Grace Cooper had no intention of interfering in other people's relationships. Her gentle palm rested on William Carter's shoulder as she said considerately, "Young master, rest assured. Only you and I know about this—no one else will ever find out."

Yes, as long as no one knows, isn't that enough? Miss Cooper clearly looked like a well-behaved girl; she would understand.

William Carter's guilt was completely put to rest, and he gave Grace Cooper a hug.

Grace Cooper put her clothes back on and soon fell into a deep sleep again, acting as if she had been utterly exhausted and was now completely worn out.

Watching her sleeping face, William Carter couldn't help but feel a trace of pity for her.

After staying for a while, William Carter remembered that he had accidentally lost his primordial yang body. His master often reminded his disciples not to engage in dual cultivation before reaching the Nascent Soul stage, as it could easily damage their cultivation. William Carter hurriedly checked his own condition, only to find that his cultivation had not decreased but instead had increased significantly, jumping directly from the seventh to the ninth level of the Golden Core stage!

Grace Cooper, a master at the sixth level of the Void Realm, and someone who cultivated through such methods, would find it all too easy to help a junior at the Golden Core stage improve his strength. She had absorbed the thunderfire power and that mysterious force from William Carter's body, gaining quite a bit herself, and was just waiting for William Carter to leave so she could cultivate.

Why did my spiritual power increase? William Carter was utterly puzzled.

He looked at Grace Cooper, recalling a book about dual cultivation he had once read in the library. Back then, after realizing he had fallen for his junior sister, he went to look up dual cultivation techniques. That book also said not to dual cultivate before the Nascent Soul stage, except for two special constitutions—the Nine Yin Body and the Nine Yang Body.

If a woman with the Nine Yin Body dual cultivated with a man, even if she was just an ordinary person, she could help him improve his strength, with many benefits. Could it be that Miss Cooper had the Nine Yin Body?

While William Carter was lost in thought, Lily Harris finally arrived with Senior Miller, panting as she said, "Senior brother, I'm sorry I'm late."

William Carter gently patted her head and said, "Don't worry, junior sister. Miss Cooper is already fine. Sorry to trouble you, Senior Miller, for making a wasted trip."

Senior Miller looked at Grace Cooper, whose face was as lovely as a peach blossom as she slept on the bed, and felt a trace of doubt in his heart. He asked, "How did she recover?"

William Carter didn't want him to check on Miss Cooper's condition, so he said in a low voice, "It's not convenient to talk here. Let's go outside."

The three of them left the thatched hut. William Carter explained that in the heat of the moment, Grace Cooper had almost coughed up blood and died, so he had her take a cultivator's medicine, even producing his own medicine bottle, now missing a pill, as proof.

"Can an ordinary person withstand the effects of this medicine?" Senior Miller sniffed the bottle. "This is a pill for the Foundation Establishment stage. An ordinary person wouldn't be able to handle such powerful spiritual energy—their meridians would rupture and they'd die."

"I used my true essence to help her absorb it," William Carter said simply.

"But..." Diana Miller recalled the steps for absorbing such a pill. His main focus was alchemy, so he naturally knew that this process required skin-to-skin contact.

"But what?" Lily Harris looked at Diana Miller innocently. Being young, she hadn't learned about such things yet.

William Carter stared at Diana Miller, who caught his meaning and said, "I was just worried that senior brother might not understand the details of alchemy and the treatment wouldn't be effective. But now that Miss Cooper has recovered, there's nothing more to say."

Only then did Lily Harris relax, saying she wanted to check on Miss Cooper. William Carter said that since it was no longer an emergency, it wouldn't be appropriate for a man and woman to be alone together, so he let Lily Harris go in by herself.

As soon as she entered, Diana Miller raised his eyebrows, nudged William Carter with his elbow, and grinned mischievously, "Senior brother, did you do something you shouldn't have?"

William Carter replied righteously, "There are priorities in everything. I was just making a stopgap decision, and I even covered my eyes at the time."

He acted so upright that Diana Miller was half-convinced, half-doubtful. "Then why didn't you tell junior sister just now?"

William Carter sighed and shook his head. "You know what she's like. When Junior Sister Reed came to ask me about cultivation techniques, she made a fuss about it. As your senior brother, it's my duty to help every junior brother and sister with their cultivation. When master is too busy, I have to teach them personally. Even your introductory cultivation method was taught by me—how could I not help Junior Sister Reed?"

"That's true," Diana Miller said. "Junior Sister Harris is great in every way, except she's a huge jar of vinegar."

"Exactly. And if word got out, it wouldn't be good for Miss Cooper either. It's better to let things end here. Lives were at stake—what I did was a good deed." William Carter said.

Diana Miller believed William Carter's words. Once Lily Harris came out, looking innocent after confirming that Grace Cooper was fine, the three of them returned to the sect.

After they left, Grace Cooper rolled over and sat up, rubbing her skin and kicking the thatched bed, grumbling, "This straw is way too prickly—it's really uncomfortable to sleep on!"

"Why didn't you tell Lily Harris about what happened between you and William Carter just now?" a voice sounded in the thatched hut.

Grace Cooper looked up to see The Master and Mr. Walker had appeared in the room at some point. She smiled and said, "The Master, you're a man of iron will, truly seeing beauty as nothing but a stone. How could you possibly understand the thoughts of those hypocrites? When they're in bed, their sweet words cost them nothing, but once they're dressed, they turn their backs on you. If I dared to say anything, the next day William Carter would call me a demoness and blame everything on me."