Chapter 63: I Am Not Flirting, This Is Spiritual Training

The training room was enclosed today.

No garden. No sunlight. Just four quiet stone walls, an incense burner in the corner, and a massive water basin placed squarely in the center of the floor like the world's most ominous foot bath.

Shen Kexian was already there, of course. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, dressed in midnight-blue robes with silver embroidery that probably had deeper meaning but mostly just looked smug and expensive. His hair was half-up, fastened with a silver pin shaped like a cloud.

I paused at the threshold.

"This feels ominous," I said. "What are we doing today? Baptism by awkward silence?"

Shen Kexian's lips twitched. "Today is about control."

"That's what they said before they made me do calligraphy underwater," I muttered, stepping into the room and eyeing the basin like it might bite.

"Unlike those monks," he said smoothly, "I have no interest in drowning your spirit in nonsense."

"Wow. That was almost a compliment. Are you feeling alright?"

He looked at me sideways. "You're still in your sarcastic phase, I see."

"It's not a phase. It's a survival tactic."

I walked up to the basin, peering into the water. The surface was smooth as glass. The kind of quiet that made you nervous.

"This looks like the setup for a murder," I said. "Or a really weird spa day."

"No relaxation," he said. "Just focus. This basin is tuned with spiritual resonance. When your emotion triggers the water, it should respond more clearly."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then you're suppressing something."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Suppressing something? That sounds suspiciously therapist-adjacent."

"Maybe you are suppressing something," he replied calmly. "Hence the headaches."

I almost flinched.

But I rolled my eyes instead. "Oh, here we go. Everything's about my trauma again."

"Would you rather I blame your technique?"

"Honestly, yes."

He didn't answer. Just gestured to the cushion in front of the basin.

I did what he asked. Sat down on the cushion. Straightened my back. Placed both hands gently on the smooth, cool rim of the basin like it might bite me if I pressed too hard.

Then—

He plopped down beside me.

No ceremony. No warning. Just lowered himself like this was perfectly normal and not at all scandal-adjacent.

I didn't turn to look at him. I didn't have to. He was close. Too close.

I could feel the warmth of him—heat radiating through silk robes like an uninvited sunbeam. He smelled like he always did, sandalwood and ink and sin, and my entire nervous system started quietly malfunctioning.

My inner monologue screamed: "Sir, we are in a closed room with still water. I will accidentally baptize us both if you don't move."

I cleared my throat, stiffly.

"Do you really have to sit this close?"

He didn't look up. "Why? Are you uncomfortable?"

"I'm Wei Wuxian's consort," I hissed. "You're practically sitting in my aura. If anyone walks in, I'll be on trial for scandal by proximity."

He chuckled, "Ah. Yes. Must protect your royal virtue."

I rolled my eyes. "You're enjoying this."

He didn't deny it. Then his voice dropped—soft, casual, but edged like a blade sheathed in silk.

"Or… are you afraid Liu Ming Yu might get jealous?"

I went still.

So did the air.

So did the water.

Then—

A ripple.

Barely a shiver across the surface, but enough.

I blinked hard at the basin like it had betrayed me.

Shen Kexian wasn't looking at me, but he didn't have to. His smirk deepened.

"Oh," he said lightly. "You didn't think I knew?"

My heart thudded in my chest, pounding like it wanted to escape.

Another ripple.

Then another—small, concentric rings overlapping like startled breath.

"How do you—how much do you know?" I asked, voice barely audible.

He didn't answer. Just stared at the water, the calm in his expression only making everything inside me feel louder.

I was spiraling.

Because if he knew, what else did he know?

Does he know about the night in the dungeon? The vial? The four-night ritual?! Does he have spies in the garden??! The way my chest pulled toward him like a thread wound too tight?

He finally spoke. "You're not subtle, Mei Lin. Neither is he. It doesn't take much to put the pieces together."

The water shifted again—this time unprompted.

I realized too late my fingers had curled into the edge of the basin, gripping it like I could steady myself on anything that wasn't moving.

He was quiet for a moment. Then, without a hint of teasing, he said, "I've known about the two of you for a while now."

My breath caught. The teasing tone was gone. So was the smirk. All that remained was something quiet. Exposed.

"I'd be lying," he added softly, "if I said it didn't hurt a little."

Hurt?

That word cracked through me like lightning splitting a tree. I stared at him.

"What do you mean… hurt?"

He didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked at me—really looked. And there was something in his eyes I hadn't seen before.

Longing.

"The only thing I ever wanted…" he said, leaning in closer.. "Was that…"

Our faces were pretty close. My heart jerked in my chest like it had heard something it had no words for.

And so did the water. It shivered. Then rippled. 

Our knees touched.

Just that—a brush of contact—and my senses exploded. But this time… no headache.

No stabbing pulse behind my eyes. Instead, something inside me lit up. A surge, like a hidden river bursting from a dam. It rushed down from my chest, through my arms, down to my fingertips still resting on the basin.

And then—

The water moved. It didn't ripple gently. It rose. A wave burst upward and outward, splashing over the basin's rim with a sudden roar—like a tiny tsunami summoned from a heartbeat. I gasped.

Shen Kexian didn't move.

He just watched the water fall, the splash soaking his sleeve, a drop sliding down his jaw.

His sleeve was dripping.

His face was unreadable.

Then he said, calmly—way too calmly:

"Interesting."

I blinked at him, still panting.

"Interesting?" I choked. "That was a wave. A full-blown, tea-table-flipping, court-lady-screaming tsunami. And all you have to say is—interesting?!"

He stood, adjusting his soaked sleeve like he hadn't just emotionally gut-punched me and caused a natural disaster in a sacred basin.

His expression? Back to icy indifference. Like nothing happened. Like he hadn't just looked at me like I was the answer to something he lost a thousand years ago.

"I suppose," he said, cool and detached.

That's it?

No "Are you okay?"

No "That was incredible!"

No "Oops, sorry for nearly unlocking your water powers with my soul."

Just… interesting.

I stared at him, stunned and so unbelievably embarrassed.

"I can't believe you," I muttered.

He turned to the door. "Rest for the day. We'll continue tomorrow."

"That's it?" I called after him. "You emotionally detonate me and nearly baptize the entire training hall, and then you just leave?!"

He paused at the threshold. Just for a moment.

Then: "You're progressing."

And then—gone.

Slipped through the door like he didn't just rearrange my internal universe and soak my dignity in the process.

I was left staring at the rippling basin, still catching my breath, hair clinging to my temple, fingers tingling with leftover magic—

And absolutely no idea what just happened to me.