Su Yang silently gazed at the seemingly docile young lady before him.
She had long black hair, delicate features, and a decent figure. If she were in the world outside of this place, then she'd definitely be recognized as a beauty.
"Ummm…" Zhu Da looked more nervous as time went by without any replies.
Su Yang closed his eyes, and he spoke: "I refuse."
"Wha—!?"
Zhu Da's expression expressed shock for an instant before she managed to put on a stiff smile.
"M-May I ask why? Am I not good enough for this brother?" she asked him, trying to stay calm.
"Although you may be able to fool others with your little act, I happen to have keen eyes for woman, and you are unpleasant to my eyes. Scram before I help you." Su Yang said to her in a calm voice.
Not only was Zhu Da dumbfounded by his seemingly harsh and unwarranted words, even Liu Lanzhi's jaw dropped from shock.
"Su Yang! What do you think you are—"
"How dare a manwhore like you speak to my daughter like that!" Before Liu Lanzhi could scold Su Yang, another voice loudly resounded from the crowd of guests— it was a middle-aged man.
Su Yang glanced at the middle-aged man with a furious expression within the crowd.
"What did you just call me?" Su Yang's gaze narrowed at him, and the frightening aura surrounding him thickened.
When the middle-aged man saw Su Yang's beast-like gaze, his legs nearly gave up on him.
However, he managed to stay standing, and he even started yelling at an even louder voice.
"I paid your Sect a great amount of resources not to have you insult my daughter! I demand a—"
"Even if you decide to give me the world as a payment, I still wouldn't touch her," Su Yang laughed out loud.
"Su Yang!" Liu Lanzhi called for him. She couldn't understand why he was being so rude, even going as far as to make such inappropriate remarks seemingly for no reason.
"Hahaha!"
Suddenly, another laughter beside Su Yang's resounded— it was a feminine laugh.
Everybody turned to look at the one who'd just laughed; it was a beauty young lady with short black hair.
"This is hilarious! Zhu Da, this is the first time I've witnessed your little act ineffective against someone! Truly a scene to behold!"
"Young Lady!" The old man beside her looked at her with a surprised expression. What was she trying to achieve by meddling in their conversation?
"Lu Lifen! Mind your own business!" Zhu Da called her name in a chilling voice.
The young lady named Lu Lifen laughed even louder at her words: "Or what? What are you going to do to me, surnamed Zhu!?"
Zhu Da gnashed her teeth with hatred, her gaze at Lu Lifen filled with killing intent, yet she didn't dare to refute, seemingly afraid of the young lady with short black hair.
"The Lu Family!" The middle-aged man also looked at Lu Lifen with an unpleasant gaze, but when the old man beside her turned to look at him with narrowed eyes, his body immediately trembled from a dreadful feeling.
"Old Lu!" The middle-aged man mumbled under his breath, and he turned to his daughter and said: "Da'er, forget about him! He's clearly not worth your time!"
Zhu Da nodded, but as she turned to leave, Su Yang mumbled to her: "So it's a family thing, huh?"
Su Yang's words caused Zhu Da to halt for a moment, but she managed to ignore him and walk away.
However, just as Zhu Da passed Disciple Gu, he spoke to her: "To disrespect a fine lady such as yourself, that bastard clearly isn't a man."
Zhu Da stopped her steps this time. "What may this brother's name be?" she asked him in a sweet voice.
"I am Gu Wei, Profound Blossom Sect Inner Court disciple."
"I am Zhu Da—"
"Sister Zhu, correct? How about it, sister Zhu. Want me to comfort you in place of that idiot behind me?" He said, directly going for her hands.
Zhu Da remained silent for a moment before nodding.
Seeing this, Su Yang grinned. "What a great matchup," he laughed inwardly.
"The two of you may enter once there is an available room," said Liu Lanzhi upon seeing the two pair up.
After Gu Wei and Zhu Da paired up, the two proceeded to wait in a separate area, where they could connect with each other while waiting for an available room.
Meanwhile, Su Yang looked at the young lady with short black hair with a slight smile on his face.
He then began moving forward, taking casual steps towards the crowd.
"Where do you think you are going, Su Yang?" Liu Lanzhi called him out before he could even move three steps.
"To pick a partner, of course," he said calmly, dumbfounding everybody there, especially the Profound Blossom Sect disciples. Who told him that he was allowed to choose?
"That's ridiculous! Since when—"
"Are you going to tell me no?" Su Yang interrupted the disciple that was speaking and spoke directly to Liu Lanzhi, who was looking at him with a frown.
"Since when did I turn into some toy on display waiting to be picked and played?" he continued. "I am Su Yang— I choose who I want to embrace!"
There was profound feeling within the words he spoke, especially the last sentence, and the proud expression on his face as he spoke managed to charm many people there.
Even Liu Lanzhi looked at him with wide eyes, seemingly a bit dazed by his words.
Su Yang continued to walk after his words, and he was seemingly heading towards the young lady named Lu Lifen.
When he stood in front of her, Su Yang smiled and said: "I can tell that you are also bored of being here, so why don't we go somewhere quiet to drink some tea?"
The young lady also smiled. "Is there such a place here?" she asked him.
"Of course. It's just right over there." Su Yang pointed to the Chamber of Embrace, giving her a small chuckle.
"Say, I am curious… How did you know?" she then asked.
"Hmm?"
"Don't play dumb now."
"Maybe we can talk about this over some tea? I'm feeling quite thirsty after that conversation just now."
Lu Lifen suddenly became quiet.
"It'll be a boring tea session with no action, if you don't mind," she said a moment later.
"I am only interested in the tea," he quickly replied.
After another moment of silence, Lu Lifen nodded. "Good. Let's drink some tea, shall we?"
Liu Lanzhi watched their interaction with a puzzled expression on her face. Why did Su Yang suddenly become willing to participate when he was so reluctant just moments ago, even going as far as to invite the other individual himself?
Even Li Xiao Mo looked a bit dazed from his actions. He was willing to embrace someone like her when literally almost everyone within the Sect was superior in every way? This caused a bitter feeling in her heart.
And just a few moments after Lu Lifen decided to enter Chamber of Embrace with Su Yang, one of the five doors opened, and the first two that went inside slowly came out walking side by side.
The bulky young man looked as though he'd just came back from paradise, his expression loose and silly-looking, almost as though he was mentally challenged. And the way he walked looked funny, looking as though he would fall after every few steps.
The small young lady beside him, on the other hand, looked perfectly normal. Hell, the only thing that was different about her now from before she entered was that her face looked slightly rosier.
When the other guests saw this, they all did unconsciously swallowed hard. Although they have heard rumors of this place and its great reputations, their expectations just soared to the heavens.
Are their techniques really that great? To the point where someone that small was able to completely tire out a Body Refiner as though she was taking a stroll in the park?
"The next pair may go inside—" Before Liu Lanzhi could finish her sentence, two figures could be seen walking towards the open door.
"Hey! What do you think you are doing?!" Gu Wei roared at the two figures approaching the Chamber of Embrace.
"What does it look like I am doing?" Su Yang only stopped for an instant before walking again, causing Gu Wei to flush red from anger.
"You bastard! We were clearly first in line!"
However, no matter how loud Gu Wei screamed at him, Su Yang did not stop moving and walked straight into the Chamber of Embrace with Lu Lifen following behind him.
When the two entered the cave-like entrance, a large rock appeared to block the entrance, locking them inside.
Seeing this, Gu Wei nearly exploded in madness. He turned to look at Liu Lanzhi, and said: "Matriarch! This disciple was clearly wronged and requests the Matriarch to seek for justice!"
Liu Lanzhi looked at him with a bitter smile. What could she do to him? Even though she's the all-powerful Matriarch, Su Yang was a special entity within the Sect, not to mention their complex relationship.
"I will punish him accordingly afterwards," said Liu Lanzhi just to calm Gu Wei down.
"Thank you, Matriarch!" Gu Wei bowed with a bright smile on his face.
-
-
-
The inside of the Chamber of Embrace looked just like a small cave but decorated with a luxuriously large bed in the center of the place.
Indeed, there was only one bed and a few dimly lit light sources inside this chamber with nothing else.
"Huh? Did those two that was here just now really do anything in here? It is too clean in here, almost as if nothing happened here. Surely they didn't clean it with such perfection after doing 'that', right?" Lu Lifen pondered out loud.
"There is something in here that absorbs every last drop of the surrounding Yin Qi and Yang Qi, so you won't find anything remaining in here." Su Yang explained to her without telling her the existence of the Root of Vitality.
"Hmm… Is that so…?" Lu Lifen sat on the bed and turned to look at Su Yang, who was inspecting the place.
"So? Why did you choose me out of everyone out there? Is it because I look the best?" she asked.
"No, I only picked you because you looked bored," he said with a small smile.
"I don't believe you," she quickly replied.
"If you are thinking about taking my purity, then you can forget about it. I did not come here because I desired such things but because I was forced to by my family."
"Understandable, but I really do not intend on touching you," Su Yang assured her again, his gaze still wandering around the place, looking as though he was searching for something.
"I don't believe you," she said again.
Su Yang stopped looking around and turned to look at her with a grin. "I will not benefit much from someone at the fourth level of the Profound Spirit Realm even if I take your Yin Essence."
"..." Lu Lifen eyes slightly widened at his words. How did he know her cultivation base?
Su Yang began looking around the place again, and his weird actions gradually attracted Lu Lifen's curiosity.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Looking for a way to dig something out without uprooting this entire mountain," he casually said.
"Pft." Lu Lifen laughed at his reply thinking that he was joking with her.
"Hey, tell me about yourself," she continued.
"Su Yang, Inner Court disciple."
"I don't care about that."
"I am a scoundrel that enjoys embracing beautiful women— it is also my sole reason for living."
"...Are you suggesting something?" she said with a frown.
"Don't worry, you are not in my category of 'beautiful women'," he calmly said.
Hearing his words, Lu Lifen's face reddened, clearly angry at his remarks.
"Are you picking a fight with me? I will have you know that I—"
"Alright, I am ready to leave," Su Yang suddenly said, dumbfounding her.
"What? Already? We literally just got here."
"I have achieved what I came here for, so I am ready to leave— unless you want to stay here a bit longer to exercise?"
Lu Lifen coldly snorted and said: "Let's go! I have misjudged you! I came here believing you to be an interesting individual, but I was wrong!"
She walked to the exit, but after a good minute of looking for a way to remove the boulder from blocking the exit and failing, she gave up on trying to do it herself and turned to ask Su Yang.
"How do I move this thing?" she asked in an irritated voice.
Su Yang shrugged and said: "This is my first time here, so even I do not know."
"What? How could this be…"
After a moment of pondering, Su Yang retrieved a jade slip from his storage ring and began pouring his Profound Qi into it.
"Hey, little girl, how does the Chamber of Embrace work?" He decided to ask Liu Lanzhi as the Patriarch.
"P-Patriarch! Uh… what would the Patriarch like to know about it?" Although she wondered why he was interested in the place, she didn't dare to ask.
"How does it function? More specifically, how does it open and close?"
"Uhh… It opens whenever given Spirit Stones, and it will remain open until at least two individual enters at the same time. Once it closes, it will open again once everyone inside the chamber releases their Passion Qi at least once," she quickly explained.
"So it won't open until the people inside releases their Qi?"
"That's right."
"Aiii…" Su Yang sighed before abruptly cutting the connection.
"What is it? Did you find a way to open this thing?"
"It won't open unless the both of us release our 'Qi'," he said to her.
Lu Lifen's expression drastically changed upon hearing his words. So it won't open unless the two of them embraced each other? That's ridiculous!
"I do not believe you!" Lu Lifen began attacking the stone boulder with all her strength, throwing every technique she have mastered up to this point at the large rock, but alas, it remained unmoving, like a mountain.
"Damnit! You tricked me! You knew that this would happen!" she said angrily.
"Hah? What are you talking about? Why would I need to trick you? Like I have already said multiple times— I do not intend on touching you," he shook his head.
"Additionally, we only have to release our Qi in order for it to open. You are overreacting."
"Che!" Lu Lifen sucked her teeth.
"Then what do you suggest? That we play with ourselves with each other still in the same small room? That's outrageous!"
"Do you have any better ideas?"
"..."
After a moment of silence, Lu Lifen walked to the bed, and then she said: "Listen here! You will not turn around until I am finished no matter what, or else I will kill you on the spot!"
"Yeah, yeah…" he lazily replied.
"Don't test me! I will really do it!"
After saying those words, Lu Lifen laid on the soft bed and began loosening her robes until she could touch her weak spot.
She then turned to look at Su Yang again, who was sitting by the entrance in the lotus position with his eyes closed, seemingly cultivating.
Seeing this, she heaved a sigh of relief, and her hands slowly approached her nether region the next moment.