"It's chilly at night. You should put on some clothes." I casually grabbed a set of garments hanging at the head of the bed and tossed them towards Yan Ji.

Yan Ji gracefully caught the clothes but showed no intention of putting them on. Instead, she swayed her waist seductively and said, "You, I don't know whether to say you're concerned about me or if you're trying to make me sick."

I was taken aback and frowned. "What do you mean by that, miss? This is our first meeting. Why would I want to harm you?"

"Perhaps you're unintentional, merely afraid you can't control yourself. But you've overlooked that I've just emerged from my bath, my skin still damp. To put on clothes like this, especially a thin gauze dress, won't keep me warm. It will trap the moisture inside, and with the night breeze, I'll get sick even easier."

"Oh? I see. I hadn't considered that. Do you have more suitable clothes here? I'll help you find them."

The woman twisted her slender waist and took a pink towel with the scent of roses from the wall. "Why bother? If the young master would help me dry off, then I could put on clothes, couldn't I?"

Yan Ji blinked her innocent large eyes and handed me the towel.

I could only smile wryly and take the towel. "You really know how to give a man a hard time. If I use this towel to dry you, I'm afraid I'd still be at it when dawn breaks, wouldn't I?"

"Why?" Yan Ji blinked her innocent large eyes again.

I didn't know why, but even though there was not a single impure thought in Yan Ji's eyes, seeing her would fill a man's head with impure thoughts that he couldn't possibly get rid of.

I decided to stop testing my self-control and end this game early.

"Shi Tu sent me to find you, to take you to see someone." I placed the pink towel on the table, no longer looking at her body.

"Shi Tu? I don't know anyone by that name." Yan Ji smiled playfully and even took a step closer to me.

"You really don't know him?"

"Since you don't believe me, why ask?" Yan Ji was half-scolding, half-annoyed, her face flushed, revealing a different kind of charm.

I really couldn't delay any longer. I had to end this battle immediately. I was a normal man, after all. If she kept using her seductive arts in different ways, I might really fall for it.

It's better for a man not to be too confident in these matters. After all, I'm not a monk. I don't have the self-control that comes from decades of cultivation.

I swept my hand across the bed, grabbing the bedsheet, then extended my arm, and the sheet wrapped around the woman's body.

The woman instinctively wanted to dodge, but she only made a dance-like movement and was quickly wrapped tightly in the bedsheet.

"Young people don't respect martial morality these days." The woman didn't seem alarmed. Instead, she had a provocative look on her face.

If I don't, then I don't. Anyway, no one will praise me for respecting martial morality. They'll only laugh at me for not taking advantage of the situation.

Without another word, I hoisted the woman onto my shoulder, intending to return the way I came, but I froze after taking only two steps.

Damn it, after seeing this woman, I just assumed she was Yan Ji. I hadn't even confirmed her identity. If my style of snatching someone and leaving led to me grabbing the wrong person, then things would become very uninteresting.

"Could it be that the servant girl I raised is so exceptionally clever and beautiful that this strong man can't bear to part with her, so he wants to rob her to take home?"

A woman wearing a water-green long dress, covered with a hundred-flower coat, appeared in front of me, blocking my path.

If this woman in the green dress hadn't appeared, I definitely wouldn't have believed anyone who told me the person in the bedsheet was just a servant girl. But now, seeing this woman in the green dress, I not only thought the woman in the bedsheet was just a servant girl, but also that she was just a servant girl who cooked and did rough work, not even qualified to serve this woman in the green dress up close. I almost wanted to throw her on the ground.

The difference between the two was as vast as heaven and earth.

But I controlled myself and didn't throw the woman on my shoulder directly.

"Madam, you flatter me. I was indeed captivated by this girl at first sight, so I planned to take her home for a careful study of why she is so charming. If she is Madam's maidservant, please forgive my rudeness."

The woman in the green dress smiled. "There's no need to apologize. If the maidservant I trained can please men, that is also a form of recognition for me. Such things have happened more than once or twice over the years. I'm used to it.

If this strong man has nothing else to do, put down my maidservant and then be on your way."

"Don't worry, I won't stay in this place for too long. However, it's definitely impossible to put down this woman. Even if you said that if I put down this woman, you would come with me, I still wouldn't put her down."

The green-clad woman's face quickly turned cold. "You dare to snatch even Yan Ji's people? I think you've lived long enough."

"No, no, I certainly wouldn't dare to snatch Yan Ji's people. I'm only snatching Yan Ji herself."

"I am Yan Ji. Are you blind? Can't you tell who is the master and who is the servant?"

I said, "My eyes aren't blind, and I can tell that you are the master and she is the servant."

"Then why are you robbing a servant?"

"I'm not trying to rob a servant. I'm just trying to rob Yan Ji."

"You think Yan Ji would be a servant? What a joke, a complete joke. Do you know how proud Yan Ji is? Do you know that even the current leader of the Corpse Control Sect calls himself 'Old Slave' in front of Yan Ji? As for the other elders, protectors, young masters, and the like, they would consider it an honor to wash Yan Ji's feet."

I nodded. "I believe you. I believe every word you say. Yan Ji certainly wouldn't be anyone's servant, but she can be her own servant.

She's used to being a queen, used to trampling on men. It's only natural that she occasionally wants an idol to admire, but that idol can't be a person, not even a god.

Yan Ji is a proud woman. The only thing that can be above her is herself. You are indeed perfect, even more perfect than Yan Ji, but unfortunately, there is no such woman as you in this world. You are what Yan Ji imagined, a phantom. You are just a gust of wind, a shadow. As soon as you get close, you will disappear."

The green-clad woman stopped smiling. Her expression froze.

Then, before I could get close, cracks appeared on her body. She shattered like a statue, piece by piece.

The fake is ultimately fake. She was just a wisp of Yan Ji's consciousness. Even if she had a semi-independent consciousness, she would quickly collapse once her true form was exposed.

I continued to carry the woman on my shoulder, originally heading away from the boundary marker, but as I walked, the boundary marker appeared again, and I was still seeing the back of the boundary marker.