Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Those words caught Xu Yuan a little off guard, but they did not alarm him. His body was only unable to move. It was not as if his connection to its five senses had been severed. If he could see Su Jinxuan’s face growing paler by the day, then naturally he also knew she had already realized something was wrong.

Still, every time he picked out another lucky victim to devour and refine, the drifting particles on the surface of his soul showed no unusual reaction. Because of that, Xu Yuan had a vague feeling that although Su Jinxuan knew something was off, she still had not found the cause.

It was like in a horror movie. The person at the back of the group suddenly vanished, but no one knew how they had disappeared. But there were only two people in this room, after all. Su Jinxuan surely knew her growing weakness had to be Xu Yuan’s doing.

She simply had no way out. His guards were outside, standing watch to ensure the Third Young Master’s safety. Now that things had reached this point, no matter what, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and keep going.

Either she forced her way into his Innate Soul Physique and seized full control of him, or what awaited her after capture would be a fate worse than death. So the fact that Su Jinxuan had chosen to speak with him came as a bit of a surprise.

Xu Yuan felt those spore-like particles clinging to him like ants suddenly stop pulsing. With that, control of his body returned to him once more.

Within the bed curtains, Xu Yuan slowly shifted. The red wedding bed was not large, so moving around was a little difficult.

Sharing the same pillow, lying side by side, staring at such a beauty from so close up. Her peach-blossom features were as lovely as ever, her eyes carrying that natural, seductive softness. Even the breath from her lips made one think of the rose fields carpeting the mountain valley.

Looking at the breathtaking woman lying beside him, Xu Yuan narrowed his long eyes slightly. He parted his lips, then closed them again. He could feel the spore-like particles clinging to the surface of his soul suddenly give off a sharp, unnatural pulse. She was warning him not to say anything reckless.

With a soft chuckle, Xu Yuan carefully reconsidered his words, then curved his eyes in a smile and said gently, “Jinxuan, since I promised to respect your wishes, I naturally haven’t made a single improper move these past few days. You really have wronged me.”

They held each other’s gaze for two seconds.

Lying on her side, Su Jinxuan lifted a slender finger and lightly tapped his chest, her voice tinged with grievance. “Third Young Master, then why is it that every morning these past few days, I wake up feeling weak all over, sore and utterly drained?”

“Weak and sore?” Xu Yuan murmured the words, then gave a faint nod. “Jinxuan, why is your complexion so pale? Perhaps you really are ill. But if you’re truly feeling sore and limp, how about this young master gives you a massage?”

As he spoke, Xu Yuan smiled and reached a hand toward her.

SMACK! A light, crisp sound rang out.

Su Jinxuan slapped his hand away and scolded him coquettishly, “You start taking advantage of me the moment you wake up. Third Young Master, you really are awful.”

Xu Yuan merely smiled, unbothered. He withdrew his hand and said with a laugh, “If you truly are feeling weak, Jinxuan, this young master just so happens to have a dose of Essence Dispelling Powder on hand.”

If Zhou Chen had been secretly watching, he should have noticed by now that something was wrong. But several seconds passed, and the man still did not show himself. It seemed he really was behaving and had not used his soul sense to spy on him. That was almost too obedient.

Feeling a little helpless inside, Xu Yuan switched tactics. He grabbed her slender, jade-like hand and went on, “As long as Jinxuan is willing to bathe with me, I can even share this Essence Dispelling Powder with you.”

Su Jinxuan’s eyes flickered for a moment, and she let out a soft laugh. “I’m so weak right now. I fear I could not withstand the Third Young Master’s attentions. I only ask that you show me a little mercy.”

“In that case, we can leave it for another day.”

“Hehe...” With a burst of delicate laughter, Su Jinxuan slowly sat up on the bed. As she gathered up her smooth, silky hair, she said in an offhand tone, “The Third Young Master can see that I have been feeling unwell lately. The physician I know and trust is not in Stillwater at the moment. Might the Third Young Master allow me to leave for a while to seek treatment?”

Xu Yuan smiled the moment he heard that. So, now that she could see things were not going her way, she was preparing to run? How could there be such an easy way out?

And just as the smile formed on Xu Yuan’s lips

BUZZ! Among the countless spore-like particles, a few thousand inconspicuous ones suddenly began to move.

Unlike before, when they had desperately tried to burrow into Xu Yuan’s soul, these few thousand particles now started pulling away the energy from the surface of his soul instead.

That sight made Xu Yuan suddenly uncertain. Could it be that this woman’s cultivation art is also the kind that fed on others?

But the keen perception of his Innate Soul Physique let him spot the difference almost at once. After absorbing a certain amount of his soul, those ant-like spore particles did not devour, refine, and strengthen themselves. Instead, they simply broke apart on the spot.

The mutual rejection between one person’s soul and another’s was no empty saying. Forcefully swallowing it led to exactly this outcome.

This was Su Jinxuan’s warning, and also a method that was practically suicidal. Let her leave, or they would drag each other down together.

Xu Yuan gave his slightly damaged soul a brief check, a thoughtful look flashing through his eyes. Then he let out a soft chuckle and said, “We’ve been inseparable these past few days. Could you really bear to leave me?”

If you get too far away, will this trick of yours even work?

After a pause, before Su Jinxuan could answer, Xu Yuan continued, “Why not let this young master accompany you instead?”

He wanted to see whether Su Jinxuan had any other tricks up her sleeve. If this was all she had, then he no longer needed to be polite.

After all, the soul energy contained in those shattered spore particles would not simply vanish into thin air. They would drift for a while before gradually dispersing into the air. And once they had broken apart like that, the fragments became even easier for Xu Yuan to absorb and refine.

What was more, if the number of spores drawing from him at once rose to a certain scale, the resulting tremors in his soul would become violent. Xu Yuan did not know whether Zhou Chen would spy on him, but he did know that woman Ying’er absolutely would.

The moment those tremors appeared, she would come rushing over in an instant.

Xu Yuan’s words were answered by tens of thousands of spores sucking at him all at once.

The moment he saw that, Xu Yuan’s smile widened. Well then. Still the same move. Time to act.

He suddenly bared his teeth in a grin. The Blood Origin Heartfall Art and its accompanying secret art began circulating through his body at the same time.

He slowly rose to his feet, then abruptly shot out a hand toward Su Jinxuan’s throat. But just like before, halfway through the motion, control of his body froze once again.

They locked eyes in silence.

Then Su Jinxuan turned over and straddled Xu Yuan. Tracing circles on his chest with one finger, she pushed him back onto the bed and asked with narrowed, smiling eyes, “Does the Third Young Master truly intend to come along with me?”

As she spoke, those drifting spores began pulsing again like waves through a wheat field, while Xu Yuan simply began feasting without restraint.

Over the past few days, all that stealing from others had already made him thoroughly familiar with the devouring and refining stage of this secret art.

Suddenly, countless holes opened across the surface of Xu Yuan’s soul, like innumerable gaping mouths, swallowing down the spore-like particles clinging to him.

A thousand, several thousand, ten thousand, tens of thousands... For a moment, the densely packed swarm of ant-like spores turned into something like a living hell.

The instant the change occurred, Su Jinxuan’s alluring eyes contracted slightly. She tried to reconnect with the spores Xu Yuan had swallowed into his soul. If she could disperse those spores after he had taken them in voluntarily, then she would be able to seize complete control of his mind on the spot. But every single one of those spores vanished without a trace, like stones dropped into the sea.

The moment she realized that, Su Jinxuan’s face went pale. One little fang bit hard into the corner of her lip. She finally understood what had been happening these past few days. The situation had now completely slipped beyond her control. The rumored useless Third Young Master was nothing like the intelligence she had been given.

They said he had no cultivation, yet he had already reached the ninth rank. They said he had been born with a useless soul, yet not only did he possess an Innate Soul Physique, he had also cultivated an unbelievably strange secret soul art.

But there was no use complaining now. Su Jinxuan kept her smile unchanged, leaned down, and began slowly letting her jade-like hand wander over the surface of Xu Yuan’s clothes, her eyes soft and seductive. “If the Third Young Master truly wishes to go, then it is not impossible. It is still early. Why don’t we sleep a little longer first?”

The more damaged a person’s soul became, the hazier their consciousness would grow. As long as she could weaken Xu Yuan’s soul to a certain point, that strange art he was running would naturally grind to a halt, and he would fall unconscious.

The price of doing this was simply too great, but things had already reached this stage. She could no longer worry about that. As long as she did not alert his guards, she still had a sliver of hope of escaping.

As Su Jinxuan’s thoughts settled, those dense spore particles began drawing out Xu Yuan’s soul energy in batches. One batch of spores shattered apart, and the next batch immediately took over.

And Xu Yuan, who was focused on devouring and refining them, immediately felt waves of dizziness washing over him.

He steadied his mind, fully aware that Su Jinxuan had begun her counterattack. But because he had already experienced countless brushes with death while cultivating the Blood Origin Heartfall Art, he had long since grown used to holding his mind steady even at death’s door.

After adjusting slightly, Xu Yuan sensed what was happening on the surface of his soul. Looking at how most of the drifting particles were still doing nothing, merely clinging to the surface of his soul like ants, an odd feeling rose in his heart.

No matter what, I’m still being taken lightly, huh? Here I am prepared to stake everything on a life-and-death struggle, and she’s still trying to deal with me without alerting Ying’er.