Dusk fell.
A hundred flowers vied for beauty in the palace gardens. Dressed in martial attire, Zhao Ling sparred with Bu Yuehua, a fellow martial artist, while Empress Dowager Guo watched from the side.
On a nearby shaded path amid red blossoms and green willows, Xie Jinhuan supported Ye Yunchi as they walked slowly. He asked with concern, "How do you feel? Should we let Grandmaster take over for a little longer?"
Ye Yunchi had regained control of her body, but traces of Octopus Poison still lingered in her legs, leaving her ankles slightly numb and her steps less than nimble.
But she would not dare let Grandmaster do things for her again, even under threat of death. After all, with certain things, once there was a first time, countless more followed. Ever since that first split, those things had become an everyday occurrence. Whenever Xie Jinhuan came to visit, it always ended with her seducing that young fellow-
Ye Yunchi came from a Confucian background and had practiced restraint and propriety since childhood. Even if Xie Jinhuan did not mind, she could not get used to riding a man's face and humiliating him. To her, properly performing the great rite of human relations would have been better than such an outrageous act.
Now that she had finally regained control of her body, Ye Yunchi breathed a sigh of relief. "It's nothing serious. Moving around a little should help me recover. My body was indisposed these past few days, and I wasn't acting of my own will. Don't take those things I did to heart. Besides, you're an upright gentleman. Even when faced with temptation, you ought to remain unmoved with a woman in your lap. You mustn't go along with the current and act so recklessly again-"
"All right,"