Chapter 246: Temptation

The washbasin was hurled toward the ground.

Lu Ye reacted swiftly, catching the washbasin and closing the door in one motion.

Holding Chu Ling's lifeless body, he placed it on the bed.

He pondered.

With all eight women slain, he was free of desires and attachments, his Dao heart unburdened.

Perhaps he could attain the Dao again at the fastest speed.

Yes, this was the way.

"Boom!"

The door was violently forced open.

A hand reached in.

"Shi..."

Before the word "xiong" could be uttered, a crisp snap came from the neck.

Yue Hongling's corpse was also placed on the bed.

Bai Qiulan had yet to suffer the eruption of the Taiyin Chaos Poison—she was undoubtedly unbeatable for now. Best to leave immediately!

Lu Ye strode toward the Alchemy Pavilion, his appearance shifting into that of Taoist Qinghuo, his aura indistinguishable from the real one.

He gathered a portion of the elixirs at top speed.

Then, he altered his face once more and fled the Great Dao Sect.

"Lu Ye?"

Bai Qiulan appeared outside Lu Ye's door and knocked.

No response.

After several attempts, she could no longer restrain herself and pushed the door open.

The sight that greeted her was the corpses of Chu Ling and Yue Hongling.

Bai Qiulan's face twisted in horror.

Him!!!

Gradually, a legend of a grand thief spread across the wilderness.

This thief was utterly brazen—no matter the faction, no matter how powerful the cultivator, if their treasures were not kept close, they could vanish at any moment.

To this day, none knew the thief's true identity, only that he could mimic any person, any aura, making him impossible to guard against.

Not long after, the Ancient Battlefield of Prodigies opened.

Shangguan Huanling was speaking with Shangguan Wuchang.

"Who are you looking for?" Shangguan Wuchang asked.

"She's looking for me!"

A guard suddenly spoke.

A glimmer of light flashed, and before Shangguan Huanling could react, her head had already fallen.

Lu Ye's figure dashed toward the Ancient Battlefield of the Prodigies.

Vermilion Bird? Kill her!

Bai Qiulan? Kill her too!

Cultivate! Cultivate! Cultivate!

"System, I need you to fully assist me in my cultivation!"

"Ding ding ding, host, stop going crazy..." The system's jingling sounds rang incessantly.

Lu Ye emerged from the TriLife Tribulation.

"What's wrong?"

"Ding, if you keep cultivating like this, your true body will trigger the real Saint Tribulation."

Lu Ye smacked his lips. Fine.

Though he couldn't go completely mad anymore, that brief moment of insanity within the TriLife Tribulation had felt incredibly exhilarating—unbelievably so!

People need to go a little crazy sometimes.

After all, it was just the TriLife Tribulation—everything was an illusion.

But if he were to trigger the Saint Ascension Tribulation within the TriLife Tribulation, it might genuinely cause changes in the real world.

"Ding, host, it seems the Source of Darkness is starting to act. You need to be careful from now on."

Lu Ye raised an eyebrow.

"How is it acting?"

"Ding, I don’t know, but in your past life, you dragged the Source of Darkness into self-destruction. In this life, it will definitely try every means to kill you."

Lu Ye fell into thought.

His aura continued to rise. Having passed the TriLife Tribulation, his Dao heart was now utterly perfected.

From this moment onward, he was no longer that love-starved man.

He needed to fulfill his ambitions and realize the meaning of his life.

First, break through to the Unity Realm!

Lu Ye closed his eyes.

At that moment.

Chu Ling was deep in cultivation.

Silently, wisps of black mist enveloped her.

Chu Ling was slightly dazed.

Fragments of memories kept surfacing.

"Ling Er, how can you be so willful?"

"Ling Er, this is not how you wield a sword!"

"Chu Ling, if you betray the alliance again, don’t blame me for punishing you!"

"Ling Er, you’ve truly disappointed me."

After being reborn, Lu Ye’s coldness lingered in her mind, and time and again, he had shown her killing intent.

No matter how diligently she trained, she couldn’t match Shangguan Huanling’s cultivation speed. Even Yue Hongling and Bai Qiulan ascended earlier than she did.

She had given her all, yet she still couldn’t catch up to Lu Ye’s footsteps.

And this gap would only widen further.

Lu Ye was doing this deliberately.

He was deliberately making her despair, forcing her to struggle in endless regret.

Her betrayals—had it not been for Lu Ye’s repeated indulgence, how could she have developed such a habit?

The matter of the Chu Sword Manor—had Lu Ye not kept it hidden, how could she not have known it was a den of demons?

If he had told her earlier, how could she have been so fixated on making him despised by the alliance?

So, it was all Lu Ye’s fault!

All Lu Ye’s fault!

The reason he could make her suffer so much was simply because he was strong enough. If she were equally strong, she could make him regret not speaking up, not knowing how to love.

Love shouldn’t be endless indulgence—wasn’t that common sense?

If you don’t know how to love, then don’t love at all!

But if you do love someone,

then you must take responsibility to the end. How could things turn out like this? Turning someone into a useless wreck, then just walking away without a care?

Chu Ling wouldn’t allow it!

She absolutely wouldn’t let such a thing happen!

Suddenly—

The black mist condensed into a sword.

A pitch-black longsword, covered in countless runes, hovered before Chu Ling.

Within the sword lay an ocean of sword intent.

Chu Ling opened her eyes.

She stared at this demonic blade.

She knew that if she grasped this demonic sword, she would be plunged into an abyss of eternal suffering.

But now, wasn’t she already in such an abyss?

She had endured enough of this endless feeling of being hunted.

She had endured enough of being abandoned, of exhausting all her strength yet never catching up.

She wanted to grow stronger!

She wanted to become stronger than Lu Ye!

She wanted Lu Ye to admit his wrongs and beg for her forgiveness!

Chu Ling reached out and resolutely gripped the hilt of the demonic sword.

In an instant, endless dark mist surged violently into her body, and her aura began to skyrocket.

Lu Ye, Lu Ye, it’s all your fault—you forced me onto this path!

It’s all because of you!

"Ahhh—!"

Destiny Realm—fifth layer, sixth layer, seventh layer…

Karma Realm—third layer, fourth layer, fifth layer…

The *Great Slaughter Sword Scripture* erupted at full force.

This dark sword was even more terrifying than Chu Ling had imagined, instantly propelling her to the TriLife Realm.

Had it not been for the TriLife Tribulation blocking her growth, she could have become even stronger.

Chu Ling began to undergo her TriLife Tribulation.

She wanted Lu Ye to regret it within the tribulation—she wanted to control him, to make him her eternal slave!

But it wasn’t just Chu Ling experiencing this anomaly.

At this moment, black mist also appeared beside Yue Hongling and Bai Qiulan.

Yue Hongling stared blankly at the mist.

Why couldn’t senior brother be more of a man? Why did he always treat her like a little girl?

His overprotectiveness never allowed her to fight alongside him—if not for that, how could she have remained so weak?

"Hahaha, here I go again, here I go again… Hehehe, I’ll be a wicked woman. If I become wicked, senior brother will have to kill me. I want him to kill me!"