What We Want Is You Being Unworthy

The Great Qian Dynasty, Northern Frontier, a snowy and windy night.

Cloud Arrival Inn was the most luxurious resting place within a hundred-mile radius. Outside the window, howling winds raged and heavy snow fell like goose feathers, wrapping the entire world in a blanket of silvery-white.

Inside, however, it was as warm as spring. Top-grade silver-thread charcoal burned red-hot in a copper basin, occasionally letting out soft crackling sounds. There was no trace of smoke, only a cozy, melting warmth.

Ye Xuan half-reclined on a soft couch draped in thick fox fur. In his hands, he held a mortal storybook titled The Overbearing Scholar and the Pretty Fox Demon, reading it with great relish.

This scholar is an idiot, too.

Ye Xuan muttered indistinctly, tossing a candied fruit from a nearby plate into his mouth as he turned the page.

The fox demon literally gave him her heart, and he still has the nerve to ask if she is just trying to suck his Yang energy? Tsk, tsk. If this were the cultivation world, an indecisive man like this would have been refined into a corpse puppet long ago.

Below the couch, Ying'er was crouching beside a purple-copper basin.

Inside the basin was a steaming medicinal bath, specially prepared by Ye Xuan using several mortal herbs meant to relax muscles and stimulate blood circulation.

Young Master, is the water temperature alright?

Ying'er looked up, her delicate, unadorned face dotted with fine beads of sweat.

With her sleeves rolled up, revealing forearms as fair as lotus roots, she was meticulously massaging Ye Xuan's feet.

Mhm, it is just right.

Ye Xuan hummed in comfort, his eyes never leaving the storybook.

Ying'er's technique was not professional. Because she was used to doing heavy labor in the past, she even had thin calluses on the pads of her fingers.

But her movements were incredibly gentle, as if she were holding a rare treasure rather than a pair of feet.

She carefully washed Ye Xuan's toes, her fingertips gliding over the Yongquan acupoint on the soles of his feet with just the right amount of pressure.

The water splashed softly; the candlelight flickered.

The tranquility of this moment was intoxicating.

After a long while, Ying'er brought a piece of fine, pure white cotton cloth, dried Ye Xuan's feet, and gently placed them into the covers that had already been warmed by a hot water bottle.

After finishing all this, she did not retreat to empty the water as she usually did.

She remained kneeling beside the couch, wringing the hem of her clothes with both hands. Her head was lowered, and under the candlelight, an unnatural flush spread across her cheeks.

What is wrong?

Ye Xuan put down the storybook and looked at her in slight surprise.

Are you tired? Go rest early then, we still have to travel tomorrow.

N-no... I am not tired.

Ying'er's voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

She took a deep breath, as if mustering all the strength in her body, and suddenly raised her head. A desperate, all-or-nothing resolve flashed in her large, watery eyes.

Young Master...

Master...

She changed her form of address, leaned forward slightly, and somewhat clumsily pulled open a corner of her collar, revealing a large expanse of snow-white, delicate skin and refined collarbones.

It is late, and it is cold outside.

Would you like... would you like Ying'er to serve you in bed?

As she said these words, her body trembled violently.

This was the boldest, yet most humble devotion she could offer as a maidservant.

In her mind, the Young Master had given her a new life, dignity, good food and drink, and had even taught her immortal arts.

She had nothing to repay him with.

Except for this body.

The room fell into a brief, dead silence.

Only the sound of the wind and snow outside grew even more shrill.

Ye Xuan froze for a moment.

He looked at the young girl before him, whose eyes were filled with anticipation yet who was trembling with fear.

He saw her clumsy attempt at seduction, as well as the deep-seated self-loathing and inferiority regarding her own body hidden deep within her eyes.

Ye Xuan did not show the lustful bewitchment a man might typically display, nor did he put on the hypocritical guise of a righteous gentleman.

He simply gave her a calm glance, and then the corners of his mouth curled up into an unfathomable smile.

He reached out and gently pulled her opened collar back together, covering the glimpse of spring.

There is no rush.

Ye Xuan's voice was gentle, yet it carried an unquestionable rejection.

The time has not yet come.

These words were like a basin of ice water poured directly over Ying'er's head.

Ying'er's entire body shuddered violently.

The courage she had just mustered shattered in an instant.

Her initially flushed face instantly turned as pale as paper. The light in her eyes quickly dimmed, replaced by endless panic and inferiority.

She had misunderstood.

She thought Ye Xuan's phrase about there being no rush was a euphemism for her being unworthy.

It... it was Ying'er who overstepped...

Ying'er's voice took on a tearful tone. She hurriedly lowered her head, curling her body into a ball like a puppy despised by its master.

Ying'er... Ying'er's body is dirty...

Ying'er is not worthy of serving Master... Ying'er will get out right now...

As she spoke, she tried to stand up and grab the water basin, wanting to flee this place that made her feel so ashamed she could die.

Large tears smashed against the floorboards.

She hated herself.

She hated herself for bringing this humiliation upon herself.

The Young Master was a banished immortal from the heavens; how could he ever fancy a ruined woman like her?

Stop right there.

Ye Xuan's voice remained calm, but it carried a magical force that instantly nailed Ying'er's footsteps to the spot.

Come back.

Ying'er did not dare to disobey. Trembling, she turned around and knelt before the couch once more, not daring to lift her head to look at Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan reached out, pinched her chin, and forced her to look up.

Looking at her tear-stained, delicate face, and the bone-deep self-loathing in her eyes.

Ye Xuan did not say pale words like assuring her he did not despise her.

He merely rubbed her cheek gently with his thumb, a trace of amusement in his eyes, and said slowly:

Ying'er, do you know...

Since I began cultivating the Dao, even though that crazy woman has been pestering me relentlessly...

To this day, I have never been intimate with any woman.

Ying'er was stunned, tears hanging from her eyelashes, her face full of bewilderment.

Y-Young Master?

Ye Xuan leaned closer to her, lowering his voice as if sharing an earth-shattering secret:

I have a Pure Yang Body.

My Primal Yang remains unspilled.

To that crazy woman Xia Lengyue, my body is ten thousand times more precious than all the heavenly materials and earthly treasures in this world combined.

It is what she dreams of obtaining.

Hearing these words, the despair in Ying'er's heart grew even deeper.

She nodded, the light in her eyes completely extinguished, her voice hoarse:

Ying'er... understands.

The Young Master's body is so precious... Ying'er's broken body is indeed... indeed unworthy...

Even that terrifying Immortal Lord Xia Lengyue had not obtained it.

What right did a little maidservant from the mortal realm have?

However.

In the next moment.

Ye Xuan's words struck like a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky, completely blowing Ying'er's mind.

Who said you aren't worthy?

Ye Xuan released her chin and instead stroked her hair. A tremendously radiant, exceedingly gentle, yet somewhat wicked smile appeared on his face:

Ying'er, listen well.

After some time, when the moment is right...

I will give my first time to you.

Ah?

Ying'er was utterly dumbfounded.

She opened her mouth wide, staring blankly at Ye Xuan, completely forgetting to breathe.

She suspected there was something wrong with her ears, or perhaps the young master was joking with her.

"Young... Young Master... what... what did you say?"

She stammered, her mind completely blank.

"But... but you just said... that is what that crazy woman wants most..."

"And... and I am..."

"Exactly."

Ye Xuan interrupted her.

He looked out at the pitch-black night beyond the window, the amusement in his eyes gradually turning cold and cruel.

"Precisely because it is what she wants most."

"Precisely because she sees me as her exclusive property, as the purest treasure in the world."

"Precisely because she feels that, apart from her, no woman in this world is worthy of me..."

Ye Xuan turned his head, looked at Ying'er, and enunciated every word clearly.

"That is why I want to give her this surprise."

"I want to let her know."

"The very thing she treasures as her own life and begs for in vain, was tossed away by me like garbage, casually given to someone she views as an ant."

"Given to a mortal girl with a tragic past who once wandered the streets."

"I want that crazy woman to see it with her own eyes."

"That her deeply coveted Pure Yang body was taken by you."

"I want to drive her mad."

"I want to make her break down."

"I want her insane possessiveness to become the sharpest blade piercing her own heart."

Speaking up to this point, Ye Xuan looked back at Ying'er. There was not the slightest hint of lust in his eyes, only a coldly calculated extreme rationality.

"Ying'er."

"This is exactly the effect I want."

"What I need is your unworthiness."

"The lower your status, the more tragic your past, the more fatal the blow will be to her."

"So..."

Ye Xuan gently patted Ying'er's stunned cheek.

"Do not feel inferior."

"Your ruined and sullied body, in this very moment, is the strongest weapon in this world."

"You are the poison I have prepared specifically for her."

"This... this..."

Listening to these shocking and appalling words, Ying'er was trapped in a state of extreme astonishment.

If it were an ordinary woman hearing such things, she would likely feel incomparably humiliated.

So the young master wanted to sleep with her not because he liked her, nor even out of lust, but merely to disgust another woman?

So she was just a prop used to humiliate someone else?

However.

Ying'er was no ordinary woman.

She was a woman who had been abandoned by the world and picked back up by Ye Xuan.

After a brief moment of bewilderment.

An indescribable surge of ecstasy and excitement erupted from the bottom of her heart.

Not only did she not feel wronged.

She actually felt honored!

Supremely honored!

To think the young master would entrust such an important mission to her!

To think the young master was willing to give his most precious primal yang to her just to take revenge on that wicked woman!

What did this mean?

It meant that in the young master's heart, that wicked woman was the enemy, and she was one of his own!

It meant the young master would rather touch her than that high and mighty fairy!

"Young Master..."

Ying'er's eyes lit up.

They were frighteningly bright.

It was a sickly, fanatical gleam.

She suddenly lunged forward, hugging Ye Xuan's thigh and pressing her face against his knee, her voice trembling with excitement.

"Ying'er understands! Ying'er understands everything!"

"Please rest assured, Young Master!"

"Although Ying'er is of low status and her body is unclean."

"Ying'er will definitely learn well!"

She raised her head, her face bearing a spirit of reckless dedication to complete the mission.

"When that day comes..."

"Ying'er will definitely serve the Young Master well!"

"Ying'er will definitely make the Young Master feel good!"

"And even more..."

A hint of ruthlessness flashed in her eyes.

"I will make that wicked woman know how happy the Young Master is with Ying'er!"

"I will anger her to death! I absolutely must anger her to death!"

Looking at Ying'er's high-spirited appearance, even seemingly impatient to sacrifice herself for revenge.

Ye Xuan froze for a moment, then could not help but laugh.

This girl.

She truly satisfied him too much.

However, this was exactly what he wanted.

"Good."

Ye Xuan patted her head and praised her.

"It is good that you have this kind of drive."

"You must cherish this opportunity, after all... this is the only way to make that crazy woman vomit blood from anger."

"Yes! Ying'er obeys your command!"

Ying'er nodded heavily, then joyfully picked up the footbath water.

"Ying'er will not disturb the Young Master's rest! Ying'er will go... go prepare right now!"

Watching her back as she left the room with brisk, almost skipping steps.

The smile on Ye Xuan's face gradually faded away.

The door closed.

Silence returned to the room once again.

Ye Xuan leaned against the soft couch, watching the flickering candlelight.

He let out a long sigh.

Within that sigh lay endless exhaustion and helplessness.

"Ah..."

"Silly girl."

"Do you really think this is a good thing?"

Ye Xuan raised his hand, looking at his palm.

There, a faintly discernible red line was slowly extending toward his heart—it was the remnant of Xia Lengyue's Concentric Knot Curse after being suppressed.

"If it really comes to that point..."

"If I really need to use this move to retaliate against her..."

"That would mean I have reached a dead end."

"That would mean she is already standing right in front of me."

Ye Xuan closed his eyes, the crazy and stunningly beautiful face of Xia Lengyue surfacing in his mind.

"This move is mutual destruction."

"Once you become the one who takes my purity."

"Given that crazy woman's personality..."

"She will tear you into ten thousand pieces, and then imprison me until I die."

Ye Xuan covered his face with the book The Domineering Scholar and the Pretty Fox Demon, hiding his complicated gaze.

"I hope this day... never comes."

"I hope I can successfully form my Golden Core, successfully escape to Qingzhou, and completely shake off that lunatic."

"Otherwise..."

"Ying'er, the most cruel thing in this world will befall you."