The unconventional operation of the Shan Family caused heated discussion among the onlookers. They didn’t know a more shocking thing was about to happen. Li Mu had quietly squeezed himself to the front just now. Seeing that the bride had already gotten out, he rushed over like lightning. In the blink of an eye, he had come in front of Shan Tingyan’s brother.

The latter only felt that his younger sister on his shoulder was taken away in the twinkling of an eye. Then, Li Mu kicked him hard into the gate, carried the bride on his shoulder, turned around, and ran away at lightning speed. Because he had been as quick as a flash, no one else had seen how the bride had disappeared at all except for the few people nearby.

The musicians in the distance were still performing, but the front of the gate of the Shan Family was in chaos. After the initial confusion, everyone realized what had happened. And one man shouted, “Someone kidnapped the bride! Catch him!” Before they could start to chase Li Mu, a miserable cry came out of the gate, saying, “Mr. Shan is dead!”

The scene became completely chaotic. Some people were crying. Some were screaming, and some were scolding. By the time they organized the personnel to hunt down the murderer, Li Mu had already escaped out of the city. Along the way, he had attracted everyone’s attention because people had never seen a tied-up bride on the street before.

Some curious people had wanted to stop Li Mu to ask him what was going on but Li Mu’s speed had been so fast that they hadn’t had time to talk to him before he had disappeared from their sights. Even the soldiers guarding the city gate had only seen a shadow flashing in front of them. When they had realized they should have stopped the man to have a careful look, they could only see Li Mu’s back in the distance.

Shan Tingyan’s condition was a bit miserable. Her veil had long been blown off by the wind. Her mouth was still stuffed with a cloth and her arms and legs were tightly bound by ropes. Because she was being carried by Li Mu on the shoulder, her head had been downward all the way.

However, she felt happy. She had recovered from her initial panic and confusion. She had guessed who had kidnapped her. The man who was carrying her must be Li Mu who she had been missing all the time. She lay obediently on his shoulder without the slightest struggle.

After a while, the man finally stopped and gently placed her on the ground. When she finally saw his face, she instantly burst into tears. After Li Mu untied her and took the gag out of her mouth, Shan Tingyan cried out loud and threw herself into her beloved man’s arms.

“I thought I will never see you again!”

“Silly girl, you are my woman and no one can take you away from me!”

Shan Tingyan hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. Li Mu patted her shoulder and comforted her, “Calm down. Everything is OK now. We’ve successfully escaped. We’re safe now.”

“Li Mu, I’m scared!”

“Don’t be afraid! Don’t worry! They can’t find us. I’ll take you away and we’ll live in a remote place in the future. They can never find us!”

Hearing his comfort, Shan Tingyan gradually calmed down and said in a choked voice, “Li Mu, we will be together forever! Only death can separate us!”

“Don’t say such depressing words. We will not die. Our happy days are coming around the corner. You don’t have to feel worried. The country is big and people are not well-informed. As long as we hide up, they can’t do anything with us.”

Shan Tingyan hurriedly raised her head and said with tears in her eyes, “OK! I will listen to you. Li Mu, take me away quickly!”

“No hurry! We should take a rest first. Let’s set off when it’s dark!” Li Mu paltered, feeling puzzled in his heart. Since he had already eloped with the bride, the heart realm should have been resolved no matter it was sadness or missing her. Why hadn’t he left this dream?

He knew that he could not act impatiently now because Shan Tingyan’s mood was very unstable. The more anxious he was, the more likely she would freak out. If she really lost her mind, things might develop in a bad direction.

“Little Yanzi, where is Jing’er?” Li Mu asked casually.

Hearing Jing’er’s name, Shan Tingyan instantly burst into tears. Li Mu was taken aback and thought he had said something wrong. Seeing that she was crying worse and worse, he quickly comforted her, “Don’t cry. What’s wrong with Jing’er? Is she in trouble? Don’t worry. Tell me about it and I’ll save her.”

“Li Mu, Jing’er… Jing’er was beaten to death!”

“What?” Li Mu was shocked. He subconsciously clenched his fists and said, “What on earth happened? Can you make it clear?”

“They found Jing’er had sneaked out to meet you, so they tortured her in order to let her tell them your whereabouts. Jing’er would rather die than betray me, so my brother beat her to death!”

Li Mu flew into a rage with murderous intentions full of his eyes and asked coldly, “Is your brother the man who was kicked into the air by me?”

Shan Tingyan nodded slightly. Li Mu calmed down a little because he had already avenged Jing’er’s death if that man was Shan Tingyan’s brother. Even a Taoist couldn’t bear his kick, let alone an ordinary person.

That man would surely die. Originally, Li Mu had had some guilt. After all, he had killed the bride’s relative on the wedding day. But now, he had no regrets at all. But he must not tell this to Shan Tingyan. In ancient times, etiquette was strict. Women had been oppressed badly in their families. They must obey their fathers and brothers before getting married. After getting married, they must obey their husbands. And when their husbands died, they even must obey their sons.

If Shan Tingyan knew Li Mu had killed her brother, she could not marry him no matter how deeply she loved him.

Let alone ancient times, this kind of thing was very tricky even in today’s society. If a man had beat a woman’s family member to death, the woman would never be willing to marry him. Even if that person had done something bad to deserve the death, there would be no possibility between the man and the woman anymore.

Seeing that Shan Tingyan crying her heart out again, Li Mu had no choice but to appease her gently. But at the same time, he kept thinking about why he couldn’t clear this realm yet. What was wrong? After a while, he suddenly come up with an idea, feeling as if he had found the reason.

The reason for the whole story was that two people in love could not get married. They felt sad and missed each other very much. He had thought he could leave here as long as he kidnapped the bride successfully, but he was wrong. Did that mean that the relationship between the two people must be more intimate in order to meet the condition?

After pondering for a while, Li Mu believed this should be the key to this realm. As long as the two people in love got married, their wishes would be fulfilled and then he could escape from the dream safely. After making up his mind, he said, “Little Yanzi, I love you. Will you marry me?”

There were still tears on Shan Tingyan’s face but she nodded vigorously. Li Mu hurriedly said, “Since we’ve eloped, we don’t need to care about any rites. We just need to swear to God that we will commit ourselves to each other. Would you like to hold our wedding right here and right now?”

“Yes!”

Good! Li Mu immediately pulled Shan Tingyan over. After they exchanged marriage vows, the surrounding scene began to distort. And after a swirl of dazzling white, the stone gate reappeared.

...

When Shan Tingyan opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a bed. The furnishings around made her feel unfamiliar so it was not her own meditation room. When she sat up, the person beside the bed was wakened up and hurriedly said, “Tingyan, you finally woke up. You scared me. I thought you would never wake up again.”

The person who spoke was Lian Ruxi, and she was looking at her with concern in her eyes. Shan Tingyan was stunned for a moment, and then she gradually sobered up. She vaguely remembered that she had been chatting with Bai Jing and two other friends and suddenly, she had fallen into a strange dream.

“Where is Bai Jing?”

“He is resting in the room next door and Zhou Yi was looking after him. You and he really scared me. You two suddenly fainted at the same time when we were chatting and couldn’t be wakened up no matter how we called you. We were both terrified and thought you could never wake up.”

“I need to talk to Bai Jing!”

Shan Tingyan stood up and struggled to walk out. Lian Ruxi failed to stop her so she could only support her and walked out of the door together with her. As soon as they left the room, they saw Bai Jing walking toward them supported by Zhou Yi. Bai Jing and Shan Tingyan exchanged glances with each other. Knowing that this matter must not be exposed to any other person, they both chose to zip their lips.

After they returned to the party room together and took their seats, Zhou Yi couldn’t help but ask, “Bai Jing, Shan Tingyan, what happened to you just now? Why did you suddenly faint?” Shan Tingyan said calmly, “I’m sorry to have made you feel worried. We have been practicing a secret skill of our sect recently. Because we haven’t understood it very well, it backfired and hurt us. Therefore, we fainted together. Please don’t laugh at us.”

Zhou Yi and Lian Ruxi suddenly realized this was the case and they were used to such things. When cultivating the secret skills, many people had gotten into similar trouble so it was not a rare thing.

But it was a bit too coincidental that their minds had been affected by the secret skill at the same time.

Before Zhou Yi and Lian Ruxi could ask the question, Bai Jing took the initiative to explain, “This secret skill is a mutual skill and requires Shan Tingyan and me to engage with each other’s minds so we were affected by it together.”

Zhou Yi and Lian Ruxi no longer had any doubts. But then they had new concerns, worrying that the strength of Bai Jing and Shan Tingyan would be greatly reduced. If so, their performance at the clan meeting would be affected. When their eyes met, they saw a trace of doubt in each other’s eyes.

Shan Tingyan read their minds and said with a smile, “You don’t have to worry. We can solve this hidden danger after we go back to cultivate for a few days. It will not affect your plan.” Hearing this, Zhou Yan and Lian Ruxi were overjoyed and thanked them repeatedly. Shan Tingyan didn’t dare to stay any longer, so she got up to say goodbye. Zhou Yi and Lian Ruxi were worried about them, so they sent them back to the Taoist temple in person.

After returning to the meditation room, Shan Tingyan hurriedly asked, “Bai Jing, were you also in that dream?”

“Yes, I was by your side every day. Didn’t you see me?”

“Really? You were by my side? Who were you?”

“I was Jing’er, my lady!”

“What?” Shan Tingyan was stunned and gaped at Bai Jing, feeling speechless.

Bai Jing said aggrievedly, “Tingyan, when you dream again, can you give Li Mu to me? You two were always a couple but I was either burned or beaten to death. Can you do me a favor next time? I want to have a happy ending with him too.”