Yin Luo's immortal abode was vastly larger than the courtyard appeared from the outside.
The courtyard was merely the entrance; the true cavern abode was hidden deep inside the mountain behind the pavilion.
After Jerry changed into the grey Cultivator inner robe from the wardrobe, he followed Yin Luo through the ground-floor corridor, at the end of which stood a stone door embedded into the mountain wall.
The surface of the stone door was densely carved with intricate array patterns.
The lines glowed dark purple, flashing briefly when Yin Luo pressed her palm against the surface, before the stone doors slid open to either side.
Behind the door was a flight of stone stairs descending downward.
Embedded in the walls on both sides every three meters were fist-sized luminous pearls, their soft white glow illuminating the entire passageway with absolute clarity.
The stairway was about fifty meters long, dropping to a depth of roughly twenty meters, terminating in a colossal circular chamber.
The circular space measured over a hundred meters in diameter, with a vaulted ceiling rising thirty meters high.
Hundreds of luminous pearls were studded into the dome, simulating the effect of a starry night sky.
The floor of the chamber was paved with smooth black flagstones, inscribed with a massive array fifty meters across.
The patterns were extraordinarily intricate, the density of the lines so high that from a distance it resembled a solid-colored rug.
Alcoves of various sizes were carved into the surrounding walls, each housing different items.
Some chambers were lined with jade slips, some held magical artifacts, some grew glowing spiritual herbs, and others had their entrances sealed behind translucent barriers of spiritual power, obscuring whatever lay beyond.
Jerry stood at the base of the stone stairs, his grey eyes sweeping across the entire circular chamber.
He raised his right hand, bringing his index and middle fingers together to trace a circle before his face.
The lens of the Eye of Magic coalesced into form before his eyes.
Viewing through the lens, the structure of the entire space transformed entirely.
In the vision of the Eye of Magic, the giant array on the floor turned into a three-dimensional network composed of thousands of spiritual energy lines.
Each line possessed its own color, thickness, and direction of flow, while the intersections between lines formed miniature energy nodes pulsing with continuous, rhythmic frequency.
The spiritual barriers sealing the alcove entrances became layered arrays, each possessing independent functions and trigger conditions.
Jerry walked to the edge of the floor array, crouched down, and extended his right index finger, hovering his fingertip about a centimeter above the inscribed lines.
A sliver of greyish-black magic seeped from his fingertip, piercing into the surface of the array pattern like an ultra-fine probe.
The array pattern reacted the moment the magic probe pierced it.
Dark purple spiritual power rippled outward from the point of entry, like a drop of ink falling into clear water.
Yet Jerry's magic probe was not rejected; instead, it followed the flow of spiritual energy deeper into the internal structure of the formation.
Behind the magical lens, his grey eyes shifted rapidly, his pupils continuously adjusting their focal length, toggling from the macroscopic structure down to individual energy lines, and then to the connecting nodes between them.
His left hand slipped from the sleeve of his inner robe, his fingers sketching rapidly in midair.
With every stroke, an ultra-fine line of grey light lingered in the air.
The lines assembled into a complex diagram, completely different from the array on the floor, resembling a mathematical formula or a logical framework.
Yin Luo stood three meters behind him, her dark red slit pupils locked onto the grey lines Jerry traced in the air.
Her arms were crossed over her chest, the collar of her sheer gauze outer robe parting slightly with the motion, exposing a small expanse of pale skin below her collarbone.
Jerry's fingers sketched in the air for about thirty seconds.
The grey lines formed a three-dimensional figure composed of seven nested layers, each corresponding to a functional module within the floor formation.
His finger stopped upon completing the final stroke, his grey eyes studying the 3D diagram through the magical lens.
"The core logic of this array is a three-tier nested cyclical structure."
His voice was flat and measured, sounding like a professor explaining a math problem in a classroom.
"The outer layer is a sensory module tasked with detecting the spiritual energy fluctuations of any organism entering its range. The middle layer is a logic module that cross-references detected fluctuations against a preset whitelist. The inner layer is the execution module, releasing offensive spiritual pulses against any target not on that whitelist."
His index finger tapped the outermost layer of the 3D diagram.
"The sensory module has a detection radius of one hundred and twenty meters, with enough precision to distinguish the difference between early and mid Foundation Establishment. The whitelist in the middle layer currently holds only a single entry—presumably your own spiritual signature. The inner layer's attack pulse carries the force of a full-power strike from a mid Golden Core cultivator."
He paused briefly.
"The power source for the entire array is a tributary of a spiritual vein roughly fifteen meters beneath the floor. Energy is continuously drawn through twelve absorption nodes at the base of the array, with an operational redundancy of roughly three percent between input and consumption."
Yin Luo's vertical pupils blinked once after Jerry finished speaking.
She stepped up from behind him, crouched down beside him, and studied the three-dimensional construct floating in midair with her dark red eyes.
Her right hand reached out, the black-lacquered nail of her index finger tapping a grey line on the outermost layer.
The line vibrated faintly where she touched it, yet remained intact without dissipating.
"How long did that take you?"
"About thirty seconds."
Yin Luo's slit pupils blinked again.
"It took me three months to construct this array."
The corner of Jerry's mouth twitched upward.
"Constructing and analyzing are two entirely different things. I only deciphered its structure; if you asked me to set up an identical array from scratch, I couldn't do it."
Yin Luo stood up, crossing her arms over her chest once more.
Her gaze shifted away from the floating geometric construct to settle onto Jerry's face.
"How did you learn such a method?"
"Learn what?"
"What you just did."
Pulling her right hand free, she traced a circle in the air with her index finger, mimicking Jerry's gesture when summoning the Eye of Magic.
"Using a transparent disc to see right through an array's structure, and then mapping it out with grey lines. Why is it completely different from the cultivation we know?"
Jerry rose from his crouch and brushed the dust from the knees of his inner robe.
"Because they are fundamentally two entirely different systems. How do you cultivators study arrays? By attuning to heavenly laws, comprehending the Dao of formations, and relying on raw intuition regarding spiritual energy flows to set up and crack them?"
"More or less."
"Our method is to treat an array as a deconstructible logical system. Each line of spiritual energy is a variable, each node is an operator, and the entire array is a system of equations composed of variables and operators. Deciphering an array is simply solving equations."
Yin Luo's slit pupils narrowed slightly upon hearing the word "equation."
"Equation?"
"A tool used to describe relationships between things," Jerry said, drawing a grey line in the air. "For example, take this line of spiritual energy. It flows from Point A to Point B at a rate of three units per second. At Point B, it branches into two pathways—one to Point C, one to Point D. This data can be formulated into a set of mathematical relations, and through calculation, one can deduce the operational laws of the entire system."
"Per second?"
"A unit of time. One second is roughly..." Jerry paused, his grey eyes meeting Yin Luo's. "How do you measure time?"
"The burning of an incense stick, the steeping of a cup of tea, a two-hour mortal watch."
"A second is roughly one three-hundredth of an incense stick."
Yin Luo's brow arched. "You slice time into pieces that small?"
"Precise measurement is the bedrock of analysis. If you can only describe the flow of spiritual energy in terms of 'an incense stick,' you can never distinguish the subtle variance between two lines with nearly identical velocities. But if you measure in 'seconds,' you can see that one line flows at 3.2 units per second while another flows at 3.7. That 0.5 difference might very well be the linchpin of the entire array."
Yin Luo fell silent for several seconds. Her dark red slit pupils fixed on the 3D model Jerry had suspended in midair, her gaze sweeping between its various tiers.
"So the way you wizards study spiritual energy is by treating it as something that can be measured, calculated, and predicted?"
"While we cultivators treat it as something meant to be sensed, comprehended, and enlightened."
"Precisely."
The corners of Yin Luo's mouth curled into an understanding smirk.
"No wonder the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion is so desperate to capture you lot for study."
She turned and walked toward one of the caves on the left side of the circular chamber.
The entrance of this alcove was sealed by a dark purple barrier of spiritual power, its surface rippling with dense runes flowing in slow motion.
"Come. Decipher this one for me as well."
Jerry followed her to the cave entrance, raising his right hand and aligning the lens of the Eye of Magic with the dark purple barrier.
His grey eyes darted rapidly behind the lens, his focal point shifting without pause.
"This one is more complex than the last."
"Naturally."
Yin Luo leaned against the wall beside the cave entrance, arms crossed over her chest.
The hem of her sheer outer robe parted as she leaned back, baring the full, pale contour of her left leg from knee to ankle.
"It took me two years to set up this sealing array. Inside is a magical treasure I haven't fully refined yet."
Jerry's fingers began tracing lines in the air.
His pace was noticeably slower this time; he paused for two or three seconds between strokes, his grey eyes repeatedly confirming details through the magical lens.
The grey lines slowly intertwined in the air, taking about a minute to map from the first layer to the second, and two minutes from the second to the third.
Leaning against the stone wall, Yin Luo watched him work, her dark red slit pupils reflecting the grey lines taking shape.
Her right hand slipped from her folded arms, her black-nailed index finger lightly tapping her forearm in rhythm with his sketching.
"Seconds."
She spoke abruptly.
Jerry's fingers paused mid-stroke as his grey eyes shifted from behind the lens toward her.
"That unit of time you mentioned earlier. One three-hundredth of an incense stick."
Her tapping finger stopped, pointing toward a node on the third layer of the 3D model Jerry was drafting.
"The pulse interval of this node—if measured in your 'seconds'—about how long is it?"
A faint smirk touched Jerry's lips.
"Zero point seven seconds."
"Zero point seven," Yin Luo murmured, repeating the number as her tongue grazed her palate. "And the node next to it?"
"Zero point nine seconds."
"A difference of zero point two."
"Yes. That 0.2 difference determines whether the energy transfer between the two nodes is unidirectional or bidirectional. If the pulse intervals are identical, energy flows both ways. If there is a discrepancy, energy will only flow from the node with the shorter interval to the one with the longer interval."
Yin Luo's slit pupils brightened a fraction.
"So that's why when I laid this sealing array, the third tier's energy kept skewing to the right. I spent six months trying to balance it without success. It was all because of a 0.2 difference in pulse intervals."
"By your units, that discrepancy is roughly an 'instant.' Far too fleeting for ordinary human perception to distinguish."
Yin Luo pushed off the wall and stepped up beside Jerry, her dark red slit pupils locked onto the floating structure.
She stood less than twenty centimeters away from him, the sheer gauze sleeve of her robe brushing against Jerry's arm as she pointed at the diagram.
"Continue. I want to see you decipher the entire sealing array."
It took Jerry about fifteen minutes to completely map out the sealing array.
Suspended in the air was a three-dimensional model composed of twelve nested tiers, its grey lines radiating a faint luminescence in the dim cavern.
Yin Luo circled the construct three times, her slit pupils scrutinizing every layer, occasionally reaching out to touch a strand of light with her lips moving slightly as if committing it to memory.
"Next."
Her voice came from the other side of the model, carrying an unquenched hunger.
Jerry followed Yin Luo in a full circuit around the circular hall.
He analyzed the defensive formations carved into the walls, the locking arrays of the storage caves, the vein-absorption array, and the lighting array simulating the starry ceiling.
After each one, Yin Luo would circle the geometric diagram, ask a few questions regarding node pulse intervals, and then say, "Next."
The seventh array guarded the entrance of a cave in the deepest part of the circular space.
This entrance was significantly smaller than the others, measuring only about 1.8 meters high and barely wide enough for a single person to pass through.
The spiritual barrier across the opening was deep crimson, unlike the others, and the runes across its surface flowed nearly twice as fast.
Overlaid on the edge was an ultra-thin, nearly invisible transparent membrane inscribed with an entirely different style of formation script.
Jerry aligned the lens of the Eye of Magic with the barrier.
"The encryption on this array is far higher than all the previous ones," his grey eyes darted rapidly behind the lens. "The outer layer is a standard locking formation, but inside is another layer... a privacy ward?"
His fingers sketched three lines in midair, then halted.
"The trigger conditions are peculiar. If anyone other than yourself attempts to probe the interior with spiritual power, it automatically triggers a self-destruct sequence, instantly incinerating everything inside."
Yin Luo's body stiffened the moment Jerry spoke the words "privacy ward."
The reaction was minute—merely her shoulders lifting by two millimeters and the rhythmic tapping of her fingers pausing for 0.3 seconds.
"No need to analyze this one."
Her voice was half a beat quicker than before.
Jerry's finger was already drawing the fourth line. His grey eyes glanced toward Yin Luo from behind the lens.
"Why? We analyzed the previous six."
"This one is private."
"The previous sealing array holds an unrefined treasure of yours; that was private as well."
Yin Luo's slit pupils narrowed. Her lips parted as if to protest, but Jerry's finger had already drawn the seventh line.
Having grown accustomed to Yin Luo's style, his decryption speed was accelerating; the first six formations had revealed her habits and preferences, leaving few unknown variables in this seventh one.
"Wait—"
Yin Luo's right hand shot out, her black-nailed fingers snatching for his right wrist.
Too late.
Jerry's magic probe cracked the core node of the barrier exactly 0.2 seconds before her fingers made contact.
His methodology differed completely from spiritual energy probing; his magical probe did not trigger the preset conditions for "spiritual detection." Because magic and spiritual Qi were two entirely distinct energies, the self-destruct mechanism failed to recognize the probe's presence entirely.
The moment the analysis completed, the crimson barrier lost stability.
The runes across its surface slowed drastically from a rapid rush to a sluggish crawl, before freezing altogether.
The color degraded from deep crimson to faint pink, and from pink to clear transparency, before popping like a punctured soap bubble and vanishing with a soft plink.
The interior of the cave was bared before their eyes.
The alcove was small, roughly ten square meters, its floor blanketed in a plush, spotless purple carpet.
Along the left wall hung a row of wooden racks holding an assortment of garments.
Jerry's grey eyes swept over the clothing rack.
On the far left hung three silk bodices. The first was black silk, embroidered with a dark red blossom across the chest.
The second was deep violet and far sheerer—so thin the silhouette of the wooden hanger was visible through the fabric under the pearl-light.
The third was pure white, completely unadorned except for two delicate ribbons at the neckline.
In the middle hung several garments Jerry couldn't name.
One was an open-mesh fishnet bodysuit, woven from countless fine cords with gaps wide enough to slip a finger through.
Another was a pair of crotchless silk panties, featuring an open diamond-shaped slit directly over the crotch.
Beside that hung what resembled garter stockings, but the straps extended up to the hips, linking into an ultra-thin waist belt.
On the far right were two silk ribbons, roughly two meters long and two centimeters wide, crafted from an extraordinarily soft fabric radiating faint pulses of spiritual Qi.
Against the right wall sat a low cabinet with a half-open drawer, inside of which lay several neatly arranged implements of varying shapes.
There was a smooth jade phallus as thick as an index finger and fifteen centimeters long, etched with minuscule array script.
There was an egg-sized oval pearl glowing with a warm sheen, housing a microscopic thread of spiritual Qi vibrating slowly within.
And there was a beaded chain of five spheres of graduating size, the smallest one centimeter in diameter and the largest four.
Jerry's grey eyes lingered on the items in the drawer for a solid second.
He turned his head to look at Yin Luo standing beside him.
Yin Luo stood frozen at the entrance, motionless as if struck by a Petrification Curse.
Her dark red slit pupils were blown wide—larger than Jerry had ever seen—dilated until they practically swallowed her entire irises.
Her lips were parted, yet no sound came out.
Her right hand was still poised mid-grab, her black-clawed fingers hanging in the air, petrified.
Her face, starting from her throat, flushed crimson all the way to the tips of her ears.
The blush was shockingly vivid against her pale skin, like a glass of red wine splashed across stark white parchment.
The flush crept upward past her neck, rushing through her jaw, cheeks, and the bridge of her nose, finally reaching the crest of her ears.
The tips of her ears were burning so red they practically glowed.
Jerry looked at Yin Luo's face, glanced at the lingerie and sex toys inside the alcove, and then looked back at her face.
"So this is why you didn't want me deciphering it."
Yin Luo's lips twitched. A choked syllable caught in her throat, sounding like the start of "You—", but she swallowed the rest down.
She withdrew her hovering hand, clenching her fingers into a fist so tight her knuckles cracked.
"You saw."
Three words squeezed through gritted teeth, each trembling with an unmistakable vibe of I desperately want to murder you right now, but I am forcing myself to hold back.
"I saw," Jerry replied evenly. "The array script on that jade dildo is quite interesting. Is it a vibrating enchantment?"
Yin Luo clenched her fist even harder, her black nails digging into her palms until droplets of blood welled up.
Her pupils snapped from wide dilation into razor-thin slits, her dark red irises flashing with dangerous, murderous light.
"Say one more word, and I'll sew your mouth shut."
The corner of Jerry's mouth lifted. He tactfully kept silent, averting his grey eyes from the chamber to gaze toward the rest of the hall.
Yin Luo stormed into the alcove, her sheer gauze robe flaring around her brisk strides.
She rushed to the low cabinet, bent over, and shoved the open drawer shut with a sharp slam.
She spun toward the rack, snatching down the lingerie piece by piece, stuffing them haphazardly into a storage pouch beside the hangers.
She moved with frantic haste, her fingers fumbling and dropping one of the garments.
The fishnet bodysuit slipped from the hanger, fluttering down onto the purple carpet.
When she leaned down to scoop it up, the hem of her sheer robe rode up, baring the back of her thighs and the curve of her lower butt cheek.
Stuffing the fishnet suit into the pouch, she turned around, glaring with venomous slit pupils at Jerry outside the entrance.
"You. Turn around."
Jerry turned his back to the cave, a faint smirk playing on his lips.
A flurry of rustling fabric continued behind him for about thirty seconds before Yin Luo's boots thumped heavily against the stone floor as she marched out.
"Turn around."
Jerry turned. Yin Luo stood before him gripping the bulging storage pouch, the crimson on her face mostly receded, leaving only a lingering blush on the tips of her ears.
Her slit pupils had returned to their usual half-lidded, languid state, though the muscles around her eyes remained taut.
"Do you usually play with sex toys by yourself?"
Jerry murmured in an undertone, as if talking to himself.
Yin Luo raised her right hand, jabbing her black-nailed index finger straight into Jerry's forehead, pushing his head back two centimeters.
"Mention it again, and I'll toss you to the demonic beasts outside."
"Alright, alright. I won't bring it up."
Removing her finger from his forehead, Yin Luo turned and headed toward the stairs. After three paces, she stopped, tilting her head to shoot a glare at Jerry out of the corner of her eye.
Yin Luo did not speak while cooking.
Jerry confirmed this after spending three days in her abode.
Every morning, Yin Luo would retrieve ingredients from her storage pouch and stand before the crude stove in the courtyard for twenty minutes in absolute silence.
Her slicing of spiritual fruits was meticulously precise, the spacing between each cut identical, the blade striking the board with a rhythmic thud, thud, thud like a programmed metronome.
When Jerry tried chatting with her on the first morning while she chopped, her knife paused, her slit pupils cast a sidelong glance at him without responding, and then she went right back to cutting.
On the second morning, Jerry tried again.
"Yin Luo, do you usually live here all alone?"
The blade halted. Yin Luo's shoulders rose slightly by two millimeters, her left fingers clamping white-knuckled around the fruit. Her lips parted to let out an ultra-clipped "Mmh," before she resumed slicing.
On the third morning, Jerry didn't speak.
After slicing the fruit, Yin Luo placed the pieces into a jade bowl carved with a heating array on its base; the fruit steamed in the warmth, emitting a sweet fragrance of honey and mint.
She carried the bowl to the stone table in the center of the courtyard, then returned to the stove to retrieve her second ingredient.
Cultivation food was entirely different from the wizarding world—no bread, no roasted meats, no pumpkin juice.
Yin Luo's breakfast consisted of three items: warmed spiritual fruit slices, a bowl of spirit rice porridge brewed in spring water, and a plate of cured spirit-beast jerky.
The porridge was pale gold, each grain swelling to three times its size when cooked, gleaming with a fine film of spiritual Qi.
The dark red meat jerky was extremely tough, snapping with a crisp crunch between teeth, tasting salty and spicy, the heat lingering at the base of the tongue for ten seconds before fading.
Sitting across the stone table, Jerry used chopsticks to pop a slice of fruit into his mouth.
It tasted like a cross between an apple and a peach, releasing a warm burst of spiritual energy upon biting through the skin that flowed down his throat and settled into his stomach like a cozy hearth.
Yin Luo sat opposite him, sipping her porridge with head bowed.
She ate silently, lips pressed to the rim, taking tiny mouthfuls with barely any visible swallowing motion.
Her eyes remained fixed on the surface of the porridge, only occasionally glancing up at Jerry, quickly darting back down the moment their eyes met.
Socially anxious.
Jerry mentally stamped Yin Luo with this label after breakfast on the third day.
An Elder of the Myriad Demons Palace, a late Nascent Soul grandmaster who could scare off Heavenly Secrets Pavilion deacons with three cold words, yet in her own home, eating across from a guest, she couldn't maintain eye contact for more than two seconds.
In the afternoons, Yin Luo would cultivate in the circular cavern.
During her breaks, Jerry continued deciphering various formations throughout the cavern, leaving 3D holographic diagrams hanging in the air.
Whenever Yin Luo opened her eyes, she would walk over, scan every layer with her red slit pupils, and pose a few brief questions.
Her questioning was blunt and clipped.
She never said "excuse me" or "could you explain," merely using the briefest phrases to point out what eluded her.
"Tier four, third node. Why is it reversed?"
"Because its upstream node pulses at 0.4 seconds and downstream at 0.6 seconds. Energy flows from shorter to longer intervals, so this node's transmission is inverted."
"Understood."
Then she would fall silent for about ten seconds, pupils locked onto a specific coordinate, fingers tracing absentminded gestures in the air.
Ten seconds later, she would walk to another section of the floor, crouch, press her fingers to an array groove, and channel dark purple spiritual Qi into it.
On the third afternoon, using Jerry's concept of "seconds," she independently corrected the third-tier energy skew that had plagued her floor array for six months.
Standing nearby watching her work, Jerry's grey eyes narrowed slightly.
He had only taught her the most rudimentary concepts: precise time measurement, node pulse interval calculation, and energy flow rules—three concepts taking less than ten minutes to convey.
Yet once armed with those tools, Yin Luo had extrapolated at least seven or eight derivative rules on her own and directly applied them to array calibration.
At Hogwarts, that learning curve would have prompted Professor McGonagall to take her on as a prized personal disciple on the spot.
At dinner, Yin Luo was more talkative than at breakfast. Perhaps three days of cohabitation had eased her wariness, or perhaps fixing the array that afternoon had put her in good spirits.
She retrieved a flagon of spiritual wine from her pouch; the translucent pale-purple liquid smelled of wisteria blossoms as she poured it into jade cups.
"Why did your wizarding world go to war with the cultivation realm?"
Yin Luo's voice came from behind her cup, her lips resting against the rim as her slit pupils peered over it at Jerry.
"We didn't start it. Your cultivators invaded our world first."
Yin Luo's slit pupils blinked.
"Invaded?"
"You didn't know?"
"I have little interest in this war." She set the cup down, swirling her fingertip around the rim. "Most cultivators don't care. We cultivate, break through bottlenecks, and chase immortality. Who has the time to invade other worlds?"
"Then why is the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion hunting us?"
The corner of Yin Luo's mouth twisted in cold mockery.
"The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion is just one faction. The real drivers of this war are those ancient relics nearing the end of their lifespans."
She picked up a piece of dried beast jerky, snapping a bite with a loud crunch in the quiet courtyard.
"Nascent Soul cultivators live around two thousand years. Soul Formation experts live five thousand. When those old monsters who've lived for millennia get stuck at bottlenecks and watch their lifespans drain day by day, they start looking for alternatives."
She swallowed the meat, tapping her fingers twice on the stone table.
"Conquering other world clusters, plundering their unique resources, searching for methods to prolong life. That is the real reason this war drags on."
Jerry's grey eyes fixed on Yin Luo. He swirled the purple wine in his jade cup.
"A handful of dying old men shouldn't be enough to drive a war encompassing the entire cultivation realm."
"Of course not," Yin Luo narrowed her eyes, continuing to tap the table. "So they manufactured another problem."
She paused.
"Too many cultivators."
Jerry's fingers stopped swirling the cup.
"The cultivation realms span thousands of worlds. Early on, cultivators were few and resources were plentiful; everyone received ample spirit stones, elixirs, and spirit veins. But as more worlds were conquered, more beings embarked on cultivation. The more that are born, the fewer resources remain."
She took another bite of jerky. Crunch.
"Naturally, this 'shortage' is artificially engineered. Thousands of worlds combined produce more than enough to sustain the existing population. But the top sects monopolize the richest worlds, leaving the rest to scrap over scraps in barren realms. When resources grow tight, discontent brews among lower-tier cultivators. That's when the old monsters step up and say: There are more worlds out there—conquer them, and you will have your resources."
"Manufacture a shortage, then use foreign conquest to redirect internal friction."
Yin Luo regarded Jerry, her smirk widening slightly.
"You catch on quickly."
"Our wizarding history is rife with the same tactics." Jerry drained his cup, a drop of purple wine escaping the corner of his mouth to trickle down his chin. "Still, your logic holds. For large sects to survive, they need talented disciples. Talented disciples require rich ancestral foundations to nurture, and foundations demand stockpiles of resources. External expansion becomes an existential necessity for major sects."
"Fight over scraps in the same dog bowl, and you'll either starve or get mauled to death."
Yin Luo stated this dispassionately, as if reciting a truth observed over thousands of years.
She popped the final piece of jerky into her mouth, crunched, swallowed, and washed down the lingering spice with a gulp of wine.
"And the Myriad Demons Palace?" Jerry asked. "Are you part of this war?"
Yin Luo's slit pupils tightened.
"The Myriad Demons Palace doesn't involve itself in the righteous hypocrites' messes."
She set the cup down, tracing its rim.
"Nor do we stop them. If the righteous sects conquer foreign worlds and win, we demand our cut of the spoils. If they lose and bleed, their power weakens while our relative standing rises. Either way, we never lose."
"So you're helping me purely because you despise the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. Nothing to do with justice or sympathy."
"I am a demonic cultivator." Yin Luo opened her eyes fully, her dark red irises glistening with the sheen of alcohol. "If words like 'justice' and 'sympathy' came from my lips, would you believe them?"
"Not for a second."
"There you have it."
On the evening of the fourth day, as Yin Luo cultivated in the circular chamber, a dark purple transmission jade slip flew from her storage pouch, hovering thirty centimeters before her face with runes flashing urgently.
Yin Luo opened her eyes, pinched the slip with her right hand, and sank her divine sense into it.
Three seconds later, she stowed the slip away and stood up, the sheer robe swishing around her legs.
"Recall order from the Myriad Demons Palace. The Palace Master has concluded secluded cultivation; all Elders must report back within three days."
Jerry, crouched at the perimeter deciphering the locking array of the thirteenth cave, paused his fingers in midair. His grey eyes shifted through his magical lens toward her.
"You're leaving?"
"First thing tomorrow morning."
Jerry pulled his hand back, allowing the Eye of Magic to disperse before rising and dusting off the knees of his inner robe.
"Can you take me with you?"
Yin Luo's slit pupils bored into him.
"You want to go to the Myriad Demons Palace?"
"I have no idea where I am and no way to reach the wizarding encampment. Sticking with you is far safer than wandering aimlessly through the mountains alone. The Myriad Demons Palace is a major sect with vast intel networks; I might find a route home."
The corner of Yin Luo's mouth lifted. She folded her arms, tapping her black-nailed fingers lightly against her forearm.
"I can. But you must let me craft a complete disguise for you. That illusion badge you used by the hot springs was far too crude; it fools Golden Core cultivators from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, but in the Myriad Demons Palace, any Elder sweeping their divine sense over you would see right through it."
"What does a complete disguise require?"
Yin Luo's pupils blinked. Her gaze drifted down from his face, raking over his grey inner robe from collar to hem, before returning to his eyes.
"A layer of spiritual camouflage membrane must be laid directly onto your skin. Its thickness, density, and conduits must be tailored precisely to your physique. Therefore, I must... measure."
"Measure what?"
"Everything."
She delivered the word in an even tone, slit pupils half-lidded, assuming a facade of businesslike detachment that said this is purely professional, don't get funny ideas.
Yet her tapping finger hit her arm at double its normal frequency.
Jerry studied her face, then noted the hurried cadence of her tapping finger.
"Fine."
She turned toward the stairs. "Follow me up. The light in the courtyard is better."
In the courtyard, dusk light slanted through the bamboo grove, washing the whitewashed walls and dark tiles in orange and red.
Standing beside the stone table, Yin Luo produced a scroll of beast hide inked with an anatomical human silhouette, covered in dense measurements and notations.
"Take off your clothes."
Jerry's fingers rested on the collar ties of his inner robe.
"All of it?"
"Every stitch. The spiritual membrane must coat every single inch of your skin. I cannot weave it with clothes in the way."
Yin Luo's tone remained deadpan. Her eyes lingered on the diagram as she produced a slender jade measuring ruler with her right hand and a calligraphy brush dipped in spirit ink with her left, deliberately keeping her gaze pinned to her tools rather than looking at him.
Jerry untied the cord. The grey fabric slipped from his shoulders, sliding down his arms to pool around his ankles. Beneath it was the pair of black cotton boxer-briefs he had brought from the wizarding world, clinging tightly to the contours of his groin.
"The underwear too?"
"Everything."
Her voice came from behind the parchment, her eyes ostensibly trained on the sketch, though her focus was clearly unaligned with the surface.
Jerry hooked his thumbs into the waistband and dragged it down. The black cotton slipped down his hips, and his cock sprang free from the fabric's confinement, casting a thick, heavy shadow in the amber twilight.
Yin Luo raised her eyes from the parchment.
Her slit pupils locked onto his cock. The constriction of her pupils hitched halfway, the dark red irises quivering on either side of the vertical slits. Her gaze lingered on his shaft for a solid three seconds, drinking in the sight from base to tip, and back from tip to base.
"...Bigger than I thought."
The words slipped past her lips in a hushed murmur, almost like an involuntary thought spoken aloud.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing. Stand straight. Arms out."
Yin Luo stepped directly in front of Jerry, ruler in her right hand, brush in her left. Standing nearly twenty centimeters taller than him, she had to tilt her head down slightly to meet his gaze. Averting her eyes from his face, she focused on his shoulders.
The cold jade ruler pressed against his right shoulder. Yin Luo's fingers guided the tool along his shoulder line from the acromion to the base of his neck, the icy surface gliding across bare skin. Meanwhile, her brush scratched notes across the parchment.
"Shoulder width, thirty-seven."
The jade ruler traveled from his shoulder down to his chest. Yin Luo held it horizontally across Jerry's torso, measuring from left nipple to right. As the cool jade scraped over his left nipple, the sudden chill caused Jerry's pectoral muscles to contract slightly.
"Chest circumference, seventy-eight."
The ruler slid lower. Yin Luo traced it flat down his torso—from his chest, past his defined abdominal ridges, over his navel, and down across his lower belly to the crest of his pubic bone. In its descent, the ruler brushed against the base of his shaft. Her fingers hitched for a split second, before she smoothly guided the ruler around the cock and measured down to the root of his thighs.
"Torso length, fifty-two."
She crouched down.
In this position, her face was positioned directly level with Jerry's groin. His heavy cock hung a mere fifteen centimeters before her nose, the thick veins and skin texture starkly defined in the twilight glow. Her slit pupils unavoidably locked onto his shaft; she stared for a heartbeat before wrenching her gaze toward his thigh.
The jade ruler touched the outer contour of Jerry's right thigh. Yin Luo's fingers guided it from hip to knee, and from knee to ankle. Her brush moved with noticeably increased haste across the parchment.
She stood and walked behind Jerry. The ruler pressed to his spine, tracing from his cervical vertebrae down to his tailbone. As she measured, her fingertips occasionally left the ruler entirely, pressing directly against his bare skin, sliding deliberately down the ridges of muscle flanking his spine.
"Dorsal muscle distribution... requires tactile verification."
Her voice came from behind him, maintaining her facade of professional detachment.
Yet the linger of her fingers on his bare back far exceeded what was needed for mere measurement.
Her pads stroked down from his shoulder blades, tracing the dimples of his lower back, grazing the upper shelf of his butt, pausing for two seconds at his tailbone before dipping low enough to brush the very cleft of his buttocks.
"Turn around."
Jerry turned. Yin Luo stood before him, slit pupils half-hooded, the ruler in her right hand and the brush abandoned on the stone table. Her bare left hand spread wide, its black-clawed fingers held open toward his chest.
"The frontal spiritual membrane demands an even tighter fit. I must touch your skin with my bare palm to gauge the density and distribution of your body's magical field."
Her left palm pressed flat against Jerry's chest. Her hand was several degrees cooler than a normal mortal's, sliding slowly across his bare skin. She dragged her palm downward, tracing every cut of his abdominal muscles, lingering at the borders between each ridge as if assessing their thickness and grain.
Her hand slipped down to his lower abdomen.
Yin Luo's fingers rested upon the skin of his lower belly for three seconds. Her slit pupils darted from his abdomen down to his cock, and from his cock back up to his abs. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed.
"The magical field density here is higher than elsewhere."
"Is that so?"
"It requires closer examination."
Her left hand drifted lower still. Her fingers stroked past his pubic bone, slipping into the groin creases on either side of his shaft, rubbing back and forth in the hollows. Then her fingers made contact with the root of his cock.
Her five fingers closed around the base of the thick shaft, her palm flush against the hot skin.
"...It really is real."
Her voice dropped half an octave. Her hand slid slowly upward along the shaft, her pads pressing into the hot flesh, tracing the pulsing, throbbing veins beneath the skin.
Her fingers reached the middle, paused for two seconds, and continued to glide up to the coronal ridge. Her fingertip circled the sensitive ridge, her pad gently rubbing the thin, tender skin beside the slit.
Under her intimate touch, his cock engorged rapidly. Within ten seconds, the shaft went from semi-soft to rock hard, its swelling girth pushing her encircling fingers outward.
Feeling the shaft throb and expand in her grip, Yin Luo's hand froze. Her slit pupils lifted from his erection to meet Jerry's gaze.
Jerry's grey eyes were half-lidded, a faint, knowing smirk on his lips.
"Done measuring?"
Yin Luo's fingers snapped open as if scorched by an open flame, her hand recoiling backward instantly.
Straightening to her full height, she shoved the jade ruler back into her pouch with her right hand, while wiping her left hand against the fabric of her robe, trying to scrub away the lingering heat from her palm.
"Measurement complete."
Her voice regained its usual languid detachment, though the vivid pink staining the tips of her ears betrayed her.
"You can put your clothes on now."