Master, you will always be the one standing behind me.

Su Wanyin smiled with pure innocence, "Disciple sees that Master's complexion is unusually rosy today. It must be that the Ancient Twin-Heart Gu has exerted its deep and miraculous effects."

"Smack."

Zhao Yuelian's ten jade-like toes, hidden beneath her fox fur cloak, instantly curled tight against the soles of her shoes.

"Forced out," "deep."

These two extremely ordinary phrases sounded more deafening than the Nine Heavens Profound Thunder to Zhao Yuelian in this moment.

Her eyelashes trembled violently, and her mind uncontrollably flashed with images of the splashing water from last night.

The pale, jade-like hand with which Zhao Yuelian held her teacup visibly bulged with blue veins.

Her knuckles were completely drained of color from exerting too much force.

"Mhm..."

Zhao Yuelian forced a cold expression, but her voice carried an unconcealable hint of hoarseness and a slight tremble.

"Last night's poison extraction process was indeed... extremely perilous and tumultuous."

She swallowed hard. "Thanks to Young Master Gu bestowing the Gu, I was able to... thoroughly cleanse my meridians and marrow."

Gu Yang looked up and glanced at Zhao Yuelian.

He thought of the final image of Zhao Yuelian biting down hard on his shoulder.

He secretly thought to himself... that was no toxin.

...

Hearing her master's praise, the pride in Su Wanyin's eyes grew stronger.

She turned her head, her peach-blossom eyes seemingly glued to Gu Yang.

"Last night, in order to help me win the first place, Young Master Gu forcibly swallowed the Yin-Yang Creation Fruit, causing his Pure Yang energy to go out of control..."

Two clouds of red instantly flew onto Su Wanyin's cheeks. Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's, yet it revealed a resolute and unregretful determination.

"This disciple was almost completely overturned by that domineering Pure Yang energy."

"Fortunately... in the end, it was finally 'channeled' out."

She stared intently at Gu Yang's cold and sharp profile, which resembled a blade. "Does the Young Master still have any lingering internal heat in his body at this moment?"

The moment the word "channeled" came out.

Zhao Yuelian's breath hitched violently, and she almost crushed her back molars on the spot.

She was going crazy.

Oh, my disciple, do you think you were the only one "channeling" last night?!

Who do you think was behind you, helping you share the impact?!

Who do you think tasted every single bit of it?

Zhao Yuelian was trembling all over. She bit the tip of her tongue hard, using the pain to force herself to maintain the majesty of a sect master.

"Yin'er is right..."

Zhao Yuelian's voice drifted so softly it was almost inaudible. "Cultivating immortality is like sailing against the current; only by facing difficulties head-on can one turn danger into safety. You... suffered last night."

"Sharing the Young Master's burdens, how could I feel it was hard work?"

Su Wanyin smiled, her eyes curving, her cheeks charmingly flushed. "It's just that the Young Master's foundation is truly too profound. Toward the end, this disciple really couldn't handle it."

Boom!

It was as if ten thousand bolts of wild lightning had struck Zhao Yuelian's brain.

Couldn't handle it?

Beneath the fox fur cloak, Zhao Yuelian's long, pale legs uncontrollably twisted tightly together.

After her disciple fainted.

For the remaining long, crazy half of the night, she, as the master, also completely couldn't handle it!

Seeing her master's forehead covered in fine sweat, Su Wanyin only assumed she had exhausted her mind too much expelling the poison last night.

She put down the teapot, reached out her soft jade-like hand, and extremely naturally covered Zhao Yuelian's icy back of the hand.

"Master's kindness to Wanyin is as heavy as a mountain."

Su Wanyin's eyes flowed with emotion, her tone revealing a defenseless reliance and deep admiration.

"In this Hehuan Sect, hungry wolves surround us. Sima Kui and Lin Yaoyao both see us as thorns in their sides, but Wanyin is not afraid."

She looked directly into Zhao Yuelian's panicked, dodging eyes, speaking word by word with sincere emotion.

"Because Wanyin knows, Master, you will always be the person behind me."

Buzz!

The words "person behind me" were like a bloody hook, directly hooking out the most unbearable and secret memories in Zhao Yuelian's mind!

Last night at the Heartless Cold Pool.

The disciple was in the light, and she was in the dark.

And she was the one tightly pressed against her benefactor's broad back!

She was not only the backer "behind" her disciple, but also the "master behind the scenes" who used her divine soul the entire time to cover for her disciple and resonate with every inch of the madness!

Zhao Yuelian only felt an extreme numbness and tingling sensation frantically shoot up from her tailbone to the back of her head.

She suddenly withdrew her hand as if burned by a scalding iron.

The large snow-white fox fur cloak heaved violently, bringing up a rapid gust of fragrant wind.

"You... you are right."

Zhao Yuelian's eyes dodged, completely afraid to look at her disciple's pure and grateful peach-blossom eyes.

She bit the tip of her tongue hard, using the pain to suppress the charm that was almost overflowing from her throat.

"As your master... I will naturally always be behind you, silently supporting you..."

...

Gu Yang's gaze finally withdrew from the system panel.

He unhurriedly reached out his large hand, which had rough, thin calluses, and picked up the celadon teacup in front of him.

His movements were very slow.

At the moment he picked up the teacup.

Gu Yang's finger pad pressed against the smooth rim of the cup and wiped it heavily, roughly, and fiercely in a circle.

"Screech."

The friction between the finger pad and the porcelain produced an extremely faint sound.

It was also at this very moment.

"Mmph!"

Zhao Yuelian, sitting opposite him, was like being struck by lightning and suddenly let out an extremely suppressed muffled groan!

The tea in her hand shook violently, and with a splash, the boiling hot tea spilled directly onto her snow-white fox fur cloak.

The Twin-Heart Gu!

The extremely domineering friction sensation transmitted from Gu Yang's Mother Gu, following the sensory sharing in the unseen world, was like an invisible electric current that accurately struck the Child Gu deep in Zhao Yuelian's dantian!

That feeling was not like rubbing the rim of a cup at all.

Instead, it scraped directly against the deepest part of her most fragile divine soul!

Half of the bones in Zhao Yuelian's body instantly went soft.

She hurriedly used her wide sleeves to frantically wipe the water stains on the fox fur cloak, using this to conceal her violently trembling delicate body.

She raised her head.

Those clear, autumn-water eyes that were usually cold and majestic were now filled with extreme panic, resentment, and even a trace of desperate pleading.

She glared fiercely at Gu Yang.

She was scared.

She was truly afraid that this man, who was cold to the extreme, would, for some sick amusement, say some inexplicable, lewd words right in front of her disciple!

However, Gu Yang only glanced at her indifferently.

There wasn't even a trace of threatening mockery.

Gu Yang's voice was like a dried-up ancient well, with not the slightest fluctuation of emotion to be heard.

"This was merely a transaction where each took what they needed."

The cold wind swept through the Falling Snow Pavilion, and Gu Yang's words were even more bone-chilling than the wind.

"The Holy Maiden helped me calm the out-of-control creation spiritual energy. The Yin Fiend Bead I left behind will ensure you sit securely in your position within this Hehuan Sect."

Gu Yang's gaze indifferently shifted to the stiff-bodied Zhao Yuelian.

"As for Elder Zhao."

"You borrowed the Twin-Heart Gu to absorb the Half-step Golden Core creation power that overflowed from my body, returning to your peak and even touching the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage."

Gu Yang stood up, the corners of his gray clothes flapping loudly in the wind.

He looked down from above at this pair of stunningly beautiful master and disciple, each with their own different thoughts.

"The goods and money are cleared between us."

"I will not involve myself in your karma."