Innate Talents

After a moment's thought, Xu Yuan instantly understood Su Jinxuan's intentions.

This woman was still thinking about escaping.

Xu Yuan realized he had overestimated Su Jinxuan's resolve.

Her warning had really been just a warning. She had never intended to risk her life fighting him.

If Su Jinxuan alerted Ying'er, who was waiting outside, she would be doomed, so she had chosen to control her strength and make him pass out by drawing out his Will Soul.

Only then would she have a chance to leave alive.

Unfortunately, this woman was too arrogant.

No, that wasn't arrogance. At most, it was a misjudgment caused by a lack of information.

After all, aside from Ran Qingmo, no one in this world knew how many times he had been on the brink of death.

Thinking of this, Xu Yuan relaxed a little.

Su Jinxuan had gone all out from the start. If Ying'er hadn't arrived in time, his life might truly have been in danger.

But as things stood now...

Heh.

That said, the spores were sucking at him much faster than Xu Yuan could absorb them.

After all, he had to refine what he swallowed, while the spores only had to suck desperately and then burst.

Time passed, second by second.

The man and woman beneath the bed curtains lay in each other's arms like newlyweds.

Su Jinxuan was propped up against the man beneath her, her beautiful eyes half-lidded. The pallor and weakness on her face were becoming impossible to conceal.

In just half a quarter of an hour, she had expended more energy than she had over the past several days combined.

But...

Su Jinxuan gazed at the man beneath her, his eyes closed in sleep, and gently pressed her red lips together.

But fortunately, Xu Changtian was finally on the verge of passing out. She could clearly sense that his absorption had slowed to a crawl.

Just a little more. Just a tiny bit more.

Once this man passed out completely, she would have a chance to use the opportunity to escape.

The spores burst in waves, and more surged forward to take their place.

But to Su Jinxuan's despair, although half the Will Soul in the man's sea of consciousness had already been drawn out, he still hadn't fallen unconscious. His absorption hadn't stopped, either.

A quarter of an hour.

Another quarter of an hour.

At last, the man beneath her stopped absorbing.

Su Jinxuan's beautiful eyes lit up. She immediately stopped controlling the spores, intending to check whether he had truly passed out.

But just then,

she saw the man beneath her open his eyes.

"..." Su Jinxuan.

They were very close.

His eyes were narrow, and a cold glint shone in his gaze as he stared at her.

Su Jinxuan's breath caught.

A feeling called panic rippled through her like a drop of water falling into a lake, spreading little by little.

Why? Why was the man before her still conscious even now?

The question came to her, but there was no one who could answer it.

The woman before him had grown visibly weak. Xu Yuan stopped pretending to be dazed, and the secret art began operating at full power again.

"N-no, don't..."

Su Jinxuan's voice, once alluring and enchanting, now carried a panicked plea. She instinctively tried to rise and get away.

Xu Yuan grabbed her wrist.

"L-let go of me."

"..."

Xu Yuan did let go, because the mayfly-like spores clinging to the surface of his Will Soul began to stir again, taking control of his body.

But after he released her, Su Jinxuan sat up and then did nothing, simply sitting blankly on top of him.

Where... where could she even run now?

Xu Changtian hadn't passed out, and a powerful cultivator was guarding the outside. How could she escape? Where could she go?

There was no way up to heaven, nor a door down to earth.

Despair.

Time passed, second by second.

Since his body was under control again, Xu Yuan paid no attention to what was happening outside and focused on absorbing and refining.

As he continued, Xu Yuan noticed that the mayfly-like spores clinging around his Will Soul had begun to fall away.

First a few hundred, then a few thousand, until finally they all fell in the tens of thousands.

After a single cup of tea, not a trace of anything remained on the surface of Xu Yuan's Will Soul.

Control of his body returned to him, and Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

The woman on top of him had her eyes closed. Her cheeks were flushed with a sickly red, blood staining the corner of her lips, and she was as bewitching as a demon.

Su Jinxuan had passed out.

Xu Yuan calmly rose and pushed Su Jinxuan's body aside.

"Ying'er, come out."

"..." No one answered.

Xu Yuan took a deep breath and barked,

"Get out here! Didn't you see that woman keep me under control for five whole days?!"

"..."

The window soundlessly opened, and Ying'er appeared in Su Jinxuan's room without a sound.

Ying'er was still dressed in her black, close-fitting outfit. Standing beside the bed, she looked at Su Jinxuan lying next to Xu Yuan. After a brief silence, she spoke in a flat, hoarse voice:

"Third Young Master, she has no cultivation."

Xu Yuan took a deep breath, ready to use this opportunity to give Ying'er a stern talking-to. But before he could speak,

"...It's her Will Soul."

A soft, feminine-sounding man's voice suddenly came from beside Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan glanced over and saw a man with delicate features standing a little over a yard away. He had appeared at some point and was now sensing something with his eyes closed.

Xu Yuan frowned instinctively.

In his memory, this man had entered the room with Ying'er.

But before he spoke, Xu Yuan hadn't noticed him at all.

It was as though

the man's presence here was only natural.

Altering other people's perceptions?

Xu Yuan's gaze fixed on the man.

Si Ziyu slowly opened his eyes and bowed to Xu Yuan.

"Si Ziyu pays his respects to Third Young Master."

"Mm." Xu Yuan nodded.

Si Ziyu glanced at Ying'er.

"Third Young Master was indeed attacked. The lingering aura of a Will Soul is here."

At this, Ying'er's eyes flickered. She said hesitantly,

"I examined this woman. She isn't a Soul Dao cultivator, either."

Si Ziyu nodded.

"That's right. She's just an ordinary person."

Their exchange made Xu Yuan's brow furrow deeper.

An ordinary person?

If he hadn't had an Innate Soul Body, he would already have been brainwashed into Su Jinxuan's dog.

And they called that ordinary?

After he spoke, the room fell briefly silent.

"Knock, knock, knock—"

In the silence,

someone gently rapped on the door, and Zhou Chen's unhurried voice drifted in from outside.

"Well, if she has neither a Will Soul nor Source Qi, then it must be a physical talent. What's there to guess?"

As he spoke, he pushed the door open.

Zhou Chen stood in the doorway with an unconscious woman in his hand.

He walked into the room and casually tossed her onto the floor.

Xu Yuan glanced over and recognized her as Yue Niang, the madam of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.

Noticing Xu Yuan's gaze, Zhou Chen smiled and bowed to him.

"Third Young Master, I figured you'd have me arrest this woman afterward, so I brought her in advance. I'm a little late, so please forgive me."

At that, Xu Yuan thought for a moment and realized Zhou Chen was already preparing to make a move against Mr. Qin. He nodded slightly.

"Thoughtful of you."

"It's all thanks to Third Young Master's wisdom."

"..." Xu Yuan.

He coughed softly and said in a low voice,

"Cough. All right, Mr. Zhou, what did you mean by physical talent?"

Zhou Chen pondered briefly, then sobered his expression.

"Third Young Master,

"do you remember the Six-Turn Seven-Life Python you and Ran Qingmo killed together?"

Xu Yuan's eyelid twitched. "Mm, I remember."

"The Seven-Life Python's seven molts and rebirths are its physical talent."

He paused and glanced at the unconscious woman on the bed before lowering his voice. "The same principle applies when such talents are found in humans. They have nothing to do with cultivation. Take your Innate Dao Body, for instance. Even before you entered the ranks, your Will Soul could leave your body."