He decided to stroll outside for a bit to get some fresh air and clear his head before returning to alchemy.
Stepping outside, Chen An involuntarily glanced toward the house of his neighbor, Wen Zhiyun.
True to what Manager Zhang had said, this menopausal beauty was indeed a strict ascetic.
Ever since she ambushed him at his doorstep half a month ago to interrogate him, he hadn't caught a single glimpse of her in all the days since. Not even a shadow.
He had no idea if she had just been cooped up inside the house the entire time without stepping out once.
"It seems my ability to run into her those first few times was purely a matter of luck." Chen An shook his head with a bitter smile.
He had originally thought about trying to flirt with the beautiful woman to see if he could trick her into becoming his dao companion.
After all, he figured that since she was a strict ascetic, her strong suit should be her cultivation. If he could become dao companions with her and engage in deep communication inside a room, wouldn't that directly grant him +1 to his cultivation?
That way, cultivation efficiency would be massively boosted.
That was the idea, anyway.
But judging by the current situation, it was all a bit unrealistic.
Because this beauty was simply too much of a shut-in.
She hadn't even stepped out of her front door in all these days, leaving him with no opening to flirt with her whatsoever.
Unless he did what he did last time—cranking up the noise while communicating feelings with Gu Xinyue all night long, leaving this beauty sleepless through the night until she couldn't help but march over to his doorstep the next morning to settle scores.
Or perhaps he could actively go looking for her, though that would most likely result in getting cursed out.
Just as Chen An was indulging in these random thoughts, a man's figure suddenly appeared atop Wen Zhiyun's courtyard wall.
He looked furtive, as if up to no good.
He looked like a peeping tom.
He looked like a flower-picking scoundrel.
Chen An narrowed his eyes to take a closer look, only to be astonished to discover that this furtive man was actually the very same neighbor who had come to visit him the other day—a sword cultivator whose cultivation was as high as the Qi Condensation 7th Layer.
Chen An was genuinely shocked.
He had a deep impression of this sword cultivator neighbor.
When the other party had come to pay a visit the other day, his words and actions had been courteous and polite, giving off an impression of high refinement.
Yet at this moment, he was sneaking into the home of a lone female cultivator in broad daylight, seemingly intent on committing some untoward act against her.
A saint in public, a scoundrel in private?
This contrast was simply too sharp.
"Fellow Daoist Wen, I've brought you breakfast! Come out and get it!"
Perched atop the courtyard wall, the sword cultivator puffed out his chest, with his left hand behind his back and a box of food held in his right, shouting toward the house with a dashing and suave demeanor.
Before long, a window of the house was flung open with a heavy bang.
The next second, Wen Zhiyun, dressed in Daoist robes, poked her head out from inside and cursed furiously, "Han Sanfan, running over to my place to babble again—have you got a death wish?!"
"Fellow Daoist Wen, this is breakfast I specially made for you with my own hands. Take it inside and taste it."
"Get lost!"
"It's really good, just have a taste, don't waste the effort I put into this."
Though he was being cursed at the whole time, Han Sanfan's face remained wreathed in smiles.
Seeing that Wen Zhiyun refused to come out and get the breakfast, he simply hopped directly into her courtyard, intending to deliver the food box to her in person.
"Han Sanfan, you're dead!"
Cursing at the sight, Wen Zhiyun turned around, grabbed a whip from parts unknown, and strode angrily out of the house.
"Fellow Daoist Wen, this breakfast..."
"...Crack!"
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
"Crack! Crack!"
"Ah, it hurts, hurts, hurts!"
"Fellow Daoist Wen, stop hitting me, I'm leaving right now, I'm leaving, stop hitting me, stop hitting me!"
Wen Zhiyun's combat prowess was exaggerated to the extreme. Armed with a whip, she lashed out at Han Sanfan ahead of her like spinning a top, sending him leaping up and down in agony and howling at the top of his lungs.
There was not an ounce of an immortal's demeanor about him.
He looked precisely like a street punk taking a beating.
Before long, Han Sanfan couldn't take it anymore.
Clutching the food box he had made himself, he scrambled out of the courtyard in a panic, moving with the agility of a frightened monkey.
"If you ever dare to come harass me again, I'll break both your legs!"
Wen Zhiyun hurled a vicious curse, turned around and marched back inside the house, slamming the heavy front door shut with a loud bang.
Chen An, watching from outside, was dumbfounded.
What was going on?
This menopausal beauty's combat prowess was off the charts?
That Han Sanfan was a powerhouse at the Qi Condensation 7th Layer, yet he had been completely beaten from start to finish without a single shred of resistance?
Was this the strength of a strict ascetic?
Chen An was extremely surprised inwardly, not expecting Wen Zhiyun's strength to be this formidable.
Judging by her performance just now, her cultivation was definitely at the Qi Condensation (late) at the very least.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, morning."Han Sanfan, who had been getting beaten just a moment before, emerged from some corner looking as dashing as jade, smiling as he greeted Chen An.
Chen An smiled back. "Morning, Fellow Daoist Han."
"Did Fellow Daoist Han eat breakfast yet? If not, I happen to have a spare portion here."
"Thank you for your kind intentions, Fellow Daoist Han, but I'll pass. I've just finished eating."
"Is that so?"
Han Sanfan nodded, then asked, "By the way, Fellow Daoist Han, did you see anything just now?"
"I just stepped outside. What exactly is Fellow Daoist Han referring to?"
"Haha, never mind. Fellow Daoist Han, I have things to do, so I'll take my leave."
"Take care, Fellow Daoist Han."
Chen An watched as Han Sanfan walked away.
Before he had gone a few steps, however, Han Sanfan suddenly turned back, stared straight at Chen An, and said, "Fellow Daoist Han, you definitely saw something just now."
"..."
Chen An fell silent, but under Han Sanfan's steady gaze, he finally said honestly, "I didn't see much. I just saw Fellow Daoist Han get whipped a few times by Fellow Daoist Wen."
"I knew it!"
Han Sanfan said with an expression of complete predictability.
Dropping his previous scholarly persona entirely, he began to ramble and complain to Chen An:
"That Fellow Daoist Wen is so savage! I kindly brought her breakfast, and not only did she refuse it, she even whipped me. You tell me, how can someone be like that?"
"Um... why didn't you just knock on her door to deliver it?"
"She actually has to deign to answer for me to knock! I've knocked plenty of times before, and not once has she ever come out to open the door. So really, I had no choice but to climb over the wall to deliver it."
Good grief, are you Wen Zhiyun's devoted simp?
Thinking this, Chen An asked, "Fellow Daoist Han, could it be that you are pursuing Fellow Daoist Wen?"
"Nonsense! Which male cultivator in the core area hasn't pursued Fellow Daoist Wen?"
"Please, do elaborate, Fellow Daoist Han."
Chen An asked with genuine humility, quite interested in Wen Zhiyun's past.
Without playing hard to get, Han Sanfan told him everything he knew.
"Heh, Fellow Daoist Han, you're just a newcomer so you don't know. Fellow Daoist Wen, who lives right next door to you, is a notoriously famous beauty in the core area."
"Whether it's her figure or her face, she's practically otherworldly. Which male cultivator wouldn't drool at the sight of her?"
"From what I've gathered, in the past five years alone, nearly a hundred male cultivators have pursued Fellow Daoist Wen."
"Among them, several were supposedly high-and-mighty Foundation Establishment Mighty Experts, but without exception, every single one of them was rejected by Fellow Daoist Wen."
"As more and more people got rejected by Fellow Daoist Wen, many male cultivators stopped persisting."
"Only I have remained truly devoted to Fellow Daoist Wen. No one is more infatuated than I am."
At this, Han Sanfan wore a look of immense pride.
Infatuated?
More like a total stalker!
Chen An grumbled inwardly.
At the same time, he felt a wave of surprise.
He never expected that the menopausal-looking mature beauty in his eyes could be such a charming female cultivator, so popular among so many male cultivators.
As he pondered this, a realization seemed to dawn on him.
Could it be that Wen Zhiyun's extreme aversion to men stems from being harassed by these male cultivators all the time?
Ah, highly likely.
Chen An thought to himself.
After chatting a bit longer, Han Sanfan prepared to take his leave.
He declared that this portion of breakfast couldn't go to waste.
He needed to hurry and deliver it to another female cultivator while it was still hot.
Hearing this, Chen An immediately took back his judgment in his heart.
Fellow Daoist Han, I wronged you. You aren't a simp; you're a player!
"Creak—"
Suddenly, the sound of a door opening came from behind.
Chen An turned his head and saw Wen Zhiyun stepping out of her house.
She held a bamboo spray tube in her hand, spraying it over every spot where Han Sanfan had just been in contact, looking as though she were disinfecting the area.
Chen An was astonished. Was his beautiful neighbor really this averse to men?
This was just too exaggerated!
Amidst his surprise, Chen An couldn't help but look Wen Zhiyun over carefully.
Her beautiful eyes were watery and soul-stirring, her slender nose had a slight, three-dimensional bridge, and her lips were of moderate thickness, tinted a pale pinkish-red that gave off a deeply alluring, bone-melting charm.
Looking further down, even though she wore a loose Daoist robe, her plump, curvaceous figure—full in the front and back—was impossible to hide. It was enough to make the top-tier wives and concubines at home feel utterly ashamed of themselves, radiating the unique, mature charm of an adult woman from head to toe.Furthermore, her waist and calves were exceptionally slender, without a single trace of fat, perfectly fit to be spanned by a pair of hands.
With such a breathtaking appearance and such a graceful, curvaceous figure, she was truly seductive to the extreme.
No matter the reason, Chen An felt he should at least try to flirt with this solitary beautiful matron.
Otherwise, he would surely regret it for the rest of his life.
"What are you looking at? Not a single one of you men is any good!"
Noticing that Chen An was sizing her up, Wen Zhiyun immediately turned her head, glared at him, picked up the bamboo tube in her hand, and sprayed it at him from afar.
With that, she turned on her heel, hurried inside the house, and slammed the front door shut with a loud bang.
Recalling her sexy and alluring back as she walked into the house, Chen An felt the urge to take her as a concubine grow stronger and stronger.
"No, no, I need to sober up."
"My current state is all wrong!"
Chen An shook his head, feeling as though he had been bewitched. He immediately turned around, went back inside the house to find Gu Xinyue for a deep exchange, desperate to soothe the burning heat raging inside his chest.
...
Chapter 27: A Maiden Pure and Chaste
[You spent a day in communion with your wife Gu Xinyue, striving to spread your branches and leave descendants, divine sense strength +1.] x33
[Name: Gu Xinyue]
[Attributes: Pure as ice and clean as jade, loyal and steadfast]
[Affection: 1 star (89/100)]
[Divine sense strength provided: 233]
[Golden Finger proficiency provided: 69]
The next morning, at dawn.
Chen An sat up from the bed, looking at the prompt interface floating before his eyes, feeling utterly bewildered.
Ever since he laid eyes on Wen Zhiyun yesterday morning, he had been acting as if possessed. An irrepressible heat had surged within him, forcing him to seek Gu Xinyue's help to release it.
And once that release began, he accidentally kept going all the way into the next day.
He had missed lunch, missed dinner, and hadn't slept a wink all night.
So... what on earth had happened yesterday?
That Wen Zhiyun was definitely hiding something!
A thousand thoughts raced through Chen An's mind as he desperately wanted to figure out what had happened to him yesterday.
"H-Husband, are you finished?"
At that moment, a voice full of exhaustion came from beside him.
Following the sound, Chen An looked over to see Gu Xinyue with her delicate brows furrowed slightly, her pretty face etched with discomfort.
She looked utterly haggard, like someone who had been thoroughly put through the wringer.
A pang of heartache struck Chen An. He hurriedly pulled his little ice-chunk concubine into his arms, constantly stroking her head with his hand while whispering all sorts of sweet nothingness into her ear.
Doing his utmost to make up for his transgression.
"Husband, are you hungry?"
"I'll get up and make breakfast."
Gu Xinyue made to get up from the bed as she spoke.
Chen An didn't let her rise. He kept her pulled close into his embrace to soothe her. "We didn't sleep at all last night. Rest for a while first."
"Mn," Gu Xinyue murmured softly.
With that, the two stopped talking and quietly held each other in an embrace.
[You slept holding your wife Gu Xinyue, letting her drift off to sleep to the sound of your heartbeat, marital affection +1.]
Before long, Gu Xinyue, whose body was utterly exhausted, fell asleep.
Looking at her slightly pale, pretty face, Chen An couldn't resist gently placing a kiss on it.
Then, moving lightly and carefully, he put on his clothes, got out of bed, and left the room.
As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Song Huaying standing in the kitchen preparing breakfast with her heavily pregnant belly.
"Husband, you were really over the top yesterday. Elder Sister Gu is going to be worn out by you sooner or later."
Seeing her husband walk in, Song Huaying immediately cast him a reproachful look.
Chen An hugged her from behind, pressed close to her ear, and explained, "Yesterday was a special circumstance. I suddenly couldn't control myself."
"Husband, what happened?"
"Nothing."
Chen An hadn't even figured out what was going on himself, so he couldn't give his little darling any further explanation.
After finishing breakfast and resting for a short while, Chen An intended to go practice alchemy, but no sooner had he stood up than he was grabbed by his little wife.
"Husband, let me share some of the burden for Elder Sister Gu."
"Your husband is a bit tired."
"It's fine, Husband can just lie down."
"..."
An incense stick of time later.
[You had a deep communion with your wife Song Huaying, exploring the different Great Daos of achieving immortality, marital affection +1.]
[Name: Song Huaying]
[Attributes: A drop of water received in need, repaid with a gushing spring]
[Affection: 2 stars (455/500)]
[Alchemy experience provided: 437]
[Golden Finger proficiency provided: 77]
"Husband, am I amazing?"
"Amazing, truly amazing."
"Husband, you don't sound sincere at all when you praise me."
"Ying'er is simply wonderful."
"Well, of course. I study, learn, and research in books every single day, you know."
"Alright, time is just about up. Your husband has to go make pills."
Chen An's lower back was aching a bit, but he gritted his teeth, got up from the bed, and walked over to the alchemy room opposite.
This alchemy session lasted the entire morning.
The pill success rate was rather low.
Only two-thirds of his usual output.
That was because he had expended too much energy yesterday, and his vitality hadn't recovered in time, which ended up affecting his alchemy.
Chen An left the alchemy room and walked out into the courtyard.
He planned to look at the flowers and plants to relax his mind and body.
Once he had eaten lunch later, he would return to the alchemy room to continue making pills.
"You bad seed with nothing but women on your mind, you finally deign to show your face outside?!"
The moment Chen An stepped into the courtyard, a woman's voice full of resentment rang out from the neighboring house.
Following the sound, he saw Wen Zhiyun sitting in a tree inside her own courtyard, shouting over the wall.
"Thud—"
Before Chen An could react, Wen Zhiyun leaped down from the tree in her yard and landed right inside Chen An's courtyard.
The moment she landed, a turbulent wave of motion surged.
Chen An wanted to look, but before he even had time, he was interrupted by Wen Zhiyun's reprimand.
"I'm asking you, do you have any sense of etiquette at all?"
"I already told you last time, go ahead and do your business, but could you please not do it the entire night?"
"Are people supposed to sleep or not?!"
The more Wen Zhiyun spoke, the more resentful she became, to the point where she looked ready to throw punches.
Chen An denied it, saying, "But I didn't do it the entire night."
"Daring to do it and not owning up to it? Have some shame!"
"I did it the entire day."
"..."
Wen Zhiyun choked on her words, instantly silenced.
But soon enough, she glared at Chen An. "Talking to a person like you is such hard work. I'm going to talk to your wives!"
Without caring whether Chen An agreed or not, she strode directly into the house.
Chen An's cultivation was too low to stop her at all, so he had no choice but to follow her inside to see what kind of trouble this menopausal beauty was about to stir up.
"Elder Sister Wen?"
Seeing Wen Zhiyun walk in, Song Huaying couldn't help looking somewhat surprised.
Wen Zhiyun glanced at her big belly and realized she wasn't the main culprit, so she asked, "Little Sister Ying'er, do you know where Little Sister Yue'er is? Elder Sister has something to discuss with her."
"This..."
Song Huaying looked toward her husband, not daring to make decisions on her own.
At that moment, Gu Xinyue walked out from the room.
"Elder Sister Wen, are you looking for me?"
"Little Sister Yue'er, come, come, come. Elder Sister has something to talk over with you."
Wen Zhiyun grabbed Gu Xinyue's soft, warm hand and pulled her aside to sit down.
Chen An didn't make a sound, wanting to see what on earth this beautiful matron was going to say to his little ice-chunk concubine.
Soon, Wen Zhiyun began to speak.
She told Gu Xinyue that doing that kind of thing too often was bad for the body.
It made one age easily, ruined the figure, and even shortened one's lifespan while lowering one's cultivation.
She rattled on and on about all sorts of harms.
She advised Gu Xinyue that it was best to only do it once a month.
Not a single time more.
Song Huaying and Gu Xinyue listened until their faces turned pale, actually falling for Wen Zhiyun's scare tactics.
When Chen An saw this, his face immediately darkened.
This menopausal beauty was clearly trying to destroy the foundation of his Dao!
Could this be tolerated?!
Without a second thought, he stepped forward to cut in and interrupt:
"Ying'er, Yue'er, the two of you don't listen to her nonsense. She's been living alone for too long and is just consumed by jealousy and envy toward the two of you."
Hearing this, Song Huaying and Gu Xinyue immediately snapped out of it and regained their senses.
They didn't know whether Chen An or Wen Zhiyun was telling the truth, but they unconditionally trusted their husband—even if they were being deceived, they would gladly accept it.
Seeing that Wen Zhiyun still wanted to spread her heresy, Chen An took the initiative and struck first:
"Fellow Daoist Wen, what kind of preposterous heresy are you spouting? Who told you that engaging in the union of water and fire has so many harmful effects? Total nonsense."
"Preposterous heresy? Heh!"
Wen Zhiyun let out a cold laugh, then used herself as an example: "Back in my day, among the batch of cultivators from the same period as me, not a single one who found a dao companion has managed to break through to the late Qi Condensation stage to this day."
"The only one who broke through to late Qi Condensation is me, who has kept herself pure and chaste from birth until now."
With that, she used Chen An as an example to launch a vicious verbal attack: "And what about you? Why do you think your cultivation is still so low at your age? Isn't it precisely because you indulge yourself in the lap of luxury every single day?"
Wen Zhiyun spoke with logic and evidence, growing more forceful by the moment, feeling as though she had won a sweeping victory.