Curiosity Killed the Cat

At dawn, a sliver of sunlight filtered through the curtains and spilled onto the bed.

Fang Xuan drifted slowly out of his deep slumber, but before he could even fully open his eyes, his consciousness remained in a hazy state.

Just then, a faint, lingering fragrance drifted into his nostrils, followed immediately by an indescribable softness appearing against his palm.

Wait, this texture?!

The next moment, Fang Xuan's eyes snapped wide open, and an exquisite woman's face came into his view.

In an instant, countless indescribable images flooded his mind.

He looked down at Ye Lingling, who was still fast asleep in his arms, and his brain instantly crashed.

I'm finished!

This was the first thought in Fang Xuan's mind; after all, the person he had slept with was no ordinary woman.

She was the sole heir to the Nine-Heart Begonia martial soul in this world. But that identity was secondary—the real problem was her best friend, who was a master of poisons.

If Dugu Yan found out he had slept with her best friend, she would surely castrate him herself.

Run? No!

The thought had barely crossed his mind before he immediately snuffed it out.

He certainly couldn't escape, and if he provoked that old monster Dugu Bo, he would truly have no way out.

The only strategy now was to stabilize Ye Lingling; that was his only glimmer of hope.

The most crucial point was that he hadn't been the one to initiate it yesterday; if one were to trace the blame, he was the victim.

Just as Fang Xuan was contemplating his strategy, Ye Lingling, held in his arms, began to wake up.

"Ugh, it hurts... Where am I... Who are you? Why..."

As soon as Ye Lingling woke, she saw Fang Xuan lying beside her, and immediately realized she was completely naked and her body was aching. What had happened was self-evident.

"Ah!..."

Ye Lingling was about to scream, but Fang Xuan immediately covered her mouth.

"Miss Ye, listen to me. This was purely an accident. Since it has already happened, we need to find a solution. After all, if this gets out, it won't be good for either of us."

Fang Xuan was truly terrified. He was just a commoner, while Ye Lingling was a noble. According to the feudal class system of the Douluo Continent, she had ten thousand reasons to find someone to kill him.

Even if he were a Spirit Master, it would be the same, as he had no major sect backing him.

A Spirit Master without a background was nothing more than a slightly higher-level ant.

"Also, try to recall what happened yesterday carefully. The problem really wasn't on my end."

Looking at Ye Lingling, who was pinned beneath him with a look of utter despair, a deep sense of guilt welled up in his heart.

He knew that in her current state, she wouldn't listen to anything he said, so he decided to let her calm down first.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want this. I'm going to let you go, but please don't scream, okay?"

"If you agree, just blink."

Fang Xuan looked at Ye Lingling's exquisite face and saw her bright, watery eyes blink gently a few times.

Seeing this, Fang Xuan let out a long sigh of relief. However, the moment he loosened his grip, Ye Lingling, who had been beneath him, suddenly lunged at him.

But as a support-type Spirit Master, she lacked effective offensive means, and combined with the physical differences between men and women, she was quickly suppressed by Fang Xuan once again.

"Miss Ye, please calm down. If you insist on us both going down together, then I'll just pay you with my life."

"But before that, I hope you think it through carefully. I'm just a nobody with a worthless life; are you sure you want to trade your reputation for it?"

Fang Xuan's temper was rising too; he was trying to be reasonable, but she insisted on being stubborn.

"I'll ask you one thing: if you really want to risk it all with me, then let's walk out of here naked right now. Let's see if you have the guts."

These words caused the furious Ye Lingling to instantly calm down.

Yet, the sense of grievance in her heart hadn't diminished in the slightest. After all, she was an innocent girl who had been inexplicably defiled, and to make matters worse, the man was now threatening her. Anyone would feel wronged.

Seeing that Ye Lingling had finally calmed down, Fang Xuan reluctantly let her go and walked to the side to dress himself in the scattered clothes on the floor.

Ye Lingling, meanwhile, crouched on the bed and wept, as if she had suffered some immense injustice.

Looking at her pitiful appearance, Fang Xuan's heart softened once more.

He stepped forward to comfort her.

"I will take responsibility for you, but before that, I have to declare that the primary responsibility for this incident lies with you, not me."

At these words, Ye Lingling's fur stood on end.

"What did you say! You defiled me, and now you're saying it's my fault?"

"Don't get excited yet. Think carefully about what you did yesterday, and then we can argue about who was at fault first, okay?"

Fang Xuan was speechless. Ye Lingling was beautiful, but not so beautiful that he would have the audacity to act on her directly.

However, he did indeed bear a large part of the responsibility.

I should have kept that thing locked away.

Fang Xuan was filled with regret, and it all stemmed from the plant Ye Lingling had touched yesterday.

To be precise, it was a product of his martial soul.

Fang Xuan's martial soul was quite unique: a magical seed.

Every seven days, this seed randomly generated a plant from another world—specifically, the plants from a game he had played in his past life where plants fought against zombies.

The generated plants could only exist for seven days; after that, they would automatically vanish.

He could gain corresponding abilities by fusing with the plants, while his soul skill allowed him to store the ability of one plant for unlimited use (which could be swapped out).

Relying on this ability, he had opened a plant-themed teahouse, selling all sorts of miraculous tea drinks, and had gained a modest reputation within Soto City.

Ye Lingling had arrived just as he was about to close up shop yesterday.

However, seeing how cute she was, he hadn't refused her; it wasn't much trouble to make the tea, so he told her to wait for a moment.

And it was during that brief moment that things went wrong.

Out of curiosity, Ye Lingling had touched the new plant he had recently generated and tossed into the corner: a Hypno-shroom.

Its effect was that upon contact, it would release hypnotic spores; any living creature in the vicinity that touched these spores would fall into a charmed state and have their primal desires ignited. (There might be unexpected consequences after it wears off! > <)

Fang Xuan had originally thought the thing was useless and just left it in the corner, but he hadn't expected Ye Lingling to be drawn in by its vibrant colors.

By the time he realized what was happening and tried to stop her, it was already too late, leading to the current situation.

Fortunately, it had been closing time yesterday, otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

At this moment, prompted by Fang Xuan, Ye Lingling recalled everything, and she instantly understood that he hadn't been wronging her at all.

But was she just going to let herself be bullied by him for nothing?

Thinking of this, Ye Lingling couldn't help but start crying again; she never imagined she would encounter something like this.

She had only heard that there was a special teahouse in the city where the tea could soothe pain, calm the mind, and improve one's complexion, so she had come to try it out and see if it was as miraculous as the rumors claimed.

As it turned out, she hadn't even gotten to drink the tea before she had gotten herself into this mess.

Still, she only had herself to blame; why did she have to go around touching things she shouldn't have?

Watching Ye Lingling, who was huddled on the bed and weeping incessantly, Fang Xuan hardened his heart and voiced his true thoughts.

"Since this has already happened, why don't I marry you?"