Murong Xue had not originally intended to do this, but she simply could not help herself.
She chose to risk exposing her secret hobby just for a chance to touch those beautiful hands.
In the eyes of outsiders, she was the high-and-mighty Sect Master, a woman beyond worldly desires who possessed both immense strength and peerless beauty.
Her cultivation at the peak of the Transformation God stage meant that Murong Xue rarely felt any mundane cravings.
“Sect Master, you wouldn’t happen to…”
Lin Xinyi’s words at that moment felt like a blade hovering over her heart.
Every time Murong Xue subtly revealed her preference like this, she was terrified of being categorized as a pervert.
Now, her greatest fear was coming true.
She even began to imagine being treated with looks of loathing once her hobby was exposed.
The mere thought of that image was unbearable to Murong Xue.
If people discovered her obsession, they would certainly be on guard against her in the future.
‘Ah? It turns out the Sect Master is just a pervert who likes hands? Ugh, how disgusting…’
Murong Xue often observed Lin Xinyi.
The woman’s biting wit and tendency to look down on others were obvious to everyone.
However, Murong Xue couldn’t pull her gaze away from those slender fingers and the elegantly shaped hands.
They were nimble and exquisite, leaving Murong Xue utterly intoxicated.
Murong Xue knew that if her hobby were exposed, Lin Xinyi would almost certainly adopt that judgmental attitude.
Thinking that everything was about to end, Murong Xue’s gaze gradually turned cold.
‘Rather than losing everything, it might be better to kill her to silence her, and then…’
The coldness in Murong Xue’s eyes became more pronounced.
Simultaneously, she felt a pang of regret.
After all, interacting with warm, living fingers offered the greatest charm.
The feeling of holding such a beautiful hand was the most refreshing sensation imaginable.
Now, she would have to settle for a charm that was significantly diminished.
The more Murong Xue thought about it, the more sorrowful she became.
She couldn’t help but regret her impulsiveness.
Why couldn’t she have waited for a safer opportunity?
Why had she been unable to control her desires lately?
“Sect Master, you surely aren’t reluctant to give this spiritual tool to me, are you? You already gave it away, yet you’re being so stingy~”
“Eh?”
Murong Xue had already prepared for the worst, but she didn’t expect Lin Xinyi to say something so different from what she had imagined.
The other woman was merely looking at her gloved hands with a bit of smugness.
“If word got out that the Sect Master gave something away only to regret it and want it back, wouldn’t people laugh at you?~”
At that moment, Lin Xinyi was breaking out in a cold sweat.
She had initially wanted to be blunt with the Sect Master and use the secret as leverage.
After all, this was a Transformation God cultivator; if she could get her hands on some blackmail material, she could squeeze quite a lot out of her.
However, before she could even get halfway through her sentence, Lin Xinyi clearly sensed a thick, suffocating killing intent.
‘It seems now isn’t the time to be blunt. I have to stabilize Murong Xue first…’
The look in the Sect Master’s eyes just now indicated that she truly intended to kill her.
Thus, Lin Xinyi had no choice but to act as if she adored the gift, pulling the gloves onto her hands.
“Sigh, the Elder saw through me. Since you like it so much, it would indeed be inappropriate for me to ask for it back…”
“Then thank you for the gift, Sect Master. I will treasure it~”
“If it is possible… Elder Lin, would you let me touch these gloves one last time?”
Murong Xue hesitated for a long time before finally voicing her selfish desire.
Lin Xinyi naturally understood that the woman wasn’t interested in the gloves, yet she slowly extended her hand regardless.
“Does the Sect Master want me to take them off for her to touch, or do you want to just touch them like this?”
Hearing those words, Murong Xue actually looked conflicted.
She contemplated the jade-like hand encased in the gloves woven from Thousand-Year Cold Silk—the rounded wrist, the beautiful patterns, and the delicate cutouts.
However, the hand without the glove offered a smooth, delicate sensation that invited all sorts of fantasies.
For a moment, Murong Xue fell into an agonizing dilemma.
“Sect Master, why have you gone silent? Is it possible you truly can’t part with these gloves?”
Lin Xinyi spoke in a joking tone, while simultaneously reaching out a fingertip to lightly poke the other woman’s cheek.
The soft sensation of that contact snapped Murong Xue back to reality.
‘No, Elder Lin said to take them off and touch them… she meant I’d be touching the gloves. How did I manage to confuse myself…’
Murong Xue didn’t give herself any more time to hesitate.
She reached out and firmly grasped Lin Xinyi’s hand, feeling the delicate texture against her palm, even though it was separated by a layer of white silk.
Despite the barrier, the slight sensation and the fine texture were like a white popsicle wrapped in white silk stockings.
The knuckles were clearly defined, and as she interlaced her fingers with Lin Xinyi’s, rubbing them gently, Murong Xue’s face flushed.
She was utterly lost in the moment.
“Sect Master?”
Lin Xinyi’s face was a mask of annoyance.
She couldn’t understand how this pervert had managed to hide her hobby for so long.
She had only told the woman to touch them, yet she had been rubbing and kneading for ages.
Anyone could see there was something wrong here.
Even so, Lin Xinyi had to force herself to act as if she noticed nothing.
The more Murong Xue massaged, the more addicted she became.
She was like one of those silk-obsessed people who had finally gotten their hands on white-silk popsicles and black-silk chocolates, completely drowning in the sensation.
“So… so smooth…”
Murong Xue’s eyes had completely lost their usual clarity.
She was just short of sticking out her tongue to have a taste.
Lin Xinyi felt that if she let this continue, the Sect Master would expose herself without Lin Xinyi having to say a single word.
“Sect Master!”
Lin Xinyi’s sharp call instantly pulled the other woman back to her senses.
Murong Xue immediately forced herself to stand up straight with feigned composure.
She turned her back, still savoring the lingering sensation, but she also took a deep breath, her heart pounding with lingering fear.
‘Too close, that was too close. I almost exposed myself. Thank goodness she called me back…’
Murong Xue kept her back turned, but she couldn’t calm the heat in her face.
Just a moment ago, she had almost used her fingertips to pry open the gaps in the glove to trace the lines of Lin Xinyi’s palm and lose herself in it.
Lin Xinyi was also relieved that she had called the woman back.
If they had continued, no amount of effort would have been enough to cover it up.
“Since you like it, it is yours…”
After leaving those words, Murong Xue practically fled the scene.
With a single step, her figure vanished into the forest, leaving Lin Xinyi alone in the center of the pavilion.
Watching the figure disappear, Lin Xinyi couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
The pressure from a peak Transformation God expert was simply too intense.
If she remained at the Nascent Soul stage, she would ultimately be nothing more than meat on someone else’s chopping block.
“Damn it, if it weren’t for that girl Bai Pingqian forcing me to burn my essence blood to escape, my foundation wouldn’t be so damaged!”
Thinking of the terrifying heart hidden beneath Bai Pingqian’s innocent face, Lin Xinyi felt a shiver of fear.
She could only pray that she would never meet that girl again for the rest of her life—or at the very least, stay as far away as possible.
“However, speaking of which…”
Lin Xinyi looked at the endless forest surrounding her.
She couldn’t help but complain that Murong Xue had left without pushing her back.
Seeing that no one was around, Lin Xinyi sighed helplessly and began to circulate the spiritual energy within her body.
‘My body has recovered a bit. I should be able to mobilize some of it…’
As spiritual energy enveloped the wheelchair, Lin Xinyi felt a spark of joy.
This way, even if her legs couldn’t move, she could freely go wherever she wished.
She wouldn’t have to worry about her rebellious disciple sneaking around behind her to turn a handle and shock her.
“Haha, let me show that rebellious disciple.”
As Lin Xinyi thought this, she controlled her spiritual energy to turn the wheels on both sides.
However, she didn’t expect that the moment the energy was injected, the formation on the chair would light up.
Before she could react, a numbing sensation of electricity surged up from beneath her.
Lin Xinyi was shocked.
The electric surge was so sudden that her entire body was filled with a tingly, numbing sensation.
Her naturally thin frame took on an alluring, flushed hue.
“Wait!! Wait a moment!”
Lin Xinyi gritted her teeth.
Although it had happened suddenly, she fortunately didn’t let out any shameful sounds.
She quickly cut off the flow of spiritual energy, causing the current to vanish.
‘What’s going on? Does that rebellious disciple have some kind of remote control?’
The more Lin Xinyi thought about it, the more confused she became.
However, once she took a closer look at the patterns of the formation, she realized that the spiritual energy she had injected was exactly what was needed to activate the wheelchair’s formation.
If she tried to control it with spiritual energy again, she would likely trigger the mechanism again.
‘That rebellious disciple is far too cunning! To use such a method to mess with me!’
Faced with the consequences of her own unauthorized operation, Lin Xinyi refused to accept it was her fault, instead blaming Qin Huaiyin for sabotaging her.
But then she wondered: did she really have to stay in this pavilion forever?
“Ah, how annoying! Curse it!”
Lin Xinyi reached down to try and turn the wheels manually.
After fumbling for a while, however, she discovered that not only was the wheelchair designed to be incredibly heavy, but the wheels were also made exactly one size smaller—just out of her reach.
“Ah, she’s trying to kill me with anger!!”
Lin Xinyi realized completely that once she sat in this chair, she wasn’t going anywhere without someone to push her.
Just as she felt she was about to go crazy, a sound slowly emerged from the grass.
“Master, the Sect Master told me to come and get you.”
Qin Huaiyin arrived at the pavilion at just the right moment.
As soon as the voice appeared, Lin Xinyi immediately reverted to her usual high-and-mighty demeanor.
“What took you so long? I was getting bored waiting…”
“I’ve come too, Little Xinyi~”
Lin Xinyi had intended to continue scolding her disciple, but she didn’t expect another familiar figure to appear.
Yun Yiyi, who was supposed to have left long ago, was now following Qin Huaiyin and waving at her.
“Why… why are you here too?”
“Didn’t we all agree? We’re going to my mountain range to play after the meeting ends~”
“Who agreed to that? I’m very—!”
Lin Xinyi refused without a second thought.
Her current mood was absolutely terrible.
She only wanted to return to her Cave Abode, recover her body, and then find a way to punish her arrogant, rebellious disciple.
“I am exhausted, so I am going back to my Cave Abode…”
“Oh, don’t be shy, Little Xinyi. Your disciple told me all about it. You’re just a tsundere; when you say ‘no,’ you actually mean ‘yes’~”
As Yun Yiyi spoke, she skipped over to the back of the wheelchair.
She grabbed the frame and began to walk, but then, with a sudden jerk, she lifted the entire wheelchair—and Lin Xinyi—directly over her head.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!!”
“We’re off, we’re off~”
Before Lin Xinyi could react, she was being carried toward the distant mountains.
Qin Huaiyin, following behind, initially had a soft look in her eyes.
However, when she looked up, she noticed an extra layer of white silk on Lin Xinyi’s hand.
‘The Sect Master called Master here alone… what was it actually for…?’