The mont the words "I refuse" were spoken, the entire venue erupted into an uproar.
What was this occasion? This was a crucial part of the ceremony where a supre expert—the State Preceptor of the Dragon lineage, a man capable of shattering a mountain to dust—was to be joined in matrimony with the most venerated princess of Central Earth! How could soone dare to jump out and cause trouble? Did they have a death wish?
"Hmm?" Lin Tang raised an eyebrow, sowhat surprised. He knew full well when this person had arrived. After all, his Divine Sense constantly covered a ten-thousand-ter radius. For her to dare attend was already audacious enough. But to think…
She actually dares to speak? Does she really think I won't kill her? Lin Tang sneered inwardly.
Heads swiveled in unison toward the source of the voice. There, a stunning beauty with a tall, curvaceous figure walked briskly toward them. She was just a touch shorter than Lee Encai, with equally straight, long legs, her chest heaving dramatically.
"Isn't that Princess Shatana from the Sunset Country?"
"When did she arrive in Central Earth?"
"Hey, I rember Princess Shatana participated in the State Preceptor's concubine selection ceremony once, and she was even chosen…"
"That's right! The State Preceptor technically married a wife before, but they never had a wedding or registered it."
"So, what's happening now? Is the first wife trying to tear down the second?"
"Pah! A re barbarian. What right does she have to be ntioned in the sa breath as our great Central Earth?"
"Exactly! Since they never registered the marriage or held a wedding, she can't be considered the primary wife!"
"Besides, I heard that when the State Preceptor faced a powerful enemy and was on the brink of death, she snuck away. She returned to the Sunset Country and never set foot in Central Earth again. Since she abandoned him in his mont of crisis, what right does she have to co crawling back now that he's beco suprely powerful?"
The crowd buzzed, and those in the know quickly spread the details. They wanted to prevent the State Preceptor from being put in a morally compromising position, which could tarnish his image and that of Central Earth itself.
Their undisguised words fell clearly on Shatana's ears. Her face, already etched with sorrow, was suddenly streaked with tears.
"NO! NO! NO! It's not like that! I didn't abandon the Dragon King… I an, the State Preceptor. I had my reasons. I never forgot our fated bond, nor have I forgotten the intimacy of that night when he held tightly and lulled to sleep…" Shatana explained frantically.
"Have you said enough?" Lin Tang's manifest body interrupted her, his voice cold as ice. "Did you really think I didn't know you were a trap laid by the Eye of Truth? If I had truly been intimate with you, I would have beco its slave, bound by its control. Fortunately, I didn't actually do anything with you that night. Otherwise, I would have been dood long ago! You deceitful, shaless woman. How dare you say such things, trying to imply that I used you and cast you aside? Dream on!"
In truth, a supre expert like him had no need to explain himself to anyone. Too much explanation could diminish the mystique of a master. But his reputation was now tied to the fate of the nation. If his na was sullied, the nation's fortune could plumt like the stock market. Therefore, he took the ti to painstakingly lay out the truth for all to hear.
"Is this true?"
"That trap… how terrifying!"
"I used to think Shatana rely abandoned the State Preceptor in his ti of need. While that was cruel, it was almost understandable. As the saying goes, 'A couple is like birds in a forest; when disaster strikes, they fly their separate ways.' But to think she was so venomous! She deserves to die!"
Facing the condemnation of the crowd and the personal indictnt from Long Tianji, Shatana's face turned deathly pale. "You… so you really knew."
A look of aggrieved sorrow washed over her face. THUD. She fell to her knees and swore, "I swear, I didn't know I was a so-called Faith Body! It was only after my mother summoned back to my country that I learned the truth! Believe or not, when I first ca to Central Earth to find you, my intention to marry you was completely sincere. This ti, I've risked my life to co here again. My mother and my entire family opposed it, thinking it was pointless. But my heart is in so much pain! I've done nothing wrong, so why must I bear the bla for everything? I was born a Faith Body without my knowledge. Did I ever have a choice?"
Her words were, in fact, sincere. She truly hadn't had a choice. When the Eye of Truth selected her to be its Faith Body, she was just an ordinary woman, powerless to resist or even perceive it. She was innocent.
But what did that matter?
Lin Tang's manifest body remained impassive. "So, what is your purpose in coming to find again?"
Shatana rose to her feet, her movents elegant as ever. She t the gaze of Lin Tang's manifest body and declared loudly, "I want to continue being your wife! I ca first. Please, I beg you, don't marry the princess of Central Earth!"
She folded her hands over her stomach and bowed deeply once more.
Jiang Mulu had been watching with a certain degree of schadenfreude, but these words snapped her out of her calm.
"What do you an, you ca first? The State Preceptor and I are… well, I've known him for several years! Back then, I'd already decided I would marry no one but him! You ca later, and you're the one who abandoned him. What gives you the right to make such an outrageous demand?"
Lee Encai, who enjoyed a good spectacle, was happy to stir the pot. Compared to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Shatana, she found Jiang Mulu far more agreeable. Thus, she resolutely spoke out for what she saw as justice.
"The State Preceptor's concubine selection ceremony was held in Jiangbei, and as a Jiangbei native, I was fortunate enough to witness it. In my opinion, since it was a 'concubine' selection, the one chosen is a concubine. The one the State Preceptor is marrying now is his rightful empress. Shatana, you're a re concubine asking the State Preceptor to abandon his empress. Isn't that an outrageous act of insubordination, a complete defiance of the natural order?"
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