When I woke up, the entire cultivation world was talking about my master.

The moment Chu Xianlan looked up, Yi Chen's mind went almost blank.

Their rapid, intertwined breaths were indistinct, making it impossible to tell whose was more urgent.

The lips were imprinted with a clear sense of touch—soft, moist, and warm, with a refreshing coolness unique to young people.

That was... a kiss from the disciple.

Yi Chen was frozen in place, unable to move, as if he had been struck by a spell.

A voice echoed within my heart.

His apprentice was kissing him.

Haven't we already... given up?

After his repeated cold remarks, Mingming had already restrained those inappropriate thoughts.

Why would someone do something so absurd and outrageous now?

The unprecedented sensation on his lips struck Yi Chen's heart like a thunderbolt. He couldn't comprehend the situation, let alone understand that the person who had done this was Chu Xianlan, whom he had raised and watched grow up.

Before Yi Chen could figure it out, a pair of hands grabbed his collar, pulled his body forward forcefully, and kissed him again.

The boy probably didn't know what to do; he just awkwardly pressed his lips to it, not knowing how to get more.

He was too hot, and the other person's cool and refreshing feeling was very comfortable for him; he liked it very much.

So, tentatively, she rubbed her lips against the corner of the other person's mouth without any rhyme or reason.

This can't go on... any longer.

He must...

Yi Chen knew he had to push the person away.

I thought my disciple was out of control due to the Gu poison, but I can't smell that strange fragrance now, and I'm not affected in the slightest.

So, Chu Xianlan really wanted to kiss him, and wasn't driven by the Gu worm?

Yi Chen had to admit a fact.

The young apprentice he had taught had grown up and was no longer the naive child he once was.

He stiffly moved his fingers, a slight tingling sensation spreading through his fingertips. But when he saw that Chu Xianlan was covered in injuries, he didn't know where to start. In the end, his scarred hand reached through the boy's sweaty, messy black hair, and with a little force, he held him up and pulled him away.

Yi Chen's gaze was fixed on his face.

I also got a clear look at those eyes that were so close to me.

Chu Xianlan stared at him blankly, her small mole under her eyebrow turning bright red, and a wet blush spreading across the corner of her eye.

Her long eyelashes drooped slightly, glistening with teardrops.

...Are you crying?

Why are you crying?

Is it because she's sad? Or is it because she's harboring resentment? Is it because he pushed her away?

Or... something else? Did Xie Qingying do something?

Looking at Chu Xianlan like this, Yi Chen felt inexplicably flustered and helpless. He could never bear to see his disciple's tears. He felt that his action of pushing her away just now was rough and inhumane, as if he was the villain who had driven her to the brink of despair.

If even his own master rejects him and pushes him away...

In this vast world, who else can his disciples rely on?

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Chu Xianlan's reason had been scorched by the burning sensation. She propped herself up on her arms and licked her master's slightly cool lower lip with the tip of her tongue.

At that moment, an extremely strong smell of blood entered my nostrils.

Yi Chen's eyes changed slightly, and he instantly came to his senses. He grabbed Yi Chen's chin with one hand, pressed his fingertips against Yi Chen's lips, and used a little force to force Yi Chen's mouth open—only then did he see that the other's tongue was covered with wounds.

Yi Chen's heart sank into an icy abyss.

The marks on the wrists and ankles, the bruises on the body, can all be understood as the physical pain left behind during restraint and struggle.

Why...why would a wound be left in such a place?

"Ugh, um." Chu Xianlan was forced to open her mouth, and turned her head away uncomfortably.

Yi Chen didn't let go, his gaze fixed on the tip of his tongue, his pupils contracting.

This is one of the softest and most sensitive parts of the body.

The wounds covering the tip of the tongue were clearly abnormal; rather, they resembled... the marks inflicted by force when someone forced a kiss, perhaps even carrying a sense of coercion.

Xie Qingying... kissed him?

Yi Chen closed his eyes, then opened them again, his expression gradually fading. The icy blue spiritual patterns between his brows flickered slightly, and his remaining rationality finally burned away at this moment, his eyes gradually turning an uncontrollable crimson.

Chu Xianlan felt very uncomfortable with her chin being pinched so forcefully. Just as she was about to struggle, her chin was lifted up.

His silver-white hair fell down like a curtain, enveloping him.

In an instant, a familiar scent enveloped them.

The next second, cool lips enveloped warm softness, probing directly inside, their forceful and uncontrollable intertwining intensely.

Yi Chen rarely treated his disciples so roughly, and he was always reluctant to scold them. From childhood to adulthood, even a light punishment like a slap on the palm had only been given a handful of times. But this kiss was devoid of any tenderness or pity, filled with the strong smell of blood and an uncontrollable anxiety.

It's like a beast's territory being invaded, repeatedly marking its prey with its own aura. Only by constantly expanding, deepening... intensifying... can the remnants of wood-type spiritual energy be found and the traces left by another person be completely covered up.

A surge of emotions can happen in the blink of an eye.

Chu Xianlan's sobs abruptly stopped, his body trembled slightly, and he passively endured the complete onslaught of the other's breath, which swept over every inch of his mouth without resistance, leaving him unable to close his mouth.

The icy stimulation and burning sensation were driving him crazy, and his chaotic thoughts flashed with a moment of clarity.

He regained consciousness.

Chu Xianlan stared wide-eyed in astonishment at what he saw—a scene he could never have imagined in his entire life.

What... what are you doing?!

Chu Xianlan was completely dumbfounded, stunned, and demented.

Blood rushed to his head, and his mind replayed a series of images: Xie Qingying...escaping...the exploding cave...Zui Chunyan...and his insubordination in getting close to his master, it was he...who committed all sorts of heinous acts!!!

It’s over.

It's all over.

The stinging pain on his tongue was a stark reminder that this was not a dream; Chu Xianlan was truly going mad! To defile his master was tantamount to sending him to his death!

His face flushed even redder, half from shame and half from anxiety. Chu Xianlan struggled backward, trying to escape this devastating situation, but instead attracted an even bigger storm.

"Ugh...!"

A large hand pressed down on the back of his neck, and Yi Chen instinctively sensed that his prey was about to break free, making him even more aggressive.

In the midst of this almost suffocating entanglement, a strong sense of unease flashed through Chu Xianlan's mind.

My master... something's wrong.

This is absolutely not something your master would do to him!

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the jade bottle containing the Drunken Spring Smoke lying on the ground, with a thin layer of pink smoke slowly drifting out of the bottle's mouth.

——Drunken Spring Mist!

Damn it, Xie Qingying is so vicious!

"Master... um...!"

Chu Xianlan managed to utter a sound, swallowing uncontrollably a few times before finally managing to utter two complete words.

Hearing this call, which sounded faintly like a sob, Yi Chen was pulled out of his dazed state.

His long, silvery-white eyelashes lifted slightly, his face remained expressionless, and his dark eyes were filled with confusion. He seemed unable to understand what he had just done.

Only her glistening lips revealed what had just happened.