"Come in," Yuan Shu said faintly.
The door was pushed open and Yun Sheng walked in. With his eyes slightly lowered, he asked,
"Miss Yuan, the medicinal bath is ready. Would you like to go now?"
Yuan Shu had only pretended she needed to bathe, all to further break through Shen Qi's defenses.
However, the nightly medicinal bath could not be stopped.
Before Shen Qi had even arrived, Yuan Shu had already instructed Yun Sheng to prepare it.
"Mhm, carry me over,"
Yuan Shu said lazily, her eyes closed.
Yun Sheng slowly raised his eyes, his gaze landing on Yuan Shu as she rested on the bed with her eyes closed.
Her snow-white wrists dangled casually over the edge of the bed, her palms dropping downward, her slender, onion-root-like fingers beautiful and silky.
Further up was Yuan Shu's breathtakingly gorgeous face, along with her body hidden beneath the thin quilt.
If one were to say he had no thoughts about her, he was a normal man—how could he not?
Especially when facing someone as beautiful as Yuan Shu!
But he did not dare.
He knew he was unworthy!
Yun Sheng took a deep breath, picked up the blanket set to the side, and stepped forward to lift the thin quilt covering Yuan Shu.
A series of glaring kiss marks appeared in his line of sight.
Yun Sheng's eyes narrowed slightly, and his Adam's apple bobbed wildly.
Were these left by Shen Qi?
The dignified, self-disciplined eldest martial brother of Qingyun Peak was actually such a beast?
To secretly bully his own junior martial sister in the dead of night?
Yun Sheng's jaw clenched tightly, a nameless anger burning fiercely in his chest.
This person was simply even more detestable than Ji Yunzhao!
"Mhm?"
With the quilt lifted, Yuan Shu was groggily awakened by the cold. She raised her eyes and glanced at him.
"What are you thinking about?"
"N-nothing." Yun Sheng quickly reined in his thoughts and carefully wrapped Yuan Shu in the blanket.
He bent down to pick her up and walked briskly toward the adjacent bathing room.
Just like in the morning, as he peeled off Yuan Shu's trousers, Yun Sheng's eyes trembled. He quickly lowered his head, carefully lifted her, and placed her into the bathing barrel.
The water in the barrel had already been changed, and according to Yuan Shu's instructions, marrow-cleansing medicine had been added.
Right now, it was a pool of emerald green.
Yuan Shu turned around and leaned against the edge of the barrel, leaving her back to him.
"Begin."
Yun Sheng didn't dare let his mind wander. He began to massage Yuan Shu according to the Yunji Acupoint Massage Technique he had taught himself that afternoon.
A moment later, Yuan Shu was somewhat surprised. With a pleased expression, she curled her lips and evaluated,
"You found the acupoints quite well. Very accurate. It seems you didn't slack off this afternoon?"
Yun Sheng's eyes lit up. "I will continue to work hard."
"Mhm."
...
"Senior Brother Shu, you're also here to attend the lecture today?"
Early in the morning on Wansong Cliff, Shu Linyuan, who was looking around, was stopped by a junior martial brother of the same sect.
Seeing that he had also come to Wansong Cliff, the junior disciples all looked surprised and stepped forward to ask questions all at once.
"Senior Brother Shu, is there something very important about this session's coursework?"
"Senior Brother Shu, you're a dignified Golden Core cultivator, yet you still came to listen to Wansong Cliff's foundational classes? Did something happen?"
"Senior Brother Shu, what were you looking at just now? Are you looking for someone?"
"Senior Brother Shu..."
Shu Linyuan's temples throbbed violently a few times.
He suddenly felt a certain amount of regret over his decision to come to Wansong Cliff for the lecture this morning.
If he had known it would cause such a huge commotion, he shouldn't have come!
But today was the last day of foundational knowledge classes for those below the Foundation Establishment stage on Wansong Cliff for the next ten days.
Yuan Shu would definitely come!
If he missed this, he wouldn't be able to run into her!
"Ahem, it's nothing. I just felt that my foundational knowledge in cultivation wasn't solid enough, so I chose to come and listen to a few more classes."
"Everyone must also cultivate hard and reach the Golden Core realm as soon as possible!"
He smiled and waved to everyone, trying hard to maintain his upright and refined image.
However, his eyes uncontrollably glanced down toward the bottom of Wansong Cliff.
Has Yuan Shu really not arrived yet?
Suddenly, another burst of exclamations rang out from the back of the crowd.
Shu Linyuan frowned. Looking up, he saw a tall figure walking up from the bottom of the cliff, surrounded by the crowd.
The crowd's cheers upon seeing him were actually louder than when they saw Shu Linyuan!
Shu Linyuan raised his eyes to look, only to meet the gaze of Eldest Senior Brother Shen Qi.
?
Wait, why did Eldest Senior Brother also come to Wansong Cliff?
Wansong Cliff was the place where daily foundational knowledge was taught to disciples below the Foundation Establishment stage, led by the sect's teaching elders.
Generally, disciples who had broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage didn't need to come here anymore.
Meanwhile, disciples below the Foundation Establishment stage had to come and listen to a lecture for one day every ten days.
Eldest Senior Brother's strength had already reached the late Golden Core stage, even stronger than him.
Moreover, his foundational knowledge was normally the most solid.
It could be said that Eldest Senior Brother could recite backwards all these things the teaching elders taught to those below Foundation Establishment.
He completely didn't need to come to listen to the class!
"What wind blew both Senior Brother Shu of Qingyun Peak and Eldest Senior Brother here today?"
"Exactly, exactly! They are both personal disciples of Qingyun Peak. So envious, I love it!"
"Oh my god, could there be something special about today's class?"
"..."
Yuan Shu arrived at Wansong Cliff right on the dot.
Although her past focus wasn't on proper cultivation, she knew the foundational knowledge she was supposed to know perfectly well.
If it weren't for the Luoxian Sect's rule that one had to attend class one day out of every ten, she wouldn't have even set foot on Wansong Cliff.
She guessed that this class would be popular, but she didn't expect it to be this popular.
To the point that when she walked up the stone steps of Wansong Cliff, all she could see at a glance was people, with absolutely no place to stand.
Many female disciples of the Luoxian Sect were still loudly shouting names she couldn't make out.
Yuan Shu craned her neck and looked for a long while, but she couldn't see the front of the line.
Seeing that she couldn't squeeze through, Yuan Shu simply stopped trying. She jumped onto a thick tree trunk at the back of the line, leaning against it to rest with her eyes closed.
And almost the instant Yuan Shu got into the tree, two gazes from not far away immediately locked onto her.
Shu Linyuan's eyes lit up.
Yuan Shu, she really came!
The old tree's branches slanted across, stained green with moss. Yuan Shu lay quietly on the thickest branch.
She had loosely tied her hair into the simplest flowing cloud bun, with a few stray strands hanging by her cheeks, swaying gently with the mountain breeze.
Her long eyelashes rested like butterfly wings, casting a shallow shadow.
Sunlight filtered through the overlapping gaps in the leaves, sifting down mottled fragments of gold that landed on her face.
It accented her exceptionally beautiful face, making her look tranquil and serene.
Seeing her, Shu Linyuan couldn't help but think of those seven days at the Cliff of Reflection.
He and she had formed the deepest of bonds!
But at the thought of the words he had said to her previously, Shu Linyuan's expression stiffened slightly.
He had said that he would not marry her; those words had practically ruined the possibility of their future.
Arriving at this Wansong Cliff inexplicably today, even he found it unbelievable.
Could it be that he still harbored fantasies about her?
Shu Linyuan frowned, wanting to calm down, but his eyes had a mind of their own.
From time to time, he would glance over at the person lying on the distant tree trunk.
At the same time, Shen Qi on the other side also couldn't help but rest his gaze on Yuan Shu.
Recalling the unusual sensation between his lips and teeth last night, the tips of his ears instantly flushed burning hot.
Junior Sister Yuan, would she hate him?
