Qi Zhimu fell into deep thought, and after a long while, his brow twitched slightly.
"Got it. Perhaps I can try temporarily stripping away my senses of smell and taste, and modify the visual nerves specifically for her alone."
He thought of it and immediately acted.
The next day on the Martial Arts Field, in Qi Zhimu's eyes, Jingliu was just a figure with a blurred face, and he couldn't smell her scent either.
It seemed quite effective.
For three consecutive months, no issues arose from close proximity and contact.
Seeing this, Jingliu couldn't help but frown.
If it was truly so effective, why did her master later still keep his distance from her?
Soon, the scene that followed confirmed her suspicion.
"That's enough."
"Master, the Martial Examination officially begins tomorrow. I'd like to practice a bit more, is that okay?"
"Mm, as you wish."
At that time, after hearing her master's words, she felt very disappointed.
She believed her master would never stop due to fatigue; he simply didn't want to spar with her anymore.
Then, returning home, she detected her master's lingering scent in the bathroom, mixed with the fragrances of Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold.
She arbitrarily concluded that her master had just been intimate with them.
When she went back to her room to fetch her home clothes to bathe, passing by Clear Cold's room, she even heard her suppressed moans.
In the end, she forcibly convinced herself that all of this was normal, and that she was the abnormal one, so the matter was reluctantly set aside.
But what about now?
She saw that when Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold were bathing, her master, losing control, protected his last shred of reason, broke through the door, appeared behind Sleeping Snow as if teleporting, and opened his mouth to bite.
As if one second later, he would no longer be himself.
During the time she hadn't finished her extra training, her master had been feeding all along.
Until she finished her training, Sleeping Snow's face was as pale as paper, yet he still wasn't satisfied.
Detecting the commotion of her return, her master quickly took the person and moved to Clear Cold's room, continuing to devour blood.
Because the devouring was too fast and too intense, Clear Cold couldn't control herself from making sounds, only managing to lower her voice as much as possible.
What normal human feelings...?
It was clearly a mutual salvation, a bond forged through life and death.
Her master had saved them, and now, they voluntarily helped her master.
And what about herself?
As a disciple, not only did she fail to help her master in the slightest, but she was the one who made her master pay with his life.
After all, when Xianzhou people lose their elixir organ and fall into mara affliction, they also die!
After a long time, Qi Zhimu's nearly instinctual thirst for blood was finally satisfied.
"Lord Zhimu... why suddenly..." Clear Cold hesitated to speak.
Watching the bite marks on her neck heal rapidly, Qi Zhimu sighed helplessly.
"Seeking benefit and avoiding harm is a biological instinct, as is eating when hungry, but—"
"The desire to devour Jingliu takes priority even over these instincts. Over the past few months, blocking some senses seemed effective, but it was actually self-deception."
"Blocking these doesn't mean the impulses from physical contact during training will disappear."
"They quietly accumulate, waiting for the moment your mind relaxes, then erupt together through the human instinct for certain desires."
"As long as it's a living volcano, how can the crater be blocked for long?"
Saying this, Qi Zhimu couldn't help but sigh again.
"What's even more terrifying is that I gradually realized something... I seem to have fallen for my own disciple."
Hearing this, Clear Cold fell silent.
Not out of jealousy or envy, but because she genuinely stood in Qi Zhimu's position, understanding his predicament.
Things like worldly morals, Xianzhou people don't really care much about; let outsiders gossip as they please.
If you spend most of your life listening to others' discussions, how can there be any happiness?
What truly made Lord Zhimu restrain himself was the subconscious unwillingness to harm those around him, unwilling to drag his only disciple into the abyss.
Back when they, the sisters, were on the brink of death, Lord Zhimu also waited until the last moment when there was no other choice, and after asking for their consent, saved them using the Self-Actualization Aspect Method.
That's just who he is.
The kind of existence that makes people willingly follow by his side and unhesitatingly give their lives for him.
Originally unwilling to harm Jingliu, coupled with the unconsciously growing feelings, it became a deadlock with both ends blocked.
Reason told him: he must stay away from his disciple.
But his subconscious, body, and desires told him to get infinitely close to her.
Best to devour her into his stomach, so he could reclaim everything that should belong to him, become stronger, and no longer be incomplete.
Accompanied by a long silence, Jingliu, tracing back the truth of the past, gradually understood everything.
She wasn't foolish.
It was just that before, blinded by obsessive thoughts, she couldn't see the truth hidden beneath the surface, couldn't see the feelings her master struggled to restrain, always thinking of her.
Many things that happened afterward were mostly her misunderstanding her master.
At the Cloud Knight Martial Arts Examination, she defeated Qin Huaimin and won first place, but her master didn't acknowledge her... right?
No.
He truly had no choice but to leave, otherwise he couldn't suppress the impulsive desires.
The erupting volcano hadn't yet calmed; her master had to stay far enough from her to keep everything hidden.
Thus began the subsequent years of Hunt expeditions, a period when they never crossed paths.
At first, she thought it was just a coincidence, an unavoidable result of busy warfare.
Later, she slew the Great Nest Father of the Zaochi Hunting Pack, confidently went to find her master, eager to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
But she was met with a stiff and heartless refusal, giving rise to the absurd thought that her master disliked her and was deliberately distancing himself.
Only now did she understand that it was clearly her master using this time to desperately search for a solution to the problem.
But he couldn't find one.
No matter how many blessings of abundance he plundered, no matter how much blood and life of Abominations he devoured.
That kind of desire, targeted only at her, surpassing instinct, didn't weaken in the slightest.
On the contrary, the stronger the abundance scourge within him grew, the more intense that impulse became.
She was like a lamb constantly wandering before a hungry gray wolf, yet the gray wolf had to endure its instinctual desires, restrain its impulses, and pretend to be normal.
How hard must it have been for her master...?
The most direct manifestation occurred on the day when the warfare slightly eased, during the participation in the Forbidden Fire Festival celebration.
That night with dazzling lights, she fantasized about dancing with her master, but before she could even extend an invitation, her master took Clear Cold's hand.
Jealousy, resentment, and the negative emotions of craving yet not obtaining occupied her heart.
She actually had the insane thought of severing Clear Cold's waist.
She actually had the terrifying thought of wanting to kill everyone around her master, so her master could only look at her.
She was seriously ill!
Fortunately, she finally realized the impropriety and made efforts to restrain her feelings for her master.
Until she could no longer restrain them, she resorted to indirect contact to gain a sliver of comfort.
Using his used towels, toiletries, cups... stealing his personal clothes, curling up in bed greedily absorbing his scent to satisfy her increasingly sick self.
As the threshold grew higher, she also became greedier, increasingly wanting a living master.
Wanting to touch him, get close to him, possess him...