The three of them had hit it off so well that the wine banquet lasted until very late.
Seeing that night had fallen, Murong Xue set down her bowl and chopsticks, rose, and took her leave.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Fellow Daoist Liu! I shall take my leave now! Ninth Sister, let's go!"
"All right, Seventh Sister!"
Murong Yue also shook off her tipsy haze and hurried to answer.
"Fellow Daoist Murong, now that you've sold me your residence, do you have somewhere to stay? Why not spend the night here and leave after daybreak tomorrow?"
Liu Changxu could not help urging her to stay.
"Thank you for your kindness, Fellow Daoist Liu! I have another place to stay in the city!"
With that, she took the drunken, bleary-eyed Murong Yue by the hand and left.
In truth, how could Murong Xue not have wanted to stay the night? Yet her feminine reserve left her no choice but to bid him farewell.
Seeing that Murong Xue remained firm, Liu Changxu could only rise and see the two women out.
Although they had left, the banquet had brought Liu Changxu much closer to the Murong sisters.
After returning to the palace, Liu Changxu immediately settled into the room Murong Xue had previously occupied.
As he lay on the soft, comfortable jade bed, a faint fragrance lingered around his nose. Without a doubt, it was the alluring scent Murong Xue had left behind!
The ascension had been perilous and terribly draining. Utterly exhausted, Liu Changxu soon drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, the sun was already high in the sky by the time Liu Changxu awoke.
Stepping out of the palace, he instantly spread his formidable late-Mahayana-stage divine sense over the entire grotto-heaven paradise. In a single breath, he perceived