Her delicate little face was as white as snow, flushed with a faint rosy hue from the lingering passion, resembling a mouth-watering pink peach.
Shu Linyuan's body tensed, his thoughts drifting back to the time when Yuan Shu was locked up at the Repentance Cliff.
Back then, he absolutely never imagined that he would develop such a deep obsession with her today.
"Really?"
Shu Linyuan did not believe it, because Yuan Shu had other men by her side—Yun Sheng, and Shen Qi. He was not the only one.
He regretted it. If he had honored their engagement and married Yuan Shu back then, would he be the only one by her side now?
At this thought, Shu Linyuan's eyes lit up. After a moment of deliberation, he whispered softly into Yuan Shu's ear.
"Shushu, let's get married, shall we?"
The air fell silent for a moment. A brief while later, Yuan Shu, her eyes half-closed, rose from Shu Linyuan's embrace and shifted to the other side.
She lifted her eyelids, lazily looking up to meet his hopeful gaze.
"Why bring this up all of a sudden? Didn't we agree back then that we were both devoted to cultivation and wouldn't get married?"
As Shu Linyuan's arms emptied, his heart emptied as well. He froze abruptly.
He heard a trace of displeasure in Yuan Shu's tone.
Yuan Shu did not want to marry him!
He opened his mouth, his throat feeling somewhat dry. "I... I... I want..."
I want to be with you forever, I want to possess you completely, I want you to stop seeking out other men, I want... to go back to the past!
Back to the time when Yuan Shu only had eyes for him, only cared about Qingyun Peak!
He regretted it.
Regretted the words he had said to Yuan Shu back then about not wanting to go down the mountain to get married.
But now, the tables had turned, and it was Yuan Shu who was unwilling.
Shu Linyuan's heart shattered into pieces.
As if sensing Shu Linyuan's sorrow, Yuan Shu broke into a radiant smile. She took the initiative to lay against his chest, reaching out to caress his cheek.
"Alright now, you will always be the most special one in my heart, Senior Brother Shu? Linyuan? A'yuan?"
Her breathtakingly beautiful face crinkled into a smile, her eyes filled with a radiant light that stirred Shu Linyuan's desires. Each soft, sweet call made his heart tremble.
He wanted to respond almost instantly.
But at the thought that Yuan Shu might have comforted others in the exact same way, his heart ached faintly again. He bit his lip and lowered his eyes.
Yuan Shu chuckled softly, reaching out to pinch his chin. With a slight force, she lifted his face. "Are you unhappy? A'yuan, I love seeing you smile. Give me a smile?"
Shu Linyuan's lips twitched, and he managed a rather awkward smile.
"So ugly."
Yuan Shu tilted her head and commented. Suddenly, she popped an Acacia fruit into her mouth, hooked her arms around Shu Linyuan's neck, and tilted her head up to kiss him.
The softness, accompanied by the lingering scent of pear blossoms, instantly ignited Shu Linyuan's passion.
That brief moment of disappointment and awkwardness was immediately swept away.
He tilted his head to respond, and when Yuan Shu deliberately pushed the Acacia fruit over, he swallowed it down along with the scent of pear blossoms.
"Cultivate well, A'yuan. I like it when you grow stronger and stronger."
At the height of their passion, he heard her whisper this into his ear.
Shu Linyuan's Adam's apple bobbed. Feeling the powerful energy from the Acacia fruit surging within him, he lowered his head and bit her tender white earlobe.
Then, he unleashed an even fiercer storm upon her!
...
As the sky grew faintly bright, Shu Linyuan was already fully dressed, reluctantly stepping out of the Guest Elder Courtyard.
His affectionate eyes gazed at Yuan Shu with deep longing.
He suddenly felt a bit envious of Yun Sheng in the courtyard. As the handyman disciple Yuan Shu had chosen, he could stay by her side at all times.
Meanwhile, he only had a fleeting moment of intimacy before he had to return to Qingyun Peak.
Before Shu Linyuan left, Yuan Shu took out a cultivation manual and handed it to him.
With just one glance, Shu Linyuan pursed his lips.
"Is this for Eldest Senior Brother?"
The manual in his hand looked quite aged and mottled, emitting a faint black glow. At first glance, it was clearly an extraordinary dark-element cultivation method.
He had a water spiritual root; this item was definitely not meant for him.
"This cultivation method is quite good, it suits Senior Brother Shen," Yuan Shu explained.
She had obtained this manual from Li Xie in the Death Demon Forest last time, and originally intended to give it to Shen Qi personally.
But she was delayed by other matters after that day and missed the chance. Yuan Shu had only remembered it today.
She heard he was training in a secret realm these past couple of days, and she didn't know when he would come out.
It would be best for Shu Linyuan to bring it to him.
However, seeing Shu Linyuan's aggrieved expression, Yuan Shu couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"If I had a top-tier water-element manual, I would definitely give it to you too."
"You said it!" Shu Linyuan hummed. "Since you don't have a manual to give me right now, then... give me something else?"
Shu Linyuan's gaze fell on Yuan Shu's pretty face, and then fixed on her lips.
Almost instantly, Yuan Shu understood his hint. Hooking her arms around his neck, she took the initiative to kiss him.
Shu Linyuan let out a soft groan, immediately wrapping his arms around her waist and responding passionately.
He didn't really want anything from Yuan Shu; he just wanted to spend a little more time with her!
Beneath the verdant banyan tree, he held her and kissed her lips, bit by bit, from a shallow taste to a deep embrace.
After Shu Linyuan left, Yuan Shu clenched her fist, feeling the spiritual energy feedback from the Divine Acacia Tree, and sighed softly.
"Without the dual cultivation power of primal yang, it is indeed still too weak. But I suppose it's better than nothing!"
With that said, Yuan Shu waved her hand, taking out the roster she had obtained from the Personnel Pavilion of the Luoxian Sect from her Divine Tree space.
Her fingertips brushed past the disciple roster of Qingyun Peak and landed on Yaoyun Peak.
Looking closely, she found the three characters for Ji Qingyan, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.
"Nascent Soul stage, water spiritual root. Although it's not a supreme grade spiritual root, his strength is quite good!"
Their encounter that day was destiny!
...
Ji Qingyan made a trip to the disciple courtyard of Yaoyun Peak.
He called out all the managers of the disciple courtyard to search for information regarding the new disciple Yuan Shu one by one, but found absolutely nothing.
At a critical moment, a disciple scratched his head and spoke up hesitantly, "This name, I feel like I've heard it somewhere before!"
"Where?" Ji Qingyan hurriedly pressed.
The young disciple scratched his head and pondered for quite a while before speaking, "During the previous Sect Grand Competition, when those two female core disciples from Qingyun Peak dueled, wasn't the one who won named Yuan Shu?"
"What did you say? A female disciple from Qingyun Peak?" Ji Qingyan's eyes widened slightly as he asked in rapid succession, "Are you telling the truth?"
"Of course it's true. I even participated in the Know-It-All's betting pool back then and saw her name with my own eyes. I just didn't expect her to win, so I lost my bet completely."
"Oh, right! Afterwards, the Peak Master even gave her the Guest Elder Token in front of everyone!"
The young disciple spoke with certainty, nodding heavily.
"Deacon, could the Yuan Shu you're looking for be the new Guest Elder of our Yaoyun Peak?"
...
"Deacon Ji, you've returned? The new Guest Elder, Lady Yuan, is already in your study and has been waiting for you for a long time."
When Ji Qingyan returned to Chiyang Hall, before he even entered the room, a medicine boy on the side hurried forward to report.
Hearing Yuan Shu's name, Ji Qingyan finally snapped out of his previous shock.
"Yuan Shu is waiting for me in the study?"
