The alluring fragrance of pear blossoms drifted close again, wafting into Shi Shuchen’s nose and enveloping him.
His already boiling blood grew hotter still.
She had come closer again—so close she was within reach!
Shi Shuchen’s gaze fell upon Yuan Shu’s rosy lips, and his Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably.
“I… I want…”
“Peak Master Shi, you know about my relationship with Yao Qianci, don’t you? Even so, you don’t mind?”
Tilting her head, Yuan Shu softly interrupted him.
Shi Shuchen’s eyes widened slightly. His lips moved, but the three words lodged in his throat—I want you—never emerged.
“Just now, I was truly only detoxifying you. Look—you’re already better now, aren’t you?”
Yuan Shu spoke with a smile, breaking the awkward tension.
Shi Shuchen said nothing. He knew Yuan Shu was making excuses.
The moment he had called out to her, she should have known he was awake.
Yet she had still kissed him, touched him, and taken every sort of liberty with him!
Perhaps there had not been enough time. Or perhaps Yuan Shu did not trust him enough yet.
After all, they had only met twice so far.
Once in the Azure Radiance Formation, and the other time was now.
A flicker passed through Shi Shuchen’s eyes. Suddenly, he clutched the wound on his arm, sharply drawing a breath and letting out a muffled groan.
“What’s wrong?”
Yuan Shu’s brows furrowed slightly as she came over and took hold of his arm.
She had already applied medicine to Shi Shuchen’s injury. Could something have gone wrong?
“It hurts,” Shi Shuchen murmured with a soft groan.
Yuan Shu quickly lifted his arm. “Let me see.”
As she spoke, she was about to undo the strip of cloth binding his arm when Shi Shuchen suddenly turned his head and kissed her on the lips.
Yuan Shu froze. When she turned back, she met Shi Shuchen’s deep, ink-dark eyes.
His face was inches from hers. He stared at her without blinking, his voice low and lingering.
“Miss Yuan, it seems the poison in my body has not yet been fully purged. That must be why it hurts so much. Could I trouble you to detoxify me once more?”
The instant the words left his mouth, Shi Shuchen’s long lashes trembled. Lowering his head, he took the initiative and kissed her lips.
At the same moment, a large hand came to rest against the back of Yuan Shu’s head, pressing her toward him.
“Miss Yuan, I’ll have to trouble you.”
Yuan Shu’s fingers tightened slightly around his arm as he pulled her firmly against his waist.
A fresh, subtle scent like ancient trees wrapped around her, stirring a faint ripple in her heart.
Yuan Shu’s curled lashes quivered, but she did not pull away.
Seeing that she did not refuse, Shi Shuchen’s heart surged with excitement. He lowered his head at once and forcefully coaxed her lips apart.
Yuan Shu narrowed her eyes, finding this Shi Shuchen rather interesting.
Hadn’t she made herself clear enough just now?
He knew of her relationship with Yao Qianci, yet he still came after her?
Did he like her that much?
Shi Shuchen’s kiss was somewhat inexperienced, but he learned quickly. He now imitated everything Yuan Shu had done to him moments before.
After only a brief, tentative exchange, the kiss had already deepened completely.
A faint curve touched Yuan Shu’s lips as she suddenly raised her arms around his neck.
This time, she behaved herself, her hands making no wandering moves. Yet Shi Shuchen reached out, caught her wrist, and pressed her palm to his chest.
“Miss Yuan, it seems my chest has been poisoned too. Feel it for yourself.”
Yuan Shu looked up at the yearning on Shi Shuchen’s handsome, slightly raised face, and could not help but sigh inwardly.
Could this be what a man who had lived for over a hundred years was like?
Cold and aloof on the surface, yet shameless underneath?
And he had even learned to draw inferences from one thing to another?
She had said she was helping him detoxify, and he had used detoxification as an excuse.
The corners of Yuan Shu’s lips curved upward. “Then Peak Master Shi had better be careful. This poison is quite potent!”
As she spoke, Yuan Shu’s hand skimmed over his firm chest, moving downward until her fingers closed around his well-defined eight-pack abs.
Shi Shuchen’s arm tightened slightly around Yuan Shu. The corners of his eyes were tinged red as he gazed at her, and even his breathing grew heavier.
“Precisely because this poison is so potent, Miss Yuan should examine me thoroughly.”
“Mm…” Yuan Shu let the final syllable linger. This time, she stopped holding back and began to tease him in earnest.
Perhaps only a deeper intimacy could draw out the formation spirit.
Since that was the case, she had no intention of refusing.
She turned and sat astride his lap. Wrapping her arms around his neck once more, Yuan Shu pressed her lips to his.
Shi Shuchen immediately met her kiss.
As they went back and forth, the atmosphere quickly heated up.
Shi Shuchen did not care that Yao Qianci was present. After all, he had known about this matter ever since they emerged from the Azure Radiance Formation.
He could not control the thoughts in his mind.
He could be certain of one thing: Yuan Shu had attracted him.
Thus, her earlier words had not posed any threat to him. Instead, they had given rise to a thought.
Since Yao Qianci could, why couldn’t he?
They were both Peak Masters. Why should he be any different?
In all his hundred-plus years, this was the first time he had developed an obsession with someone—or something.
This obsession had even surpassed his dedication to studying formation plates and repairing formations.
He felt that if he failed to satisfy it, his cultivation might one day become limited.
This was a principle he had come to understand after years of cultivation.
On the path of cultivation, the greatest taboo was an unfulfilled obsession. It could affect one’s state of mind.
Just as he had once avoided the female cultivators who gathered around him because he disliked and detested them—
Now, when it came to Yuan Shu, he wanted to draw closer. There was no reason to hold himself back.
To act according to one’s nature was the true way of cultivation!
Once his thoughts opened up, Shi Shuchen felt much more at ease.
With that in mind, he tightened his hold on Yuan Shu, as though he wanted to press her into his very body.
Yuan Shu also stopped restraining herself. Her fingertips brushed over his sash, and the robes on Shi Shuchen’s body slipped down onto the stone platform beneath him.
The ambiguous atmosphere in the air grew increasingly intense, while the power of the Hehuan Divine Tree continued to gather.
A strange fluctuation of spiritual energy came from the depths of the underground palace. The hand Yuan Shu had resting on Shi Shuchen’s abs paused.
“It’s appeared?” Yuan Shu asked within her sea of consciousness.
The Hehuan Divine Tree hurriedly nodded. “It’s the spirit of the underground palace formation, Shushu. It sensed the power of the Hehuan Divine Tree here. Put in a little more effort!”
Yuan Shu’s gaze shifted slightly as she looked at Shi Shuchen’s flushed face.
She suddenly withdrew the hand with which she had been teasing him, reached up, and pulled open the collar of her own garment before embracing his head.
Shi Shuchen froze for a moment. His cheek pressed against the porcelain-white skin before him, and almost instinctively, he pulled aside the inconvenient bandeau.
His hot breath spilled across her pale skin. As their desire intensified, the power of the Hehuan Divine Tree rapidly condensed as well.
Upon the dimly lit formation patterns of the underground palace, a rose-red point of light began to move soundlessly.
At some point, it appeared in a corner of the passage, quietly poking its way out through the formation patterns.
In the form of a rose-red cloud, it blinked its beady green eyes several times, gazing greedily and expectantly at the two people holding each other in an embrace.
The formation spirit of the Forbidden Land of Hehuan grew stronger by absorbing the power of intimacy.
However, since the forbidden land was rarely opened, it normally had little chance to feed on such power.
Today, so many people had finally arrived, so it had been wandering all around the formation in search of the power of intimacy.
Earlier, it had been affected by the power radiating from a master and disciple pair and had taken the wrong path, finding nothing at all.
Just when it was feeling dejected, it suddenly caught the scent of such an intense concentration of intimate energy coming from this direction and immediately rushed over without stopping.
The moment it arrived, it saw the two of them clinging to each other like glue.
