Qiuyuan, the Lustful Woman

A cold fingertip pressed against Kexi's chin, forcing him to raise his head and meet a pair of eyes glowing a deep red.

Too close.

So close that he could see the red light swirling slowly in the depths of Qiuyuan's pupils.

So close that he could smell her delicate fragrance.

His Adam's apple bobbed. He managed to keep his voice steady, but the end still wavered beyond his control. "Master... called this disciple here to make up the lessons I missed. This disciple lost three days of lessons after jumping off the cliff, so I'm making them up tonight."

"Make up lessons?"

Qiuyuan repeated the words softly, the curve of her lips slowly deepening, as if she had heard an amusing joke.

She released his chin, but her cold fingertip slowly trailed along his jaw, over his neck and collarbone, finally stopping on the skin at the edge of his collar.

Her finger was ice-cold, but every inch of skin it touched felt as though it had been set ablaze, burning hot.

Kexi froze in place, not daring to move a muscle.

Alarm bells rang wildly in his head.

When the daytime Qiuyuan had slapped him, he had been frightened, but at least he had known she was disciplining her disciple. It had been a normal master-disciple relationship-strict, but normal.

But this Qiuyuan, despite the smile on her face and the impossibly gentle touch of her finger, sent a chill down his spine. He felt like a beautiful snake had wrapped herself around his neck, and he didn't know whether she would strangle him the next moment or-ahem.

"Yes, make up lessons." Qiuyuan withdrew her fingertip from his collar and turned toward the tea table in the center of the room. Every step was silent, her loose, plain white robe trailing a winding line across the floor.

She bent to pour tea, her movements graceful and slow. With her back to him, she said lazily, "But before that-take off your outer robe."

Kexi: "...Huh????"

"Take it off." Qiuyuan didn't turn around. Her tone was casual, but the slight upward lilt at the end made it sound nothing like a normal order from a master.

She straightened up with two cups of tea in her hands, then turned and offered him one. She took a gentle sip from the other, her gaze falling on Kexi over the rim. The red glow in her eyes looked especially eerie and alluring behind the rising steam.

"Did you apply the medicine I gave you? Let me see your injuries."

Kexi took the cup. When his fingers touched Qiuyuan's, their skin was in contact for less than a breath, but he distinctly felt her fingertip brush lightly against the back of his hand.

It was clearly no accidental touch, but a deliberate little stroke carrying a certain suggestion.

He jerked his hand back, nearly losing his grip on the cup.

What's going on?

What's going on?

What's going on?

"N-no need, Master. This disciple already applied it myself. It's all taken care of, and there's nothing wrong at all. Sorry to trouble you, Master-" Kexi babbled as he backed up half a step, his back striking the door behind him with a muffled thud.

Something's wrong. Something's wrong.

Something is very wrong.

Why does this Qiuyuan look like she wants to eat me?

Although he was nervous and frightened, there was actually a tiny bit of anticipation in his heart.

After all, whether in this life or his previous one, he was still a pure little virgin at heart.

How could he withstand her advances?

Qiuyuan looked at him, pressed against the door as if he wished he could sink into it, and the smile at the corners of her lips deepened.

She set her cup on the table and walked slowly toward him, each step unhurried.

She stopped in front of him and tilted her head slightly upward to look at him.

"Are you afraid of me?" She tilted her head, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"No, no, no! How could this disciple be afraid of Master? This disciple feels nothing but reverence for Master, pure reverence, reverence without a trace of anything else-"

Kexi's voice wavered again. His back was pressed firmly against the door, and he wished he could bore a hole through it and escape.

"Is that so?" Qiuyuan reached out and gently placed a hand on his chest-right where she had stepped on him during the day.

With her palm against his chest, she could feel his heart pounding wildly through his clothes, so fast it seemed ready to leap out of his rib cage.

"But your heart," she said slowly, looking up at him, her reddened eyes filled with something indescribable, "is beating even faster than it was during the day."

Kexi looked down at the hand on his chest, his whole body taut.

"This disciple... this disciple is nervous because Master is so imposing. This disciple gets nervous whenever I see Master. That's perfectly normal, yes, yes, perfectly normal-"

Before he could finish, Qiuyuan suddenly rose onto her tiptoes.

She braced one hand against the door beside his ear, keeping the other on his chest, and leaned forward slightly, abruptly closing the distance between them to mere inches.

Her face was tilted up, the tip of her nose less than a finger's width from his chin. Her warm breath brushed his neck, carrying a faint scent of tea and another, richer scent that made his head spin.

"Kexi," she said, her voice so soft it was as though she meant it for him alone. Yet every word was wrapped in honeyed suggestiveness, slipping into his ear, cloying and sticky. "That fruit you gave me to eat-do you know all of its effects?"

Kexi's head buzzed.

He knew. Of course he knew.

During the day, in the Clear Heart Hall, Qiuyuan herself had said that the spirit fruit had advanced her cultivation a little, but she had also spoken of the discomfort caused by its side effects.

The problem was, the fact that the original owner had drugged his master was already shocking enough.

And now, with Qiuyuan asking that question in this tone, at this distance, in this position, he would have known even if he were an idiot that the "effects" she meant couldn't possibly be "advancing her cultivation."

"This disciple... this disciple doesn't know... This disciple only knows that the fruit can improve cultivation. I don't know anything else. I'm innocent, Master-" Kexi's voice was tearful. He really was on the verge of crying.

He had cried when he was slapped during the day because he felt wronged. Now he wanted to cry because he thought he might not make it out of this room today.

"You don't know?" Qiuyuan chuckled, removed the hand braced against the door, and stepped back half a pace.

Kexi had just breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the danger had passed, when she seized his collar between two fingers and pulled him away from the door like a chick, dragging him toward the bed.

Wait.

Toward the bed.

"M-m-master! Weren't we going to make up lessons?! Don't we do that in the study?! Aren't you supposed to take a sword manual and explain it page by page?! Master, what are you doing-"

Kexi's voice had changed pitch, soaring all the way from baritone to tenor. His voice cracked on the last few words like a chicken with a foot on its neck.

Qiuyuan did not answer him.

She merely held him by the collar and walked unhurriedly to the bed, then let go.

Kexi staggered several steps before finding his balance. Before he could straighten his crooked collar, he felt the backs of his knees go weak.

Just as she had during the day, Qiuyuan had kicked him precisely behind the knees. He lost his balance and fell faceup onto the bed.

His back struck the soft brocade quilt, sinking deep into it.

Then Qiuyuan leaned over him.

She braced one hand on the bed and pressed the other against his shoulder, pinning him firmly to the bed without giving him a chance to roll over.

Her long hair fell from her shoulder, spilling down beside his face like a waterfall.

"Making up lessons can wait," she said, her voice extremely low. Her breath brushed his ear, carrying a tremor that sent a tingling numbness through his whole body. "But I haven't felt this uncomfortable in hundreds of years-you caused this trouble, so you can deal with it yourself."

Kexi's pupils dilated to their limits.

Qiuyuan's pupils glowed like rubies.

Christopher-!!!

He roared inwardly for who knew how many times that day, using every last bit of his willpower to keep from actually shouting aloud.

That script you wrote-what kind of script is this, anyway?!

But in this moonlit room in the side courtyard of the Clear Heart Hall, no one could hear his thoughts.