The dim candlelight flickered, casting the shadows of two figures inside the room. Outside, the occasional bird chirp echoed briefly before silence fell once again.
Night had deepened, and at this moment, Pengcheng was asleep.
Ling Xiaodong sat upright and obediently opposite Ye Yiyun, hands resting neatly on his knees, posing as the well-behaved junior disciple.
The two sat quietly like this, exchanging no words.
Ling Xiaodong was the first to break the eerie silence in the room, speaking up:
“Aunt Yun, I’m glad you’re alright. Just now, when I was outside the door, I thought you might have lost your mind.”
“Hmph!”
Ye Yiyun snorted coldly, causing Ling Xiaodong to shiver.
“My chastity is already lost, but if I lose my life too, wouldn’t that just be a free gift to someone? Do you think I’m such a foolish woman?”
Ling Xiaodong glanced at Ye Yiyun’s grim expression and knew he was in for a rough night.
Scratching his head, he gave a sheepish smile and said, “Aunt Yun, your insight is profound.”
Ye Yiyun shot him a sharp glare and said icily:
“No one can talk about what just happened, especially Xiao Yan and your master. Understood?”
“What just happened? Nothing happened at all, right?”
Ling Xiaodong put on a clueless look, starting his favorite act of feigning ignorance.
Ye Yiyun ignored him and continued:
“If anyone else finds out, I… I…”
Her chest rose and fell, the fabric over her bosom straining under the pressure as her impressive cat ears threatened to burst free.
“I’ll kill you and then kill myself!”
She clenched her teeth and said fiercely.
“Hey, hey, hey, don’t! Aunt Yun, you promised you wouldn’t do anything rash!”
Ling Xiaodong hurriedly stepped forward to comfort her.
“It’s all because of you, this ungrateful bastard who betrayed his master and ancestors!”
Ye Yiyun’s eyes reddened as she lost her composure. Her little fists rained down on Ling Xiaodong.
Ling Xiaodong quickly took the blame upon himself.
“It’s all my fault. I forced Aunt Yun. Aunt Yun has done nothing wrong.”
Grabbing one of Ye Yiyun’s slender hands, Ling Xiaodong extended his spiritual perception, checking if she was fully recovered.
“Wait, Aunt Yun, stop hitting me, something’s not right!”
His expression grew serious as he caught her other hand, which was still pounding his head, and probed more carefully.
With both hands held firmly, Ye Yiyun’s face flushed red, as if recalling how she had knelt on the couch with her hands twisted behind her back. She struggled, but Ling Xiaodong held tight.
“What are you doing? I’m fine now!”
Ye Yiyun’s internal yin and yang balance had indeed been restored, but Ling Xiaodong’s exceptionally sharp spiritual perception sensed something was off.
After careful examination, he discovered that Ye Yiyun’s yang energy was still leaking away at a painfully slow pace.
After all, the yang energy supplied was someone else’s, not her own. Only a fraction of it could be converted into usable energy. To fully recover, she would need long-term nurturing and treatment.
Ling Xiaodong reported his findings and suspicions to Ye Yiyun without any alteration.
Her face turned pale as she trembled and whispered:
“So, one time isn’t enough?”
“To be exact, it’s about ninety-nine times eighty-one. At least once every three days.”
Ling Xiaodong gave her the estimate honestly.
“Ninety-nine… eighty-one times!”
Ye Yiyun rolled her eyes and put a hand to her forehead before fainting.
Ling Xiaodong hurriedly caught her before she fell off the chair and shook her shoulder anxiously:
“Aunt Yun, wake up! Wake up!”
Ye Yiyun lay weakly in his arms, staring at the ceiling and murmuring:
“Eighty-one times… I’d rather just die.”
“No, Aunt Yun, look, you’ve already taken the first step. You can’t give up now!”
“Stop yelling, let me be!”
Ye Yiyun pushed Ling Xiaodong away from her chest and sat on the grand chair, frowning deeply as she massaged her temples, looking very troubled.
After a long moment of thought, she extended three pale white fingers toward Ling Xiaodong.
“I want to make a three-rule agreement with you!”
“Aunt Yun, you speak.”
“First! Don’t tell anyone about this, no one, understood?”
This was the original condition, and Ling Xiaodong nodded without hesitation.
“Second! Every time… that… thing happens, you have to blindfold yourself. I will guide the energy flow.”
“Well…”
Ling Xiaodong hesitated.
“Hm?”
Ye Yiyun glared fiercely at him, as if daring him not to agree, threatening to take him down with her.
Ling Xiaodong had no choice but to give in.
“Fine, fine, I agree! What else?”
Ye Yiyun’s ears flushed slightly red, her eyes darting nervously around the room. After a moment’s hesitation, she spoke in a voice barely audible:
“And… don’t call me ‘Aunt’ in private.”
She couldn’t help but think of how Ling Xiaodong kept calling her Aunt Yun while they struggled on the couch, feeling both embarrassed and guilty toward Xiao Yan.
“Then what should I call you? Yiyun? Senior Uncle?”
“Hey, you figure it out yourself! But definitely not Senior Uncle!”
Ye Yiyun had already exhausted all her courage when making the three-rule agreement and could no longer tolerate Ling Xiaodong’s teasing.
Ling Xiaodong watched Ye Yiyun bow her head, her small ears burning bright red, and felt even more fond of her.
He tentatively asked:
“How about I call you ‘Yun’er’?”
At the sound of “Yun’er,” Ye Yiyun’s heart began to pound uncontrollably, a mix of joy and shyness.
Her head bowed even lower, as if wanting to bury itself in her own chest.
“Whatever you want.”
“Then it’s Yun’er! Yun’er? Yun’er?”
“Are you annoying or what! Shut up!”
Ye Yiyun plopped face-down on the table like an ostrich, covering her ears tightly.
Yun’er?
She recalled her past life in the mundane world, how everyone now called her Daoist Qingfeng, and how long it had been since anyone called her by her childhood nickname.
*****
Meanwhile, inside the Lord’s Mansion.
Shao Yinhua looked at Wuyazi with a sinister expression and asked:
“Then why is Ling Xiaodong completely fine? Was this expected?”
“How would I know! The Azure Dragon Red Blood Formation was supposed to be foolproof!”
Wuyazi paced irritably inside the room.
“This just proves how unfathomable they truly are!”
“What do we do next? Just let him go like this?”
Wuyazi stopped and glared at Shao Yinhua. With a sharp motion, he slapped her face with a crisp sound.
“Foolish! Let him go? Whether he lets us go is the real question! If he discovers the truth, we’ll all die here!”
Shao Yinhua held her face silently, looking at Wuyazi with hatred.
She could have easily dodged the slap but dared not.
Wuyazi suddenly stopped, his expression crazed as he made up his mind.
“There’s no other way. Though the time isn’t right yet, I’ll activate the grand formation today and perform a blood sacrifice on all of Pengcheng!”
With that, he opened a hidden door beneath the Lord’s Mansion and descended the stairs.
His figure gradually disappeared into the thick darkness below.