Chapter 62: Why is there an extra one?!

As Ling Huan watched Yin Luoling’s fair little face transition from pale to a deep crimson, he finally realized this wasn’t shyness—this was rage about to boil over.

But he had no choice.

If he didn’t dampen Yin Luoling’s arrogance and show her he wasn’t a soft persimmon she could squeeze at will, she would only become more overbearing in the future.

“You injured me; shouldn’t you look after me today?”

Ling Huan said, showing the wound on his arm to Yin Luoling.

“Oh, it hurts so much. If Father and Mother knew my arm had been pierced through, or if the teacher knew I’d suffered such a heavy injury…”

“…Are you threatening me?”

“If your Pagoda were to disappear forever—”

Yin Luoling clenched her fists so hard her fingernails dug deep into her palms, turning her fingertips white.

Shaming fury made her body tremble uncontrollably.

She gritted her teeth, leaving faint marks on her lower lip, and glared at the ground.

Waves of anger nearly spilled from her eyes.

But a moment later, the violent trembling subsided, replaced by an icy calm—not of submission, but of endurance.

‘Actually, isn’t this exactly what I wanted?’

She wanted to kill Ling Huan.

She had to prove he was a beast.

Wasn’t his current behavior just handing her a sharp blade to use against him?

‘Using the thing I want to force me into submission and sacrifice… isn’t that perfect?’

Ling Huan knew what limited her, but he certainly didn’t know she was no longer bound by her past “naivety and innocence.”

“Fine…”

Yin Luoling’s voice was hoarse but carried a hint of serenity.

She nodded heavily, her gaze becoming resolute.

Yin Luoling raised her hand and touched the ribbons of her outer robe.

Her fingertips paused for a moment, a brief hesitation born of a young girl’s innate shame.

But that moment was immediately replaced by a frantic determination to break the jade rather than remain whole.

Her movements became steady as she shed her outer layers one by one.

The sound of silk sliding off her shoulders was exceptionally clear in the silence.

Finally, only a pink bodice and matching cotton shorts remained, guarding the girl’s final secrets.

Her skin, exposed to the air, broke out in goosebumps—partly from the cold, but mostly from instinctive resistance and shame.

Having lived through two lives, this was the first time she had exposed so much skin to a man.

Yet she did not lower her head or look away.

Instead, she met Ling Huan’s gaze.

There was no shyness in her eyes, only the grim determination of someone who had burned her bridges.

Ling Huan seemed impatient as well.

He reached out, grabbed Yin Luoling’s hand, and pulled her back to the bed.

He tossed back the covers and told her to get in.

Ling Huan first found a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his arm, then produced a white porcelain bottle out of thin air.

He sprinkled the powder inside onto the wound, providing basic treatment for his injury.

Yin Luoling stared intently at the process but found no flaws.

It wasn’t some deceptive trick; it was the genuine storage of items within the void.

Once he finished, Ling Huan also slipped under the covers.

Yin Luoling closed her eyes and heard Ling Huan lower the bed curtains.

She waited for his predatory hands to move.

But as time passed, no restless hand wandered over her body.

All she heard was Ling Huan’s slightly rapid breathing.

It wasn’t the breathing of excitement, but the labored breath of someone enduring pain.

Yin Luoling slowly opened her eyes and stole a glance at Ling Huan.

She found him lying quite honestly, his feet curled up.

?

‘Is he not going to do anything to me?’

“Thinking about why I’m not laying a hand on you?”

Yin Luoling was startled.

How were Ling Huan’s senses so sharp?

“Don’t be silly. With that small frame of yours—no chest, no butt—why would I have any desire to do anything?”

“You’re the one with the small frame! In the future, I’ll grow to be—”

No, no, no.

Yin Luoling quickly shook her head.

‘Why am I arguing with him about this?’

She immediately tried to change her defense, but Ling Huan’s scolding followed instantly: “Shut up and go to sleep. I’m your brother; how could I have designs on you? Just sleep. Since you’ve been reincarnated, have you had a single moment of proper rest?”

…

Those words silenced Yin Luoling.

It seemed… she hadn’t.

She had been fighting desperately, working hard, and risking her life in cultivation.

“Since you’re back from the dead, you should know your current body can’t handle the training intensity of your previous life.”

“…The Pagoda agreed to give me one day just so I could sleep?”

“Would you have listened if I spoke normally? I’ve seen many idiots like you who constantly torture themselves for revenge. Without a little force, how could you possibly be obedient?”

“…Hmph, don’t think this will change my opinion of you. Even if you’re right.”

“Falling for someone always starts with a change in opinion. Hmph, hmph. You aren’t far from falling for me.”

“Keep dreaming. That day will never come. You’d better consider how to avoid being caught and tortured by me in the future.”

Ling Huan didn’t respond further.

He answered her with his gradually steady breathing.

The plan had failed.

However, Yin Luoling wasn’t annoyed at all.

Yin Luoling didn’t believe Ling Huan failed to understand the concept of not letting another sleep by one’s side, yet Ling Huan was sleeping so peacefully… Did that mean… he trusted her not to do anything shameless?

She turned over and stared at Ling Huan’s profile.

At this moment, she could immediately spit out a spirit needle and pierce Ling Huan’s meridians or spine, knocking him unconscious or paralyzing him.

Or she could lung forward and bite through his carotid artery, letting his blood spray everywhere…

Forget it.

She would wait for the Pagoda first.

Once the Pagoda increased her strength, she would have a better chance of capturing Ling Huan.

‘Right, this is just a temporary measure. It’s only to confuse Ling Huan and make him drop his guard. I’ll spare you for now. I’ll let you go for the time being.’

As Yin Luoling thought, she drifted into a heavy sleep.

She forgot all her techniques for staying alert, sleeping with one eye open, or maintaining a light slumber.

Perhaps she didn’t even realize that her body shifted closer to Ling Huan.

Curled on her side like a kitten, she pressed tightly against his side.

…

Past noon, Yin Luoling slowly woke up.

Ling Huan was already gone from her side.

In his place was a small, exquisite pagoda resting quietly by her pillow, with a piece of paper pinned beneath it.

She reached out and picked up the paper.

The handwriting on it was bold and sprawling: ‘Small Pagoda Rental Voucher, limit one use per day! — From the Brother who is about to be enchanted by you.’

Yin Luoling only gave it a cursory glance before tossing the paper aside.

Her eyes were incredibly bright, her gaze fixed firmly on the small pagoda.

She couldn’t wait to hold the pagoda in her palm.

With a pinch of her fingers, a drop of blood emerged and fell precisely onto the warm jade inside the copper shell of the pagoda.

That was right—the method for such a world-defying treasure to recognize a master was unimaginably simple, yet it specifically required the jade core, not the outer copper layer.

The droplet of blood merged into the jade, and in an instant, a faint light shimmered.

Yin Luoling immediately withdrew her mind and focused her spirit with closed eyes.

The next moment, a powerful dragging sensation hit her.

Her consciousness felt as if it were being sucked into an invisible vortex.

Amidst the spinning world, the familiar heart’s Stirring made her lips tuck into an unconscious smile.

She snapped her eyes open to see the clouds and mist disperse.

A towering, heavy bronze gate stood quietly at the edge of her vision.

It was the exact same bronze gate from her previous life.

In her past life, if the copper shell of the small pagoda hadn’t been accidentally shattered, allowing her blood to drip onto the body of the pagoda, she never would have known this small object possessed such miraculous, world-shaping effects.

As long as she pressed her palm into that familiar groove, she could…

Eh?

Yin Luoling’s movements came to a sudden halt.

A sharp light flashed in her eyes, and her pupils constricted as if she were seeing something impossible.

She instinctively stumbled back several steps, her body swaying as she nearly collapsed to the ground.

On that massive bronze gate, where there should have been only one handprint groove, there were now two!