Qian Renxue pressed both hands tightly to her chest, feeling her heart pound furiously.
Lan watched her retreating figure, his brows drawing together almost imperceptibly.
Hot?
The evening breeze stirred through the woods by the lake, and the air was pleasantly cool. How could she be hot?
He was growing more and more certain that something was off about His Highness the Crown Prince.
"Since it wasn't because of Prince Xue Ye, why did you just say no?" Lan pressed.
He meant the three words Qian Renxue had blurted out by the lake.
"I..."
Qian Renxue stiffened again.
Why?
How was she supposed to know why!
It was all because of you...
She stammered for a long while, unable to form a complete sentence. Her thoughts were a tangled mess.
In the end, she decided she had nothing left to lose. Turning around, she declared with a solemnity that made no sense even to her, "A-anyway... anyway, you can't!"
As soon as she finished, she swiftly turned her head away again.
Silence settled over the woods once more.
Lan was completely at a loss. He stood where he was, saying nothing.
Qian Renxue remained silent too. She could feel the calm gaze on her back, and it made her terribly uncomfortable. Her body even began to sway faintly, almost beyond her control. She was a bundle of nerves.
No, she couldn't let this go on!
If she stayed any longer, she was sure to give herself away even more.
Qian Renxue drew a deep breath, as if making up her mind. She slipped a hand into her clothes and felt a small, exquisite object.
She hadn't planned to give it to him so soon.
But now, it seemed she had no choice.
Qian Renxue spun around. Before Lan could react, she hurried over and thrust the object in her hand into his.
It was a sachet embroidered with an ice-blue shark. It felt warm and smooth in his hand.
"T-this is something Xue Ke embroidered for you!"
Before she could finish speaking, Qian Renxue turned and ran without looking back. She sped away like an arrow loosed from a bow, vanishing into the shadows of the woods in the blink of an eye.
All that remained was the memory of her face, red enough to burn, imprinted on Lan's mind.
Lan lowered his head and looked at the sachet in his hand. It still held a trace of warmth and a faint, delicate fragrance.
Then he looked up, toward the direction in which the beauty had disappeared.
He was utterly stunned.
What... was that supposed to mean?
The night breeze swept through the woods, leaving Lan alone.
He lowered his eyes to the sachet in his hand.
The sachet was made of fine Ice Silkworm Silk. It felt cool to the touch, yet still held a trace of the warmth from Qian Renxue's palm.
An lifelike Shadow Abyss Shark had been embroidered on it in ice-blue thread. It was the very image of his Martial Soul Avatar.
The stitches were delicate; whoever made it had clearly put a lot of care into the work.
Beneath Youyou's jasmine scent was another fragrance, faint but lingering.
This scent...
Lan furrowed his brow slightly. It was the same scent His Highness the Crown Prince had been wearing.
A gift from Princess Xue Ke?
That excuse was far too flimsy.
Even if it was her younger sister's heartfelt gift, did the Crown Prince really need to deliver it in person? And why had she been so flustered, as if she'd done something shameful?
A sachet...
Lan had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't say exactly what.
He shook his head and stopped thinking about this inexplicable business, then turned and walked back to the lakeside.
"Lan, you're back!"
Ye Lingling spotted him first and breathed a sigh of relief.
Dugu Yan looked over too. Seeing that Lan had returned alone, she couldn't help asking, "What about His Highness the Crown Prince? Why did he... run off?"
The way the Crown Prince had just fled had hardly seemed befitting the heir to the Heaven Dou Empire.
Lan gave her a faint glance.
"Nothing."
He couldn't be bothered to explain the whole complicated story.
"Nothing?"
Dugu Yan choked on the answer, her chest tightening with irritation at his casual dismissal.
She pursed her lips and huffed. "Fine, don't tell me! It's not as if I'm dying to know."
With that, she turned and walked away.
"Come with me. My grandfather should be ready by now."
Ye Lingling gave Lan a helpless smile, then followed.
Dugu Manor.
As befitted the residence of a Titled Douluo, it wasn't luxurious. Instead, it had a quiet, secluded air. The courtyard was filled with all kinds of rare flowers and herbs, and a faint medicinal fragrance hung in the air.
Dugu Yan led Lan straight to her bedroom.
A huge wooden tub stood in the middle of the room, filled with steaming hot water. A thick layer of medicinal herbs and flower petals floated on the surface. Steam billowed up, shrouding the entire room in mist.
Dugu Yan had already taken off her outer clothes. Wearing only a thin undergarment, she sat immersed in the tub, leaving only one delicate shoulder and her flushed face above the water.
The steam had turned her skin pink. Her long, damp, emerald-green hair draped over her shoulders, lending her a softness she rarely showed.
She gripped the rim of the tub tightly, her eyes darting away from the doorway.
"Y-you can come in."
Her voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, and trembled slightly.
Lan pushed open the door and entered, his expression unchanged. His gaze swept around the room before settling on the girl in the tub.
Under his calm gaze, Dugu Yan felt terribly uncomfortable. Her face was so hot she could hardly stand it, and she wanted to sink beneath the water entirely.
She bit her lower lip and forced herself to speak steadily. "I-I'm ready."
Lan's gaze remained calm and unreadable as it passed over Dugu Yan's flushed cheeks, reddened by embarrassment and steam, and her hands gripping the rim of the tub so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.
The medicinal herbs and flower petals floating on the water shifted gently with her faint trembling.
Mist swirled around them. The girl's damp green hair clung to her smooth shoulders and back. Water droplets traced the graceful lines of her body before falling into the steaming, herb-scented water.
She was indeed a beauty.
But Lan's mind was elsewhere.
He calculated the time. Since Dugu Yan had climbed into the water, the medicinal properties should have fully dissolved, and the heat should have opened every pore in her body.
Now was the best moment.
Lan walked to the tub and raised his right hand, spreading his fingers above the water.
Soul Power flowed silently from his palm, like invisible threads, instantly permeating the entire tub.
Then he released the innate ability of his Martial Soul.
Devour.
Threads of Soul Power, carrying the power of Devour, began to seep into Dugu Yan's body carefully, bit by bit.
The girl's body stiffened abruptly.
"Relax."
Lan's voice was quiet, yet reassuring.
Dugu Yan's tense body relaxed a little despite herself.
His power of Devour was extraordinarily domineering. If he didn't control it, it could devour not just Soul Power but even the target's life force.
So he had to concentrate fully, as if dismantling the most intricate instrument in the world, and extract only the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison coiled in the depths of her meridians, blood, and even bone marrow.
It was no small strain on his mental strength.
Dugu Yan had been consumed by the shame and tension of having a man "invade" her body like this. Her cheeks were so red they seemed ready to bleed.
But soon, she could no longer spare a thought for any of that.
As the cold, viscous poison, clinging like maggots to bone, was slowly drawn out by a gentle yet irresistible force, an unprecedented sense of ease spread through every limb.
It was the relief of setting down a thousand-jin burden.
It was the bliss of rain after a long drought.
It was the clarity of clouds parting to reveal the sun.
"Mm..."
A soft moan she couldn't suppress slipped from her parted lips.
It wasn't loud, but in the quiet room, it rang out with startling clarity.
Before you continue