At those words, Qian Renxue's fingers paused slightly around the imperial brush, and a drop of bright-red cinnabar fell straight onto a memorial.
A flash of intense anger crossed her eyes.
The people in Spirit Hall's intelligence division were getting less and less mindful of the rules!
How dare they choose broad daylight for such a top-secret meeting—and hold it at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, where crowds of people could see them?
This person was acting far too brazenly. He was treating ten years of her painstaking infiltration as a joke!
Qian Renxue slammed the imperial brush down on the desk, her voice turning icy.
"Tell him to get in here!"
She wanted to see which reckless fool dared come looking for her so openly.
The next second, the door creaked.
Someone pushed open the heavy redwood study door with utter casualness.
Lin Yuan strode in, his long legs carrying him straight over the high threshold. Then he turned and closed the door behind him.
He neither knelt nor bowed. He simply stood there.
Qian Renxue raised her head, her face full of fury, ready to give this insolent servant a proper dressing-down.
But the moment her gaze fell on the face beneath the man's bamboo hat—
Qian Renxue froze in her chair as if struck by lightning.
Her eyes, usually filled with authority and calculation, narrowed to pinpricks.
That peerlessly handsome face, radiating an innate dominance and defiance—who else could it be but the Lin Yuan she had thought of day and night?
Ten years came rushing backward through her mind.
Qian Renxue felt her breath catch in that instant.
When she had left Spirit City, Lin Yuan had been nothing more than a little sprout who had just awakened his Martial Soul.
Though they had exchanged letters each month over Spirit Hall's top-secret channels during all those years,
their letters had been filled with countless words, every line carrying the hardships of her infiltration and their longing across the distance.
But no matter how vivid the words on the page, how could they compare to the person standing right before her now?
Qian Renxue's lips trembled violently. She wanted to call his name, but not a sound came from her throat.
Lin Yuan looked at the utterly ordinary male face of Xue Qinghe, and a flicker of heartache crossed his eyes.
Without hesitation, he strode around the broad desk and went straight to Qian Renxue.
He opened his arms and pulled her from the chair into a tight embrace.
That long-missed, uniquely Qian Renxue scent filled his nostrils at once.
Wrapped in his broad, strong chest, Qian Renxue's defenses, built up over ten years of pretending to be strong, crumbled completely.
She slowly raised her stiff arm and gently stroked Lin Yuan's dark hair.
"You've grown taller again."
Qian Renxue did her best to keep her emotions in check. Her voice sounded calm, but beneath her reddened eyes, a tempest had already begun to rage.
Tears swirled in her eyes. She held them back, refusing to let them fall.
Feeling the slender body in his arms, Lin Yuan spoke with undisguised heartache.
"Big Sister, you've lost weight."
That simple sentence broke through Qian Renxue's last defenses.
Her disguised face rippled and shifted, revealing a radiant smile, utterly genuine and heartfelt.
Qian Renxue gently pushed Lin Yuan away and teased him with a smile:
"Pretending to be the Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire isn't easy. Every day, I have to scheme against those old foxes. I even have to sleep with one eye open."
"Unlike you, the young master at Spirit Hall, surrounded by admirers and living the high life."
Lin Yuan looked at the male face Qian Renxue wore, and his brows drew together.
That false, rough disguise was simply too much of an eyesore.
"Enough. Don't talk to me with that face on."
Lin Yuan made his displeasure plain, his eyes fixed intently on Qian Renxue.
"I came all this way, not to see Xue Qinghe. I only want to see the real you, Big Sister."
Hearing the domineering words, so full of intimacy, Qian Renxue shook her head helplessly, a smile capable of toppling kingdoms spreading across her lips.
She turned toward the study door and issued an order in a low voice.
"Everyone, fall back fifty paces from the courtyard and stand guard! Without my command, anyone who dares come within ten paces of the study will be executed!"
Outside the door, the Royal Knights immediately responded in unison and withdrew.
Once she had confirmed that no idle onlookers remained nearby to eavesdrop,
Qian Renxue turned around and, right in front of Lin Yuan, briskly removed the flawless disguising Soul Bone she wore.
A dazzling, sacred golden light suddenly blazed through the study.
The plain face that had belonged to Xue Qinghe melted away like rippling water.
In its place appeared a flawless beauty, so breathtaking there wasn't a single imperfection to be found.
Her skin was as fair as snow, and her features were as exquisite as those of a celestial maiden.
Her golden hair, bright as sunlight, cascaded like a waterfall all the way to her slender waist.
Her loose male attire vanished, replaced by a fitted golden palace gown.
The gown's design was daring, with a very high slit at the side.
As she moved, a pair of long, shapely legs, white as carved jade, peeked in and out beneath the hem.
Her ample bosom pushed the gown into a breathtaking curve. Her waist, slim enough to fit in a hand, and her pert figure completed a portrait of beauty that could drive every man beneath the heavens mad.
More lethal still was her peerless aura—the sacred, noble, untouchable presence of the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul.
Purity and the ultimate allure blended perfectly in Qian Renxue.
Qian Renxue lifted her pale, slender swanlike neck, her exquisite eyes shimmering.
Looking at Lin Yuan, who was staring in a daze, she parted her red lips. Her voice was cool, yet carried a devastatingly coy edge.
"Now, have you had enough?"
The sandalwood incense drifted through the study, lending the atmosphere a heady, suggestive warmth.
Lin Yuan stood motionless, his gaze completely captivated by the stunning figure before him, as though it were a gift from the heavens.
The golden gown flowed along her perfect curves, cinched at the waist to accentuate her breathtaking shape.
Following the high slit of the skirt, her long, shapely legs gleamed invitingly in the candlelight.
Sacredness and seduction struck a perfect balance in that exquisite face.
Even with two lifetimes behind him and a composure far beyond ordinary people, Lin Yuan's heartbeat still stumbled.
Seeing his dazed expression, Qian Renxue felt a surge of delight.
The feeling of completely captivating the person she had longed for so dearly was deeply satisfying.
She deliberately took half a step closer, and her cool, sacred fragrance drifted straight to Lin Yuan's nose.
"What are you looking at?"
Qian Renxue tilted her head, her voice clear and sweet, with a faint hint of coy teasing and provocation.
Before you continue