Chapter 16 When Heart Flutters:

"Ice...ice?"

In the white mist, something was moving indistinctly, almost in the center of the bathroom where the bathtub was placed, and the sound of splashing water came from there.

Rong Xie reached out and took down the water ladle hanging on the wall as a defensive weapon, and while tentatively calling out, he moved towards the screen.

He couldn't understand how things had gotten to this point. If Shen Bingsi wanted to take a shower with him, couldn't she just ask? Why would she put drugs in his food?

Not to mention... not to mention taking off his clothes.

Rong Xie gripped the handle of the water ladle tightly.

Shen Bingsi wouldn't do such a thing; Rong Xie understands him.

"Hmm? You're awake." Shen Bingsi's voice came from the sound of water.

A gust of hot, humid air dispersed the white mist, making the scene in the center of the bathroom much clearer.

Shen Bingsi stood with her back to the outside, wearing only a white cloth towel around her waist.

His physique wasn't particularly outstanding among the tall cultivators of the Spirit Realm Sect. When he participated in the sect's grand competition in the past, Rong Xie would often be worried for him from the sidelines. Compared to those burly body cultivators and tall sword cultivators, Shen Bingsi was more like a teenager who had wandered into the adult circle. He had to exert a lot of effort to squeeze out from between those thick limbs and mountain-like spines.

Later, Rong Xie learned that Shen Bingsi appeared thin not because he was weak, but on the contrary, because he was strong. He formed his core much earlier than most cultivators, which allowed his physical age to remain at a younger age.

Rong Xie's worries were truly unnecessary.

Now, Rong Xie began to wonder if he had misjudged Shen Bingsi back then. How could Shen Bingsi's body be associated with "thin"?

His back was broad, forming an inverted triangle, with smooth and beautiful muscle lines that amazingly narrowed into a powerful waist. His waist was extremely high, exhibiting the unique upper and lower proportions of a young man. With his two long legs standing casually, he looked as tall as nine feet.

Rong Xie hadn't been naked with Shen Bing Si like this for many years. Since leaving the inner sect's public bathhouse, they no longer had to fight for seats and could bathe whenever they wanted, so there was no need for them to squeeze together. Perhaps it had been too long since they had seen each other, because upon seeing her again, Rong Xie couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, secretly wondering if Shen Bing Si had started to develop again.

Shen Bingsi was stirring the steaming bathtub with another ladle, occasionally scooping up a ladleful of water and pouring it back into the tub. This was how Rong Xie first heard the sound of water.

"Come here, I have something to tell you," Shen Bingsi said absentmindedly while fiddling with the water.

Rong Xie bit his lower lip, held the water ladle in his hands to protect himself, and slowly moved towards Shen Bingsi.

Shen Bingsi looks very strange now, but she hasn't been possessed. Just to be on the safe side, Rong Xie spoke first.

“I have something to ask you too,” he said. “Is there something inside those steamed rolls?”

"Yes," Shen Bingsi readily admitted.

He was allowed to pull out the water ladle.

“There’s fresh meat,” Shen Bingsi said, turning around.

Rong Xie quickly put away the water ladle: "Oh."

"You don't think I drugged you, do you?" Shen Bingsi's eyes darkened slightly when she saw Rong Xie's subtle actions.

"No," Rong Xie said guiltily, "I was just wondering why I suddenly fell asleep..."

“Your body is too weak,” Shen Bingsi threw the water ladle into the bathtub, walked over, and lingered for a moment on Rong Xie’s bare calves and arms. She reached out and grasped his wrist, which was protecting his chest, and easily pulled it away. “Drugs will harm your body. I won’t drug you. I just used some spiritual resonance to suppress your consciousness.”

"You..." Rong Xie felt the hairs on his body stand on end. He tried to break free from Shen Bing Si, but Shen Bing Si's iron-like left hand firmly locked his wrist. "What do you want to do? Let me go!"

"I have something to say to you." Ignoring Rong Xie's struggles, Shen Bingsi dragged him to the edge of the bathtub. The water ladle hit Shen Bingsi's chest, leaving a bright water trail that rolled to his feet, where he kicked it away.

He grabbed Rong Xie's arms and pressed him against the edge of the barrel.

Shen Bingsi was a size larger than Rong Xie, so it was easy for him to suppress him. Rong Xie felt himself being submerged in Shen Bingsi's aura. At that hopeless high point was the shoulder mountain that had once covered his vision. He didn't want to look at Shen Bingsi's body, so he could only look up and frantically search for answers in his eyes.

"Are you crazy? Do you know what you're doing?"

“I know, I should have done this a long time ago,” Shen Bingsi said expressionlessly. “I should have done it the night before your last Foundation Establishment assessment.”

"Wh...what?" Rong Xie was confused by him. What did he mean by the last time, and the night before?

“I’m too weak,” Shen Bingsi continued to mutter to herself. “If my Dao heart were firm and I had reached the Nascent Soul Realm sooner, I wouldn’t be trapped in worldly obsessions and watching you fail to establish your foundation time and time again.”

"It's because I'm too weak," he repeated.

"No...that's not how it is." Rong Xie retorted instinctively. If Shen Bingsi could be considered weak, then there would be no strong people in the world.

“But things are different now,” Shen Bingsi closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his dark pupils shone with an unusual light as he gazed at Rong Xie. “Now I have the ability to help you.”

"Do you...have...enough...ability?"

"Yes," Shen Bingsi answered firmly.

At this point, even if Rong Xie didn't want to understand, he understood.

The fact that the two people were practically naked, Shen Bingsi's so-called "original plan," and her so-called "ruthless methods" all point to the same answer.

Shen Bingsi still wanted to cultivate with him.

Even after being rejected by him, Shen Bingsi still wanted to cultivate with him.

More than ten days after he made her run away in anger, Shen Bingsi still wanted to...

After hearing Cui Xingmiao's account, Rong Xie learned that Shen Bingsi had not had a happy life after running away. Instead, she was focused on finding famous doctors for Rong Xie, and she had searched for all the medical practitioners from the three major sects.

A pang of heartache rose in Rong Xie's heart. He turned his face away, refusing to look at Shen Bingsi: "But I...I won't..."

His refusal was no longer so certain.

Several hours earlier, Cui Xingmiao told him, under the guise of writing a prescription, that she liked Shen Bingsi.

“Brother Rong, I like Shen Bingsi.” Cui Xingmiao looked at Rong Xie with shining eyes.

Seeing this expression, Rong Xie knew that Cui Xingmiao was serious.

But why did she tell him?

Do you expect him to offer his blessings? To say, "You two are a perfect match"?

Or do you want to win over the people around your target before taking the initiative, and gain more support from relatives and friends?

A flood of negative thoughts rushed through Rong Xie's mind, and the smile on his face stiffened.

“But Shen Bingsi will never like me, never.” Cui Xingmiao’s tone changed abruptly, her eyes dimmed, her young and full face showed disappointment, and her head drooped. “He cultivates the Path of Ruthlessness, and there is nothing in the world harder than his Dao heart.”

"..." Rong Xie stared blankly at the young girl in front of him, a feeling of pity for her suddenly rising in his heart.

Once she started talking, the girl began to chatter on and on, telling Rong Xie how wonderful Shen Bingsi was, how no one could overshadow him, how dazzling he was, and how even just standing next to him, one could feel all sorts of envious, jealous, and hateful gazes. What was even more terrifying was that Shen Bingsi himself was completely oblivious to it, unaffected, and continued to do as he pleased.

"Do you know how difficult it is for a person to maintain their integrity when they are showered with glory? I disguised myself as a Miao doctor and traveled the world, and I have met some so-called famous masters. They were all swayed by fame and fortune, and their whole bodies reeked of vulgarity and shortsightedness. Yet they were complacent and used their power and status to force everyone they met to accept their ways. It was one thing for the older generation to be like this, but the outstanding young generation was even more disgusting than those old people."

“But Shen Bingsi is different,” Cui Xingmiao’s cheeks flushed slightly, and stars appeared in her eyes again, “He’s very good… very good…”

At that moment, Rong Xie understood Cui Xingmiao's feelings. In fact, it was not so much liking between a man and a woman of marriageable age, but more like worship. All of Shen Bingsi's flaws were overshadowed by his halo. Cui Xingmiao could only see his dazzling side, which led to this deep conversation with "Brother Rong," whom she had just met, someone who also had a deep connection with Shen Bingsi.

"I really didn't expect that," Rong Xie smiled gently, secretly sighing for Cui Xingmiao. "Shen Bingsi's evaluation of Miss Cui is actually so high."

“Of course, I definitely can’t let him see it,” Cui Xingmiao pouted. “His tail is already wagging high enough. If he finds out, he’ll be wagging it to the sky.”

Rong Xie laughed.

"By the way, Brother Rong, you absolutely mustn't tell Shen Bingsi what I've told you, please, please, this is a little secret between the two of us." Cui Xingmiao held up her little finger. "How about we pinky swear?"

Unexpectedly, the future enlightened master had such an adorable side when he was young. Rong Xie sighed inwardly and smiled, "Don't worry, I will never tell. I swear on Huanxue Manor."

Cui Xingmiao was relieved: "Brother Rong, thank you. I had no one to talk to about these things, and I really couldn't hold it in any longer..."

"However, are you really not going to let him know? Are you afraid it will shake his resolve?" Rong Xie thought of the ethereal Star Seed Fairy in the future, and how she and Shen Bing Si would spend over three thousand chapters together, facing each other day and night but unable to express their feelings. This kind of torment was probably no less severe than harsh punishment.

“Brother Rong, you’re so adorable. If I had the chance to shake that stone’s Dao heart, I would definitely shatter it and make it lose all its cultivation. Then I would confine it to the back mountain of our Yunshan Sect and use the water from the Spirit Gathering Stone to cleanse its marrow every day until it returns to the Nascent Soul Realm. I believe that with its will, it will succeed in cultivating any path.”

Cui Xingmiao said with a smile, but her words revealed a very meticulous plan, which was obviously not just something she said on a whim.

"..." Rong Xie gasped, a chill running down his spine.

Perhaps this is what young people are like: willing to do anything for what they want or who they want, even if the other person breaks, they will hold on tightly to it. But Rong Xie is no longer young, and he cannot appreciate this kind of "daring to do things".

"Brother Rong, then I'll have to ask you to keep this a secret for me." Cui Xingmiao clasped her hands together.

"Hmm... don't worry."

“Actually, Brother Rong, I envy you.” Cui Xingmiao said at the end of her story, “Before coming here, I only knew that Shen Bingsi had a close friend he had kept hidden, someone he grew up with and was willing to do anything for. After coming here, I realized that someone as self-centered as Shen Bingsi could completely forget himself in front of another person. If it weren’t for his iron will and his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm, I would have thought that he… deeply loved you.”

Rong Xie felt as if a string of reason had snapped in his mind, and his cheeks burned uncontrollably. He sat there blankly, not knowing what to say.

Fortunately, Cui Xingmiao didn't look at him and was still lost in her own thoughts: "If Shen Bingsi is this good to me, I would be willing to be weak and sickly. That way, Shen Bingsi would revolve around me every day and worry about me every day. How wonderful that would be. Even if I could only live for ten years, it would be worth it."

"..."

"If Shen Bingsi is willing to shatter her Dao heart for me, even if I can only live for a year, I will..." Cui Xingmiao mumbled some more silly, youthful words.

“It’s better to live a few more years,” Rong Xie felt the heat on his face gradually subside. He pressed the back of his hand against his cheek to cool it down, as if he were deep in thought. “Nothing is better than living a healthy and youthful life. It’s also good to live a healthy but old age. Shen Bingsi is just a person. Where can he find the richness and variety of all things that he can never get tired of looking at?”

Cui Xingmiao stopped talking, staring at Rong Xie in astonishment: "You... how could this be... could it be that you don't like him? That shouldn't be the case, I sensed it the moment I saw you..."

Cui Xingmiao spoke haltingly, and when she stood up to leave, she still looked incredulous.

Rong Xie sat on the bed and watched her leave. He estimated that she and Shen Bingsi should have left the manor before Rong Xie collapsed onto the bed as if his bones had been removed.

Has he passed the test? He still managed to maintain his status as Shen Bingsi's close friend with Cui Xingmiao. He underestimated Cui Xingmiao. After all, she is one of the main characters who plays an important role in that book. Of course, Cui Xingmiao is not a naive girl who tells everything. Her words are half true and half false. Her purpose is to get Rong Xie to tell him about his relationship with Shen Bingsi, or rather, Rong Xie's one-sided thoughts.

Rong Xie did not blame Cui Xingmiao for his selfishness. Every conversation initiated by an adult has its purpose. On the contrary, he was grateful for Cui Xingmiao's tactful words, which made him understand his own heart.

He had indeed fallen for Shen Bingsi.

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