In the end, thanks to the frantic efforts of his lackeys, Young Master Ling narrowly escaped disaster and managed to preserve his chastity from Xiao Hanyi’s clutches.
The young master was lucky enough not to be injured. He had merely been given a thorough ravishing by that famished, indiscriminate male fox. When they finally pulled him free, he was still trembling with shock, looking as though he had been trampled back and forth by seven or eight herds of rhinos. He would probably develop a fear of men in the future.
In that respect, he had reached the same destination as the Chongming Elder of years past, albeit by a different route.
As for Xiao Hanyi, although he had failed to get what he wanted, Ling Fengming had fortunately opened up a way for him to escape by reminding him that the barrier had been dispelled.
His happiness for the rest of his life was at stake. Xiao Hanyi had no time to turn back and look for Shu Fu. He practically rolled and crawled out the window, stumbled across the long street, and headed straight for the rendezvous point he had agreed upon with Ninglu.
He had no idea where Ninglu was, but she had told him that if he ever encountered a life-threatening danger, all he had to do was go there and send up a signal. She would then appear before him.
Now that things had come to this, trusting her was the only choice he had left.
Naturally, Xiao Hanyi, fleeing in blind panic, failed to notice the snow-white bird silently taking wing above his head in the vast, lofty night sky.
From the ground, the bird’s outline was indistinct. It looked a little like a goose.
…
Meanwhile, Shu Fu had put Xiao Hanyi completely out of her mind. She carried the White Snake straight back to her room, poured herself a cup of cold water, and began gulping it down.
“Good grief, he reeked. What on earth did that horny fox light in his room?”
She complained between gulps. “I took an entire box of Heart-Clearing Pills, and that smell still nearly choked me. I didn’t notice it much earlier, but now I’m starting to feel a little light-headed.”
“Fuer, sit down.”
Jiang Xuesheng had also noticed that something was off about her complexion. He feared that the medicinal effects she had suppressed earlier were now surging back up. He immediately transformed into human form, supported Shu Fu with one hand as she sat down steadily beside the bed, and used the other to feel her pulse.
“…There’s nothing serious. The medicinal effects of the incense were neutralized by the Heart-Clearing Pills and will dissipate soon. It has had some effect on you, though.”
After examining her pulse, Jiang Xuesheng’s eyes flickered. He relaxed almost imperceptibly.
“Endure it for now. You should go to bed early tonight.”
“Mm.”
Shu Fu obediently nodded, which was rare for her.
The incense’s effects were neither here nor there. They could not stir any desire in her heart; they merely made her feel somewhat airy and light, as though her entire body had relaxed beyond belief and sunk into a soft, fluffy cloud.
Perhaps because of that floating sensation, Shu Fu leaned halfway against Jiang Xuesheng’s spirit-infused projection. The coolness flowing through him was indescribably comfortable, like hugging an enormous refrigerator in the middle of summer. She wanted nothing more than to bury herself inside him completely.
Now that she thought about it, this was probably the first time since she had transmigrated that she had encountered one of those “indescribable drugs” so ubiquitous in novels from both ancient and modern times, East and West.
“…”
Shu Fu turned her face and quietly gazed at Jiang Xuesheng from close range. Seeing the rare worry on his face, a mischievous impulse suddenly stirred within her.
“Sir, well… I’m feeling a little…”
She deliberately hesitated, clutching the front of Jiang Xuesheng’s robe with one hand as she pretended to lean against him. “I’m not feeling very well.”
She knew lines that were much more suggestive, but if she actually said them aloud, it might qualify as sexual harassment.
It was only a joke, after all. As long as she didn’t cross the line, it would be fine. She knew Jiang Xuesheng could see through her act.
She never took his jokes seriously, and whenever she teased him now and then, he would naturally smile and let it pass.
Of course, if she could make his breathing and heartbeat stumble for even a moment, that alone would be enough for her to brag about for the rest of her life.
To be honest, Shu Fu had always wanted to try this at least once. Since the two of them interacted as equals—neither master and disciple, nor divided by age—there was no reason Jiang Xuesheng should be allowed to tease her shamelessly while she couldn’t return the favor.
Sometimes, she would even wonder—
What if Jiang Xuesheng actually felt something for her, instead of merely flirting with her carelessly and without restraint?
After all, over these past three years, although he was always saying that this was simply his nature, that he became close to people whenever he liked them, Shu Fu had never seen him behave this way with anyone else, male or female.
Jiang Xuesheng treated his disciples exceptionally well. His tongue could be sharp, but he truly took meticulous care of every one of them, genuinely living up to his promise: “Whatever my disciples want, I will give them.”
But the only person he casually pulled close whenever he pleased, stroked like a cat from time to time, and occasionally leaned in to take a sniff of…
Well, that seemed to be her.
—Could it be that Jiang Ruoshui, the female protagonist, possessed some kind of extraordinary talent? Was she catlike by nature, with an especially satisfying texture when petted?
Shu Fu racked her brains over it, then simply stopped thinking about it.
It wasn’t as though she had never considered that possibility. But every time the thought began to surface, she would instinctively dismiss it.
Impossible!
Utterly impossible!
That was Jiang Xuesheng!
The most beautiful person under heaven! The world’s greatest show-off! The world’s foremost Ru-like fashion factory!
Not only was he shamelessly flirtatious, but every day he was even more outrageous than the day before. He kept leveling up and had never once been surpassed!
—Why would he choose her? Was he blind?
Even if Jiang Ruoshui’s face was beautiful and Shu Fu’s soul was interesting, she was still only an eighteen-year-old Foundation Establishment cultivator, along with an utterly ordinary office worker from the twenty-first century.
Fine, perhaps an ordinary office worker couldn’t wield “Blazing Edge” and cut down one demonic cultivator after another.
But there was an entire mountain of cool female cultivators at the Jiuhua Sect who could wield “Blazing Edge,” and their leader was the world’s foremost sword cultivator, famed throughout the Five Provinces. However she looked at it, there was no way she would be the one chosen.
With an influential big shot of Jiang Xuesheng’s caliber, shouldn’t he be looking at her the way one looked at a grandchild? What could he possibly see in her?
…
And so, Shu Fu sealed away that vague, inexplicable suspicion in the deepest corner of her heart. Not even the slightest trace of it rose to the surface, leaving Jiang Xuesheng no way to detect it.
The thought was simply too absurd. She could only laugh at herself.
Laughing at her own greed: she was already chewing on the script of a self-made overpowered hero, yet she still couldn’t resist sneaking a glance at the bowl of Mary Sue romance.
That was exactly what she was doing now. With a subtle expectation even she could not explain, she held one hand to her forehead and tugged at Jiang Xuesheng’s sleeve with the other, putting on a melodramatic performance straight out of a classic romance.
“Sir, I…”
“Fuer.”
Jiang Xuesheng’s expression turned as impassive as still water. He placed his hand over the back of hers and calmly interrupted her.
“To be honest, you’re terrible at acting in this area. The only person who might fall for it is Xiao Hanyi, because he looks down on young women from the bottom of his heart.”
“But I know that if you had truly been affected, your face would be bright red by now, and you’d be cursing that fox out before skinning him alive.”
Shu Fu: “…”
I knew you knew I was pretending, but I didn’t expect you to expose me in such a uniquely devastating way.
And you weren’t wrong at all.
Since Jiang Xuesheng had seen through her, she could no longer continue the performance alone. She had no choice but to nod and admit it.
“That’s right. I was only joking—”
“…Joking?”
Before she could finish, the light suddenly dimmed.
Her vision spun violently, and the scene before her became an empty ceiling, half of an elegant black robe, a section of neck and collarbone as white as jade, and Jiang Xuesheng’s handsome face, glowing with its own soft light.
His long, lustrous black hair cascaded down like ink spilled across paper, brushing lightly past her cheek and neck and stirring a delicate, tingling itch.
“………………”
It all happened so suddenly that Shu Fu stood there in a daze for quite some time before realizing that Jiang Xuesheng had laid her flat on her back on the couch and was now leaning over her, looking down from above.
The Milky Way stretched across the heavens, but this was no longer a case of “a boatful of dreams beneath the stars.” Rather, it was “the entire starry sky pressing down on me.”
“Fuer.”
Jiang Xuesheng braced both hands against the edge of the couch without making any further move. There was a trace of helplessness in his eyes and voice, almost a sigh.
“Jokes like that aren’t ones you should make so casually.”
He lowered his gaze and stared deeply at her face. “Look, what would you do if I took you seriously?”
“Huh? Really?”
Shu Fu wasn’t the least bit intimidated by him. And since she had never been one to watch her mouth, she blurted out instinctively, “Wow, then wouldn’t I be making a killing?”
“……”
Jiang Xuesheng paused before drawling, “Was that a joke too?”
“Yes. But jokes aren’t necessarily lies.”
Shu Fu simply lay flat on her back and looked him straight in the eye. “Master, I may joke around with you, but I can take what I dish out. If I say something, I’m not afraid of you taking it seriously.”
“Compared to that…”
She reached up, scooped up a lock of his fallen hair, and wound it twice around her finger. Then she shrugged unconcernedly. “Your kind of joke is a little unfair. I didn’t take you seriously, so I won’t hold it against you. But what if I had? What if I thought you really wanted to do something to me, and then started letting my imagination run wild? What would you do if this little wild duck started craving White Snake meat?”
Shu Fu had always been blunt. She completely missed Jiang Xuesheng’s veiled hint—and was also a little annoyed that he kept teasing her. He was so close that she could see him but not touch him, which was frankly unbearable. So she closed her eyes, sat up, and leaned toward his face.
“See? If I do this, you’ll still dodge, won’t you? If you can’t take it, then don’t—”
Jiang Xuesheng did not dodge.
And so Shu Fu’s attempted attack landed squarely.
Not quite accurately, though. Her upper lip knocked against his lower lip, and the shock of the contact made her bare her teeth on instinct. She nearly bit off a piece of his lip.
“Whoa?!”
Shu Fu opened her eyes wide as if she had scalded her mouth on hot tea and sprang backward. “Master, you were supposed to dodge!”
Jiang Xuesheng watched her with amused eyes. “When did I ever say I would definitely dodge?” Seeing that Shu Fu’s back was about to hit the couch, he quickly slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her back toward him. He couldn’t help laughing. “You didn’t dodge just now either. Why are you nervous now?”
“That’s different.”
Shu Fu pressed one hand to her chest to calm herself and argued with utmost seriousness, “I didn’t dodge you because I wanted to. Even if something happened, I wouldn’t be losing out. But now that you didn’t dodge me, could it be that you also…”
She suddenly choked on her words.
Then she looked up at him in utter disbelief.
“Er… Master… could it be that you…”
“Me what?”
Now that he knew she had meant it, even the end of Jiang Xuesheng’s words seemed to float upward. Clear laughter touched the corners of his eyes and brows, and his gaze shone brilliantly. He looked more than ever like a young man in splendid robes, brimming with high spirits and restless ambition.
“Ask me. As long as you ask, I’ll answer.”
“Ask your ass!”
Shu Fu punched him hard in the shoulder. If he hadn’t been Jiang Xuesheng, that punch might well have bored a transparent hole straight through him, complete with a draft whistling through it.
“You’re already that old, and you’re still teasing children? Is this fun for you?”
Jiang Xuesheng’s gaze flickered. “What? Do you really think I’m too old?”
“Not really.”
Shu Fu answered crisply, “It’s just that you’ve lived for so long. Surely you’ve seen countless people and experienced every kind of relationship, and already seen through the ways of the world. No amount of beauty could possibly catch your eye anymore. There’s no need to use me for amusement.”
She put on an exaggeratedly mournful expression while stealing a glance at his face. “If I took you seriously, you’d only end up breaking my heart for no reason. That would be a terrible sin.”
“……”
Jiang Xuesheng lowered his lashes and pondered for a moment. It was impossible to tell whether he felt helpless or relieved. Then, all at once, he revealed an almost peaceful smile and said softly, “Fuer, you’ve misunderstood me.”
“It’s true that I’ve ‘lived’ for a very long time. I’ve seen many people, events, and things, and I’ve seen through quite a lot. But in truth, I haven’t ‘experienced’ very much. Especially when it comes to you—you’re even more unfamiliar to me.”
“I’m not deliberately teasing you. It’s just…”
—It’s just that this was his first time, and he still wasn’t used to it.
It was the first time he had wanted to grow close to someone, and the first time he had felt the urge to take the initiative and do something himself.
It was also a first for him to have so many reservations, and so he had considered everything again and again.
He did not want to drag her into his troubles, but neither did he want to keep hiding the truth from her.
Perhaps before he confessed his feelings, he should first tell her everything about himself, apologize properly for concealing the truth all these years, and promise her that he would “do better in the future.”
That is, if she was still willing to have a “future” with him after learning everything.
Where should he begin…?
—Perhaps he would have to go all the way back three thousand years.
“What?”
Shu Fu vaguely sensed that his words carried a deeper meaning. Then she noticed the scale on her chest growing faintly hot and urgently pressed him for an answer. “You said you haven’t ‘experienced’ much. Then how have you lived all these years? Were you in seclusion cultivating? Or perhaps…”
Bang, bang, bang!
“Master! Junior Sister! I’m coming in!”
At that very moment, someone began pounding urgently on the door. A moment later, it creaked open.
“Junior Sister, you were right.”
Si Fei pushed the door open with both hands and strode inside. “Before I even left Wei City, I managed to hear some strange rumors about the flower children… Huh?”
“Master, Junior Sister, what are you doing?”
Shu Fu: “……”
Jiang Xuesheng: “……”
Yes. What had they been doing?
Shu Fu quietly wriggled free of Jiang Xuesheng’s arm, took a deep breath, and, without changing expression, began talking nonsense.
“I was doing sit-ups on the bed just now. I got stuck on the last one, and Master had just pulled me up. Sigh, I really need to work on these abs of mine. I’ll have to exercise more from now on.”
