Chapter 47: Acting 3
Su Lan stood in silence, her bare figure cloaked once again in her flowing violet robe, the scent of dual cultivation still lingering faintly in the air. The opulence of the chamber—golden curtains fluttering gently from a breeze of spiritual energy, soft cushions strewn across the vast silken bed, and the fragrance of crushed spirit blossoms wafting from the incense burner—did nothing to calm the storm that brewed in her heart.
Her gaze remained fixed on Meng Hao, who stood before her with tears still shining faintly in his eyes, gratitude and vulnerability mixing within their depths. For a brief moment, she admired his expression—the purity in it, the sincerity that made him look more like a naive youth than a cunning cultivator. But instead of comfort, a wave of internal panic surged through her.
"Damn it, you foolish girl!" she cursed inwardly, her hands clenched within the long sleeves of her robe. "Why didn’t you think this through? Now that he completely believes me thanks to the sudden increase in his cultivation, what if he starts asking for more... more of the same ’ritual’?!"
The very thought made her heart skip a beat.
Yes, she had succeeded in deceiving him—at least for now—but that also came with a new problem. "He might demand more of this... more sex. And I—!"
She inhaled sharply, suppressing the flicker of heat that rushed up her spine at the memory of the previous night’s passionate union. Her face remained composed, yet a faint pink still tinted her pale cheeks, not from embarrassment, but from the residue of intense dual cultivation. Her limbs still felt slightly weak. The drain on her cultivation base was significant—nearly two years’ worth of spiritual energy infused into a single apple, just to preserve her lie.
"It’s not sustainable," she thought, gritting her teeth. "If he comes to expect this again and again, I’ll exhaust myself long before I can bring him under control. No... I need to craft another explanation—something believable, something that will keep him at bay... but also draw him closer to me over time."
Her eyes flicked briefly toward him, observing the way he clutched his robes with hesitation, still overwhelmed by her fabricated ’truth.’ "We’ve already crossed the most intimate threshold. Emotionally, he might not feel bound to me yet—but physically, we’ve connected. If I let him drift too far now, someone else might seduce him. With that innocence of his... anyone could take advantage of him, and if they do, they’ll take what’s mine."
Her thoughts darkened. In that moment, a possessiveness she hadn’t acknowledged before curled inside her heart like a vine. She would not allow that.
Taking a quiet breath, she composed her expression once more into the serene coldness befitting a Peak Master. Her voice, smooth and authoritative, sliced through the quiet chamber like a blade drawn in still water.
"Disciple, you fail to understand," she said in her usual frost-edged tone. "This is not an ordinary ritual, nor one to be taken lightly. If it were so simple, wouldn’t every disciple in the sect already have reached the Nascent Soul Realm or beyond?"
Meng Hao blinked at her words, his expression attentive and respectful, though inwardly he wore the smirk of someone who could see through most things.