Chapter 1: The Young Sect Heir Facing the Wall, Casually Teasing a Respectable Widow’s Sensitive Jade Foot

Sword Pavilion, rear hall.

Shen Qingyun was crouched on one knee in front of a purple sandalwood wheelchair.

His palm was steadily cradling a jade foot.

"Hey, are you even any good at this? How long does it take to check a bone?"

A moment later, an impatient mutter rang out from the room.

In the corner, a tall teenage boy stood facing the wall.

Though his back was to them, it was obvious he had already reached his limit.

"Mu Bai, mind your manners," a soft but slightly severe female voice came from above.

Xue Ning sat in the wheelchair, her long skirt carefully folded up and stopping neatly at her knees.

Her calves were smooth and well-proportioned, her skin so pale it was almost blinding.

Unlike the healthy flush of ordinary flesh, it was a cold white that seemed to have soaked in ice and snow for a thousand years, carrying an otherworldly beauty.

Today she was wearing a proper moon-white long robe. Her long hair was pinned up with a wooden hairpin, and a few loose strands hung beside her swanlike neck, outlining a kind of warmth and composure that had settled in over the years.

That was the bearing she had cultivated over the years as the Sword Pavilion's master and as a mother.

Only now, the dignified master of the Sword Pavilion had two unnatural patches of flush on her cheeks.

She slightly turned her head, deliberately avoiding the man crouched in front of her.

In truth, she could feel nothing at all.

Shen Qingyun's fingertips were wandering and pressing repeatedly over the sole and instep of her foot.

But from the knees down, it was like a dead tree trunk, completely numb.

What truly made her feel awkward was the situation itself.

The once-awkward youth who had followed behind her all those years ago, always calling her "Sister Ning," had now become an envoy of the Taiwei Sect.

And she, a crippled widow, was letting an adult man toy wantonly with the bare foot she normally never showed in front of her own son.

"I wasn't being rude! He's been pressing for half an incense stick already. If it were going to work, it would've worked by now. I think he's just using treatment as an excuse to..." Anger flickered in Lin Mubai's eyes.

"Shut up," Xue Ning cut off her son's reckless words.

"Mother!"

"Keep facing the wall."

"What kind of stupid rule is that? Her son can't look, but an outsider can..."

Shen Qingyun acted as if he hadn't heard the dispute between mother and son, his eyes lowered as his gaze settled on the jade foot in his hands.

Exquisite.

That was the first thought that flashed through Shen Qingyun's mind.

Her toes were round and lovely, like five translucent white jade chess pieces; the arch of her foot was elegant yet taut, like a bowstring drawn to full tension.

But right now, this work of art was riddled with cracks on the inside.

"The cold abyss qi has gone too deep into the bones. This kind of vile technique is designed to corrode the meridians. If you force it out with sword qi, the cold qi and the meridians will end up fused together for good."

As he spoke, his hands never stopped moving.

With his index and middle fingers together, he slowly worked his way upward from the ankle bone, massaging bit by bit.

Each inch he pushed, a thread of spiritual power seeped from his fingertips into her skin.

"Back then... it happened too suddenly. I could only force it down."

Shen Qingyun's fingers paused at the arch of her foot, pressing slightly harder. "Still no feeling?"

Xue Ning lowered her long lashes and gently shook her head. "None."

No feeling meant that no matter what was done, there would be no pain response.

Shen Qingyun withdrew his gaze and simply wrapped his entire palm around the jade foot.

The Warm Vein Art circulated at full force, spiritual power turning into countless threads that pierced those blocked acupoints.

It was an extremely domineering yet extremely gentle method.

Xue Ning still could not feel any movement in her leg.

But watching Shen Qingyun's side profile so close before her, watching his fingers leave one faint red imprint after another on her skin, a shameful feeling impossible to put into words began climbing up her spine.

Too close.

So close that she could smell a faint medicinal scent.

That smell overlapped with the memory of the boy who had always been covered in dirt, yet it was completely different.

The Shen Qingyun of now was a mature man, and an oppressive one.

"Don't move."

Only then did Xue Ning realize that because she was too tense, the muscles in her thigh had tightened involuntarily, and her calf had started twitching along with it.

"S-sorry."

"Focus. I'm going to force my way through the Taixi acupoint."

Shen Qingyun drew in a deep breath, and a surge of blue light burst from his fingertips.

Xue Ning's eyes widened.

Inside what had been a completely dead stretch of calf, a sharp stab of pain suddenly shot up!

The pain vanished in an instant, then turned into a wave of tingling numbness that surged from her calf straight to her knee.

"Mnh..."

Caught off guard, Xue Ning let out a suppressed, sweet nasal sound.

That jade foot jerked uncontrollably in Shen Qingyun's palm, all five toes curling sharply.

Then Xue Ning's limp calf suddenly kicked upward!

Bang!

Shen Qingyun had been lowering his head, fully focused on guiding the spiritual power, and had not expected that lifeless leg to attack so suddenly.

Xue Ning's round toes struck him squarely on the chin.

The force was not great, but that soft, delicate touch, carrying a trace of cool body heat, brushed cleanly across Shen Qingyun's lips and the tip of his nose.

The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

Shen Qingyun's hand was still held in a loose grasp.

He slowly raised his head, a flicker of surprise flashing in his eyes.

A faint fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose, intertwining with the touch to create a strange, sultry tension.

Xue Ning froze too.

She stared blankly at her own foot, then at the faint red mark on Shen Qingyun's chin, her mind going completely blank.

"Mother?! What happened?!"

Hearing that sweet, muffled sound and the dull thud that followed, Lin Mubai in the corner could no longer hold back and was about to turn around to look.

"Mu Bai! Don't you dare turn around!"

Xue Ning snapped back to her senses, her voice carrying a trace of panic and embarrassment.

She tried to pull her foot back, but with too much force, even the wheelchair slid back half an inch.

"If you dare look back, then don't call me Mother ever again!"

Lin Mubai, who had turned only halfway, stiffened.

"Fine, fine, I won't look! I won't look, all right!"

The boy clenched both fists, his nails digging deep into his palms.

He didn't know what exactly had happened behind him, but he could tell that his mother's breathing had gone ragged.

Shen Qingyun slowly stood up and let that jade foot hide once more beneath the skirt.

He drew a clean white handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped his hands.

That sudden sensation was like an illusion, lasting only the length of a breath before being swallowed again by dead silence.

Xue Ning's leg once more lost all feeling.

But her chest was rising and falling violently.

In those eyes that had always been as still as an ancient well, a startling light had appeared.

"Qingyun... just now, that was..." She gripped the wheelchair armrest tightly, her voice trembling slightly with excitement.

Shen Qingyun placed the handkerchief on the side table. "A withered tree meeting spring again. If the blocked meridians are massaged open, this leg can be healed."

"How... many chances do you have?" Xue Ning asked, lifting her head, her eyes full of hope.

"Forty percent."