Even if this figure turned to ashes, Xia Lianqiao would still recognize him—it was Ling Chongxiao!!
This was the first time in her life she had seen a man’s body, and Xia Lianqiao nearly screamed. She quickly closed her eyes, her heart pounding wildly, shouting, "I didn’t mean to!!" before turning and running away.
Like most fangirls, Xia Lianqiao was all talk and no experience, a cyber pervert with zero actual practice.
In that instant, the young man noticed the intruder. His cold, proud eyes snapped open, his skin as pale as a snow lotus emerging from water, a blood-red sword scar between his brows as vivid as a blooming crabapple.
A sword light, cold as snow, chased after Xia Lianqiao.
Whether it was due to nervousness or something else, Xia Lianqiao felt her legs go weak. Before she could run more than a few steps, the lethal sword light was already at her throat, stopping abruptly.
Xia Lianqiao’s heart sank. She didn’t dare move.
In the blink of an eye, Ling Chongxiao arrived with the sword light. He had already straightened his clothes, though his hair still cascaded over his shoulders. His brows were furrowed, and a chilling aura surrounded him.
"Why are you here?"
Xia Lianqiao’s gaze fell on the young man’s lean chest. Covering her eyes with her hands, her heart raced with fear and shame, her face so red it could fry an egg. "I didn’t mean to!!"
Ling Chongxiao: "…"
After a moment of silence, he subtly tightened his robe and asked, "Did Chen’s Mother send you?"
Realizing Ling Chongxiao had no intention of killing her on the spot, Xia Lianqiao hesitantly lowered her hands, still shaken. "Y-yes, that’s right."
Strange. Her palm instinctively touched her cheek. Her entire body felt as if it had been pulled from a fire, her heartbeat not calming but growing even more frantic.
Especially when her eyes met Ling Chongxiao’s. His slightly furrowed brows, his lips a vivid red, water droplets trailing through his jet-black hair—he was so mesmerizing she couldn’t look away.
The young man, with his sharp senses, immediately noticed her lingering gaze. His expression darkened visibly, a shadow passing over his face.
Even if she liked the cold, aloof type, she wasn’t *this* much of a fool, was she? Xia Lianqiao was stunned. "I-I really didn’t mean to," she stammered.
Then, suddenly, it clicked. She pointed to a nearby incense burner and exclaimed, "There’s something wrong with this incense!!"
That’s it!
Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might leap out of her throat. Xia Lianqiao finally remembered what she had forgotten—the incident where Chen Xuan and Xiao Lingbo had lost themselves in passion!
In the original novel *Asking the Dao*, it was only briefly mentioned, with the scene described as happening "in the room." She had assumed it took place in a bedroom, but what if it had actually happened in the bathhouse? This incense burner must have been lit by a maid earlier. It seemed Chen’s Mother had planned this all along.
Ling Chongxiao’s gaze hardened. He reached out and overturned the incense burner.
The candle was extinguished, and Xia Lianqiao let out a sigh of relief, though her body still felt weak.
Cultivators of the Daoist path often practiced both external and internal alchemy. Ling Chongxiao’s lips pressed together slightly as he recognized the incense on the ground with little effort. "This is *Qianjin Xiao* (A Thousand Gold’s Smile)."
"Chen Xuan once practiced the Path of Heartlessness," Ling Chongxiao murmured, deep in thought.
Someone as sharp as Ling Chongxiao would surely connect the dots. Xia Lianqiao gathered her courage and cautiously suggested, "Do you think it’s possible that after they… you know… Chen Xuan killed his wife to prove his Dao?"
Had Chen Xuan truly been indifferent to Xiao Lingbo?
Not really.
This question had been hotly debated among readers outside the original novel.
The conclusion was that Chen Xuan had reached the point of killing his wife to prove his Dao because, at his core, he was a repressed lunatic.
Due to his practice of the Path of Heartlessness, his desires had long been left unfulfilled, eventually driving him to kill Xiao Lingbo—the very embodiment of those desires.
Somerset Maugham once wrote a lesser-known short story called *Rain*, in which a missionary named Davidson tries to reform a prostitute named Sadie Thompson but is ultimately consumed by his own desires and faith, leading to his suicide.
Similarly, after Chen Xuan and Xiao Lingbo became intimate, his faith crumbled, and he killed his wife to reaffirm his Dao.
Her words were blunt and direct, making Ling Chongxiao slightly uncomfortable. "…Your speculation might not be far-fetched."
"Then what should we do?" Xia Lianqiao slumped to the ground, stammering, tears almost welling up in her eyes.
This drug, which had once ensnared Chen Xuan and Xiao Lingbo, was as potent as the legendary *Mí Xiān Yǐn* (Immortal’s Bewitchment). Her body trembled uncontrollably, and when her gaze fell on Ling Chongxiao’s flawless, jade-like face, she couldn’t look away.
"If… if this is really forcing us to…"
After saying this, Xia Lianqiao felt completely drained. She was both embarrassed and terrified, tears almost spilling over.
In truth, she had planned to subtly hint to Ling Chongxiao about the whole "killing his wife to prove his Dao" thing over the next few days, but her procrastination had led to this mess.
To her surprise, the usually decisive young man remained silent and unmoving.
A sense of foreboding washed over Xia Lianqiao. "Y-you’re not also…?"
Her damp eyelashes fluttered as her eyes met Ling Chongxiao’s cold, clear phoenix-like gaze.
The whites of his eyes were a pale bluish-gray, his pupils like two drops of black mercury, shining with an intense light.
Their eyes locked, and Xia Lianqiao’s heart skipped a beat. Instinctively, she raised her guard. "D-don’t come any closer!!"
Ling Chongxiao: "…"
The young man’s beautiful face darkened. His voice was stiff, each word deliberate and stubborn, "I. Won’t. Come. Closer."
He merely tilted his head slightly, his black hair cascading like water over his shoulders.
Ling Chongxiao’s reaction all but confirmed that he, too, had been affected.
Xia Lianqiao was on the verge of despair.
The young man’s brows furrowed slightly, sensing her fear. "Don’t worry. I will not take advantage of you."
Xia Lianqiao weakly replied, "Thank you for that."
Ling Chongxiao: "…"
After a moment of silence, he suddenly drew a decorative sword from the room. Turning the blade inward, he made a deep cut across the base of his thumb.
The sharp blade sliced through his palm, and blood immediately gushed out. Ling Chongxiao’s expression remained calm, as if he felt no pain.
Normally, such desires would be nothing to him, but now, having experienced what Chen Xuan had, and with Xia Lianqiao fearing his intentions, the proud and cold young man chose to injure his sword-wielding hand to steady his mind and reassure her.
It was also a way for the young man to assert his integrity, proving he would never stoop to such base thoughts.
Seeing Ling Chongxiao’s ruthless yet silent resolve, Xia Lianqiao’s guard lowered slightly. She forced herself to focus, trying to discuss a way out of their predicament with him.
But before she could speak, a sharp pain shot through her lower abdomen, as if she’d been punched. Xia Lianqiao gasped, clutching her stomach as cold sweat broke out.
Her dantian’s energy was in chaos, the pain like a knife twisting inside her. This familiar agony…
It was the *zhenshi* (true awareness) of the illusion!
Every time she and Ling Chongxiao deviated from the script, the illusion’s *zhenshi* would punish them with this pain. It wasn’t just the agony—the chaotic energy flow would harm their cultivation over time.
The pain mixed with a strange, involuntary trembling. Xia Lianqiao clenched her teeth, refusing to make a sound, her mind racing.
"Fellow Daoist Ling," she tentatively began.
To her surprise, her voice came out soft and seductive, sweet enough to drip honey. It didn’t sound like she was discussing a serious matter but rather cooing at a lover.
Ling Chongxiao’s eyelashes barely flickered, as if he hadn’t noticed. "What is it, Fellow Daoist?"
Xia Lianqiao’s face burned, but she pretended not to notice her tone. "It seems the *zhenshi* in this mirror is forcing us to… I have an idea. Not sure if it’ll work."
Her thought was that if they didn’t follow the script, they’d never escape the Mirror of Shattering Illusions.
What exactly was Xiao Lingbo’s inner demon, and how could it be resolved? Almost no one knew except Xiao Lingbo herself.
It seemed like an unsolvable riddle.
But that didn’t mean she and Ling Chongxiao couldn’t find a loophole.
Taking a deep breath, a bold idea suddenly popped into Xia Lianqiao's mind.
Chen Xuan had killed his wife to prove his Dao because, at that time, he was at a critical juncture in his cultivation. Xiao Lingbo had damaged his Dao foundation, and to reaffirm his Dao heart, Chen Xuan had killed his wife to rectify his path.
The damage to his Dao foundation was caused by the stirring of desire, turning pure water into turbid water.
During this time, Xia Lianqiao had also been studying many Daoist texts.
Refining essence into qi—this essence is divided into innate essence and acquired essence. The acquired essence is the essence of intercourse, known as yin-essence, which Daoists refer to as turbid water. It is useless to collect and only forms illusory elixirs. Although Chen Xuan had forcefully collected it, attempting to refine it into true qi, his efforts were in vain, and his cultivation of the emotionless Dao fell short.
So, the key wasn’t intercourse, nor did it necessarily require physical intimacy. Ling Chongxiao doing it himself should be fine, right?
Looking at the cold, snow-like, and rigid young man before her, with his glossy black hair and pale complexion, Xia Lianqiao stammered, "So, I think the problem might lie here..."
But then the question arose: how could she tactfully suggest that Ling Chongxiao take matters into his own hands?
She would absolutely, without a doubt, be sliced in half by his sword!!
After she voiced her thoughts, the room fell into a cold, dead silence. The sound of water flowing through the jade channels and the gentle breeze in the hall continued uninterrupted.
Although Ling Chongxiao didn’t slice her in half with his sword, he didn’t respond either.
Xia Lianqiao almost choked up: "Can you... can you do it yourself? Self-sufficiency?"
After a long while, Ling Chongxiao finally frowned and slowly spoke, "What do you mean by self-sufficiency?"
Xia Lianqiao widened her eyes in disbelief. "You don’t know?"
"It’s... it’s..."
Sniffling, Xia Lianqiao finally burst into tears. "It’s..." she mumbled incoherently.
"I don’t know how." His cool voice broke the silence, crisp like spring ice shattering, carrying a hint of aloofness.
"..." Meeting her gaze, Ling Chongxiao’s eyes flickered with a trace of complexity. He turned his head away and stiffly repeated, "I don’t know how."
Xia Lianqiao: "You... you’ve never done it yourself before?!"
"What about in the morning...?"
"..."
Ling Chongxiao pursed his lips. "If there are signs of arousal without desire, the Returning Yang Technique should be used to suppress it."
Xia Lianqiao was utterly dumbfounded, her eyes wide with confusion, tears still clinging to the corners. "You mean... you’ve never, not even in your dreams...?"
Is this guy even a swordsman?
He’s more like a superhuman of self-restraint!!
