Three Three

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Su Xiaoyuan stood with her head bowed, cheeks flushed, in a secluded, ethereal corner where winding paths led to tranquility. Above an archway woven from rose vines fluttered three large, flamboyant characters that made her unable to lift her head—“Mandarin Duck Bath.”

Ruan Mianmian was at the ticket booth, bargaining with a senior sister, coaxing and haggling: “Those two are puppets, give us a discount!”
“An hour soak costs two mid-grade spirit stones? You might as well rob the place!”
“Beauty and skincare? Look at my face, do I really need that?”
“The senior sister is kind and beautiful, just give us a discount. We’ll be regular customers!”
“Alright, alright, we’re just soaking, promise we won’t do anything else…”

Su Xiaoyuan glanced up at the stern puppet by her side, quickly lowering her eyes in guilt, her face turning rosy. It was only a puppet, after all—not a real person. Clutching the silk waist belt tightly, she tried to psych herself up.

Soon, Ruan Mianmian returned happily holding jade tokens. “Got two pools for three mid-grade spirit stones each, how about that?”
“Amazing!” Su Xiaoyuan stepped forward to massage her friend’s shoulders. “Thanks for cutting the price!”
She wasn’t good at bargaining herself, so she especially admired those who were.

Ruan Mianmian handed her a jade token, and the two, each accompanied by their respective puppets, entered the bathhouse.

The Mandarin Duck Bath was a natural hot spring, dotted with dozens of pools large and small, some open-air, others enclosed by bamboo walls and thatched roofs for privacy.

Soaking in private pools was a luxury for outer disciples; usually, they soaked for an hour in large pools costing half a low-grade spirit stone. This was their first visit to the private bath area.

Passing through a leafy entrance path, they reached a fork with a signpost: left for Clear Soup, right for Rich Soup.

“What’s the difference between Clear Soup and Rich Soup?” Su Xiaoyuan asked curiously.

“We bought the Clear Soup ticket,” Ruan Mianmian explained, “which means you can soak but not have dual cultivation. It’s much cheaper than Rich Soup.”

Su Xiaoyuan’s cheeks flushed crimson in an instant.

No wonder the path to Rich Soup was overgrown with weeds up to half a person’s height.

Outsiders often misunderstood the Hehuan Sect, imagining all disciples as libertines indulging in debauchery everywhere. In reality, most disciples weren’t that interested in such things, especially after a full day of classes—they were like programmers who just wanted to collapse at home after a grueling 9-to-9 workday. Only a few perverts wanted to keep “coding.”

Ruan Mianmian laughed heartily, “Xiaoyuan, your head’s about to explode! You’re already ‘cooked’ before even soaking in the hot spring. How did someone so shy get into the Yunyu Sect?”

Su Xiaoyuan couldn’t share her time-traveling secret—not because of punishment, but because any mention of that would jumble her words into unintelligible nonsense to others.

She could only evade, “There weren’t many other sects to go to, my spiritual root is weak, so I just muddled my way in here…”

Most disciples of the Hehuan Sect were in similar situations, and Ruan Mianmian nodded understandingly.

They entered the private bath area, found their rooms according to the numbers on their jade tokens, and discovered two adjoining chambers.

Su Xiaoyuan hesitated, reluctant to enter, tugging on Ruan Mianmian’s sleeve: “Kaishan, maybe we should…”

“What’s there to be shy about?” Ruan Mianmian patted her shoulder. “It’s just washing a puppet, it’s not a real person.”

She took the jade token and opened the door for her, then pushed her inside decisively: “If anything happens, shout for me!”

The puppet followed its owner, stepping over the threshold with long legs.

The bath chamber was small, with the hot spring pool occupying most of the space. At the pool’s bottom coiled a black dragon with blue-veined scales, from whose mouth warm spring water gushed continuously—the water was refreshed after each use, clean and hygienic.

The pool was deep in the center and shallower at the edges; the deepest part could submerge Su Xiaoyuan’s head.

Facing the wall, after much mental preparation, Su Xiaoyuan finally summoned courage to turn around.

The puppet stood quietly, head slightly bowed, its inorganic eyes dark and coldly indifferent.

Her heart leapt to her throat.

She had seen many beauties, but the puppet’s beauty was unlike anything she had encountered—sharp as a sword, capable of piercing the heart.

No matter how she looked, it was indistinguishable from a real person.

Just a life-sized ball-jointed doll, that was all…

Su Xiaoyuan tried to convince herself and bravely stepped forward. “I’ll start by undoing your hair…”

She tiptoed, hands reaching behind its head to untie the hairband.

The puppet’s hair was made of some unknown material, feeling as real as human hair—cool, smooth, jet black with a faint blue sheen like raven feathers.

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Boldly, Su Xiaoyuan stroked the hair twice; the puppet showed no reaction.

So maybe a gentle tap on its face wouldn’t hurt, right?

But just as she raised her hand, the puppet’s unfeeling black eyes suddenly turned toward her.

Su Xiaoyuan immediately withdrew her hand, nervously clutching the flowing, dark hairband.

The hair fell smoothly, softening the puppet’s aura.

It no longer seemed so sharp and cold, but rather more…

Two words popped into Su Xiaoyuan’s mind:

Alluring.

She had never imagined describing a man with that word, but it was the only one that captured the puppet’s stunning beauty.

So embarrassing!

She dared not make another move for a long time.

The hot spring water flowed continuously, flooding the dragon’s mouth, releasing fragrant steam that filled the entire room like thick fog.

The puppet’s hair, dampened by the steam, had tiny droplets clinging to its long lashes. Its high nose bridge and lips appeared faintly through the mist.

Its lips were pale but shapely, perfectly curved—the upper lip thin and seemingly aloof, the lower lip fuller, somewhat tempting…

Suddenly, Su Xiaoyuan recalled a lesson where she had learned that this lip shape was ideal for kissing…

Her cheeks felt as if aflame, her head dizzy.

It must be because the bathhouse was stuffy and poorly ventilated.

At that moment, a knocking sounded against the wooden wall.

Su Xiaoyuan snapped back to reality, panicked: “What’s wrong?”

On the other side of the thin partition, Ruan Mianmian’s voice came through: “I haven’t heard a sound from you in a while. I was worried.”

Because it was Clear Soup, the wooden walls were thin, and she could clearly hear the water splashing next door.

“I’m fine!” she hurriedly replied.

“Why aren’t you getting in the water? We paid for this; we need to soak for a full hour to beautify ourselves!” Ruan Mianmian teased.

Su Xiaoyuan clearly heard her friend scolding her puppet: “I told you to scrub my back, not tickle me! Harder! Harder! Are you starving or what?”

Though her best friend had high hopes for her, Su Xiaoyuan’s timid nature couldn’t overcome the barrier of soaking in a Mandarin Duck Bath with a man she barely knew—even if he was a puppet.

She told herself to take it slow. Today, she would just wash the puppet, let her eyes adjust. The rest could wait.

Ruan Mianmian knocked impatiently again.

Su Xiaoyuan quickly splashed the water a bit to make a sound.

Taking a deep breath, she approached the puppet, head lowered, unable to meet its gaze: “Sorry, I’m going to undo your belt…”

The puppet simply watched her with its deep eyes, unmoved.

For some reason, Ruan Mianmian’s puppet would respond to her questions, but Su Xiaoyuan’s had yet to say a single word.

Perhaps it lacked vocal cords?

She felt relieved; for twenty spirit stones, it would be more unsettling if it did.

No objection was consent, she thought.

Her trembling hands reached for its waist to undo the belt.

The puppet’s clothing was simple, without ornate embroidery or gold thread, but the fabric was obviously fine quality—the previous owner must have been wealthy.

Su Xiaoyuan felt like she’d gotten a great bargain but also felt a bit guilty—would the shop owner regret it and come back to reclaim it in a few days?

Lost in thought, she unbuckled the puppet’s belt and set it aside.

“Next, I’ll take off your outer robe…” she whispered quickly, more to steel herself than to ask permission.

She tiptoed, slipping the outer robe off its shoulders and placing it with the belt.

The white inner garment was thin and finely woven, clearly custom-made, closely fitting, vaguely revealing the contours and skin tone beneath.

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Threads shimmered faintly with silver light, cool to the touch—clearly woven with enchantments, a magical robe with special properties. Whether it had other effects was uncertain, but Su Xiaoyuan was sure it could regulate temperature automatically to keep the wearer comfortable.

She had only heard of such high-end garments, never seen one. These robes came in many grades depending on the strength and function of the enchantments. The highest grade was costly and unattainable for most, considered haute couture in the cultivation world.

That such a fine garment adorned a puppet deepened her curiosity about the puppet’s former master.

Others might feel sad, but Su Xiaoyuan had no grand ambitions; her two lives were as ordinary people, far removed from the worlds of elites and tycoons, so she felt no injustice.

She simply envied the robe’s cooling function.

Because she was about to overheat!

The pool was filled with milky white hot spring water, nearly overflowing the edge, turning the room into a steam box that threatened to cook her through.

Though Yunyu Sect disciples wore light clothes, even those were hard to bear in such heat.

Embarrassed to remove her outer robe in front of the puppet earlier, she now couldn’t stand the heat and reluctantly took off the outer garment, leaving only the thin white silk inner garment and a sheer white gauze layer.

Two layers were still somewhat translucent, and feeling both hot and shy, her face flushed deeply, pink hues showing faintly through the thin fabric—quite awkward.

Luckily, the puppet lacked consciousness, or she might have been so embarrassed she could have built a castle on the spot.

Taking several deep breaths, Su Xiaoyuan looked at the puppet’s jawline, neck, then torso.

Lovely shoulders and arms, subtly defined chest and abdominal muscles—not exaggerated, but clearly visible beneath the dampened inner garment.

Su Xiaoyuan was no stranger to human anatomy; after all, this part of her studies was rote memorization, the easiest subject for her. But theory was just theory.

In two lifetimes, she had never seen a real person—well, this wasn’t a real person either.

Despite her shyness, curiosity about the legendary eight-pack mermaid line muscles stirred within her.

Touching shouldn’t be a big deal, right?

As she hesitated, she seemed to hear Ruan Mianmian’s assertive voice in her ear: “You paid for it, so what’s wrong with touching? Be bold!”

Right, she had drawn this puppet herself. Touching it wasn’t illegal.

Besides, if she couldn’t take the first step now, how would she practice later?

With her best friend’s encouragement, Su Xiaoyuan finally summoned courage and gently poked the puppet’s abdominal muscles with her index finger.

At that moment, a sudden shiver ran through her heart, as if she were being watched.

She quickly withdrew her hand, secretly glancing at the puppet. Its handsome face remained cold as ice, but its gaze seemed even colder and sharper.

Must be an illusion.

Boldly, she peeked again. The mechanical aura was strong, even stronger now.

She sighed with slight relief.

At that moment, Ruan Mianmian knocked again on the partition: “Xiaoyuan, have you checked your ‘goods’ yet?”

No need to say what goods meant.

“I’m checking…” Su Xiaoyuan replied guiltily.

Her best friend scoffed, “I know you too well. Hurry it up!”

Su Xiaoyuan lifted the hem of her garment and took a quick look.

She could only get a rough idea, but still...

Eh? Eh? How could a person be like this...

Even though it was a puppet, was this level of distortion really okay?

Her cheeks flared red again.

Ruan Mianmian: “Are you done yet?”

Su Xiaoyuan’s heart jumped. “I’m… I’m done…”

“Liar! You haven’t even taken off the pants, what are you checking?”

Su Xiaoyuan had no choice but to grit her teeth, trembling as she reached out: “Sorry… I might have to take off your pants…”