Whatever

Gu Chengyin could clearly feel the blazing spiritual energy within Lin Qingyan's body transferring into his meridians, thread by thread, through their connected lips.

This was no ordinary transfer of spiritual energy. It was the inner demon's instinctive desire to mark him, to possess him, a tyrannical attempt to drag him entirely into its own world.

Had it been an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, their meridians would have long been thrown into chaos by this violent surge of spiritual energy.

But Gu Chengyin cultivated the Azure Cloud Art.

A Heaven-tier cultivation method naturally had its own profound mysteries. The moment the blazing spiritual energy entered his body, it was enveloped and tamed by the unique, righteous pure qi of the Azure Cloud Art, seamlessly integrating into his own true qi circulation.

Not only did it fail to harm him in the slightest, but it also made the lingering numbness from the recent lightning strike dissipate significantly.

The sensation was marvelous.

It was like drinking a fiery liquor; burning the throat and lungs upon the first sip, but as the heat scorched its way down the esophagus into the stomach, it melted into a warm, soothing comfort throughout his limbs and bones.

Gu Chengyin neither pushed Lin Qingyan away nor catered to her.

He simply accepted the kiss in silence, feeling the scalding temperature between their lips and teeth, and the subtle, tingling sensation of spiritual energy flowing through his body.

He felt this Golden Core fairy, usually as cold and aloof as an iceberg, now wrapping around him like a vine, kissing him with almost ravenous greed.

Moonlight slanted through the window, spreading a pool of clear radiance around them.

Lin Qingyan's long hair cascaded down like a waterfall. A few strands brushed against Gu Chengyin's cheek, carrying a faint, cold fragrance that formed a sharp contrast with the blazing heat of their mouths.

Her arms were tightly wrapped around his neck, her fingertips digging into the flesh at the nape of his neck with such force that it almost left bloody marks.

That was the uncontrolled strength of her inner demon state, as well as the obsession of refusing to let go.

The kiss lasted for a long time.

However, Gu Chengyin remained completely lucid.

He knew clearly that the one kissing him right now was the inner demon, the projection of the most primal desires deep within Lin Qingyan's heart.

He also knew clearly that Lin Qingyan's main consciousness must be watching all of this unfold.

Why didn't she stop it?

Was it because she couldn't stop the inner demon?

Or was it because she actually didn't want to?

Gu Chengyin didn't know.

He only knew that when Lin Qingyan's kiss finally loosened slightly, her lips parting from his by an inch, her blood-red eyes stared at him under the moonlight, as demonic and alluring as rubies.

"Go back."

Lin Qingyan was visibly stunned.

In those blood-red pupils, Gu Chengyin's face was clearly reflected.

It was a face whose eyes held no desire, no greed, and not even the slightest hint of being captivated by her beauty.

The inner demon could not understand this emotion.

It only knew that what it wanted was right in front of it, right at its lips, within this warm body.

Yet the master before it was telling it to go back?

Why?

Why not continue?

Why not possess him?

A trace of confusion surfaced deep within the blood-red eyes, quickly turning into restlessness.

She leaned in to kiss him again.

But this time, Gu Chengyin raised his hand and gently pressed against Lin Qingyan's shoulder.

"Go back."

"Lin Qingyan, go back."

This time, he called her by her full name.

Lin Qingyan's blood-red pupils abruptly contracted.

The scarlet hue deep within her eyes rapidly receded like the tide, fading from the edges of her irises like bloodstains washed away by clear water, slowly restoring to their original profound black.

The desire in her eyes dissipated along with it, replaced by a momentary daze that swiftly turned into panicked clarity.

Lin Qingyan suddenly released her grip around Gu Chengyin's neck and pulled away, creating distance between them.

Her cheeks were as crimson as March peach blossoms. It wasn't the flush of surging blood from her inner demon state, but a light red born of pure shyness, spreading all the way from the roots of her ears down to the side of her neck.

Her lips were still slightly red and swollen, glistening with moisture, the lingering traces of their deep kiss.

The most fatal part was her eyes; those black pupils that had regained their cold aloofness now dared not look at Gu Chengyin, darting away in panic.

Her long eyelashes drooped, casting fine shadows under her eyelids. The shadows trembled slightly with her breathing, at an astonishingly fast pace.

After a long time, Lin Qingyan finally squeezed out a sentence, her voice as soft as a mosquito's hum:

"Why?"

She was asking: why did he make the inner demon go back? Why did he stop at a moment like that?

Gu Chengyin did not answer immediately.

He merely looked at her, looking at this Golden Core fairy who had just been kissing him so greedily but was now so embarrassed she wanted to sink into the floor, a gentle smile rising in the depths of his eyes.

Like a spring night's breeze, it brushed past Lin Qingyan's burning cheeks, making the tips of her ears even redder.

"Auntie, I am not that kind of person."

Lin Qingyan's eyelashes fluttered.

Gu Chengyin continued, his tone as earnest as if he were taking an oath:

"The one I want to possess is you, not your inner demon."

Lin Qingyan froze.

She slowly turned her head to look at Gu Chengyin. In those cold, black eyes, his complete reflection appeared clearly for the first time.

Not through the lens of an aunt, not through the scrutiny of a Golden Core cultivator looking at a Foundation Establishment junior, but as a woman looking at a man.

Lin Qingyan looked at him for a long time.

So long that the sky outside the window began to show the faintest hint of dawn, so long that the first rooster's crow echoed in the distance.

Only then did she speak, her voice very soft:

"You were using my inner demon to threaten me just now."

Gu Chengyin nodded frankly. "Yes."

Lin Qingyan pursed her lips. "And now you say you want to possess me?"

Gu Chengyin nodded again. "Yes."

"Such sweet talk..."

Lin Qingyan turned her face away, her voice carrying a hint of petulant harshness. "Anyone can tell you're just trying to fool me. Only the most foolish of women would believe it!"

As she said this, the blush on her ears had already spread to her neck, and even her collarbones exposed above her collar were flushed with a faint pink.

Gu Chengyin did not defend himself. He simply reached out and caressed Lin Qingyan's cheek.

He gently turned her averted face back toward him.

Their eyes met.

Gu Chengyin looked at the feigned harshness in Lin Qingyan's eyes and said softly:

"I am serious."

Lin Qingyan's pupils suddenly dilated.

She looked at Gu Chengyin, at those clean, open eyes, and at the corners of his lips curling up into a gentle smile.

Then, she suddenly threw herself at him.

She hugged Gu Chengyin's neck tightly, burying her face deep into the crook of his shoulder, her body trembling slightly with emotion.

Her scalding breath sprayed against the skin of his neck, carrying obvious sobs, yet she stubbornly refused to make a sound.

Gu Chengyin could feel moisture soaking through the fabric on his shoulder.

She was crying.

Gu Chengyin didn't say a word.

He just gently wrapped his arms around Lin Qingyan's waist, pulling her into his embrace, while his other hand tenderly patted her back.

After a long time, Lin Qingyan finally let out a heavy sound of agreement.

It was as if she were saying: I believe you.

As if she were saying: Even if this is just sweet talk, I accept it.

As if she were saying: To hell with being an aunt, to hell with Luo Zhao, to hell with being a Golden Core cultivator, I don't care anymore.

At this moment, in this scene, only this embrace was real.

Gu Chengyin's gaze, however, looked past Lin Qingyan's shoulder toward the gradually whitening sky outside the window.

A sliver of pale light emerged from the eastern horizon, like a stroke of the palest ink gently swept across rice paper, quickly bleeding outward to tear a rift in the deep night sky.

The stars gradually faded, and the moonlight dimmed. Like a rising tide, the faint glimmer before dawn washed over the eaves, slipped through the window lattices, and spilled into a room still steeped in lingering intimacy and warmth.

Day had broken.