Watch Me Confess on Your Behalf!

Just because the washerwoman was reluctant to fight Lu Yang and the others didn't mean she couldn't! To think they fancied they could defeat her—did they really take her for a pushover made of clay?! The scroll hovered in midair as an endless torrent of water surged from the painting like a cascading waterfall, rapidly flooding the entire secret chamber. Seeing this, Lu Yang grabbed Squire Song by the collar and bolted for the exit. Lu Yang himself would come to no harm, but Squire Song was an ordinary mortal; trapped down here, he would drown in under a minute. No sooner had the four set foot on the surface than they heard a resounding bang. The small house built above the secret chamber was blasted apart, and the water from the painting geysered forth like a roaring spring, churning upward without pause. The washerwoman stood atop the gushing waters, looking down at Lu Yang with a chilling gaze. A few stray droplets brushed Lu Yang's lips, and his eyes lit up as if he had uncovered some momentous secret. "This is... fresh water!" Tao Yaoye: "?" Lan Ting: "?" What in the world was Senior Brother Lu Yang on about? Why was he checking its salinity? And wasn't fresh water the most normal thing imaginable? Feeling the bewildered stares of his two junior sisters, Lu Yang gave a dry cough and acted as though nothing had happened. Ever since the water ghost incident in Hanshui City, Lu Yang had developed a reflexive habit of determining whether an adversary was wielding fresh water or salt water. With a flick of her sleeve, the spring beneath the washerwoman's feet split into three torrents, transforming into three water pythons that lunged straight at the trio. Lu Yang showed not the slightest fear. The Green Blade Sword leaped from its scabbard, its sword qi soaring skyward as he cleaved through his python. Normally, such a creature could simply divide in two, but this single slash contained countless minute strands of sword qi that continuously pierced the water droplets, giving the python no chance to reform. Tao Yaoye snapped open the Thousand Illusions Umbrella, its crimson canopy serving as a shield. When the water python slammed against it, the beast instantly collapsed into formless spray. The sash wrapped around Lan Ting's waist unfurled and lengthened, tightly binding the water python charging toward her. The creature thrashed violently across the ground, shaking the earth as it struggled to break free from the sash's constricting coils. "Good, good, good! It seems I truly underestimated you!" The washerwoman was privately alarmed. Even an ordinary Nascent Soul stage cultivator would have suffered under this sudden ambush, yet these three brats had effortlessly parried it. "Disperse!" At her command, the three water pythons dissolved across the earth like melting winter snow, only to instantly coalesce again into a waterfall some seventy to eighty feet high. The cataract crashed down, swallowing the trio whole. "Gather!" The moment the word left her lips, Lu Yang and his companions, the water from the painting, and the washerwoman all vanished without a trace, leaving behind only Squire Song standing dumbfounded in the open courtyard, alongside the painting scroll lying quietly on the ground. *** "Is this inside the painting?" Lu Yang looked down at his hands. They had neither skin, bone, nor blood, cleanly defined in monochrome black and white, yet vividly lifelike. He had become a painted figure, his entire form rendered from splashed ink. "I don't see Junior Sister Tao or Junior Sister Lan. Were we separated? That washerwoman actually has some wits about her." This was not the first time Lu Yang had encountered such a trick. Back when his senior brothers and sisters had queued up to spar with him, a senior sister who excelled in the Dao of Painting had used this exact method against him. The solution was simple: defeat the caster, and one would break free from the ink-wash state. Naturally, if the caster defeated Lu Yang, Lu Yang would also be released from the painting. As for how Lu Yang knew that, there was no need to go into details. *** "Am I inside the painting?" Lan Ting surveyed her surroundings and swiftly reached a conclusion. The washerwoman emerged from nowhere, immediately putting Lan Ting on high alert. Raising a hand, the washerwoman checked Lan Ting's move. "Don't fight. I mean no harm. "Little girl, whatever wish you have, I can grant it for you. The price is that you spare my life." From their brief clash earlier, the washerwoman had realized that winning a three-on-one fight was impossible; picking them off individually was far wiser. Wishes and prices were rules inscribed by whoever had forged the scroll, binding even the washerwoman herself. If she accepted a wish and failed to fulfill it, she would suffer a penalty. Conversely, if she succeeded in granting the wish, her combat prowess would rise by an entire tier. "Any wish?" Lan Ting eyed her with lingering caution. "Speak freely, so long as it lies within my power." Lan Ting ventured tentatively, her cheeks tinged with a faint blush: "For instance, confessing to Senior Brother Lu Yang and having him say yes to me?" The washerwoman looked Lan Ting up and down. Taking in her pretty face and graceful figure, she reasoned that men always had a weakness for women like this. "That is no trouble at all." With a swirl of her form, the washerwoman transformed into the spitting image of Lan Ting. "Watch me confess on your behalf!" A nearly identical scene had just unfolded with Tao Yaoye. The washerwoman was thoroughly baffled, unable to fathom what kind of charm this young man possessed to have enraptured two such beauties out of their wits. *** "Senior Brother Lu Yang, I've finally found you!" Splitting into two, the washerwoman assumed the forms of Lan Ting and Tao Yaoye. Wearing expressions of delicate vulnerability and distress, they came scurrying toward Lu Yang. Both maidens threw themselves straight at Lu Yang, leaving him completely flustered. He had never encountered a situation like this in his life. With teary eyes and cheeks flushed like peach blossoms, "Tao Yaoye" nestled against his chest and looked up at him, brimming with seductive charm: "Senior Brother Lu Yang, to tell you the truth, all this time I've..." "Lan Ting" cut in hurriedly: "In truth, this maiden feels the same..." Lu Yang raised a hand, cutting them both off. "Junior Sisters, how could your senior brother fail to understand your feelings? But we are fellow disciples! We cannot possibly do such a thing—it goes against moral propriety! How would the world look upon us?" A resolute look appeared on "Tao Yaoye's" face. "Senior Brother, I care nothing for what the world thinks!" "Lan Ting" backed her up eagerly, her voice urgent: "That's right, Senior Brother! What does the world's opinion have to do with us? We live for ourselves, so why care what others think? Does the opinion of the world decide everything?" Lu Yang felt increasingly conflicted, finding the notion more improper the more he considered it. "But my cultivation is inadequate, and my experience is limited. I fear I am far from the paragon you two imagine me to be." "It doesn't matter, Senior Brother! Imperfect is just fine!" "Yes, absolutely! Who in this world is truly perfect?" Lu Yang shook his head firmly. "It still won't do. Even if I were to agree, how could the Sixth Elder and Palace Master Luo ever permit such an absurd arrangement?" "They will agree!" Lu Yang felt he had already been tactful enough. Seeing his two junior sisters remain so obstinately determined, he had no choice but to lay it bare: "Both of you possess Immortal Physiques, whereas I have a Sword Spiritual Root. I know next to nothing about Immortal Physiques. If you take me as your master, I won't even be able to teach you anything!" "Take you as our master?!" "Of course! Isn't it because you saw me show off my prowess in the tournament finals and crown myself number one in the mid Golden Core stage that you want to apprentice yourselves to me?" Having lived two lifetimes without ever dabbling in romance, Lu Yang was utterly blind to the nuances of female behavior, and this was not an area where the Invincible Core could offer any help. However, he did possess the cheat code known as the Immortal Fairy. When the Fairy had first awoken, she had declared that as a woman herself, she understood women best and could help Lu Yang win over any maiden he fancied. Even if the Fairy was unreliable in every other aspect, she had to understand these matters better than he did. The washerwoman: "..." With the confession completely botched, the wish went unfulfilled. The washerwoman's aura withered, and unable to maintain the painting realm any longer, she spat the three of them back out into the open. She glared at Lu Yang as though facing a terrifying nemesis. "I truly underestimated you... To think you had seen through my rules so thoroughly!" Lu Yang's head was filled with question marks; he hadn't understood a single word she just said. Besides, why had he been kicked out for no apparent reason? Wasn't he supposed to defeat the caster first?