Controlled

Qian Daoliu looked at Le Ling's resentful gaze.

He coughed guiltily and soothed her, "Ling'er, be patient. Don't rush."

Le Ling snapped unhappily, "We've been wandering around here for three days already. How could I not be anxious?!"

Suddenly thinking of something, she stomped over to him and questioned him while punching his chest, "You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

"You deliberately don't want me to find all three spirit rings too quickly, so I'll have to keep staying with you, right?!"

"How could that be?"

Qian Daoliu caught her little hand and coaxed her gently, "I'd be happier than anyone if you could absorb all three spirit rings soon and raise your Soul Power quickly. Why would I not want you to find all your spirit rings as soon as possible?!"

Le Ling shook off his hand with a huff, turned around, and continued walking forward.

After that, the two wandered through the forest until evening, yet they never encountered a ten-thousand-year spirit beast.

"Ahh~ Another day spent wandering for nothing!"

Having just finished eating, Le Ling sat beside a large tree trunk and poked at the bonfire Qian Daoliu had just made.

"Sunset Forest is colder than Star Dou Great Forest. Be careful not to catch a chill!"

As he reminded her, Qian Daoliu took off his large cloak and draped it over her.

Le Ling did not refuse, because it truly was a little cold here after nightfall.

She pulled the cloak snugly around herself and warned the man at her side, "After I fall asleep later, you're not allowed to hug me again. Did you hear me?"

Sitting beside her, Qian Daoliu said bluntly, "I can't do that. Unless I stop loving you, I can't possibly refrain from touching you as long as you're by my side!"

"Then leave! I can hunt spirit beasts by myself. Go back to your Worship Hall!"

Le Ling pushed at him, trying to make him leave.

Qian Daoliu grabbed her wrist, pulled her over in one motion, and placed her on his lap.

"We've finished eating, and it's already late at night. Hurry up and sleep."

He forcefully pressed her into his arms. Forget waiting until she was asleep—he was going to hold her right now!

"Qian Daoliu! Let go!!"

Le Ling struggled to get away, unwilling to let him hold her.

The man lowered his gaze, lifted her chin with one hand, and said suggestively, "If you still refuse to sleep, I'm going to kiss you. Sleep or kiss—which will it be?"

"You..."

Hearing his words, Le Ling was furious!

Biting her lip, she slapped away the large hand holding her chin and glared at him with intense displeasure in her beautiful eyes.

Holding her soft body, Qian Daoliu smiled faintly. "Don't tire your eyes from glaring. Hurry up and sleep, be good~"

Le Ling ignored him and continued glaring. Since she could not beat him, she would glare at him!

But after glaring for quite a while, perhaps her eyes truly had grown tired. Gradually, her upper and lower eyelids began fighting each other.

Before long, she shut her eyes completely and fell asleep curled up in his arms.

Qian Daoliu held her tightly as though she were a priceless treasure, lowering his head to kiss her glossy lips.

Only after she was completely asleep could he kiss her so recklessly.

Because when Ling'er was awake, she was extremely resistant to him!

Still, he knew why she resisted him.

In her heart, she had always been unable to let go of the fact that he had once been married—especially that he had had a child with another woman.

"Ling'er, I'll wait. I'll wait until you're willing to accept me."

Qian Daoliu stroked her cheek with his large hand.

After watching her for a while, he placed her on his lap as usual.

Once she had settled into a comfortable position to sleep, he leaned against the tree trunk behind him and began cultivating cross-legged.

Just as he entered meditation, the girl sleeping on his lap suddenly cried out in pain.

Le Ling abruptly clutched her head and screamed miserably, "Father Emperor... don't kill my Father Emperor... don't..."

"Mother Empress, don't go! Don't leave me behind..."

Tears instantly streamed from her tightly shut eyes!

"Ling'er, don't be afraid! I'm here. I'll protect you."

Qian Daoliu immediately snapped out of meditation, anxiously pulled her into his arms, and lowered his head to kiss her.

He wanted to free her from the painful nightmare!

But for some reason, no matter how he kissed her, Le Ling remained trapped in the nightmare and could not break free!

What was going on?

Just as Qian Daoliu was confused, a pair of small hands suddenly shot out from his arms and viciously clamped around his throat.

"Ling'er, you... what's wrong?"

Qian Daoliu tried to pry her hands away, only to discover that she was incredibly strong at the moment. He actually could not pull them apart!

Suddenly, Le Ling rose like a madwoman and straddled Qian Daoliu. Her opened eyes were completely bloodshot, yet her gaze was unfocused.

She squeezed the man's throat even harder and shouted resentfully, "You killed my Father Emperor! I'm going to kill you, kill you!!!"

Seeing Ling'er's condition, Qian Daoliu was startled.

Because he could tell that Le Ling had been attacked by an illusion-type spiritual skill.

It had made her hallucinate and mistake Qian Daoliu for the murderer who had killed her father, which was why she was so agitated!

Le Ling herself possessed an Innate Skill of the spiritual type. Under normal circumstances, she would not be affected by attacks from skills of the same type.

Qian Daoliu thought the only possibility was that the human or spirit beast attacking her was of a higher level than her.

It might even be a fox-type spirit beast as well, one that similarly possessed powerful Spiritual Power attacks. Otherwise, Ling'er could not possibly have fallen prey to the illusion!

However, he was more inclined to believe that the enemy was a spirit beast.

If it were a human, there was no way he would have allowed the enemy to approach and attack Ling'er without him even noticing!

In a forest like this, some spirit beasts with powerful Spiritual Power attacks could indeed evade the perception of a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo like him and strike without being detected.

"I'm going to kill you!"

Still under the spiritual attack, Le Ling's eyes remained bloodshot as she viciously strangled Qian Daoliu.

Although Qian Daoliu was not being suffocated by her grip, her strength was abnormally great at the moment. He could neither pry her hands apart nor push her away.

He could have used a spirit skill against her.

But the power of his spirit skills was something Le Ling, in her current state, simply could not withstand. She would be injured!

He could also release Soul Power to suppress her.

But given how severely she had been affected by the illusion, releasing only a little Soul Power like before would be completely unable to suppress her.

If he released too much Soul Power, Le Ling would be unable to bear it and would still be injured!

Therefore, whether it was Soul Power or spirit skills, Qian Daoliu did not dare use either on Le Ling, afraid of hurting her!

Suddenly, he thought of a solution.

"Ling'er... Ling'er, look carefully. I'm Qian Daoliu. I'm not the murderer who killed your father!"

"Think about our past. We were so happy during those six months together. We traveled across the continent and went to many places."

"During the day, we played everywhere, and at night, we cultivated together. Do you remember how, whenever you were tired from cultivating, you would often act spoiled and curl up in my arms, asking me to coax you to sleep? Do you remember?"

Qian Daoliu kept telling Le Ling, who was controlled by the illusion, about the beautiful memories they had shared.

He was trying to awaken her mind and help her resist the enemy's spiritual illusion attack.

Thank you to Sakura Fubuki from Q Reading for the reward. I love you so, so much (′‵) I L

Thank you to everyone who gave recommendation votes and monthly votes yesterday.