Lucia Lu stared at him in a daze.
"Yu’er, if you ever fall for someone else, I’ll be heartbroken. So promise me—seriously, think about me, okay?"
"Divine Lord..."
"No saying no!" He flicked her forehead. "I’m heading in. You enjoy the view."
Lucia: "..."
Soren Lann walked away.
Lucia sat there, spacing out for ages, then actually started to think it over seriously.
If she married the Divine Lord, the Lu Clan’s glory would soar.
Soren and her adoptive mother would both be thrilled.
Her parents and siblings probably wouldn’t mind either.
Honestly, it sounded pretty great.
But... marriage—"husband and wife" is really the core of it.
Just imagining doing intimate things with the Divine Lord... She absolutely couldn’t handle it!
How could he possibly like someone like her?
Ugh, this is so annoying...
She lost interest in the scenery, and slowly made her way back.
Luckily, everyone was busy gossiping about Liam Leshan, so no one bothered her.
She quietly slipped back to her seat beside Luna Lian, then, for no reason at all, found herself glancing toward a certain spot.
One look—and she froze.
Sean Shaw wasn’t in his seat.
Quite a while passed, but he still didn’t come back.
Uneasy, she sent a voice transmission to Adrian Drake: "Where did he go?"
"Who?"
"The one sitting beside you."
"Huh? Didn’t someone from your side come and call him away?" Adrian sounded surprised.
"Me?" Lucia’s heart skipped a beat. "How long ago?"
"More than a quarter of an hour, I think?"
Lucia abruptly got up and left the hall again.
She called out for Sean Shaw, but there was no response.
She immediately summoned Faustin to check whether Marcus Xuanchen had entered.
Faustin’s voice was urgent: "Bad news! He’s in!"
"Meet me at the main hall entrance—we’ll track him together."
"Got it."
Faustin hurried over, and the two followed Marcus Xuanchen’s trail.
Finally, they found them inside the Southern Maze Array.
"Look at this!" Faustin pointed at a stone.
There were strange runes carved on it.
"What are these?" Lucia asked.
"They’re the same glyphs as in the cave at Evercrest Immortal Mountain. They block bloodline tracking."
"So Marcus Xuanchen is inside?"
"Yeah."
Lucia handed him a Taiching Charm. "Hide in my Life-pouch. No matter what you see, record everything."
Faustin nodded.
Lucia tucked Faustin into her Life-pouch, turned herself invisible, and went to see what Marcus Xuanchen was up to.
What she found was Sean Shaw, tightly bound by an iron chain.
The other end was in Marcus Xuanchen’s hand.
Even stranger—he was grabbing someone.
That person wore the exact same clothes as Lucia Lu and had her identical face.
"Hahaha! They say even heroes fall for a beauty trap—and you’re no exception! A fake beauty was all it took to lure you here!" Marcus Xuanchen laughed wildly, tossing the "Lucia Lu" aside.
The fake turned into a turnip.
Sean’s expression relaxed; he asked coldly, "Why did you go to all this trouble to bring me here?"
"Before you ask what I want, shouldn’t you ask yourself what you’ve done?" Marcus’s face twisted with hate. "Did my Hundred Blossoms Paradise ever offend you? My poor flowers died because of you, so you have to pay for their lives!"
"You killed them, and I’m the one who has to pay?"
"If you hadn’t exposed it, would I have killed them?"
"Marcus, I’m not here to argue who’s more shameless." Sean gripped the chain. "And I really doubt this broken chain could kill me."