81: Chapter 81 Xiao Nianyin's conflicted feelings, Xu Ruyu discovers the secret

It was another early morning.

Xu Ruyu "slowly woke up" on the large bed in the Side Hall, his eyes quickly regaining clarity from their initial daze.

The air still held the lingering, cold fragrance from last night's intense "dreamscape," along with a certain, more ambiguous scent.

He slowly sat up, looking down at the marks on his body that were gradually fading, then glanced at the messy wrinkles on the bed and a few silver hairs on the pillow that didn't belong to him; his face remained expressionless.

He got up and, as usual, methodically made the bed, smoothing out the covers and carefully picking up those silver hairs to place them in a small silk pouch he had prepared—this was a habit he had developed over these past few days, as if collecting evidence, or perhaps as a silent form of mockery.

After finishing this, he walked to the window and pushed it open slightly.

The morning light was dim, and Ningyin Hall was shrouded in a quiet mist; the distant eaves and arches flickered in and out of view through the fog, looking like a fairyland.

But Xu Ruyu knew that beneath this ethereal Immortal Qi lay a distorted and raw display of human nature and desire.

He took a deep breath of the cool air, feeling the Taixu True Qi within his body which had grown more solid than yesterday, as well as that faint, flickering warm current lodged deep in his Dantian that grew slightly stronger after every "dream"—it was a fragment of Saint Realm Power flowing back from Xiao Nianyin.

Though it was only a negligible sliver each time, it added up; after ten or so days, it had already allowed his cultivation to quietly and steadily advance from Qi Refining Great Perfection toward the threshold of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Had he not deliberately suppressed it and used his Taixu True Qi to repeatedly temper and purify it, he likely would have already triggered a Spiritual Qi vortex and alerted others.

At the same time, he could feel an occasional faint sting from deep within his Divine Soul, like a very fine needle pricking him before vanishing instantly.

Was this the "aftereffect that the soul might not be able to withstand" that Madam Qingli had warned him about? But at least for now, the pain hadn't intensified; instead, it had weakened as he gradually adapted to that fragment of Saint Realm Power.

Xu Ruyu's eyes were calm as water, even carrying a hint of cold amusement.

He recalled last night—no, the "confrontations" of these past dozen or so consecutive nights.

During the first few nights, he was driven more by a buildup of resentment and a desire for revenge; under the guidance of his subconscious, he had used his physical instincts to mount a boorish, even violent resistance and response.

He poured all the contempt he faced before the Hall of Power Transmission during the day, the frustration of being stared at like prey by his Senior Sisters, and the fury of being powerless over his own situation into that cold body that was delivered to his door on time every night.

He had no strategy; it was purely physical memory and the vague impressions from fragmented scenes in adult films. He did whatever would make her uncomfortable, whatever would break her seemingly cold and controlled posture.

It was unrefined and reckless, but it carried a desperate ferocity.

However, as the frequency increased, as he could clearly feel his own power rising and her power draining faster after every "counterattack," and as he observed the increasingly hard-to-hide dishevelment Xiao Nianyin showed every time she left... a bold guess began to sprout in his heart.

She seems... unable to effectively control this process? Furthermore, she can't actively take back the power that flows into my body?

This suspicion reached a breaking point last night.

Xu Ruyu clearly remembered that when Xiao Nianyin arrived last night, her crisp, cold fragrance seemed mixed with a very faint trace of anxiety and instability.

Her movements were more urgent than any previous time, even carrying a sort of near-desperate violence as she tried to forcibly take the lead and accelerate her extraction.

But Xu Ruyu, after over ten nights of "training," was no longer the novice who was completely passive and only resisted by instinct.

While maintaining the pretense of being "drowsy," his body's "instinctive" reactions became increasingly skilled, even... beginning to show technique.

With an almost experimental mindset, he applied those fragmented "Moves" he had seen in various adult films and fringe knowledge from the information-explosion era of his past life onto Xiao Nianyin.

It was no longer a simple confrontation of brute force.

He was like a calm observer, or a researcher with a wicked sense of humor, conducting a secret and dangerous "human experiment" under the cover of darkness.

And the subject of the experiment was none other than his high-and-mighty, cold and ethereal Revered Master.

The results were "satisfying" to him and confirmed his suspicions.

Developing a taste for it.

This phrase suddenly popped into Xu Ruyu's mind.

Not for himself, but as a way to describe Xiao Nianyin's likely state.

Her initial goal was pure and clear: through this bizarre Dual Cultivation (or rather, unilateral plundering) method, she would reclaim her lost power and restore her cultivation.

This was the fundamental motivation that sustained her through the humiliation of coming here every night.

But what about now?

Xu Ruyu recalled the final stage of last night; when he had finished his "experiment" and was ready to "clock out," Xiao Nianyin's body—which should have withdrawn quickly and left in shame and anger—seemed to have a momentary, extremely brief hesitation, even unconsciously leaning in for a second.

Although she immediately sprang away as if burned and then fled after tidying herself up with even greater haste, that sliver of hesitation did not escape Xu Ruyu's perception.

She was starting to feel conflicted.

Her body's reactions were betraying her will.

That never-before-experienced, forcibly opened world of new sensory input, that strange pleasure erupting amidst extreme shame and loss of control, was in violent conflict with her proud logic and her urgent goal of reclaiming her cultivation.

"I am doing this to restore my power."

She must be telling herself that.

"But... why do I... when he uses those... vulgar methods?" another voice questioned.

"No!"

"This is just a means!"

"A necessary sacrifice!"

Her logic roared.

This self-doubt and internal division made her aura even more unstable, and it also caused her acts of "extraction" to be invisibly mixed with a hidden craving for that sensory stimulation—one she hadn't even noticed herself.

This made her more prone to losing control during her "interactions" with Xu Ruyu, causing her power to drain even faster and... giving Xu Ruyu clearer feedback for his "experiments."

She simply can't take it back.