Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After the chime faded, the drip of a water clock echoed in their ears.

Shen Xiyin knew this was the Illusion Maze's time limit for them; once it ran out, the trial would kick in.

Unlike the first time, the water clock's drip was extremely soft and slow. This seemed to mean the Illusion Maze was giving them more time.

It seemed like a break, but wasn't it just making the torture worse? If something was inevitable, the longer the wait, the more agonizing it got.

From getting close and learning each other's scent, to needing to touch and feel each other's warmth—only one trial apart, yet it had pushed them to skin-to-skin contact. What would the next trials throw at them?

Shen Xiyin remembered the two words Pei Su had said, and her stomach tightened.

She looked down at her skirt, then squeezed her eyes shut, thinking she couldn't, absolutely couldn't.

How could she let something that wasn't her husband's run wild inside her?

Then she felt her thoughts were too dirty; nothing had happened yet, and maybe they'd get out of the Illusion Maze soon.

Tonight was bound to be a sleepless night. The forest was still, with barely a breeze, but underneath, an invisible undercurrent stirred.

At the edge of the mist barrier, Pei Su's last communication talisman crumbled to ash after its uses ran out.

He'd been trying to reach the outside world for days, but no luck.

He also tried to find a way out by studying the barrier here.

His limited spiritual power kept him from sensing the barrier's location as fast as before, though he could still guess its general spot from small clues.

But the Illusion Maze was tricky, using some dark art to hide all traces. Now, finding the barrier's exact spot was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The water clock's drip in his ears was slow and steady, like leftover raindrops from the eaves, one by one.

As the night faded with the clock's ticking, morning light filtered through the thick canopy, casting pale gold across the forest.

After days without rest and another sleepless night, Pei Su still kept going.

Almost inevitably, he ran into that Madam Xu in the morning forest.

To be fair, Madam Xu was a very diligent person. She would get up before the hour of Mao, clean up, and then head up the mountain to forage—more disciplined than many disciples training in the imperial city's mountains.

Right then, she stood under the tall peach tree, trying to pick its fruit again.

She wasn't very tall or strong. Standing there, she couldn't reach them; earlier, she'd barely gotten one by jumping and stretching.

Now, she had a makeshift rake made from wood and bark, easily pulling down a few fresh peaches.

No denying it, she always found a way to make herself comfortable with what she had.

Shen Xiyin bent down to pick up the peaches. When she straightened up, she saw the figure in dark robes standing behind a tangle of trees not far off.

He seemed to be looking at her, or maybe not.

The water clock's drip still echoed slowly in her ears. Shen Xiyin turned away awkwardly, and when she looked back, he was gone.

Pei Su had no time for trivial stuff and didn't dwell on the morning encounter.

Until around noon, by the old tree where he often rested, he noticed a few fresh peaches wrapped in big leaves.

The peaches were big and even, washed clean in the stream, still glistening with a faint moisture, giving off a light, sweet scent.

It was a subtle, lingering scent, a lot like the one that clung to Madam Xu.

That scent was unobtrusive, seeping in unnoticed, stirring a vague, weird irritation in his chest.

Pei Su stared at the fresh peaches from Madam Xu. Pointless giving and sharing didn't earn any thanks.

The second love trial's water clock time limit was unusually long.

They were in the same thick forest, each fending for themselves, silently avoiding each other, yet like the tangled branches of the woods, silently drawn together.

With his silent permission, she would come to borrow fire. In return, she'd bring him cooked food.

Sometimes it was stream fish with peaches, other times cassava and boiled shrimp, or wild mushroom soup in small wooden bowls—simple but varied. In the wild, food couldn't be seasoned, but she handled it carefully and cleanly, with no fishy smell.

She always took the firewood when he was away, and when she brought food, her steps were light and she barely spoke, usually setting it down and leaving, keeping the invisible line between them without crossing it.

Until that night, when she brought her usual roasted fish and shrimp. This time, there was something different: besides the food, she also brought a mosquito-repelling mugwort plant.

It was early summer, and the mountain forest was rainy and muggy, inevitably plagued by mosquitoes, especially at night.

Pei Su belatedly recalled that during the day, she seemed to have found something good in the forest, looking quite delighted. This must have been it.

He raised a hand to lightly press his temple.

As the days in the maze grew longer, the forest's mist deepened, and he encountered her more frequently.

The deep night in the forest was as still as a pond. The scent of mugwort wove through the air, a mix of herbal freshness and a bitter, awakening note that seeped into his lungs with each breath, making it hard to calm his mind. His heart felt as if it were lightly scraped by the serrated edges of mugwort leaves, stirring a fine, persistent itch.

Pei Su frowned and opened his eyes.

The warm, hazy moonlight shone into his pitch-black pupils. He looked at the mugwort plant that had somehow brushed against his robe.

He moved the plant aside, straightened his garments, and sat in focused meditation as usual.

By dawn, he rose and walked to the stream.

Shen Xiyin woke up, washed her face and mouth with stream water, and began organizing the firewood for the day. As she busied herself, she heard familiar footsteps approaching. Looking up, she saw the elder coming over.

Noticing his immaculate attire, she put down the firewood and tucked her muddy hands and sleeves behind her.

“Madam Xu,” he addressed her solemnly.

Shen Xiyin didn't know why he had come to find her so early; he had never sought her out like this before.

She paused for a moment, then replied in confusion, “Yes.”

After a few breaths, she heard him state his purpose directly: “From now on, there's no need to send me anything anymore.”

“I don't need it,” he stated calmly.

As his words fell, the air seemed to freeze for an instant.

The chemistry between people is strange. Sometimes, without explicit words or intense emotions, a simple, ordinary tone can convey deep aversion through subtle atmosphere.

Shen Xiyin had sent things primarily to repay him for the fire, and also out of mutual aid in their shared predicament. Perhaps, too, because she didn't understand the profound Daoist arts and couldn't help with the formation, she wanted to do what she could without disturbing him.

But if doing so troubled him, then it was best to stop.

She lowered her eyes and answered, "Okay."

Pei Su, seeing her agree, didn't say anything else and just left with, "Help yourself to the fire." Then he turned and walked away.

After that clear statement, she stopped bringing him cooked food or anything else. She seemed to have figured out a good way to keep the fire going, so she hardly ever came to him for a light anymore.

It was fine—everything went back to the way it was.

But Pei Su noticed she was avoiding him more deliberately than before, so much so that it was hard to miss.

For example, when they ran into each other in the woods, she used to look down to avoid him or just turn and leave. Now, she just pretended not to see him, walking right past him like he wasn't there.

That kind of deliberate avoidance made it impossible for him to ignore her.

Shen Xiyin wasn't trying to get his attention; she just clearly felt Pei Su's aversion to her and didn't know how to deal with it.

Thinking about it, they were strangers with no real connection, just like at the Pure Talk Assembly that day, where he never once looked at her, and she never dared to look up at him.

Maybe ignoring each other was the best way for them to get along.

That's what she thought, but the constant dripping sound in her ears reminded her of another secret and unpleasant relationship between them.

The next day, at nightfall.

Pei Su was sitting under a tree, meditating, when he heard footsteps approaching. He lifted his eyelids slightly and caught a glimpse of her light lotus-colored skirt out of the corner of his eye.

At this moment, he should probably just ignore her.

"What is it?"

Shen Xiyin was just trying to figure out how to start when he spoke first.

Standing a few steps away, she carefully chose her words: "I know I shouldn't bother you, but I found something weird in the woods today and thought I should show you."

Pei Su asked, "What is it?"

Shen Xiyin took a cloth-wrapped bundle from her sleeve and reached through the bushes to hand it to him.

Pei Su glanced at her, stood up, and walked over. Stopping an arm's length away, he took the item from her hand.

Shen Xiyin felt a light breeze from his sleeve brush past her, carrying his unique scent, like pine and bamboo. She quickly pulled her hand back.

Pei Su opened the cloth to find several small, broken, pine-green, translucent stones.

Shen Xiyin explained carefully: "Today, I dug up some cassava in the woods and washed it by the stream. From the mud stuck to the cassava, I washed out these stones. I've seen similar ore fragments in the fields before, so I didn't think much of it and just set them aside. But then something weird happened..."

When she lit a fire, a spark accidentally touched the stones, and they glowed red when they hit the flame. It was pretty strange and didn't seem ordinary. Since they were found in the Mind-Trapping Array, she thought it was best to come to Pei Su.

After identifying them, Pei Su told her, "These are indeed items from the mystical arts."

Shen Xiyin looked at him curiously, her gaze accidentally meeting his, and she quickly looked away: "What kind of mystical item is it?"

Pei Su replied, "Crimson Jade. A type of ore used to make mystical tools, extremely rare."

Shen Xiyin asked, "Rare? Then it must be worth a lot."

Pei Su answered, "It used to be, but not anymore."

Shen Xiyin pressed further, "Is it harmful? Does it have anything to do with the Mind-Trapping Array?"

Pei Su responded in turn, "It's non-toxic and harmless. I think it's mostly unrelated."

Shen Xiyin lowered her eyes: "Okay."

So it seemed this thing wasn't very useful.

Pei Su seemed to read her thoughts and said, "It's not useless—in fact, it's very useful."

Shen Xiyin looked at him, confused.

"It tells me where the Mind-Trapping Array has brought us." Pei Su gazed into the distant sky. "Crimson Jade is rare and has only been mined in the Xunyang region since ancient times. Right now, we must be in some hidden forest in the Xunyang area."

"I see." Shen Xiyin's face grew warm at his words. She seemed to have accidentally helped discover something very important.

The moonlight was like a veil, but it couldn't hide the blush spreading across her cheeks from excitement.

Pei Su caught sight of that blush reaching her ears.

After their conversation, silence fell, broken only by the faint chirping of insects.

Shen Xiyin turned and softly said, "Goodbye." But after only a few steps, the hidden tension in her body surged up again at the worst possible moment.

She stopped, her knees pressing together.

Pei Su noticed her odd behavior and asked, "What's wrong?"

Shen Xiyin's eyelashes fluttered, and she bit her lip repeatedly, trying to reply in a calm voice: "N-nothing."

Pei Su saw her standing still, curled up, and asked doubtfully, "Are you sure?"

Shen Xiyin didn't want to move—she couldn't. Any movement of her dress would tug at her body, and when that feeling came, even the slightest shift was unbearable.

She lowered her head to hide her unusually flushed cheeks and whispered pleadingly, "Please don't ask... I'll leave in a moment."

Pei Su did as she asked and asked no more, also thinking he shouldn't focus too much on an irrelevant bystander.

Still, he could clearly hear her suppressed, uneven breaths.

This made the situation especially awkward, and what made it worse was that, as she struggled to endure, the slow drip sound in her ears suddenly quickened.

This meant the time limit was near, and the second Trial of Passion would soon be enforced.

Over the past few days, Shen Xiyin had been pondering one question.

The prompt from this trial was vague.

Touch, feel each other's body heat.

Who was supposed to touch whom? And where? There seemed to be no restrictions.

If enforced, they would have no control over how far it would go. Given the Mind-Trapping Array's malicious nature, it would likely target the parts they least wanted.

But before the time ran out, they could choose the safest possible spot to complete the trial.

For example, just touching each other's hands.

So, should they give in or keep resisting?