It turns out, they were the main characters.

"Just kidding, I'm not hungry, you eat it." Mu Zhian smiled and handed her the meat bun.

Lin Ling happily took the meat bun and took a small bite. Mu Zhi'an glanced at the empty hall and then lowered his voice, "Ling'er, did you see your senior sister when you came?"

“Aaa.” Lin Ling nodded obediently.

"Did you tell her about me and the sect leader...?" Mu Zhian lowered his voice even further this time, leaning down to whisper in Lin Ling's ear.

A slightly hot breath gently brushed against her earlobe, and Lin Ling's face quickly flushed with a shy blush. She shook her head gently and wrote in her notebook, "She said she would handle this matter and asked me to keep it a secret."

"Did the sect leader talk to Ling'er? As expected, she's very reliable..." Mu Zhi'an felt relieved: "Where is Senior Sister now?"

"He's reading a book in the side hall."

Looking at the words Lin Ling had written in the notebook, Mu Zhi'an couldn't help but pause slightly: "Senior Sister started reading after she came back?"

He thought she would be meditating or cultivating, since she used to spend most of her time cultivating.

Upon entering the side hall, Mu Zhian saw his senior sister, with her cool and elegant demeanor, sitting with her legs crossed. Her moon-white dress accentuated her exquisite and slender figure, and she wore a pair of white knee-high boots that seemed to symbolize purity. She was engrossed in reading a book.

She only glanced at the book when she noticed someone coming in, then quietly placed it under the table.

What book are you so engrossed in? If it were before, my senior sister would have noticed as soon as I arrived at the main hall... Mu Zhian glanced suspiciously at the book under the table.

"Junior brother, you're such a busy person, you actually have time to come to Liangyi Peak today?" Lan Mulian asked with a faint smile and a casual tone.

Mu Zhian withdrew his gaze and smiled, "I happened to have some insights while cultivating yesterday, so I took the opportunity to go into seclusion. I didn't expect that Senior Sister would return last night."

"If I had known this would happen, I would have waited for my senior sister to arrive even if I had given up on enlightenment."

Lan Mulian gave an "Oh," tapping her slender fingers on the edge of the chair, and looked at her junior brother with a half-smile: "Isn't it because you're being intimate with some woman that you don't have time to see me?"

So it's not good for a woman to be too smart... Mu Zhian sighed inwardly, but his face remained expressionless as he said, "How could that be? If I were really close to a woman, I would have panicked when I was talking to my senior sister last night."

Lan Mulian snorted and glanced at the boy sideways: "That's hard to say. Your mental fortitude far exceeds my expectations."

Then, she paused, her tone becoming lower: "Have you heard about Master's situation?"

Mu Zhian's eyes flickered slightly: "Are you referring to the Sect Master's Karmic Fire?"

Lan Mulian nodded silently: "In the past, she has been attacked by the backlash of her luck several times, each time more severe than the last. This time, it seems even she can't suppress it. If she really can't suppress it at all in the future..."

Mu Zhian comforted her, "Sect Master is able to deduce the secrets of heaven and foresee the future, so he naturally already knows how to deal with it. Senior Sister, you don't need to worry too much."

"Besides, when you went to see her, she seemed to have recovered her complexion, right?"

Lan Mulian was an exceptionally intelligent woman, and upon hearing this, a thoughtful look appeared in her eyes.

Indeed, although she had heard that her master had suffered a backlash from bad luck when she came, she did not see any trace of karmic fire on her master when she visited him yesterday, as if the karmic fire had never appeared.

Perhaps, as my junior brother said, Master has already suppressed the karmic fire himself.

As expected of a beauty, even in thought she exudes a different kind of beauty... Mu Zhian looked at his elegant and refined senior sister, and at her shapely and firm long legs under her white dress, and couldn't help but secretly admire her.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the book that was placed under the table.

"This is……?"

Mu Zhian took the book out from under the table and glanced at the front of it.

"and many more--"

Lan Mulian snapped out of her reverie and hurriedly reached out to snatch the book from her hand, but it was too late.

"The domineering sect leader fell in love with me...?"

Mu Zhian hesitated for a moment, looking at the burning face of the beautiful woman in front of him, then opened the book and found that there was a page tucked inside.

The content of the book is precisely the scene after the male and female protagonists' story has gone through many ups and downs, where the sect leader confirms his feelings for his disciple and wants to get closer to him, but is rejected by the disciple on the grounds that their statuses are too different.

The next part of this plot involves a powerful sect leader trampling his disciples underfoot.

Why...why add pages here specifically?

"..." Mu Zhian stared at Lan Mulian in shock.

Almost visibly, a faint blush appeared on Lan Mulian's fair and delicate face. Her long, slender legs, hidden beneath her white dress, were slightly pressed together as she awkwardly averted her gaze, trying to appear composed.

"I just use it occasionally to pass the time. Didn't you say you were going to lend me a copy? I was curious about the contents, but I didn't expect..."

She glanced at Mu Zhian with a lingering look: "There's even that kind of content inside."

"Speaking of which, Junior Brother, you had this in mind from the beginning, which is why you asked me to go see it, right?" Lan Mulian suddenly changed her attack and began to counterattack Mu Zhian.

"I haven't read the book. I just heard people mention it occasionally, saying it's very suitable for women, which is why I recommended it to you, Senior Sister," Mu Zhian explained.

"Who?" Lan Mulian pressed on relentlessly.

Mu Zhian: "Sister Mengrou."

Anyway, Sister Mengrou isn't here, so we'll just have to make do with her for now.

Lan Mulian's eyes flickered slightly, and she murmured to herself, "I didn't expect Miss Wei to be interested in this kind of book."

She felt it was a waste of time to read such a boring story at first glance, but she couldn't help but want to read it... and even accidentally became engrossed in it.

"Instead of this, why did you add pages to that part, Senior Sister? Do you also like the feeling of a powerful sect leader who tramples men underfoot?" Mu Zhi'an closed the book and placed it on the table, asking with a smile.

A hint of unease flashed across Lan Mulian's pretty face, but she forced herself to remain calm and said lightly, "It's just that I happened to leave the pages there without touching them."

"Compared to this, you've become quite bold, haven't you? You used to only dare to secretly stare at my legs, but now you dare to look at them openly?"

She glanced at the boy standing next to her, her heart pounding, but her tone remained indifferent.

“Before, Senior Sister was just Senior Sister, so I only had respect for her.” Mu Zhi’an held one of Lan Mu Lian’s slightly cool, soft hands and smiled, “But now, we are no longer just ordinary people.”

Lan Mulian glanced at her sideways: "You've been secretly drooling over my legs ever since, is this what you call respect, Junior Brother?"

"If I hadn't been attracted to Senior Sister before, wouldn't that be denying your charm?!" Mu Zhi'an said righteously.

"Will my senior sister ask me again then: 'Am I completely unattractive, which is why you have no interest in me and don't even look at me?'"

Lan Mulian was speechless for a moment, and could only give Mu Zhian a sidelong glance.

"Now that my relationship with my senior sister is so intimate, what's wrong with a little physical contact? I even think we can try some new ways to play..."

Mu Zhian whispered something in Lan Mulian's ear.

Her body stiffened instantly, her pretty face flushed with the rosy hue of alcohol, and a hint of disdain flashed in her eyes: "Pervert."

"I was just trying to satisfy my senior sister's fetish... Don't you want to try that storyline from the novel?" Mu Zhi'an said naturally, even enjoying the hint of shyness and disdain in his senior sister's eyes.

The aloof beauty's white boots pattered lightly on the ground, making a soft 'tap-tap' sound. Then, she glanced at the young man beside her, whom she had longed for for so long, and said softly, "This morning I heard from Senior Linglong that the Grand Preceptor of Daqian is planning to take action against the National Movement. Are you planning to go to Daqian City?"

"Don't rush, let them prepare for a while longer." Mu Zhian said with a faint smile, "Last time Yao Meng let Gu Boxing go because she was considering the national fortune of Daqian and did not want the people to suffer. But if Gu Boxing intends to refine the land and use the national fortune for his own purposes."

"Before that, he must first cast a spell to break free from the bond with the nation's destiny."

"In that case... there's no reason to let him go."

"You really dote on Miss Wei," Lan Mulian said quietly, a little jealous.

She knew that back in the martial arts world, Gu Boxing had tried to bring Wei Mengrou, who was considered to have a "cursed body," back to the Great Qian Dynasty. Even after his failure, he still hadn't given up.

It's easy to guess that Mu Zhian harbors a grudge against Gu Boxing because of what happened last time.

Mu Zhian lowered his eyes slightly and said calmly, "He should be glad that neither of his two attacks hurt Sister Mengrou."

It's true that Gu Boxing's fate is tied to the nation's destiny. If he's content to live out his life peacefully, that's fine. But if he's restless and wants to fight for his life...

For the first time, a cold smile appeared on Mu Zhian's face.

At that moment, he suddenly noticed a brief silence in the side hall. Realizing something, he looked up and added, "Of course, if it were my senior sister, I would feel the same way about you—"

As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Zhian suddenly gasped as Lan Mulian stepped on his instep with her white boot.

Looking at Lan Mulian's expressionless and domineering demeanor, which resembled that of an empress, he couldn't help but smile. He reached out and removed Lan Mulian's snow-white jade boots, massaging the soles of her feet as he said, "Senior Sister, don't suddenly step on other people's feet like that next time. Of course, if you're willing to accept my suggestion, I don't mind if you step on them..."

"Beg me then." Lan Mulian raised her snow-white chin, looking down at him.

"Please, Senior Sister," Mu Zhi'an pleaded earnestly.

"..."

Lan Mulian was rendered silent for a while by Mu Zhian's shamelessness. Feeling the gentle massage of the young man's hand, a faint blush quickly spread across her cold and beautiful face. Then, under his expectant gaze, the disdain in her eyes gradually turned into a strange pleasure.

"Try it again when you're in a better mood," she said softly.

Although I had known for a long time that my senior sister had a hint of domineering female CEO tendencies, I never expected that she would actually awaken them... Noticing the joy in Lan Mulian's eyes, Mu Zhian couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Meanwhile, I took a sip of tea and enjoyed this leisurely time.

……

……

[The following is a long plot point, which I personally think is quite fun. I originally planned to finish writing it tonight, but I overestimated my writing speed. To avoid procrastination, I will finish writing this part of the plot all at once tomorrow.]

Chapter 485 Wei Mengrou: First, plant a foreshadowing (6.5K)

Daqian Dynasty.

Inside the grand and imposing imperial palace, there was a rather magnificent Taoist temple with several alchemy furnaces and countless medicinal herbs.

Over the years, Imperial Preceptor Gu Boxing has secretly amassed a considerable amount of medicinal herbs under the pretext of His Majesty's cultivation of Taoism.

This matter caused a great deal of discussion among the officials, because a large portion of the official silver intended for disaster relief and even the spirit stones intended for cultivators was used to refine pills for Gu Boxing.

However, the current emperor is now focused on cultivating Taoism, overruling all objections and ignoring the opposition of his court officials. Every half month, he sends people to deliver rare and precious materials collected from the Eastern Continent.

The old emperor was too old to enter the world of cultivation, so he could only hope to prolong his life through alchemy.

Inside the Taoist temple, a middle-aged man dressed in a Taoist robe sat cross-legged in front of a table, quietly looking at the bamboo slips in his hands.

He looked like an ordinary person... well, to be precise, he really is an ordinary person now.

A grain of sand falling from a high-ranking cultivator is a boulder to a low-ranking cultivator. The Azure Emperor's Purifying Lotus sealed his cultivation vessel, so at this moment, Gu Boxing is indeed no different from an ordinary person.

but--

Even so, he was blessed by the national fortune of the Great Qian Dynasty and had the power of the wishes of all living beings, making him incomparable to ordinary people.

Imperial Advisor Gu Boxing.

This imperial advisor's life, if not legendary, is certainly far beyond that of most ordinary people. He was alone in his childhood and was later adopted by a mysterious powerful figure. As a child, Gu Boxing relied entirely on brute force and knew nothing about astrology.

As he grew up, Gu Boxing also became a crude and uncouth martial artist, and he was from the same school as the current head of Tianji Peak.