In Shang Si’s eyes, since they were both women, there was really no need to make a fuss about simply changing clothes.
Lu Shiyuan held a special place in her heart, it was true, but Shang Si had never entertained so much as a single improper thought toward her.
Not just Lu Shiyuan—even since she could remember, the notion of romance had never once stirred within Shang Si.
She was devoid of emotions and desires, free of attachments and affections.
But Shang Si had no idea that Lu Shiyuan, with the wisdom of two lifetimes, understood all the subtle twists and turns of such situations all too well—especially when their relationship and surroundings were this tantalizingly ambiguous. Even so, she followed Shang Si’s instructions and did as she was told.
A hazy mist swirled around them, like a thin veil draped between the two women.
Lu Shiyuan hailed from a cultivation sect, after all, and she naturally carried an air of upright righteousness, unyielding as she stood tall against the heavens. Now, poised amid the vast fog rising from the water, she seemed even more ethereal and otherworldly, far removed from the vulgar masses of the Mortal Realm.
The woman stood sideways by the edge of the spring, her bare feet resting on the smooth stone surface. Her movements were slow and deliberate. When her clothes finally fell away layer by layer, she paused for a moment and turned her face slightly.
Shang Si knew Lu Shiyuan was stealing a glance at her with the corner of her eye.
Or perhaps it was she who was watching Lu Shiyuan.
Most cultivators possessed senses far keener than ordinary folk, and with time and growing cultivation, that sensitivity only sharpened.
Once the last piece of clothing slipped from her body, Lu Shiyuan felt a gaze settle on her back.
“There’s an old scar on your lower back,” Shang Si said frankly, explaining what had caught her eye.
“Mm… I got that from an ambush in a secret realm some time ago. It was a severe injury. I barely survived, but my cultivation was completely ruined—I haven’t made any progress since.” And that was precisely what had led to everything happening today.
If not for that dramatic rise and fall, Lu Shiyuan would still be the chief disciple of the Sword Spirit Sect right now, roaming the world slaying demons alongside her fellow sect members like everyone else. She never would have crossed paths with Shang Si.
She spoke of it lightly, retrieving a thin robe from her Spirit Ring as she replied.
But in those few words, Shang Si had already silently drawn near behind her. “Did it hurt?”
Stray strands of hair brushed against Lu Shiyuan’s shoulder and neck, sending a faint tickle through her skin. Then Shang Si’s cool fingertips gently pressed against her lower back.
Out of Shang Si’s sight, Lu Shiyuan’s pretty face flushed faintly.
The gesture was just… far too suggestive!
The woman bit her red lip lightly with her white teeth, her gaze drifting uncertainly.
In that instant, countless images flashed through Lu Shiyuan’s mind. If she didn’t know Shang Si’s character so well, she might have thought they were moments away from tumbling onto a bed together.
So what would someone like Shang Si be like when swept up in passion?
She steadied her mind and forcibly reined in her wandering thoughts.
At the same time, she twisted awkwardly to the side, evading Shang Si’s touch, then turned around. “It hurt terribly at the time, but I don’t remember it anymore.”
By now, she had already draped the thin robe over her shoulders.
The two women met each other’s eyes. In Shang Si’s dark, lovely gaze, Lu Shiyuan caught a glimpse of her own reflection.
Shang Si withdrew her outstretched hand at that moment and changed the subject. “It’s getting late. Let’s begin.”
The water in the pool had grown even richer in color by then. The two entered one after the other, sinking in up to their shoulders. As soon as Lu Shiyuan submerged, she felt the dense spiritual energy pooled at the bottom—emanating from the spiritual medicines.
Following Shang Si’s step-by-step guidance, she calmed her mind and circulated her cultivation technique. She let go of all defenses, allowing Shang Si’s divine sense to enter and repair her spirit veins.
This wasn’t the first time, so Shang Si’s aura felt utterly familiar to Lu Shiyuan. The two energies intertwined, indistinguishable from one another, and that strange tingling numbness surged through her limbs once more.
“Hm…” Lu Shiyuan couldn’t hold it back and let out a soft, muffled hum. As the warmth rose, her face grew flushed.
Up to this point, everything followed the usual, normal procedure.
The problem was what had happened before they entered the water tonight: Shang Si changing right in front of her, utterly bare.
Scene after scene replayed in her mind like a lantern show. Lu Shiyuan was entranced.
“Shiyuan?”
“Lu Shiyuan, what are you thinking?!” Shang Si cried out in alarm, withdrawing her presence and snapping her eyes open.
Her line of sight pierced the thick steam, landing on the woman seated across from her—whose face was alternately pale and flushed. This was a clear precursor to qi deviation.
As the one guiding the technique, Shang Si sensed the abnormality in Lu Shiyuan’s spiritual energy flow right away. Not only that, but her previously steady aura had begun to churn chaotically.
To lose focus during cultivation and let one’s mind wander was a grave taboo.
In the mildest cases, it led to backlash from the technique itself. In the worst, it threatened one’s life. And if someone forcibly interrupted midway, all the spiritual energy gathered by the technique would lash out at the interrupter, fraught with danger.
But by now, no matter what, Shang Si could never abandon Lu Shiyuan to her fate.
Seeing Lu Shiyuan’s condition deteriorate, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, Shang Si made her decision in an instant.
The moment she reached out to grab her, spiritual power surged violently inside Lu Shiyuan. The attack she had been gathering and condensing slashed toward Shang Si’s face like a merciless death blade. Spiritual light flashed through the vast inner hall as pearl curtains swayed, sending ripples across the pool’s surface.
Only when the mist finally cleared did the woman collapse forward, boneless and limp, caught perfectly by a pair of soft hands that steadied her against a shoulder.
Shang Si lowered her eyes, forcibly suppressing the two rampaging streams of qi churning within her, and gazed at the woman in her arms. “Shiyuan? Lu Shiyuan…” Her voice rose, laced with a hint of panic.
The woman’s long lashes, dotted with water droplets, trembled faintly, as though she had heard her name being called. Abruptly, she opened her tightly shut eyes.
“Cough… Shang Si…” Breaking free from her sealed state, Lu Shiyuan regained a sliver of awareness. Her condition remained dire, though—a sweet, metallic taste welled up in her throat with a cough, staining her snow-white thin blouse crimson. The blood bloomed on the water’s surface like clusters of bewitching red flowers.
Seeing her awake, Shang Si’s heart, which had been in her throat, eased slightly.
She steadied herself. “You just suffered qi deviation. Don’t talk yet—can you circulate your qi to regulate your breathing?”
Lu Shiyuan pressed her lips together and feebly lifted a hand. She had only meant to grab hold of something for leverage to sit up, but with a sharp rip, she accidentally tore away a large swath of Shang Si’s thin blouse from her shoulder.
Both women froze. Lu Shiyuan even stared at Shang Si in stunned silence for a couple of seconds.
—This wasn’t her intention, but she couldn’t deny it suited her perfectly.
Shang Si’s snow-white shoulder and neck lay bare before her. The mist, scattered earlier by true qi, began to gather once more. Their clothes clung sodden to their bodies from the pool water. In that moment, Lu Shiyuan recalled the visions that had flashed through her mind during her qi deviation… She simply let go, collapsing back into Shang Si’s arms like a corpse and giving herself over to utter indolence.
Yet she schooled her features into a pitiful, tear-streaked mask of frailty, whimpering, “I can’t circulate my qi, Shang Si. My body hurts so much.”
