Longyin Hall, Welcoming Joy Residence—fragrant incense curled softly in the air, yet the atmosphere carried a subtle tension.
“Say it again—what exactly do you want?” Su Yingman dragged out her tone, twirling a lock of hair around her fingertip, her voice thick with teasing.
Today she wore a flowing scarlet gauze dress, reclining gracefully on the soft couch.
Upon hearing the words, she straightened up, her bewitching eyes scrutinizing the composed figure sitting across from her—Zhuxin.
Zhuxin was dressed in a striking crimson outfit, outlining her mature and proud curves.
Her face resembled Zhu Siyao’s closely but carried a sharper, more worldly allure. Her heroic brows furrowed slightly, revealing unease.
She took a deep breath and forced herself calm, her gaze drifting nervously as she avoided Su Yingman’s eyes. “I mean… I’m asking on behalf of a friend.”
“Does your Hehuan Sect have that kind of… um…”
“…the kind of pill that, once both parties take it, they… can’t help but express love, but afterward neither remembers the experience at all?”
She finished with difficulty, cheeks flushing slightly, then hurriedly added, “For example, say if Jiang Huai and I took it, we’d be… very intimate, but when we woke up, neither of us would remember anything.”
“Just asking for a friend.”
“This is something an old acquaintance from the Blazing Sun Sect asked me to inquire about. Since you’re the Hehuan Sect Master, wise and knowledgeable, I thought I’d come to you.”
Su Yingman snorted softly, clearly amused. She was no child.
“An old friend from the Blazing Sun Sect? Who doesn’t know what kind of sect you all are? Not a single person dares to cross you all—who even wants a pill like that?”
She lazily propped her chin with a hand, her mocking gaze seeming to peer right through Zhuxin. “Oh? Really? What does your ‘friend’ want with such a bizarre thing?”
“Our Hehuan Sect values indulgence and pleasure, but we also uphold mutual consent and natural progression.” She shook her head.
“Deliberately wiping both parties’ memories afterward—that’s a cheap trick, even somewhat… despicable.”
She smiled wryly. “I have plenty of single-effect potions, Mist Enchantment Powder, that can make one side confused and infatuated, completely at the other’s mercy.”
“Want some?”
She asked with a sly grin, testing her.
Zhuxin felt uneasy under her gaze, rubbing her hands nervously, her brow furrowing deeper. “Is there no double-effect one? Where both people… both feel that way, and neither remembers afterward?”
Inside, she was torn. She longed to use Jiang Huai’s Yin-Yang Primordial Source and the power of the Chaos Dao Platform to completely cure her daughter’s Origin Deficiency, yet she feared the consequences if her daughter and Jiang Huai were to be intimate while fully conscious—a complex and unbearable situation.
Su Yingman, seeing her stubbornness, understood everything.
She sighed, leaning forward slightly, lowering her voice with a more serious tone. “Lady Zhu, let’s be frank.”
“To be honest, I really can’t help you with this. Because such a thing simply doesn’t exist.”
“Do you think this is some storybook legend? You want intense interaction, memory wiped afterward, and it must be double-sided? The balance and pharmacology involved contradict each other greatly. It’s nearly impossible.”
“Our Hehuan Sect specializes in that area, but we are not omnipotent.”
She paused, her eyes meaningfully sweeping over Zhuxin’s tense face.
“Let’s say such an illicit pill truly exists—do you think the Main Wife would consent to you using it on Jiang Huai? If even the slightest mishap occurred, who would bear the consequences?”
Her words plainly indicated she knew the ‘friend’ Zhuxin referred to was herself, and she had guessed the intention to use it on Jiang Huai and another person ‘in need of help.’
Zhuxin’s face flushed deeply, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She raised her voice sharply to defend herself.
“N-nonsense! I already said I’m asking for a friend!”
“What are you thinking!” Her eyes flickered nervously as she stood abruptly.
“If there’s none, forget it! If there’s none, forget it! Just pretend I didn’t ask!”
Before leaving, she turned slowly, her flushed face bearing a touch of coyness.
“Don’t say anything random either, don’t give people the wrong ideas.” With that, she practically fled out of Welcoming Joy Residence.
Su Yingman watched her hurried retreat, shaking her head with a mix of helplessness and amusement curling at her lips.
Truly interesting, truly interesting.
Elsewhere, within the main disciple living quarters of the Nine Heavens Palace.
Zhu Siyao sat gloomily in her spacious yet somewhat cold room.
As the “First Master Senior Sister of Jiutian Palace,” personally appointed by Qin Qingyue, she enjoyed high status and the best treatment among disciples.
Her residence was the most luxurious and expansive among all female disciples, with carved beams, painted rafters, and suffused with Spiritual Light.
The Main Wife treated her well—or rather, Qin Qingyue was always exceptionally kind to her own, whether Zhuxin or Zhu Siyao.
Still, when she lifted her head, she could see through the window the three palaces floating higher above, surrounded by misty spiritual radiance.
Longyin Hall, Profound Tide Palace, Palace of Tidal Tranquility.
These were the true core of the Nine Heavens Palace, Qin Qingyue’s private domain.
The girl’s delicate face inherited her mother Zhuxin’s breathtaking beauty, yet carried a unique youthful vitality. But now her bright eyes brimmed with melancholy and disappointment.
Pouting her rosy lips, she murmured softly, “Why am I separated from Mother like this?”
Longyin Hall was vast, with countless pavilions, towers, secret courtyards—more than enough space for many residences.
That was originally the core area of the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace.
No matter how big it was, it had been strictly designated by Qin Qingyue as the residence for Jiang Huai and his wives, forbidding unrelated disciples from entering.
Even the newcomer Tang Zhaoxue, only a maid, was allowed to stay within Longyin Hall, while she, a dignified Master Senior Sister, was assigned below.
Thinking of this, Zhu Siyao left her residence and wandered the palace grounds.
Throughout the garden, elegant female disciples or dragon ladies with delicate dragon horns and small dragon tails passed by, greeting her respectfully with “Master Senior Sister.”
These honors could not dispel the gloom in her heart.
She stared blankly at the distant floating palaces, filled with longing, whispering, “I… I miss Mother.”
“Surely that reason should let me go up?”
The thought gave rise another man’s face in her mind.
“See Mother, and then… visit him too.”
“Just a visit.”
Now in the Golden Core Stage and able to fly, she lightly leapt and drifted upward.
At the palace gates, two tall, mature dragon lady guards with dragon horns and short dragon tails stood watch, eyes unwavering.
A visible pale golden Spiritual Energy Barrier enveloped the entire palace cluster like a curtain of water, isolating inside from outside.
The girl took a deep breath and mustered courage, retrieving a warm jade Token from her bosom.
On the Token, a strong and vigorous character “祝” pulsed with faint red radiance—a Token personally bestowed by Qin Qingyue, symbolizing her status as “Master Senior Sister of Jiutian Palace.”
She cautiously held the Token forward.
Something strange happened.
When the Token touched the pale golden barrier, it seemed to recognize the aura, rippling like water and silently melting to form a gap just large enough for one person.
The two dragon lady guards glanced at the Token, then at Zhu Siyao, nodding slightly in acknowledgment without any attempt to stop her.
She could really enter!
Zhu Siyao’s heart leapt. She hurriedly withdrew the Token and stepped across the barrier into Longyin Hall.
A realm of spiritual energy several times purer and denser than below immediately enveloped her, refreshing her mind.
Suppressing excitement, she prepared to find her mother’s residence. Only a few steps along the white jade path, a slightly surprised voice sounded from behind.
“Eh? Siyao? What are you doing up here?”
Zhu Siyao froze and turned to see Su Yingman standing by a cluster of spiritual plants. Her scarlet dress made her skin appear even paler, her figure slender and graceful.
She raised an eyebrow at Zhu Siyao, her beautiful eyes flickering with surprise before glancing knowingly toward the direction of Blazing Residence.
A faint, subtle smile played at Su Yingman’s lips, mingled with understanding and something ambiguous.
Her slender fingers flicked almost imperceptibly inside her sleeve, and an invisible, intangible spiritual power shield silently enveloped Zhu Siyao, greatly weakening and concealing her aura and presence.
“I… I just came up to take a look, to see Mother…” Zhu Siyao explained timidly.
Su Yingman chuckled. “You should call me Second Mother.”
“… Second Mother.” Zhu Siyao said awkwardly.
Really, everyone in Longyin Hall could be her mother.
Su Yingman waved her hand with a warm tone. “No matter, no matter. Since you’re up here, enjoy your stroll.”
“Your eldest mother isn’t around, or she’d probably have sent you away.”
She pointed in a direction. “Your mother’s residence is there.”
“Thank you for the guidance, Second Mother!”
With Su Yingman’s approval, Zhu Siyao relaxed and quickly nodded, then eagerly walked toward her mother’s dwelling.
Longyin Hall was enormous, with pavilions, towers, bridges, and flowing water—like a self-contained miniature world.
After wandering a while, she finally reached a courtyard planted with several fire-element spiritual plants. Above the door hung a plaque bearing three characters: Blazing Residence.
Her mother really cherished old ties, still using the name Blazing.
Zhu Siyao smiled and was about to knock when she suddenly heard faint noises from a nearby window.
She instinctively softened her footsteps and held her breath, quietly approaching the window.
Unbeknownst to her, if not for Su Yingman’s help, she would have been discovered long ago.
At this moment, no one noticed her—not even Zhuxin.
The window was not fully closed, leaving a gap.
Through the gap and thin window gauze, flickering candlelight cast the silhouettes of two familiar figures inside, seemingly very close.
One figure was unmistakably Jiang Huai.
The other was graceful and mature, her hair gathered high.
Their shadows appeared to be speaking quietly, close enough to suggest… an unusual intimacy and entanglement.
The gauze blurred details, only adding to the uneasy ambiguity.
“Rongxin, Qingyue told me to practice swordsmanship properly. She just left,” Jiang Huai’s reluctant voice carried a complicated tone.
“Is it so urgent? Can’t I ‘thank’ my husband?”
Zhuxin, thinking of a spiritual elixir formula, imitated Su Yingman and tried to bite Jiang Huai’s belt.
Zhu Siyao’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. She forgot to breathe, eyes wide and frozen in place, her mind utterly blank.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.