Avoiding the heavily guarded front gates just as before, he slipped into the shadows along the periter wall.
With a silent flick of his mind, he activated the Phantom Void Mirage Step.
His presence dissolved into the ambient spiritual frequencies of the environnt.
Becoming as weightless and undetectable as a passing breeze, he coiled the power in his legs and leaped upward.
He bounced flawlessly from one upturned dragon eave to the next, ascending the face of the grand structure floor by floor.
Slipped expertly through the blind spots of the defensive arrays, he dropped lightly onto the broad, secluded balcony of the highest tier and stepped smoothly through the large lattice windows into the private study.
Inside, the chaotic ss of parchnt and dried herbs remained untouched, but the atmosphere was entirely different.
Bai Ruolan was hovering over her desk, a manic, deeply focused light burning in her brilliant blue eyes.
She was frantically scribbling down notes, revising her alchemy formulas, and tracing the elental pathways required to refine the Tier 3 Iron-Cleansing Hearth Pill.
Her voluptuous figure swayed slightly as she muttered the steps aloud, her massive boobs brushing against the edge of the desk as she leaned over her work.
Watching her sheer dedication from the shadows, Shen Yu’s lips curled into an amused smile.
With a casual thought, he dropped his stealth technique.
"Revising the blueprint again?" his smooth, leisurely voice echoed through the quiet room.
Bai Ruolan didn’t scramble for her sword this ti.
At the sound of his voice, her head snapped up, her long blue hair tossing over her shoulders.
Instead of fear, a radiant, purely excited smile broke across her beautiful, pale face.
"Senior Mo! You’re back!"
"Senior Mo! You’re back!" she exclaid, entirely forgetting her previous terror of his simulated Nascent Soul pressure.
She waved a piece of parchnt toward him frantically.
"Your advice yesterday was absolutely brilliant! I tried a test batch this morning using the wood-tempered solar catalyst sequence. It worked perfectly through the initial stages!"
"The crimson-iron ore liquefied beautifully without harming the herbal essences, and I was right on the verge of successfully forming the pill!"
Her smile faltered slightly, turning into a frustrated pout.
"But right at the final mont, during the condensation phase, the spiritual energy fluctuated wildly and the core structure collapsed, ruining the entire batch."
"I’ve been rewriting my thods for hours trying to figure out where it fell apart."
Shen Yu chuckled softly, walking forward with a playful, casual stride, his hands tucked loosely inside his dark green sleeves.
He approached her desk with the easy familiarity of an old friend, entirely breaking down the stiff barrier usually present between a terrifying senior and a junior cultivator.
"Is that so?" he asked playfully, leaning over the desk and tilting his head.
"Let see those notes of yours."
Bai Ruolan eagerly slid the ssy, ink-stained parchnt toward him, her large blue eyes watching him expectantly.
Shen Yu picked up the pages, his eyes scanning the complex chemical reactions and spiritual pathways she had mapped out.
For a few long monts, the study fell completely silent save for the rustling of paper.
Suddenly, Shen Yu let out a soft, knowing hum. He set the paper down, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Hmmm... so that is where the fault lies."
Hearing those words, Bai Ruolan’s eyes instantly glead with an intense, academic hunger.
Without a single shred of hesitation, she lunged forward and grabbed his hand with both of her delicate, smooth hands, clutching him tightly as if he were a lifeline.
"What did I do wrong?!" she asked desperately, her face dangerously close to his as she looked up at him.
"Where is the flaw? Please, Senior Mo, tell how I can fix this!"
Shen Yu looked down at her small, trembling hands gripping his own, then t her desperate gaze with a thoroughly playful smirk.
"I can easily point out your mistakes. In fact, I could even teach you a couple of advanced fla-control techniques that would make this entire refinent process effortless for you."
Hearing that he possessed advanced techniques, Bai Ruolan completely abandoned her status as the proud chief alchemist of a powerful rchant union.
Squeezing his hand tighter, she began to bounce slightly on her heels, behaving exactly like an excited, spoiled child who had just been promised a rare toy.
"I want to learn! Senior Mo, please teach ! I really, really want to learn!"
Shen Yu chuckled at her sudden, childish display, though his dark eyes locked onto her with a calculating, predatory intent.
He slowly pulled his hand from her grasp, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Teach you? Well, everything in this cultivation world cos with a price. What will you give in return, Little Alchemist?"
Bai Ruolan paused, her brow furrowing slightly as she realized she was dealing with an eccentric powerhouse.
She took a step back, her voluptuous chest heaving slightly beneath her indigo robes as she appraised him.
"What... what do you want? Spiritual stones? Rare herbs? The Golden Cauldron Union can procure almost anything you need."
Shen Yu tilted his head, his playful smirk widening into a sharp, enigmatic smile.
"I have plenty of resources. I don’t need your union’s wealth."
He took a slow step closer to her, his voice dropping into a smooth, teasing whisper.
"How about you just beco my friend?"
Bai Ruolan blinked, completely caught off guard by the bizarre request.
She stared at his handso face and his striking green hair for a long mont, trying to find the hidden trap in his words.
But seeing nothing but casual, easygoing amusent in his expression, the tension completely drained from her shoulders.
A beautiful, genuinely happy smile spread across her lips. She extended her hand toward him once more, her blue eyes sparkling.
"Just a friend? Well... if an eccentric senior like you is willing to tolerate my stubbornness, then okay! It’s a deal, friend."
-x-
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