Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Shen Xiyin came out of the washroom and went to the courtyard to rinse her sticky body.

She didn't bother heating water at the stove, instead pouring a bucket of cold water straight over her head. Her pale shoulders trembled under the icy water. After rinsing off and drying herself, she returned to the room to rest.

The night was still stiflingly hot, and the cicadas outside the window chirped on and on, wave after wave.

She lay back on the couch, and amidst the endless drone of cicadas, her mind drifted off, her eyelids getting heavy.

Sweat soaked through her clothes as she drifted in a daze. She felt someone untying her half-damp underclothes, a chill spreading across her chest. She let out a few groggy mumbles in protest and grabbed at the hand that kept unfastening, but the person pulled free and kept going, not taking no for an answer, telling her in a low, warm voice, nothing like her husband's.

"You have to be naked."

Moonlight crept across her pale skin inch by inch, like a rising tide.

Her cheeks flushed from the heat inside her, and her teeth chattered with tension.

Then she saw him raise a hand to undo his own neatly fastened collar, staring at her, he said, "I have to do the same…"

The things she'd never dared to look at were about to unfold before her eyes.

Shen Xiyin jolted awake, and everything in front of her vanished like mist.

She sat up on the couch, gripping the bed frame and gasping for breath.

Was it a hallucination or a dream?

She wasn't sure if this was a case of 'what you think about by day, you dream about by night,' or if the Mind-Trapping Array was using this to remind her that the third Trial of Passion was about to kick in.

She leaned against the headboard, hugging her knees and sitting quietly for a while.

It was late at night, with no candle lit in the room, leaving it pitch black. Moonlight came through the paper window, and the East Pearl Earrings on the side table faintly glowed in the moonlight.

She walked over and carefully put the earrings away.

The next morning, Shen Xiyin didn't wear that fancy, ornate skirt anymore. Instead, she put on the old clothes she'd washed and dried the day before. These old clothes were light and similar to what she used to wear back in the village.

Shen Xiyin glanced at herself in the bronze mirror—it felt like this was how she was really supposed to look.

After washing up and getting dressed, she slung her bamboo basket over her shoulder, grabbed her hoe, and went out to find food for the day.

She hadn't gone far when she ran into Pei Su on the village path.

She didn't know if there was an illusion barrier in this village too, but just like in the dense forest before, they always seemed to bump into each other so easily.

Pei Su wasn't surprised to see her here; in fact, he'd gotten used to these chance encounters.

He watched her walk past him in silence, her head bowed, and his gaze accidentally fell on her ear. The spot where the earring used to hang was now empty.

Pei Su's hand on his sword tightened almost imperceptibly.

He normally wouldn't have said anything about such a trivial thing, but for some reason, he suddenly explained to her.

"Yesterday, in that abandoned house, I happened to find that thing and thought it should be returned to its owner."

"That's all. No other meaning behind it."

Shen Xiyin stopped at his words, lowering her eyes. She stood quietly for a moment before answering, "I understand."

"I understand everything." She looked down at her own worn, stiff old clothes and repeated softly.

The cicadas hidden in the tree shade buzzed nonstop, and Pei Su felt a twinge of irritation.

Shen Xiyin left him and headed to the abandoned fields behind the village.

This barren field had been left alone for years, overgrown with weeds. By the edge of the path lay a broken cart, tied with half a load of rice that had rotted beyond recognition, along with a few rusted hoes and axes scattered nearby.

Shen Xiyin stared at it with confusion, feeling the same sense of dissonance she had experienced yesterday in the village house.

Scattered across the field were some dryland rice stalks with heads, and at the edges grew plenty of purslane. Shen Xiyin also dug up a few wild taro roots.

Around noon, she returned with her bamboo basket full of finds, mentally planning to steam some taro and make a cold purslane salad for lunch.

Back at the small house, she noticed the water in the vat was nearly gone, so she picked up a bucket to fetch water from the old well.

After drawing a full bucket, she was heading back from the well when, at the corner of the village path, she nearly collided with Pei Su, who was walking forward.

The water in the bucket sloshed and spilled everywhere, splashing onto the hems of both their robes. Shen Xiyin hastily stepped back a few paces.

She quickly apologized, "I'm sorry," and turned to leave.

Pei Su looked at her.

Ever since the chaotic rain in the dense forest had ended, almost every time he saw her, she had that same flustered, timid look.

"What are you afraid of?" he suddenly asked.

Shen Xiyin's grip on the bucket tightened and loosened repeatedly, but she didn't answer.

"If you're afraid of the third Trial of Passion, there's no need," Pei Su said. "Because this trial won't be enforced."

Shen Xiyin asked blankly, "It won't be enforced?"

Pei Su affirmed, "Yes."

Shen Xiyin wanted to ask why, but judging by Pei Su's expression, the reason seemed complicated, and she felt it wasn't appropriate to pry. Still, since he said it wouldn't happen, it must be true.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and the tension visibly drained from her face.

"That's good then." With that, she hurried off, carrying the bucket that was now only half full.

Pei Su watched her retreating figure for a moment before looking away.

The reason he could confidently tell her that this trial wouldn't be enforced was that the Mind-Trapping Array had set the time limit for the third Trial of Passion on his own body.

After the prompt for the third trial had sounded, a vivid red Lust Control Thread appeared on his chest.

As the name suggests, the Lust Control Thread is meant to control a person's carnal desires.

If this thread extended to his heart, then his body would be controlled by the Mind-Trapping Array to engage in the most improper of acts.

But to control the body through lust, one must first attack the mind. Those with strong willpower naturally won't be deeply affected.

Pei Su's expression remained calm.

From the moment the trial about nudity began, the Mind-Trapping Array had entered into a contest with him.

It arrogantly and absurdly believed he would waver—which was nothing short of an insult to him.

Unfortunately, it miscalculated and will not succeed. For him, that moment of reckoning would never come.

Shen Xiyin carried the bucket back to the small hut. As soon as she entered, her body trembling as she sank to the floor.

The Trial of Passion would no longer be executed, yet her body remained in that state, even getting worse with each passing day—sometimes she had to change her underwear two or three times a day.

She didn't know when this would ever end.

In the afternoon, Shen Xiyin washed and hung the soiled clothes to dry, then slung her bamboo basket on her back and headed to the stream, planning to catch some fish to steam.

Although fish soup was delicious, after what happened in the bathroom last time, she didn't dare drink it anymore.

As luck would have it—or maybe not—she ran into Pei Su on the way.

She instinctively flinched, wanting to avoid him, but then she recalled the question he had asked her earlier—

"What are you afraid of?"

Since the Trial of Passion was no longer active, why should she still be afraid of seeing him?

Shen Xiyin told herself to face it calmly, yet she didn't know how to act calm. After a pause, she forced a stiff, polite smile, like she would to an old neighbor back home.

Pei Su stood under the eaves, lost in thought, when he suddenly noticed the person coming toward him smiling at him for no reason.

He was taken aback, confused by her intent.

So much so that the question he'd been pondering was replaced by "Why did she smile?"—it unknowingly consumed his thoughts.

Pei Su felt a slight irritation, and a sharp, needle-like pain stabbed at his chest.

He knew it was the Lust Control Thread trying to breach his heart.

Pei Su closed his eyes, letting logic take over, clearing his mind of distractions.

Such trivial things weren't worth thinking about.

The Lust Control Thread soon fell still.

When Shen Xiyin returned from the stream after catching fish, Pei Su was still standing there.

Perhaps because the weather was too hot, the cultivator, who usually didn't mind the heat, now had sweat beading on his forehead.

Pei Su had barely calmed down when he saw her again and looked away.

But then he thought it was ridiculous—why was he avoiding her? Doing so would seem to acknowledge the Mind-Trapping Array’s prediction of him, and even more so, betray the family principles he was raised with.

He stopped looking away and fixed his gaze on her.

The person approaching had just come back from the stream. She had been in the water, her skirt dripping, her sleeves and front soaked through, even her eyelashes covered in droplets. A few strands of wet hair clung to her face, and the water from her hair slid down her fair cheeks, tracing along the smooth line of her neck and disappearing into the depths of her collar.

He calmly stared at the overlapping folds of her clothes.

As Shen Xiyin drew closer, she noticed him staring at her and felt a bit puzzled.

She parted her lips and tentatively asked in a soft voice, "Elder, would you like some fish?"

Pei Su replied, "No."

What he wanted was not fish.

At that moment, his expression was unprecedentedly calm, his brows stern, his lips set in a straight line, like an ancient well so deep that nothing thrown into it could stir even a ripple.

Yet beneath that calm, the Lust Control Thread extended, creeping toward his heart.

Pei Su clearly heard a command echoing from within him—

"Right now, immediately, pin her down, tear off all her clothes, and do what you desire."