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What woman didn't keep a few extra pretty outfits on hand? Before long, Luo Bingyao had dug out more than a dozen colorful dresses. Most were made of silk that hugged her body and showed off her figure perfectly.

"Are these the only clothes you have?" Shen Xingyan frowned. He was a grown man. How could he go out wearing any of them?

"I have a sect uniform, but... it's the standard Outer Sect uniform." Luo Bingyao hesitantly pulled out her small-sized uniform. It was an Outer Sect uniform, after all. The gold-colored patterns were made with copper thread rather than gold, and the whole thing looked cheap and low-grade.

In any sect, Personal Disciples held the highest status, followed by inner disciples, with Outer Sect disciples last. He was the son of an Immortal Venerable and the young sect leader of the Kongtong School. If anyone saw him wearing a lowly Outer Sect uniform, wouldn't he lose all face?

He hesitated for a long time.

But wearing something was better than wearing nothing. "Fine. This will do." Shen Xingyan sighed, his frown deepening as he reluctantly struggled into the uniform.

Clothes in the Cultivation World were usually long robes with wide sleeves that billowed with immortal grace. But Luo Bingyao had slyly altered her small-sized uniform: she had widened the neckline, narrowed the waist, and shortened the hem. Once Shen Xingyan put it on, the fabric clung tightly to his eight-pack. The neckline exposed a stretch of bronze skin, the waist strained as if about to burst, and most of his long legs were bare. He looked strange from head to toe.

He felt uncomfortable all over, but Luo Bingyao laughed until her shoulders shook, a flower seemingly blooming in her heart. To her, this was another way of staking her claim. Shen Xingyan had worn her clothes, so from now on, he was hers.

He was hers. Yes, exactly.

As Shen Xingyan awkwardly tried to sneak Luo Bingyao back into the Kongtong School through a side gate, he found a large crowd of disciples gathered by the stone lions carved from Superior Spirit Stones, all watching the spectacle.

The disciples had their heads tipped back, intently watching a Recording Stone projection above the lions.

Someone exclaimed, "There's actually a robe that drops rose petals? It's so dreamy! I'm buying one too."

Someone else said eagerly, "Where exactly is that place? Next time, I'm taking my Dao Companion there to play like mandarin ducks in the water."

Another stared, dumbfounded. "That's wild! Those two really know how to have fun!"

A bad feeling crept over Shen Xingyan.

He couldn't help hiding his face behind a wide sleeve as he edged closer for a look. Mist swirled beneath the hazy moonlight, and nothing was clear. He could only make out two blurry figures. But weren't those figures him and Luo Bingyao?

He had come to watch the gossip, only to find himself at the center of it. This was absurd beyond belief.

Shen Xingyan froze in shock. Who had dared to record them with a Recording Stone and deliberately show everyone? He prayed no one would recognize them.

He was about to pull Luo Bingyao away when a disciple who had just arrived for the gossip accidentally tripped him. His tall frame nearly hit the ground, and a gap the size of a bowl tore open at the already strained waist of his uniform.

"S-sorry... Senior Brother Shen, it's you?" The young disciple looked ready to drop to his knees. "I didn't do it on purpose. It was an accident."

The commotion drew the attention of the onlookers, and some of them noticed the pair.

"Huh? Don't the two people in the recording look a bit like Senior Brother Shen and Junior Sister Luo?" Someone's gaze darted between the projection and the two of them. The longer he looked, the stronger the resemblance seemed. "Could it really be them?"

"Senior Brother Shen even went out of his way to wear Junior Sister Luo's Outer Sect uniform today. I hear wearing your Dao Companion's clothes is all the rage in the Cultivation World lately. It's a kind of flirtation, I suppose."

"Senior Brother Shen, why is your uniform torn?"

"Junior Sister Luo really is something. Looks like she'll soon go from the Outer Sect to becoming a Personal Disciple."

Luo Bingyao's grin nearly reached her ears as she listened. Keep speculating. The more, the better. She was just about to step forward and ask everyone to bless her and Shen Xingyan when he abruptly put a good distance between them. "What nonsense are you talking about? I only ran into Junior Sister Luo this morning. What secret rendezvous? I just borrowed this uniform from the Outer Sect. I heard the other day that many of you were unhappy with the Outer Sect uniform, so I tried it on myself to see what needs improving."

"Instead of cultivating, you're standing here watching this rubbish and disturbing your Dao Hearts. Watch out, or I'll send you to Stillheart Cliff to reflect for a few days on the sect leader's behalf."

"Go on, disperse! All of you!"

Seeing Shen Xingyan's grim face and fiery eyes, and hearing the young sect leader threaten punishment, everyone suppressed the urge to keep watching the drama. They scattered like startled birds and beasts.

Once everyone had gone, Luo Bingyao and Shen Xingyan reached a deserted spot. She eagerly stepped forward to take his arm, but he shook her off in disgust.

"Shen, darling~" She gave him a reproachful look.

"Junior Sister Luo, please call me Senior Brother Shen. What happened last night was entirely an accident. I'd appreciate it if you pretended it never happened."

Luo Bingyao stared at him. "An accident?"

"Who called me over for a secret rendezvous last night? Who kept saying, 'A-Yao, I missed you so much'? Who did that to me in the Spirit Spring?" Gritting her teeth, she glared at him and yanked the tear at his waist even wider. "Shen Xingyan, you're still wearing my clothes. Don't even think about denying what happened!"

Shen Xingyan could tell Luo Bingyao would not be easy to deal with. Unless he paid a price, he probably wouldn't be rid of her. What rotten luck. He took ten thousand Middle-Grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Ring and handed them to her reluctantly.

Fine. That many Spirit Stones could count as compensation for last night.

"You think you can get rid of me with this pittance of Middle-Grade Spirit Stones?" At the sight of the pile of stones with so little spiritual energy, Luo Bingyao's temper flared. She clung to his waist, pounding him and refusing to let go. "Shen Xingyan, how can you have the nerve? My Rose Robe alone cost two hundred Superior Spirit Stones! That's worth twenty thousand Middle-Grade Spirit Stones!"