Tempting the Holy Monk - Chapter 3

In the morning, I stirred, murmured, and discovered an arm around my waist.

I sat bolt upright, then grimaced in pain. A string of prayer beads fell to the floor with a clatter.

In last night’s frenzy, Chuxuan had lifted my leg and slipped them around my ankle.

“Awake?”

The cool voice carried a trace of hoarseness.

Startled, I twisted around. My smooth black hair happened to fall over my skin, covering the red marks everywhere.

Chuxuan lay beside me, already awake. His gaze was cool and clear. He seemed an entirely different man from the one last night.

I suspected he wanted to capture me and dissolve me into a puddle in his golden bowl.

Afraid the reckoning was coming, I clutched my ruined clothes and hastily put some distance between us.

“Master… Fate brought us together. If fate permits… let’s meet again in the next life…”

I was about to bolt out the door.

But the moment I stepped outside, searing pain shot through my ankle.

I cried out and jerked my foot back.

In the bright sunlight, I saw that the beads I had kicked off were back around my slender ankle. A red welt had appeared beneath them.

Standing in the doorway, I looked back at Chuxuan in alarm. “What’s this?”

He looked at the kiss marks covering me and said coldly,

“Prayer beads. They subdue demons. Once you move more than three zhang away from me, no one can control them. When your cultivation is strong enough to withstand them, you may come and go as you please.”

But I was only a minor demon.

Even an ordinary string of prayer beads could strangle me to death.

I stubbornly shook them off. Every single time, the wretched things returned to my ankle exactly as before.

So angry I laughed, I said, “Master, are you taking a leaf from the immortal sects’ book? Imprisoning me?”

Chuxuan put on his robes. Their smooth, immaculate folds covered the chaotic scratches, as though nothing had happened.

“Since you have done wrong, you will accompany me and make amends.”

The man in black had tricked me.

I hadn’t got my demon core. I had lost myself in the bargain.

The mountain road was rough, the sun directly overhead.

I glowered at Chuxuan’s back, hissed, looked down at my burning-red ankle, and grudgingly shuffled one step forward.

Three zhang.

Not one step more, not one step less.

More effective than a dog’s leash.

I was used to roaming free. Being tethered felt like torture.

Chuxuan walked at an unhurried pace. My legs were weak and sore; before long, I collapsed onto a large rock, panting.

“I’m not walking anymore!”

However fit a man was, he shouldn’t have had that much stamina on his very first night with a woman.

Chuxuan stopped and looked back.

His ivory robes set off his jade-like face.

The Fair-Faced Yama. A well-earned name.

I had thought our new relationship might persuade him to make allowances.

Instead, the beads on my ankle grew hotter and hotter. With a cry, I lunged at him, scrambled up, and clung to his shoulders.

“All right, I’ll walk! There’s no need to punish me like this!”

Chuxuan frowned. “Get down.”

I pretended not to hear and held on for dear life.

“Baohua Temple is just ahead. If my master sees you behaving so improperly, even I won’t be able to protect you.”

Baohua Temple was sacred Buddhist ground.

Hidden from the mundane world, its location was known to no outsiders.

For a minor demon like me, visiting Baohua Temple was about as sensible as rolling around and making a scene in an immortal lord’s palace. Either way, I was asking to die.

“Can I not go?”

Chuxuan glanced at me and continued walking.

Before we even reached the temple gates, the spiritual pressure bore down so hard I couldn’t lift my head.

Finally, I simply closed my eyes and crouched where I was. Let the beads burn my ankle. I wasn’t moving another step.

“Master… please stop.”

A pair of spotless shoes stopped before me.

Someone brushed the hair away from my forehead, and a cold fingertip touched it.

My mind cleared at once. I felt light and refreshed.

It was as though a boulder had been lifted off my back. I looked up at him gratefully.

Chuxuan’s thin lips parted. He looked like a deity.

“Once we’re up the mountain, watch your tongue.”