Not showing the slightest reaction as he heard those words, Yang Shen showed what it truly meant to look emotionless.
But unfortunately the time he chose to look this way couldn't be any worse.
Until now, Zhi Rou was only suspicious due to the way Lin Meng behaved a while back. But now after she saw the way Yang Shen reacted, she was sure that there was indeed something going on between the one in front of her and the real flower of the Mystic Pill Sect.
However, she was also sure that they weren't close enough to be considered as lovers.
At most, they might just be attracted to each other.
If they were left alone though, it was highly likely that something would happen between them.
However since she needed Yang Shen to achieve her ambition, and there was no way she could afford letting him love someone and risk losing this opportunity which she thought would never arrive, Zhi Rou made up her mind to make sure that the two of them would never be able to get close.
"Sister Lin will never be yours, younger brother."
Smiling wryly in face of Yang Shen's cold glare, Zhi Rou said, "Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying words I don't mean or are not true. Since I could tell how you feel towards her, there's no way that Sister Lin doesn't know that you love her."
"But if I'm not wrong, she most likely hasn't shown any sign that she is interested in you. After all, that's what she does. She toys with naive ones like you before breaking their hearts."
Sneering coldly, Yang Shen despite trying his best to not believe the woman's words found himself being moved by them,
Sensing this, Zhi Rou continued to strike the iron while it was still hot.
"Remember the one who sat beside the ugly muscle freak?"
"He is Qiao Zan, the youngest alchemist to even become an Elder of the Mystic Pill Sect. You might not know this, but he has been chasing after Sister Lin for a very long time. And while it hasn't been made public yet, all of us Elders know that they are going to marry each other."
"Do you think that you stand a chance against him?"
Scoffing coldly, Yang Shen was about to say that the one known as Qiao Zan wasn't even worth being mentioned along with him.
But before he could, Zhi Rou added, "In the future, indeed he cannot compare to you. But right now, you're nothing in comparison to him. Sure you have a lot of potential, but you should also know that us women don't wait too long."
"In comparison to you who only has a chance of becoming someone great, isn't a well accomplished Qiao Zan a better choice?"
"A genius is only as good as his backing and strength. And you who has neither of them right now cannot even prove that you'll manage to mature into an expert in the future without being cut down in the middle of your path."
Waiting until her words set in, Zhi Rou said, "If you don't trust me, you can try and propose to her to see what her answer will be. Just make sure that your heart is strong enough to withstand what you'll witness."
Once she finished speaking, Zhi Rou didn't stay there any longer and left a completely uncertain Yang Shen to his own thoughts.
From what he saw until now, he was confident that Lin Meng was not at all like what Zhi Rou was telling him.
But...her words had completely shaken him up and forced him to start considering the possibility that maybe Zhi Rou was speaking the truth.
After all, if even someone who wasn't related could tell that he loved Lin Meng, how could the women herself not know?
And if she did, why didn't she give him any sort of a sign?
Looking towards her Master's face which despite looking emotionless was oozing nervousness and anxiety, Lijuan who had seen her own fair share of the world understood that Zhi Rou had successfully poisoned his mind.
And given that she knew this, all it would take from her was a few words to help Yang Shen realize this as well.
But she chose to do no such thing.
She could help her Master now, but what about in the future? She couldn't help him out every time he ran into a minor speed bump on the road.
Therefore, Lijuan chose to not interfere and let Yang Shen do as he sees fit so that he could use this experience to mature and grow up.
After all, though it sounded like a big deal, poisoning the mind was something experienced cultivators did to the immature cultivators by simply using their words to trick the young ones into thinking however they wanted them to.
To put it even more simply, poisoning the mind was the same as being manipulated. And this was something that almost everyone would experience at least one time in their life.
Therefore, even if Yang Shen ended up making some mistakes and things didn't work out properly due to him not being able to figure out what Zhi Rou did to him, Lijuan was more than confident in stepping up and saving the day.
Thus, the Heaven Devouring Snake decided to not intervene and instead just watch over him to see what he would do.
Standing on the same spot in a daze, Yang Shen could feel his heart beating faster and cold sweat covering his entire body from just imagining the possibility of everything that Zhi Rou told him being true.
Even if it wasn't, remembering how Zhi Rou pointed it out that he was just a brat with a lot of talent and nothing else, Yang Shen now had zero confidence in confessing his feelings to Lin Meng from the fear of being turned down.
Clenching his fists in rage towards himself for doubting himself, Zhi Rou for creating such a situation, and finally Lin Meng for not once having given him any sign of how she felt towards him, Yang Shen continued standing at the same spot for a while before finally leaving with a depressed aura surrounding him.