Yingchun Pavilion—the largest brothel in the Xiao Kingdom.
Inside a private room on the second floor.
Wisps of tea smoke curled through the air. Behind the embroidered screen, half-hidden by a silk curtain, one could see clearly through the narrow gap—
A man lay unconscious on the bed, his hands and feet tightly bound to each of the four corners.
He wore a maid’s outer robe, yet beneath it was a plain white inner garment embroidered with a four-clawed dragon. His long black hair fell like silk, his nose sharp and elegant, his lashes thick and long. His face was extraordinarily handsome“stunning beyond compare” would not be an exaggeration. Though his eyes were closed, the small red mole between his brows only made him appear even more breathtakingly beautiful.
The flickering candlelight cast shifting shadows over him, lending him an untouchable, almost divine aura—like an immortal untouched by the mortal world.
That is, if one ignored the fact that at this very moment, a strikingly beautiful woman in a red dress was climbing onto him with both hands and feet.
And those “sinful” hands of hers had already reached for his sash.
Wen Shuyu gripped the sash with one hand, the other trembling with excitement. Two words kept circling in her mind: strip him.
Heaven knew how long she had waited for this day.
She, Wen Shuyu, had reincarnated ten times, retaining her memories in each life. Yet in all ten lifetimes, she had never seen a man as handsome as the current Crown Prince—Xiao Jingchen.
In the Xiao Kingdom, spiritual power reigned supreme. Everyone cultivated it, hoping to ascend and become a god. Yet for some unknown reason, no one had succeeded in the past hundred years.
But Xiao Jingchen was different.
It was said that when he was born, the Nine Heavens’ mysterious thunder roared across the sky, bolts crashing violently against one another—yet not a single strike harmed him. Moreover, he was already at the Golden Core stage the moment he was born.
Calling it extraordinary would be an understatement. One might as well say the Heavenly Dao had favored him outright, granting him special privileges through the back door.
Because of his unparalleled talent, he had been sent to the Immortal Alliance at a young age. In just over a decade, his cultivation had risen to a level no one could even measure. Three years ago, when he returned to the capital, the entire city welcomed him. The people worshipped him as if greeting a deity. Everyone believed that the Crown Prince would be the first person in a century to ascend to godhood.
Not only that, he was gentle and kind, always helping those in need—relieving disasters, distributing food, saving the helpless. It was as if a true immortal had descended to the mortal world to save it.
It was also three years ago, on the day Xiao Jingchen returned to the capital—
Through a dense, bustling crowd, Wen Shuyu, who had been lounging by a second-floor window in a tavern while reading a storybook and cracking sunflower seeds, happened to meet his gaze as he looked up.
In that instant, she understood what it meant by “a single glance lasting a lifetime.”
No need to ask why—she had simply never seen anyone this handsome before.
For the next three years, Wen Shuyu pursued him relentlessly, never once giving up. She followed him everywhere, yet it was said that she could not even earn a single glance from him.
Three years. The man was utterly unmoved, impervious to everything.
Wen Shuyu refused to believe it.
Until today.
Finally!
She had learned from her aunt, the Empress, that Xiao Jingchen had made an error in his cultivation. For some reason, he had suddenly lost his spiritual power. Under the pretense of visiting him, she deliberately distracted him with flirtation and slipped something into the tea they both were to drink—though she had taken the antidote beforehand.
After he fell unconscious, she dressed him as a maid, successfully smuggled him out of the Eastern Palace, and tossed him into her family’s carriage.
In one smooth sequence, she brought him to the brothel and tied him to the bed.
After all, no one would dare drug the Crown Prince. No one would dare disguise the noble and immaculate Crown Prince as a maid. And no one would dare tie a godlike figure such as him to a bed in a brothel.
That was precisely why everything had gone so smoothly—no one had even thought to look closely.
By the time anyone realized the Crown Prince had gone missing, she would have already gotten what she wanted.
Besides, with Xiao Jingchen’s well-known gentle, almost saintly temperament—no, saintly to a fault—he was so kind that he wouldn’t even hunt a small animal during a hunt. At most, he would be angry for a moment, and then let the matter go.
Hmph. If she couldn’t win his heart, she could at least have his body.
After all, she had always been a wicked person—greedy for wealth and lustful by nature.
Inside the room, Wen Shuyu impatiently yanked hard—
Rip!
The sharp sound of fabric tearing rang out as the sash snapped.
At the same moment, the unconscious Xiao Jingchen opened his eyes—and met hers, as she sat on top of him, in the middle of stripping his clothes.
The air seemed to freeze.
His refined brows relaxed slightly. He lowered his gaze, taking in the torn maid’s robe and the ropes binding his limbs.
Then he glanced around the brothel room.
Finally, his eyes returned to Wen Shuyu’s face. His gaze was calm and unreadable, revealing no emotion.
“Wen Shuyu, this time, you have gone too far.”
He spoke softly, his voice as clear as jade. “Untie me. Get off me. What you have done today—I will not pursue—”
Before he could finish the word “pursue,” Wen Shuyu grabbed his arm and forcefully pressed her lips against his.
Not listening, not listening—just a monk chanting nonsense.
The warmth of her lips startled him. Even Xiao Jingchen, who rarely showed emotion, had his pupils contract slightly, clearly not expecting such boldness.
When he came back to his senses, he tugged at the ropes around his wrists. His gaze darkened, yet he remained still, allowing her to continue.
Only when she finally pulled away did Wen Shuyu look at him with smiling eyes.
“Don’t waste your strength, Crown Prince Brother. These are Immortal Binding Ropes—they can restrain even someone at the Golden Core stage. My Empress Aunt said you currently have no spiritual power, so there’s no way you can break free.”
“Crown Prince Brother, I like you so much. You always ignore me, so I had no choice but to resort to this.”
“What can I do? After three years of failing to win your heart, I can only take your body instead.”
“It’s not my fault you’re this handsome. If anything, blame yourself for being too good-looking. I just happen to have poor character and a fondness for beauty—aren’t you basically tempting me into committing a crime? I’ve only made the same mistake every woman in the world wants to make…”
A strand of her hair brushed against his face. He turned his head slightly, his hand shifting faintly beneath his sleeve, no longer looking at her.
Wen Shuyu didn’t care whether he looked or not. She simply removed her outer robe and tossed it onto the floor.
“If Crown Prince Brother isn’t saying anything, I’ll take it as consent. Then I won’t hold back.”
Without hesitation, she reached out again—
Rip!
Another sharp tear echoed as she pulled at his inner garment.
His skin was just about to be revealed—
Suddenly—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four explosive cracks rang out in succession as the Immortal Binding Ropes at the four corners of the bed shattered.
A surge of powerful spiritual energy filled the room. Teacups shattered, candle stands crashed to the floor, and even the door was blown off its hinges.
Wen Shuyu was thrown off the bed by the force, landing hard on the ground.
“Y-you… you recovered your spiritual power?!”
Dizzy and disoriented, she watched as Xiao Jingchen calmly adjusted his inner robe and stepped down from the bed, walking toward her one step at a time…