Chapter 394: Crushing Defeat

What?!

Shen Xitong jolted.

Shangguan Huanling continued walking toward Lu Ye, continuing what she was doing—her inner armor already removed, revealing a red embroidered bodice adorned with lotus flowers and mandarin ducks playing in water.

"Stop that! Hands off!"

Shen Xitong couldn't hold back anymore. Who the hell wants to share Lu Ye with you?

Lu Ye was completely dumbfounded, simply looking down fixedly, mentally checking out, observing how Shen Xitong would handle this.

"How could you be like this? When did Lu Ye ever say he wanted to get frisky with you? Undressing so brazenly—have you no sense of decency?" Shen Xitong scolded.

Shangguan Huanling went still.

She glanced at Lu Ye.

Right now, Lu Ye wasn't ogling her—instead, he seemed to have entered a familiar zen-like trance.

"Wasn't that the case?" Shangguan Huanling said, confused.

"Of course not! What exactly is your relationship with Lu Ye? Why would Lu Ye casually engage in Dual Cultivation with you?" Shen Xitong retorted unhappily.

Shangguan Huanling pondered for a moment.

In the early days of their past life, Lu Ye had indeed been quite willing to fool around with her.

But after she ruined the Path of Affection, he stopped touching her.

But she still had her needs!

So she came up with a brilliant idea—Butting in!

Whenever Lu Ye was Dual Cultivating with someone, she would muscle in. The next time he did it with someone else, she'd muscle in again.

Thus, she always joined in halfway.

But this wasn't midway now.

In that case, she'd just wait for her turn.

"You go ahead then. I'll join in later!" Shangguan Huanling said with a smile.

Shen Xitong stood frozen.

What had she just said?

If she remembered right, she had asked what Shangguan Huanling's relationship with Lu Ye was.

Shouldn't a normal person retort that she and Lu Ye are Cultivation Partners?

Then she could push harder: "What kind of partner poisons their own Cultivation Partner?"

And the other side would explain.

She'd keep pushing, step by step, backing them into a corner.

But she—she actually told him to undress first?

Lu Ye’s expression twisted into something indescribable. His lips twitched, fighting between a smirk and a grimace, over and over.

The tip of a stone sword emerged, while the Human Emperor Banner quietly appeared behind Lu Ye.

The heavenly markings on Lu Ye’s forehead pulsed with a faint light.

A leaf from the Dao Enlightenment Tree drifted down, settling on the sword’s tip.

The whole crowd was staring!

Shen Xitong frowned deeply.

"Could you *try* acting normal? Stop obsessing over such things! Lu Ye hasn’t even forgiven you yet!" Shen Xitong scolded.

"Lu Ye *already* forgave me!" Shangguan Huanling declared earnestly.

Shen Xitong’s shoulders loosened a hair.

Good—now they were getting somewhere.

"Oh? Forgiven you? You fed Lu Ye the YinYang DaoDevouring Gu, planted the Extinction Dao Seed in him, left him *dead*, his Dao extinguished, erasing eons of cultivation like smoke—and now you claim he’s forgiven you? What possible reason could he have?" Shen Xitong towered over her, her dominance radiating like heat from a forge.

She *needed* to hear how Huanling would worm her way out of this.

Huanling’s brain short-circuited.

She tapped her chin like this was a math problem.

*Why would he...?* Her thoughts spiraled.

Why?

"Um... because we can... dual cultivate?" Shangguan Huanling ventured.

Lu Ye facepalmed—no, *mouth*-palmed—as his traitorous lips betrayed him.

Shen Xitong clenched her fists.

*Breathe*, she told herself. *Don’t murder her. Not here.*

"Do you even *understand* what you did wrong?" Shen Xitong demanded.

"I *do*! I know!" Shangguan Huanling hurriedly replied.

"Then *what* exactly was your mistake?"

Shen Xitong’s voice cracked like a whip.

"I—I shouldn’t have... poisoned him..."

"Brother Lu Ye, I’m sorry!"

Then Huanling hit her with the ultimate weapon: puppy-dog eyes.

Shen Xitong’s eye twitched. *That’s it?!*

"*That’s* your apology?"

Shangguan Huanling gave a slow nod.

"That's it."

"You committed such a grave mistake, and now you just casually say 'sorry' like that?" Shen Xitong said in disbelief.

"Obstructing the Dao is an unforgivable grudge, do you understand?"

Shangguan Huanling frowned.

"Other than saying sorry... I can also..."

"Also what?"

"I can... I can also do dual cultivation with Brother Lu Ye!"

Shen Xitong staggered back several steps in shock. Her slender finger shook as she pointed accusingly at Shangguan Huanling.

"You... you... you... Have you lost your damn mind?!"

Lu Ye’s whole body trembled, twitching uncontrollably. He even turned his head away.

Inside the Human Emperor Banner, countless ghostly souls erupted in roaring laughter, the banner thrashing wildly.

The tip of the stone sword quivered, and the heavenly mark on Lu Ye’s forehead almost twisted into a grin.

"Lu Ye doesn’t need to do dual cultivation with you! He needs you to own up to your mistakes!" Shen Xitong said furiously.

"Oh, Brother Lu Ye, I’m sorry. I was wrong."

Goddammit!

Shen Xitong suddenly lunged at Shangguan Huanling—"I’ll kill you!"

Shangguan Huanling panicked, her body flaring red before disappearing in a flash.

Shen Xitong lunged at nothing.

Of course, she could have stopped Shangguan Huanling, but it was beneath her—too damn embarrassing.

Shen Xitong’s first confrontation with Shangguan Huanling ended in total humiliation!

"Hahaha..."

Lu Ye couldn’t help it—he burst out laughing.

The Human Emperor Banner shook violently, the stone sword’s tip jerking wildly, the heavenly mark stretching into a huge grin, and even the Dao Enlightenment Tree’s leaves curled with laughter.

Everything seemed to be laughing at Shen Xitong.

Her perfect face burned red with rage, she was boiling with humiliation.

"I can... also do dual cultivation with Brother Lu Ye."

Shen Xitong mocked, imitating Shangguan Huanling’s voice, repeating the line.

Lu Ye’s laughter died instantly.

He went quiet.

Back in his past life, what was he thinking... How on earth did he ever take a liking to Shangguan Huanling back then?

Someone so clueless, and he still went for her...

Had he actually broken the law?

Shen Xitong scoffed coldly and turned her gaze toward the heavenly patterns.

The heavenly patterns—once shaped like a grinning face—shuddered and snapped back to normal.

She then looked at the Human Emperor Banner.

The wildly thrashing banner froze stiff.

Before her eyes even landed on the stone sword, its tip whooshed back into Lu Ye’s arm.

A leaf from the Dao Enlightenment Tree crumbled to dust on the spot.

"No way I’m losing to an idiot!" Shen Xitong gritted her teeth and said.

She dissolved into a streak of light and fused with Lu Ye.

"Beep, sis, don’t hit me..."

"Beep, sis, I was wrong..."

"Ding! Laugh! I said laugh! Why’d you stop? Keep going!"

"Beep, sis, I won’t laugh anymore..."

Lu Ye stared off gloomily. What was he gonna do about Shangguan Huanling?

Say ‘apologize,’ and she’d do it. Tell her to do anything, and she would obey—all while fixated on getting into his pants.

Lu Ye was getting a headache just thinking about it.

Then it hit him.

If Shangguan Huanling didn’t give a damn about the Extinction Dao Seed, why not condense the Extinction Dao back into a seed and shove it into her?

That’d wreck her Dao.

Would she even want him after that?