Mei Ling and Lin Yue stood there, eyes wide, still reeling from my casual suggestion. "Y-you BASTARD!" Lin Yue had stammered, but I ignored it, focusing on the prize.
As the glow intensified, I started undressing, slow and deliberate. First the suit jacket, then the shirt, buttons popping open one by one. The women gasped. "What are you doing?" Mei Ling demanded, her voice a mix of shock and outrage, hands hovering like she wasn't sure whether to cover her eyes or slap me.
I didn't stop. Pants next, sliding them down my legs, revealing everything. My body was honed now—muscular frame from the inheritance boosts, fit and toned, long black hair cascading down my back. I looked right at them and just scoffed, that smirk creeping up because, hell, their reactions were priceless.
They were furious. "What was that smirk, huh?" Lin Yue snapped, her cheeks flushing red. Mei Ling looked ready to explode.
I flexed a bit, tightening my grip on my dick for emphasis, feeling it harden fully—standing firm, throbbing, the red tip glistening in the light. It was detailed, veined and ready, matching the rest of me perfectly.
Mei Ling yelped and covered her eyes with both hands, peeking just a little despite herself. Lin Yue averted her gaze quick, muttering, "Pervert," under her breath, turning her back like that would erase the image.
With a final smile, I stepped into the spring, the water enveloping me like warm silk. I seated myself on a submerged ledge, then leaned back, lying against the mossy edge.
Eyes slowly closing, I let my breathing even out, acting like sleep had claimed me. But I was faking it hard—senses on high alert, soaking in the energy while eavesdropping.
For a full hour, I stayed like that, the spring's power seeping into my pores, boosting my qi reserves without me even trying. The women fidgeted at first, whispering nonsense, but eventually, thinking I was out, they started talking for real.
"Hey, is he sleeping?" Mei Ling asked, her voice hushed, leaning in a bit to check.
Lin Yue peered over, bow still in hand like she didn't trust the peace. "It seems like that. Might not be dead yet."
Mei Ling chuckled, a soft, nervous sound that echoed off the trees. "You're awful."
Lin Yue settled on a rock nearby, keeping her eyes off the water. "So, how long do you know him?"
"Fifteen years," Mei Ling said, her tone heavy with memory. "I served the emperor—him, I mean. As a maid in the palace. Did everything from cleaning to pouring his tea. But... I tried to poison him once." Regret laced her words, clear as day, like it still haunted her. "They used my brother. I slipped the toxin into his drink, thinking it'd end him and I will be able to save my brother. He survived, though, and instead of killing me, he kept me on. I regret it now. Deeply."
Lin Yue's expression hardened. "No, this pervert deserved to be poisoned."
Mei Ling chuckled again, bittersweet. "Maybe. What about you? Do you have a family?"
"No," Lin Yue replied flatly. Then she opened up, voice steady but edged with old pain. "My mother was a sex slave, sold off as a conduit for some twisted cultivators' rituals. They drained her life force until there was nothing left. I was next in line—would've been auctioned off the same way if a runaway hadn't saved me. He smuggled me out, taught me archery and survival. That's why I hate men. All of them."
Mei Ling's eyes widened. "What? You hate men?"
"Of course I do," Lin Yue said, like it was the most obvious thing. "Simply because they objectify women based on their body parts. Treat us like toys, nothing more."
Lying there with eyes shut, her words hit me.
Silence in my mind for a second, then I thought, So is it my fault that I am made this way?
It stung a bit, but I pushed it down, keeping still.
Mei Ling glanced at me in the pond, then back. "So that applies to him too? Tianlong, I mean, lying there."
Lin Yue didn't flinch. "He is no different than others. Did you not notice how he used that dirty aphrodisiac bomb within the arena while fighting Elder Feng?"
Hearing that, I couldn't help the internal smile. Sharp eyes for you, archer. My mouth twitched just a fraction, but I held the sleeping facade.
"But I ignored it," she added, "given I thought he would either way die. Then when the attack came, I thought I was going to die. Falling into that rift, everything seemed to halt. Those memories of my life—they weren't much good. No family, just a life living for nothing. Yet I wanted to live so badly. And he saved me. But he is a pervert. Even being old and beat up, I felt him rubbing on my back during the fall. His bloody dick pressing against me. But I forgave it since he had a valid reason—the nymph influence messing with him. And after entering that place, becoming horny like a dog in heat..."
She silenced herself abruptly, like the words burned her tongue.
Then, after a pause, she leaned toward Mei Ling. "Hey, why are you acting like you don't remember what happened there?"
Mei Ling shifted uncomfortably. "No, I really don't remember what happened before I woke up."
Lin Yue scoffed. "Don't act like this. I know you do. I can see it in your eyes."
Mei Ling deflated, admitting it. "I did, but I was just so embarrassed to tell him. It was so intense, so... raw. I thought I shouldn't reveal it and just act like I don't remember. That way, he won't mention it."
Lin Yue nodded approvingly. "Indeed, you did well."
The spring's glow kept pulsing, the energy from the guardian's essence making the water feel alive against my skin. I stayed "asleep," eyes shut, breathing steady, while Lin Yue and Mei Ling's chat hung in the air like steam. But Lin Yue wasn't done spilling her guts.
"You know, Mei," Lin Yue said, her voice dropping lower, "I had this trauma from seeing my mother treated like a tool. Used and discarded, over and over." I felt her shift closer to the water's edge, then—shit—a finger poked my cheek, soft but insistent, like she was testing if I was really out. "It fucked me up bad."
Mei Ling must've followed her lead because next thing, another poke on my other cheek, this one gentler. "Is it bad?" she asked, sounding curious more than anything.
Lin Yue didn't pull back. "When we both got like that—horny, like dogs in heat in the chamber—crawling toward him on all fours... even though my free will was buried under all that lust, I was crying inside. Felt like I was doomed to the same fate as my mom. Worst feeling ever. I thought he was gonna use me up, and honestly, I might not have survived that kind of suffering."
Her words hit crude, calling me a "perverted bastard," but what could I do? I had my own principles—dignity as a man.
If I'm gonna screw someone, it's on my terms, with my own drive, not some inheritance bullshit forcing it.
Kept my face slack, though, playing dead to the world.
"But this perverted bastard," she went on, "he was better than the other perverted bastards out there. He didn't cross the line. Instead, he consoled me. It was like this huge relief washed over my heart. When I woke up and saw him, I realized it instantly—couldn't help but hug him. Wanted to tell him how grateful I was for not ruining what little life I had left."
Complicated feelings swirled in me hearing that.
Yeah, the system turned me into more of a pervert than I already was, but I got her pain. Even if it twisted me up inside.
Then she dropped something that almost made my mouth twitch—I barely controlled it. "But this punk, did you notice how he hid our undergarments? Wanted a peek up my skirt, that's why he acted like there was nothing to wear down there."
'I thought to do something, but then, isn't it better to have someone like a pervert than a disgusting pervert?' Her words echoed in my head.
Was that a compliment? Hell if I knew, but yeah, nothing slips past her—archer's eyes, sharp as arrows.
And it also made me realize... she knew I wanted to peek, and that's why she shaved her pussy.
"You know what?" Lin Yue said next, and that's when I heard the rustle of clothes sliding off. She was stripping, slow and deliberate.
I cracked my eyes just a sliver, peeking without moving. She stepped in bare, her skin pale and toned from all that archery training, curves in all the right places.
Long brown hair spilling over her shoulders, framing a face with sharp green eyes that looked vulnerable now, full lips trembling slightly as she bit the bottom one.
She entered the spring, water rippling around her, and I felt her naked skin brush my hand as she slid in close, lying right on my chest, seated beside me, dipped in deep.
"I did not expect you to act for an hour sleeping like this," she murmured, her breath warm against my neck.