Xu Ning felt as if he had been thrown into an alchemy furnace.
The water in the bath had long gone cold.
At some point, his struggling had splashed most of it out, leaving the area behind the folding screen a complete mess.
He knelt by the bedside, with nothing to cover his body.
The restless heat surging from the depths of his dantian refused to be suppressed no matter what.
He could only press his forehead against the cold wood of the bed frame, using that faint coolness to barely hold onto a thread of clarity.
Just then, the door was pushed open from outside.
“Xu Ning?”
Shen Yi hurried in, spiritual light already glowing within her sleeve.
But the next instant, her footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
The moment her gaze landed, that bright, lovely face flushed red in an instant.
“You…”
She immediately averted her eyes, her voice pressed low with anger. “Why aren’t you wearing any clothes!”
Xu Ning didn’t have the strength to lift his head.
Hearing the question, he only responded instinctively.
“…The water, the water was knocked over.”
Shen Yi bit her lower lip, momentarily unable to reply.
She wanted to retreat right now, but just as she lifted her foot, she noticed the demonic qi filling the room.
“You’ve been invaded by demonic qi?!”
Shen Yi pushed the door shut behind her and hurried closer.
The closer she got, the more alarmed she became.
Xu Ning’s body was burning red like a branding iron.
Even the air around him seemed heated by his temperature.
Shen Yi bit her lip.
“Xu Ning, how are you?”
With a swirl of spiritual power from her sleeve, Shen Yi yanked the thin blanket off the bed and draped it over him, covering most of the mess around his waist.
But that one glance had already been enough.
Xu Ning heard her voice and raised his eyes with difficulty.
He looked at her for a long time.
As if he recognized her, and as if he didn’t recognize her at all.
“Shen…”
Shen Yi’s heart tightened.
“I’ll help you up.”
She reached out to support him, but the moment she touched his scorching skin, she instinctively pulled back.
But soon, gritting her teeth, she channeled her spiritual power into him and managed to hoist him up from the ground.
With her support, Xu Ning finally managed to prop himself up.
Shen Yi turned her head away, unwilling to look at him, relying purely on strength to guide him toward the bed.
As she helped him turn around, the flimsy blanket that offered little coverage slipped off by accident.
Her peripheral vision unavoidably caught sight of that standing member, and her entire face instantly turned so red it looked like it might bleed.
“You—you—”
Shen Yi’s tongue seemed to tie itself in knots.
She couldn’t speak properly.
She wanted to let go, but she was afraid Xu Ning would collapse back to the floor.
She could clearly tell that Xu Ning wasn’t intentionally being disrespectful—he was being dragged down by the demonic qi.
But precisely because of that, all those embarrassed, angry words stuck in her throat, and not a single one could come out.
With her spiritual power, she helped him onto the bed.
The back of his head hit the pillow with a dull thud.
That impact briefly restored a bit of clarity to his eyes.
“Junior Sister…”
His eyes were bloodshot, his voice terribly hoarse.
“Get out, quickly… get out.”
Shen Yi stood by the bed, watching him struggle to stay conscious, caught in a dilemma.
She naturally shouldn’t stay here.
But if she left Xu Ning alone, letting this strange demonic qi torment him further, then with his cultivation barely at Qi Introduction, at best his meridians would be damaged, and at worst his entire path of cultivation would be destroyed.
Shen Yi looked at his hands clutching the blanket.
His knuckles were white, the veins in his arms bulging taut.
He was already suffering beyond measure.
“Forget it.”
Shen Yi took a deep breath, as if she had finally made up her mind.
“I can’t just watch something happen to you.”
She hesitated for a moment, then bent down to remove her embroidered shoes.
One.
Then the other.
The embroidered shoes landed beside the bed with a very soft sound.
Her moon-white silk socks wrapped her slender toes.
As she stepped onto the edge of the bed, the soft fabric pressed into delicate creases.
Lamplight shone from the side, casting her thin ankles into view, faint bluish veins visible beneath her tender skin.
She sat down cross-legged across from him.
This posture was improper to begin with.
Especially when Xu Ning before her was disheveled, his body radiating oppressive heat.
Shen Yi suppressed the shame in her heart and raised her hand to press against his wrist meridian.
“Relax. I’ll help sort out your meridians. Don’t move.”
She tried to keep her voice steady.
“Look at me.”
He had been looking at her all along.
But his gaze wasn’t like when he was clear-headed.
It carried an obviously inappropriate affection.
He watched Shen Yi’s pretty face flushed by the lamplight, saw the worry in her apricot eyes—worry caused by him.
Xu Ning felt somewhat dazed.
Shen Yi didn’t notice his gaze.
The moment her spiritual power probed into his meridians, her brows knitted tightly.
Something was wrong.
The gentle, clear spiritual power that had once been inside Xu Ning’s body was now extremely restless.
The moment she drew close, that spiritual power lunged at her.
Shen Yi let out a muffled groan.
The burning sensation slammed through her palm into her body, climbing along her meridians so fast she couldn’t withdraw her hand in time.
Within moments, fine beads of sweat formed on her forehead.
A strand of hair stuck to her cheek.
Sweat droplets slid down her snow-white neckline into her collar.
Her thin robe was soaked through with heat, clinging to her waist, outlining her slender, soft figure.
Shen Yi was still trying to straighten out the spiritual power inside Xu Ning’s body, but she didn’t notice how close they had become.
By the time she realized something was wrong, their knees were already pressed together.
Xu Ning’s breath fell upon her forehead.
It was so hot that her eyelashes trembled.
Shen Yi opened her eyes and met his gaze directly.
Xu Ning looked at the young woman before him.
He watched as that bright, lovely face had long shed its youthful innocence, now bearing a kind of dignity he found deeply familiar.
Her green robes were soaked with sweat, clinging to a mature, voluptuous figure.
That lowered gaze—it was unmistakably Shen Yuwei, the Golden Core Realm cultivator of Zhaoyue Cliff, the master and foster mother of Lu Hanyi.
“Senior Shen…”
Xu Ning’s breathing grew heavier.
“Why are you… here?”
Shen Yuwei’s whole body stiffened.
In her panic, she failed to notice that her disguise had already worn off, and she kept denying it.
“I’m not. You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
Before she could finish speaking, her spine went numb.
The restless spiritual power inside Xu Ning, seizing the moment she was distracted, suddenly surged deep into her meridians.
It came swift and hot, jolting Shen Yuwei’s entire body into trembling.
She hurriedly raised her hand to press against Xu Ning’s chest, but her palm couldn’t muster the slightest strength.
“You—you stay away from me—”
“Stay away from me…”
But those words sounded completely different in Xu Ning’s current ears.
He leaned forward, forcing Shen Yuwei into the corner of the bed.
Her soft, full body pressed against the cold wall, while the heat from him radiated across her front.
Shen Yuwei’s cheeks flushed peach-red.
She looked up at the man before her whose mind was clouded.
Her moist apricot eyes reflected the fragmented light of the lamp, shimmering with watery brilliance.
“Xu Ning.”
Her voice trembled.
“Look clearly, I—”
——————deleted for this release——————
Xu Ning looked at Shen Yuwei trapped in the corner of the bed by him.
She looked up at him now, the corners of her eyes wet and red, her body drenched in fragrant sweat.
A layer of mist gathered in her gentle, graceful brows.
Her softly pressed lips were tinted a tender red by the lamplight, looking even more delicate and inviting.
A flicker of clarity briefly passed through Xu Ning’s eyes.
“I…”
Before the words could come out, the demonic qi surged over him once more, crushing the last trace of clarity in his mind.
Xu Ning slowly lowered himself and kissed those slightly parted, soft lips.
Shen Yuwei’s eyelashes trembled violently.
The hand that had been pressing against his chest suddenly lost all its strength.
The two streams of spiritual power collided completely.
The emerald vitality spread like spring water, coiling around that wisp of cold demonic qi.
Shen Yuwei was still trying to suppress the restless spiritual power inside Xu Ning’s body, but instead, she was entangled by that emerald essence.
Even the restless heat deep within her golden core was drawn out along with it.
——————deleted for this release——————