and black yin energy rose from her palms, corroding two deep marks on the jade bed beneath her.

"I really underestimated you!!"

She tilted her head back, her eyes surging with bloodlust, her killing intent almost tangible:

"You just wait! I'll catch you myself one day! I'll drain every last drop of your pure yang energy! I'll make you wish you were dead!"

An aura of extreme rage erupted from her body, causing the pillars of the entire palace to tremble violently, and cracks to spread from her feet up the walls.

The guards outside the palace were so frightened that they fled in terror.