Upon hearing the invitation from his mentor aunt, Yan Zhen instinctively wanted to refuse. He was eager to start experimenting with extracting the jade’s essence as soon as possible.
However, when he saw the faint glimmer of expectation in their eyes, he couldn’t bear to let them down. He nodded and agreed.
Since he had given his word, he couldn’t afford to leave them feeling neglected.
Shui Bailan’s heart leaped with joy. She affectionately hooked her arm through Yan Zhen’s, pressing her body snugly against his.
“Then let’s go,” she said. “Yu Qing and I rearranged the cave residence. You haven’t seen it yet.”
Dean Yu Qing, standing to the side, also wanted to link arms with Yan Zhen’s other side but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead, she edged closer under the pretense of casualness.
Yan Zhen glanced at Dean Little Aunt and took the initiative to grasp her small hand. Her breath caught, her cheeks rapidly flushing hot as she pretended nothing was amiss and let him hold it.
But before she could savor the moment, Yan Zhen released her hand—and did so deliberately, with a little shake.
Dean Yu Qing felt a mix of embarrassment and irritation deep down. She realized he was teasing her on purpose and lunged forward with her claws bared menacingly.
Yet Yan Zhen’s hand seemed to have eyes of its own, deftly dodging Little Aunt’s fierce grip and foiling her attempt.
Dean Yu Qing seethed with frustration and launched another attack. Starlight danced across Yan Zhen’s hand as he nimbly evaded Dean Little Aunt’s “assault.”
Their hands chased and dodged in a playful pursuit, the speed escalating until Dean Yu Qing, leveraging her cultivation as a Mystic Ancestor expert, finally gained the advantage. She seized Yan Zhen’s hand and held it contentedly, even interlocking their fingers without him quite noticing.
Shui Bailan noticed the flirtatious interplay between them. A sense of relief mingled with envy in her chest. She tightened her grip on his arm and pressed her ample bosom against him.
Sure enough, Yan Zhen’s attention snapped toward her, his ears turning faintly red.
—So cute~
Shui Bailan felt an urge to nibble on his ear.
Amid this subtly charged atmosphere, the three of them arrived at the cave residence on the other side. When Yan Zhen pushed open the door, he saw that the interior had indeed been transformed.
What had once been bare-bones facilities now featured several pieces of furniture and numerous decorations, infusing the space with a stronger sense of livability and a distinct personal flair.
One side was adorned with flowing water motifs, the other with shimmering ice crystals.
Shui Bailan released Yan Zhen’s arm and gestured around her cave residence with pride.
“What do you think, Yan Zhen? Yu Qing and I put a lot of effort into this.”
Yan Zhen nodded.
“It looks great. Setting aside Little Aunt for a moment, Aunt, you’ll be staying here for a good while anyway. Redecorating it to suit your tastes will make living here much more comfortable.”
Dean Yu Qing smirked smugly.
“Definitely cozier than that dump of yours.”
Yan Zhen chuckled.
“I usually crash at Mentor’s place or with Cai Lian.”
“…”
Dean Yu Qing cursed the little pervert inwardly and huffed as she shook off his wandering paw.
“Xuan’er and Miss Cai Lian haven’t returned yet,” Shui Bailan said, biting her lip shyly. “Yan Zhen, why don’t you stay here tonight?”
“Ah?” Yan Zhen blinked in surprise. “Th-that wouldn’t be right, would it?”
Dean Yu Qing was equally startled by her best friend’s boldness, but she held her tongue, pursing her lips with a trace of anticipation in her eyes.
Shui Bailan adjusted her glasses and spoke in a gentle tone.
“Since Xuan’er and Miss Cai Lian aren’t here, you could stay with us. It’d be nice to have each other for company. Your sister-in-law sent me over specifically for moments like this—to take care of you.”
“But—”
Yan Zhen couldn’t shake the odd feeling, as if he were sneaking off for a rendezvous with lovers while Mentor and Cai Lian were away.
“It’s just for one night,” Shui Bailan pleaded. “We won’t do anything to you, okay?”
With her putting it like that, Yan Zhen could hardly refuse.
He didn’t feel entirely at ease, but since he had already made a promise, he needed to embrace it—even take the lead a little. He couldn’t let these women lose face.
Hesitating like that wasn’t what a real man did.
“Alright then. Sorry for the trouble, Aunt.”
Shui Bailan’s face lit up with a radiant smile at his agreement. She turned to her dumbfounded best friend and asked deliberately,
“Yu Qing, you don’t mind, do you?”
Dean Yu Qing had been quietly thrilled but schooled her expression upon hearing the question. She replied coolly,
“He can stay wherever he damn well pleases. What does it have to do with me?”
“Then are you sleeping with me tonight?”
“Whatever.”
So tsundere… Shui Bailan sighed to herself.
“Anyway, let’s take a bath first,” she suggested. “These past few days of nonstop cultivation have left me feeling so down without a good soak.”
“Ahem, yeah. I could really use a bath too.”
As she said this, Dean Yu Qing blushed prettily and stole a glance at a certain someone.
Shui Bailan whispered,
“Yan Zhen, why don’t you join us? I could scrub your back~”
Yan Zhen scratched his cheek and murmured his assent.
He had planned to take a hot bath the moment he got back anyway, followed by a solid night’s sleep. After all, he had spent seven days in the Fire Refining Starry Sky, practicing forging relentlessly with barely any rest.
The three entered the bathroom, where a single large bath pool dominated the space. Two beast heads mounted on the wall spewed water continuously into the pool, keeping it perpetually full. The live water drained away through underground channels.
Considering that Yan Zhen was a fire-attribute mystic cultivator, Shui Bailan activated the talisman patterns on the beast heads to switch the flow to hot water. She returned to Yan Zhen, brimming with eagerness.
“That should be perfect now. Yan Zhen, shall Yu Qing and I help you undress?”
In the past, Dean Yu Qing would have protested immediately, but this time she stayed silent, letting her friend take the lead.
Yan Zhen started to say he could manage himself but thought better of it and nodded, spreading his arms.
A faint smile tugged at Shui Bailan’s lips. As she unfastened Yan Zhen’s belt, she shot her friend a look: You handle the bottom, I’ll do the top.
She arranged it that way to prevent her friend from locking eyes with Yan Zhen and sparking an argument.
Dean Yu Qing knelt silently, her face burning red as she reached out with both hands to grasp the waistband of Yan Zhen’s pants and eased them down slowly.
He had already removed his boots at the bathroom entrance. Yan Zhen glanced at the obedient Dean Little Aunt and lifted his leg cooperatively.
Shui Bailan stripped away Yan Zhen’s outer robes and undergarments in turn, revealing his smooth chest muscles. Her heart pounded, her gaze growing hazy. Unable to resist, her slender hand trailed across them as she teased,
“You’re a grown man, yet your skin is smoother than any girl’s. Is that the effect of your body refining technique?”
Yan Zhen flushed slightly.
“Something like that. My body refining technique is a bloodline method—it works from the inside out.”
Shui Bailan fondled it a few more times before reluctantly pulling her hand away. Glancing down, she saw her friend staring blankly at the blue long-trunked little elephant pattern on his underwear, clearly too shy to remove the final piece.
She knelt beside her, took her friend’s hand, and the message was clear.
Emboldened by the company, Dean Yu Qing summoned her courage. Together, they tugged down Yan Zhen’s beloved long-trunked little elephant boxer shorts.
The two women blinked in bemused admiration, staring for a good long moment before rising to their feet.
“Y-Yan Zhen, you go in first.”
“And don’t you dare turn around!”
“…”
Yan Zhen was somewhat baffled. The women had been so enthusiastic about undressing him—groping here and there—but when it came time for their own clothes, they wouldn’t even let him look, much less lend a hand.
He shook his head and stepped into the bath pool, submerging himself in the warm water up to his chest. Only then did he let out a contented sigh.
It was quite a while before the two beautiful elders slipped into the water after him, settling one on either side.
