Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The moment their eyes met, Shen Xiyin was dazed. It took several breaths before she realized the awkward situation happening in front of her.

Her soaked, see-through undershirt clung tight to her body. Shen Xiyin instinctively looked down, catching a faint shadow visible through the wet fabric. She went pale in shock and hurriedly ducked under the water.

The other guy reacted faster, turning aside and closing his eyes.

Shen Xiyin’s uneven breaths made ripples on the water.

She told herself: the night was thick, he was standing a ways off, and she wasn’t completely naked—he probably didn’t see much.

They both had their own thoughts, yet neither spoke. The air felt frozen, leaving only the soft murmur of the flowing stream.

After who knows how long, Shen Xiyin heard his retreating footsteps and a serious—

“My apologies.”

That apology was basically an admission that he had seen clearly.

She had hoped he would pretend it never happened, keeping his reputation as a scholar and their mutual dignity. But that apology ripped off that invisible veil of decency.

Shen Xiyin’s body, still in the water, tensed up at his words, her eyelids fluttering with shame.

Her heart felt unbearably humiliated, but her body had a weird reaction to the realization that “he had seen.” It was a secret thrill, against all reason and decency, messing with her head. She didn’t want this, she shouldn’t be feeling this, but denying and rejecting it only made it worse.

Her condition had gotten worse—what was she supposed to do?

Shen Xiyin helplessly lay on a rock by the stream, gasping. Only when the feeling passed did she slowly wade back to shore against the current.

Water dripped off her body as the night breeze swept by. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

Earlier, when she was so upset, she had just jumped into the water without thinking. Now, soaking wet, she had nothing dry to change into.

After making sure no one was around, she sat behind a big rock and reached to untie her undershirt’s sash, the wet fabric falling away.

The soaked clothes glistened in the bright moonlight. Shen Xiyin noticed a sticky, shiny streak distinct from the clear stream water. She raised a hand to cover her face, unable to look anymore.

Deep in the thick forest, the night sky was cold and quiet.

Pei Su walked quickly through the trees, his face grim.

The forest’s maze was just some cheap sorcery—a trick that might trap a regular person like Madam Xu, but one that should have been ineffective against him.

But his loss of control over his spiritual energy had prevented him from fully detecting the trap.

At that thought, Pei Su let out a cold laugh and pressed his hand tightly to his brow.

Since when did he start making excuses for himself? His current limited spiritual power had indeed affected him, but getting caught in the maze was ultimately because he lacked resolve.

Pissed off by the nasty formation’s repeated insults and shamed by the sight of filth, he couldn’t control his anger or put up with the shame.

If his heart wasn’t strong, how could he cultivate himself and run his household?

He really needed to think about himself.

The thick night hid his agitation and hidden anger, until the first light of dawn slowly pushed away the darkness.

The day before, Shen Xiyin had tried to improve her method of starting a fire by friction, but still couldn’t get a spark from the wood.

Fortunately, it was early summer. The wet clothes, wrung out and left on a big rock overnight, were almost dry—though still a bit damp to the touch, sticking unpleasantly to her skin.

It had been two days since they left the stone chamber for the dense forest, yet everything remained as usual. The prompt for the next desire trial hadn’t shown up.

Shen Xiyin felt relieved, yet a faint unease lingered. It was like knowing a blade would eventually fall, but being unable to see its gleam—a creeping dread.

She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and ventured into the forest to forage for food.

Shen Xiyin vaguely recalled that Pei Su’s footsteps had headed left the previous night, so she deliberately went right, hoping to keep her distance.

But in this bewildering maze, the more one wished to avoid something, the more likely it was to happen.

She hadn’t walked far before she encountered him head-on in the dense woods.

The wind rustled the treetops, preventing utter silence.

The memory of last night’s “My apologies” still fresh, Shen Xiyin instinctively raised a hand to clutch her collar.

The man opposite her was pale, his expression stern. He stood still in the forest, closing his eyes and frowning as she approached.

Pei Su raised a hand to his forehead, a strange dizziness assaulting his mind.

This dizziness had come and gone since his hurried walk last night. He believed his will remained intact—he shouldn’t be so weakened by such a trivial maze.

Shen Xiyin was about to turn and leave when she noticed his state and paused to look at him a few more times. After a moment’s hesitation, she softly asked, “Are you hungry?”

Pei Su looked up. “Hungry?”

He had abstained from food since childhood and hadn’t felt such a craving in years. The word struck him as absurd, but then he considered that his limited spiritual power might no longer sustain his body.

Shen Xiyin had heard from disciples of the Xu clan in Changliu that highly cultivated scholars didn’t eat grains—food was optional for them.

But she had known hunger intimately and could recognize it in others.

She untied the cloth bag slung over her shoulder. Inside were some fruits she had planned to eat as a midday snack while resting in the woods.

Pei Su watched as she picked out a few of the better-looking ones from a pile of shriveled, dark wild fruits and quietly placed them at his feet.

Shen Xiyin pursed her lips and said, “There aren’t any fruit trees nearby to fill your stomach. If you need them, you can use these... I mean, if you want.”

If not, forget it.

Without lingering, she retied her bag and walked away.

Pei Su glanced down at the fruits at his feet but didn’t touch them. He wasn’t so famished that he couldn’t manage.

Shen Xiyin went deeper into the forest, found two suitable pieces of wood, and planned to try again to start a fire.

By noon, the sun grew hotter. She wiped the fine sweat from her neck with her sleeve, took down a makeshift water pouch crafted from a nutshell and bark, and tilted her head to drink.

The pouch’s opening wasn’t tight enough, and two thin streams trickled from the corners of her lips.

When Pei Su approached, he saw the glistening liquid trailing down her slender neck, dampening her collar.

He intended to pretend he hadn’t seen her, but Shen Xiyin noticed him too.

In this vast forest, meeting so many times could no longer be dismissed as coincidence—especially when they were both trying to avoid each other.

Pei Su knew what she was wondering about and merely said, "There's a confusion barrier set up in the forest."

They couldn't completely avoid each other.

A restless heat stirred faintly inside Shen Xiyin, and she pressed her lips together, which were reddened.

She wasn't sure how much longer she could hold on.

Pei Su turned to leave.

Shen Xiyin's fingertips reddened as she gripped the water pouch, forcing herself to ask him, "Can we still get out safely?"

Pei Su paused, then said, "Maybe."

He plucked a green leaf, thinking. Every plant and tree here was not an illusion; he figured they weren't trapped in an illusion by the Confusion Barrier, but had been taken to some remote, uninhabited spot in the real world.

Like an isolated island, a secret forest, or a desolate mountain.

A strong barrier had been set up around the area, cutting them off completely.

After sunset, Shen Xiyin came back to the stream with fruit and wood she'd gathered from the forest.

She'd been sure that this time, with a hard stick as a drill and a dry pine board, she could get a fire going. But even after almost blistering her hands, there wasn't a hint of smoke.

Things never seemed to work out the way you wanted.

She sighed softly, put down the board, grabbed a few wild fruits from her bag, and sat down by the stream in a nice spot. Just as she was about to eat some fruit to curb her hunger, she noticed something sitting by a big rock in the distance.

Curious, she walked over and saw a bunch of fresh peaches.

Yesterday, she'd worn herself out to get just one, and now there were several.

They couldn't have appeared out of thin air.

Shen Xiyin's mouth fell open, and it took her a moment to pull herself together.

She picked up the peaches and headed into the woods, soon finding the person she was looking for by following the confusion barrier.

Pei Su stood in the shade of a tree, the setting sun dappling his perfectly neat black robes.

Shen Xiyin walked too quickly, stepping on her skirt several times, and spoke breathlessly, "Elder, p-peaches, peaches..."

Pei Su glanced at her briefly, then quickly looked away, saying, "I don't like owing favors."