“Mistress!” Qing Ye was startled. Her expression changed at once. “Mistress, she is your…”

Watching Feng Jiu’er fall unconscious, Qing Ye’s heart clenched. The point their mistress had pressed — it was Feng Jiu’er’s fatal acupoint!

Though the Mistress could control the force and would not truly take Feng Jiu’er’s life, a single finger pressed down upon that point would, at the very least, damage her inner force. At worst — her martial cultivation would be entirely and utterly destroyed.

Whatever was Mistress thinking?

Long Feiyan withdrew the fingertip she had pressed against Feng Jiu’er’s spine. With a casual flick, she draped the garments back over her.

As for Qing Ye’s words, she paid them no heed.

But Qing Zhi could not hold back. “Mistress, doing this, she… will be injured.”

Indeed, she already was.

Their Mistress remained expressionless even now — yet Feng Jiu’er was her own biological daughter! Mistress was not a vicious and cruel person, nothing like a ferocious tiger. How could she deal such a ruthless blow to her very own flesh and blood?

Furthermore — even a tiger will not devour its own cubs, would it?

“Send her back to Tianji Hall.” Long Feiyan’s mood this evening seemed no different from any other night. She accepted the treasure map from Qing Ye’s hands and turned and walked away.

When their Mistress wished to be left to her own solitude, neither Qing Ye nor Qing Zhi dared approach her. Only tonight, there was an additional presence here — the injured Feng Jiu’er.

Qing Zhi looked at the male-disguised Feng Jiu still lying on the bed and still could not fathom what her Mistress meant.

“Elder Sister Qing Ye, Mistress… truly has no intention of acknowledging her?”

“I am not Mistress. Do not go guessing at Mistress’s thoughts.” After dressing Feng Jiu’er properly, Qing Ye hoisted her onto her back in one motion.

“I will take her back. You… watch over Mistress.”

Feng Jiu’er was discovered at the rear gate of Tianji Hall. By the time Mu Mu rushed over, she was still deeply unconscious, her complexion as pale as paper.

When Xue Gu took her pulse, her entire composure crumbled.

“Her martial arts completely destroyed?” Xiao Yingtao and Qiao Mu, who had come running upon hearing the news, were so shaken they nearly could not stand. Xiao Yingtao could not even speak clearly. “How — how could this happen? Who did this? Who harmed her like this? How can this be!”

Qiao Mu turned her face away, unable to bear looking at Jiu’er’s ashen face. Though Jiu’er’s face had been altered with medicinal water and looked different, one could still tell — she was truly dreadfully pale.

If not for suffering pain beyond all limits, how could she look like this?

Xue Gu drew the blanket over Jiu’er, pressed her lips tightly together, and said not a word — nor did she know what to say.

Mu Mu clenched his palms tightly, stared at Feng Jiu’er for a long moment, then suddenly turned to leave.

“Don’t… don’t go looking.” The voice was hoarse and very faint, but every word fell without missing a single note into Mu Mu’s ears.

She was awake! And the very first thing she did upon waking was to tell Mu Mu not to investigate?

Had she not gone to the World’s First Manor last night? Why had she disappeared on her way back from the Manor, only to reappear now in this state?

“Just who was it that hurt you?” Could it be Lan Yue, the Manor Master of the World’s First Manor?

The sound of a servant knocking at the door came from outside. Xiao Yingtao swallowed her grief and stepped out to answer. When she returned, her expression was somewhat complex. “…The Ninth Prince has arrived.”

The Ninth Prince had come with Mo Bai. Though in many respects Mo Bai’s medical knowledge was truly inferior to Feng Jiu’er’s, his skills were genuinely no small thing.

Xue Gu made way for him. Mo Bai immediately took Jiu’er’s pulse.

After a moment, he said, “Only her martial cultivation has been destroyed. The damage to her meridians is not severe. This injury is not irreversible.”

“What do you mean?” Everyone present was shaken to the core. Did he mean that even after one’s martial arts had been completely destroyed, it could still be restored?

Zhan Qingcheng sat down at the bedside and simply held Feng Jiu’er’s hand, saying nothing.

But that glacially cold gaze fell upon Mo Bai, and instantly made one feel the weight of immense pressure.

Mo Bai hastily explained, “The other party destroyed her inner energy, severing the source of her inner force, but did not damage her meridians…”

“If inner force has been destroyed, even if the meridians remain intact, one can only live as an ordinary person would.” Xiao Yingtao was genuinely aggrieved on Feng Jiu’er’s behalf.

Jiu’er had worked so hard to cultivate these abilities she now possessed, and in an instant they were simply gone. Did that not mean all her past efforts had been for nothing?

With inner energy destroyed, even knowing the forms of martial arts would make them nothing more than empty posturing.

With so many enemies, if they all came seeking vengeance at this moment, what would she do?

Even if everyone could protect her, they could not remain at her side every single hour of every single day. Given Feng Jiu’er’s temperament, she would absolutely never allow someone to always be standing guard beside her.

Would she not then be in terrible danger?

What person could bear such deep hatred toward Jiu’er — to drive her to this point? Could it be that Cold Moon in the Ninth Prince’s Manor?

No, impossible. With Cold Moon’s level of ability, to destroy Jiu’er’s martial cultivation and yet leave her meridians undamaged — that was something of such extraordinary difficulty that Cold Moon could absolutely never accomplish it.

This was something only a person with martial cultivation so profound as to be beyond imagining could achieve.

“I’m fine.” Feng Jiu’er sat up on her own. She looked only a little weakened — nothing genuinely appeared out of the ordinary.

She gave a light cough and glanced at Xue Gu. “I need to rest.”

Xue Gu understood. She turned and looked at everyone. “Let us step out for now and let the young lady rest for a moment.”

The people of Tianji Hall naturally listened to Xue Gu. But the Ninth Prince and Mu Mu were not about to listen to her.

So everyone else filed out. But Zhan Qingcheng and Mu Mu remained.

Since the Ninth Prince had not asked to leave, Mo Bai naturally dared not depart either.

“Does that mean she can cultivate martial arts again in the future?” Zhan Qingcheng’s gaze remained locked on Feng Jiu’er’s face, but this question was clearly directed at Mo Bai.

“Yes — but she would have to start over from the very beginning.”

“Then start over from the very beginning.”

“Ninth Imperial Uncle, why does it seem to me as though you’re gloating just a little?” Feng Jiu’er frowned.

Zhan Qingcheng’s strikingly handsome face fell at once, and he grew angry. “This Prince will make whoever harmed you wish they had never been born!”

“That won’t do, Ninth Imperial Uncle. This time, you must listen to me. Do not seek revenge on her — and in fact, forget this matter entirely.”

Feng Jiu’er grabbed his wrist tightly. “Listen to me. Will you?”

Zhan Qingcheng said nothing. He was not gloating. But what had happened had happened, and one could only think of a way to face it.

Jiu’er had too many enemies — whether as Feng Jiu’er or as Feng Jiu… this girl simply loved to court trouble. Could her enemies possibly be few?

He would have to think carefully about which path this girl should walk going forward.

Absolutely not gloating — because someone had hurt this girl of his. Was that not the same as taking his own life?

But at this moment, shouldn’t she come back to the Prince’s Manor with him? That way the matter of her safety would at least be better guaranteed.

“My dear girl…”

“I am not leaving Tianji Hall. So, Ninth Imperial Uncle, put away whatever other ideas you have beyond being angry.”

She didn’t know him well enough to be his girl? This fellow’s thoughts — Feng Jiu’er could see through them with a single glance.

He wanted to use this as an opportunity to confine her to the Prince’s Manor. Could he be any more opportunistic?