Chapter 281 - 137: Understandably Young and Hot-Blooded

Chapter 281: Chapter 137: Understandably Young and Hot-Blooded

A moment later, Shui Miaozheng, having drawn the hot water, came to call for Jiang Mu.

Jiang Mu entered the room.

The room was also simply furnished, filled with a faint, pleasant fragrance.

Behind a screen, a cypress wood tub half as tall as a man was emitting billows of steam. A few petals from some unknown flower were even floating on the water’s surface.

Pink and white, they bobbed gently on the water.

The corner of Jiang Mu’s mouth twitched as he took in the scene.

’I’m a full-grown man, a rough-and-tumble demon slayer, and I’m supposed to take a bath with flower petals?’

’Isn’t this a bit too fancy?’

’I’d be better off just getting a bucket of cold water dumped over my head. That’d be more satisfying.’

"Xiaojiang, I bought this set of clothes for you in the city yesterday. I thought you might have a use for them. Try them on to see if they fit. If they don’t, I’ll go alter them for you."

Shui Miaozheng’s voice came from behind him.

She was holding a neatly folded set of new, green cotton clothes. The fabric looked thick and soft.

This made Jiang Mu even more flustered, and he quickly declined, saying:

"Aunt Shui, this is too much trouble for you. I brought my own clothes, they’re at my old place..."

"Don’t be so formal with your Aunt Shui."

Shui Miaozheng shot him a playfully reproachful glance, her eyes filled with an elder’s affection for the younger generation.

"You can’t be prepared for everything when you’re traveling. Since I saw these, it was only right for me to pick them up. Are you treating me like a stranger? As for your things at your old place, I’ll have someone fetch them tomorrow.

Oh, and take off those old clothes. I’ll wash them for you. They’re covered in blood and sweat; they can’t be comfortable."

"That’s really not necessary,"

Jiang Mu jumped in alarm, waving his hands in refusal. "I can wash them myself. I couldn’t possibly trouble you."

But Shui Miaozheng would not be denied. She walked over to the screen and urged him,

"Hurry up, take off those dirty clothes and throw them over. Soak in the tub and relax while the water’s still hot. Don’t worry, I’ll be right here, and I won’t peek."

Jiang Mu sighed in resignation.

Knowing he couldn’t argue with her, he began to undress.

’This Aunt Shui... sometimes her enthusiasm was overwhelming.’

The candlestick was placed next to the bathtub.

The orange glow of the candle cast a clear silhouette of him undressing onto the plain white screen.

The silhouette of his lean, powerful shoulders and back, with muscle lines rippling in the shifting light.

It was a picture of masculine beauty, radiating a sense of power.

Shui Miaozheng had just been standing there casually. As her eyes drifted over the silhouette on the screen and she listened to the soft rustle of fabric, her cheeks started to grow warm for no apparent reason.

The scene sent her into a daze, creating a strange illusion.

’As if she were not some Director, not an elder.’

’But the wife of an ordinary family.’

’Waiting up at night for her husband to return from a hard day’s work, ready to help him bathe, change his clothes, and tend to his needs...’

The thought had barely surfaced before it spread like a wildfire, WHOOSHING across the plains of her heart.

Shui Miaozheng felt her ears burning.

Just then, behind the screen, Jiang Mu bent down to pull off his trousers...

To cover up her inexplicable embarrassment and fluster, Shui Miaozheng cleared her throat and teased in a deliberately casual tone:

"My dear boy, you’re still so on guard, even here with me? Still carrying a weapon for self-defense? Are you afraid your Aunt Shui is going to hurt you or something?"

"Huh?"

Jiang Mu, who was in the middle of taking off his pants, was stunned by her words.

He quickly understood and coughed awkwardly.

"COUGH, COUGH... Um... It’s a habit. Just a habit. When you’re out in the world, you can never have too many things for self-defense."

He had no way to explain, so he just mumbled along, quickly pulling off his trousers and tossing them over the top of the screen along with his shirt.

"THUD."

The clothes landed at Shui Miaozheng’s feet.

Shui Miaozheng crouched, picking up the clothes that were still warm and smelled faintly of sweat. The masculine scent made her heart leap again.

She steadied herself, kept her voice as normal as possible, and advised him gently:

"You go ahead and bathe. If the water gets cold, there’s hot water warming on the small stove, you can add it yourself. If you need anything, just call out. I’ll be right outside."

"Got it, thank you, Aunt Shui."

Only after hearing the sound of the door closing did Jiang Mu let out a long sigh of relief.

’Thank goodness.’

’This Aunt Shui was enthusiastic, but at least she hadn’t reached the point of insisting on staying to scrub his back.’

’Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have known how to refuse.’

Jiang Mu stepped into the tub and submerged his body in the warm water.

A comfortable warmth enveloped his body. It felt as if every pore was opening up, the exhaustion and tension of the past few days melting away completely.

He let out a sigh of contentment.

Leaning against the side of the tub with nothing better to do, Jiang Mu flipped his wrist and took out the Bronze Buddha Lamp.

’This Incense and Candle Power is being used up a bit too quickly.’

Jiang Mu frowned slightly.

He had used up a great deal of his stored Incense and Candle Power to help Si Rumeng repair her Demon Pill and stabilize the opening of space.

If he didn’t find a way to replenish it, at the current rate of consumption, it probably wouldn’t last much longer.

And once the Incense and Candle Power was exhausted, for the female ghosts like Yu Xiaoqian who depended on this lamp for their existence, there would be only one fate.

Their souls would be scattered to the winds.

The thought of that simple, stubborn little ghost made Jiang Mu’s heart soften.

His mind couldn’t help but recall some of the records regarding ghosts and demons from the notebook Tang Guixin had left him.

When a person dies, it’s like a lamp being extinguished. Their soul, for the most part, simply dissipates into the world.

But there were two exceptions.

The first were Cultivators who had attained a high Cultivation Level before death.

Relying on a Secret Skill or a Magical Treasure, they could forcibly retain a remnant of their soul and become a Ghost Cultivator.

These Ghost Cultivators usually retained their memories and consciousness from life, waiting for an opportunity to possess a new body and resume their path of cultivation.

That hapless Beitang Batian, for instance.

The other type was like Yu Xiaoqian.