Under the long table, Yuan Shu stared at the two people on the bed in surprise.
Others might not have noticed, but she could easily distinguish the unique, alluring fragrance drifting through the air. It was something only those who cultivated the Hehuan Sect’s techniques—the yin-yang harvesting art—could emit.
Su Lingxi was actually cultivating the yin-yang harvesting art?
If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, Yuan Shu would never have believed it.
A disciple of a righteous immortal sect was actually practicing Hehuan techniques. What incredible nerve!
Helan Zhao was held tightly against Yuan Shu’s chest. He was dazed for a moment, but then he suddenly found himself surrounded by the faint fragrance of pear blossoms.
And then, his face turned red.
This woman, Yuan Shu… she was actually hugging him? Didn’t she know that men and women shouldn’t touch?
Helan Zhao’s little heart pounded wildly. His entire body tensed, and he shifted uncomfortably.
Yuan Shu frowned and leaned close to his ear, scolding him in a low voice. “What are you moving around for? Do you have bugs crawling on you?”
Her warm breath brushed against his earlobe. Already flustered, Helan Zhao shuddered.
“Yuan, Yuan Shu, we should leave quickly. We can’t stay here…”
His face flushed, and he turned away, not daring to look at Yuan Shu as he reminded her in a small voice.
“Leave? Where are we supposed to go? Back the way we came?” Yuan Shu asked, her expression unchanged.
“What else can we do? We can’t leave from here, can we? They’ll discover us!” Helan Zhao lowered his voice.
Yuan Shu raised an eyebrow faintly and said matter-of-factly, “Wait a little longer. They’ll be finished soon.”
?
The suggestive sounds inside the room rose and fell in waves, making anyone who heard them blush and grow flustered.
Helan Zhao turned his head in bewilderment, only to meet Yuan Shu’s calm, composed expression.
It was as if the two people entangled on the bed weren’t people at all, but some irrelevant objects!
Helan Zhao was puzzled. Helan Zhao was shocked. How did Yuan Shu manage to remain so utterly unfazed?
Didn’t her body feel weak and tingling, making her want to do something?
Compared with Yuan Shu’s composure, Helan Zhao was having a much harder time.
He was a young man in the prime of life, and he had never witnessed such an intense scene before. The longer he listened, the more his body reacted.
He drew in two deep breaths. The alluring fragrance released by the Hehuan technique grew even stronger, stirring up tension throughout his body.
Gradually, the way he looked at Yuan Shu began to change as well.
Yuan Shu had her eyes closed, resting, when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her waist. Before she could react, she was pulled straight into Helan Zhao’s embrace.
Yuan Shu raised her eyes and saw Helan Zhao staring at her with reddened eyes. At the same moment, the waist he was holding tightly against himself seemed to have noticed something too.
Yuan Shu: “…”
She had actually forgotten that there was still an inexperienced youngster here.
Yuan Shu reached out, pinched his nose, and pushed him away. “Let go!”
Helan Zhao grew aggrieved at her sharp reprimand. His large, dark eyes glistened with tears as he gazed at Yuan Shu.
“I, I didn’t…”
“I know. You didn’t do it on purpose. After all, I’m the man you can never have, so hurry up and let go.”
Yuan Shu grabbed his arm and pushed it away, throwing his own words back at him for good measure.
Helan Zhao’s face reddened. He gritted his teeth and glared furiously at Yuan Shu before forcing himself to calm down and release her.
“Do you think I care? I don’t!”
“Yes, yes, of course. I never expected you to care.” Yuan Shu pushed him aside, glanced at the people still battling it out on the bed, then took a step back and waited quietly.
Helan Zhao felt aggrieved again.
Back home, he had always been surrounded by servants and attendants. The people who wanted to get close to him could have formed a line stretching from one end of the cultivation world to the other!
No one had ever dared look at him with such disdain.
Yet Yuan Shu had shown him nothing but an unpleasant expression from the moment they met. Just now… just now, he had merely reacted instinctively, as any man would. Was there really any need for her to make such a fuss?
He had never even hugged anyone else before. He was the one who had suffered the loss!
Yuan Shu closed her eyes and rested, her expression perfectly calm, as though the sounds drifting through the air didn’t exist.
This was the first time Helan Zhao had felt that having such sensitive hearing was not a good thing.
He was in agony. He felt as though he were about to explode!
With that thought, he couldn’t help looking at Yuan Shu again.
Her small, oval face held a set of exquisitely beautiful features. Her long, elegant phoenix eyes were imposing when open, yet peaceful and gentle when closed.
His gaze drifted downward from her face to her body, lingering on her exaggerated yet alluring curves.
Helan Zhao swallowed involuntarily.
She had the most harmonious and beautiful proportions of any woman he had ever seen.
Her slender waist was delicate enough to encircle with one hand, while her curves were full and rounded. Any more would have seemed wanton; any less would have been too restrained. She was perfect—exactly right.
Her personality was special too. Unlike those women who only knew how to cling to his status, she even dared to scold him.
His mother had chosen so many daughters of prestigious families for him, but he found all of them rather dull.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have secretly run away from home to escape an arranged marriage.
If, if he took Yuan Shu home, would his mother stop forcing him to marry those noble ladies?
Helan Zhao was startled by this sudden thought. He carefully stole a glance at Yuan Shu, then quickly looked away.
No, no. They had only just met. They didn’t even know each other’s personalities yet. How could he simply take her home?
While Helan Zhao was struggling with his thoughts, the sounds from inside the room gradually ceased.
The stone slab beneath the long table had already been quietly lowered back into place by Yuan Shu, and no one had noticed.
He heard Su Lingxi exchange a few words with Senior Brother Jiao.
Then came the rustling of clothes being put back on, followed by the sound of the door opening.
Yuan Shu listened carefully. Once she was sure there was no one left in the room above them, she cautiously pushed open the stone slab overhead and jumped out from beneath the table.
Helan Zhao followed close behind, jumping out as well. He didn’t forget to restore the stone slab beneath the table.
The enticing fragrance still lingered in the air. Helan Zhao was light-headed, and he couldn’t help looking at Yuan Shu again.
Yuan Shu seemed to sense his gaze and turned to look at him. Only then did she notice that this fellow… well, he looked small and thin.
But the impressive endowment hidden beneath that appearance was unexpectedly substantial.
“Tsk.”
Yuan Shu clicked her tongue and took two steps toward him.
A glimmer appeared in Helan Zhao’s dark eyes. He thought Yuan Shu was about to do something to him.
But in the next second, she grabbed him by the chin, forced his mouth open, and tossed a pill inside.
“It’ll dispel the alluring fragrance. Swallow it.”
After explaining, Yuan Shu released his chin and strode openly out through the gate of Su Lingxi’s courtyard.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
A reddish-brown ape was tethered in the courtyard by a chain. The moment it saw them emerge, it began shrieking anxiously.
Yuan Shu raised an eyebrow. When had Su Lingxi started keeping a demonic beast?
Still, judging by the ape’s completely bestial behavior, it was merely an ordinary ape that had yet to develop intelligence.
She shrugged and paid it no further attention. With a leap, she flew onto the tall wall and left Su Lingxi’s courtyard.
…
“Shushu!”
A familiar, gentle call came from behind her.
Yuan Shu raised an eyebrow and turned around. Not far away, at a fork in the path, stood Leng Shuxue in a pale-blue robe, a magical artifact in her hand.
