Although there was no one nearby at the moment, Jing Hengbo was still cautious when entering the water, keeping her inner clothes on to avoid any impropriety.

The river water was still very cold on this March night, and she shivered with a sharp chill. However, after getting into the water, the itching on her body subsided considerably. She rolled up her sleeves, revealing a section of her arm under the moonlight that was as smooth and lustrous as a jade lotus root.

Water droplets scattered from her fingertips like rolling pearls, large and small pearls falling onto a jade plate. Ripples leisurely formed, reflecting the bright moonlight.

Reflecting Gong Yin’s tall, slender figure.

Even when Jing Hengbo went to relieve herself, he would calculate the time. They had weathered too many storms together – as long as she was present, his heartstrings remained taut. When Jing Hengbo had started scratching earlier, he had already come to check on her. Just as he was about to call out, he suddenly saw Jing Hengbo removing her clothes. As they say, when heaven offers a gift and you don’t take it, you’ll suffer the consequences instead. Such a blessing would be foolish to interrupt, so he simply stood on the slope, settling down to wait with leisurely composure.

Regrettably, Jing Hengbo didn’t strip completely – she entered the water wearing a rose-red silk undergarment. This garment was what she had prepared for tonight’s mandarin duck bath, naturally her finest treasure from the bottom of her chest, which she had Yong Xue modify according to her design – it was truly a seductive, soul-stirring intimate piece.

So that regret couldn’t really be called regret. Under the pale moonlight, it outlined the woman’s graceful figure. The rose-red color, under the nighttime lighting, displayed a deep, melodious allure. The silk stretched tightly over her curves – prominent where it should be prominent, restrained where it should be restrained. The woman’s narrow shoulders, slender waist, and long legs were all outlined in the moon’s caress.

He kept one eye focused on her while the other had to monitor the surroundings, unwilling to let such a wonderful silhouette enter anyone else’s field of vision.

The terrain here wasn’t ideal – the river had forests in front and mountains behind, with bushes standing densely. Mountain wind poured in through a gap ahead, causing the trees to sway, always creating shifting shadows that made it difficult to distinguish whether they were tree shadows or human figures.

He had truly intended to bathe with her tonight, not for the mandarin duck bath itself, but because he feared Long Yin’s medicinal pills might contain harmful components, and he wanted to find an opportunity to adjust her constitution. He had already scouted a nearby pool with safe terrain, but hadn’t expected Jing Hengbo to casually enter the water here.

In the distance, the campfire gradually died down as people scattered to sleep. Yong Xue would follow his instructions to keep Pei Shu occupied. As for Yelu Qi, this man was extremely tactful and wouldn’t come seeking trouble at this time.

After washing for a while, Jing Hengbo still felt somewhat cold, so she simply dove down and began swimming in the river water.

She had been a regular at the research institute’s swimming pool before, with masterful swimming skills. Someone as beauty-obsessed as her naturally wouldn’t learn breaststroke or dog paddle, but the relatively graceful butterfly stroke. Those slender arms churned through the air with rotating splashes, like a spirit butterfly quietly spreading its wings in the crystalline night light.

Gong Yin had been somewhat worried she might suddenly get cramps while swimming. His feet hadn’t moved when he suddenly stopped – he had never seen such a swimming posture before. That woman fluttering like a butterfly in the water, or perhaps a water sprite, flowing past the lingering wind and hanging clouds, casting reflections at the far end of the rippling light.

Suddenly she rose and fell, her body sinking underwater. He waited for her to surface again like a butterfly touching water, but there was no sound for a long time.

Ripples on the water surface spread out in circles, then gathered back in circles, gradually becoming calm. His gaze searched the water surface but still didn’t see her emerge with a splash.

Gong Yin hadn’t been concerned initially – he could see her swimming skills were superb. However, after waiting a while, he finally grew uneasy and quickly walked to the shore. Just as he was about to lean down for a look, suddenly with a “splash,” a pair of hands shot out from the water.

“Come down!”

Wet hands grabbed his ankle. In an instant, cold energy condensed slightly at his fingertips, then he smiled and the cold energy withdrew.

“Splash.”

He was truly pulled into the water.

Jing Hengbo emerged beside him like a mermaid, sweeping back her wet long hair, her crystalline laughter floating across the river surface.

“I knew you were peeking! Still trying to act like a gentleman? Come down and bathe with me – what about that back-scrubbing you promised!”

“I knew you knew I was watching.” Gong Yin smoothed the wet black hair stuck to her forehead. “I was just waiting for you to pull me in.”

“Stubborn!” Jing Hengbo scoffed with laughter, saying lazily, “Still wearing so much while bathing!” She reached out and tugged, causing Gong Yin’s belt to scatter in the water like a fish, instantly sliding away and disappearing.

The next moment, Jing Hengbo dove into his embrace. In a flash, his white robe also spread out like a white cloud, drifting leisurely across the water surface.

A low voice spoke up.

“This won’t do.”

The clear, crisp laughter also turned into suppressed giggles, hazy and sticky like the night itself.

“Bathing with clothes on won’t do.”

“Aren’t you also wearing something?”

“I’ll undress!”

“Never mind. Better I undress than you undress.”

The rose-red soft cloud began to ripple, tinting the water a blushing red. Within that red cloud, vaguely white limbs swayed like water grass.

The softest, most beautiful posture in the world needed no deliberate seduction, only because they had feelings for each other.

“Look, I’ve broken out in red spots. Isn’t it unsightly?”

Her black hair spread like satin across the water surface, like ink lotus blossoms opening, revealing jade-carved soft shoulders on both sides. The curve from neck to shoulder was exquisite, a perfect crescent that couldn’t bear adding or subtracting even slightly.

Faint red spots dotted her shoulders, looking like resting butterflies from afar.

A handful of cool river water gently poured over her back. When Gong Yin’s slightly cold fingertips touched Jing Hengbo’s shoulders, she couldn’t help but tremble slightly, letting out a soft cooing laugh.

Suddenly remembering his untouchably distant appearance when they first met, thinking of how she had angrily drawn the blade from his chest during the palace coup, and now here he was behind her scrubbing her back – worldly matters always showed their beginnings but never their endings, each stretch of road was irreplicable scenery.

His fingernails were ice-crystal cool, scratching at the red spots on that snow-white skin. Her skin was even more snow-white and pure than before, like untrodden mountain snow, like unplucked heavenly clouds, without flaw or impurity. Therefore those red spots didn’t spoil the scenery, but instead looked like lightly dotted rouge, shallowly fallen peach blossoms, beautiful to the point of vivid clarity.

The allergic symptoms weren’t severe. While washing her, he also gently stroked her back, adjusting her meridians.

Her skin was so delicate and clean, without any greasiness, that when hands were placed on it, they made subtle squeaking sounds. Below her straight neck, her shoulder blades were symmetrical like butterfly wings, with a snow-white, exquisite shallow groove in the middle, while her waist dimples were right at water level – a stunning rippling arc.

She was still wearing her chest garment – a self-made piece whose deep rose-red ties were very conspicuous against her black hair and snow-white skin, tied in butterfly knots at the sides that could be undone with just a light hook of the finger. His fingertips gently stroked past there, smoothing the knots.

She still laughed, laughing at how this fellow always spoke without meaning, wanting to play the gentleman. He wanted to make further contact with her, to prove his most important position, yet was unwilling to touch her most deeply, to truly possess her.

Her laughter carried a hint of annoyance. Suddenly she turned around and pushed him down. Water splashed loudly, and he was caught off guard and couldn’t steady himself. Fortunately the water wasn’t deep – standing, he could barely touch bottom. Bubbles churned up from below, crystal-clear bubbles rising in streams. By the time he finally stood up, his silk undergarment had also disappeared.

Gong Yin seemed quite unaccustomed to this, sinking down a bit. Jing Hengbo rested her hands on his shoulders, looking at him with a half-smile. The great deity’s body had always been worth looking at – lean without showing bone, with taut lines and especially delicate collarbones that formed a straight line with subtle hollows. She always wanted to place a bushel of pearls there, to see pearls rolling on his skin, to see pearl-light mingling with the radiance of his flesh, to see his pale red tightly pressed lips illuminated by pearl-light – that most seductive masculine beauty in the mortal world.

However, at this moment, water droplets sliding between such delicate collarbones were already enough to make her throat tighten and swallow involuntarily. Before she could resist extending her roving hands and destroying her lifelong reputation, she quickly laughed and said, “Returning the favor – I’ll scrub your back too!”

She moved behind him, first gathering up his wet long hair. He stood quietly in the water, looking like a sculpture made of snow under the moonlight. Cultivating the Prajna Snow technique had also made his skin bright and clean, without any flaws. She felt that in such cold water, her youthful body seemed about to burn with desire, wanting to get close to him, wanting to caress him, wanting to bury herself deeply in his embrace, using the deepest contact of skin to tell herself he was there.

Yet ultimately she couldn’t – she was somewhat dejected that this place was poorly chosen.

She remembered that spring day under the flowering trees when he had washed her hair, and recalled her promise to wash his hair in return. So she grasped his long hair and slowly washed it in the water. As her fingers threaded through his hair, she suddenly froze.

This texture… seemed a bit off.

His black hair had a deep luster with a satin-like quality. Such hair, when grasped, should naturally feel extremely pleasant. However, now she felt a slight roughness between her fingers and palms, as if there was something on the hair. Moreover, the hair quality seemed somewhat too stiff. Yet when she searched with her eyes, she couldn’t see anything wrong.

Just as she was about to inquire, she suddenly felt movement beneath her feet.

This feeling was very strange, like an earthquake, yet also seemed like some enormous fish turning over beneath her feet. The water suddenly shuddered violently, her body swayed, and Gong Yin’s hair scattered from between her fingers.

In that instant, she suddenly felt countless cold winds like sharp arrows shooting through the water below, whistling as they shuttled past. Something spread out in a fan shape, piercing upward, sharply touching the soles of her feet.

These sensations all occurred within a single moment, too fast for even thought to catch. Instinct made her immediately try to dodge, then she heard Gong Yin’s cold shout. The next instant, with a “splash” of water, someone yanked her body upward, and she was already soaring through the sky.

In that moment of soaring through the sky, she saw the river surface churning with waves, the entire river boiling like a pot, with countless bubbles and nearly transparent shadows suddenly rising from what had been an empty riverbed.

She saw all the bushes on both banks swaying with rustling sounds. The wind suddenly blew fiercely, and those chaotic black shadows separated from the mountain silhouettes piece by piece.

Looking beyond the trees by the riverbank, she saw that row of carriages had toppled over and were burning in roaring flames. In the red demonic fire, black human figures stretched in continuous sheets, while cries of alarm, shouts, and the dense sounds of metal clashing reached her ears.

She saw someone in mid-air rushing toward her direction, opening their mouth as if shouting something, then with a “swoosh” sound like a dark cloud passing by, that person suddenly crashed to the ground.

She saw the slope from before suddenly ceased to be a slope – with a thunderous crash it flipped upward, and a large mass of soil reeking of burning oil and fishy stench came rolling toward the river surface.