The eldest daughter's scheming, the crown prince's exclusive favor to the venomous concubi

Qiu Lingyu laughed loudly: "I didn't expect that the young master would actually chase you here. The young master's wife in the capital is still in dire straits. It seems a bit inappropriate for you to give up the woman you were going to marry!"

Bai Jianan said, "Whether it's appropriate or not is none of your business. Now that you've got what you wanted, you should leave as soon as possible, otherwise, I can't guarantee I won't kill you."

Qiu Lingyu said, "You think you can kill my mother?"

Bai Jianan said, "Why don't we give it a try?"

Jian Yue grasped Bai Jianan's hand and said coldly, "Go back to the mountain."

"Yueyue."

"Go back to the mountain."

Jian Yue repeated herself, seemingly having exhausted all her strength. She looked at Qiu Lingyu and said, "You can go now."

Qiu Lingyu frowned, a sudden impatience appearing in her eyes. She drew her sword and attacked Jian Yue. Bai Jianan's eyes were sharp, and in the blink of an eye, he switched places with Jian Yue. He unleashed a palm strike, instantly knocking Qiu Lingyu back.

Qiu Lingyu burst into maniacal laughter: "Why? Why do you always retreat? Can't you take the initiative to attack? Don't you want freedom? If you take the initiative to attack, how will you gain freedom?"

Jian Yue looked at her calmly and said, "Freedom is not obtained in this way. If I want freedom, I will fight for it myself. Fighting with you is a joke in my eyes, just something others find amusing. Why should I do what others want?"

Qiu Lingyu said, "Is that so? It's a pity that your retreat has allowed me to advance further. Qilin Pavilion is gone, and Riliang Mountain has given up on you. I want to see what you have left."

Qiu Lingyu left, and Bai Xiaowan followed her. Jian Yue, with a blank face, pushed Bai Jianan away and walked back, not speaking to anyone along the way.

Once she reached the top of the mountain, she suddenly realized that the people in the mountains were looking at her strangely.

Many people were on the street, but no one greeted her like before. Some even walked away from her while holding children, though they would nod and smile at her, it was an awkward smile.

Jian Yue felt terrible. She forced herself to walk to her room despite the dizziness, and then fainted. Bai Jianan caught her from behind, a ruthless glint in his eyes.

On the eve of the Lunar New Year, the mountain was quiet. There were no firecrackers or children playing. Jian Yue stood in the crimson light, but her eyes were filled with gloom.

After Bai Xiaowan left, many people left Riliang Mountain. Some said they went out to buy New Year's goods and never came back, while others made the excuse that their children were sick and went down the mountain for treatment and disappeared without a trace. In short, they left this place, which had begun to face a crisis because of Jian Yue, using all sorts of excuses.

Bai Jianan stood behind her and asked, "Why didn't you stop them? They are people you support, they have no right to say they want to leave."

Jian Yue glanced sideways and laughed, "Why stop them? Can you stop a person's heart? Let them go. Liangshan is not what it used to be. I'm tired of running around for them. It'll be easier for them if they leave."

Like Xiao Cui, she has made the same choice, and now she is truly all alone!

Bai Jianan stepped forward and whispered, "What are you going to do next?"

Upon hearing this, Jian Yue suddenly smiled and asked in return, "What do you think I should do? I don't know what I should do either. It's the New Year, shouldn't we set off firecrackers to celebrate?"

As she spoke, she produced a small wine jar from somewhere and began to pour herself a drink. Bai Jianan stepped forward, sat down beside her, and said, "Are you just going to give up like this? If so, are you content?"

"Unwilling to accept it? What can I do? You saw it yourself, I can't bring myself to hurt her, I can't bring myself to hurt anyone. Since that's the case, what else can I do? I'm tired, I really don't know how to go on. So, I give up. Now, are you going to kill me?"

Bai Jianan was taken aback and glanced at Jian Yue. Jian Yue was smiling at him. His pupils suddenly contracted as he saw the curved blade already in front of him. He immediately grabbed Jian Yue's wrist.

Jian Yue laughed and said, "Since things have come to this point, there's no more value to be gained from me. You don't need to pretend anymore. Just tell me your purpose so we don't have to waste our breath."

Bai Jianan narrowed his eyes and said, "What exactly are you talking about?"

Jian Yue said, "Do you really think you can fool me for a long time?"

As she spoke, Jian Yue began to move her other hand, heading straight for his face. He dodged to the side, but unexpectedly, Jian Yue's hand brushed across his cheek. Then, his face felt light, and when he looked up, he saw that Jian Yue was holding a human skin mask as thin as a cicada's wing.

Looking at the human skin mask in her hand, Jian Yue said coldly, "Do you really think I can't recognize this mask? Tell me, where is Sister Hua?"

Lu Zhe suddenly smiled, released Jian Yue's wrist, straightened his clothes which had been disheveled during the fight, walked around Jian Yue and sat down again, saying, "What's the rush? Anyway, I didn't touch her, otherwise, how would I have gotten this mask?"

Jian Yue frowned, turned around and asked, "What exactly are you trying to do? You saw it today, the blood-red coral and the seal have already been taken away by her."

Lu Zhe laughed: "Do you really think that thing is useful? If it were really useful, how could you have seen Black Wind, and how could you have seen me?"

As he spoke, he picked up the wine glass that Jian Yue had just been drinking from, crushed it, and smiled slightly, but there was no warmth in his eyes.

“In my eyes, you are like this wine glass. I can shatter you into pieces with just a little force, so you don’t need to worry that I’m here to kill you.”

Jian Yue smiled, sheathed her curved sword, and said, "I have complete faith in that. After all, you haven't gotten what you want yet, and now, are you about to take it? But you might be disappointed. I don't intend to give it to you, nor will I let you succeed."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zhe raised an eyebrow, his eyes filled with inquiry. Jian Yue smiled again and said, "Do you think I'm making this up?"

Lu Zhe said, "Isn't my purpose already very clear? Once the game started, you were already in the game, so what nonsense are you spouting?"

Jian Yue shook her head and said, "But I have thought of another purpose."

As she spoke, she stood up and poured the rest of the wine over Lu Zhe's head. Strangely, Lu Zhe did not get up, letting the wine fall on his head and soak him instantly.

Jian Yue then laughed and threw the wine jar on the ground, making a crisp cracking sound.

"What you desire is my destiny, isn't it, Your Excellency the Clan Chief?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Zhe raised his eyes and met Jian Yue's gaze. Jian Yue squinted and said, "Don't get excited. I also deduced this idea through a series of clues, but it's not mature yet. You don't have to admit it now. Let's continue talking."

Jia Banwen told me that the Shen clan exists because of the divine constraints and bestowals. Although they possess abilities that ordinary people cannot have, they must ultimately pay the price for it. Therefore, the Shen clan never appears in public, for fear of the so-called divine curse.

So, what is the person who holds the secrets of heaven most afraid of? The most fearful thing is that they will suffer a curse backlash because of overusing their abilities. Therefore, Benhu tries his best to prevent all of this from happening.

Therefore, the forbidden area of ​​the clan's territory has appeared, am I right?

After wiping his face, Lu Zhe said in a deep voice, "Continue."

Jian Yue said, "This can be considered as seeking the secret of immortality. Therefore, it is against the laws of nature and there is a price to pay. I think this is the reason why the Shen clan was destroyed!"

Lu Zhe shook his head and calmly said, "But if that's the case, the Shen clan will surely be wiped out, so how can the clan leader still be alive?"

Jian Yue smiled: "At first I didn't understand either, but Jia Banwen told me a lot of secrets about the Shen family."

Lu Zhe was taken aback: "Jia Banwen?"

“Yes, Jia Banwen, you probably don’t know this yet, but the twins who were adopted back then are still alive, not just one of them as you thought.”

Lu Zhe suddenly stood up, his eyes filled with disbelief: "Impossible."

"How is it impossible? If the clan chief can defy fate, why can't I? After all, I am a descendant of the Shen clan. I can live for another seventy or eighty years."

Jia Banwen walked in from outside with a smile, bowed to Jian Yue and Lu Zhe, and said with a smile, "The clan leader looks exactly the same as in the picture book, which is truly admirable. I suppose the clan leader has succeeded."

Lu Zhe stared at Jia Banwen without speaking. Jian Yue continued, "Back then, the choice to exterminate the clan was probably for self-preservation. So, the extermination was brought forward before the Heavenly Dao to deceive it. Therefore, you, who had already secretly learned the Gu technique, used the trust of your clansmen to cast Gu on them. You even broke the clan's great formation to prevent others from investigating the secrets of the clan's territory, causing the clan's territory to sink and disappear forever."

As for why you left one person behind, I think it was to protect yourself. You used that person as a lure to draw away the Heavenly Dao's attention, which led to the fate of Xing Ke and his sister.

Jia Banwen shrugged and said, "Clearly, the will of Heaven is really confused. I'm still alive and well."

Lu Zhe remained expressionless for a long while before saying, "What you're saying is illogical. Even if I am the patriarch of the Shen clan and I was the one who exterminated the clan, where would I have learned the Gu technique? The Shen clan is subject to divine punishment. Members of the clan will hasten their death if they leave the clan's territory. As the patriarch, I must never leave the clan's territory. How could I possibly have learned the Gu technique?"

Jia Banwen said, "Just because you can't get out doesn't mean others can't get in. According to the records left by my great-grandfather, more than ten years before the incident in the clan's territory, a Miao person named Jinwu came to ask for help, hoping that the clan chief would predict the future of the Miao territory. In return, they could ask for whatever they wanted from them."

However, the clan chief refused them a single penny, welcoming them into the forbidden area. After they left, the clan chief went into seclusion. Presumably, his seclusion back then was for the purpose of practicing Gu techniques.

Jian Yue said, "The Gu technique is not difficult to learn, but raising Gu is difficult. Your own body is limited, so you can't raise all of them on your body. Therefore, the clan members become the nourishment for you to refine Gu worms. That's why you told everyone about the so-called disaster and sent the clan members out to train one by one. No one's life will be affected for a day."

In fact, you planted Gu worms in them when you left the clan's territory. Even if they suddenly died after returning because of your Gu worms, you can logically claim that they were infected with a virus outside. After all, who would have thought that the patriarch of the Shen clan would know Gu magic?