Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Deep within the Mind-Trapping Array, in the dense forest.

Sunlight filtered through the intertwined branches and leaves, casting mottled patterns on Pei Su’s neatly pressed robes.

After the mandatory activation prompt sounded, there was no movement within the array.

The forest was eerily silent. A mountain sparrow flitted past a branch in the distance, startling a few leaves from the branches.

Pei Su looked up at the sound, his gaze piercing through layers of tree shadows toward the northwest.

Counting the days, if he hadn’t entered the Mind-Trapping Array, he should have already arrived at Luoyang’s Bujun Mountain.

The day before entering the array, he had received a message from Bujun Mountain. It stated that—

Another disciple had just died suddenly.

Pei Su stood with arms crossed, recalling how it all started.

A month ago, his mentor passed away from illness. That night, the disciple who usually cared for his daily needs dressed him in burial clothes, washed and tidied him, then returned to his own courtyard to rest.

Everything was fine initially. But in the dead of night, a disciple sharing his courtyard suddenly heard a strange, creaking sound of bones twisting from his room. Looking toward his window, he saw a silhouette on the paper window—the disciple choking himself.

The sight was utterly bizarre. By the time someone rushed into the disciple’s room, he had already collapsed, lifeless.

From the state of his corpse, it seemed he had been tainted by an evil spirit, lost his mind, and committed suicide. In layman’s terms, he was possessed.

Bujun Mountain was perpetually shrouded in spiritual energy, making it hard for ordinary evil spirits to get close. The disciples had simple backgrounds, lived simple, disciplined lives, and no unidentified individuals had entered the mountain gates recently. No one knew where the evil came from.

All that was known was that this evil was extremely yin and poisonous. If not found and destroyed quickly, others might come into contact and fall victim.

To this end, the disciples in the mountain destroyed all items the deceased disciple had come into contact with, as well as his corpse, and thoroughly carried out exorcism rituals throughout the mountain.

After these measures, the mountain grew peaceful again, with no further incidents of possession.

Thus, the senior disciple Luo Xuan sent out invitations to the mentor’s memorial service to various mystical sects.

Everything seemed normal. Just when everyone thought the evil had passed, a second disciple suddenly died from possession.

According to Luo Xuan’s letter to him, the second disciple had no unusual traits—just an ordinary disciple who had no contact with outsiders, just meditating and doing chores as usual.

On the surface, the two dead disciples had no connection other than being fellow disciples.

With no other options, Luo Xuan repeated the same procedure: destroying all items the second disciple had touched, along with his corpse, and filling the mountain with exorcism incense smoke, hoping to completely eradicate the evil.

With the memorial service coming up, various sects were already on their way.

Luo Xuan felt uneasy, unsure if the matter had been properly handled, so he wrote to Pei Su, hoping he would come quickly to help figure things out.

After reading the letter, Pei Su found the matter suspicious, but relying solely on the letter’s content made it hard to grasp the full picture. After deliberation, he replied that he’d head to Luoyang right away.

However, before reaching Luoyang, he got trapped in the Mind-Trapping Array. Though unintentional, he’d ended up breaking his promise.

Thinking of this, Pei Su’s face darkened.

In the days trapped in the array, he’d thought through every possibility regarding the matter, hoping it wasn’t the worst-case scenario.

The forest climate was unpredictable. Unnoticed, the sunlight faded, the sky dimmed, and the air became humid and oppressive, as if a storm was about to break.

At some point, Pei Su’s gaze drifted from the distant horizon to the nearby bushes.

Beneath the layers of tree shadows was Mrs. Xu moving through them. Seeing her in the dense forest was nothing unusual for Pei Su; it happened a few times a day.

Shen Xiyin saw him too. Their eyes met for a moment, and they knowingly looked away.

Sweat dotted her forehead, and her lips were wet from biting them. She opened her mouth as if to say something to him, hesitated, then pursed her lips and turned away.

Pei Su watched her stumbling retreat, suspicion growing in his mind.

What did she want to say?

Shen Xiyin realized something was wrong with her body after the restless heat faded last night.

She emerged from the cold stream, moonlight like a silk ribbon. As water droplets slid down her body, she spotted a red dot on her left ankle.

The dot was tiny, surrounded by a faint ring of redness, like an insect bite. She lightly pressed it with her fingertip—no pain or itch.

At first, she thought nothing of it, assuming she had been bitten by a mosquito in the forest.

But soon, she sensed something amiss.

The faint redness around the dot spread like cinnabar melting in water. Initially the size of a fingernail, it soon grew to the size of a copper coin, slowly creeping over her pale skin like dusk swallowing the setting sun.

Then came the physical discomfort: chest tightness, shortness of breath, and an unbearable heat and bloating that made it harder to breathe.

She couldn’t tell if it was the restless heat returning or the spreading redness.

By morning, the ring of redness had spread from her ankle to her knee, showing signs of spreading toward her inner thigh.

Shen Xiyin looked at the strange red marks on her body, filled with unease. Dragging her hot, heavy body, she walked into the forest to find herbs to reduce swelling and bruising.

In the forest, she inevitably encountered Pei Su.

In this desolate wilderness, lost and helpless, she instinctively wanted to seek help from the only person she could see. But just as she was about to speak, she hesitated.

How could she describe the marks on her skin to a strange man? How could she explain the unbearable discomfort?

Moreover, that man harbored deep aversion toward her and always avoided her.

Her sense of shame and pride prevented her from speaking.

Shen Xiyin turned and left, but before she had gone far, she encountered him again by an ancient tree.

That was the nature of the Mind-Trapping Array: the more you wanted to avoid someone, the more you met them.

Clutching her unbearably tight chest, she struggled to move past him. Her dizzy body could barely take a few steps before she collapsed, falling straight in front of him.

Pei Su stepped back to avoid her as she fell toward him, then heard the dull thud of her body hitting the soft mud.

“Mrs. Xu,” Pei Su called out tentatively.

But she didn’t respond.

Her eyes were closed, her lashes wet with sweat rolling down her forehead, her breathing rapid—clearly abnormal.

Pei Su was used to seeing her bustling through the forest or working tirelessly, never like this—so weak and lifeless.

He paused for a moment, then stepped closer to her. Almost immediately upon approaching, he clearly sensed her life force rapidly fading, along with the aura of a cursed spell emanating from beneath her skirt.

Without a doubt, she was cursed with some dark magic, one that was eating away at her life.

Pei Su let out a sudden cold laugh.

Breaking the curse on her was dead simple, but also impossibly hard.

It was only then that he realized the Mind-Trapping Array's forced enforcement had never stopped, but was pushing him to give in in a way he didn't see coming.

Pei Su, a master of dark arts and spells, had no excuse not to know what curse Mrs. Xu was under.

It was the Yang-Receiving Curse—a rare, twisted love curse.

The curse usually hit women, spreading from one spot across the whole body, and could only be broken by a man gently rubbing and pressing those spots.

This curse fed on a person's life force; once it spread all over, the person would die.

The Yang-Receiving Curse was a dangerous, lustful spell, often used for kinky bedroom fun to satisfy the weird tastes of people chasing extreme thrills.

Pei Su knew he could save her, but he'd have to touch her body, and it had to be fast—the longer he waited, the more the curse would spread.

It started at the ankle, then hit the thigh, the waist, the chest, and once it got past the neck, not even the greatest gods could save her.

Pei Su lowered his gaze, quietly watching Shen Xiyin, whose body under her skirt was completely overtaken by the dark curse.

The curse on her was still spreading, creeping toward her lower belly.

The Mind-Trapping Array seemed to be asking him right then—

You want to save her?

Your morals won't let you throw ethics out the window and touch another man's wife, but does the honor you believe in let you just watch her die?

You gonna give in and submit?

Every word was a cross-examination, a battle.

At that moment, the forest was dead still, the air thick and suffocating, each breath weighing heavily on the heart. The sky was dusky, thunder followed lightning, and rain, carrying a damp wind, tore through the heavens, falling drop by drop, splashing into layers of ripples.

Pei Su finally made his choice after the rain began to fall.

Though he knew she likely couldn't hear his apology, he still said to Shen Xiyin with utmost solemnity, "Forgive my rudeness."

Pei Su lifted the fallen Shen Xiyin, carrying her unconscious form to a nearby ancient tree with dense foliage, laying her against its trunk.

The rain pattered annoyingly on the leaves.

His hand paused before her tightly fastened skirt, hesitating to go further.

Moral teachings told him men and women should keep their distance; he could not.

But righteousness told him he must—this had nothing to do with lust, only with saving a life.

There was no time to wait.

Any longer, and the areas he'd have to touch would only increase.

Shen Xiyin gradually regained consciousness after a thunderclap, her eyelids struggling to open a slit. Through the narrow gap, she saw a refined, handsome face so close that she could feel his breath.

His fingers had undone the ties of her long skirt. The fabric tugged at her skin, sending shivers through her body. Instinctively, she wanted to pull away, but she had no strength, leaving her to endure his actions.

Such an act was utterly unlike him, she thought. She must be beyond saving, to dream such an improper dream again.

A raindrop slipped through the gaps in the leaves, landing on her face. The slight tickle of water sliding over her skin was subtle yet real.

Shen Xiyin realized this was no dream.

He truly intended to violate her.