Yan Zhen wasn’t upset at all. He was just shocked, his mind racing and unable to settle.
Ever since arriving at Holy Land Academy, he’d already encountered three reincarnators.
Zi Xunyi, Long Ying, and Mentor Yu Xuan.
By his reckoning, Cailian Wife was one too.
Was Holy Land Academy some kind of special hotspot or our personal respawn fountain? Reincarnators popping up one after another—it was downright absurd.
Transmigration and reincarnation were supposed to be the protagonist’s exclusive perks.
Now even the female side characters were reincarnating, and his transmigrator’s badass aura plummeted in an instant.
Plus, the script didn’t have anyone reincarnating at all—though to be fair, the plot had been going off the rails for a while now. Dwelling on it was just a waste of time.
【……】
Yan Zhen gazed at Mentor Yu Xuan. Seeing her pitiful expression, a wave of tenderness washed over him.
“I’m just kidding, Mentor. From our days at Mystic Academy until now, I’ve seen all the kindness you’ve shown me with my own eyes and etched it deep in my heart. How could I ever get mad at you?”
“Yan Zhen!” Tears welled up in Mentor Yu Xuan’s eyes as she threw her arms around her lover. “I’m so scared—scared of repeating the tragedies of my past life, scared I can’t change what happened, scared we won’t end up together.”
Yan Zhen hurriedly wrapped his arms around her soft little waist, soothing her. “I’m sorry, Mentor. It’s my fault for not giving you enough sense of security.”
All this time, he’d been passively basking in Mentor Yu Xuan’s affections. Because of all his various worries and hesitations, he’d rarely given her the meaningful response she deserved.
By the time he finally acknowledged their relationship, they were forced apart. Thinking back on it, her devotion to him far outweighed anything he’d done in return.
Love wasn’t always perfectly equal—one side was always favored a bit more—but Yan Zhen believed he had to do his utmost to make both the woman he loved and the woman who loved him feel truly happy.
“It’s not your fault. I’ve just been too obsessed.” Mentor Yu Xuan loosened her embrace slightly. Her slender hand cupped his face as she gazed deep into his eyes from close range. “I’ve already missed my chance once. I don’t want to miss it again.”
“That won’t happen, Mentor.” Yan Zhen’s arms crossed behind the small of her back, pressing her tightly against his chest as if he wanted to merge with her completely. “We’re together now. Any separation would just be temporary. I’ll cultivate hard and marry you as soon as I can.”
As he spoke, even Yan Zhen’s cheeks flushed. Her passionate emotions were so intense that he couldn’t help but respond in kind.
“Yan Zhen…” Mentor Yu Xuan’s eyes brimmed with emotion. “Hold me. Kiss me. Leave your mark on me. Make me a woman who belongs to you alone. Will you?”
“Uh… right here?”
“Mm. This is my seclusion spot. No one will come.”
—Why did it feel like Mentor Yu Xuan was going pretty wild with this? Their first time out in the open didn’t seem like the best idea.
Yan Zhen murmured softly, “I’m worried Little Aunt and the others might have followed us.”
A shy smile curved Mentor Yu Xuan’s lips. “You misunderstand me, Yan Zhen. I meant we should go to the stone chamber behind the waterfall.”
“The stone chamber?”
Only then did it click for Yan Zhen. The script did mention a stone chamber here—it was Yu Shizun’s private seclusion spot within the Yu Family grounds.
A Supreme was at Mystic Venerable Peak. Cultivating at that level produced spatial fluctuations that ordinary array formations couldn’t conceal, so they had to stay far from crowds or create their own dedicated cave residences.
But earlier, the Yu Family Head Mother-in-Law had specifically warned them not to enter Yu Shizun’s seclusion grounds. Wasn’t barging in knowingly a bad idea?
Yan Zhen glanced at Mentor Yu Xuan, but she showed no hesitation or intention of explaining. Instead, she took his hand again with a smile. “Come on. First, wrap yourself in mystic power so you don’t get soaked.”
Yan Zhen nodded and summoned his fire mystic power to envelop his body, making him look like a little fireman.
Mentor Yu Xuan cloaked herself in water Mystic force and led him hand-in-hand into the waterfall.
The gentle cascade pouring down from above parted around their mystic power barriers. They took ten steps before stopping.
Looking closely, there was indeed the faint outline of a door on the rock wall.
Mentor Yu Xuan reached out and touched the stone door, channeling her mystic power into it. Twisted patterns emerged across its surface, and the door slowly rose.
“It’s open.”
“…”
Now Yan Zhen truly felt confirmed: Mentor Yu Xuan was a reincarnator.
In the script, Yu Shizun had taken a great liking to her and permitted her entry to this private spot. She’d even personally guided her cultivation.
That must have been when she learned how to open the stone door. Otherwise, getting in and out of a Supreme powerhouse’s seclusion grounds wouldn’t be so easy.
This was actually just the back entrance. There was another door on the far side of the mountain—that was the main one. Yu Family members seeking an audience with Yu Shizun always used it. The back path saw little use; probably even the Yu Family Head Mother-in-Law didn’t know how to access it.
The two stepped through the entrance into a passageway. Fluorescent stones embedded in the walls lit the area bright as day.
Beyond the passage, the space opened up dramatically.
The stone chamber was as vast as a basketball court, yet starkly empty. Glowstones studded the ceiling, and an array formation was inscribed on the floor with a prayer mat at its center. Nothing else occupied the room.
A faint pill fragrance wafted through the air. Just one breath left one’s mind refreshed and spirit uplifted.
Smaller side chambers branched off to the left and right. The left held bookshelves and some damaged Mystic artifacts. The right contained a pill furnace and a row of medicine cabinets.
—Yu Shizun was an alchemist too, once mentored by Beautiful Female Master. Her skill had reached seventh tier, nearing eighth, and she’d created plenty of practical pill formulas.
Seeing all this, Yan Zhen grew tense, as if Yu Shizun herself loomed before him, radiating overwhelming pressure.
“Mentor, this place is—”
Mentor Yu Xuan lowered her voice. “Yu Shizun’s seclusion grounds.”
“What? Yu Shizun? That doesn’t seem right.” Yan Zhen feigned surprise. “What if we leave traces and someone finds out? We’re done for! Besides, Mother-in-Law warned us not to intrude before we left.”
“But everywhere else on the island is under Mother and the others’ watch.” Suddenly, Mentor Yu Xuan looped her arms around Yan Zhen’s neck. Her gaze turned alluring as she drank in his handsome features, her heart growing hotter by the second. “Don’t worry. Her Supremacy only returns to the Yu Family two or three times a year—usually for New Year and ancestor worship. New Year’s long past, and ancestor worship is still over a month away. She won’t be back.”
“Mentor…”
Yan Zhen met her eyes and sensed her burning urgency. She wanted to be his alone, branded by him, united with him as one. She needed him!
“Yan Zhen…”
Mentor Yu Xuan leaned in and offered her lips.
Their clothes drifted to the ground like withered leaves in the wind.
Outside the waterfall, Dean Little Aunt—who had trailed the young couple—and Mentor Aunt, who had followed Dean Yu Qing, were both baffled. Where had they disappeared to?
Afraid of being spotted, the two women hadn’t dared get too close. They’d seen the pair enter the water but missed them passing through the waterfall.
They’d never have dreamed the lovers could enter Yu Shizun’s seclusion grounds.
At the same time, in Jialan Holy Land, atop Rain God Peak—one of the seven main peaks—Yu Shizun slowly opened her clear eyes as she sat cross-legged on her prayer mat.
