The décor of the Rose Hotel was the sort that made one like it at first sight—simple yet pleasing colors, a faint, ever-present fragrance of roses drifting through the air, putting the mind at ease.
At the very end of the top floor, Yunchuan found the door marked Red Ocean. This floor had only a handful of rooms, each with its own themed nameplate: Blue Enchantress, Pink Tenderness, Yellow Devotion, White Innocence, Green Farewell… and, tucked away at the very back, this one—Red Ocean.
The door matched the name: painted a bold crimson, set with a deep red crystal rose ornament, and beside it, in vertical script, the words Red Ocean – Sea of Love.
Last time, Yunchuan had stayed in just an ordinary room here, so he was curious to see what counted as the hotel's top suite. If he remembered correctly, this was the very place Tang San and his group had stayed in the original story. Tsk, kids these days… barely grown and already booking couples' suites. The world's going downhill fast.
Shaking his head at the decline of public morals, he took out the key and unlocked the door. The room was enormous—just the sitting room alone was over fifty square meters. All the furniture was silver with fine carvings, the thick red carpet patterned with raised roses.
But what made Yunchuan pause was the centerpiece of the room: a massive heart shape laid out entirely in fresh roses. The heart spanned nearly two square meters—easily over a thousand blooms—and hanging from it was a silken ribbon that read: 1,001 — You Are My Only One.
Aside from the thousand-and-one roses, every corner of the room held elegant vases filled with crimson blossoms, the heady scent saturating the air and lending the whole suite an intoxicating, almost dizzying intimacy.
"Heh… that Dai Mubai really knows how to enjoy himself." Yunchuan's gaze swept the room, a wry thought touching his mind. Looks like the beating earlier wasn't quite heavy enough. Still, it wasn't as if he'd left without leaving a "gift"—when he'd healed Dai just now, he'd subtly… tweaked something.
Nothing too dramatic—just a little adjustment to certain organs, ensuring that in the future Dai Mubai would lose interest in women entirely.
After all, how can one focus on cultivation if he's drowning himself in lust day and night? As a "teacher," Yunchuan considered it his duty to help a student overcome such a vice. Once the lad understood that women were nothing but beauty over bone, he could finally concentrate on training, and perhaps one day achieve something noteworthy.
You don't need to thank your teacher, Xiao Dai. This is what a good teacher should do.
Closing the door behind him, Yunchuan strolled slowly through the suite. When he reached the bedroom, he stopped again—unsurprised but still taken aback. There was only one bed, but it dominated half the room, shaped in the form of a heart.
Sheer pink drapes cascaded from the ceiling to enclose the bed, lending it a dreamy, hazy beauty. Rose-red sheets and matching pillows, every detail steeped in suggestion, made the blood run a little faster just from looking.
"Hm, living in a room like this alone feels… awfully lonely." Yunchuan rubbed at his smooth, beardless chin and muttered, "Would be better with a female companion."
Unbidden, the images of Qian Renxue and Hu Liena flitted through his mind, stirring a strange restlessness in his chest.
"So… I guess I've reached that age."
Feeling his body's reactions, Yunchuan ruffled his hair, a faint pang of regret creeping in. Stealing this room might have been a mistake—for a single guy, sleeping in a space built entirely out of innuendo was pure torture.
The surroundings made it far too easy for the mind to wander. Great. At this rate, am I going to end up having an erotic dream tonight?
"Enough. Stop thinking nonsense. Bath and bed—now." Giving his head a sharp shake, he pulled a change of clothes from his storage ring and headed for the bath.
…
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, Yunchuan awoke amidst the soft scent and plush comfort of the heart-shaped bed. As consciousness returned, he realized that—perhaps inevitably, given his surroundings—he'd dreamed in vivid, intimate color.
There had been… many women in that dream. But what unsettled him most was the presence of one woman who absolutely should not have been there.
It left him lying on the bed afterward feeling entirely out of sorts.
"Having an erotic dream is one thing—comes with the age, I suppose—but dreaming about her…" Flushing, he rolled back and forth on the mattress, his long-held sense of right and wrong rattled.
It took a while for the shame to ebb.
Finally clambering out of bed, moving a little more stiffly than usual, he headed toward the bath. At twelve years old, with a soul master's early-developing body, he was effectively fifteen or sixteen in maturity. Experiencing such a "first dream" now was perfectly normal.
That part didn't bother him. It was the dream itself—the realization that his thoughts weren't nearly as pure as he'd always imagined. That somewhere inside, he harbored a… blasphemous impulse.
And the worst of it? Thinking about it now… he actually found it thrilling.
"No. No! She's… I can't possibly entertain that kind of idea!" Yunchuan shook his head violently, slapping his own cheeks. Forget it. Forget it. Erase it from your mind!
"Inhale… exhale…"
He drew deep, steadying breaths, forcing his heart to settle. He told himself: Lad, you are a pure person. A man above petty lust. A man of noble character and impeccable morals. Therefore… you must not, cannot, have such a thought.
Closing his eyes, he recited from his past life the Socialist Core Values—Prosperity, Democracy, Civility, Harmony; Freedom, Equality, Justice, Rule of Law; Patriotism, Dedication, Integrity, Friendship.
In his mind, he forged those twenty-four words into a shining sword to slash away the improper fancies, seeking a still mind and a clean heart.
When he opened his eyes again, his expression had regained its calm. The "sword" had done its work—he had forced himself to stop dwelling on that dangerous thought. For if he pursued it any further, he feared his moral compass, his entire worldview, might collapse completely… and there would be no coming back.