“You deceived me…” Feng Jiu’er opened her mouth to speak, but without warning, she coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood.

Earlier, Elder Shi had activated the Gu Poison parasite, causing her true energy to surge and reverse in violent disarray — and it had already wounded her heart meridian.

Mu Mu stood at her side, looking down at her from above, his manner so cold it was beyond any description.

His thin lips were pressed tightly shut. He said not a single word, and his expression did not shift in the slightest — not even when she coughed up blood.

He had indeed conspired with the Night Demon. Everything that had happened today had been done entirely without her knowledge, using her as bait.

How bitter — she had struggled with herself an entire day, agonized with guilt an entire day. And in the end, it was not she who had been heartless first. It was he who had hardened his heart first.

Mu Mu bent down and lifted her into his arms in one motion.

Jiu’er wanted to push him away, but in this moment she had not a shred of strength left in her body.

She had never before felt this helpless — not since the time she had nearly died.

For as long as that accursed parasite remained on her body, she would not even have the slightest capacity to resist.

Mu Mu held her in his arms. That embrace now held not even a single trace of warmth — only this cold, bone-deep chill.

Jiu’er felt her eyelids growing heavier and heavier, her consciousness beginning to blur. She could barely hold on.

At the corner of her lips, another thread of blood trickled down. Her body grew more and more painful — not just her head; her entire being felt as though it were still reverberating with the echoes of agony.

At last, the only thing remaining in her field of vision was that blurred face, and those blurred eyes — void of any warmth whatsoever.

Her body grew colder and colder. Her heart grew colder and colder still…

Feng Jiu’er’s injury this time was not minor. She had poured her deepest reserves of inner energy into resisting the Gu Poison parasite’s control — but had not anticipated that her own true energy would strike back against her, wounding her heart meridian.

She was now in a room, and Elder Shi had already examined her. This time, she had truly lost consciousness.

In the side hall, Mu Mu knelt before two memorial tablets. The pallor that had spread across his face when the silver needles were being forced out had gradually begun to recede.

“Tonight I will not lay a hand on you — not because I have no desire to punish you, but because you still have a hard battle ahead. This master cannot afford to wound you at this juncture!”

The Night Demon’s breathing was ragged and disordered — she was furious. Fury so deep that her entire body trembled. She had been consumed by it for the better part of an hour and still could not bring herself to calm down.

“Tell me yourself — can you face your father and mother? Can you face every member of the Di Family who perished in ruin? Can you face them? Say it!”

She truly wanted to beat him soundly. This unworthy, disgraceful descendant — how could he have actually dared?!

“You brought Feng Jiu’er away with you. Did you believe she would give you her genuine heart in return? Now — can you see? For the sake of returning to her Ninth Imperial Uncle’s side, she was willing to raise her hand and wound you! Is this what your sincerity earned you? Was it worth it?”

“Do you think that because I would not dare punish you, you can do as you please? Among all things belonging to the Di Family, is there nothing that matters more to you than one woman?”

She truly felt she might be driven to collapse in a faint by this unworthy, disgraced descendant of the Di Family. How could he be so utterly without conscience? How could he?

It was all Feng Jiu’er’s fault — every bit of it was Feng Jiu’er’s fault!

Her Mu’er, since childhood, had always been an obedient and well-behaved child. He had never once harbored a disloyal thought toward the Di Family — yet because of Feng Jiu’er’s arrival, he had been entirely transformed!

“You… you unworthy, disgraced descendant!” The Night Demon struck the chair nearby with her palm.

The chair instantly disintegrated into ash beneath the force of her strike.

What terrifying palm force! She must have exerted the full measure of her power!

Elder Shi immediately moved to her side and urged gently: “My lord, mind your health — do not let your anger wound you further!”

Though what Mu Mu had done this time had truly chilled everyone’s hearts, the time for internal strife had passed — with a great enemy now at the gates, no more strength could be spent on discord within their own ranks.

“My lord, Feng Jiu’er has been recovered. The Young Lord has also acknowledged his wrong. A light punishment, a sound scolding — should that not be sufficient?”

“How should it be sufficient?” This disobedient, unfilial wretch! Once was already too many — there was no assurance there would not be a second time!

Had she not devised a stratagem to sever the emotional thread between Feng Jiu’er and Mu Mu, this rotten boy would not have known how many reckless things he might yet have done for Feng Jiu’er’s sake in the future.

Mu Mu fixed his gaze on the two memorial tablets before him, his voice quiet and even: “This disciple knows his wrong.”

“Do you truly know your wrong?” the Night Demon demanded furiously.

Mu Mu’s expression was blank and unreadable. In this moment, even the Night Demon could not tell what was passing through his mind.

Had he fallen into genuine, total despair — had his heart truly been severed? Or did other thoughts yet stir beneath the surface?

She pressed urgently: “Feng Jiu’er now despises you to the core of her being. There is absolutely no possibility she will ever trust you again. Mu’er — let this hope die. Do not let your thoughts wander any further in that direction.”

“Young Lord, this time — listen to the lord. Feng Jiu’er’s heart was never truly with you either. Why put yourself through this?”

The last thing Elder Shi wished to see was the lord and the Young Lord at odds in their hearts.

He said helplessly: “The lord did not punish you today, Young Lord — you must understand that the lord has been truly wounded by what you have done.”

“Deliberately guiding Jiu’er toward a misunderstanding — letting her believe that all of today’s events were this disciple’s own arrangement — letting her grow to hate this disciple to the very marrow — is that not, for this disciple, the heaviest punishment there is?”

He gave a bitter smile, his gaze still resting on the two memorial tablets. That smile carried a depth of heartbreak that was almost too much to witness.

“From this day forward, she will never forgive this disciple. Now my master can rest easy. Even if this disciple wished to take her away again, there would be no such opportunity.”

“You…” The Night Demon had been about to unleash another torrent of reproach, for this rotten boy had shown no real recognition of his own wrongdoing.

Yet Mu Mu’s voice — his entire being — was so desolate, his pain so deep and so soundless, that in this moment, she found she could not bring herself to utter another single reproach.

She loved him. All these years, she had loved him more than she loved her own son!

When her child was hurting, how could her heart feel nothing?

If it were possible, she truly wished her Mu’er could find a girl he loved and live out his days in quiet, simple happiness.

But he had been destined from birth to be anything but an ordinary man.

If his elder brother were still alive, perhaps there might have been someone to share the burden with him — even to take the greater share of it.

But Tianya was no longer among the living! His elder brother had already left this world — did he understand that?

The Di Family was gone. Only he remained, a single person. If he did not take up the burden of restoring the family’s glory on his own two shoulders — who could bear it in his place?

The Night Demon’s heart ached. Mu Mu only stared at the memorial tablets. Elder Shi wanted to ease the tension between the two of them, but could not find a place to begin.

He too had not anticipated that Mu Mu would truly take Feng Jiu’er and leave. After all these years, the Young Lord had never once done anything to wrong the lord.

Yet this time, he truly had. If they had not given chase through the night, they might not have caught up in time.

Letting Feng Jiu’er misunderstand him was perhaps for the best — at least it would sever the Young Lord’s lingering attachment.

He was not an ordinary man, and therefore could not possess the feelings an ordinary person might be permitted.

Feng Jiu’er was a Phoenix Woman. He could seek her out, but he could not allow genuine feeling to take hold.

Once genuine feeling took root, it would be exploited, plotted against — even used against him as a weapon.

Just as it had this time — wounded by Feng Jiu’er’s own hand!

If he had not been so blindly, completely devoted, how could he have been foolish enough to come to this?

The sole heir of the Di Family — an error of this kind must never be committed a second time.