Chapter 114 Teaching, Instructing, and Resolving Doubts!

The night deepened, and Holy Son Peak was shrouded in a profound silence, with only the stars filling the sky and a crescent moon casting its pale radiance.

Following instructions, the sisters Yu Linglong and Yu Linlang had bathed and changed, arriving outside Xiao Ming's bedchamber, still carrying the lingering moisture and the faint, fragrant scent of their bath.

Both had shed their slightly formal daytime dresses for lighter nightclothes.

The fabric was made of fine silk, thin, soft, comfortable, and breathable. Perhaps because they had just bathed, small traces of undried moisture clung to their skin, causing the fabric to adhere more closely to their slightly rising bodily curves.

Yu Linglong walked a step ahead of her sister, her cold demeanor tinged with a stubborn fragility; Yu Linlang followed closely behind, usually more dainty and lively, but now having lost her usual vivacity due to her nervous heart.

The night breeze was cool, brushing against their slightly damp skin and thin garments, bringing a chill that made them shiver involuntarily, adding to their delicate and pitiful appearance.

The two sisters stood before the tightly shut palace doors, which were carved with intricate array patterns, their heartbeats accelerating involuntarily.

Dim, yellowish light leaked through the gaps in the window lattice, and within the silence, there seemed to be a hidden, unsettling unknown.

Yu Linlang gripped her sister's sleeve tightly, her fingertips icy, her voice as thin as a mosquito's hum: "Sister, the Saint, he..."

In her mind, she uncontrollably recalled the beautiful woman and ambiguous sounds that had appeared at the Blood Pool, as well as Chi Lianer's meaningful expression, and the strange, inexplicable words her sister had spoken to her along the way.

Feeling her sister's unease, Yu Linglong's heart tightened, but she forced herself to remain calm. She took her sister's cold hand and whispered: "Don't be afraid, I am here."

Her voice was very soft, yet carried a determined resolve. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, raised her hand, and gently knocked on the door.

"Come in." Xiao Ming's calm, emotionless voice came from inside.

The sisters exchanged a glance. Yu Linglong finally bit her lower lip, pushed open the heavy palace door, and led her sister inside.

The inside of the palace was more spacious than imagined, and the dim light illuminated the room as if it were broad daylight. The air was filled with a faint, refreshing scent.

As they entered, they saw Xiao Ming reclining on the large, ornate bed!

He was not lying down completely, but was leisurely leaning against stacked silk pillows, one leg resting casually while the other was stretched out.

He was wearing only a silk nightrobe, the buttons of which were not fully fastened, leaving it slightly open to reveal his well-defined abdomen.

His black hair was untied, draped casually over his shoulders and the pillow, and under the dim, soft light, he appeared even more lazy and uninhibited, perhaps even... carrying an indescribable sense of ambiguity.

He was toying with a shimmering jade pendant, his fingertips stroking it rhythmically. His gaze seemed to be fixed on the pendant, yet also appeared somewhat vacant. Hearing the sisters enter, he raised his eyes slightly and swept his gaze over them with indifference.

This scene was not much different from what the sisters had anticipated, and it was completely different from a serious "Cultivation instruction" session!

Reclining on a bed, dressed so casually, in such a relaxed posture... no matter how one looked at it, this did not seem like a proper way to teach a Cultivation Technique!

Yu Linglong's heart sank to the bottom of the valley, and her fingertips tightened. As expected... was it really as she had thought? The Saint... he really meant that!

However, the thought of protecting her sister instantly overwhelmed all her fear and terror, but it also caused her body to stiffen slightly, trembling almost uncontrollably.

Yu Linlang instinctively shrank behind her sister, clutching the fabric on her sister's back tightly, even holding her breath. The scene before her was even more unsettling than the accidental glimpse at the Blood Pool. The Saint's current appearance... it was just like the plots in those storybooks...

Her mind was in chaos, and the vague yet resolute instructions her sister had given her on the way here exploded in her ears like thunder.

"Greetings, Saint." The sisters performed a curtsy almost by instinct, their voices as thin as mosquitoes, trembling with uncontrollable fear. Their thin silk nightdresses, under the light, outlined alluring curves that one could not help but look at.

Xiao Ming's gaze lingered on them for a moment before he said indifferently: "Come here."

These two simple words sounded like a death warrant to the sisters. Yu Linglong gritted her teeth and, almost dragging her sister, moved step by step, extremely slowly, until they stopped about three or four paces away from the bed. This distance was close enough to hear his instructions, and yet... it seemed to preserve the last bit of safety that put them at ease.

The palace was terrifyingly silent, with only the occasional crackle of candle flames and the sisters' almost uncontrollable breathing and heartbeats.

Thinking of her sister's fear and the fate they might not be able to escape, Yu Linglong suddenly raised her head, stepped forward, and vaguely shielded her sister completely behind her, then said:

"Saint!" Her voice was exceptionally clear in the silent palace. "Saint, Linglong... Linglong alone can satisfy..."

She was too ashamed to say the rest, so she just bowed her head deeply, her body trembling slightly from her forward determination and fear, assuming a posture of complete submission, seeking only her sister's safety.

Behind her sister, hearing this, Yu Linlang almost burst into tears. She wanted to pull her sister away, but was too afraid to move, so she could only silently grip the corner of her sister's clothes, her small body like a fallen leaf in the autumn wind.

Xiao Ming on the bed seemed to be taken aback by Yu Linglong's sudden, tragic, and resolute declaration. He raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at the young girl before him who, despite being scared to death, forced herself to stand in front of her sister and spoke such suggestive words. A flash of astonishment crossed his eyes, but it quickly turned into amusement.

He was silent for a moment, and this brief silence felt as long as a slow execution to the Yu sisters.

Just as the two sisters were about to collapse, Xiao Ming finally spoke, his voice carrying a hint of obvious helplessness and a strange tone of "what on earth are you thinking":

"Huh?" Yu Linglong looked up abruptly, the blood draining from her face, only to be instantly replaced by an even deeper flush of red—it was extreme shame and disbelief. She opened her mouth, but found her throat tight, unable to utter a single word.

'Could it be... could it be that I misunderstood? But, but this is clearly the bedchamber, he is clearly sitting on the bed, and wearing a nightrobe...'

Yu Linlang also slightly raised her head, secretly poking half her face out from behind her sister, looking at Xiao Ming with wide, sparkling eyes, equally confused and puzzled.

Xiao Ming looked at the sisters' identical expressions of dullness and chuckled, pointing to the opposite side of the bed.

"Sit!"

Xiao Ming's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached the sisters' ears, carrying an unquestionable tone.

This sentence caused Yu Linglong, who had been prepared to "go to her heroic death," to freeze instantly. Her overflowing tragedy and determination seemed to hit an invisible wall, stuck in her chest, turning into an even more surging wave of shame. She could even feel the scorching temperature of her cheeks, spreading all the way to her ears and neck. So... she really had misunderstood? Then that sentence she just said, "Linglong alone can satisfy"... wouldn't that be...

Yu Linlang was also stunned instantly, her little brain dizzy and unable to figure it out. Her big eyes were full of confusion and lingering panic. She looked at her sister's stiff back, then at the Saint in his lazy posture on the bed, not knowing how to react for a moment.

Xiao Ming seemed quite satisfied with their reaction, the playful curve of his lips deepening slightly, but soon disappearing. He no longer looked at them, as if that little misunderstanding and Yu Linglong's "startling" declaration had never happened.

"I called you here to discuss Cultivation and to impart a Cultivation Technique..." His tone was flat, as if he were stating the most ordinary thing, "What are you thinking about?"

Yu Linglong wished she could disappear from the spot immediately. She endured the shame, bowed her head, and used almost all her strength to drag her equally petrified sister to the opposite side of Xiao Ming, sitting down stiffly.

"S-Saint... it is Linglong who is dull, making wild guesses. P-please, Saint, punish me." Yu Linglong's voice was so low it was almost inaudible, her head buried extremely low, revealing only a small, flushed earlobe and a segment of snowy, delicate nape.

Yu Linlang also hurriedly lowered her head, whispering: "Linlang was wrong too..."

Xiao Ming then raised his eyes again, his gaze sweeping over the sisters who wished they could curl into a ball, and said indifferently: "Since you know you were wrong, hurry up and calm your minds, and listen carefully as I impart knowledge and resolve your doubts."

Hearing this, the two women, as if pardoned, let out a sigh of relief almost simultaneously, their tense expressions relaxing significantly. They secretly glanced at each other, seeing in each other's eyes the relief of having survived a disaster, as well as an inseparable, thick shame.

Yu Linglong, enduring the embarrassment that was about to explode, pulled her still-dazed sister and, at the fastest speed, sat down properly, her waist and back straight, eyes observing her nose, nose observing her heart, not daring to look at the person on the bed again.

Yu Linlang followed suit, her small hands placed properly on her knees, though her flushed ear roots and slightly trembling eyelashes betrayed her inner restlessness.