“Sect Leader, I beg your help! Disciple… disciple only wishes to return to my Matriarch’s side, to behave and know my place. I dare not reveal a single word of what happened! I only ask that the Matriarch and Peak Master Qin put aside their conflict…”
“It is good that you think this way.”
She nodded slightly.
“As for Wan’er… I also do not wish to see her Dao Heart disturbed because of this.”
Yun He said no more. She extended a pale, slender hand and scooped a handful of clear spiritual spring water from the air.
The water in her palm radiated a chilling cold, utterly incompatible with the ambiguous, stifling heat of the quiet room.
“Undress.”
Shen Mo had thought the days of mad torment were over. But looking at that handful of spiritual spring water, a chill deeper than what he had felt when forcibly taken crept up his spine.
“What? Don’t want to wash away the traces?”
He shook his head.
Face reddened, fingers trembling, he undid the clasps…
These were all the evidence of Qin Shuying’s earlier actions, now glaringly conspicuous.
Her fingers swept over him. The spring water silently seeped into Shen Mo’s limbs and bones, making him shiver.
The soreness from being overused became even more pronounced under the cold water’s stimulation.
The pink bite marks faded and vanished at a visible rate. His skin returned to its original smoothness.
The scent that had clung to his clothes and hair was washed away completely.
Then, Shen Mo felt a domineering surge of spiritual power forcibly charge into his meridians. It was something colder and harder than the spring water.
Yun He was scouring his insides with her spiritual power.
“Mm…” Shen Mo bit his lip hard.
Yun He stopped. She looked at the body that had been restored to perfection, satisfied.
“Alright. Your body is clean.”
She did not immediately let him dress. Instead, she paced around him, admiring his frightened appearance. The smile at the corner of her mouth deepened.
After feasting her eyes, she finally withdrew her attention.
Leisurely, she took a set of Jiaoyue Peak disciple robes from her storage ring and tossed them over.
Shen Mo quickly put on the clothes and tidied himself.
In a daze, he felt as if the entanglement with these women had truly become a hazy dream, leaving no trace.
“The traces are gone. Even if Wan’er sweeps you with her divine sense, it will be hard for her to detect anything unusual. You may return to Jiaoyue Peak in peace.”
She paused, then said, “It’s just… traces are easy to remove, but the knot in the heart is hard to untie.”
“Shuying’s obsession runs deep. If Wan’er learns of your experience, even if she forgives, a rift will remain in her heart that can never be healed. Moreover, a man’s chastity is paramount. Though you were not willing, if word of this spreads, it would be a disaster for you, for me, for Wan’er, and for Jiaoyue Peak’s reputation.”
Shen Mo’s heart sank.
Yes, traces could be erased, but how could what happened be erased?
Wan’er was gentle on the outside but firm within, holding strong to her principles.
Even if she could understand his helplessness, how could they ever go back to the way they were with such ugliness between them?
Yun He lifted her eyes slightly, looking at his bewildered, helpless gaze. The corner of her mouth curled into a faint, meaningful arc. Her voice dropped lower, carrying a seductive, persuasive lilt:
“The road home is long, and people’s hearts are easily disturbed. I know Wan’er is single-minded in her pursuit of the Dao, cold and self-possessed. But on the great path, it is inevitable that external demons will test the heart.”
Shen Mo’s heart pounded violently.
A wave of ominous foreboding seized him.
“The best way is to make Wan’er… not clean either.”
She leaned forward, closing in to his ear, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, like a poison snake hissing:
“On the road she must take to return to the peak, I have arranged for a person. A top-tier handsome gentleman from the Joyous Union Sect. Not only is his appearance perfect and his temperament refined, but even more rare… he is a master of every amorous art, most skilled at enticing those self-proclaimed pure female cultivators… making them unable to resist.”
“Oh, right.” As if suddenly remembering, she added, the malice in her eyes deepening, “He also carries some secret treasures from the Joyous Union Sect. Colorless and odorless, even a Nascent Soul cultivator would find it hard to detect. The effect isn’t too strong… it just makes one… lose control.”
She watched as the color drained from Shen Mo’s face and his lips trembled wordlessly. She let out a light laugh.
“Tell me—what do you think your good wife Su Wan’er will do? She has been in seclusion for seven years, living ascetically, just emerged, knowing nothing of your seven-year ordeal, perhaps even feeling guilty and wanting to make it up to you. On her way home, filled with longing, she suddenly meets such a… perceptive, gentle, sweet-talking person who happens to stir her heart…”
“What will she do?”
Yun He tilted her head as if genuinely pondering the question, but her eyes were filled with cold mockery.
“Will she sternly refuse, guarding her chastity for you? Or… half-pushing and half-yielding, or even unable to control her feelings, fall into depravity, and share a night of spring breezes?”
“At that time… she will only be more terrified than you are, more eager to cover up.”
“You husband and wife, each with your own blemish, each holding leverage over the other, will naturally be able to understand each other and quietly turn over this unbearable page. Harmonious conjugal relations, a renewed bond—wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
She paused, her gaze piercing like an ice blade into the depths of his already hollow eyes.
“You no longer need to worry that she will divorce you for being unclean.”
“Because——”
She parted her red lips and spoke the final verdict that sent Shen Mo plummeting into the hell of endless suffering:
“You are even now.”
“How fair, isn’t it?”
The words fell, and the quiet room fell into a dead silence.
Shen Mo felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, all the blood in his body instantly frozen.
He stared incredulously at Yun He’s still gentle and compassionate face, listening to her utter the most venomous, filthy plan in the calmest tone.
To have Wan’er… also lose her chastity through a scheme?
To use such despicable means to defile the last pure land in his heart?
All for the sake of a twisted stability built on shared taint?
Shen Mo’s vision blurred, and he could barely stand.
“You… you’re despicable! Shameless! How can you… how can you use such lowly tricks on Wan’er?! She is your disciple! The apprentice you raised since childhood! Do you have any humanity?!”
Yun He listened to his curses but did not grow angry.
She slowly smoothed her sleeve, brushing off nonexistent dust.
“Speaking of which,” she parted her red lips again, her voice gentle but every word cutting to the bone, “if anyone is to blame, it must be you.”
“Me?” Shen Mo’s eyes widened.
Anger and absurdity intertwined, leaving him momentarily speechless.
“Yes, you.” Yun He took half a step forward, her gaze like a probing needle.
She swept her eyes over his pale but still stunningly beautiful face, his narrow waist, his swan-like neck, his slightly heaving chest wrapped in plain white robes, and finally settled on his eyes filled with shock and fury.
“Who told you to have a Pure Yin Body and such a face?”
“A rare piece of flawless jade with no ability to protect itself, yet exposed to a pack of wolves. Your very existence tempts people to err, to give birth to improper thoughts and… the desire to take.”
“If you weren’t so alluring, how would so many storms have arisen?”
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