She was so beautiful and perfect, how could she possibly be the shallow and laughable person those people claimed her to be?
Thinking of how Mu Feilin had shattered Mu Ran's spirit root, Cangshu Bai unconsciously tightened his grip on her hand. She frowned slightly in her sleep. Realizing this belatedly, Cangshu Bai hurriedly relaxed his hold.
To think that Mu Feilin actually wanted to capture Mu Ran and take her back to the mountain.
Cangshu Bai pulled her into his embrace, as if guarding his most precious treasure. His pitch-black eyes grew even deeper, like a bottomless abyss.
"What? All the disciples who went down the mountain have disappeared?"
Mu Feilin was in his study handling sect affairs. Upon suddenly hearing this news, a look of astonishment appeared on his face.
The disciple who came to report said in a panic, "Yes, there were six disciples sent down the mountain for the task this time, but now they are nowhere to be found, dead or alive."
Mu Feilin's expression turned solemn.
The disciple said uncertainly, "Sect Leader, could it be that Mu Ran still has her cultivation?"
"Impossible. I shattered her spirit root with my own hands. Even if an immortal descended from heaven, it would be impossible to repair her root bone and help her restore her cultivation."
Mu Feilin still had this much confidence. Since ancient times, he had never seen a cultivator whose spirit root was destroyed manage to have it repaired.
Mu Feilin asked again, "Are you sure the man she married is just an ordinary person?"
The disciple nodded with absolute certainty. "Our people have already investigated. That man is just a doctor working in a clinic. He has no cultivation at all, nor does he have a spirit root. The young lady also saw it with her own eyes that day; that man is just an ordinary person."
Since neither Mu Ran nor that man had the ability to deal with the disciples of Biyun Mountain, Mu Feilin had to think deeper.
Right now, the infighting over at Tianyu Palace had reached a critical moment. The old palace master was frail and was essentially a puppet of the First Elder. No one could have expected Li Mohan, who had been biding his time, to suddenly emerge halfway.
Now that Li Mohan had taken control of the overall situation, it was inevitable that he would kill the First Elder and take over the entire Tianyu Palace.
Previously, the First Elder had been driven into a corner and tried to send people to capture Mu Zhizhi to threaten Li Mohan into backing down. Unfortunately, the people from the Changqing Sect intervened halfway, and his plan failed.
Could it be that the First Elder's side had failed with one plan and hatched another?
Was it their people who attacked the Biyun Mountain disciples?
As Mu Feilin was pondering this, the disciple waiting for orders couldn't help but ask, "Sect Leader, what should we do now?"
Actually, he felt that whether they captured Mu Ran or not didn't matter. Mu Ran was a crippled person now anyway, so what was the point of bringing her back?
Back then, Mu Ran dared to go against the Sect Leader. By shattering her spirit root, the Sect Leader had vented his anger and regained his face.
But Mu Feilin didn't think so. He had other plans in his heart. "You don't need to intervene in this matter anymore. I will resolve it myself."
The disciple bowed his head and complied, but in his heart, he still found it strange. What exactly was the Sect Leader's purpose in wanting to capture Mu Ran back to the mountain?
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people began paying New Year visits.
Mu Ran and Cangshu Bai had no other relatives to visit, so they decided to just go and pay a New Year visit to the old woman.
The old woman received the New Year gifts from Cangshu Bai's hands. She was so touched that her body trembled and her eyes filled with warm tears, looking as if she was about to cry on the spot.
Mu Ran felt that after spending so much time with the old woman, they had developed a sense of neighborly affection. So, she said somewhat reluctantly, "Old Madam, my husband and I will be setting off to go back tomorrow."
The old woman's eyes widened. "What, you're leaving!"
Mu Ran nodded. "I know you can't bear to see us go, and actually, we can't bear to leave you either."
No, she only prayed that they would leave quickly!
The old woman wept tears of joy. "You go on ahead. It's a long journey and the roads are tough. Once you leave, don't come back!"
When walking out of the old woman's house, Mu Ran even sighed to Cangshu Bai, "The old madam is so nice. She even thinks of us and wants us to suffer less from the wind and rain."
Cangshu Bai's gaze was profound. "Mhm, you're right."
Wonderful, simply wonderful, this jinx was finally leaving!
Although the old woman was still trapped in the courtyard by the restriction and couldn't take a single step outside, she finally didn't have to constantly feel the oppressive aura radiating from Cangshu Bai. She suddenly felt that the air had become much fresher.
As long as she kept her life now, she would definitely figure out a way to break this restriction one day!
The old woman felt that tomorrow would be bright and beautiful. She no longer opened the door to lament about the passing of time to the outside world. She closed the door and muttered, "When I regain my freedom, I must find a satisfactory body and live forever!"
Just as she turned around, a cold gust of wind blew. With a bang, her entire body exploded, turning into a bloody mist and vanishing without a trace.
They had to head back.
Mu Ran looked at the things in the house, stroking her chin with a deep frown.
Cangshu Bai was sitting on a chair, an open book in his hand. Sensing her approaching presence, he opened his arms without even lifting his head. The girl who trotted over naturally sat on his lap and leaned into his embrace.
"Jinzhi, didn't we agree to stay here until after the fifteenth before going back? Why did you change your mind and decide to leave tomorrow?"
Cangshu Bai said, "I received a message from Dr. Hu. He said the clinic is busy, and if I don't go back soon, he won't let me work there anymore."
Mu Ran was quite resentful. "Dr. Hu again."
In the past, the one who exploited Cangshu Bai to go up the mountain in the middle of the night to gather herbs was Dr. Hu. The one who forced Cangshu Bai to travel far to see patients was also Dr. Hu. And now, the one who wouldn't even let them enjoy the New Year properly and urged Cangshu Bai to go back was still Dr. Hu.
But thinking about how the job at the clinic was relatively stable, at least Dr. Hu never delayed paying wages, and sometimes Cangshu Bai could afford to buy expensive things for Mu Ran because Dr. Hu was in a good mood and gave him extra money.
Mu Ran thought that Cangshu Bai probably valued this point as well and couldn't bear to lose this job.
Cangshu Bai put down the book in his hand, lifted her chin, and planted a light kiss. "If you like it here, we'll come back again next year, alright?"
She nodded. "Alright, then I'll pack our things and we'll set off tomorrow."
They had brought quite a few trunks when they came. Now that they were going back, after packing their luggage, there were two extra wooden trunks. This was mainly because Mu Ran couldn't bear to throw anything away, so Cangshu Bai naturally had to try his best to pack it all.
The wooden trunks all went into the Qiankun bag, which made things easy and convenient.
Cangshu Bai placed a hand warmer into her hands. Mu Ran smiled and said, "It's the one I made."
He said softly, "It's cold outside. Hold this to warm your hands."
Mu Ran held the hand warmer and deliberately teased him, "Didn't you say you were going to keep it safe? What, you don't treasure it anymore?"
The corners of Cangshu Bai's lips lifted slightly. "It is precious, but you are even more precious."
Mu Ran covered her face. "I love hearing that!"
He chuckled softly, helped her onto the carriage, and then got on himself.
As they passed the entrance of the alley, Mu Ran looked at the tightly shut door and said strangely, "The old madam always kept her door wide open before. Why is it closed today?"
Cangshu Bai said, "Perhaps she didn't want to face the parting, so she couldn't bear to open the door and see us off."
Mu Ran leaned against Cangshu Bai and sighed with dramatic exaggeration, "What a good, deeply sentimental person."
Cangshu Bai hummed in agreement, "A good person indeed."
