"That's good then." Shen Daochen rubbed his temples.

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than a disciple rushed in shouting, "Something terrible has happened, Sect Master!"

"What kind of behavior is this, all flustered and disrespectful! What happened?"

"Those people we placed among the candidates didn't work. Shen Sangruo has somehow acquired countless treasures, enough to fill a small mountain! Our targeted plan is likely to fail as well..."

"What?" Shen Daochen frowned.

Before he could ask any further questions, another person came to report: "Sect Master, Linglong Pavilion has announced that it will refuse all transactions with us from now on, openly supporting Ninghua Sect."

The teacup in Shen Daochen's hand suddenly shattered into dust, and he said "good" several times in a row.

He really underestimated Shen Sangruo!

What angered him even more was that she used all of these things on Ninghua Sect, without giving a single thought to Feiyun Sect.

"Excellent! Continue targeting them relentlessly! Let's see how long Ninghua Sect can hold out!"

Having said that, he turned and left.

He went to Bai Mumu's room and saw his daughter lying unconscious on the bed, and felt a pang of heartache.

Lingxiao Zhenren is channeling spiritual energy into Bai Mumu.

"Ling Xiao, what do you plan to do with those four wicked disciples?" Shen Daochen turned his head and asked Ling Xiao Zhenren.

Even if they are Lingxiao Zhenren's personal disciples, this matter cannot be easily let go!

"After being severely punished by the Discipline Department, they have been sent to the confinement room for seven days." Lingxiao Zhenren's cold eyes revealed no emotion.

"After they come out, I will personally teach them."

Lingxiao Zhenren had grown disgusted with them and originally intended to expel them all from Zhenlin Peak.

But after all, they were disciples he had personally chosen. As the past resurfaced, he wondered why they, who were once obedient and sensible, had become like this.

He finally began to reflect, wondering if there was something wrong with his teaching methods.

He kept them all and taught them personally, making them tools for him to prove himself.

Shen Daochen was barely satisfied. Whether they could endure the seven-day confinement punishment until they left was another matter entirely.

He said in a deep voice, "Ling Xiao, if they continue to act so recklessly in the future, I will definitely expel them from the sect. Even you won't be able to keep them here!"

Lingxiao Zhenren did not reply, his expression impatient.

As the number one cultivator in the cultivation world, he had looked down upon the world for many years. Even though Shen Daochen was his senior brother and sect leader, he still found it difficult to accept such a tone.

Unbeknownst to them, conflicts were brewing.

Inside the confinement room, the four members of Zhenlin Peak formed a team.

The mental torment inflicted by the formation caused them splitting headaches, unbearable pain, and uncontrollable convulsions.

But at this moment, they all thought of Shen Sangruo, who had been wrongly imprisoned here.

So this is what confinement is like.

Even with their current late-stage Golden Core cultivation, they couldn't withstand it. How did Shen Sangruo, who only had Foundation Establishment cultivation, manage to hold on back then?

At that time, she trusted and was close to them so much, yet they cruelly locked her up here for Bai Mumu's sake.

Lu Shiqing even used the Seven Emotions Gu on her.

Feng Heyun punched Lu Shiqing's head to the side and roared with all his might, "Are you even human?!"

Are they human?

How desperate she must have been.

Perhaps it was in this despair that she chose to sever her feelings for them.

Thinking of this, a wave of pain washed over them, as if countless needles were piercing their brains, even more painful than the pain brought by the confinement chamber's array.

The four were on the verge of a breakdown, screaming and howling until finally only low sobs remained.

They already knew that Shen Sangruo's feelings for them had completely disappeared.

I found out on the day the team competition ended.

That day, Wen Xuan, who was injured, and Lu Shiqing, who had been tortured, rested together in one place.

Seeing that Lu Shiqing looked like he had lost his soul, Wen Xuan forced a smile and said, "Third Junior Brother, I can tell that you are in love with Xiao Ruo."

A glimmer of light appeared in Lu Shiqing's eyes, but it quickly dimmed again.

"But...but, Xiao Ruo probably doesn't want to see us anymore." His voice choked with emotion; he had hurt Shen Sang Ruo once again in the secret realm.

“We’ve made too many mistakes. Only by doing everything we can to make up for them can Xiaoruo…”

“She has no feelings for us anymore,” Lu Shiqing suddenly interrupted Wen Xuan.

The calm statement, however, conveyed no sense of vitality.

Wen Xuan didn't hear him clearly at first, and only asked blankly, "What did you say?"

"She showed no reaction to the Seven Emotions Gu or the Love-Calling Gu; her feelings for us have completely vanished." Lu Shiqing's voice seemed to be filled with endless sorrow.

Wen Xuan instinctively wanted to deny it, but when he saw Lu Shiqing's face clearly, the words caught in his throat.

Before anyone knew it, Lu Shiqing's face was covered in tears.

She stared straight at him, almost sobbing and wailing, "I used the Gu myself, many times."

Therefore, there can be no mistake.

Buzz—

All the sounds around him seemed to disappear, and Wen Xuan could only hear the ringing in his ears.

Before he could even angrily berate Lu Shiqing for using the Seven Emotions Gu and even the Emotion-Calling Gu on Chen Sangruo so many times, he was instantly overwhelmed by fear and panic.

His lips trembled, his eyes filled with helplessness, "How could this be... how could this be..."

The Love-Awakening Gu contained all of Lu Shiqing's hopes, and the more so, the more desperate he would be after its failure, until he could no longer deceive himself.

He couldn't bear it, he didn't know what to do, he could only tell others and try to stick together with them for warmth.

Subsequently, Feng Heyun and Luo Chu also learned of this news.

Only then did they realize that Shen Sangruo's indifference and aloofness towards them were not feigned, but genuinely from the bottom of her heart.

She gave up on them completely.

And they were foolishly presumptuous for so long, thinking that she couldn't let go of her friendship with them and that she would come back.

Perhaps she abandoned all her emotions the moment she emerged from confinement, and only now, years later, have they belatedly realized it.

Therefore, in the final sect competition, they risked everything to testify for Shen Sangruo.

They were really wrong!

Their feelings for Bai Mumu had turned into intense hatred. If it weren't for her, how could they and Shen Sangruo have ended up like this?

They hated Bai Mumu, and they hated themselves.

Images of Shen Sangri's past when she was still on Zhenlin Peak flashed through her mind, but now even seeing them was a fantasy for her.

How can we win back her feelings for them?!

Within the Ninghua Sect.

The recruitment event lasted for five days, and ultimately ten thousand cultivators were selected to join the Ninghua Sect.

The sects that joined included the Hehuan Sect, the Beast Taming Sect, the Spirit Plant Valley, and the Divine Talisman Sect, accounting for less than 10% of the total, with the rest being independent cultivators.

The elders of the sect, along with several other Nascent Soul cultivators without a sect, became elders of the Ninghua Sect according to their seniority.