Jiang Yin was completely unprepared. In that instant, her heart nearly leapt out of her chest, and a buzzing filled her ears.
Only one thought remained in her mind.
‘So this is what kissing feels like…’
The young man’s lips were slightly cool, soft and gentle. Pressed against her mouth, they felt like a soft, melting piece of ice cream.
Jiang Yin instinctively gave a small suck.
A low, hoarse breath escaped from the young man’s throat. His lips parted slightly from hers, as if he were carefully savoring the lingering thrill brought by that brief suction.
Very soon, he pressed down on her again.
He did not understand what a kiss truly was, but he had already grasped how to make himself feel even more pleasure.
Sucking and licking were instincts in themselves. He treated those soft lips as prey that could not be torn apart, slowly using his lips and tongue to pry open the sweetness hidden within.
The broad body of the man pressed down again and again. Jiang Yin could barely catch her breath. She retreated twice, but forgot that the wardrobe door behind her had not been closed. As she moved back, she lost her balance and fell into the wardrobe.
In her panic, she reached out and grabbed onto the young man’s neck, and the two of them tumbled into the cabinet together.
Most of the clothes hanging inside were short and thin. Jiang Yin half sat on the partition board, her body leaning back against the inner side. The clothes draped down between them, layers of silk and gauze in various colors gently fluttering. The young man she had pulled in was partially hidden, the upper half of his face obscured, leaving only his well-shaped jaw and perfectly formed thin lips visible.
The light was dim, and the narrow space was already half-filled with fabric. With two more people squeezed inside, it felt even more cramped. Jiang Yin could not even tell whether what she smelled as she breathed was more of the fragrance from the clothes, or the scent of the young man.
She silently shifted backward, her body completely pressed against the inside of the wardrobe. But her legs, which remained outside, were still tightly pressed against the young man’s. Even through several layers of clothing, the place where they touched felt as though it had been scorched by fire, so hot that it made her heart race with unease.
She drew her legs in, her voice already trembling beyond control. “Brother Huaian… mmph!”
The moment she opened her mouth, the young man kissed her again. With the experience from just now, he effortlessly found the most tender place this time, like a ferocious beast beginning its meal, forcefully entangling her tongue and making her swallow back all her cries.
Only when she was left with soft, powerless whimpers did he finally speak, murmuring in a coaxing tone by her ear, “Change how you address me.”
Jiang Yin let out a dazed murmur. “What?”
Huaian? Xie Huaian? Or Ah Huai…
“…Ah Ting.” Chu Nanci’s lips brushed against her lower lip as he instructed her word by word, “Call me Ah Ting.”
Jiang Yin clutched a small garment that had fallen down. She did not know what kind of fabric it was. When she first held it, it was cool, but it slowly began to warm, just like the young man’s lips rubbing against hers, turning from cold to warm, gradually becoming scorching.
Her palm grew hot from the fabric, and her lips were rubbed until they felt both warm and tingling. When she spoke, her breath was thick and unsteady, and she called him as he had told her, “Ah Ting.”
After the kiss, her voice had grown softer. When she spoke, the ending of her words stretched even longer. The two words “Ah Ting” seemed to be held in her mouth and slowly released, her tongue finally pressing lightly against her teeth, faintly revealing a cloying hint of red.
A low chuckle escaped from Chu Nanci’s throat, short and restrained. Then he lowered his head, prying open her teeth without giving her any chance to resist, precisely claiming that hint of red as his own.
He continued to deepen the kiss, ruthlessly seizing her oxygen, forcing her to gasp for breath, only to take advantage of it to taste even more.
His movements could not be called gentle. They were even somewhat unreasonably domineering, trapping her tightly in a corner of the cabinet. She had nowhere to retreat, nowhere to hide. All she could do was tremble beneath him, whimpering as she begged for his mercy.
“Slow down… I can’t breathe, Ah Ting… Ah Ting…”
She called out the new name he had demanded again and again, yet what she received in return was an even stronger, more overwhelming pressure.
Chu Nanci clasped the back of her head, deepening the kiss more and more. Her soft moans were far more pleasing than he had imagined, making him unable to restrain himself from wanting even more.
An inexplicable desire kept rising within his body. His other hand braced behind her waist, holding the same small garment as she did, his fingers tightening bit by bit.
Jiang Yin also clutched the clothing tightly, unwilling to let go. The turmoil in her heart was too intense, and she urgently needed something external to steady herself.
The thin fabric was pulled taut between their hands into a straight line. It soon could not bear the strain, and a tearing sound rang out inside the cabinet.
In the silent and cramped space, that sound was like pouring oil onto a blazing fire. Something surged upward in an instant. Chu Nanci’s hand, still tangled with the torn cloth, moved to her waist.
She did not know whether it was the heat of the fabric or the warmth of the man’s palm seeping through her clothes and branding her waist. The sudden heat made her heart skip a beat. In her panic, she forgot to withdraw her teeth, and they struck the tongue he had pushed in.
A metallic taste spread through her mouth.
She had bitten the tip of his tongue.
Chu Nanci’s movements abruptly halted.
The sharp pain at his tongue brought back a trace of clarity. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing, trying to suppress the surging desire within him.
He did not know whether it was some so-called heat period at work that made him feel an overwhelming urge at this moment to mate with Jiang Yin.
But no.
Even though the entire Eastern Profound Continent did not place much importance on relations between men and women, he, as a fox demon, could not ignore it.
Among the fox clan, a male fox could choose only one partner in his lifetime to unite with. Even if that partner died, he could never cultivate dual cultivation with another, or he would die violently.
So for Chu Nanci, if this continued, within the nine-tailed fox clan, it would mean that he had truly chosen Jiang Yin as his wife.
Not to mention whether he was willing or not, just Jiang Yin’s delicate body, trembling endlessly from just a kiss, would not be able to bear anything more.
He ignored the agitation surging within him and prepared to pull away.
But the slender arms looped around his neck suddenly tightened.
“I’m sorry…”
Perhaps she thought he was angry that she had bitten his tongue, so she used her actions to express her apology.
She tilted her head up and moved closer, taking the initiative to kiss his lips. As if trying to please him, she lightly licked over the wounded spot with the tip of her tongue, her movements clumsy and inexperienced.
The desire Chu Nanci had only just managed to suppress instantly spread through his limbs and bones again. His eyes trembled, and he only had time to raise a hand to cover Jiang Yin’s eyes.
In the next moment, the nine fox tails behind him burst out uncontrollably, all of them pushing into the cabinet, pressing toward Jiang Yin’s body.
He heard the craving deep within his heart.
He wanted her.
Only her.
Nothing but her.
The kiss deepened in an instant. The blood from the tip of his tongue mixed with saliva, and it was impossible to tell who swallowed more.
His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her tightly against him. Jiang Yin only felt her whole body go numb.
Aside from her waist, her hands, her chest, her thighs, every part of her body felt as if something was tightly binding them. She did not know if it was the young man’s clothing, but those places felt a faint friction. It was not painful, only unbearably ticklish.
That ticklish sensation continued to deepen, sliding along her thighs, nearing a certain place. She instinctively pressed her legs together.
A muffled groan escaped from Chu Nanci’s throat, and the force of his swallowing grew heavier.
That most unruly tail was precisely the one that had been injured. With that squeeze, the pain could almost be ignored, replaced instead by a strange sense of pleasure.
The sensitive injured tail found enjoyment in it, twitching happily.
Jiang Yin’s face turned pale, her whole body going rigid.
She could not see and did not know that what she had trapped was a tail. She could only rely on the cylindrical sensation on her thigh that moved and had a certain elasticity, and it made her recall descriptions from books about certain parts.
“W-wait!” Jiang Yin pushed him away in flustered embarrassment, shifting backward, wishing she could hide her entire body inside the wardrobe. In a small voice, she said, “I should go take a bath.”
Her intention to stop was obvious. Chu Nanci frowned and fell silent for a long moment, before finally saying hoarsely, “Alright.”
As he pulled away, the nine fox tails behind him still lingered reluctantly against Jiang Yin’s body, brushing against her before he forcibly retracted them back into himself.
He was still injured. If this truly continued, it would only become even harder to control.
Stopping now was just as well. There was no need to rush something like this.
Rationally, that was what he thought. Yet the restlessness stirred by that squeeze refused to subside, and the more he tried to suppress it, the more a burning heat surged upward.
Fortunately, aside from the agitation, there was also spiritual power born from that pleasure, continuously flowing. As long as he found a place to use this spiritual energy to regulate his breathing and heal, he would be able to temporarily suppress the urges of his heat period.
But he could not calm his mind to regulate his breathing while beside Jiang Yin.
“I have something to take care of. If you’re tired, rest first.” Before leaving, he seemed to recall something. From his robes, he took out a pouch and casually tossed it to Jiang Yin. “Throw away whatever that one surnamed Xie gave you. If you need to use something, use this.”
Jiang Yin pinched the pouch in her hand. The snow-white fabric looked very clean, and it felt slightly fluffy to the touch. However, there was not a single pattern on the entire pouch, making it look a bit too plain.
She tested it. Things could be stored inside. It was a storage pouch.
On the Eastern Profound Continent, storage pouches that ordinary people could use were all forged by artifact refiners using their own spirit, flesh, and blood. The more that was used, the larger the space inside would become.
The storage pouch the young man had given her had an interior space so vast that Jiang Yin could not see its end at a glance. When she placed the Moon Shadow Branch inside, she could not even find it without looking carefully.
Jiang Yin put the storage pouch away and lowered her head, not daring to look at him. “…Alright.”
Only after she heard the sound of the door closing did she finally cover her face and let out a chaotic series of muffled cries.
Yesterday it had only been a light brush, and today it had already turned into a heated French kiss. Romance novels really did not lie to her. Jealousy was indeed the best catalyst for feelings!
She just had not expected his reaction to be so… intense.
She turned her head to look at the messy wardrobe. Thinking of what she had just felt, her face flushed hot red.
No, her own reaction had not been light either. She needed to cool down quickly.
It just so happened that there was no one in the room at the moment, so she did not need to hide in a corner. She went straight to the bath in the center of the room and enjoyed a thorough wash.
By the time she finished bathing, the young man had not yet returned.
She opened the window and took a look. The street was still as lively as ever, with nothing unusual.
But since Xiao Lingchuan was also in the city, she could not help worrying that the two of them might run into each other.
Just like how the female lead still came to participate in the Moonlit Night Tour even without the male supporting character, what if the male lead and the supporting male character also had a setting where they were destined to fight each other?
The more Jiang Yin thought about it, the more she could not sit still. But the ru skirt she had originally been wearing had been washed along with her bath, so she could not possibly go downstairs to look for someone wearing only a thin strapped gauze dress.
She could only hang her clothes out on the terrace. Fortunately, it was summer, the temperature was high, and there was a breeze at night, so they should dry after a while.
Taking advantage of this time, she wrote two letters. One was for the original host’s parents, informing them that she had found Xie Huaian and would soon return with him to get married.
The other was sent to the Xuantian Sect, addressed to Xie Huaian’s junior fellow disciple.
Xie Huaian had been cursed by the demonic power of a puppet demon. There were only two ways to break the curse: either the puppet demon would lift it of its own accord, or the puppet demon would die, in which case the spell would naturally be undone.
But the puppet demon was extremely difficult to deal with. Like Xue Zhuang’er, it was not a demon transformed from a beast. Its demonic aura was weak, and it could even possess other people’s bodies. Only by finding its true form could it be harmed.
Jiang Yin knew what its true form was, but to make it appear, she still had to rely on Xie Huaian’s junior fellow disciple.
The letters were already written. She set them aside to dry, then picked up her brush and wrote the name on the envelope.
Xuantian Sect, Mu Yiqing.
“Knock, knock, knock—”
Just as she finished the final stroke, a sudden knocking sound came from the door. She put the letters away and stood up, preparing to open it.
After finishing her bath, she had already removed the soundproof lock hanging on the door, afraid that if Xue Zhuang’er encountered danger, she would not hear his cries for help. She had only secured it with a door latch.
Because of the special nature of this room, the inn staff would not take the initiative to come upstairs and disturb the guests. So upon hearing the knock, Jiang Yin subconsciously thought it was Xue Zhuang’er or Xie Huaian who had returned.
Glancing at what she was wearing, she did not open the door immediately. “Is that Xiao Zhuang?”
If it was Xue Zhuang’er, she still needed to throw on an outer robe.
She looked around, preparing to pull down the gauze curtain hanging beside the bath, but a lowered female voice came from the door.
“Miss Jiang, it’s me! Open the door quickly, I have something urgent to tell you!”
It was Lin Yueying’s voice.
Jiang Yin had business with her as well, so she did not bother with the curtain. She took a few quick steps to the door and pulled it open, snapping angrily, “Lin Yueying, you still have the nerve to come looking for me!!!”
The moment the door opened, Lin Yueying immediately bent over in a bow. “I’m sorry, I came to apologize to you…”
As she spoke, she raised her head.
Only then did she notice what Jiang Yin was wearing. She froze for a moment, then looked Jiang Yin up and down before finally fixing her gaze on her swollen, reddened lips. Clicking her tongue, she teased, “No wonder you booked the ‘Tender Affection’ room. Hey, I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”
Jiang Yin covered her mouth, retorting in embarrassed irritation, “Where I stay is none of your business… I should be asking you instead. How did you know I was here? Don’t tell me you’ve been following me?”
“Right!” Lin Yueying smacked her forehead. “I almost forgot the important matter! Quick, let’s go inside first.”
The doorway was indeed not a place to talk. Jiang Yin led her into the room, but just as she closed the door behind them, Lin Yueying had already run toward the terrace, grabbed the ru skirt Jiang Yin had hung up, scrunched it into a ball, and flung it straight into the lake.
Jiang Yin nearly turned into a screaming mess. “What are you doing?! That’s my only set of clothes!”
She still had to go out later to find Xie Huaian. Without clothes, how was she supposed to leave?
Lin Yueying had already prepared for this. She took out a brand-new goose-yellow lotus dress and tossed it over. “Put this on.”
Jiang Yin hugged the new clothes in her arms, her momentum immediately weakening. “…Well, even so, this isn’t just about a piece of clothing. Throwing things from a height is also illegal.”
“Miss Jiang, Miss Jiang,” Lin Yueying said, poking at the terrace door in exasperation, “don’t you want to know how I found you? You hung your clothes outside like that, anyone paying attention could see them. If I hadn’t thrown them away, the one coming to find you later wouldn’t have been just me.”
“Besides you, there are others looking for me?” Jiang Yin changed into the new clothes, then thought of someone. “Don’t tell me it’s Xie Yunlin?”
That really did need to be avoided, in case he said something strange again in front of Xie Huaian.
Although making Xie Huaian jealous did help stir up feelings, it was better not to let it happen a second time in such a short period.
Mainly because her lips were still swollen even now. She really could not handle it.
“It’s not just him.” Lin Yueying’s expression turned serious. “Miss Jiang, Lin’an City… is in chaos.”