Yu Wanrou’s self-sacrificial attitude that prioritized the big picture thoroughly pleased the male chauvinist in Qin Lingyu. Furthermore, because Yu Wanrou willingly compromised for him, Qin Lingyu loved her even more dearly.

Qin Lingyu gingerly patted dry the tears on Yu Wanrou’s face, warmly asking, “Then you should also know my feelings to you. She and I are only future spouses in name; while you and I are spouses in substance. Does this not allay some of your concerns? Why would I run the risk of being discovered by others and meet you if I didn’t place you first in my heart?”

By now, Yu Wanrou’s tears had stopped. With reddened rims around her eye, she laughed softly. Then, staring at Qin Lingyu, she coquettishly said, “I knew you would have some sweet nothings to cajole me with.” As she said that, her somewhat tear-strewn face revealed a bashful yet sweet smile, just like the blossoming of fresh flowers strewn with morning dew.

Qin Lingyu’s eyes darkened momentarily as his fiery gaze fixed on Yu Wanrou’s plump and juicy red lips. Simultaneously, he lifted her chin tenderly and directed her eyes to his. He then leaned over and spoke with a raspy voice, “What if I think your cherry lips are even sweeter, hmm?”

Yu Wanrou swiftly hooked her arms around Qin Lingyu’s neck, gazed into his eyes and whispered gently, “Then do you want to have a taste and see what it’s like?”

Qin Lingyu loved this about Yu Wanrou – that she was sometimes coy, sometimes innocent and pure, and sometimes simply brazen and open. The confluence of these factors made him want to devour her even more. As a man of action, he swiftly waved his hand and put out the flickering flame in the room, enveloping the room in complete darkness. He embraced and locked lips with Yu Wanrou, while both of them clumsily motioned towards the bed.

Very soon, the rooms were filled with sensual moaning and groaning sounds…

After about half an hour, the creaking sounds of the bed gradually diminished. Qin Lingyu had earlier placed a Noise-Cancelling Talisman within the room, so no matter how much of a ruckus they made, others would be completely unaware of it.

Their euphoria was still lingering in their bodies, and naturally Qin Lingyu would stay for a while more. He held onto Yu Wanrou tightly and caressed her skin lovingly. Ever since his first “experience” with Yu Wanrou, he would come back to have a “taste” again every now and then.

However, it was not difficult to understand why. Yu Wanrou’s body had been refined and substantially improved by the spirit spring in her spectral demiplane – how bad could it be? Without this, she could not have enthralled throngs of male cultivators to worship her as a female goddess in Jun Xiaomo’s previous life.

Yu Wanrou was even well versed in how to secure and manipulate a man’s heart – when to act pitiful; and when to request for something.

Furthermore, it must be said that making a request was all about timing. If the timing were poor, not only would one be unable to achieve her goal, she would even stir up ill feelings from the other person.

Just like earlier, she had used her weakness and vulnerabilities to win over Qin Lingyu’s care and concern, and even spent a night of pleasure with him. And now, it was the right time to finally make her request known to Qin Lingyu.

“Lingyu…you’ll be travelling out of the Sect for a mission next month, right? Could you take me along with you?” Yu Wanrou gently asked as she ran her finger across Qin Lingyu’s chest slowly.

Qin Lingyu and Ye Xiuwen had both only attained the peak twelfth level of Qi Mastery at the start of this year. Based on the Sect’s regulations, the disciples who have reached that level must travel out of the Sect on a mission. This regulation was in fact put in place for the benefit of the Sect’s disciples. Cultivators at the peak twelfth level of Qi Mastery are essentially already at the foot of the Foundation Establishment stage, and all they need is the right opportunity to cross over to the next stage of their cultivation. Without such an opportunity, cultivators can only remain in the twelfth level of Qi Mastery and would never bridge the gap to Foundation Establishment.

At the same time, these opportunities are mysterious and subtle things - cultivators would be able to understand and recognize an opportunity when they see one, yet it would be practically impossible to describe or to put a finger on what exactly the opportunity entailed. Furthermore, these opportunities are not something that can be attained by merely meditating – they had to be grasped through one’s own life experiences.

Therefore, the Sect’s disciples who have attained the twelfth level of Qi Mastery will invariably leave the Sect on one of the Sect’s missions, and most of these disciples would be able to encounter such an opportunity and bridge the gap to the Foundation Establishment stage before returning from that mission.

Of course, those who had not attained the twelfth level of Qi Mastery can also leave the Sect to experience the world outside and to complete missions, but it would be best if they were accompanied by a stronger disciple. Otherwise, not only would they risk failing their missions, they may even lose their lives outside the Sect. After all, it was not uncommon to hear of cultivators losing their lives to covetous bandits in this world.

Yu Wanrou would never make such a request if Jun Xiaomo were still at the eighth level of Qi Mastery. Because once she suggested it, and if Jun Xiaomo insisted on tagging along as well, how would she still be able to interact with Qin Lingyu at all? There was no doubt that Jun Xiaomo would be hovering around Qin Lingyu for the entire trip.

But now, Jun Xiaomo’s cultivation had fallen back to the first level of Qi Mastery. Even if she insisted on tagging along, both Yu Wanrou and Qin Lingyu would have countless ways of rebuffing her.

In the first place, would Jun Xiaomo’s parents even be willing to let their daughter at the first level of Qi Mastery leave the Sect?

Qin Lingyu instantly felt moved the moment Yu Wanrou made this suggestion. After all, the prospects of bringing along an exquisite lady like Yu Wanrou on his travels was an absolute pleasure to him. But in the next moment, he hesitated. He was reminded once again of what his younger sister had said to him, that Jun Xiaomo had already grown suspicious of his relationship with Yu Wanrou.

If he brought Yu Wanrou when he left the Sect this time, it might fuel Jun Xiaomo’s suspicions even more. If at that time Jun Xiaomo kicks up a ruckus about this matter and word spreads like wildfire to the rest of the Sect, then regardless of whether there was evidence to support her allegations, this matter would be a stain to his pristine reputation.

Yu Wanrou knew exactly what Qin Lingyu’s thoughts were. But she was unwilling to let it go. She was unwilling because Jun Xiaomo had trampled on her once. Therefore, she wanted to openly snatch Qin Lingyu over to her side just this once and put Jun Xiaomo through some pain and heartache.

Yu Wanrou thought for a moment before adding, “Lingyu, I know what you are thinking. However, when you leave the Sect this time, you will have to bring along a few disciples of the Sect for the mission in any event. What does it matter if I’m but one of the disciples you’re bringing? See, you can bring a few male disciples and a few female disciples. This way, no one would become suspicious of our relationship. Additionally, they could even be our “alibis”, proving that there was nothing going on between us at all.”

The interactions between Yu Wanrou and Qin Lingyu had always been hidden in the dark, and in front of others they kept a watertight pretense. Therefore, having a few others be their “alibis” was definitely a good idea.

Nevertheless, Qin Lingyu was still hesitant about it. Whenever the decisions to be made affected his own interests, he would always be exceptionally rational about them, never letting his emotions and feelings get in the way of his logical processes.

This somewhat infuriated Yu Wanrou. She angrily smacked Qin Lingyu, saying with displeasure in her voice, “Alright, are you not willing to bring me? Then fine. There are others who are willing to bring me along. Brother Ke Xinwen is not bad either – I’ll go with him instead!”

Ke Xinwen was that very disciple who wanted to please Yu Wanrou by giving her the little packrat. He attained the peak twelfth level of Qi Mastery when he was thirty-two years of age, but even after two whole years of hard work, he had broken into the Foundation Establishment stage. This year, he was thirty-four years-old. If he still did not manage to break into the Foundation Establishment stage, then he would no longer be able to qualify for the upper-tier sects.

Therefore, he definitely had to succeed in his travels this year. Even though his talent was far lower than Qin Lingyu or Ye Xiuwen, but his overall capabilities were still not too bad. After all, his cultivation level is indisputably at the twelfth level of Qi Mastery, and among all of the disciples within Dawn Sect, there were only the three of them who had attained this twelfth level of Qi Mastery. Yu Wanrou was not going to lose out too much by following him.

Qin Lingyu’s face looked ugly at this moment – Yu Wanrou was clearly forcing him to decide right now. Even though he liked Yu Wanrou, this fondness had not grown to the extent where he could abandon everything else before her. This was particularly so when Yu Wanrou was even forcing his hand!

Yu Wanrou could feel Qin Lingyu’s hands tightening around hers as well, and his breathing seemed to have sped up slightly. Her heart immediately grew anxious, and she knew that she had slipped up a little.

Perhaps she should be more restrained with her temper before she gained the ability to tap into that dual-cultivation technique. Otherwise, all would be lost if Qin Lingyu becomes fed up with her.

The secret dual-cultivation technique within Yu Wanrou’s spectral demiplane required both cultivators to minimally be of the Golden Core stage of cultivation before it could be used. Before she attains the Golden Core stage of cultivation, she would do well to keep Qin Lingyu by her side and not let his heart wander away.

As she thought about it, Yu Wanrou softly sighed, and dolefully said, “Lingyu, you’re hurting me.”

Qin Lingyu immediately loosened his grip but did not comfort her as he would usually do.

Yu Wanrou again smacked Qin Lingyu’s chest, sullenly complaining, “I was only kidding. Why can’t you take a joke? If you are not willing to bring me along, then I would obediently wait for your return at the Sect, alright?”

As she finished, her voice even trembled with a trace of sorrow, promptly shedding a drop of tear onto Qin Lingyu’s shoulder.

Seeing this, Qin Lingyu’s heart immediately softened again. He pulled Yu Wanrou into an embrace, and patting her back, he said, “Alright, alright, of course you may joke with me; but can’t I also be upset with you? Don’t say such things next time. You’re surely also aware of Ke Xinwen’s feelings for you – so when you casually say such things won’t it hurt me as well? Anyhow, dear, I’ll think about it. If I can bring you along, I definitely will, hmm?”

Yu Wanrou softly acknowledged with a slightly flirty, prolonged “Mm”, instantly dispelling the rest of Qin Lingyu’s earlier displeasure.

As the now recomposed Qin Lingyu once again experienced the warmth and tenderness of Yu Wanrou’s body, his heart grew slightly unwilling.

Leaving the Sect for one of these missions may take as long as an entire year – this meant that Qin Lingyu would potentially be unable to have such frolics with Yu Wanrou for this entire period of time.

Since Yu Wanrou wanted to come along, what’s the harm in bringing her? After all, the allegations made by Jun Xiaomo were but conjectures based off the figments of her own imagination; she definitely has no proof of all of these. For all I know, she might even just be kicking up a fuss because she is jealous that Wanrou has a much better way with people than she does.

Thinking about these, Qin Lingyu’s heart grew more and more restless. Of course, he would first have to sound out Jun Xiaomo and see what exactly she meant by her allegations.

Furthermore, Jun Xiaomo’s Interspatial Ring had plenty of goodies gifted to her by Jun Linxuan. If he could obtain one or two of these at the same time, then that would add substantially to his confidence in completing the mission outside the Sect.

The room was now silent. Qin Lingyu’s hand gently stroked Yu Wanrou’s back with a slightly irregular rhythm while he was immersed in his own thoughts.

Just then, even as Yu Wanrou was still locked in Qin Lingyu’s embrace, her lips curled up into a cunning smile, and her eyes gleamed with radiance.

She could feel that Qin Lingyu’s heart was beginning to be moved.