Chapter 116

Chapter 116

All three of them looked up at the sky at the same time. In the southeast, the full moon could no longer maintain its illusion under the trembling of the barrier. Gradually, it changed into a thin crescent.

Yan Zhengchu immediately summoned the Jade Sword, ran his index and middle fingers along the hilt, and softly chanted the spell, “Realm-Breaking.”

Another “False Moon” plummeted straight down. In the mist, an inconspicuous floating door instantly appeared.

“There really is an exit!”

He added, “Where are the others from the Marquis Mansion? Get them out of here as quickly as possible!”

Ren Fengjue remembered where the North Courtyard was and immediately led the way.

Yan Zhengchu followed with his sword in hand. Xia Ximo was about to do the same when she spotted a house guard still lying nearby, fast asleep. She stepped forward and kicked him.

The guard jolted awake, completely confused, only to hear the person before him coldly give a single order: “Move.”

By the time the four of them rushed back to the North Courtyard, Ren Xuan and Lady Rong were both wearing anxious expressions. They had clearly been worried sick.

The moment Lady Rong saw Ren Fengjue return, tears filled her eyes with excitement. “Feng’er, why were you gone so long? You’re finally back!”

Ren Xuan was startled to see two strangers behind him.

But the instant he got a clear look at Xia Ximo’s face, he froze, shock flashing through his eyes.

“She… is?”

The situation was too urgent to allow Ren Fengjue much time to explain. After saying a few words to reassure his mother, he urged everyone to leave the Illusionary Realm at once.

When the people of the Marquis Mansion heard there was an exit, the gloom on their faces finally lifted.

And so, with the Marquis and his wife at the front, the rest of the group left the North Courtyard one after another and walked out through the opening in the mist.

Ren Fengjue stayed behind until the end. Seeing that Yu Lang had still not woken up, he and Yan Zhengchu had no choice but to carry him out together.

By now, the “Prajna Realm” was on the verge of collapse.

Standing at the exit, Ren Fengjue still turned back and carefully checked one last time, afraid they might have missed someone.

But as his gaze swept across the courtyard, he saw a figure standing beneath the corridor, dressed in a bright red wedding gown. It was Mu Tingting.

He was slightly startled, but she did not look back. Instead, she walked into the room and shut the door behind her.

At that very moment, the Illusionary Realm crashed down with a thunderous roar. The exit turned into a phantom, then gradually dissolved into nothingness.

The tremors beneath his feet vanished, but Ren Fengjue staggered slightly.

When he looked up again, everything had returned to normal.

In the North Courtyard, everyone from the Marquis Mansion let out a breath of relief.

The Marquise, Lady Rong, looked around and did not see Mu Tingting anywhere. Guessing that she was probably still inside the Illusionary Realm, she hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping herself.

The Marquis beside her saw through her thoughts at a glance. With a muffled snort, he said, “Someone so treacherous and ungrateful deserves an ending like that. There is no need for you to pity her, my lady!”

Lady Rong sighed, a trace of guilt flashing across her face. “It was my fault for misjudging people. To think I could even mistake the daughter of an old friend…”

Ren Xuan patted his wife’s shoulder and said, “How could that be your fault? It’s those damned people from the Mu Family! Once day breaks, I will go cut down that old bastard Mu Zheng myself!”

Lady Rong said nothing. Her gaze had been drawn to a woman standing not far away, turned slightly to the side…

She stood apart from the crowd. Though her figure was slender, she could not conceal the pride and integrity that seemed to radiate from within her.

Her bearing actually resembled, in some ways, that of the Number One Female Painter of Great Qi back then.

Ren Xuan followed his wife’s gaze and looked over as well…

Just then, they happened to see Ren Fengjue walk up to the woman and say something to her in a low voice.

Given how well the two elders knew him, they could tell at a glance that something was going on.

After exchanging a look, the Old Marquis gave a low cough and called out, “Ren Fengjue.”

Outside the crowd, Ren Fengjue heard him and turned back, then quickly walked over.

“Father.”

Whenever he was called by his full name, it usually meant there was something he was about to be questioned about.
Sure enough, Ren Xuan’s expression turned faintly stern. “Those two friends of yours-you don’t plan to introduce them?”

Ren Fengjue paused, then first beckoned to Yan Zhengchu.

As it turned out, the other man acted as if he hadn’t seen a thing and turned his back on him.

Ren Xuan saw it all, and his displeasure deepened. “That young Daoist Master certainly puts on airs.”

Ren Fengjue could only say, “This Daoist Master lent us his aid only because he saw our Marquis Mansion was in danger. Father, please don’t blame him.”

“Mm.” Ren Xuan gave a nasal snort, then quickly shifted his attention. “As for that young lady, she looks rather familiar to me. I feel as if I’ve seen her somewhere before…”

Then he asked, “There were rumors in the capital before that you were hiding a woman in your residence. It couldn’t have been her, could it?”

Lady Rong murmured, “Why is it that when I look at her, my heart aches a little? She actually makes me think of Ah Wei…”

Ah Wei was Madam Xia’s given name.

After all these years, only Lady Rong still called her that.

At his wife’s words, Ren Xuan’s eyes lit up, and the answer seemed ready to leap from his lips. “Son, tell me the truth. Is she the real Ximo?”

Lady Rong’s face filled with shock. “…Ximo?”

Ren Fengjue nodded. He was still hesitating over how to bring up the matter of “breaking the engagement” when his parents had already gone over to her.

“Father! Mother!”

There was no stopping them at all.

The two elders could hardly conceal their excitement as they walked up to Xia Ximo.

“She looks like her. Even the way she looks at people is the same!”

“I knew it. This bearing-this is what a military commander’s daughter should be like.”

Faced with Marquis Renxuan and his wife suddenly surrounding her, Xia Ximo looked past them at Ren Fengjue, clearly questioning him.

He had just said that he would soon speak to his parents about breaking off the engagement.

But judging by the current situation, they had clearly come to claim her as family.

Lady Rong could not help taking Xia Ximo’s hand in both of hers, her eyes brimming with tears. “Child, I have wronged you. You must have suffered so much in the Mu Family all these years!”

It was not the feeling Xia Ximo had expected. She did not reject that warm touch.

Instead, she felt a trace of unexpected closeness.

Xia Ximo said nothing.

Lady Rong’s tears fell even harder. It was obvious how guilty she felt.

“That matter was not your fault.”

Xia Ximo finally spoke.

She could not speak on behalf of the original owner of this body and recount all the torment and grievances she had endured in the Mu Family over the years.

But one thing was certain: right up until the moment before her death, “Xia Ximo” had not felt the slightest resentment toward the entire Marquis Mansion.

“She” had wanted to break off the engagement only because she did not want the Mu Family’s scheme to succeed…

“It was the Mu Family who deceived the Marquis Mansion. Your Marquis Mansion did not wrong ‘Xia Ximo.'”

Lady Rong heard the indifference in her tone, but all she could think of was how, over the years, this orphaned girl must have lived helpless and alone in the Mu Family.

A treasured pearl once held in her parents’ palms had suddenly been forced to live under another family’s roof, only to be treated that way by her own maternal relatives. How could her temperament not have changed?

Tears streamed down the Marquise’s face, and she could not resist pulling Xia Ximo into her arms. “Good child, from this day forward, as long as I, Rong Xuan, still draw breath, no one will be allowed to bully you!”

Held in her embrace, Xia Ximo’s body immediately stiffened.

Yet for some inexplicable reason, she rather liked hearing those words.

Of course, she still remembered the real reason she had come to the mortal realm. She could not allow herself to become too entangled in these human bonds.

“Madam.”

She knew she had to seize this opportunity to speak. “I do not plan to remain in the capital. As for my marriage arrangement with Ren Fengjue, I hope you will withdraw the order.”