"What are you doing?"
Yuan Shu grabbed Ji Qingyan by the chin and pulled him away, raising an eyebrow as she asked.
Trapped in the narrow space under the covers, Yuan Shu was held tightly in his arms, the crisp, cool scent of green bamboo clinging to him filling her nose.
"Nothing, it's just that I haven't gotten to hold you in so long, and I suddenly really wanted to."
Ji Qingyan spoke in a slow, soft tone, his clear, mellow voice even and calm, yet Yuan Shu somehow picked up a hint of grievance in it.
She suddenly realized that lately, because Yao Qianci's mind had been affected, she had been looking after him a little more.
She really had neglected Ji Qingyan.
So he's feeling wronged over that?
Yuan Shu reached out and gently rested her hand on Ji Qingyan's handsome jaw, brushing slowly upward along the side of his face until her fingers settled on the slight ridge of his brow bone.
Her gaze drifted to Ji Qingyan's clear, gentle eyes, and she suddenly spoke, "Do you still want to kiss me?"
Ji Qingyan's eyes widened in surprise, and before he could react, Yuan Shu tilted her head up and pressed her lips to his.
"Take it easy. If you scare off the big fish we're waiting for tonight, I'll never let you live it down."
Mid-kiss, Yuan Shu poked him in the chest.
Ji Qingyan caught her hand, his mood lifting instantly. "I won't."
His voice came out low and hoarse, but he did move more gently after all, savoring the sweet, pear-blossom scent of her lips.
"Ji Qingyan, do you know what you look like right now?"
When the kiss ended, Yuan Shu tilted her head and smiled at him. Meeting his confused gaze, she leaned in and curled her lips into a grin.
"Like a bewitching male fox spirit. If the situation didn't call for caution, I definitely wouldn't let you off so easily!"
Her voice was soft and sweet, but her tone carried a bold, domineering heat that made his heart race.
Ji Qingyan's whole body tensed up, as if thinking of something, and the red at the corners of his eyes deepened.
Yao Qianci had been sticking to Yuan Shu's side day in and day out, and it really had been far too long since he'd been intimate with her.
Yuan Shu slid her hand down his chest, brushing over the hard planes of his pectoral muscles, his abs, and the cut of his V-line through the thin fabric of his clothes, until finally—
A low groan escaped Ji Qingyan's throat right by her ear.
Yuan Shu leaned in close to his ear. "Next time you miss me, just tell me. There's no shame in my dao companion wanting me."
After she said that, she tilted her head up and kissed the corner of his mouth. "Now's not the right time. Next time."
A wave of warmth flooded Ji Qingyan's chest, and he pulled Yuan Shu into a tight embrace.
"Shushu, as long as I still have a place in your heart, I can wait."
"Of course you do!"
They were talking in low voices when a faint, almost imperceptible sound came from outside the door.
The two of them fell silent at once.
The room went perfectly still. A moment later, the door creaked open.
To avoid spooking their target, neither of them used their spiritual sense to detect the visitor. Ji Qingyan lay sideways on the bed with his back to the newcomer, dressed in the clothes Yao Qianci usually wore.
Yuan Shu hid under the covers.
The intruder stepped toward the bed one slow step at a time.
A silver-white long knife lifted the gauze bed curtain. When the man saw someone lying on the bed, he twisted his blade without hesitation and swung it down to strike!
Just then, Ji Qingyan and Yuan Shu moved at the same time. Ji Qingyan was already above him, his sword slipping out of its sheath to stab straight for the man's chest.
The intruder lifted his knife to block, but he never expected Yuan Shu to be hiding under the covers. A blade sank deep into his abdomen.
"Hiss!"
He gasped in pain, staggering back several steps. Realizing the operation had gone wrong, his face hidden under a black face cloth shifted, and he turned to run.
Yuan Shu and Ji Qingyan gave chase immediately, and the three of them began to fight in the courtyard.
This intruder wasn't particularly strong. Even with all his might, he could barely hold his own against the two of them to fight to a standstill.
When he saw that the people in the nearby houses had woken up at the noise and lit their lamps, he panicked.
If he got caught tonight, his reputation would be ruined forever!
Frantic and furious, he tried to escape again and again, but every attempt was blocked by the perfectly coordinated moves of Yuan Shu and Ji Qingyan.
Just then, a sharp attack came out of nowhere from the dark night, forcing Yuan Shu and Ji Qingyan, who were pressing in on the intruder, to stumble back.
The man seized the chance, sprinting toward the wall and leaping over it to flee.
Yuan Shu and Ji Qingyan's expressions hardened. They were just about to give chase when another long-range attack came at them.
They were forced to retreat again, and by the time they dodged the two strikes and ran after their target, the man was nowhere to be seen.
"What tremendous power! That person wasn't even here, but they could launch such a powerful attack from far away!" Yuan Shu exclaimed in surprise.
"Truly formidable," Ji Qingyan nodded in agreement.
"Peak Master Yao's mind is still unstable. If the person in that room tonight had really been him, the consequences would have been unthinkable."
"I'll go report this matter to the Great Elder. Shushu, stay careful."
Yuan Shu nodded at him, and Ji Qingyan walked over to the disciples who had come to check on the commotion to explain the situation.
Beneath the dim, hazy night sky, Yuan Shu narrowed her eyes, staring off in the direction the intruder had fled, and a slow smirk curved across her lips.
"Did it work?"
"Relax, Shushu. When have I ever messed up a task you gave me? Get yourself ready, and we'll follow the mark to track them down."
The moment Yuan Shu asked in her sea of consciousness, the Hehuan Divine Tree responded.
"Got it!"
...
Deep in a forest, on a hidden winding path, Mo Shoudan staggered forward.
The strike Yuan Shu had landed on him had been brutally strong, leaving a deep, heavily bleeding wound.
If he hadn't been an alchemist carrying healing pills on him at all times, he would have long since been unable to stand.
A shadow darted across the treetops and landed softly right in front of him.
At the sight of the newcomer, Mo Shoudan's body trembled, and he dropped to his knees with a thud. "Spare me, Lord! Give me one more chance! Next time, I swear I won't fail!"
"Do you really think there will be a next time?"
A mechanical, icy voice rang out, sending a chill down Mo Shoudan's spine. He pressed his forehead to the ground, too scared to even breathe loudly.
"You missed your strike, alerted the target, and there's no chance of trying again any time soon," the shadowy figure said coldly.
Sweat dripped down Mo Shoudan's forehead, and he couldn't tell if it was the pain from his wound or the terror in his heart making him shake.
Most likely both.
This person had come to him one midnight not long ago, silently subduing every single disciple in his courtyard without a sound.
Their power was immense, unfathomable.
They had forced him to swallow a poison, putting him completely under their control.
He had tried to detoxify himself, but nothing worked. Every attempt only made the poison flare up earlier, leaving him in agony beyond description.
After that, he didn't dare act recklessly anymore, and obediently did everything the black-clad man ordered.
The task of delivering the poisoned spiritual plants to Yao Qianci had been done exactly as the black-clad man had instructed, and it had gone off without a hitch. If Yuan Shu hadn't shown up, Yao Qianci would never have suspected a thing, and he would have died in that "unexpected" spiritual fire accident.
When he found out Yao Qianci had recovered his senses, he was terrified the black-clad man would punish him, terrified the poison in his body would flare up again. That was why he had taken the risk to carry out the assassination himself.
He never expected Yuan Shu and Ji Qingyan to have laid a trap waiting for him.
Mo Shoudan was so full of regret his guts ached. If he had known things would turn out this way, he never would have gone through with tonight's plan. He had been so close to having his true identity exposed.
The shadowy figure stepped closer, looking down at the kneeling Mo Shoudan, his voice cold and heavy. "Where is the item?"
Mo Shoudan snapped back to his senses at once. He quickly pulled a black jade box out of his robe and held it up with both hands to offer it.
