Entryway Incident

Ling Luochan led him to the residential area for Inner Court disciples.

Completely unlike the Outer Court, every disciple here had an independent little house, with a small yard in front. It wasn't particularly spacious, but it was peaceful and comfortable.

The house had only one floor and covered roughly sixty square meters from the outside, but according to Sister Luochan, it had everything: a bathroom, kitchen, balcony, living room—nothing was missing.

Lush trees surrounded the area, with flowers and grasses scattered throughout. The air carried the faint fragrance of spiritual plants, and everything in sight was vibrant green, pleasing to the eye.

Ling Tianchen couldn't help thinking of that gloomy little room he had stayed in at the Outer Court.

Though he had only lived there for a few days, he had already personally experienced the misery of competing with hundreds of people for the restroom.

Compared to the private little world before him, it was like heaven and earth.

It seemed that only after entering the Inner Court could one be considered truly treated like a person by Shrek.

The entire Inner Court had just over a hundred disciples. Many of them spent most of the year away on Inspection Corps missions, leaving only sixty or seventy permanently stationed on Sea God Island. Naturally, resources per person were plentiful.

Ling Luochan walked to the courtyard gate and lowered her head to search for her keys.

Bored, Ling Tianchen looked around. A black rabbit ear poked up above a nearby fence, then slowly and sneakily rose higher, revealing a fair, adorable face.

Only then did he realize that it wasn't a rabbit ear at all, but an ornament on the other person's hood.

The owner of that face clearly hadn't expected to be spotted. She froze for a moment, then swiftly ducked back down like a child caught doing something wrong. Only a faint flash of lightning remained where she had been, while she herself had vanished without a trace.

"Who was that kid just now?"

"What do you mean, kid? That's my best friend, Xixi. She's quite a bit older than you. She lives next door and probably saw that I'd come back, so she wanted to stop by. You scared her off instead."

"Then I'm really sorry. Should we call her back? Sister rarely cooks, after all. It'd be livelier with one more person."

"No, no, no. Xixi isn't very used to appearing in front of strangers. Besides, we finally get to spend some time together, so let's keep the space to ourselves."

Ling Luochan hurriedly waved her hands. Guard against fire, guard against thieves, guard against best friends. Ling Tianchen probably wouldn't take a liking to Xixi, but what if, by some one-in-ten-thousand chance, he happened to like that type?

Then she'd truly be inviting a wolf into her home and dropping a stone on her own foot.

"Oh." Ling Tianchen didn't think much of it.

They arrived at the front door and were just about to enter.

Ling Luochan suddenly shivered slightly, as though she had remembered something important. She quickly turned around and pushed Ling Tianchen back two steps with both hands, rare panic entering her voice.

"Y-you wait outside for a moment. I need to go in and deal with something."

"Let me guess what embarrassing things Sister has hidden in her room?"

Ling Tianchen wore a wicked grin.

"Get lost."

Ling Luochan rolled her eyes at him, swiftly slipped through the door, and firmly shut it behind her.

"Seriously, what could she possibly have that I can't see?"

Ling Tianchen muttered softly at the closed door, then leaned against the courtyard wall to wait in boredom.

Come to think of it, Sister Luochan always looked so dignified and reserved outside. Could she secretly be the complete opposite in private?

Maybe her home was kept immaculate, but once she lived alone, she completely let herself go and became a total mess?

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable the guess seemed. Otherwise, why would she be so flustered?

A minute later, the door opened.

"That fast? You finished everything already?"

"There wasn't much to begin with. Come in."

Ling Luochan replied irritably.

She entered first and went to the entryway, bending down to take off her short blue boots.

Her dress wasn't very long, however. Its hem only fell to the middle of her thighs, and when she bent over, it helplessly crept up a little.

Even worse, she had her back to Ling Tianchen and moved naturally, without the slightest hint of restraint.

As he watched the hem inch upward, nearing that dangerous boundary, Ling Tianchen suddenly squeezed his eyes shut. Reason had ultimately defeated his desire to explore that mysterious area.

Do not look at what is improper. Do not look at what is improper.

He kept repeating it in his mind, but his Adam's apple still bobbed traitorously.

But in the end, he couldn't resist. He quietly opened a tiny slit between his eyelids.

Ling Luochan had already changed into slippers. Though she still maintained her bent posture, she had somehow turned to face him.

She looked at him with a sweet smile, the corners of her eyes curving slightly. Her voice carried seventy percent teasing and thirty percent smug satisfaction.

"Tianchen, you pervert!"

Ling Tianchen felt like his head was about to explode. Even someone who prided himself on being a ladies' man was flushed bright red from her teasing.

"Sister Luochan, can you stop testing me like this? What man could withstand a test like this?"

Ling Tianchen didn't dare meet her gaze. His eyes uncontrollably drifted downward, where her slender legs wrapped in white stockings were right before him.

Realizing something was wrong, he quickly flung his gaze away and fixed it on the shoe cabinet beside them.

He froze in place, unable to advance or retreat, utterly lacking his usual calm composure.

"Can I take that as a compliment?"

Rather than backing away, Ling Luochan stepped closer and whispered beside his ear.

Her warm breath brushed his ear, carrying the uniquely cool, faint fragrance of her body. It only made his ears burn more fiercely.

"Of course. With Sister Luochan's charm, I'm afraid no one could refuse any request of yours."

"Then I happen to have a request right now. Can Tianchen help me?"

"What?"

Alarm bells went off in Ling Tianchen's mind, and a powerful sense of foreboding surged through him.

Ling Luochan leaned back slightly and looked at him with a smile. Then she raised a hand and pointed at the white stockings on her legs. "Can you help me take off my stockings?"

"Huh?! Are you kidding me?" Ling Tianchen blurted out.

"Oh my, you can't? You wanted to sneak a look at me just now, didn't you? Doesn't this count as a reward for you?"

"A reward for what? Isn't this only something people with special fetishes would consider a reward?"

Ling Luochan said nothing, merely watching him quietly.

Ling Tianchen stood there in silence for a long while, his expression changing wonderfully. At last, he struggled to squeeze out a few words through clenched teeth.

"Fine... I'll do it!"

To hell with it. So she wanted to be direct? Who said he couldn't do that too? A sister who toyed with her little brother deserved to be punished severely!

As he spoke, Ling Tianchen crouched down. Just like her earlier uninhibited pose, he directly lifted his head to look up at her while reaching toward her thigh.

The instant his fingertips touched the thin layer of white silk, they slid upward without the slightest courtesy.

Now it was Ling Luochan's turn to panic.

Almost on reflex, she clamped her legs together and pressed her hands tightly over her skirt to prevent herself from being exposed. A crimson flush spread across her cheeks at a visible speed.

Ling Tianchen's hands were firmly trapped between her legs, unable to move. He lifted his head and looked at her innocently. "Sister Luochan, what's wrong? Didn't you ask me to help take off your stockings? Why are you clamping down so tightly?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong? Your hands were practically reaching all the way in!"

Ling Luochan's voice trembled faintly, and the effortless composure she had displayed moments ago was long gone.

"You have to do it slowly... peel them down bit by bit. Who starts by pulling them up that high...?"

"Oh, so that's how it is." Ling Tianchen blinked, his innocent expression perfectly convincing.

"It's my first time doing this, so I'm not very good at it. Please bear with me, Sister Luochan..."

"Y-you... be gentler."

Meeting his seemingly harmless eyes, Ling Luochan was momentarily speechless. She couldn't tell whether he truly didn't know what he was doing or was pretending. Biting her lip, she finally slowly loosened her legs, though she pressed her skirt down even more tightly. She turned her head away rather than look at him, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.