Chapter 923: Heading to the Forbidden Sea!

Shen Yiren’s heart trembled and she fell silent.

Right. If she couldn’t accept even this, how could she break through the barrier in her heart and survive the heart demon tribulation?

After all, the heart demon tribulation seeps into every crack and shines straight into the deepest part of one’s heart.

“If the Third Palace Master insists on risking death in the heart demon tribulation to force a Nascent Soul breakthrough, I won’t stop you. I’ll turn around and leave right now.”

“But I have one request. I’ll be taking my bloodline away from the Divine Maiden Palace.”

Lu Changsheng’s expression lost its earlier warmth, a cool domineering edge surfacing.

“No!” Shen Yiren snapped, refusing on the spot.

Before, she’d hoped her son Shen Yuanming would acknowledge Lu Changsheng as his father.

But now, knowing Lu Changsheng’s situation, she didn’t want her son exposed to it.

Lu Changsheng didn’t let go of the beauty in his arms. He softened his tone. “I’m at ease with you, Third Palace Master.”

“With you there, this child will get good resources, guidance and training.”

“But I don’t trust your elder sister, especially your second sister, Shen Baishuang.”

His meaning couldn’t be clearer. Given Shen Yiren’s current state, her odds of breaking through to Nascent Soul weren’t high.

Shen Yiren wanted to say that even if she fell, her son was the Divine Maiden Palace’s Young Lord and her sisters would care for and raise him.

But the words stuck in her throat.

She knew the real issue wasn’t that. It was trust.

The Lu True Lord in front of her didn’t trust her two sisters.

If she wasn’t around, he wouldn’t leave his son in the Divine Maiden Palace.

When that time came, the two sides might even fight over Shen Yuanming.

Shen Yiren stared blankly, teeth lightly worrying her lip, not sure how to respond.

Watching her freeze mid struggle, Lu Changsheng sighed. His gaze softened. “Everyone has a flaw the heart demons can exploit. If you won’t face it and think it through, you’ll never step over this hurdle.”

His fingers brushed a lock of hair from her temple. His voice was gentle yet brooked no refusal. “Try accepting what lies between us. Treat me as an ordinary Dao partner, and as the child’s father.”

“…” Shen Yiren felt his words made sense, yet something about them felt off.

If it were that easy, how would it have become a weakness for the heart demons?

Lu Changsheng released her and looked to the distance, hands clasped behind his back. “What happened at the White Dew Palace was a knot in your heart. It was one in mine as well.”

“It wrecked many of my plans. Afterward, in the Great Void’s turbulent currents, I encountered the Phantom Ship and was swept into the Land of Eternal Night.”

“If not for methods from a previous life, I’d have been trapped there for good in this one. Tell me, why would I be calm and even-tempered coming to the Divine Maiden Palace after that?”

Clad in a blue robe, handsome and composed, Lu Changsheng spoke in a level tone.

“The Phantom Ship. The Land of Eternal Night?”

As the Divine Maiden Palace’s Third Palace Master, Shen Yiren naturally knew of the Phantom Ship, one of the Starry Sea’s four great calamities.

It was shrouded in mystery, its origin unknown.

Like a ghost, it wandered the Starry Sea.

Even the ancient notes recorded half-truths at best.

Some said the Phantom Ship linked to a spatial rift, the “Netherworld Land”; some said it was a broken supreme treasure; some claimed it was the warship of a great power whose cultivators died and became the ship spirit, waiting for revenge.

Whatever the truth, its danger was beyond doubt. Most cultivators who saw it vanished or died.

She hadn’t expected that when the Lu True Lord fled the Divine Maiden Palace back then, he’d run into such a forbidden terror.

If one were to settle accounts, that would be a life-and-death grudge.

“Lu True Lord…” Shen Yiren’s thoughts were a mess. She wanted to apologize on her second sister’s behalf.

But could such an ordeal be wiped away with a single apology?

“I don’t mean anything else by telling you this. Cultivation is full of hardships. We’ll meet many trials that seem impossible to cross.”

“But once you step over them, looking back, they’re just wind and frost.”

“When you break your heart knot and succeed in reaching Nascent Soul, you’ll understand this state of mind.”

Lu Changsheng didn’t say more about the Phantom Ship or the Land of Eternal Night.

Bringing it up was partly to deepen Shen Yiren’s guilt.

It was also meant for Shen Jianjia to hear.

Even though his divine sense didn’t detect a third person,

his spiritual sense faintly felt someone was watching their conversation.

Lu Changsheng trusted his intuition.

He guessed Shen Jianjia was using some method to spy on them.

“I’ve said all I can. The choice is yours, Third Palace Master.”

He felt he’d said enough. There was no need to press further.

After a pause, Shen Yiren lifted her gentle, elegant face. “Lu True Lord, I’d like to try yesterday’s Heart Demon Illusion again. Would you…”

Yesterday’s Heart Demon Illusion had helped her immensely.

Just now, after their talk, she’d shifted a little more.

She wanted to use the illusion to look straight into her heart.

“All right.” Lu Changsheng nodded, ran the Six Desire Heart Demon Technique, stirred Shen Yiren’s inner demons and her seven emotions and six desires, and wove a Heart Demon Illusion.

Meanwhile, in the Divine Maiden Palace, Shen Jianjia stood before a jade mirror linked to formation restrictions.

Its surface reflected Lu Changsheng and Shen Yiren.

Just as he’d sensed, as soon as the two met, Shen Jianjia had used the palace formations in Shen Yiren’s residence to spy and eavesdrop.

She could see her younger sister being led around by this “old monster” Lu Changsheng.

But when it came to breaking through to Nascent Soul, her interests aligned with his, so she didn’t step in.

“The Phantom Ship…”

Shen Jianjia murmured, weighing whether his claim of encountering the Phantom Ship and being dragged into the Land of Eternal Night was true.

If he was just tricking her sister to deepen her guilt, it didn’t matter.

But if it was true—if he left the Divine Maiden Palace and met the Phantom Ship, was swept into the Land of Eternal Night, and crawled back from the brink—then this had to be taken seriously.

Under Lu Changsheng’s Six Desire Heart Demon Technique, Shen Yiren’s spirit-soul wavered and she sank into the illusion.

Lu Changsheng held her slender body as he sat cross-legged, controlling the illusion.

As yesterday, joy, sorrow and pain played across Shen Yiren’s face—her seven emotions rising and falling.

But they weren’t as overwhelming as before. Her mind didn’t get trapped.

After a long time, her eyelashes fluttered. She opened her beautiful eyes and found herself in Lu Changsheng’s arms.

“Thank you for your trouble, Lu True Lord…”

Thinking of the scenes in the illusion, a blush crept up Shen Yiren’s cheeks. She hurriedly rose and bowed.

“Not bad. Your performance in the illusion this time was much better than before. It seems you’ve found your answer.”

Lu Changsheng praised her.

She had, indeed, improved a great deal since yesterday.

Of course, a large part of that was because he’d weakened the illusion’s bite.

“Still, this is a secret technique’s simulation. It can’t compare to a true heart demon tribulation.”

Lu Changsheng steadied a hand on her fragrant shoulder, his expression turning serious.

The next moment, Shen Yiren saw his peerlessly handsome face close in.

“? ? ?”

Her lips were suddenly taken. Warm breath filled her nose. She jolted like she’d been struck by lightning, pressed her lips together and pushed him away.

“I’m the child’s father. We’re Dao partners. You need to accept it and face this relationship.” Lu Changsheng’s voice sounded in her mind.

At that, beneath her curved lashes, her eyes slowly lowered, a misty sheen gathering.

Her stiff, graceful body gradually softened.

With his hand on her shoulder, Lu Changsheng could feel her trembling, impossible to suppress.

After a moment, he released her. Her face was as red as the sunset. “That’s it. As long as you accept what we are and open your heart, even the real heart demon tribulation won’t be a problem.”

“…” Shen Yiren’s face was flushed with shy annoyance, yet a strange, unspeakable feeling welled in her chest.

It should have been terribly embarrassing, but she didn’t seem to reject this Lu True Lord.

There was even a hint of sweetness and longing in it.

Her head felt light, adrift.

“All right, that’s enough for today. You just went through the illusion. You must be tired. Rest.”

Lu Changsheng’s expression was open and calm, his gaze clear, free of desire.

As if the intimacy just now had been solely to help her break her heart knot, without any other thought.

He finished and turned to leave the palace.

At the main hall doors, he paused.

He looked back at her. “By the way, pick a time. I’ll go meet our child.”

Our child—those two words made Shen Yiren’s heart give a hard thump.

But by then the tall figure in blue, like an immortal who’d stepped into the dust, had already walked out of the hall, leaving her standing there in a daze.

Meanwhile, in the Divine Maiden Palace, Shen Jianjia’s face was cold.

Though the scene suggested her sister’s knot was loosening,

her wariness of Lu Changsheng hadn’t lessened. If anything, it had ticked up a level.

She drew a deep breath, exhaled slowly and smoothed her mood, then went to the library to search for records on the Dragon Emperor Dao Body.

They say haste makes waste.

With progress made with Shen Yiren, Lu Changsheng didn’t push too hard, lest he disrupt the rhythm.

Three days later, Shen Yiren came to visit Lu Changsheng.

She said she needed some time to prepare, to adjust her mindset and state.

As for their son Shen Yuanming, she confessed that after he left, the situation was unclear.

Considering the Divine Maiden Palace’s reputation and the day when Shen Yuanming would ask about his father,

she publicly claimed he’d been conceived after a dream of falling stars.

When Shen Yuanming was old enough to understand, she told him the same.

Now, he believed it completely.

“…” Lu Changsheng was speechless.

He hadn’t expected that not only did his son not know who his father was, he didn’t even know he had a father.

“If you recognize him right away, I’m afraid he won’t be able to accept or believe it. I’d like to prepare first, and when the time is right, tell him the truth…”

Shen Yiren looked apologetic and uneasy, hope and plea in her eyes.

She knew this was a lot to ask.

But in the past few days, she truly hadn’t figured out how to tell her son about Lu Changsheng.

“That works. I have some matters to deal with as well. Once I’m done, I’ll come back to the Divine Maiden Palace.”

Lu Changsheng knew Shen Yiren’s Nascent Soul problem couldn’t be solved in a short time.

Beyond his agreement with the Green Dragon King, there was a pile of business in the Jiang Kingdom.

So he’d take a step back, give Shen Yiren time to settle and adjust.

He’d go to the Forbidden Sea first to fulfill his agreement with the Green Dragon King, then return to continue here.

“I’ll go take a look at Yuanming first,” Lu Changsheng said.

Since he’d come, he naturally had to see how his son was doing.

Shen Yiren blinked in surprise.

She hadn’t expected him to agree so readily.

But hearing he was leaving, a faint, inexplicable melancholy rose in her heart.

“Lu True Lord, come with me.”

Shen Yiren pressed her lips together and spoke softly, leading Lu Changsheng to the sea of clouds behind the Divine Maiden Peak.

It was a forbidden ground of the Divine Maiden Palace.

Normally only the three sisters entered. Others needed a writ from the Palace Master.

A moment later, Lu Changsheng saw his son Shen Yuanming sitting in a Primordial Magnetism Field, cultivating.

At a glance, he could tell the boy’s essence was abundant. Flesh, meridians and bones far surpassed the norm—tough, clear, without blemish.

That wasn’t just the gift of a Nascent Magnetic Body.

It came from top-tier conditions and rich resources from childhood, the foundation laid brick by brick.

With that, even a fifth or sixth grade Spirit Root would cultivate no slower than a first or second grade one.

“As a Nascent Soul power, the Divine Maiden Palace’s resources for nurturing disciples are on a level Bihu Mountain still can’t match.”

Lu Changsheng could give one child a foundation not inferior to Shen Yuanming’s.

But he couldn’t let every child enjoy such lavish conditions.

He then watched his son circulate Yuan Magnetic Power within the Primordial Magnetism Field.

On the path of magnetism, Lu Changsheng’s understanding was limited.

Even so, he could tell his son’s cultivation art was excellent, and the field was ingenious—set by a grandmaster of formations and perfectly tuned to his son’s path. Twice the result for half the effort.

“With the Divine Maiden Palace’s Master as his aunt, this child will have no worries about inheritances or resources,” Lu Changsheng thought.

Bihu Mountain might be far better than other families at its level, but it still couldn’t compare to a Nascent Soul power like the Divine Maiden Palace.

If his son lived at Bihu Mountain, he wouldn’t have such treatment.

Not only did he have a top-tier technique and a field tailored to him, he even had a late Core Formation cultivator overseeing him at all times and offering guidance.

Seeing how well off his son was, Lu Changsheng let go of the idea of taking him back to Bihu Mountain.

Staying in the Divine Maiden Palace suited him just fine.

Besides, in his current situation, Lu Changsheng couldn’t give the boy the attention he’d need.

After asking Shen Yiren about some of Shen Yuanming’s situation, the two returned to the palace. He guided her through another Heart Demon Illusion, then left the Divine Maiden Palace and Penglai Island.

He took the Turtle Immortal Patriarch and Lu Lingjing and headed into the depths of the Forbidden Sea to meet the Green Dragon King.

It had already been delayed too long, beyond the time they’d agreed. Lu Changsheng wouldn’t put it off any longer.