Chapter 7

The moon already hung at the edge of the sky, its hazy light spilling through the window.

Though cultivators didn’t need as much sleep as ordinary people, Luo Chu, being a modern person, still had a well-adjusted biological clock.

When drowsiness struck, she collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.

In the side chamber, separated from her Yinbing Pavilion by just a wall, Liu Chengzhi lay quietly on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

After a long while, a soft, puppy-like whimper escaped his throat as he hugged his blanket and happily flopped around on the bed—

Crack.

The wooden bed frame snapped under the force, and Liu Chengzhi, along with his blanket, tumbled into the hole.

Dazed, his eyes glistening with unshed tears and his hair a mess, he lay in the wreckage for a moment before pushing the blanket aside and climbing out.

Some time later, the door to the Yinbing Pavilion creaked open quietly, and a slender figure slipped inside.

“Master?” Liu Chengzhi called softly.

The room was silent, with no response.

The slender figure tiptoed closer to Luo Chu’s jade bed and lifted the blanket—only to find an orange cat curled up beside her, fast asleep.

Liu Chengzhi’s excited little face fell.

He grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck and tossed it off the bed.

The cat rolled gulugulu to the wall but didn’t make a sound, merely kicking its legs before snuggling against the wall and continuing to sleep.

The room was quiet.

Liu Chengzhi carefully slipped under the blanket, curling up into a tiny ball.

With each breath, the icy, orchid-like fragrance filled his nose.

It was Master’s scent.

Master smells so good.

Liu Chengzhi behaved for a while before squirming like a little worm, inching closer to Luo Chu—slowly, stealthily, gently.

In the faint moonlight, his eyes gleamed, and his little mouth curled up happily.

I want to be closer to Master… even closer.

By the time Luo Chu woke, the sun was already high in the sky.

Last night, she had dreamed of being entangled by an octopus.

No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t break free.

Every time she managed to pull away a little, that warm thing would cling to her again—the sensation terrifyingly real.

Exhausting.

As her groggy mind gradually cleared, she rubbed her stiff neck and opened her eyes.

Someone was lying beside her, his face flushed with sleep, his small body pressed against hers, limbs draped over her.

Now she knew why she’d had that dream…

Seeing Liu Chengzhi still fast asleep, Luo Chu didn’t want to wake him.

She lifted the blanket and gently moved his arm off her, then tried to shift his leg—only for his arm to latch back onto her.

After several failed attempts, Luo Chu found herself even more tightly entangled.

The little rascal had now burrowed into her arms, wrapping both hands around her neck.

Good grief, at fourteen, he’s already climbing into a woman’s bed? If this goes unchecked, who knows what he’ll do in the future? It’s time to discipline him.

In the end, Luo Chu, torn between laughter and exasperation, used a spell to free herself and stuffed a pillow into the arms of Liu Chengzhi, who was still blindly grasping in his sleep.

But the moment she stepped off the bed, Liu Chengzhi woke up.

“Master?” He crawled out from under the blanket, his hair disheveled, a single tuft sticking straight up—adorably silly.

Unable to resist, Luo Chu pressed it down with a blank expression.

“Why are you awake?”

Liu Chengzhi didn’t answer.

Instead, he scrambled over and hugged her waist, burying his nose against her to inhale that faint, soothing fragrance.

Luo Chu assumed it was just a child’s attachment and didn’t think much of it—especially since his scrawny appearance made him seem all the more pitiful.

“Luo Chu! Why the hell was I sleeping on the floor?! And why are you in bed with the big villain?! You fickle woman! Don’t even think about asking me to warm your feet ever again, hmph!”

The orange cat, having woken up on the floor, immediately bristled and yowled at Luo Chu.

Suddenly, the cat fell silent.

Liu Chengzhi rested his head on Luo Chu’s shoulder and stared at it, his heterochromatic blue-and-yellow eyes gleaming with a chilling light.

The cat felt an intense wave of cold malice and scrambled out of the room in a panic.

“Waaahhh! Everyone’s bullying me! I’m not playing with you guys anymore!”

“What’s wrong with it?” Luo Chu asked, puzzled.

“This disciple doesn’t know,” Liu Chengzhi said, the darkness in his gaze vanishing as he looked up at her with an innocent, well-behaved expression.