The scene fell silent for a moment. No one spoke, and no one moved.
Yuan Shu was a little surprised. Was this jostling formation disc targeting her a bit too much?
Why had it thrown her down again? And why had it happened to land Shi Shuchen right on top of her again?
It was true that Shi Shuchen was handsome, powerful, and carried the clean, alluring scent of pure yang energy.
But… she really didn’t want to be crushed again!
Her back hurt terribly!
Yuan Shu’s eyes brimmed with tears, but she had no idea that the Shi Shuchen in front of her had already been scared senseless.
He had been distracted by thoughts of how to break the formation. When he was suddenly flung into the air, he had still been forming hand seals and hadn’t reacted in time to brace himself with his hands.
This time, he had landed squarely on top of Yuan Shu.
His lips had landed at the corner of hers at the same moment.
At such close range, that pleasant pear-blossom fragrance was even clearer, lingering at the tip of his nose like he was embracing a real pear tree in bloom.
Against his lips was her soft, warm skin. It seemed to possess some kind of magic, drawing him in and keeping him from pulling away for a long while.
It wasn’t until Yuan Shu frowned and demanded from beneath him, “How much longer are you planning to kiss me?” that Shi Shuchen finally came to his senses.
He jerked his head up, his dark eyes widening as he stared at Yuan Shu in disbelief.
He… what had he just done?
He had… taken liberties with a disciple of another sect?
How could he…
“Hey, what are you spacing out for? Aren’t you the formation genius of Lingshu Peak? You’re being tossed around like a pinball, so hurry up and think of a way out!”
Shi Shuchen hurriedly looked away. “I-I’m sorry. I-I’ll think of something right away!”
Yuan Shu nodded, not forgetting to urge him, “Hurry.”
Shi Shuchen nodded in a fluster, but his heart was still pounding wildly.
Unfortunately, he once again disappointed Yuan Shu.
Even a formation genius couldn’t break every formation in a short period of time.
The jolting of the formation disc began again, and it seemed that the spiritual energy between cultivators created a kind of pull.
Every time, the two of them ended up crashing into each other.
Sometimes she landed on the bottom, and sometimes he did.
By the eleventh time Yuan Shu’s back slammed hard against the formation disc, leaving her grimacing in pain, she finally lost her temper.
“Shi Shuchen, you were the one who insisted on dragging me into the formation. From now on, you can crash into the formation disc by yourself!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Yuan Shu reached out and hooked an arm around Shi Shuchen’s neck. She wrapped both legs around his waist and held him tightly.
The sudden, rich fragrance of pear blossoms made Shi Shuchen’s eyes widen. He instinctively reached out to pull her away, but after hearing Yuan Shu’s words, he stopped himself.
She was right. It did seem that he had been the one to drag her into the formation…
Sure enough, the next time they hit the ground, Yuan Shu took advantage of her tight embrace. She was no longer thrown against the formation disc. By adjusting her position, she made Shi Shuchen land first.
She, on the other hand, fell onto him, which was much less painful!
To keep her legs from being crushed, Yuan Shu released them ahead of time.
“Hey, this way, I’m not the one who gets hurt when we fall. Shi Shuchen, if you still can’t think of a solution, you’ll be the one suffering internal injuries.”
Yuan Shu shrugged and lay sprawled across his chest.
Seeing his lowered lashes and the faint flush spreading across his fair, handsome face, she reached out with interest and poked his cheek.
“I-I know.”
Only then did Shi Shuchen understand why Yuan Shu had told him to crash into the formation disc on his own.
Every time they were flung into the air, she planned to hold tightly to him and make sure he landed first.
It was clearly unfair, yet he felt not the slightest bit angry. Instead… instead, there was an inexplicable trace of pleasure in his heart.
Shi Shuchen’s eyes trembled. For a moment, he couldn’t even describe this strange feeling.
It wasn’t until Yuan Shu hugged him tightly for the third time and fell onto him that she keenly sensed something unusual at his waist.
When she looked up again, Shi Shuchen’s cheeks were bright red. He turned his head away evasively, not daring to meet her eyes.
Yuan Shu: “…”
She had almost forgotten. She possessed a naturally alluring physique. No man could endure such intimate contact with her without reacting.
But she had to admit, this advantage was… pretty great!
Yuan Shu blinked and looked at Shi Shuchen’s pink-tinged face. Narrowing her eyes, she suddenly shifted her body.
She successfully saw Shi Shuchen’s expression change slightly.
“Shi Shuchen, have you thought of a way yet?” Yuan Shu asked, raising a brow as she reached out and pinched the pink tip of his ear.
Shi Shuchen instinctively flinched away. “I-I haven’t…”
What?
Yuan Shu blinked. “You haven’t?”
“That’s right. This is a time formation. The space within the formation is governed by time. Unless it stops automatically when the time is up, there’s no way to break it.”
Yuan Shu’s eyes widened slightly. “It stops automatically when the time is up? When will that be?”
Shi Shuchen pondered for a moment. They had already been trapped in the gravity space for three-quarters of an hour, which meant… “About another quarter of an hour.”
This was also a characteristic of the formation that he had only just discovered.
Yuan Shu was completely speechless.
She still had to endure another quarter of an hour of being thrown into the air and slammed back down?
Seeing her displeased expression, Shi Shuchen pressed his lips together. “You… don’t need to worry. I’ll do my best to protect you. I won’t let you get hurt again.”
Yuan Shu looked up at him.
The man beneath her had exquisite features and a pair of long, elegant phoenix eyes. Deep within his dark pupils was a faint hint of ink-blue, making his gaze appear profound and mysterious.
Together with his exceptionally clean and fair complexion, his handsome face possessed a strange kind of charm even when his expression was solemn and he maintained his usual silence.
Earlier, she had been too focused on finding a way out of the formation to notice the scenery beside her.
Now that she looked at their ambiguous position, the corners of Yuan Shu’s lips suddenly curved into a faint smile.
Who would have thought that behind this stern, unsmiling peak master was such an innocent man?
She had only hugged him a few times, yet his cheeks had flushed. Even his tone of voice had changed. Whenever those dark eyes glanced at her, he would quickly look away—
as though he were afraid that one more look would make him blush again.
“Does Peak Master Shi have someone he likes?”
She raised a brow and lightly pressed one long finger against his chest as she asked in a quiet voice.
Shi Shuchen froze for a moment. He hadn’t expected Yuan Shu to suddenly ask such a question. But after that brief pause, he answered, “No.”
“You’ve always been too busy studying formations?” Yuan Shu looked up at him.
“Mm.” Shi Shuchen nodded.
His desires were faint, and his interest in formations was clearly far greater than his interest in matters between men and women.
Whenever he encountered a complicated formation, he could spend three days and three nights dismantling, assembling, and studying it without sleep until he fully understood it.
Where would he have the time to fall for a woman?
Even when he occasionally descended the mountain to search for formation discs or formation patterns and was showered with attention by others, he felt no joy. He only found it troublesome and wished he could flee ten zhang away.
As a result, he had not left Lingshu Peak in a very long time.
Many of the new disciples at Luoxian Sect did not even know who he was!
Being this close to Yuan Shu was truly a first for him!
Yuan Shu curled her lips into a smile. “Then, Peak Master Shi, do you like me?”
The man beneath her abruptly stiffened. He jerked his head up and looked at Yuan Shu, shock surging through his eyes before transforming into struggle and hesitation.
Yuan Shu found it amusing, so she simply looked back at him without blinking.
Only after a long while did Shi Shuchen finally seem to make up his mind.
“If Miss Yuan is troubled by what happened today, I… I’m willing to become Dao companions with you.”
