The fact that Shen Bijun would express love for Long Chen was something that no one would have dared to imagine. However, Long Chen had coldly refused her. All the experts present felt like their heads had broken.

Long Chen looked indifferently at Shen Bijun, a touch of coldness in his eyes. He pulled Cloud to leave.

“Young master, please wait. I’m not someone with no sense of shame. Since you don’t like me, I won’t force you. Please just let me play another song for you as thanks for meeting with me.” Shen Bijun wiped off her tears and began to gently pluck her zither again. This was a completely different song from the Phoenix Dance. It was a song of heartbreak.

With a heartbroken expression, Shen Bijun began to softly sing, “Falling in love with the Phoenix Dance ends in sorrow. Hopefully in the next life, the phoenix can dance with the dragon beneath the moonlight…”

Her sorrowful song contained all her love and grief. Just hearing it made others sad. The women in particular felt sympathetic and even began to feel intense hostility toward Long Chen, viewing him as having a heart of stone that had let down Shen Bijun’s love.

Even the men were feeling more and more pity for Shen Bijun. Some of them even had a desire to protect her even if it cost them their lives.

…

“She’s so pitiful. Should we…?” Tang Wan-er’s own heart was starting to soften despite her dislike for her.

“Foolish girl, her zither music contains powerful Spiritual Strength. She’s doing it all on purpose, so don’t be fooled,” said Meng Qi helplessly. For Tang Wan-er to be affected just by seeing this showed that she was too naive and easily fooled.

However, Meng Qi had no choice but to admit that Shen Bijun was truly terrifying. Even listening through an image on the wall, her music was able to affect them. If they were present, perhaps all their emotions would be played by Shen Bijun.

“Ah? Then you mean Shen Bijun is doing everything on purpose?” asked Tang Wan-er.

“I’m not too sure, and I don’t think Long Chen is sure either. That’s why he’s probing her right now. Let’s just keep watching,” said Meng Qi.

…

Long Chen closed his eyes to listen to the music closely. Cloud patiently guarded his side. The song was one of sorrow, but Cloud wasn’t affected at all because she had no idea about things like romance.

Long Chen’s body shook slightly, and his mind became chaotic. Following that, he found that his surroundings were changing. He appeared in a world of birdsong and flowers. Upon a carpet of emerald grass, Shen Bijun was looking coldly at him with the Seven String Sea Suppressing Zither in her hand.

“This place is the mental domain of the Seven String Sea Suppressing Zither. Your Yuan Spirit has already been drawn in.” Shen Bijun was completely different from her previous self who had been so heartbroken.

Currently, Long Chen was in his Yuan Spirit state. Without him even being aware of it, Shen Bijun had managed to connect to his Yuan Spirit and pull him into her trap.

“Amazing.”

Long Chen gave her a thumbs-up. To be able to draw his Yuan Spirit into the Sea Suppressing Zither’s domain without anyone being the wiser was truly worthy of admiration.

“Long Chen, do you realize that you are a dead man right now?” Shen Bijun smiled slightly. She sat on the grass, the Sea Suppressing Zither resting in front of her knees. She was acting like victory was already in her grasp.

“I really didn’t realize.” Long Chen shook his head.

“Hahaha, so you didn’t even know that death had come for you. You really are foolish. In the mental domain of the Sea Suppressing Zither, I am the ruler. I decide who lives and who dies. Long Chen, before you die, tell me why you refused me. Am I really so lacking?” After sneering, Shen Bijun’s expression became dark. Her gaze was chilling.

“Do you want me to tell the truth?”

“Of course.”

“In truth, it’s not that you’re so lacking. You’re alright. It’s just that compared to Zi Yan, you are completely inferior!”

Shen Bijun’s gaze became even colder. “You like that slut Zi Yan? Why her and not me? How am I inferior to her?”

Through her tone and gaze, Long Chen immediately saw the crux of everything. This senior apprentice-sister of Zi Yan most likely didn’t like her.

“Hahaha…” Long Chen suddenly raised his head and laughed.

“You’re still in the mood to laugh with death at hand?”

“I’m simply laughing at you for being so jealous of Zi Yan. Thanks to your jealousy, I’ve confirmed that Zi Yan really does like me, so thank you.” Long Chen smiled.

“You want to laugh at me? Haha, then go ahead and laugh. Hopefully, you can still laugh after I tell you a certain piece of news.” Shen Bijun also laughed. Her laugh was full of contempt.

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you not curious why the Sea Suppressing Zither ended up in my hands? It’s Zi Yan’s punishment for liking you and being merciful in the Grand Han. Because she refused to use her strongest attacks to kill you, she has been stripped of her title as the successor of the Illusive Music Immortal Palace and was even imprisoned in the Devil Music Cave. She will feel the pain of the devil music invading her soul for the rest of her life there. Can you still keep laughing now? Ahahaha…” Shen Bijun laughed delightedly.

Long Chen narrowed his eyes. As he had thought, Zi Yan had held back at that time. It was no wonder he felt that the power she had shown didn’t match the threat he had felt from her.

Shen Bijun was correct, he really couldn’t keep laughing now. His expression also became ugly. He would rather have Zi Yan faced him with her full power than for her to be punished because of him.

“I expressed love for you, but I didn’t expect you not to know kindness. If you had been obedient, perhaps I could have spared your life. However, you were too foolish. How am I inferior to Zi Yan at all?” Shen Bijun’s expression darkened. It was even a bit sinister.

Long Chen looked at her expression and laughed again. “Shen Bijun, you are really inferior. Your expression completely exposes your lie.”

“What do you mean?” Now it was Shen Bijun’s turn to be startled.

“You view Zi Yan as a thorn in your side. If Zi Yan was really being tormented every day, you’d be delighted. Even if you still had hatred in your heart, it wouldn’t be this crazy. Your overflowing hatred shows that Zi Yan is still completely fine. I also know why you would want to seduce me. If I did accept you, you would tell Zi Yan, and it would become one of your cards to deal a blow to her. However, you underestimated me. The only things I see in your eyes are desire, greed, and control. You will never love anyone in this world. You will only love yourself,” said Long Chen. “Even if I refused you as I did, I would still be falling for your trap. You would be able to make those idiots outside hate me and make things harder for me in the Jade Lake Pageant. This little scheme of yours is really brilliant. No matter what happens, you are the winner. That’s why I had to give you a thumbs-up.”

“Hahaha!” Shen Bijun laughed as if she had heard something very funny. “You really think of yourself as smart.”

“Oh? Am I wrong?”

“Of course you’re wrong. Do you still think you can escape from the Sea Suppressing Zither’s mental domain? My goal in bringing you here is to kill you. However, before killing you, I wanted to enrage Zi Yan. Although that didn’t work, it’s no problem. Once I wipe out your soul, I’ll control your body and make you kneel before me. I can even bring you in front of Zi Yan and have you clean my feet before her. That bitch, she has no skill at all other than using other people’s pity for her,” cursed Shen Bijun.

“So you actually wanted to kill me? I didn’t expect that.” Long Chen rubbed the top of his head.

“So now you know. You have two options. One is to let me place a slave mark on your soul. At least you’ll stay alive that way. The other is to have me destroy your Yuan Spirit and find another Yuan Spirit to control your body. Which do you choose?”

“Is there a third option?” Long Chen frowned.

“No.”

“Since there’s not, then I’ll just create my own third option!”

“Then you die.” Shen Bijun pressed her hand on the Sea Suppressing Zither. The world changed. The birdsong and flowers vanished. This new world was barren and boundlessly desolate. Dense killing intent filled the air.

“So this is the world of your inner heart. There’s not the slightest greenery or sunshine. There’s simply icy coldness.” Long Chen looked at these new surroundings and shook his head.

“Die!”

Shen Bijun plucked a single string. An invisible spatial blade tore at Long Chen.

“This is the domain of the Seven String Sea Suppressing Zither. Even if you had a divine item, you wouldn’t be able to bring it here. Your Yuan Spirit can only await its annihilation-”

BOOM!

The space behind Shen Bijun suddenly split open. A huge wing crashed toward her.

Shen Bijun immediately sensed something wrong. Ripples spread from the Sea Suppressing Zither, forming a shield behind her.

The powerful shield exploded on contact with the huge wing. Shen Bijun was sent flying. As she flew through the air, she saw a large sphere appear in Long Chen’s hand.

“Star Fall!”

The huge sphere shot toward Shen Bijun.