Xiaohé was just back at the hotel when a call from the police station summoned her away. Zhou Huán helped Miss Yang into his room.

"Miss Yang, rest well," Zhou said, adjusting her pillow. "I'll prepare some talismans and cinnabar for you later. I'll need to clean those wounds again - I'm truly sorry today's treatment didn't completely remove the poison or resolve your karmic affliction."

The moment Miss Yang touched his hand, searing heat coursed through her body like wildfire. The fire-like sensation twisted relentlessly within her system while her breathing became shallow and ragged.

Zhou returned to his room, unloading a large package containing ritual tools and gold powder. With brush in one hand and cinnabar bowl in the other, he mixed yellow wine into a paste before dissolving the gold powder with water. He began inscribing Sanskrit mantras on Miss Yang's arm using the golden solution - circular patterns spiraling around her body until all those infected bumps on her back were enclosed.

"Zhou... Master Zhou, save me! I can't stand it anymore!" Miss Yang writhed in agony.

Touched by her suffering, Zhou hesitantly asked, "I need to lift your dress to apply medicine on these boils."

"Come closer! Do it already!" Her voice carried an unsettling quality - not the scream of physical torment or unbearable itchiness. This was...

Chilling his blood, Zhou slowly untied Miss Yang's garment as she lay prone. When her entire back emerged before him, Zhou froze mid-motion: "How could this...?"

Each boil bulged grotesquely with white pustules beneath cinnabar-drenched skin. Her body emitted steam - sweat vapor rising from every swollen lesion rimmed with red rashes that looked ready to rupture. Gently pressing a bump filled with elastic fluid, Zhou used the ritual needle to puncture it. Blackish-yellow viscous liquid gushed out followed by a sudden burst of blood.

"Aaah! Master Zhou, save me!" The splash of blood on Zhou's hand triggered immediate cinnabar cleansing. As he wiped away the blood, an unbearable heat engulfed his body - this was poison transfer. He gritted through the agony.

Miss Yang suddenly flipped over, her exquisite face and curves mesmerizing even as she stared at Zhou: "Hot... so hot!"

"Hot... so hot!" Zhou echoed her delirium as ambient temperature spiked unnaturally. The room thickened with carnal energy lasting about two hours before dissolving - a testament to Zhou's enhanced constitution through alchemical training.

Xiaohé still hadn't returned when Zhou noticed two missed calls on his phone. Checking the display, he quickly dialed back.

"Ringing..." Xiaohé answered bluntly.

Regaining composure, Zhou replied, "Just finished adjusting Miss Yang's treatment formula."

"How is she?"

"She seems much better now."

"That's good. I'll be late returning. Need to complete witness reports here - wait for me and we can eat together," she said before the line went dead.

Miss Yang's arms tightened around his waist: "Huán... my first time was with you, but... but I want to..." Her incoherent words barely concealed her realization that this man held her lifetime in his hands.

"Xiaoling, you'll have a wonderful life. But remember about Xiaohé," Zhou paused as the weight of his words settled.

Smiling wistfully, she said, "I'm not foolish enough to forget first come, first served. Make me your second wife if you must."

Zhou's smile faded into silence - an unspoken acceptance that he'd deflowered this innocent maiden.

"Which one? You damn hussy! Prepare for punishment!" A loud scuffle erupted in the hallway as a wealthy man confronted his cheating spouse - not unusual at such upscale hotels.

When Zhou saw the shouting man, memory struck. He closed the door and called back: "Xiaoling, come out. Let me check your back."

"Annoying! I'm still dressing!" Later when both had dressed, Zhou gasped at her miraculous recovery. Could the mountain hermit's talismans have truly worked?

Pulling the photo from his pocket - showing the brawling husband and wife with their quarrel - Zhou rushed out just as the scene unfolded again.

"Whore! Call your bastard boyfriend over!" The man ranted while his silent wife hung her head in shame.

A stunning woman emerged from a distant room, her long white legs swaying with provocative grace as she approached - wearing only a tiny bustier. "Brother," she said placing a hand on the man's shoulder, "let's go. You promised to help me use the restroom."

The terrified husband babbled excuses while his sister-in-law sneered: "If you must cheat, at least be discreet. From now on I'll see other men."

Wiping sweat from his brow, the husband spat at her retreating figure before dragging his mistress down the hall: "Bitch! Flattering you is being generous!"

"This degenerate couple!" Xiaohé's voice echoed behind them.

Turning around, Zhou saw her: "Xiaohé? Did you see all this?"

Wrapping an arm around him, she whispered, "Tonight we share stories - about elephants."

Their secret code for intimacy.

"I'm afraid not tonight," Zhou said showing the photo where that same man appeared. Xiaohé paled at the sight.

Yang Xiaoling emerged: "Master Zhou, thank you saving me. My karma is resolved now. I'll follow you both from here on."

"First things first," Zhou ordered, pointing to two remaining figures in the photo. "We need to monitor this man's movements today."

Xiaohé and Yang Xiaoling nodded in unison, sharing a knowing smile.

Xiaohé smiled at her recovery, while Xiaoling smiled seeing herself as his second wife. Yet Zhou felt torn between these two wonderful women - neither deserving abandonment yet potentially explosive together.

"Watch him," he excused himself. "Tonight might bring more trouble."

Xiaohé immediately said: "Go rest in my room. I'll take first watch."

"No, stay with you," Xiaoling insisted tenderly, using the term of endearment that stunned Xiaohé into silence.

"You... called me sister?" Xiaohé's inquiry grew sharper as she pressed about Zhou's treatments.

Xiaoling's response turned Xiaohé's sky from clear to stormy in an instant.