Chapter Fourteen: Beast! Monster! Pervert!

Using the pale light of the moon, Jiang Lin climbed back through the window. He glanced at the girl still lying on her side, her sleeping face tranquil. Before returning to the inn, Jiang Lin had changed into another set of women's clothing—the previous dress was ruined, stained with the blood that Xiao Xueli had coughed up. It was beyond saving.

He touched up the makeup on his face, restoring the delicate feminine guise, and lay back down beside his senior sister. The moon drifted silently across the sky. Exhausted, Jiang Lin finally drifted into a deep and peaceful sleep. It was then that the girl beside him stirred. Her long, dark lashes fluttered, and eyes as black as onyx slowly opened.

Raising herself quietly, Lin Qingwan wrinkled her little nose and sniffed at Jiang Lin’s hair, then at his neck. A trace of another woman’s scent lingered there—and the clothes, they were clearly new!

Frowning prettily in annoyance, the girl bit Jiang Lin's ear without warning.

“Ow—damn!”

The sudden pain jolted Jiang Lin awake, and he reflexively covered his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his senior sister still seemingly fast asleep, draped over his shoulder. Who knew what dream she was having, to bite his ear like that? It wasn’t a hard bite, but it tickled and felt oddly intimate—something he wasn’t used to.

“Senior Sister... Senior Sister...”

Jiang Lin called to her softly, but there was no response. He gently nudged her head, but she locked her arm around his neck, holding him fast.

In the end, Jiang Lin gave up.

Through the latter half of the night, Jiang Lin woke four or five times—not just his ear, but his neck, his shoulder, even his cheek had all been nipped by his senior sister. He truly wanted to get out of bed, but she held him in an inescapable grip. Not until the hour was well past midnight did he manage to fall into a proper sleep.

...

“Senior Sister Lin, Junior Sister Jiang, it's time for the examination, Senior Sister...”

In the morning, the voice of a female disciple from Dragon Gate Sect called out from beyond the door. Jiang Lin blinked awake, his mind still hazy. At that moment, Lin Qingwan was lying atop his chest like a little cat, gazing at him.

A faint smile played on her lips, her dark hair loose but perfectly draped across her delicate back. Her eyes blinked softly, never looking away, as if she could never tire of the sight of him.

“Senior Sister... it’s time to get up... Junior Sister Jiang...”

The Dragon Gate Sect disciple continued to call from outside. Inside the room, Jiang Lin found himself locked in a silent exchange with Lin Qingwan, a flustered feeling rising within him for reasons he couldn’t name.

“Sister Lin... I... I’ll get the door...”

He pitched his voice into a higher, more feminine register, and made to rise.

“Oh? Is Junior Sister really planning to open the door like this?”

Lin Qingwan remained draped atop him, her voice soft but with a mischievous undertone, as though a little devil whispered in his ear.

“What do you mean, Sister Lin? I don’t quite understand,” Jiang Lin replied, maintaining a calm outward appearance, though inwardly he was panicking.

“You don’t know?”

Lin Qingwan smiled faintly, and slipped her slender hand inside his collar.

Jiang Lin’s gaze followed her hand down—wait, his chest...

No, his steamed buns! He’d eaten them himself last night, forgetting to find something else as padding!

“Sister Lin... I...”

“Senior Sister... Senior Sister... are you there? Senior Sister...”

Jiang Lin broke out in a cold sweat. He was trying desperately to think of a plausible explanation when the disciple outside continued to call.

“We’re up, Junior Sister Jiang and I are getting ready. We’ll be down shortly," Lin Qingwan replied.

“Alright then, Senior Sister. I’ll head down first and wait for you both.”

“Mm.”

The footsteps faded away. Facing Lin Qingwan’s ever-present, sweet smile, Jiang Lin grew more anxious.

“So, what explanation does Junior Sister Jiang have for me?” she asked.

“Senior Sister...” Jiang Lin squeezed out two silent tears. “If I say that I was flat-chested since childhood, always mocked for it—especially by my elder brother—and that I became self-conscious, using steamed buns to cover my inadequacy, and last night, in a moment of hunger, I accidentally ate both of them... would you believe me?”

“Of course I would, absolutely,” Lin Qingwan replied with a gentle thought. She summoned a bronze mirror from the dressing table with a flick of her mind, and it landed in her delicate palm.

She held the mirror up to Jiang Lin’s face. In that instant, cold sweat drenched Jiang Lin’s back.

His painstakingly applied makeup from the night before had all but washed away. He glanced under the covers and realized he was wearing nothing but underpants—his eight-pack abs, honed to perfection, were fully exposed.

He reached for his throat, but even the black silk choker he used to hide his Adam’s apple was gone.

“Well then, Junior Brother Jiang.” Lin Qingwan pressed him down into the pillows. “Are you man or ghost?”

“Senior Sister, I believe I can still explain,” Jiang Lin stammered.

Lin Qingwan lifted her sleeve, gently wiping the cold sweat from his brow. “You can explain, but by our sect’s rules—stealing the dragon’s vein, deceiving your fellow disciples—Senior Sister has something prepared for you.”

Her eyes flicked meaningfully toward the floor.

At the foot of the bed, a washboard had mysteriously appeared.

...

“Beast! Scoundrel! Pervert!”

In another room at the inn, a girl clutched a pillow in her arms, venting her frustration by pounding it with her little fists after settling her injuries with a long, deep breath.

“Enough, enough! So he kissed you—what’s the big deal? For a girl, it was bound to happen sooner or later,” came the teasing voice of a mature woman within the girl’s mind.

“How can you say ‘what’s the big deal,’ Sword Spirit? That was my first... my first... Ugh! It’s infuriating! What kind of Sun and Moon Cult only attacks the heart and not the body? And what do they mean, not all demon cultists are the same? He was clearly just lusting after me! Shameless!”

Xiao Xueli grew more agitated the more she thought about it, continuing to vent into her pillow.

“Alright, alright. He insulted you last night, so turn that humiliation into motivation. He’s a sword cultivator too—when you next duel, behead him!”

“Ah... Senior, isn’t that a bit too much? Besides, it was you who promised him a favor after he saved me...”

“Well, well... it seems our little miss has a heart that’s beginning to stir.”

“Senior!”

“Fine, fine. A lesson is definitely in order—if you run into him again, just give him a good beating.”

“Yes!” The girl clenched her fists. “I’ll make sure to teach him a lesson!”

“But, Xueli, that boy is actually not bad. Of course we must take revenge, but don't neglect other things. Are you sure you feel nothing for him...?”

“Absolutely not, Senior. I’m grateful he risked his life to save me, but I also despise his disrespect. Right now, avenging the sect is my only wish. Cultivation is my entire focus. As for romance, I have no interest.”

“Good. Well said, my disciple. This sect tournament, and that secret realm—once you find my true form, our true revenge will begin.”

“Yes, Senior!”