Ch 9 - So, how will you compensate for my innocence?

"Huff—!"

"Huff—!"

"Huff—!"

Looking at the doorknob that had already been turned halfway, Yino gasped for air, large beads of sweat rolling down his nose and falling to the ground.

Just in the last second, the witch's illusion seemed to have been broken prematurely.

Now, Yino stood in front of the changing room door. This was the second door in the backyard, the compartment used for changing clothes and placing towels and bathrobes before entering the hot spring pool.

If he turned this doorknob, he would truly meet the eyes of Yuyan in the bath.

Yino wasn't really a useless cultivator.

He had cultivation, and even through a door, he could clearly sense with his spiritual awareness that Yuyan sitting in the bath had already drawn her sword, her fierce killing intent locked directly onto his head.

"Thankfully, I broke free from that vixen's illusion at the last second."

Yino felt somewhat relieved at his narrow escape.

His years of pretending to be a wastrel young master hadn't been in vain; he had secretly purchased cultivation methods from the black market to cultivate his demon bloodline.

Otherwise, without this demon bloodline providing Yino with resistance to illusions, opening this door tonight would have surely meant certain death!

"When I opened the first door, Yuyan only released killing intent as a warning, which shows she was already being very lenient."

"I'd better leave quickly while she still has patience, pretending nothing happened!"

Thinking of this, Yino began to carefully release the doorknob that had already been lowered halfway.

But just then, the doorknob made a crisp breaking sound—

Crack!

"Holy crap!"

Yino was startled, his whole body trembling as he blurted out a curse.

It turned out that while under the illusion's control, Yino had desperately resisted, causing the doorknob to break in his grip.

And now, with such a loud noise, Yuyan bathing in the courtyard must have heard it!

Swoosh—!

In an instant, Yino's spiritual sense felt the sound of a spirit sword being unsheathed behind the door.

"Run!"

Without a word, Yino unleashed his full cultivation and ran back.

If he could create a commotion before Yuyan killed him, alerting the night guards of the Grand Tutor's Mansion, then Yuyan might consider the authority of the Grand Tutor's Mansion and calm down, sparing his life.

-[—Stop!]-

A cold rebuke echoed from the depths of his soul.

And in that moment of mental stagnation, the extremely cold ice sword engraved with golden sacred marks grazed past Yino's nose tip.

The howling wind rushed by as the Frost Chant sword plunged straight into the hard pillar, its blade blocking Yino's escape route.

An unprecedented pressure swept over, frightening Yino into a sliding knee-brake.

Indeed... This suffocating pressure of extreme cold was truly befitting of Yuyan's original character.

It's conceivable how patient Yuyan must have been with Yino when playing chess last night.

*Tap, tap, tap...*

Fair jade feet, wet with water, approached step by step behind Yino.

But Yino dared not turn around, only kneeling under the Frost Chant sword, sweating profusely and not daring to breathe.

At some point, those watery footsteps stopped behind Yino.

"So, the offense you mentioned in your bet earlier wasn't just empty words to fool the mansion elders?"

Yuyan finally spoke, but her tone was no longer gentle, her cold eyes as chilling as if judging a criminal.

Yino turned around, not knowing how to answer.

He knew that Yuyan was actually joking with him by saying this, and the fact that she still had the patience to tease Yino already indicated that she wouldn't really kill him over this incident.

Yino naturally understood the logic of calm analysis, but the shadow of the Frost Chant sword grazing his face just now had caused his adrenaline to surge, making it impossible for him to catch his breath and speak.

He just knelt there in front of Yuyan, hands on the floor, taking several deep breaths.

Until his heartbeat stabilized a bit, Yino finally turned around and looked up to meet Yuyan's cold gaze.

He gathered his thoughts and spoke with a slight twitch of his lips—

"If I said I was framed, would you believe me?"

Honestly, Yino himself found this answer quite humorous.

Yuyan just stared into his eyes.

She had just come out of the bath and hadn't had time to put on formal attire, only wrapped tightly in a light white dress. Although the dress could cover her body, her jet-black hair cascading like a waterfall was still dripping wet, splashing water on the floor.

She raised her hand to recall the Frost Chant sword stuck in the wall, assuming the classic pose of holding the sword in her arms, looking down at Yino.

"There's no trace of a third party around, and there are no signs of you being framed on your body."

"How can I believe you?"

To Yino's surprise, Yuyan gave a serious answer.

He thought she had been silent for so long that she would surely open with a cold sneer, but he didn't expect Yuyan to actually be considering it.

"Because I'm not an idiot, there's no reason for me to risk my life doing something so stupid."

"You're indeed not stupid, you're just simply lecherous."

Yuyan raised an eyebrow, inexplicably wanting to laugh.

"A gentleman may be fond of beauty but not lustful!"

"Are you a gentleman?"

Yuyan lips curled into a smile, watching the young man's performance with amusement.

"Sigh..."

Yino knew that appealing to emotions was useless, so he turned to argue from a factual perspective: "I really was under an illusion, but the other party was very powerful and extremely secretive, which is why no traces were left!"

"Do you know what realm I'm in?"

Yuyan's tone was flat, her eyes tinged with a hint of contempt.

Yino knew that she was starting to lose patience.

But he couldn't blame Yuyan for being arrogant. After all, the fact that she hadn't killed Yino and was patiently chatting with him was already very respectful.

"I'm just a useless young master, how would I know?"

"But even so, just because you didn't find traces of a third party doesn't rule out the possibility that the culprit is more skilled in illusions than you."

Yino could only give a weak answer.

In the original story, the Pleasure Witch Jiang Jinyue's cultivation wasn't actually very high, but she had an extremely strong talent in the field of illusions. As one of the villains in the original story, she was very troublesome, stirring up trouble everywhere without leaving any traces, making both righteous immortal sects and evil factions hate her to the bone.

Her way of doing things had no logic to begin with. As her title "Pleasure" suggests, it seemed she was purely creating mischief everywhere using illusions just for fun, making people fall into endless conflicts.

Now that the truth was revealed, Yino was naturally part of her plan.

If Yino hadn't broken free from the illusion in advance, if Yuyan hadn't been patient and had killed Yino at the first door...

Then without a doubt, the Grand Tutor's Mansion would have broken ties with the Wuji Sect because of this!

Jinyue's plan would have succeeded.

"Oh, is that so."

"There's such a mysterious mastermind behind the scenes?"

Yuyan absent-mindedly shrugged and sighed.

Obviously, she didn't believe Yino's description of the illusion master.

Even if there was such an expert, using her power on Yino would be like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. And if she really wanted to harm Yino, he wouldn't be standing alive in front of her now.

-Unless... This Yino was hiding some secret-

Thinking of this, Yuyan's eyes became more suspicious.

"So, do you have any evidence?"

"Not at the moment..."

"Then how should we deal with your peeping just now?"

Yuyan said coldly.

But this time, rather than questioning seriously, she was more inclined to tease with a cold smile.

Yino's lips twitched as he heard this:

"Deal with what? Come on, you're covered so thoroughly, what could I possibly see?"

"Hmph, who knows."

Yuyan crossed her arms, feigning innocence with a cold snort.

"If I had really peeped at your innocence, would you have let me live until now?"

Yino couldn't help but find Yuyan's self-contradiction amusing.

But in the next second, he noticed a deliberate and flirtatious cold smile on the miss immortal's cold face: "Since you're not stupid, you should also know that I'm not discussing the truth with you, but negotiating the outcome."

"—?"

This time it was Yino's turn to be confused.

Because of the chess game in the evening, Yino's impression of Yuyan was still quite good.

He had almost forgotten...

The senior sister before him, in the later stages of the original Fallen Immortal story, was an evil sword immortal whose white clothes were stained with blood, with countless corpses under her sword for thousands of miles.

If she were really this gentle and elegant, how could she possibly become so evil after turning dark?

"So, you're threatening me?"

Yino finally understood the implied meaning and asked, somewhat puzzled.

Yuyan didn't answer, just stared at him meaningfully and said softly:

"Come up the mountain with me tomorrow. I can pretend tonight's incident never happened."

"What are you after from me?"

"You're a useless cultivator, no one at Wuji Sect cares about you, so if you secretly play chess with me, my master probably won't be alerted."

"So you think I'm stupid? Should I thank you for graciously letting me off?"

"You're not stupid, just physically useless and extremely lecherous—but it doesn't matter, I'm best at punishing lechers. I believe under the discipline of my sweet sword, you won't dare to have any delusions about me for the rest of your life~"

Yino was left speechless.

But Yuyan didn't intend to waste words with him. She narrowed her cold eyes, examining the young man before her with some suspicion.

Just as Yino didn't understand why Yuyan was so obsessed with chess,

Yuyan also didn't understand why Yino was so resistant to going to Wuji Sect.

But just as the atmosphere turned cold and they were staring at each other, each with their own thoughts, a series of urgent footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard—

"Senior Sister Yuyan!!!"

"Senior Sister! Are you alright?"

"You wastrel thief! How dare you have the audacity to violate our sect's senior sister!"

In just a few seconds, a man in Taoist robes had already broken through the door.

Closely following him, several Wuji Sect disciples also burst into the compartment, blocking the doorway and glaring at Yino with murderous intent.

"..."

Yino turned to look at Yuyan, bewildered and suspicious.

He hadn't expected Yuyan to be so devious and cunning. She had been smiling and negotiating with him just now, but it turned out she had already called for people to frame Yino behind his back?

Now Yino was truly caught red-handed.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Yuyan's face also showed confusion and innocence.

She knew Yino was suspecting her of tipping them off, but she also couldn't explain herself, because these Wuji Sect disciples really weren't called by her.

Yuyan was the senior sister.

Couldn't she handle such a small matter herself?

Moreover, she clearly knew that Yino hadn't violated her innocence. Those threats just now were only to make Yino submit. How could Yuyan possibly use her own innocence to frame Yino?

Furthermore, to let all the Wuji Sect disciples accompanying her come to watch the commotion.

The timing was too coincidental, to the point that even Yuyan herself was at a loss.

-[Could it be...]-

-[Yino wasn't lying.]-

-[Someone really is framing him behind the scenes? And then tipping off others?]-

In a flash, Yuyan recalled Yino's defense from earlier.

But just as she was pondering, the leading man in Taoist robes had already drawn his sword, rushing forward with eyes full of hatred—

"Just a useless trash from the Tutor's Mansion, daring to violate our senior sister's innocence!"

"You scum! You deserve to die!"

He raised his sword high, his killing intent aimed directly at Yino.