Chapter Fifteen: Mu Feng’s Death (Part One)

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Mu Feng looked into Qing Lan’s cold and distant eyes and sighed softly. “I know you harbor resentment in your heart, but Qing Lan, if you don’t give your spiritual root to her, Xue’er is frail and sickly. Can you truly bear to watch her turn into nothing but bones decades from now?”

His tone was gentle. “How about this: I act as a mediator. As long as you’re willing to return to the Mu family with me, all past grievances can be forgiven. You will still be the most honored eldest daughter of the Mu family. How does that sound?”

There was a tempting sincerity in his voice, as if he truly had her best interests at heart.

His words were casual, as if severing her spiritual root was a trivial matter.

Qing Lan retorted coldly, “If you care so much for Mu Chenxue, why don’t you give her your own spiritual root? You pretend to be generous at others’ expense, speaking so grandly. None of you in the Mu family are worthy of trust.”

A flicker of displeasure crossed Mu Feng’s eyes, but he quickly masked it completely. “Your prejudice against the Mu family runs too deep. Xue’er fears you and forced me to kill you, but I never wanted to hurt you. You understand, I couldn’t bear it.”

Qing Lan frowned slightly, unable to comprehend his shamelessness. Disgust crept into her eyes as she took a step back.

Mu Feng sighed. “Qing Lan, don’t you understand yet? In this great family, everyone has their own stance and helplessness. Though I wish to protect you, Xue’er... sigh, what else can I do?”

Qing Lan sneered, seeing through his feigned dilemma.

Mu Feng shook his head. “You’re young and don’t understand the complexities and cruelties of this world. But don’t worry, one day you’ll understand my difficulties. Enough, today I will take you back first.” Before he finished speaking, his spiritual sword unsheathed, several piercing sword lights instantly cutting through the Flying Leaf Dance.

Qing Lan summoned the flying leaves, spinning and sharpening them in the air like blades to block the sword lights. However, Mu Feng’s sword qi was overwhelmingly fierce, and in moments, the Flying Leaf Dance was torn apart piece by piece, fragments scattering.

Mu Feng broke through the formation, moving like lightning, pressing forward step by step. Qing Lan kept retreating, her fingertips lightly raised as grass leaves and wooden flowers wove into a barrier shielding her figure, but each was swiftly slashed open by Mu Feng.

“Your healing skills may be strong, but your combat is still lacking finesse.”

Mu Feng smiled lightly. Their eyes clashed fiercely in midair, confronting an undeniable truth—throughout, the Mu family had never taught her how to fight!

They had grandly told her that as the eldest daughter of the Mu family, she need not set foot on the battlefield, for the family was filled with skilled warriors but lacked a healing expert. Since she possessed that talent, they imprisoned her in this false haven, forcing her to abandon all means of self-defense and focus solely on healing.

Their lie of “protecting the family’s precious daughter from all danger” now seemed utterly ridiculous.

Qing Lan concentrated; swirling leaves gathered in her hands, forming a wooden sword.

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Mu Feng laughed disdainfully. “Grass and wood turned into a sword? You think that can rival my spiritual sword?” He paid it no mind, swinging his sword down with a dazzling arc of light, intent on cutting the wooden sword in two.

“Bang!”

But his sword was deflected, the sword light scattering suddenly. He staggered back several steps, nearly dropping his spiritual sword, his palm burning with pain. Upon closer inspection, blood had seeped from a wound, and his arm trembled from the recoil.

Mu Feng stared in shock at the sword in Qing Lan’s hand. The leaves forming the blade slowly drifted apart under the sword qi’s force, revealing its true nature.

“Thorned Blood Brambles! How do you possess such a spiritual artifact?”

Thorned Blood Brambles were extraordinarily hard and rare spiritual wood treasures, ranking just below spiritual weapons. The Mu family had searched all of Ming Mountain without success, yet now Qing Lan held one.

Greed flashed in Mu Feng’s eyes; he hadn’t expected such an unexpected boon today.

He recalled his spiritual sword and launched an even fiercer attack against Qing Lan. Their weapons were evenly matched. Though Qing Lan was at a disadvantage, her gaze remained calm.

During the fight, she noticed something almost amusing: both the steward and Mu Feng had forgotten one thing.

Mu Feng sneered. “Too bad your spiritual root is damaged and your cultivation has dropped, or today’s outcome might have been uncertain.”

Qing Lan said nothing. She was learning. Mu Feng’s underestimation gave her time to grow stronger in controlling the Blood Brambles.

And Mu Feng had yet to notice.

Seeing his attacks once again suppress Qing Lan, confident of victory, he no longer hid his purpose, staring at her intently. “Without your spiritual root, you’re still this strong—interesting. I’ll take you back for study; it might yield great results!”

A flash of anger crossed Qing Lan’s heart as she sneered, “You’re celebrating too soon.”

She waved her sleeve, forming hand seals, and a brilliant green light burst forth, enveloping her body in a strong aura of vitality.

Mu Feng’s expression turned serious. Alerted, he instantly summoned his spiritual power to conjure a radiant protective shield, guarding himself firmly.

However, the overwhelming green light was not an attack—it was a summons.

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In an instant, the spiritual power within Mu Feng began to surge wildly. The wood element source hidden deep within his spiritual veins seemed to hear a long-lost call, awakening and responding to Qing Lan’s summons with joyous fervor.

Like reunited family members, they exuded boundless joy and belonging, transforming into gentle green specks of light that slowly floated from Mu Feng’s body, rapidly converging and finally condensing into a meandering green stream flowing toward Qing Lan.

“This...” Mu Feng’s complexion changed dramatically. He struggled to suppress the uprising spiritual source within him but could not stop it.

Watching the gently swaying lights, Qing Lan was momentarily stunned. This was the original spiritual power she had infused into Mu Feng over ten years of healing—through every mission, every crisis.

Healing someone whose cultivation surpassed hers consumed vast amounts of spiritual power.

When ordinary spiritual power failed, only the original source could heal.

The original source was truly effective...

Just a small amount could stabilize an injury for a long time.

Yet no one knew, nor ever asked her—did it hurt to strip away one’s origin?

Or perhaps they knew everything but chose to look away.

All the spiritual power eventually gathered back into Qing Lan’s body. She exhaled deeply, reclaiming the last forty percent of the spiritual power.

Mu Feng was left drained and significantly weakened.

His face darkened. He had been confident of his importance in Qing Lan’s heart and refused to believe she would treat him this way.

But the truth was, she no longer felt anything for him.

This realization cast a shadow over Mu Feng’s expression.