"!!!"

At that, Yuyan - who had been forcing herself to stay composed for so long - finally gave up the fight and let her face go completely.

Since Zhihan had already seen her at her absolute worst, there was no longer any reason to keep up the cold, untouchable cold beauty image she had always maintained in front of her.

Splash... splash, splash...

As the painted figure dancing with a sword on the room divider lost the last of its sheen, the storm that had swept through the room finally drew to a close.

The clouds parted. Both their faces, flushed deep crimson, were now drenched in sweat.

She lay sprawled face-down on the bed. He lay sprawled behind her.

Both collapsed in silence, breathing hard for a long while, each quietly absorbing the insights of the Sword Dao and refining the different strands of true energy and sword intent they had drawn from the other during cultivation.

But just as Yuyan was sinking into the lingering tremors of that refinement - her beautiful face drifting into a faint, dazed contentment - she suddenly sensed a breath of energy pulling away from the courtyard. Her eyes snapped wide open, and something clicked-

"Who’s there!"

Yuyan shot upright.

Her sudden shout didn’t just freeze the black-skirted figure that had been hurrying to slip away outside - it also made Yino, who had been lying behind her in the middle of absorbing her cold-resisting Yin essence, jolt with a start.

Once he gathered himself, though, he didn’t make a scene.

He had already sensed Zhihan’s presence the moment she crept into the courtyard.

The Sword-Sealing Barrier around this courtyard was Yuyan’s work at its core, but woven throughout it was no small amount of Yino’s Abyss illusion techniques as reinforcement.

Zhihan, as a sword cultivator, naturally knew how to hide her sword intent - enough to fool a Sword-Sealing Barrier built by a fellow sword cultivator like Yuyan. But she couldn’t slip past the surveillance of Yino’s illusion techniques. His mastery of illusions came directly from Jinyue, a nine-tailed fox who carried the Abyssal Curse - and the ancient true phoenix blood running through his veins, together with the Blood Moon Mother Goddess’s Abyss power, fed those illusions an enormous source of energy.

So the moment Yino sensed someone entering the courtyard, he had Jinyue - perched in her little fox form up on the eaves - identify the intruder right away.

Once he learned the visitor was no stranger - just the familiar face of Zhihan - he simply pretended nothing was happening.

He didn’t tell Yuyan.

There was no need. Telling her would only have shattered the rare, perfectly cultivated atmosphere between them. Besides, Zhihan’s future only had two possible endings - either she died in the Northern Ruins, or she submitted to Yino and handed over her Primordial Sword Art. Either way, having her witness Yino and Yuyan’s intimate cultivation session was no real loss.

If anything, letting her stumble upon it by accident had two clear benefits.

First - to push Yuyan. To get her to release as much of her cold-resisting Yin essence as possible, making their cultivation that night all the more complete.

Second - to shake Zhihan’s state of mind. To use this moment as an opening, let her see firsthand exactly how Yino and Yuyan used their dual cultivation method to send their cultivation skyrocketing in a single night.

That might come in handy when the time came to get Zhihan’s Primordial Sword Art for free.

Looking at it now, the plan had worked at least halfway.

Thanks to Zhihan, Yuyan’s body had grown suddenly, acutely sensitive at exactly the right moment - surging to a peak she had never reached before - and Yino had taken full advantage, drawing in every last drop of the cold-resisting Yin essence she’d released.

Now, his cultivation was right on the edge of the Nascent Soul stage peak. A few more nights with Yuyan, and breaking through to the Divine Transformation stage would be well within reach.

With that kind of power, even if he ran into those two Nangong Holy Maidens from Frost Palace at the upcoming tournament, Yino was confident he could take the crown.

"Senior, calm down..."

"The figure out there - I think that’s our little pretend lady Pei..."

Seeing that Yuyan was still burning with shame and fury, Yino quickly tried to smooth things over.

"I saw her face! I know exactly who she is!"

Yuyan bit down on her lower lip. The memory of what had just happened - the screen drenched, herself utterly undone in a way she had never been before - sent a fresh wave of scorching humiliation up her cheeks.

She snatched her white robe from the edge of the bed, wrapped it around herself, and pushed to her feet, ready to go after her.

She hadn’t taken two steps before a sharp, electric pain shot through her lower abdomen at the Dantian and deep in her inner thighs.

At the peak of their session, the moment her eyes had accidentally locked with Zhihan’s, her Dao Heart had wavered. In that split second, she hadn’t been able to hold against the flood of Yino’s energy pouring into her - it had completely demolished the mental and physical defenses she had spent so long building, driving her to that unprecedented height. But that was precisely why she had peaked so hard. Her whole body was still trembling, legs barely holding her upright.

"Senior, you just released a huge surge of Yin essence and absorbed just as much Yang essence in return. Your Spirit acupoints are still hypersensitive and your Dantian isn’t stable yet. Be careful - don’t push it..."

Seeing this, Yino quickly pulled a black coat from the headboard and threw it around his shoulders, then stepped forward and caught her by her shaking legs, steadying her like he was supporting a woman who had just given birth.

He focused his mind and channeled true energy to his fingertips. Two fingers pressed lightly against Yuyan’s abdomen, activating the rune there, then sealing and reinforcing the Yang essence that had just been poured into her dantian. He didn’t pull back until the lotus-shaped rune glowed with a warm golden light, like sunlight.

"Better now?"

"I’ve temporarily sealed the potency of that yang essence. It shouldn’t be causing you any more trouble for the moment..."

He held her steady against him and spoke quietly.

Yuyan felt the warmth settle into her lower abdomen. A flush rose to her cheeks and she gave a small nod.

With Yino’s acupoint Seal dampening the overstimulation in her dantian, about seventy percent of her heightened sensitivity had been dulled. The spasms running through her body eased noticeably.

He shifted and gathered her into a proper carry - one arm beneath her knees, one behind her back. She didn’t resist. She rested her flushed face against his chest, using him as her support. Beneath the hem of her robe, her bare feet - traced faintly with cold-resisting spirit runes - dangled in the air.

"Lady Pei - what brings you here?"

He carried Yuyan to the doorway and looked out at the woman standing in the courtyard, her beautiful face tight with shame, and feigned surprise.

Zhihan glanced up at him.

A night breeze drifted through the silence. Yuyan felt the cold air against her nipples through the thin robe and quickly crossed both arms over her chest, pulling the fabric tighter.

At that, Zhihan could only manage a bitter, wordless smile.

"If I told you tonight’s visit was a complete accident - would you believe me?"

Even as she said it, Zhihan’s normally cold, composed face was tight with embarrassment.

She had squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately to burn away the images that kept replaying - Yuyan completely undone, utterly lost to sensation. But no matter how hard she tried, those images were too vividly seared into her mind. Even now, with Yuyan’s cool beauty restored, the scenes kept circling back, again and again.

Yino, for his part, could only shake his head with a wry smile at her words.

He pulled Yuyan a little closer. Then he pressed two fingers together, and in an instant, a surging sword intent pressing right up against the threshold of the Divine Transformation stage erupted from him - two phantom phoenixes, wreathed in opposing fire and ice, coiled and spiraled across the night sky above the courtyard-

"In that case, I have a question for lady Pei."

"If I told you that just now, Senior Sister and I were simply practicing a special Sword Art - nothing more, nothing less - would you believe that?"