31: Chapter 31 Shame, shame, yet another incredibly real dream.

This realization caused Xiao Nianyin's final resistance to crumble.

She closed her eyes, her long lashes trembling violently, as a single clear tear slid silently from the corner of her eye and vanished into her hair.

She no longer struggled, allowing the scalding invasion to sweep over her, letting herself sink into this torrent of desire that she had initiated but which had long since spiraled out of control.

However, the development of events once again completely deviated from Xiao Nianyin's expectations and control.

Just as she gave up her resistance, prepared to endure it passively and tried to circulate her remaining cultivation techniques to guide back any potential power, the youth atop her, driven by instinct, suddenly let out a low, hoarse growl. With a burst of startling strength in his arms, he unexpectedly flipped her over!

The world spun!

Xiao Nianyin let out a startled cry; by the time she realized what was happening, she was already pinned firmly beneath Xu Ruyu!

Looking down at her, his eyes remained tightly closed, but his handsome face bore a nearly primal, unquestionable aggression. It was as if, even in a dream, he was still the Dominator.

"Don't...!"

Xiao Nianyin truly panicked; this was not what they had agreed upon (at least, not what she had unilaterally decided)!

She wanted to push him away, to regain the initiative, to guide him...

But Xu Ruyu gave her no chance at all. That violent power, suppressed for too long and now completely ignited by the medicine, surged forth like a flood bursting through a dam.

All of Xiao Nianyin's struggles, all her calculations, and all the techniques she tried to circulate were like a candle's flame in a gale, extinguished instantly before this pure and domineering physical strength.

An unknown amount of time passed, feeling as long as a century.

When Xu Ruyu let out a satisfied, heavy sigh—as if shedding a thousand-pound burden—and finally collapsed onto her in exhaustion to fall into a deep sleep, Xiao Nianyin felt as if she had just been fished out from drowning, her remaining consciousness slowly returning.

She was so sore and weak that she didn't have an ounce of strength left, as if her bones had been taken apart and reassembled.

What drove her even further into despair was that the weak power within her body, instead of flowing back and strengthening as she had hoped, had become even more imperceptible and almost completely silent due to the intense "activity" and the massive emotional fluctuations.

Meanwhile, the majestic Saint Realm Foundation within Xu Ruyu's body remained steadily dormant, as if everything that had just occurred was merely a light breeze brushing over the surface of a lake to that vast power.

Trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice...

No, she had lost her entire self!

Xiao Nianyin lay on the messy bed, staring blankly at the dim ceiling of the Side Hall. Her exquisite face was expressionless, save for a cold, deathly silence and profound self-loathing. Tears surged out silently, sliding down her burning cheeks and vanishing into her disheveled hair and the sweat-drenched silk bedding.

She had failed.

Failed completely and utterly.

She not only failed to reclaim her cultivation, but instead... instead, she had sacrificed herself again, like the lowliest Cauldron, allowing this muddled youth to take his fill at will, leaving her without any power to resist.

After a long while, she finally trembled as she used her last shred of strength to arduously push the heavy Xu Ruyu off her.

Xu Ruyu gave a grunt, rolled over, and lay sprawled to one side, his face still wearing a look of satiation as he slept soundly.

Xiao Nianyin struggled to sit up, haphazardly grabbing her torn and tattered sleeping robes and gauze garments to barely cover her mark-covered body.

She staggered out of bed, her legs giving way so she nearly knelt on the floor; she only managed to stand steady by leaning against the bedpost.

She turned back to look at the youth on the bed, who slept completely defenseless, even with a suspicious curve at the corner of his mouth; her eyes held emotions that were complex to the extreme.

Shame, anger, grievance, helplessness, and even a trace of a faint, strange sentiment that she herself could not understand.

Ultimately, all these emotions dissolved into a barely audible sigh, filled with endless exhaustion and self-mockery.

She did not linger, like a defeated deserter, dragging her nearly broken body and supporting herself against the wall. Step by step, she moved toward the Side Hall door with difficulty and grace. She silently pulled it open a crack, slipped out, and vanished into the deeper darkness of the Main Hall.

Silence returned to the Side Hall.

Only the lingering sweet and erotic scent in the air, along with the youth sleeping soundly on the bed—completely unaware of everything that had happened tonight—bore witness to that absurd and intense "real dream."

Early the next morning.

Sunlight filtered through the window lattice, dappling across Xu Ruyu's face.

He frowned and blearily opened his eyes, feeling comfortable all over as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted; even the fatigue and injuries from yesterday's gauntlet of battles had lessened significantly.

It was just that... his waist felt a bit sore?

He stretched, but his arm brushed against the cold silk quilt, the texture feeling somewhat strange.

He sat up in a daze and looked down—

He was actually lying stark naked under the covers!

His sleeping robes were nowhere to be found!

The bed was a complete mess, the silk quilt crumpled into a ball and the mattress sheet in disarray. In the air... there seemed to be a lingering, faint, and somewhat familiar cold fragrance, along with... a unique, post-coital ambiguous scent?

Xu Ruyu's brain went "buzz," instantly turning blank.

Last night... it seemed he had a dream that was extremely erotic, extremely real, and extremely intense.

In the dream, he had returned to that familiar, fiery entanglement, only this time, he seemed to be... exceptionally proactive, exceptionally domineering?

Could it be... that wasn't a dream?! Had he really... taken care of things himself in his Revered Master's Side Hall?!

Xu Ruyu's face instantly turned pale, and cold sweat broke out all over him.

He threw back the quilt and scrambled to check the bed; the more he looked, the colder his heart became.

These marks... this smell...

It's over, it's over, it's over!!!

Xu Ruyu's Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, he nearly rolled off the bed.

Trembling, he grabbed his sleeping robes—which had been kicked who-knows-where—and threw them on haphazardly, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of his throat.

Revered Master! Revered Master was right next door!

He had actually done such a filthy thing right next to his Revered Master!

And he had even left behind such obvious "evidence of his crime"!

If Revered Master found out...

Xu Ruyu simply didn't dare to imagine that scene.

He could already envision Xiao Nianyin's cold face, filled with loathing and murderous intent.

"Calm down! Calm down!"

Xu Ruyu forced himself to take deep breaths, trying to clear his head.

Maybe... maybe he just had a nocturnal emission?

Yes! It must be that!

Young men have plenty of vigor; it's normal to have wet dreams!

Those marks... those marks were all his own!

That cold fragrance... maybe it was incense, or the smell of his own sweat had changed?

He desperately sought excuses for himself, but looking at the messy bed and the faint, non-belonging cold fragrance in the air, those reasons seemed so pale and weak.

Like a thief, he quickly jumped off the bed and scrambled to tidy it up, smoothing out the bedding as much as possible in an attempt to cover all traces.

He then opened the window to its widest, hoping to dissipate that damn smell as quickly as possible.

Having finished all this, he slumped onto the floor, leaning against the cold wall with lingering fear.

"In the future... I definitely can't have such wild dreams again!

No, I definitely can't... think about those messy things anymore!"

Xu Ruyu swore in his heart, his face filled with lingering fear and self-reproach.

How could he know that the "erotic dream" that filled him with such dread was precisely "meticulously planned" and "personally participated in" by his seemingly cold, aloof, and unattainable Revered Master.

And his current self-reproach and panic formed an incredibly ironic and subtle contrast with the ice-cold Sect Master in the neighboring Bedchamber, who had also stayed awake all night, her body aching and her heart filled with extremely complex emotions.

A new day began, and the tangled, inextricable relationship between this Revered Master and disciple was marked by yet another even more complex and inscrutable stroke in the silent night that no one knew about.