Ye Ran didn’t think much of the physical abnormality that appeared after that spring dream.
It was only because the once-in-a-century sect competition was approaching, and this time the competition was to be held at the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect, so the entire sect was bustling with activity.
As a personal disciple, Ye Ran couldn’t help but be caught up in the busyness.
Lu Li, as the sect’s senior disciple, was even busier. Ye Ran hadn’t seen him since the day she bandaged his wound.
However, Lu Li’s love letters arrived frequently, almost every two or three days.
Ever since Ye Ran realized that Lu Li only knew how to write love letters and would never take any actual action, she stopped feeling anxious whenever she received one.
Not only that, but she also carefully critiqued each letter, checking to see if Lu Li had revealed any new preferences in them.
Each time, Ye Ran found them highly entertaining, using them as a pastime during her rare moments of rest.
One day, after finishing her tasks and returning to her quarters, Ye Ran found the familiar letter on her desk as expected.
Her face showed no reaction as she picked up the letter and opened it with practiced ease.
The paper was once again densely packed with words, but having already read dozens of such letters, Ye Ran quickly pinpointed the key information.
Only this time, the content was so explosive that Ye Ran couldn’t help but blush.
Lu Li wrote that he had prepared a pair of clamps, the kind with chains.
No sooner had she read this than an image automatically formed in her mind: Lu Li wearing those chains.
Her heart suddenly beat a little faster, and then she felt a warm rush in her nose. Looking down, she saw a few drops of blood falling onto the desk.
She had a nosebleed!
Ye Ran quickly took out a handkerchief to plug her nostril.
“Host, what did you see? Why the sudden nosebleed?”
The gossip-loving system suddenly appeared, toddling over on its short legs, trying to sneak a look at the letter.
But just as its head leaned in, Ye Ran immediately pulled the letter away.
“Little kittens shouldn’t look at this kind of thing.”
With that, Ye Ran tucked the letter into a wooden box beside her.
These days, Lu Li’s letters had been arriving so frequently that the box, which had once been only a third full, was now completely stuffed.
Still, looking at the box full of letters, Ye Ran couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled.
In previous letters, there had been content even more shocking than today’s, yet she had always read it without changing expression. So why had she gotten a nosebleed today?
Could it be that having too many spring dreams had weakened her self-control?
Speaking of spring dreams, Ye Ran suddenly remembered that she had been dreaming of Lu Li frequently lately, and she always woke up feeling parched.
The last time she woke up, she even felt an impulse to go find him immediately.
She had been so busy lately that she had overlooked these details.
Now, thinking carefully, she realized she might not be quite normal.
Was she getting sick?
Just as she was lost in thought, a sound transmission talisman flew in and landed before her. Then, Qi Heng’s voice came from it:
“Junior sister, I’m tied up today. Could you go to Wangxian Peak for me?”
“Of course, Senior Brother. I’ll head over right away.”
Seeing there was more work to do, Ye Ran quickly set aside her thoughts and agreed.
As soon as the talisman’s flame died out, she wasted no time and hurried off to Wangxian Peak.
The Wangxian Hall was much livelier today than the last time she had visited, with many disciples coming and going.
The main hall, however, was relatively empty. When she entered, Lu Li was sitting at a desk, with Meng Xuan standing to the side, apparently reporting something to him.
As Ye Ran approached, Meng Xuan was the first to notice her.
The moment he saw her, his voice stopped, and his eyes lit up.
“Junior sister! You’re here!”
“Senior Brother Meng.”
Ye Ran greeted Meng Xuan politely before shifting her gaze to Lu Li.
It was then that Lu Li finally looked up.
Ye Ran hadn’t seen Lu Li in half a month. Now, meeting his eyes so suddenly, she couldn’t help but picture the scenes from her spring dreams.
The face of Lu Li from her dreams gradually overlapped with reality, making her heart suddenly race. Guiltily, she averted her gaze.
“Senior Brother Lu, Senior Brother Qi is busy with matters, so he asked me to come in his place.”
Sensing Lu Li’s probing look, she quickly explained herself.
Lu Li nodded and then withdrew his gaze, continuing to write with his brush.
“I see. Please wait a moment, junior sister. I’m currently writing up the arrangements for Liuyun Peak and will give them to you shortly.”
“Alright.”
Ye Ran stepped back to the side. At the same time, Meng Xuan turned his attention away from Ye Ran and resumed his detailed report to Lu Li.
It was then that Ye Ran noticed Lu Li could multitask—while listening to Meng Xuan’s report, he not only wrote things unrelated to it but also occasionally offered Meng Xuan guidance.
No wonder he was so successful as a villain.
After this moment of admiration, Ye Ran found herself staring intently at Lu Li’s handsome face. The more she looked, the more she felt he was almost too beautiful to resist—especially his lips, parting and closing as he spoke, stirring in her a desire to taste them.
Ye Ran’s gaze grew increasingly intense.
So intense that even though she stood there quietly, Lu Li couldn’t help but feel her eyes on him.
But what Lu Li found even harder to ignore was the fragrance wafting toward him.
From the moment Ye Ran had taken her place, that scent had grown stronger and stronger.
By the time Lu Li was completely enveloped in that sweet, cloying aroma, he finally set down his brush and looked up at Ye Ran.
Ye Ran hadn’t expected him to look up so suddenly. Before she could hide her burning gaze, Lu Li saw it all.
Her heart began to race uncontrollably again, and her body grew faintly hot, as if something restless was stirring inside her.
“What’s wrong, junior sister?”
“I…”
The moment she opened her mouth, a warm stream trickled from her nose, and she tasted iron on her tongue.
Realizing she had another nosebleed, Ye Ran quickly pulled out a handkerchief to stem the flow, too flustered to explain.
“Junior sister, have you been overworking yourself lately? Why don’t I take you back to rest?”
Having just finished his report, Meng Xuan immediately leaned in with concern upon seeing her nosebleed.
But Ye Ran quietly stepped back a few paces.
“Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother. I’m fine. It’s probably just the dry weather. I’ll be alright once I wipe it away.”
“But…”
Meng Xuan clearly wasn’t ready to give up and continued to step closer. However, Lu Li reached Ye Ran’s side first, cutting him off.
“The tasks assigned by our master are urgent, junior brother. You should attend to those first.”
“Yes.”
Reluctant but unable to refuse, Meng Xuan cast a few lingering glances between Ye Ran and Lu Li before finally turning to leave.
Once Meng Xuan had left the hall, Lu Li took the handkerchief from Ye Ran’s hand and carefully wiped the blood from her face.
“Are you feeling unwell, junior sister?”
They were standing very close. When Lu Li spoke, their breaths intertwined.
“N-No…”
Ye Ran’s nose tingled faintly again, but luckily the bleeding didn’t resume, much to her relief.
Yet as their breath mingled more and more intimately, her body treacherously grew weak, to the point she could barely stand steady.
“You don’t look fine to me, junior sister.”
Just as Ye Ran was about to collapse, Lu Li caught her in time.
But his touch only made her body heat up again, stirring a longing deep within her—a desire to press even closer.
The moment that thought arose, Ye Ran threw herself into Lu Li’s arms.
Yet this only worsened the thirst. Her body grew hotter, as if she needed something more.
This feeling was exactly the same as when she had taken the Bliss Dust that day.
At that thought, Ye Ran suddenly snapped awake and quickly pulled away from Lu Li’s embrace.
“I… I really am not feeling well.”
With her body growing stranger by the moment, all Ye Ran wanted was to leave quickly.
“Then you should go back and rest well, junior sister. Later, I will personally deliver the arrangements for the sect competition to Liuyun Peak.”
Lu Li stared at Ye Ran for a moment before speaking.
But before Ye Ran could leave, he took her wrist.
The next instant, the two of them appeared at Ye Ran’s residence.
The change of scenery was so abrupt that Ye Ran had to look around several times after regaining her balance to confirm she was back in her own room.
“Thank you, Senior Brother Lu.”
She hurriedly thanked Lu Li, but her voice came out soft and weak.
When it reached Lu Li’s ears, his eyes darkened almost imperceptibly. “You don’t look well, junior sister. Shall I take a look at you?”
“No need!”
Ye Ran refused without a second thought. She wouldn’t dare let Lu Li examine her—otherwise, her Cauldron Constitution would be exposed.
But meeting Lu Li’s eyes, she realized her refusal had been too abrupt and quickly tried to remedy the situation. “I’m probably just overtired. I’ll be fine after some rest.”
“Then rest well, junior sister.”
Fortunately, Lu Li didn’t insist. He said this and then disappeared from the room.
Ye Ran immediately went to her desk and poured herself a cup of mint tea.
But even after four or five cups in a row, the restless heat in her body refused to subside. Instead, it seemed to grow stronger.
Had she been drugged with Bliss Dust again?
Thinking it over carefully, Ye Ran realized she hadn’t eaten anything suspicious in the past few days, nor had she come into contact with any strangers.
So it probably wasn’t Bliss Dust.
Then could something be wrong with her body?
Her expression turning serious, Ye Ran quickly called out to the system:
“System, I think something’s wrong with my body.”
[Host, hold on. Let me check.]
As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of flipping pages echoed in her mind. It didn’t last long before stopping, replaced by the system’s excited voice:
[Host! I know! It’s because of your Cauldron Constitution!]
[I checked the plot again. Turns out, the female lead’s Cauldron Constitution requires her to dual cultivate periodically, otherwise she becomes extremely uncomfortable. But in the original plot, this only happened after she dual cultivated with the male lead. Maybe because you’re not following the plot, this attribute has been forcibly activated.]
Hearing this, Ye Ran’s last hope crumbled.
She had thought that as long as she didn’t dual cultivate with anyone, her Cauldron Constitution wouldn’t be exposed. Now, suddenly, there was a new attribute that could act up at any time.
It was like a sword hanging over her head, bound to fall one day.
The mission difficulty had just been maxed out.
But now wasn’t the time to think of solutions, because her body was growing more restless by the second.
She quickly downed more mint tea. Seeing that the heat still wouldn’t subside, she slapped a mind-calming talisman on her forehead.
But that only provided temporary relief. The heat soon surged back, stronger than before.
Then Ye Ran remembered the cold spring in the back mountain. Soaking there might help.
So she hurried off to the back mountain without delay.
Upon arriving, Ye Ran jumped straight into the cold spring and soaked for a full hour. Only then did the restless heat inside her begin to recede.
It didn’t disappear completely, but soaking any longer would be too much for her body. Since she was already feeling much better, she decided to go back and try to suppress the rest on her own.
But the moment she pushed open her door and entered her room, she found another letter on her desk.
Looking at the familiar envelope, Ye Ran frowned in confusion.
Hadn’t Lu Li already sent her a letter today? Why was there another one?
She opened the letter, puzzled, and immediately saw the opening line: “I want to meet you.”
Leave a Reply