He didn’t know what he could offer in exchange.
He had nothing.
No cultivation level, no background, nothing worth presenting.
Perhaps the only value he had was this shell of a body that she had shown interest in.
But in the eyes of people like Chu Yi, what was that worth?
If she could casually take out Purifying Soul Dragon Spine Liquid, how could she lack beautiful men?
“I…” He opened his mouth, his voice dry.
Chu Yi looked at him like this and suddenly let out a laugh.
She withdrew her hand, refilled her own cup, and raised it to him in a toast.
Her glazed eyes were full of smiles, but in their depths, a profound light flickered.
Her voice softened to the utmost, as if afraid of disturbing something.
“Growing up so clean, with such a pure heart, and yet coming to this Ten Thousand Flower Pavilion to participate in that flower queen competition that devours people without spitting out bones… it’s far too dangerous.”
“Fortunately, you were lucky today. You met me.”
Shen Mo stared at her blankly, not understanding what she meant.
Chu Yi leaned in, close enough to feel each other’s warm breath.
Her voice lowered, carrying a coaxing yet forthright declaration: “Since you’re clean… there’s no harm in giving it a try. As it happens, I’m also not interested in those disgusting ordinary men.”
Inside the Moon Pavilion, candlelight flickered and sandalwood smoke curled upward.
She reached out and wrapped her arm around his waist.
That hand was not well-behaved, sliding along the tight lines of his waist through his soaked clothes.
Her fingertips, separated by the moon-white fabric damp with sweat, traced the firm and straight muscle lines beneath.
The clean yet delicate aura of the youth formed an alluring temptation that stirred the heart.
Shen Mo’s entire body went rigid, his mind blank.
A sense of shame at being completely objectified surged over him.
He wanted to struggle, to escape, but his body was firmly locked by Spiritual Power, so weak he had no strength.
Chu Yi’s golden eyes darkened slightly. Her fingertips moved further, exploring the inexperienced yet captivating curves…
“Mm…”
A faint humming vibration, carrying an urgent Spiritual Power, suddenly sounded from inside Shen Mo’s sleeve.
The sound was especially clear in the silent hall.
It instantly broke the amorous atmosphere of the room.
Chu Yi’s movement abruptly stopped. A trace of displeasure flashed between her brows.
Her hand left his waist and moved toward the vibrating sleeve.
At this moment, Shen Mo’s alcohol was rising, his consciousness half-awake and half-asleep.
He felt something vibrating in his sleeve and instinctively tried to pull his arm back to protect it, but his whole body was powerless.
He could only watch helplessly as her long, slender, white fingers took out a Child Talisman from his sleeve.
“Mother-Son Talisman?”
Chu Yi’s gaze sharpened. She pinched the Child Talisman, which was still slightly warm and glimmering with spiritual light.
Someone capable of holding such a two-way communication talisman, which required specific Spiritual Power or a Blood Essence Imprint to activate, on the other end was definitely no simple person.
And the relationship with this youth… was extraordinary.
She was about to probe who sent this Child Talisman and whether it had tracking or spying capabilities. The moment her fingertip’s Spiritual Power touched the talisman’s body—
Whoosh!
The Child Talisman blazed brightly. A line of clear small characters, like a red-hot branding iron, leaped from the talisman’s surface and slammed straight into Chu Yi’s eyes:
“Husband, where are you?”
Husband?!
Those two words, like sharp Ice Awls, stabbed fiercely into the bottom of Chu Yi’s heart.
Her fingers holding the Child Talisman tightened abruptly.
The line was concise but carried a concern that brooked no argument.
He… was married?
This realization instantly shattered the pity she had felt for his cleanliness.
A possessiveness, which she herself had not yet fully sorted out, surged forth.
He had been deceived by a woman who had a husband?
And he even developed improper thoughts toward her!
Chu Yi whipped her head around, her voice squeezing through gritted teeth: “You dare to deceive me?!”
She hated deception more than anything, especially deception involving romantic relationships!
Just a moment ago, she thought Shen Mo was that kind of untainted noble flower, clean and pure and extraordinary. She even resorted to threats and bribes to get him.
And the result?
Not only was he not a virgin, but he was also already taken!
A sense of humiliation at being deceived and jealousy over an exceptional man being snatched away instantly consumed her.
She glared at Shen Mo with hatred, a wave of disgust rising in her heart.
A married man, playing the virgin, making those shy, flustered, pitiable gestures, even causing her to become interested.
What was even more unbearable was that her dream was purity, with an extreme cleanliness fetish, always seeking flawless perfection.
And his first time had long since been lost!
Shen Mo beside her was jolted by her fury. The alcohol woke him up a few points.
‘Why is Qin Shuying suddenly calling me husband?’
‘Could it be that she misunderstood what I said at the table…? I said “I haven’t forgotten” meaning I belong to Su Wan’er!’
After a brief silence, the Child Talisman flashed again, and new words appeared:
“Husband? Why aren’t you replying? Is it inconvenient?”
To Chu Yi’s eyes, this inquiry was like adding fuel to the fire.
Inconvenient?
Of course, it was inconvenient!
He was right here in the hands of this wild woman!
Chu Yi was so angry that she laughed instead, a cold and ferocious smile.
She no longer looked at Shen Mo. She lowered her head, stared at the Child Talisman, and poured a wild surge of Spiritual Power into her fingertips, directly impersonating him to reply on the Child Talisman!
Shen Mo’s face changed drastically. He wanted to pounce and snatch it, but Chu Yi’s overwhelming pressure erupted around her, pressing him firmly onto the bed, unable to move.
“Matriarch, your chest is too flat, your bed skills are terrible, I don’t feel anything at all. I haven’t been happy a single day I’ve been with you! So let’s divorce!”
Shen Mo was speechless.
This was outright slander!
He tried to snatch it back again.
Chu Yi simply rolled over, straddling him, pressing him down until his vision went dark and his chest ached with pain.
Her golden eyes looked down at him from above without a trace of pity.
The Child Talisman flickered urgently once more.
This time, the message transmitted was short but carried a distinctly cold and sharp quality.
“Who are you?”
Qin Shuying had clearly sensed that the reply was not Shen Mo himself.
Not just because of the insulting content, but because Shen Mo had never called her “Matriarch”!
Chu Yi raised an eyebrow slightly, leisurely, and replied again.
This time, her tone was even more frivolous and lewd: “He’s on my bed right now, moaning ‘chest chest chest’ oh my, rolling his eyes, drooling, making a peace sign with both hands—how slutty can you get! You’ve probably never seen him like this!”
To increase credibility, she added a sentence: “By the way, I really like the red mole on his waist.”
The moment it was sent, the talisman paper vibrated violently, as if she could already see the woman on the other side fuming with rage.
Chu Yi even maliciously shook the Child Talisman in front of Shen Mo’s eyes, letting him clearly see those filthy words and appreciate his pale, desperate face, as if his soul had been drained.
Shameless!
Too shameless!
“You… you…” Shen Mo pointed at Chu Yi, so angry that he couldn’t even complete the word “shameless.” He could only glare at her with reddened eyes.
But Chu Yi was in a great mood.
She leaned in close to Shen Mo again, hooked his chin with her finger, and bit hard on his lip, laughing like a demoness: “What? You think I’m going too far? There’s worse to come.”
“Don’t you know that by doing this, you could get someone killed?”
Chu Yi’s mouth didn’t let up. “Get someone killed? Who? That matriarch of yours? If she dies so easily, then she’s not worthy of being your matriarch.”
Shen Mo didn’t speak.
He just sat there, staring at the Child Talisman.
The light curtain dimmed, then lit up, then lit up again.
Qin Shuying was still sending messages, one after another, each more urgent than the last.
Chu Yi no longer replied. She just threw the Child Talisman onto the table, watching it flicker on and off like a fish gasping for air on the shore.
“Immortal Maiden Chu… I… I didn’t deceive you…” Shen Mo stammered, explaining hurriedly.
“I just… I really needed that Dragon Spine Liquid. I had no other choice… I resorted to this extreme measure… I never meant to deceive your feelings… I really didn’t…”
“Using my Dragon Spine Liquid as a goal—is that enough reason to lie? Can you sit in another woman’s embrace with your wife at home, pretending to be pitiful and innocent?”
Her gaze was like poisoned ice blades, cutting across his pale face.
“I’m not even sure this name is real, am I? A man who, to achieve his goal, doesn’t hesitate to cross-dress, sneak into the Ten Thousand Flower Pavilion, throw himself into a strange woman’s arms, and spout lies full-time… You’re not only hypocritical to the core, but also cowardly and selfish!”
The more she spoke, the angrier she got. Her chest heaved slightly with rage.
A truly… despicable man!
Shen Mo’s face drained of all color. His lips trembled, but he couldn’t utter another word.
Yes, to save Wan’er, he had deceived Pei Yu, used Chu Yi, and even… knowing full well that the other party might misunderstand, he hadn’t clarified.
He bit his lower lip hard, forcing the bitterness rising in his throat to swallow back down.
Seeing him like this, the fire in Chu Yi’s chest actually calmed down oddly.
She felt a faint, untimely stirring in her Dantian, one that even she herself despised.
She hated this feeling of being out of control.
Even more, she hated that she could still feel lust for a married man.
“Get out. Take your things. Leave my sight immediately.”
She turned, swept aside the bead curtain, and walked into the inner chamber.
The bead curtain swayed, separating the inside from the outside into two worlds.
Shen Mo staggered over to the jade table, tremblingly picked up the Child Talisman.
He bent down, retrieved the Huanxue Mian that Chu Yi had torn off the ground, and put it back over his face.
He took a deep breath, wiped his face roughly with his sleeve, and straightened his disheveled hair and clothing.
From his sleeve, he took out some simple disguise items.
With clumsy but swift hands, he reapplied the makeup that softened his features onto his face.
The bronze mirror reflected an unfamiliar face with tender eyebrows and a moving expression.
Though rushed and far less refined than before, it could at least cover most of the masculine angles.
The dim light from outside the corridor came into view, and at the same time, the figure of a beautiful woman in black robes with ink-black hair came into sight, standing there for who knew how long.
Qin Shuying stood a few steps away from the door, her whole body radiating bone-piercing cold.
The cold was so intense that the glazed lanterns hanging under the corridor were covered in a layer of white frost.
Judging by her momentum, if he had come out even a moment later, she would probably have broken in regardless of consequences.
She turned sideways, her eyes fixed on Shen Mo.
Seeing him in such disheveled clothes and with a panicked expression, it was hard not to imagine things.
What happened inside?
A terrifying guess, like a venomous snake, slithered into her mind.
Was she cuckolded?
Right under her nose, after she had just warned Pei Yu, Shen Mo had actually… actually with that woman in that room…