As Lin Fang moved through the hallway with long strides, the heads of those around him turned almost instinctively. Maids and workers paused in their tasks, their gazes lingering on him. They couldn't help but marvel at how different he seemed. Though he still carried the same air of bravery and grace they admired, there was now an inexplicable allure surrounding him.
The maids whispered among themselves, stealing glances as he passed.
"Oi, don't you think our young master has suddenly become... different? He looks even more handsome now," a young maid said to the one beside her as they arranged flowers in a vase.
The other maid didn't respond immediately. When the first one turned to check on her, she found her friend standing frozen, mouth slightly agape, with a hint of drool at the corner of her lips. Her eyes were locked on Lin Fang's retreating figure.
"Hey!" The first maid shook her friend's shoulder, snapping her out of the trance.
"Huh? What happened? Where am I? Where's the young master?" the second maid blurted, looking around in confusion.
The first maid raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you were fantasizing about him."
"What? No!" the second maid protested, her face turning crimson. "I—I wasn't thinking about... his juicy lips biting my neck or anything!"
The first maid's eyes widened before she smirked knowingly. "Uh-huh. Sure you weren't." She patted her friend's shoulder. "Look, it's fine to fantasize, but maybe keep those thoughts in private next time."
The second maid's jaw dropped in shock, but before she could defend herself, her friend had already darted off to another area, giggling mischievously.
Left alone, the second maid sighed, her eyes once again drifting toward where Lin Fang had disappeared. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, and returned to arranging the flowers. But no matter how hard she tried, her mind kept circling back to the young master's striking features.
It wasn't just her. Many in the estate, both maids and other women, found themselves similarly distracted by Lin Fang's transformed presence. While they all admired him before, now it felt as if he had stepped out of their dreams and into reality.
As Lin Fang strode confidently through the hallway, his loose white robe flowing with each step, he noticed the hushed whispers and stolen glances around him. While this was not entirely new—he had always garnered a certain respect as the young master—there was something different in the way they looked at him now.
Their gazes lingered longer, filled with a mix of awe, admiration, and something else—a subtle yearning that even they might not have realized.
'What's with everyone today?' Lin Fang thought, glancing briefly at a pair of maids who quickly turned away, their faces flushed.
He could overhear snippets of their conversation as he passed by.
"Did you see him just now? It's like he's... glowing," one maid whispered, clutching the edge of the vase she was arranging.
"I know! And did you notice his shoulders? So broad, so—" The second maid stopped mid-sentence, her lips parted as she watched him disappear into the distance.
Lin Fang smirked slightly, shaking his head. 'I can't even walk through my own home without becoming a spectacle.'
A few steps further, he caught another pair of maids trying to stifle their giggles.
"Did you see his eyes? They're like deep pools, pulling you in," one said dreamily.
The other nudged her, her face red. "Focus! If Mistress Mei catches us slacking, we'll be the ones getting pulled into trouble!"
Still, neither of them could resist sneaking another glance as Lin Fang turned the corner.
Unbeknownst to him, his transformation had done more than enhance his physical presence; it had created an aura of magnetic allure that affected everyone in his vicinity.
As Lin Fang walked through the hallway, he couldn't ignore the subtle but noticeable change in the behavior of those around him. The maids, Though they usually greeted him with respectful nods and polite smiles before, now seemed almost mesmerized by him. Some even paused in their tasks to gawk openly, their expressions a mix of awe and something... else.
'Did my scent affect them?' he wondered, his brows furrowing slightly. Closing his eyes, he focused inward, diving into his sea of consciousness. As before, he found the three golden threads—one connected to Yue, who walked quietly behind him, and the other two leading to his mother and Mother Mei.
He opened his eyes, puzzled. There was no added number of tread there which means they weren't affected but how they weren't affect if they are looking at him like that. He still doesn't know the full concept of his power.
But their behavior still didn't make any sense to him. He knew he had changed, but outwardly, he still looked like himself. 'I've kept my true self hidden. So why are they acting so strangely?'
As he thought this, his gaze shifted to his hands, and he suddenly noticed something strange. 'Was I this pale from the beginning?' he wondered, his brows knitting together in confusion. The question lingered as he studied his hands more closely.
His skin seemed unnaturally smooth and fair, almost luminous, as though it had been polished to perfection. Yet, despite the delicate appearance, his hands still carried the subtle strength and calloused resilience of a warrior's grip. The contradiction was baffling.
'This doesn't make sense,' he thought, flipping his hands over to examine them further. The faint scars and marks from years of training were still there, but they looked softer, almost like they had been refined into something decorative rather than functional.
'This isn't right,' he thought, bewildered. He was certain that when he'd glanced at himself in the mirror this morning, his skin was nothing like this.
A sudden realization struck him, and his eyes darted toward the glass window nearby. Catching his reflection, he froze.
Staring back at him was... himself, yet not entirely. His features were the same—his sharp eyes, straight nose, and defined jawline—but they had been refined to a level that defied belief. His skin, clear and glowing, radiated an ethereal quality, and his hair, dark and sleek, seemed to shimmer faintly in the light.
It was as if someone had taken his original appearance and elevated it to near perfection, enhancing every detail to an almost divine level.
His lips parted in shock as he leaned closer to the glass. 'I... look the same, but also different,' he thought, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. It was still his face, yet it felt like a version of him crafted by the gods themselves.
'What happened to me?' he asked himself, his mind swirling with questions. And as he started to think about the reason, he suddenly remembered the bath he took and the foul smell that had overwhelmed him. That smell reminded him of the black matter that had oozed out of his body, and a realization struck him. 'Did it happen because of that? Because all the impurities are no more in my body?'
He felt a shiver of understanding, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. The black matter, the excruciating pain, the transformation—it all seemed to be linked. The impurities had been purged from his body, leaving behind something fundamentally different, something purer, stronger.
Intrigued and filled with a sense of unease, he threw a punch, his body instinctively moving with a speed and precision that was both new and familiar. The sound of air cracking sharply reached his ears, almost like the explosion of a firecracker. The force behind the punch was far beyond what he had now expected from himself, and his heart skipped a beat.
'My strength?' Lin Fang thought, staring at his hand in awe. He could feel the power surging through his veins, raw and untapped. It was completely different from anything a normal mortal could produce.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the new strength ripple through his body. There was a certain intensity to it, something primal and unstoppable. His body had not only healed but had been enhanced, and it was as though the very core of his being had been restructured.
Lin Fang's eyes widened as the thought crossed his mind. 'Did I unknowingly fall into the path of Body Cultivation and clear the first Skin Cleansing stage without even realizing it?'