Since Liu Changning came to Xiangguo Temple, Abbess Ningxin didn’t want to disturb her studying during the day, so she would pester her to play chess at night. They would have a game every night, which had become a habit in recent days.

But today, it was a full half hour late.

Qiu Sheng wore a kind smile on her face: “Today is the winter solstice ceremony. After dinner, the abbess discussed the Tao with the Taifu, so it delayed the time.”

Her eyes were smiling, her hands hanging at her sides, with a deep smile: “The abbess is fond of chess. Now that you’re in the temple, how can she let you have a day off?”

Thinking of Ningxin’s pestering expression when playing chess, Liu Changning’s expression softened a bit.

She said gently, “Then I’ll trouble the Taoist priest to lead the way.”

The two walked through the corridor. Because of the guards on duty, Qiu Sheng took Liu Changning on a shortcut.

It was snowing outside, with thick snow accumulating near the temple.

The two walked slowly. As they passed the west side courtyard, they saw from afar a man in red clothes being supported by palace attendants walking into the west courtyard meditation room from the opposite corridor.

The bright red cloak dragged on the snowy ground, leaving a long trail.

He seemed to be drunk, his eyes misty, a pair of ink-like eyes seemingly merging with the surrounding night.

The servants beside him supported him into a nearby room.

They muttered softly, “Your Highness, why do you have to compete with the Prince of Zhennan? She’s a woman with a good capacity for alcohol. After the winter solstice ceremony today, it was already improper to invite you to gather in the bamboo forest privately. Yet she forced you to drink with her. If the remonstrance officials find out, won’t they criticize you again for not knowing… propriety.”

The red-clothed man didn’t seem to recognize who the young attendant beside him was. Leaning on him, he spoke incoherently: “How can you… talk so much. I, I, I… it seems… Jing Huan that despicable person, she said you died in accordance with heaven’s will, that there must be destruction before establishment. That dog, she dares to curse you to death…”

“Your Highness is talking nonsense again, you… ah!” The young attendant sighed, opened the door of the meditation room, and supported the red-clothed man inside.

Liu Changning frowned. This man was truly a devoted lover. Who knows what that dead woman would think if she were alive? She would probably be moved to tears.

Ignoring the strange sour feeling in her heart, Liu Changning followed Qiu Sheng, walking forward.

To reach the meditation rooms in the east courtyard, they needed to go through a secluded small path. Today, to avoid the armed guards, the two took a detour, winding through many turns.

When Liu Changning followed Qiu Sheng to the door of the meditation room, she didn’t notice anything unusual.

The temple nuns pursued natural Taoist methods, with few desires, and all the houses were white-tiled with gray walls.

Except for the two rooms around Abbess Ningxin’s inner chamber which were slightly more comfortably decorated, from the outside, they all looked like the same meditation rooms.

Qiu Sheng stepped forward and opened the wooden door for Liu Changning.

She stepped one foot across the threshold, and a strong strange fragrance rushed out from inside the room.

The foot she had stepped out paused in mid-air. She turned her head and saw Qiu Sheng’s twisted face.

She moved her hand swiftly, and surprisingly, there was internal force in her palm as she pushed Liu Changning straight into the room. The wooden door was quickly locked from the outside.

“Lady Liu, please forgive me. This poor nun has unspeakable difficulties. Please endure for a while, stay here for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and someone will come.”

Outside the room, the kind-faced nun’s eyes flashed with pain. With her eldest daughter’s life being threatened, she could only go against her morals and do such a thing.

After today’s matter was done, she could only atone with her death.

Liu Changning stumbled and barely managed to stop her steps.

At this moment, the fuel in the incense burner was lit together with the an he incense. The two scents mixed together, releasing an aphrodisiac fragrance that was the most potent love potion.

The fuel hadn’t been completely burned, so the an he incense was just ordinary incense. But now mixed with the fuel, the two scents interacted. At this moment, even if an immortal were here and inhaled a breath, they would fall here.

Liu Changning felt something was wrong as soon as she inhaled the strange fragrance at the door.

A heat surged through her body, and her rationality gradually peeled away.

If she hadn’t suddenly been caught off guard, how could a mere nun have pushed her into the room?

Inwardly cursing her bad luck, because she had been poisoned by a similar love potion two years ago, Liu Changning remembered the changes in her body clearly. Now this fragrance flowing through her meridians was even more potent than the drug effect from back then.

Even though she circulated the Clear Heart Scripture to its fastest, she could hardly control the aphrodisiac fragrance about to burst out from within her body.

Liu Changning stumbled forward two steps, held her breath, and quickly stepped forward. She swept the incense burner on the eight immortals table to the ground with one hand, extinguishing the incense.

She looked up and met a pair of eyes full of lust.

The person wore a luxurious cotton robe, which he had now torn, revealing the plain inner clothes.

His eyes were filled with autumn water, his hands restlessly reaching down, coming towards her.

Liu Changning dodged to the side, seeing that this person had clearly been poisoned by the incense.

She had absorbed the essence of the sun and moon for two years. Although she couldn’t cultivate, this body was keen of ear and eye. Concentrating her spirit and listening carefully, she could hear all sounds within five li. Not far away, a group of people were approaching this place with great momentum.

Someone had specially set up this trap to harm her.

Liu Changning frowned and pursed her lips.

She had underestimated the intrigue in the capital. Even hiding in Xiangguo Temple was not entirely safe.

She must have lived too comfortably these years, losing her sense of vigilance.

There was no time for self-reflection. Feeling her body aroused again, she had used all her power to suppress the seductive fragrance within her body.

The man not far away, seeing her dodge his approach, a struggle flashed through his eyes full of desire, but was quickly overwhelmed by the intoxicating fragrance, and he came towards her again.

“How dare you…” the man said tremblingly, his eyes full of spring colors, “You…”

But Liu Changning had no time to deal with him. She quickly walked to the window, kicked open the wooden window with one foot, and used her last bit of strength to escape through the window.

She stumbled into the melting moonlight.

This body was already old and not suitable for martial arts.

Since her transmigration, she had been strengthening her body.

Although she couldn’t cultivate internal force, she had figured out some self-created lightness skills.

After all, she was once the leader of the righteous path, having read countless rare ancient books.

Now although she had no spiritual power to support her, she could apply the theory of flying objects from her previous life to walking on roofs and walls. In any case, it was walking with the help of objects. By circulating the Clear Heart Scripture, as long as there was moonlight to support her, she could use it as a lightness skill.

She originally thought it was just idle musing, but now it actually came in handy.

Liu Changning used her last bit of rationality, relying on her memory from earlier, to rush straight into Pei Yuanshao’s room.

Tonight, the safest place would be that person’s room.

Just now, listening carefully, among the crowd of people coming from afar, someone was faintly calling “Taifu.”

Liu Changning wasn’t a fool. In the entire temple, there were only a few superior meditation rooms in total, and that room in the east side courtyard was one of them.

At this moment, the Empress’s family were all staying in the temple.

The men who qualified for superior rooms could be counted on one hand. If her guess wasn’t wrong, it would only be one person, Second Prince Pei Yunzhi.

The person who wanted to frame her must not be of simple status. How could they give up so easily tonight?

Liu Changning’s whole body was rolling with heat, but her mind was exceptionally clear.

Considering that at this point she couldn’t forcefully make it back to her own room, in the entire temple, even Qiu Sheng was a traitor, and Ningxin’s whereabouts were unknown.

At this moment, the only person she could trust, in her mind there flashed only one person, with red clothes and ink-black hair, a hooked smile, dazzlingly beautiful.

That person had someone else in their heart, so she could safely release her seductive fragrance.

If he was affected, she could just knock him out.

—

Liu Changning, with her last bit of willpower, shot through the slightly open window of the meditation room.

Inside the room, the candle was still lit. Her convenient husband, wearing only his undergarments, was resting his chin on his hand, staring blankly at the red candle. Seeing movement by the window, he turned his head slowly.

His clear black and white eyes immediately reflected a pair of tea-colored eyes.

His eyes, so dark they couldn’t be diluted, suddenly all dispersed. He pouted, complaining pitifully: “You’ve finally come. I thought you had gone to the underworld and forgotten me, you heartless person, not even sending me a dream.”

The red-clothed man’s voice was low and deep, each word distinct. He seemed to have mistaken her for someone else, yet also seemed to be searching for someone else’s figure in her eyes.

Pei Yuanshao straightened up, supporting himself on the eight immortals table, and walked towards her with drunken eyes. He pulled open the collar of his clothes, revealing a large expanse of fair shoulder. His alluring collarbone, under the warm yellow candlelight, appeared particularly white and luminous.

He held her hand and guided it into his undergarments.

He looked at her deeply, his eyes filled with a smile of expectation: “You’re so cruel! After waiting for so many years… tonight I’ve finally dreamed of you. Promise me, stay a little longer! I hurt, wife-master, I’ve been in so much pain these years! Now that you’ve relented to appear and see me, can you allow me once more, I want to…”

His voice was low and deep, hoarse and melancholic. Without waiting for her agreement, he reached around her waist and undid her belt.

Liu Changning stood stunned, her Clear Heart Scripture stopped circulating. Her body, poisoned by the toxin, could no longer be controlled. An overwhelming desire almost spread to the top of her head. She raised her hand, about to deliver a chop to the man before her.

He seemed to sense something, suddenly raising his head, gripping her fingertips, and panting heavily: “Don’t knock me out, you’ve finally appeared before me, I need to keep my eyes wide open, to look at you carefully… who knows if you’ll ever come again in the future.”

His ink-black eyes were filled with careful pleading. That deep black made Liu Changning’s heart suddenly tighten. Her raised hands uncontrollably lowered, landing on his waist.

He panted heavily, using all his strength to pull her onto the wooden bed.

Looking at her in confusion: “Give yourself to me, I want you.”

Liu Changning looked up, her clear cold eyes tinged with a half-crimson. The seductive fragrance of herbs and wood on her body gushed out, a light yet domineering scent that filled the entire meditation room, also filling the entire chest of the man on top of her.

He trembled, lying on top of her, rubbing against her haphazardly. Yet his eyes still looked confused, like a fallen spirit in the human world.

Liu Changning’s body was covered with boundless heat, feeling a bit dazed, as if the person on top of her could be the water to quench her thirst.

Liu Changning’s dry lips slightly pursed, and she flipped over, switching positions with the man before her.

She lowered her head, her long hair tangling with his.

She asked hoarsely: “Do you still know who I am?”

He looked at her in confusion, his eyes filled with passion and disorder.

He was stunned for a while, then said with trembling lips: “You are… Liu… Liu…”

He stammered, unable to make a sound for a long time. The overwhelming seductive fragrance from that person made one lose their senses, breaking free from restraint.

In Pei Yuanshao’s hazy mind, only one thought remained: she had come, this time, he had to use any means to keep her… even if it was in a dream.

Liu Changning, facing his eyes that seemed both sad and joyful, suddenly couldn’t bear to force him to answer.

She leaned down, her lips pausing by his ear, biting his earlobe hard, and said: “Remember, my name is Liu Changning, courtesy name Cangyun. I’m not the person in your heart. Do you still want this?”