***
When Wu Guanyue was little, not only could she barely walk, but her resistance was also incredibly poor. She frequently came down with high fevers, and whenever she lay in the hospital in a daze, the nurses would use alcohol to wipe down her body.
When someone has a high fever, their body grows cold in waves. As the alcohol evaporates and carries away their body heat, it makes them feel cold in waves as well. Part of Wu Guanyue’s childhood consisted of memories of feeling that chill.
Still, it had to be done.
Someone with a fever could lower their body temperature by being wiped down. It was common knowledge.
Even in a xianxia world, the laws of physics still applied!
And besides… Brother Ying…
She had to admit, Brother Ying was incredibly sexy…
He possessed an absolutely perfect body—tall and powerfully built, with taut muscles. Even when wrapped up tightly in his clothes, it was obvious that this body had been tempered through countless harsh trials and had shed plenty of blood and sweat.
The last time they had been together in a room, they had been putting on a show for the Blood Demon Ancestor… At the time, Wu Guanyue had caught a glimpse of a scar on his chest through his open collar.
Like a cat spotting the loose end of a ball of yarn, Wu Guanyue had been naturally drawn to it, curious to investigate.
Then Brother Ying had started lecturing her about proper conduct for men at the most inappropriate possible moment.
Wu Guanyue: “…”
How annoying! He acted so carefree normally, so why had he suddenly become shy at a time like this? What was wrong with letting Little Yue take a look?
But now, little Wenren Ying had fallen completely into the hands of Little Yue the Great!
Wu Guanyue immediately pulled a clean towel from her sleeve and held it majestically in her hand, staring unblinkingly at Wenren Ying…
Under the assault of her gaze, Wenren Ying grew more and more rigid… stiffer and stiffer…
Whenever he felt awkward or even guilty, he would instinctively reach up to press down the brim of his bamboo hat, as if doing so could block other people’s gazes.
But… it was useless. He wasn’t wearing his hat, and even a hat couldn’t solve his current predicament.
Wenren Ying opened and closed his mouth. “No need, Little Yue, you…”
Wu Guanyue declared righteously, “Brother Ying, don’t be difficult. Having a fever like this is very uncomfortable. Let me help bring your temperature down!”
Wenren Ying hesitated for a moment, then suddenly took two Frost-Cooling Talismans from beneath his pillow and silently held them up for Wu Guanyue to see.
Wu Guanyue smoothly changed her tune. “But Brother Ying, don’t you feel all sticky and uncomfortable after sweating like this? You should still wipe yourself down. Come on, let me wipe you down.”
Wenren Ying silently pulled a Dust-Cleansing Talisman from beneath his pillow.
Wu Guanyue: “…”
Wu Guanyue: “…………”
Ah! This hateful xianxia world!
Wu Guanyue began to act shamelessly. “I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care… Anyway, today you’re going to let me do it! Even if you scream yourself hoarse, no one is coming to save you, Wenren Ying!”
And then she pounced!
Her sudden movement startled Wenren Ying. He abruptly sat up in bed, practically ready to flee at once.
Wu Guanyue’s movements came to an abrupt halt.
Wenren Ying couldn’t help looking at her, only to find that she was staring blankly at his… chest.
Only belatedly did Wenren Ying look down and realize that the white bandages wrapped around his chest had already been dyed red.
This was…
When he had woken from his dream earlier, he had been so tense that he had strained his wound. He hadn’t yet had the chance to rebandage it.
Wenren Ying tried to reassure her. “Little Yue, I’m fine. I only—”
“Brother Ying… does it hurt?”
Little Yue suddenly asked him that.
Wenren Ying fell silent.
Strangely… at that very moment, he could actually hear the sound of his own heartbeat, one beat after another.
He opened his mouth and rasped, “No.”
Wu Guanyue’s delicate brows drew together. “…Liar!”
Wenren Ying couldn’t help smiling.
For some reason, he changed his answer. “A little.”
Wu Guanyue seemed to tilt her head.
The next instant, Wenren Ying felt a breeze suddenly brush across his chest.
Wu Guanyue leaned close to his heart and blew gently on it. She murmured, “Blowing on it will make it feel better!”
Wenren Ying’s fingers seemed to spasm beyond his control.
For one fleeting moment, he nearly lost control of his impulses and wanted to grab her at once.
But Wu Guanyue had no idea what was going through his mind. She merely let out a long sigh. “Brother Ying, this won’t do… You really don’t take care of yourself.”
She reached out and began unwrapping the white bandages around his chest, carefully unwinding them one circle at a time.
The process was… actually rather suggestive.
It was almost as if she were… peeling him open.
Wu Guanyue: “……*&（……％……！”
Wu Guanyue was bewitched by her own imagination. Her head felt as though it might start steaming, and her eyes had practically turned into two spirals of incense smoke. Though she had just been acting like a mature, responsible caretaker, she instantly became tongue-tied and flustered, her hands and feet at a loss.
Although… well… Brother Ying like this… was a little sexy…
She was sorry! It wasn’t as if she wanted to think that way, but…
And Brother Ying’s body was so hot…
Scorching hot. Even the slightest touch of her fingers made her feel as though they would be burned.
…Although she had just spoken with absolute confidence and really had wanted to do this and that to Brother Ying, the moment she actually got her hands on him, she immediately proved to be all talk and no action. Her heart pounded like a drum.
Wu Guanyue: @-@
The room suddenly fell silent… There was only the sound of their breathing, along with Wenren Ying’s occasional, restrained groans of pain.
With the boisterous Wu Guanyue around, such a quiet scene was actually difficult to come by… And sounds like these were also very easy to misunderstand.
Fortunately, no one was misunderstanding them… Were they really?
In a hidden corner untouched by the sunlight, a wisp of seemingly nonexistent crimson mist was secretly listening in on them. When it heard the strange sounds coming from inside the room, the wisp of mist suddenly froze, then began roiling with wildly unstable emotions.
If it had possessed a physical body, it would probably have been gritting its teeth so hard that they shattered!
And who was this wisp of crimson, blood-colored mist…?
Naturally, it was the Blood Demon Ancestor, who had not quite died yet.
Cultivators tempered the physical body externally and cultivated the primordial spirit internally. Neither aspect could be neglected; only by embracing unity and maintaining one’s original balance could one reach the state of harmony between humanity and Heaven.
For the past two hundred years, however, the Blood Demon Ancestor had existed solely in the form of a primordial spirit. This extreme imbalance had given rise to the peculiar nature of his cultivation method—a method so rare that one could search through ten thousand people and still fail to find another like it.
Besides, his cultivation method had also been enhanced by the blood of the horned serpent.
When facing the Severing Essence Blade that day, the Blood Demon Ancestor had shed his body like a snake shedding its skin or a cicada emerging from its shell, winning himself a narrow chance at survival.
Of course, Wenren Ying was not so easily fooled either… So the Blood Demon Ancestor had truly sacrificed most of his primordial spirit before he finally managed to send those two ancestors away and give himself a chance to catch his breath…
After this battle, he had suffered a severe loss of vitality. From now on, he would probably have to choose a suitable physical body and take up residence in it, settling down to live out his days...
Did the Blood Demon Ancestor hate them? Of course he did!
Did the Blood Demon Ancestor want revenge? ...Er, no. He really, really didn’t dare think about it.
Wenren Ying’s swift, merciless strikes had already happened to him twice. He had no desire to experience them a third time. And as for Wu Guanyue...
Whenever he thought of Wu Guanyue, the formless mist trembled three times over. Clearly, the Evil Twin-Tails had left him with a truly devastating psychological scar...
If he had a choice, he would stay as far away from Meishan City as possible—and far away from that deranged man and woman. But the problem was, he had no choice!
Let us turn back time to the day the Blood Demon Ancestor was hunted down.
That day, Wenren Ying had destroyed the Blood Demon’s primordial spirit with a single stroke of his blade, though he himself had also sustained serious injuries. After finishing everything, he promptly collapsed from exhaustion. Wu Guanyue came rushing over, hoisted him high above her head, and carried him back to the inn.
The inn was also home to the wounded Master Chongxu and another wounded man...er, She Wenjie.
The people from the Azure Cloud Grotto-Heaven had received the news as well and were on their way over. Wu Guanyue and Bai Yunsheng, in perfect unspoken agreement, conveniently pinned the blame for the death of the Seven-Treasure Pine on the Blood Demon Ancestor too.
While things were bustling on that side, on this side, the Blood Demon Ancestor’s primordial spirit, having escaped by shedding his shell, quietly fled.
He had originally planned to disappear into the mountains, find some lone cultivator, and secretly take over his body. Then he would control that person and leave Meishan City. From there, the world would be vast, and he would never dare think about revenge—or anything of the sort—again.
But who could have expected that after controlling a wandering cultivator and escaping several hundred li, he would be caught by someone?
The person who caught him wore a simple Daoist robe, carried a white horsetail whisk, and wore a white jade crown. With one hand stroking his snow-white beard and a faint smile on his face, he merely flicked his horsetail whisk, and the wandering cultivator’s physical body suddenly burst apart. The Blood Demon Ancestor’s primordial spirit fell into his hands without the slightest resistance.
The turn of events had happened far too suddenly. The Blood Demon Ancestor was immediately startled. But when he saw the man’s face, he was even more terrified, as though his soul had left his body. Even the blood-colored mist seemed to have fallen to its knees, bowing repeatedly toward the man.
“Master! Master! Please accept this disciple’s greetings!”
His voice was instantly filled with flattery and dread.
Yet when the white-robed, white-bearded Daoist heard this, his expression darkened. He said coldly, “Wretch, when have you and I ever had a teacher-disciple relationship? To claim ties where none exist—you truly deserve to die!”
As he spoke, power suddenly surged through his hand. The mass of mist began to roil violently, and the Blood Demon Ancestor’s primordial spirit let out an agonized scream. He begged for mercy between shrieks, wishing only that he could vanish into thin air at once and escape this horrifying torture.
After a long while, the white-robed Daoist finally stopped, apparently satisfied.
He said, “Yang Dali, you have harmed countless living beings for three hundred years. What punishment do you think you deserve?”
The Blood Demon Ancestor’s primordial spirit hurriedly prostrated himself and said, “I won’t dare do it again! I won’t dare! Please spare me, Perfected One! Please spare me!”
“Spare you?” the white-robed Daoist said. “If I spare your life, then who will spare the lives of the common people?”
The Blood Demon Ancestor’s primordial spirit wept and begged, “Please spare me! Perfected One, please spare me! I am willing to serve you like an ox or a horse. I will brave boiling water and blazing fire for you, and I will never hesitate!”
The white-robed Daoist asked, “Truly?”
The Blood Demon Ancestor naturally nodded again and again, murmuring, “If I ever disobey, Perfected One, you may make me vanish into thin air!”
The faint smile returned to the Daoist’s face. He looked serene and carefree, possessing the bearing of an immortal, as though nothing had happened just moments before.
He said lightly, “There does happen to be something I need you to do... Someone damaged my magical treasure and claimed that you were responsible. Do you know anything about this, Yang Dali?”
That’s right. If Wenren Ying, Chu Yingfeng, and Bai Yunsheng had been here, they would have recognized him immediately.
This white-robed Daoist was none other than their master—the very same Perfected Renhua of the Xuantian Sect!
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