62: Chapter 62 Xu Ruyu's Search

The silver bell-like laughter of Lady Qingli still echoed faintly in the side hall, but she herself had already dissipated like mist and clouds.

Xu Ruyu sat blankly on the hard bed, taking a good while to recover from the complex emotions of being 'teased' yet experiencing a 'false alarm.'

He rubbed the cheek that Lady Qingli had pinched, and the unholy fire in his heart slowly receded, replaced by a faint, troublesome unease.

Lady Qingli was gone, but her words were branded into Xu Ruyu's mind.

"I'm staying in the side hall right next to yours~"

"You're welcome to come over as a 'guest' anytime~"

Was this an invitation? This was clearly a declaration!

A declaration that Lady Qingli, this unfathomable powerhouse of the Taihu Clan, had set up her nest right next to her prey. She could elegantly and calmly pay a 'visit' at any moment, and he could do absolutely nothing about it!

Add to that his Revered Master, Xiao Nianyin, who would sneak in at night without anyone noticing...

Xu Ruyu felt a chill down the back of his neck. It felt as if two gazes—one cold and obscure, the other charming and scorching—were piercing through the walls, fixed on him at all times.

This feeling of having zero privacy and being liable to a 'night raid' or a 'day visit' at any time was simply agonizing, keeping his nerves constantly on edge.

"No, things can't go on like this!"

Xu Ruyu stood up abruptly from the bed and paced anxiously in the cramped room.

"It's only been two days, and in those two days, Revered Master has already 'eaten me clean' twice without a sound!

If I stay exposed to the 'prying eyes' of these two women, forget three months—I probably won't even last three days. I'll either be sucked dry or played until I'm broken!"

He had to find a way to protect himself, or at least secure a bit of private space and a safe distance!

But what could he do? With his meager cultivation, setting up Formations? Drawing talismans? Creating barriers? Those were out of the question.

But... just because he didn't have them didn't mean others didn't!

A flash of inspiration struck Xu Ruyu's mind as he recalled the cultivation novels he had read before.

Weren't the Immortal Caves of those powerful Cultivators always filled with various Restrictions and Formations? Warning Formations, defensive Formations, soundproofing Formations, illusion Formations, killing Formations... all sorts of types with different functions.

Wasn't the most common one a 'Forbidden Array' that blocked others' Divine Sense probes and physical intrusions?

What if... he could convince his Revered Master, Xiao Nianyin, to personally set up such a Forbidden Array around the side hall?

The thought made Xu Ruyu's heart race. Asking his Revered Master to help set up a Formation to guard against 'prying eyes' that might include the Revered Master herself? It sounded absurd, like 'seeking the tiger's skin.'

Would Xiao Nianyin agree? Would she see it as a lack of trust or a provocation?

But on second thought, Xu Ruyu felt this might be the only feasible and relatively 'safe' option at the moment.

Firstly, on the surface, he was the Personal Disciple Xiao Nianyin had taken 'against the rules.' Requesting his Revered Master to set up a Forbidden Array for his cultivation chamber to ensure privacy and prevent interference was a completely legitimate reason. It could even be seen as a sign of the Disciple being cautious and devoted to the Dao. Xiao Nianyin wouldn't be able to flatly refuse based on logic or sentiment.

Secondly, Xiao Nianyin herself didn't seem entirely unreasonable (even if her methods were bizarre).

She had to maintain the appearance of their Revered Master-Disciple relationship and her majesty as the Sect Master, while secretly carrying out her plan to 'retrieve her cultivation.'

A Forbidden Array publicly set up by her hand might actually become part of her plan—it would block the prying eyes of outsiders (like Lady Qingli or other ill-intentioned Elders and Disciples), making it more convenient for her 'nightly operations' to go unnoticed.

From that perspective, she might actually agree.

Finally, and most importantly: this Forbidden Array would at least explicitly block Lady Qingli!

As long as the Formation was personally set by Xiao Nianyin, given her cultivation and status as Sect Master, no matter how interested Lady Qingli was, she likely wouldn't openly force her way in or easily break it. That would be equivalent to a direct confrontation.

This way, he could at least temporarily shut out the more unpredictable, 'smiling tiger' variable that was Lady Qingli, and only focus on dealing with one (though still very difficult) Revered Master.

Between two evils, choose the lesser. Compared to being simultaneously exposed to the 'clutches' of two powerful women, temporarily 'confining' himself within the controllable range of his Revered Master alone seemed... to have lower risks?

"I'll treat a dead horse as if it were alive!"

Xu Ruyu gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

Although this might mean falling even more thoroughly into Xiao Nianyin's schemes, it was better than the current desperate situation of being wide open and fighting on two fronts.

He took a few deep breaths, straightened his still somewhat messy inner robes, and splashed some cold water on his face to try and make himself look normal.

Then, he pushed open the door and walked cautiously toward the Ningyin Main Hall, the symbol of the Hehuan Sect's highest authority.

At this moment, inside the Ningyin Main Hall, the atmosphere was slightly different from the majestic and cold solemnity Xu Ruyu had imagined.

Xiao Nianyin was not sitting upright on the jade throne handling Sect affairs. Instead, she was alone, leaning against the cloud bed in the inner chamber of her sleeping quarters.

She wore only a moon-white soft silk shirt, her jet-black hair cascading down. She lacked her usual cold sternness, possessing more of a domestic laziness and... a trace of imperceptible weakness.

After another 'high-intensity' session of 'energy guidance' (as she defined it) last night, although her empty Meridians seemed to have been replenished by an extremely faint warm current, bringing some color back to her pale face, the physical exhaustion and slight swelling in certain unspeakable areas were real. Especially that faint aching sensation, which made her knit her beautiful brows slightly even while sitting quietly in meditation.

After Lady Qingli left, she had forced herself through the discomfort to take out the Profound Ice Jade Box sent by Grand Elder Rong Qingliu.

Undoing the Seal, three crystal-clear Jade Slips flowing with a faint pink glow were neatly arranged inside—the complete set of the Heavenly Charm Mysterious Maiden Heart Sutra.

Regarding this supreme Charm Technique of the Sect, Xiao Nianyin was actually quite conflicted internally.

Having cultivated the Mystic Maidens Sun-Stealing Art since childhood, she followed a domineering path of extreme Yang and strength through plunder. She naturally held a bit of disdain for a technique like the Heavenly Charm Mysterious Maiden Heart Sutra, which focused on feminine softness, illusions, and Dual Cultivation, considering it too reliant on external things and superficial skills, and not 'pure' or 'powerful' enough.

But now, forced by circumstances to 'guide' her power back from Xu Ruyu more quickly and effectively, she had to set aside her prejudices and try to find some 'techniques' or 'methods' worth learning from this top-tier Charm Technique validated by countless Hehuan Sect predecessors.

Her Divine Sense sank into the first Jade Slip, quickly browsing through the general principles and basic chapters. The descriptions of how to Cultivate a charming temperament, nourish the Primal Yin, and enhance the attraction of Divine Sense made her shake her head slightly, finding them too tedious and 'superficial.'

However, when her Divine Sense swept over a detailed explanation of a practical secret technique called the 'Nine Styles of the Mysterious Maidens Yang Absorption' in the second Jade Slip, her movements involuntarily slowed down.

These were not just simple mind-cultivation mantras; they were accompanied by clear, artistic, yet precise diagrams of spiritual energy flow, as well as... a series of extremely bold dynamic visualization images!

Every single one of them shocked the mind of Xiao Nianyin, a 'beginner' who had lived a life of few desires for hundreds of years and whose knowledge of this path had remained purely at the theoretical level.