Page 8

"—She blushed."

Back home, Yino lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

He was still savoring that subtle sense of innocence, but as time ticked by, a wave of fatigue gradually swept over him.

Yino was drowsy, his consciousness sinking, finally plunging into a sea of clouds in his dreams.

At the end of the weightless sensation was a young girl's warm embrace.

Yino had never slept so peacefully before. He quietly felt the girl's embrace from behind, unconsciously holding her hand. Like a guide in the dream, she led him through the sea of clouds, passing through layers of mist, until Yino's peripheral vision noticed the blood-colored curse mark on the girl's neck—

-[—What's this?!]-

The strong sense of dejavu from his previous life's memories jolted Yino awake in his dream, feeling as if his heart had been seized.

He broke free from the illusion, gradually seeing the reality before him.

He, who should have been in bed dreaming sweetly, had somehow left his room in his sleep, walking step by step towards the steaming hot spring courtyard!

-[Unable to speak, unable to control my body...]-

-[This isn't sleepwalking, it's an illusion spell!]-

As a reincarnator, Yino felt a chill down his spine at this all-too-familiar illusion technique.

Although he couldn't control his body, his peripheral vision could clearly see that it was the gentle girl from his dream beside him, supporting him as he walked forward.

Yino couldn't see her true face clearly. In the moonlight, he could only glimpse the blood-colored curse mark tattoo above the girl's fair collarbone.

This highly distinctive mark was unforgettable to Yino, even after two lifetimes.

Jiang Jinyue, the Witch of Pleasure, one of the evil witches from the Western Region!

She was even more significant than Yuyan, one of only two villain witches who persisted throughout the entire Fallen Immortal original story!

At least Yuyan only turned evil and crazy later on, but Jinyue had firmly held the position of a villainess from her very first appearance.

-[So, in the original story, I was framed and went to offend Yuyan, which led to my death?]-

-[But I'm not the main character of the plot, why would Jinyue target me?]-

In just a few seconds, countless hypotheses had sprouted in Yino's mind.

But the intricate power struggles between various factions in the original story were not what Yino should be concerned about right now.

Compared to those...

Yino should be thinking about how to face Yuyan next.

After all, the endpoint of the Pleasure Witch's illusion was that steaming hot spring courtyard.

Yino recognized this door.

It was the largest guest room's backyard in the Grand Tutor's Mansion, with a private hot spring pool for guests to bathe.

More crucially, Yuyan, as the most honored guest of the Grand Tutor's Mansion, was staying in this most luxurious guest room. The front yard was where she and Yino had played chess, and now the backyard Yino was about to intrude upon was Yuyan's bathing hot spring pool!

Normally, Yino wouldn't believe that Yuyan would bathe in the middle of the night.

But with Jinyue secretly manipulating things, Yino had to suspect that Yuyan might really be bathing now.

-[This is bad.]-

-[If I intrude into this backyard hot spring now, forget about seeing anything, the moment I grasp the doorknob, Yuyan will have already separated my head from my body with one strike!]-

Thinking of this, Yino's face grew even paler.

But just then, the witch beside him suddenly stopped.

She leaned close to Yino's ear and whispered, her blood-colored enchanting eyes reflecting a hint of pity and regret:

"What a pitiful child~"

"For so many years, you've been known as a useless cultivator, a wastrel young master. No one in this world truly cares about you. Even those courtesans at the Phoenix Pavilion only flatter you for your money..."

"Do you remember how that Wuji Sect lady looked at you?"

"Contempt, disdain, disgust, aversion..."

"Yino, haven't you ever resented this failed life of yours?"

Although the witch's whispers were gentle, they were also bewitching.

Yino didn't actually feel so world-weary, but after hearing her series of rhetorical questions, many negative emotions suddenly arose in his heart.

"Actually, being born insignificant isn't your fault."

"Yino, do you know?"

"Every life in this world, from the moment of birth, has its fate planned by an invisible hand. And different fates naturally divide our lives into high and low, noble and base."

"Like me, and like you..."

"Actually, we are the same kind of people. We are both pitiful little characters fooled by fate, just insignificant cannon fodder that can be discarded at any time under the manipulation of fate's great hand..."

"But I'm not willing to die unnoticed like that!"

As she spoke the last sentence, the witch's whisper suddenly turned cold.

She widened her blood-red eyes, her bewitching and yandere face almost touching Yino's.

Under the witch's illusory brainwashing, that deeply ingrained world-weary resentment also resonated with Yino.

After the anger subsided, the red fox girl raised her hand to caress Yino's cheek, her fierce blood-red eyes finally returning to a gentle smile:

"Poor little thing~"

"I believe you, like this big sister, are unwilling to always be a minor character, right?"

-[Listen to your big sister's words—]-

-[Walk forward, push open that door, this way you'll die more valuably than in the prophecy!]-

In these last two sentences, Jinyue revealed her true intentions, applying illusion magic to her words, making each word carry a suggestive command.

Yino resisted with all his might, but his body still moved forward uncontrollably.

Before parting, Jinyue gave him an encouraging gesture, looking pleased.

It wasn't until he pushed open the door to the bath that Yino felt the overwhelming killing intent of a sword, and his eyes finally cleared.

-[Damn it—]-

-[ Jinyue, is this what you meant by making cannon fodder die more valuably?]-

...

...

...

...

In the backyard of the guest room, at the Immortal Bathing Pool.

Yuyan had already undressed and entered the pool. The southern hemisphere of her snow-white peaks was submerged in the water, while the northern hemisphere floating above the water surface was covered by a bath towel, firmly concealing the snowy peaks.

Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall underwater. A few willow branches hung down by the pool, hiding a glimpse of the immortal's spring scenery, yet adding a touch of haziness to that otherworldly beautiful face.

"Yino?"

"Why is he coming to find me so late?"

Yuyan looked at the door of the changing room, her gaze gradually changing from hazy to somewhat cold.

In fact, with Yuyan's cultivation level, she had keenly sensed the footsteps outside the courtyard 15 minutes ago.

She knew the visitor was Yino.

But she didn't know why Yino had come.

So, Yuyan took a towel from the poolside, quickly dried herself, then changed into her clothes and sat by the pool, narrowing her eyes to quietly observe the footsteps outside the door.

Until... Yuyan heard the young man push open the courtyard gate and make his way deeper, coming to the last door of the bathing area.

If he turned this doorknob, he would be able to see Yuyan by the pool.

However.

The moment he looked through the door, Yuyan would first draw her sword and blind his eyes.

In fact, if it weren't for spending the evening playing chess with Yino and having some understanding and conversation with him, Yuyan would have drawn her sword the moment Yino opened the first door.

This second door was already her last line of defense.

Emotionally and rationally, Yuyan didn't think Yino had any reason to sneak in through the back door late at night.

From the analysis of their chess game, he clearly wasn't a simple lewd wastrel. He should also know that a cultivator's perceptive abilities couldn't be fooled by a mortal's peeping.

Yet he still did this...

Thinking of this, Yuyan's heart became even more conflicted.

She had spent so long analyzing their chess game in the evening, finally figuring out Yino's strategy of deliberately losing to her.

While bathing just now, Yuyan was even considering whether to nominate Yino to accompany her up the mountain to play chess tomorrow.

But now, Yino was actually attempting a night raid, seeking his own death?

"Why ruin what little good impression I had left of you?"

Yuyan sighed, lowering her eyelids, feeling more disappointed than angry.

As the doorknob of the bathroom turned, the immortal's Frost Chant sword was poised and ready.

Click—!