Seeing that Lu Li was about to step into the bath, Gu Qingying, who was burning with a strange fire inside, panicked on the spot.
“Ah! Master! This Disciple… I’ll leave at once! You just stay here and enjoy your bath!”
After saying this, she tried to climb ashore from the other side, but her limbs were weak and aching—no matter how many times she tried, she simply couldn’t make it.
Lu Li couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the sight of her floundering in the water.
“Qingkong, why are you panicking? We’re all men here, is there anything to be embarrassed about?”
Hearing Lu Li’s words, Gu Qingying cursed herself bitterly in her heart.
What… what do I have to be embarrassed about?
I…
I’m afraid I really can’t hold myself back, and will end up “eating” you…
Just as this thought flashed through her mind, she saw Lu Li suddenly striding through the swirling mist toward her.
Years of cultivation had given Lu Li a tall, well-proportioned figure and smooth muscle lines, without seeming exaggerated at all, carrying the clear and refined grace unique to a scholar who has endured hardship.
Through the hazy steam, Gu Qingying saw her Master’s silhouette walking straight toward the bath.
Startled, she hurriedly turned her back to him, her voice pitched strangely.
“Ah… Master! Please, please don’t come over!”
“Hmm? Qingkong, when did you become so shy? Earlier, when I was clearing your meridians, didn’t my hands touch every part of your body?”
Lu Li didn’t mind at all—in fact, he found his eldest Disciple’s bashfulness rather amusing.
Gu Qingying’s fair cheeks instantly flushed bright red at these words.
That… that’s not the same!
Back then, you were clearing my meridians over my clothes!
Besides, I wasn’t poisoned at the time…
She was still complaining inwardly when Lu Li stepped into the bath beside her.
Feeling the warm water lap over his waist, Lu Li sighed in comfort.
“That blast from the pill cauldron just now left me covered in ashes and dregs!”
Looking at Gu Qingying, whose back was trembling slightly, Lu Li kindly offered, “Qingkong, why are you turning your back to me? Come, turn around, let me scrub your back.”
“Ah… No, that’s not necessary!”
Gu Qingying was almost in tears.
The heat in her body grew ever more violent with her Master so near—she felt her sanity unraveling little by little.
“Master, you bathe first! This Disciple really should go!”
She tried to stand up in a fluster, but her legs gave out, and she staggered and fell back into the bath, sending a huge splash of water flying.
Lu Li was utterly baffled by his Disciple’s strange behavior and instead took a few more steps forward.
“Qingkong, what’s gotten into you? Did something really go wrong during your cultivation? Come, let me take a look.”
Seeing him drawing nearer, Gu Qingying retreated rapidly in panic, but then—
Her foot slipped.
With a gasp, Gu Qingying fell backward, her soft, white hands flailing and grabbing wildly at the air—just so happening to clutch at Lu Li’s bath towel!
With a loud “splash,” the fabric fell away!
Time seemed to freeze in that instant.
Gu Qingying, holding the towel, sat dazed in the bath, her gaze catching sight of the scene before her—her whole body froze, mind blanking with a loud buzzing.
Amid the swirling mist, Lu Li’s tall, well-built figure was revealed before her eyes.
Within that veiled fog, his strong contours showed faintly through—a sight Gu Qingying had never seen before.
It was a powerful, stunning visual impact; every line of Lu Li’s Dao Body seemed to pulse with vast Dao Rhythms and an indescribable aura of strength.
“Ah… Master…”
Gu Qingying opened her mouth, but no sound came out, like a carp out of water.
Then, she felt an unprecedented wave of heat surge from deep within her, rising fiercely to her head and burning away what little rationality she had left.
Right after, a sudden heat shot through her nose, and two streams of warmth burst forth uncontrollably.
“Pu—”
Bright red lines of blood sprayed from her nose, rapidly diffusing into the surrounding bathwater and forming two dazzlingly vivid marks.
A violent dizziness surged over her, and her vision spun wildly.
Gu Qingying could no longer hold on.
Her body went limp, and she fainted from the sudden blood loss.
As darkness completely devoured her awareness, her final thought was—
“As expected of Master… I could die without regret…”
“Hey! Qingkong? What’s wrong with you?”
Lu Li was startled by his eldest Disciple’s sudden nosebleed and fainting.
Ignoring everything else, he quickly stepped forward and scooped her from the water.
“Hey… Qingkong, what happened?”
Lu Li held Gu Qingying’s limp body and immediately noticed her skin was burning hot.
Remembering her strange behavior just moments before, his heart sank.
Could she really have suffered a deviation in her cultivation?
But just then, he acutely noticed something odd about the body in his arms…
Hm?
Qingkong’s body seems… a bit too delicate and soft, doesn’t it?
And there’s something strangely constricting around his chest…
Just as Lu Li looked down in confusion, about to open Gu Qingying’s bathrobe to check carefully—
With a buzzing and a sharp click…
All movement in the bath suddenly ceased as if gears had locked into place.
The flying droplets froze in midair, the steaming mist hung motionless, and even the beads of blood at Gu Qingying’s nose paused in perfect arcs.
Right then, Gong Shangyu’s figure appeared at the bathroom door like a ghost.
Her rosy eyes were wide with disbelief at the chaotic scene before her!
Her Master was standing there, stunned, the bath towel fallen to one side.
Her wretched little junior sister was limp in their Master’s arms, his hand pressed right against her bathrobe.
Seeing this disastrous tableau, the flames of fury burned fiercely in Gong Shangyu’s chest—even as time itself stood still.
With a sudden step, she charged into the bath, her pink eyes blazing as she stared daggers at her sister held in Lu Li’s arms.
Her voice, shrill with anger, pain, and a bitterness she couldn’t describe, trembled sharply.
“Gu Qingying… you little brat! What—what did you do to Master? Let go, now!”
With Gu Qingying already passed out in Lu Li’s arms, there was no way for her to respond.
Seeing this, Gong Shangyu assumed Gu Qingying had taken advantage of her own drug-induced state to do something utterly outrageous to Master, and now was so lost in her victory that she didn’t even hear her senior’s shouting.
But Gu Qingying didn’t respond at all, just lay limp against Lu Li’s chest.
Gong Shangyu felt her fury boiling over.
“Gu Qingying! You little brat! Deaf, are you? Or did you enjoy it so much you passed out? Wake up!”
Cursing, Gong Shangyu hurried closer, her gaze inevitably catching the sharp, crimson stain deep in the bath—the mark left by Gu Qingying’s nosebleed.
But not knowing what had truly happened, Gong Shangyu’s pupils contracted when she saw the blood in the bath—her heart leaping into her throat.
What?
Blood?
Where did the blood come from?
Could it be… could Gu Qingying and Master really…
That terrible realization struck her like lightning, making her nearly suffocate.
But when she rounded to Lu Li’s side and saw the real scene, the towering anger and dread drained away like a punctured balloon—leaving only a deep sense of speechless absurdity.
There was Gu Qingying, eyes shut, cheeks rosy, twin streaks of nosebleed still hanging at her nostrils—clearly unconscious.
As for Master, though his towel had fallen and his stance was awkward, there wasn’t a single wound on him.
The blood in the bath was obviously just the nosebleed from that useless junior sister!
Piecing everything together—Gu Qingying’s blissful, fainted state—Gong Shangyu instantly understood the truth.
This little brat hadn’t eaten anything; she just got overstimulated by seeing Master’s body, had a surge of drug-induced excitement, and fainted with a massive nosebleed!
“Sigh… What on earth is this!”
Gong Shangyu stood there, her expression twisting through countless emotions before finally turning into a scornful hiss at her useless junior.
“Ptui! Useless thing! You had the chance, Master’s Tang Monk’s Flesh delivered right to your mouth, and you didn’t even know what to do with it! Just seeing Master’s body made you faint? Ugh… You’ve shamed us both!”
Of course, Gong Shangyu had conveniently forgotten that not long ago, in the Pill Cauldron Pavilion courtyard of Yangzhou City, she herself had once blushed and suffered a nosebleed after secretly watching Master practicing swordplay and catching a glimpse of his chest.
She’d even had to lean against the wall just to stay upright.
Frankly, compared to Gu Qingying, she was no better—both sisters were equally hopeless; neither had any right to laugh at the other…
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