Icepeak Cave Abode, where the snow melts upon the Lotus Platform.
Clear water emerges from the lotus—under the dim candlelight, the young girl’s milky-white figure glows with the luster of jade.
Lin Wu cradled the lotus and guarded his thoughts, two “snowcakes” swaying before his eyes, blushing with pink beneath their whiteness, making his heart restless and unsteady.
This discussion of the Dao was smoother than ever, everything falling perfectly into place.
“Mm-hmm.”
The girl’s flowery beauty was dazzling. She curled up lazily in Lin Wu’s embrace, her five fingers tightly interlaced with his.
She was quite certain that Master had never gone this far, and probably hadn’t even realized he’d missed something crucial.
This made Yun Mengyao a little proud, and a little guilty, her arches tensing, jade toes curling, drooling all over the floor.
It felt like being a thief, taking advantage of a lapse, secretly digging out someone else’s spiritual vein and claiming it as her own.
But the little fox had said, love is like a battlefield.
If you’re not the winner, you become the loser.
“You wouldn’t want to see him bullied by other women in Snow Lotus Sect, would you?”
The fox’s sly laugh still echoed in her ear. Yun Mengyao shook her head desperately, steeling herself with new resolve.
How could Lin Wu know there was another spectator that night? He only felt the little white lotus was adorably silly, believing whatever he said.
Honestly, teasing this silly girl was quite entertaining.
Within the girl’s seductive charm was a clarity found in no other immortal maiden, both pure and astringent.
“Look how hungry the child is.”
Lin Wu couldn’t help but laugh.
Strange. I haven’t even used Blood Enchantment—how did this little foodie get so greedy?
Yun Mengyao panted and whimpered, her tongue out as she stubbornly refused to let go, tiny hearts dancing in her eyes.
“Y-you ignored me before, was it because Master was angry?”
Lin Wu rubbed the white fluff on the girl’s head, surprised. “Oh, growing a brain now?”
So, she really was protecting me…
Yun Mengyao’s gaze grew ever gentler. Elder Dongling had only touched Lin Wu once and was seriously injured.
If Master ever found out, he’d never let it slide.
“Hmph, don’t think I’m really that dumb. I’m actually smart! Every year around this time, Master disappears for a while, and all sect affairs are managed by Qinghan and Lengyu, or else Elder Qiuming wouldn’t dare act so arrogant! But this time, she really brought it on herself!”
With a puffed cheek, the girl slowly bent forward, untying a thin red string from her braid, and carefully looped it around the boy’s wrist.
Lin Wu saw that it was no magic artifact, carried no restraints, and so did nothing to stop her.
“It smells so nice. What is it?”
“Hehe, it’s a medicine string from our village… Ah! Be gentle, you villain!”
“So, tying me up like a ginseng root, is that it?”
Lin Wu feigned annoyance, fiercely biting the girl’s cherry lips and taking liberties as he pleased.
But Yun Mengyao clung to Lin Wu’s neck, lips pursed in a silly laugh, beaming with happiness.
Tying on the Red String was like lassoing the heart of a thief—he could never escape again.
“In our place, once the medicine string is tied on, it means this treasure is claimed by me. By the rules, even if others get jealous, they can’t touch.”
Stumbling upon a treasure, joy could not be contained.
Yun Mengyao muttered softly, her words tender as water—not merely treating him as some rare spiritual herb.
Lin Wu was stunned, struck in some soft corner of his heart.
Warm, sweet, without the least bit of cloying stickiness.
Strange. Among the den of demonic cultivators, here sprang a clear spring—had he really turned out a true immortal maiden on the path of redemption?
When feelings reached their peak, the girl whispered in his ear like a mosquito.
“Wu Lang, Yaor is just a herb-gathering girl from Dieyun Village in the Kunlun Ruins. One day, I happened into the mountains and encountered an Immortal Master, and muddleheaded, I was chosen. After entering Snow Lotus Sect, every day was cold and thirsty. I never felt there was anything good about it, and didn’t even know if it was the right thing to do, just kept following the rules, mm!”
Suppressing her moans, Yun Mengyao bit her lip and said, “About what happened before, I apologize for offending you, but you’ve bullied me back, so now we’re even.”
“So?”
Lin Wu couldn’t hold back a smile.
The little white lotus was actually self-reflecting, so naive and adorable.
But given their current ambiguous posture, wasn’t an apology coming a bit late?
“So… so… if you really hate immortal maidens that much, I—I can give it up too!”
Yun Mengyao covered her face, willing to run away with Lin Wu, leaving all the past behind.
Whether Master or Lin Wu, once they knew the truth, she didn’t want anyone to become another Flesh Ganoderma.
To Yun Mengyao, this was her boldest confession yet.
Before him, the blushing, whimpering girl held her chest in shyness. Lin Wu couldn’t help but shake his head, finding her beauty peerless.
Hate immortal maidens?
That was before. Now, I can’t even like them enough.
“Take back what I said—lumping you together with Mu Bingxin was my mistake. You’re way dumber than her, and a lot cuter too.”
“W-what do you mean? I’m being serious—did you even listen?”
Yun Mengyao’s cheeks puffed up, turning into little buns.
Lin Wu’s eyes grew gentle. He understood, but didn’t want to leave, nor could he bear to.
“If I say you’re an immortal maiden, then you are.”
“Ugh… I said I’d give it up, why are you still bullying me…”
Yun Mengyao bit her lip hard, refusing to be a little piglet this time.
The fox cub nearby rubbed its ears with a sigh, thoroughly overwhelmed by the little white lotus’s cuteness.
Scheming? All you can think of is running away together?
What a hopeless lovesick fool!
Clouds disperse, rain clears—the sun returns.
With the sect leader not at home, disciples of Snow Lotus Sect soon found Senior Sister Yun and Junior Brother Lin always coming and going together.
But if before it was Lin trailing behind, now it was Yun who stuck to him like a shadow.
It had flipped around?
This made Yun Mengyao feel like a cat that had stolen a fish, head hung low on her trips to Goddess Peak, too shy to lift her pretty pink face.
“You’re always bullying me, leaving so much inside every time—what if my belly gets big…”
Yun Mengyao pouted, worry creasing her brows, afraid someone might do something rash and land in the ice prison again.
Now that Master was gone, it was the perfect time to “flee in fear of punishment”—wait too long and it would be too late.
“Well, I just love bullying you!”
Lin Wu winked, shaking the Red String on his hand, making the girl’s little head practically steam.
Who really had who tied up? It was hard to say.
“Hmph!”
Yun Mengyao filtered out the word “bullying,” letting the rest loop endlessly in her ears and mind.
Last night, Lin Wu discovered a new way to get the immortal maiden tipsy, and the little white lotus, with her unique talent for medicine, had become the elders’ special Dan Room prodigy.
Early that morning, the two were tangled up in the Dan Room, their sticky sweetness driving off many fellow disciples.
Yun Mengyao stole a glance at the boy, hooked her lips in a sweet smile.
Not even Master could do this!