Lu Xingzhou stood up and looked through them.

The jade slips were records of cultivation techniques, alchemy, and array formations, similar to those found in the Maha Secret Realm, but only at the Tengyun stage. Their main focus was on the study of the Five Elements, primarily water, which was the city’s specialty, and also earth.

Lu Xingzhou could reference the water-related studies, and the earth-related ones were good for his collection as future rewards for subordinates; they were fine treasures. Lu Xingzhou put them away.

The jade bottles contained pills. The pharmaceutical principles were quite impressive, but the quality was ordinary, and they had even expired… It’s usually hard for pills to expire, but these were simply too ancient…

In short, none of them were worthy of being called “ancient relics.”

It was normal, though; this was just an ordinary resident’s house. How precious could the items be? It’s not like every resident in an ancient city was a powerful being; that would be too absurd. Being a Tengyun cultivator and possessing such items, which would be considered first-rate elsewhere, was already extremely lucky.

Lu Xingzhou looked at each item. When he picked up one of the jade bottles, it seemed to be stuck, so he instinctively used a little more force.

The next moment, the secret chamber rumbled, and the left and right walls began to close in.

Lu Xingzhou: “?”

Dugu Qingli: “…”

Lu Xingzhou held the jade bottle and twisted it left and right, trying to reset the mechanism, but it had no effect.

Dugu Qingli: “…Could it be that the mechanism is broken and can only open, not close?”

Lu Xingzhou grabbed her and lunged towards the door: “Then what are we waiting for? Run!”

As soon as the secret chamber door opened, his divine sense immediately detected the king’s presence in the sky, searching the area.

With his injuries not yet healed, fighting was out of the question. Lu Xingzhou, sweating profusely, closed the door again.

The already small secret chamber, with this delay, had its walls closed in to the point where only two people could stand side by side.

Lu Xingzhou turned his back against the wall, his hands pressed against Dugu Qingli’s side of the wall, perfectly framing her between his arms.

His Golden Dragon Body unleashed immense strength, barely managing to hold back the closing walls.

They were very close, looking into each other’s eyes, feeling no romance, only a shared sense of utter frustration.

What in the world was happening? Just taking an item led to this, and the item was trash.

Although not tightly pressed together, they were extremely close, able to feel each other’s breath, a light, tickling sensation on their faces.

The little white-haired girl’s figure was quite good; something soft and full brushed against his chest.

Memories of their past, though long ago, flashed through both their minds.

It had been an accident then, and Dugu Qingli had treated it as such, insisting there was no relationship between them.

This time could also be called an accident, but her feelings seemed different from before; Dugu Qingli couldn’t describe it.

She quietly met Lu Xingzhou’s somewhat strange gaze. After a long moment, she calmly said, “I’m almost starting to think you did this on purpose.”

Lu Xingzhou replied, “Yes, yes, and the king is cooperating with me, and the secret chamber is also cooperating with me.”

Dugu Qingli asked, “Can you hold it?”

“It’s alright. The walls aren’t pressing with much force; I can hold them back, but I can’t push them open.”

No sooner had he spoken than the walls, as if unconvinced, suddenly pressed with more force. Lu Xingzhou, his injuries not fully healed, his hands weakened, and they pressed together.

Dugu Qingli: “…You still say it wasn’t on purpose?”

Lu Xingzhou felt more wronged than a dog: “It really wasn’t on purpose. You help hold it too; my strength isn’t enough with my unhealed injuries.”

Dugu Qingli also pushed her palms forward, bracing them on his chest, holding the walls back, but it made things even more awkward: “What do we do now? We didn’t heal, and now it’s more strenuous… Wait a minute, don’t let that damn thing of yours poke me! If you poke me again, I’ll cut it off!”

Lu Xingzhou fell silent.

He couldn’t help it; who wouldn’t have impure thoughts when pressed close to a soft, fragrant, white-haired girl?

However, his self-control was far greater than before. He could even suppress his desires when Yuan Muyu was “doing her thing,” so this level was naturally even easier. Lu Xingzhou silently circulated his cultivation technique and quickly suppressed it.

Dugu Qingli’s gaze became very strange: “You… can’t get it up?”

Lu Xingzhou: “?”

Didn’t you tell me not to poke you?

So you didn’t think I could do it? Then why did you say anything?

Without a word, Lu Xingzhou abandoned his suppression and became erect again.

Dugu Qingli: “…”

Lu Xingzhou was expressionless: “I’m considering something…”

“What?”

“If I kiss you now, we can also heal our injuries.”

Dugu Qingli’s gaze turned into one of looking at a pervert.

But in her heart, she knew it was true; they had tried it before.

Lu Xingzhou’s eyes darted to her red lips. Dugu Qingli, feeling a bit embarrassed, slightly turned her head but didn’t voice any objections.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t kissed before.

However, Lu Xingzhou remained silent for a moment, then finally said, “Unfortunately, I’m not that kind of person.”

Dugu Qingli was startled, then turned back to look at him, her blue eyes as clear as liuli, filled with inquiry.

Lu Xingzhou smiled. Without any visible movement from him, the walls rumbled again and actually separated.

The reason he wasn’t panicking despite holding the walls was because he had simultaneously released his Yin soul to search for the mechanism, which he had now found.

The owner’s design was that if someone carelessly took a jade bottle, the mechanism would activate, but the closing mechanism was not in the same location; it was a protruding button in the corner of the wall.

Once an intruder activated the mechanism and the walls closed, their first reaction would be to escape, naturally not looking at what was in the corner. Once they left, the walls would close, the button would be pressed in by the opposite wall, and it would reset. It was a simple and effective design.

Lu Xingzhou only needed to have his Yin soul gather strength to press the button; even if the Yin soul’s physical strength was tiny, it was enough.

Dugu Qingli also noticed the Yin soul that had slipped back into the ring from the corner of the wall and understood. The girl was silent for a moment, then whispered, “Why didn’t you take advantage of the situation?”

“I told you I’m not that kind of person.”

“I don’t believe it,” Dugu Qingli said. “Is it because of your dear Tinglan?”

Lu Xingzhou was both annoyed and amused: “Are you trying to get me to kiss you?”

Dugu Qingli tilted her head: “No, I’m just curious.”

You’re so lustful, yet suddenly you’re acting like a gentleman.

She felt a strange sense of loss, yet she knew this mindset was wrong. The little white-haired girl didn’t know how to express it.

Lu Xingzhou roughly guessed what the girl was thinking at the moment and couldn’t help but reach out and rub her head, saying nothing.

He wasn’t as hungry as before, always wanting to deliberately take advantage of people.

Besides, the girl’s thoughts were complicated; even if she felt a sense of loss now, their relationship wasn’t at that stage. If he really kissed her, he might even offend her and be branded a shameless scoundrel.

Amidst their differing thoughts, the secret chamber had returned to its original state.

They sat cross-legged to heal their injuries. Everything seemed to be back to normal, but their minds were no longer as calm and untroubled as before; they were both a bit muddled, wondering what they were thinking.

They were still alone in the quiet room, and before, they had felt nothing. But now, they always felt as if even the air was filled with ambiguity.

Fortunately, it was just healing, not a breakthrough in cultivation, otherwise, they might suffer qi deviation… So, the path of severing emotions does have some validity…

Neither of their injuries was serious, and with a little recuperation, they were much better. Lu Xingzhou’s dragon body had stronger regenerative powers and healed faster. He glanced at Dugu Qingli, who was still meditating with her eyes closed, then took out the jade slips to examine the ancient water techniques.

Upon seeing them, he discovered a set of water escape techniques, which delighted Lu Xingzhou.

Various escape techniques were rare and un传之秘 (bu chuan zhi mi), secret arts that were not passed on easily, as they were life-saving skills. Lu Xingzhou really wanted to learn Pei Chuyun’s teleportation and flashing, and Dugu Qingli’s ice-integrated technique was also extremely powerful with no cooldown, but unfortunately, their cultivation paths were different, so he couldn’t learn them.

He could definitely learn water and fire escape techniques.

Water escape was not the same as the Water Splitting Art; it involved merging with water, like decomposing into particles, making it difficult for opponents to find you. Lower-level techniques required obvious water to utilize, but at higher levels, it could be used as long as there were water elements in the air.

Lu Xingzhou pondered for a moment, his heart stirring.

Like the Taiyin True Fire in front of the palace earlier, the little white-haired girl said that there was earth under the ice and she couldn’t penetrate it. However, there must be water in the soil. Could he use this to escape into it? And since there was fire below, had all the surrounding water already disappeared?

Could he escape with water while simultaneously injecting water forward, producing and consuming it himself…

While he was contemplating, Dugu Qingli opened her eyes and, seeing Lu Xingzhou studying the cultivation technique, asked curiously, “You healed so quickly?”

“Hmm, body tempering is different.” Lu Xingzhou asked, “Can your escape technique inject ice forward while ice-escaping?”

Dugu Qingli looked stunned: “I can, but wouldn’t that look stupid? In what situation would you use such a caterpillar-like crawling method?”

Lu Xingzhou chuckled: “Alright, alright, I’m a caterpillar.”

As he spoke, he gradually disappeared.

Dugu Qingli clearly felt him merging into the moisture underground, but she couldn’t grasp his specific movements for a while.

She couldn’t help but be amazed. Lu Xingzhou must have just learned this water escape technique, yet he already showed such proficiency as a beginner. This wasn’t just due to talent; his water-element immortal bones were also extremely important, being overly congenial.

As she was thinking this, her heart suddenly stirred, and all the water elements around her solidified into ice.

“Dong!” Lu Xingzhou bumped his head and reappeared, clutching his head: “Why can’t water escape merge into ice? This is unscientific.”

Dugu Qingli was expressionless: “What are you trying to do?”

I already tacitly allowed you to kiss me, but you didn’t. Now you’re trying to trick and ambush me.

“Nothing, just why can’t water escape merge into ice?”

“Can different forms be the same thing?” Dugu Qingli stood up impatiently: “Let’s go. The king left long ago. How long do you plan to hide here?”

Lu Xingzhou said, “Now that we have an escape technique, I think we should change our approach.”

“Oh?”

“We’re not here to kill the king; we’re here to investigate the secret realm and bind its space. Why should we confront the king?”

Dugu Qingli: “…”

“The reason we went straight to the palace before was because the palace must be an important array node. While the king is not in the palace, we can quietly escape back, set up the necessary arrays, and retreat whenever we’re successful. If circumstances allow, we can even collect the Taiyin True Fire before doing anything else.”