It turns out, they were the main characters.

In the dim light, Lan Mulian raised her eyelids, and her once clear and bright eyes seemed to reflect the starry sky, dazzling and captivating.

Feeling the pressure of the spiritual energy from the Void Returning Realm, and seeing his senior sister's embarrassed and annoyed appearance, Mu Zhi'an smiled helplessly and said, "Just kidding, senior sister, don't be angry."

Lan Mulian snorted and glanced at her junior brother.

"Senior Sister, what level of Void Return realm are you now? Judging from your aura, it seems quite different from the Void Return realm I've encountered before," Mu Zhi'an suddenly asked as he steered the painted boat toward the shore.

Lan Mulian said calmly, "The third stage of Returning to Void, according to normal comparison, should be the fifth stage of Returning to Void."

Mu Zhian was astonished: "Fifth level of Returning to the Void... Even those chosen ones don't have such an outrageous cultivation speed, how did you do it?"

“It’s just ordinary daily cultivation.” Lan Mulian paused. “If Junior Brother were to cultivate diligently every day, he probably wouldn’t be much slower than me.”

Mu Zhi'an's expression was somewhat intriguing as he smiled and said, "If I focus on my own cultivation, how can I help Senior Sister accelerate her cultivation progress?"

The innate furnace is designed to assist the physiques of other 'protagonists'. Rather than letting him cultivate at a snail's pace, it's better to let the other little fish develop earlier.

Once they develop, my side will also develop accordingly.

Just as Yao Meng successfully ascended to immortality, Mu Zhian also received inexhaustible cultivation resources.

My kidneys are often a bit tired.

It was tiring, but it was worth it, because at least the fish successfully completed their evolution...

Pretending not to notice Lan Mulian's embarrassed and annoyed glare after she realized what had happened, Mu Zhian circulated his spiritual energy, turned the painted boat around, and slowly drifted towards the lakeside.

Mu Zhian turned to look at Lan Mulian and tentatively asked, "Senior Sister, shall I go and call Sister Feiying to come along?"

Lan Mulian glanced at him: "I knew you were thinking about Fei Ying. Do as you please, no need to ask me."

Mu Zhian: "..."

Didn't you tell me to go and call her?

Has Senior Sister forgotten how she begged me for mercy just now...? Mu Zhian shook his head secretly and reached out to pull the boat door.

The ship's door seemed to be blocked by an inexplicable external force, remaining completely still!

Mu Zhian was slightly startled and immediately circulated his spiritual energy, grabbing the ship door and trying to forcibly pull it open.

However, despite his strength being even greater than that of a typical Void Returning Realm cultivator, he couldn't budge the boat door at all. It was as if a mysterious force had sealed the pleasure boat from the outside, preventing it from even opening a crack.

"what happened?"

Lan Mulian also noticed Mu Zhian's unusual behavior and frowned as she asked.

We seem to have entered a classic scenario where a man and a woman are locked in a sports warehouse... Mu Zhian, unusually, still had the mood to joke at this moment, and said, "I can't open this ship door."

As he spoke, he tried to pull open the boat door with force, but found it was completely futile.

Lan Mulian glanced at the boy: "How could that be?"

She just felt that her cunning junior brother was up to something again... perhaps he wasn't satisfied with their intimacy on the pleasure boat, so he was deliberately putting on an act.

"Move aside, let me try."

As Lan Mulian stood up, she gently pushed open the boat door.

There was absolutely no movement.

Mu Zhian looked at her, his eyes seeming to say: See, I didn't lie to you, did I?

Lan Mulian closed her eyes slightly, and when she opened them the next moment, her beautiful eyes were already tinged with the image of a vast starry sky, mysterious and beautiful.

At this moment, all the fluctuations of spiritual energy within the painted boat were fully captured by Lan Mulian's vision.

Then, she reached out and grabbed the painted boat, giving it a gentle push.

crunch.

The ship's door made a sharp, teeth-grinding sound as it was pushed open a crack.

Mu Zhian was secretly delighted and looked up, saying, "It's open?"

As expected of the Heavenly Mandate Holy Body, he solved the problem of the pleasure boat at a glance.

However, at this moment, Lan Mulian's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she said softly, "This is not Taichu Lake."

“We were boating on the Lake of the Beginning before, how could this not be the Lake of the Beginning?”

Mu Zhian was startled. He pushed open the ship door and strode onto the deck.

boom!

Suddenly, a terrifying shockwave emanated from the pleasure boat, and thick black mist billowed outwards, turning the starry night sky as black as ink in an instant.

The entire Primordial Lake is mysterious and enigmatic.

"What exactly is this place? It didn't seem like this when we first arrived." Mu Zhian was secretly surprised as he looked up at the pitch-black sky.

"The Lan family's palace used to be built near Taichu Lake, but later the entire clan moved to its current location." Lan Mulian also stepped out of the deck, her beautiful eyes bright and clear as she gazed at the night sky, and said softly.

“Since it’s an abandoned place, no one from our tribe would come here on a regular basis, which is why I asked you where that pleasure boat came from.”

Mu Zhian was stunned for a moment, and a chill slowly crept into his heart.

He looked down at the wooden floor beneath his feet, then looked up at Lan Mulian in surprise: "Where did this painted boat come from...?"

Lan Mulian's beautiful eyes swept over the quiet place filled with black mist, her eyes sparkling, and she said softly, "It is said that when our ancestor was alive, she once went boating on Taichu Lake with one of her close friends. The next day, the painted boat had disappeared, and her friend was nowhere to be found."

"Shortly after that, our ancestor was nearing the end of his life. He left the only two imperial herbs to the Lan family and went alone to the forbidden land of the Eastern Continent to suppress and kill the ancient creature that had colluded with the first Demon Emperor."

"Upon closer reflection, this pleasure boat seems to be the same as the one described in the ancient books," Lan Mulian said.

When she came to Taichu Lake, she was so engrossed in the romantic atmosphere created by Mu Zhian that she did not notice anything amiss.

But now she finally noticed something was wrong.

This mysterious ancient ship is very likely the one that the Lan family's ancestors sailed on tens of thousands of years ago. Like a ghost, it traveled upstream from the lower reaches of the river of history and appeared on Taichu Lake!

Mu Zhian looked up at the billowing black fog under the night sky, his brows furrowing slightly.

“Regardless, let’s leave this place as soon as possible. I have a feeling it’s ominous and a bit dangerous,” Mu Zhian immediately concluded.

Lan Mulian nodded silently.

Mu Zhian immediately channeled his spiritual energy into the painted boat, causing ripples to spread across the lake, and the boat slowly sailed toward the shore.

With the lakeside just a stone's throw away, Lan Mulian suddenly and instinctively grabbed Mu Zhian's arm.

"What's wrong--"

Before Mu Zhian could ask any questions, Lan Mulian's gaze was already fixed on the alluring female silhouette by the lake.

"Quick, look! There seems to be someone over there!"

Mu Zhian was startled and suddenly looked up.

Sure enough, there was someone there.

She was a woman wearing a blue dress, with a graceful figure and a tall, sexy physique.

Her gaze was deep, slowly sweeping over the two of them.

His gaze lingered on Lan Mulian for a long time before he said softly, "You've come at the wrong time."

"It's too early to board the ship now."

Mu Zhian was taken aback for a moment, then raised his hand in a bow and said, "May I ask who you are, senior...?"

"He was once an ancestor of the Lan family, but now, like you, he is just a deceased person. There's no need to care about him."

So she's an ancestor of the Lan family. No wonder she looks somewhat similar to my senior sister, yet she has a more mature charm...

Mu Zhian nodded slightly as if he had just realized something.

Then, his pupils suddenly contracted.

The deceased...?

This mysterious woman knows about him!

Mu Zhian slowly raised his head, staring intently at the woman in the blue dress.

"...How do you know I don't have the aura of a living person?"

Chapter 432 Thirty Years East of the River, Thirty Years West of the River! (7,000 words)

For some reason, looking into those clear, deep, beautiful eyes, Mu Zhian felt as if he had seen a similar look in someone before.

However, the woman in the blue dress did not speak. She turned around and walked silently into the dark pleasure boat like a ghost.

“Ancestor!” Lan Mulian suddenly called out to her.

She gazed at the woman's retreating figure and spoke again, "Why are you on this pleasure boat? Wasn't there a rumor in the Lan family that you had perished?"

The woman in the blue dress paused slightly and glanced at Lan Mulian with a lingering look.

"I am now indeed a deceased person."

She raised her head, gazing at the ancient boat on the lake, her eyes filled with reminiscence, and said softly, "The reason I can talk to you here is because of this painted boat."

Mu Zhian's eyes flickered slightly, and he said, "I don't think your spiritual consciousness is weak at all, so why do you say that you are a deceased person?"

The Lan family ancestor glanced at Mu Zhi'an, and for a fleeting moment, a strange light flickered in her beautiful eyes.

She quickly snapped out of her daze and a faint smile appeared on her face: "She really didn't lie to me."

"Take good care of the girl next to you; we'll have a chance to meet again in the future."

Seeing that the other party had no intention of explaining, Mu Zhian didn't press the matter and changed the subject: "The Lan family holds an ancestral worship ceremony every few years. Legend has it that the Lan family's ancestors would send down divine decrees on this day, guiding the Lan family's future direction and even granting them great immortal opportunities. Could this be the work of your predecessor?"

However, the answer from the Lan family ancestor next stirred up huge waves in the hearts of Mu Zhi'an and Lan Mulian.

"I never descended upon the Lan family's ancestral land during the ancestral worship ceremony, nor did I ever guide them," the Lan family ancestor said softly, shaking his head slowly.

The woman spoke calmly throughout, her voice crisp and clear, like an ice cube dropped into a glass of water.

Mu Zhian's eyes widened in surprise: "If it wasn't done by you, senior, then what was it that guided the Lan family at the ancestral worship ceremony...?"

The Lan family ancestor glanced at Mu Zhi'an with a lingering gaze, then pulled out a palm-sized piece of dark jade from her sleeve, which flew into Mu Zhi'an's palm.

"What is this...?" Mu Zhian asked subconsciously.

"You'll need it during the ancestral worship ceremony," the Lan family ancestor said calmly.