“How is it? Does it feel good to the touch?”
“It’s alright.”
“How does it compare to the real Luo Zhilian?”
“Each has its own charm. One’s more businesslike, the other’s sporty.”
“And compared to Zuo Qiuli?”
“Oh, come on. You know how it is with that fox—just one touch and your hand’s full of trouble.”
“Hehe, so that’s how it is, huh?”
A sharp pain suddenly shot through his thigh. Limuqun cried out and opened his eyes at once.
He saw that the room had vanished, replaced by a deep and heavy darkness.
Zuo Qiuli stood beside him, gnashing her teeth.
What’s going on?
He was stunned for a moment, and a strange heaviness pressed against his chest.
Looking down, he saw a girl as warm and soft as jade nestled tightly in his arms, sound asleep.
“This… this isn’t right, is it?”
Limuqun panicked at once, stumbling to explain,
“Th-this, who put Luo Zhilian in my arms last night? Isn’t this just slandering my purity—”
“You admit she slept in your arms all night?!”
Zuo Qiuli interrupted Limuqun’s defense with a skin-deep smile, her tone fierce.
“I…” Limuqun’s eye twitched as he froze in place.
After a moment, he managed to force out a miserable complaint,
“I didn’t dare do anything improper.”
“Yeah, right.” Zuo Qiuli curled her lips.
“You really think I’m one of those forever oblivious, useless husbands from the movies?”
“I watched everything you two did last night with my own eyes. Need me to help you remember? Limuqun, who likes to spank people.”
Her devilish whisper awakened Limuqun’s memory.
The absurd requests, the ambiguous atmosphere, the unforgettable sensations.
Then, right as the fire was about to burn out of control, sparks flying everywhere—
He’d closed his eyes and fallen fast asleep.
Huh?
Does that make any sense?
Limuqun’s eyes widened as he turned to stare at Zuo Qiuli.
It had to be her doing!
As if she could read his mind, Zuo Qiuli arched her delicate brow and said bluntly, “That’s right, I used the Hypnosis Technique.”
“So, you’re upset your good thing got interrupted?”
“N-no, not at all.”
Limuqun fought back the urge to weep, forcing out a few words through gritted teeth, “Well done, well done.”
“Glad you know. I need you to save your energy for something else.”
Zuo Qiuli snorted, then continued, “But at least we finally found a clue about the Obsession, so it wasn’t in vain that our ‘Great Daoist Limuqun’ sacrificed his looks and endured a night of restraint.”
“Ahem, being able to help is no big deal,” Limuqun coughed twice, putting on an air of selfless labor.
Then he asked curiously, “So what exactly is Luo Zhilian’s Obsession?”
Zuo Qiuli didn’t answer. Instead, she reached out and gently tapped the sleeping girl’s forehead in his arms.
In an instant, the soft, jade-like girl transformed into a stream of flowing light that enveloped the two of them.
The images within the flowing light were especially vivid.
A girl burdened with expectations, shouldering heavy gazes from the moment she was born.
Her parents were mere blurs in her memory; the only clear scene was when she and her elder sister were chosen.
Compared to her sister’s composure, she could only cry incessantly.
“You must be sensible.” That was the only instruction her parents left her.
Her elder sister was both the closest and the most distant of kin.
She yearned for comfort and encouragement, but received only scolding and lectures.
“You must be sensible.” Those were the disappointed, helpless words from her sister.
The Moon Palace, vast yet confining, was the broadest and narrowest prison.
She was the esteemed Xuan Nu, but also a prisoner allowed only to cultivate.
“You must be sensible.” That was the one hope everyone in the Moon Palace placed upon her.
Yet it seemed everyone forgot—she was just a girl, a lonely girl inside, a girl fearful and uncertain about the future.
Countless days and nights, this heavy burden pressed her breathless, warping her heart in strange ways.
“You must be sensible.”
That phrase became a curse.
The images flowed away like water, leaving Limuqun dumbstruck. He mumbled,
“So, Luo Zhilian’s Obsession is…”
“If my guess is right,” Zuo Qiuli said quietly, “it’s to be loved.”
“To be loved?” Limuqun frowned, incredulous.
“She’s been adored by all since childhood—she still needs love?”
Could she really be love-starved after all that repression?
Zuo Qiuli gently explained, “Yes. From birth, this girl was entrusted with immense expectations. She was never short on love, but that love was unbearably heavy—like a clearly priced transaction. That love was only for the mission on her shoulders, not for Luo Zhilian the person, stripped of all status.”
“That’s why she developed a strong urge for self-destruction, a desire for abuse and for downfall. This twisted mentality is hard to explain, yet easy to understand—what she craves is unconditional love, love with no price at all, a love that would embrace her even if she fell into hell itself.”
“And that’s why, in the real world, she used those demonic means on you. Rather than a disciple full of schemes, what she wants is a slave who would give up everything to love her.”
Zuo Qiuli lifted her head, as if speaking both to the flowing light beside them and to something hidden in the darkness, and softly asked,
“Am I right, Luo Zhilian?”
As her voice faded, the flowing light began to surge, and the darkness started to collapse.
A door made of flowing light appeared directly in front of them.
“This, this is—?”
“The door to the Core of the Sea of Consciousness. Beyond it is Luo Zhilian’s Shenhun!”
The two pushed open the door of light and slowly stepped inside.
Within a field of milky-white radiance, a Bingjing Coffin stood quietly upright.
Inside the Bingjing Coffin, Luo Zhilian lay fast asleep, eyes closed.
Only, her breathtakingly beautiful face was covered in dense, seven-colored hues, like a spider’s web lurking beneath her skin, greedily consuming what had once been flawless whiteness.
The thick, shifting colors nearly covered her entire face, making Luo Zhilian show a pained expression even in sleep.
“Her Shenhun has been corroded by the Seven Emotions and Six Desires to this extent?”
Standing in the light, Luo Zhilian frowned slightly and spoke first.
“So what should we do?” Limuqun couldn’t help but ask as he gazed at Luo Zhilian in the Bingjing Coffin.
Faced with his confusion, Zuo Qiuli suddenly flashed a devilish smile, her voice teasing, “This is why I told you to save your strength. Now it’s time to use it.”
“Huh?” Limuqun was even more bewildered.
“The Seven Emotions and Six Desires, at their root, are human desires.” Zuo Qiu Li gently pushed open the Bingjing Coffin and cradled Luo Zhilian in her arms.
“And as for dispelling desires, throughout history, humanity’s methods have always been the same few.”
She gently placed Luo Zhilian in Limuqun’s arms, and reached out to remove the white Daoist robe from Luo Zhilian’s body.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Go for it!” She patted Limuqun firmly on the shoulder.
“With your Golden Core Realm stamina, you’d better last! If you really can’t take it, just call me over to help push your butt!”
Huh?