Yesterday, when she left, Jiang Luo glanced back and saw the two senior brothers standing guard at the door like sentinels. But today, whether during the day or now, they were nowhere to be seen.
This made Jiang Luo even more curious. Just who was this Xu Lin? He seemed far from ordinary.
After lingering outside the courtyard for a long time, Jiang Luo finally took small steps and entered. Even though she was here to keep an appointment, she felt as nervous as a thief.
When she pushed open the door, the candles inside were bright. Jiang Luo blurted out, “Xu Lin, are you still here?”
Looking around, she found Xu Lin sitting cross-legged on the bed, appearing to be meditating.
His brows were tightly furrowed, and there was faint sweat on his forehead. She couldn’t tell what was happening.
Afraid of disturbing him, Jiang Luo took a step back, intending to quietly retreat.
“Didn’t I say midnight?” Xu Lin suddenly spoke. “Why so early?”
He slowly opened his eyes, a trace of tiredness flickering in them, and turned to look at Jiang Luo, who looked like a thief.
There was still over an hour until their agreed time. Jiang Luo arriving so early caught him off guard.
“Sorry, I think I disturbed you,” Jiang Luo said nervously. “I’ll come back later.”
Xu Lin exhaled a breath of turbid air. “Since you’re already here, why bother making another trip?”
He had just been regulating the injury left by Xi Ranchen’s move.
That woman was truly ruthless. Even though she had held back, the residual force was still hard for Xu Lin to bear.
Although he had entered the Heavenly Firmament Realm, there were some issues hidden within him.
He had already reached the Heavenly Firmament Realm before leaving the Vast Dao Sect, but he discovered that his realm seemed stuck there. No matter how he cultivated, he couldn’t advance.
His spiritual energy also never fully recovered to a full state. It was extremely strange.
Logically, the Xu Lin in the story fell after entering the Life and Death Realm, so he shouldn’t have stagnated at the Heavenly Firmament Realm.
Could it be that because he had deviated from the original storyline, his realm had also started to malfunction?
That was something he needed to investigate.
Xu Lin looked at Jiang Luo, who was still standing there dumbfounded, and found it ridiculous for a moment.
“Didn’t you say you often cultivate here? Why are you being so cautious now?”
Jiang Luo puffed out her lips and said softly, “That’s because there was no one here before. Now that you’re here, it’s different.”
Whether someone saw her issues made a huge difference.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so reactive when Xu Lin suddenly barged in last night.
Now that she needed something from him, she had to maintain the proper attitude.
Xu Lin shook his head and said simply, “Come up.”
“Huh?” Jiang Luo was startled, her whole body trembling.
“If you’ve changed your mind, you can go back directly.”
Xu Lin was still hesitant about whether to help Jiang Luo. After his experience with Yang Yao, intervening again carried great risk for him.
In that brief moment, Jiang Luo was in turmoil, debating whether to obey Xu Lin’s words.
She had long heard that even fellow disciples in the Sunset Sect didn’t casually extend help to each other without some sort of exchange.
Male to female, female to male, or even mutual exploitation—it was nothing new.
When Xu Lin asked why he should help her, Jiang Luo had already vaguely guessed the implication.
Seeing Jiang Luo hesitate, Xu Lin simply looked away.
It was up to her; it wasn’t like he had anything to lose.
Just as Xu Lin thought Jiang Luo had changed her mind and was about to close his eyes to continue regulating himself, he suddenly heard rustling sounds in front of him.
Jiang Luo climbed onto the bed and sat across from him.
“I know the rules.”
“What rules?” Now it was Xu Lin who was confused.
Under his gaze, Jiang Luo took off her light gauze and started to untie her waistband.
“Hey, what are you doing!” Xu Lin stared wide-eyed, looking incredulous, almost reaching out to stop her.
“Didn’t you want to…” Jiang Luo bit her lip, her face flushed crimson.
“Wow.” Xu Lin was speechless for a moment.
This Sunset Sect really lived up to its reputation as a Demon Sect. Everyone here had wild ways.
What kind of rule was this?
Xu Lin was almost amused by Jiang Luo. She had mistaken him for a member of the Demon Sect.
No, wait. He had been appointed a Saint by Xi Ranchen. In a way, he was already a member of the Demon Sect.
Thinking about that, Xu Lin felt inexplicably irritated.
“Get those bizarre thoughts out of your head. Sit cross-legged and circulate your Qi through your meridians. I’ll guide you,” Xu Lin said bluntly, not wanting to waste words.
It wasn’t like with Yang Yao, where he needed to insert needles at acupuncture points.
Jiang Luo blinked, finally understanding Xu Lin’s meaning. Her blush didn’t fade but grew even more intense.
Under the candlelight, her face was so tender it seemed like it might drip water.
“So that’s how it is… I’ll listen to you.”
Jiang Luo quickly sat cross-legged as Xu Lin instructed, then shut her eyes to regulate her breathing, afraid of misunderstanding again.
“Just do what you normally do.”
“Mm.”
After a few breaths, Jiang Luo’s spiritual energy circulated through her meridians, and she entered a cultivation state.
Xu Lin stared intently at her, his eyes shimmering like starlight, carefully observing the flow of spiritual energy inside her.
In just a short while, the restlessness within Jiang Luo surged. Her body grew uneasy, and that subtle sensation in her abdomen became clearer and harder to control.
The Cold Jade hanging at her waist emitted a chill, helping to suppress the agitation on its own.
Xu Lin took it all in and said, “Use the cultivation technique of your Sunset Sect.”
“But if I do that, I’ll…” Jiang Luo’s voice carried panic.
If she activated the technique, the previous situation would repeat. When she was alone, it was manageable, but now she had to do it in front of Xu Lin.
Just thinking about what would happen next made her want to find a hole to crawl into.
“Do as I say,” Xu Lin said impatiently.
“Oh…”
Seeing no other option, Jiang Luo had no choice but to comply.
As the technique ran, the feeling intensified. A flush involuntarily spread across Jiang Luo’s face. Her breathing became erratic, and her brows knitted together.
“So it really is this kind of constitution,” Xu Lin remarked. “Pure Spirit Jade Body.”
There was nothing wrong with Jiang Luo’s constitution, nor with the Sunset Sect’s cultivation technique.
The key was that the Pure Spirit Jade Body belonged to the purest and most spiritual lineage—an Ethereal Spirit Body and Pure Spirit Dao Heart—which could not fully match the techniques of a Demon Sect like the Sunset Sect.
They were opposites. Short-term cultivation wouldn’t cause problems, but once she reached the Return to Origin Realm, she needed to condense spiritual energy, evolve her true essence, and initially awaken this constitution. That was when Jiang Luo’s situation would occur.
At this realm, without proper guidance, the Pure Spirit Jade Body would be negatively affected, damaged, and become a strange hybrid.
However, once she passed this realm and entered the True Mystery Realm, everything would be fine.
As the technique operated, demonic aura emerged from Jiang Luo’s body, seemingly trying to suppress the constitution’s energy. She was on the verge of breaking down, about to repeat what had happened before.
At that moment, Xu Lin raised his hand, using two fingers like a blade, and pressed down toward the area below Jiang Luo’s collarbone.
Jiang Luo shuddered, but her breathing began to stabilize.