Pure and Untainted

Xiao Yan could not take it anymore. "Men and women should keep their distance. How can you even say something like that?"

"From Young Master Xiao's words, could it be that you do not believe what I said?"

Xiao Yan froze and blurted out, "Of course—"

Wait. She really had never had any physical contact with a man.

What was this?

A pure and untainted... Enchantress?

Helpless, and unwilling to falsely accuse her, Xiao Yan could only swallow the words at the tip of his tongue. Lowering his head, he muttered,

"...You win."

Seeing this, Hun Ruoruo quietly shifted a little closer, adding a fleeting touch of girlish innocence to her originally refined and ethereal bearing.

A lotus-like fragrance silently drifted into the young man's nostrils.

Xiao Yan's face reddened slightly, and he could not help turning his head aside. "Y-you, what are you doing?"

The Girl's delicate face was close at hand, her gaze gentle and resentful. "Third Young Master, you do not know this, but your little sister Xun'er is utterly wicked. She has made me suffer terribly..."

"Xun'er... With her personality, would she really do something harmful to you?"

Seeing that the other party was no longer pretending, Xiao Yan gradually calmed down.

That new persona from earlier had been far too lethal. This familiar version was much easier to resist.

At his words, Hun Ruoruo's watery eyes seemed to brim with tears. "The matter of Third Young Master asking me out for a secret rendezvous had long since been discovered by your little sister Xun'er."

"A secret rendezvous?!" Xiao Yan shuddered violently and instinctively rose to his feet. The aura of a Dou Zhe nearly swept out.

She could say even such words? This enchantress truly had no filter.

That so-called "secret rendezvous" presumably referred to the earlier assassination of Jia Lie Ao.

But why had Xun'er learned of it?

After understanding what she meant, he pondered aloud, "That girl Xun'er's background is also incredibly mysterious. If she truly wanted to find you, it would indeed be troublesome."

Hun Ruoruo wailed, "Exactly, exactly! Back then, your little sister Xun'er sent some old geezer to track me every day. I could not eat well or sleep well, and even my looks have grown so much more haggard..."

"..." Xiao Yan remained silent.

He shifted his rear slightly backward, keeping some distance from her, thinking that this enchantress seemed even more wicked today.

If he got pranked in a setting like this, even the last scraps of his dignity would be gone.

Distance created beauty.

After a long while, Xiao Yan finally forced out, "So that is why you disguised yourself as you were earlier?"

"Sigh, she kept pressing me step by step, so I had no choice but to use a few little tricks to get away."

"...Fine."

In his recollection, Hun Ruoruo had initially always avoided Xun'er. So unless she had truly been tracked for a long time and pushed to the brink, with her personality, she should not have casually changed her settled plans.

Put that way, it really did seem like Xun'er was in the wrong.

Just as he fell silent in thought, quite a few people gradually noticed the young man who had been talking to himself earlier. Though everyone held immense reverence for this Xiao Family genius who had returned in such a domineering fashion, they did not dare approach him in the slightest, subscribing to the belief that one should not speak of strange spirits and supernatural forces.

A peculiar sight thus emerged. The crowd, originally gathered in a roughly circular formation, looked as though it had been dented inward by a small stone, leaving behind a strange gap.

Seeing this, Xiao Yan no longer had the strength to explain anything.

After all that commotion, he had not watched any of Xun'er's test at all. If not for the cheers from the surrounding crowd pulling him back to his senses, he might have forgotten about it entirely.

Only then did he belatedly cast his gaze toward the stage, trying to find that lovely figure.

He found her quickly, though his expression became somewhat unnatural.

Because Xun'er had already stepped down from the stage.

Unlike when she had gone up without making a sound, Xun'er, having drawn every eye, had already become the center of everyone's attention. She slowly walked to the very end of the line, drawing all those gazes toward Xiao Yan.

Before all those watching eyes, Xun'er naturally would not speak to Hun Ruoruo. Instead, she turned toward Xiao Yan—

"Brother Xiao Yan, was Xun'er impressive?"

At this sight, countless complicated gazes of envy, jealousy, resentment, and emotion turned toward the young man beside Xun'er.

"Impressive." Xiao Yan's expression did not change and his heart did not race, yet his eyes involuntarily drifted elsewhere.

Compared with the crowd's stares, Xun'er's expectant gaze was far harder for him to bear.

He felt incredibly guilty at the moment, afraid that Xun'er might notice something was off—

After all, if she learned that he had not watched the test onstage at all, who knew how much of a fuss she would make.

"Brother Xiao Yan is even more impressive."

To his relief and guilt, Xun'er, having received his praise, did not notice anything unusual.

The Girl skillfully held down the back of her skirt with both hands and sat down on the ground beside him. Her posture was elegant, revealing not the slightest hint of skin.

Her smile was sweet and her voice light. "Brother Xiao Yan, I never expected that with Sister Ruoruo's help, your strength would improve so quickly. Even Xun'er can hardly believe it."

"Just good luck."

Xiao Yan rubbed his nose, then said with some surprise, "Come to think of it, girl, can you see through my cultivation?"

"That is a secret."

At that, dimples appeared on Xun'er's face as she answered with a riddle.

"One after another... You all love keeping things hidden."

Since Xun'er would not tell him, Hun Ruoruo in the distance was even less likely to explain.

Xiao Yan shook his head and let out a long sigh. He then turned to look toward the stage, leaving only a drooping side profile for Xun'er beside him.

The people being tested onstage went up one after another. Most faced no surprises, silently stepping down after being eliminated.

Only a few individuals, known throughout the family for their exceptional talent, were able to pass this stringent test.

Yet even these people were almost beneath Xiao Yan's notice with his current perspective. As he watched, he gradually lost interest, and his thoughts once more wandered far away.

So boring. Father and the elders onstage are probably about to fall asleep, aren't they?

Slowly exhaling a breath of stale air, Xiao Yan still held some resentment toward what Xun'er had done earlier, but his eyes no longer carried their former confusion and indignation. Instead, a faint smile appeared.

Since you all love speaking in riddles so much, I will give it a try later too.

With that thought, Xiao Yan withdrew his gaze from the stage and looked toward the two women beside him.

With Old Man Yao's guidance, along with more than half a year of arduous cultivation and tempering, the knot in his heart had long since been unraveled, becoming nearly imperceptible.

Rather than blaming heaven and others, Xiao Yan now wanted to save up that resentment and turn it into motivation for cultivation.

The Three-Year Pact, restoring Teacher's physical body, Ruoruo's mystery...

Beyond the many burdens he carried, there were also other things that spurred him onward from time to time.

For example, once he had grown up and become stronger than Hun Ruoruo and Xun'er, he wanted to give those two riddle-speakers' little butts a thorough spanking.

Especially that one who loved hiding things the most—

Across Xun'er, Xiao Yan secretly glanced at Hun Ruoruo not far away, who was pretending to rest with her eyes closed.

The Girl's alluring figure was wrapped in a fitted Daoist Robe, which brought out every detail to perfection. Her flawless curves flowed from top to bottom, outlining an unimaginably seductive silhouette.

The hem beneath her had been pulled a little taut because she had shifted closer to him earlier, making her remarkably elastic, rounded backside stand out even more...

Xiao Yan did not dare keep looking. He quietly swallowed, his eyes lecherous, though his heart was not.

Well, maybe... just a little lecherous?