Futile Devices Scans

“Yun Zhenzi—that old man—must have already fled the Burning Heaven Nether Palace by now. Hmph, he wouldn’t bear to die.” Chen Yixin said this as he turned slightly, wrapping both arms around Wenren Li’s waist, his expression easing.

Compared to Wenren Li, who had never truly interacted with Yun Zhenzi, Chen Yixin’s judgment was more accurate. And indeed, that was the case—after witnessing Miaoyin self-destruct her soul, Yun Zhenzi immediately used a forbidden artifact to escape from the Burning Heaven Nether Palace.

“Mm,” Wenren Li responded, freeing a hand to gently rub Chen Yixin’s hair. He knew Chen Yixin was truly exhausted. Having endured two lightning tribulations in succession, killing with his own hands and watching others be killed—even if his body remained unharmed, his soul was already deeply fatigued.

“A-Rong, sleep. There’s no rush.”

With Miaoyin and Song Yuanzhi both having fallen within the Burning Heaven Nether Palace, the other Soul Transformation powerhouses would surely sense it. Yet it was not only Yun Zhenzi who cherished his life—they all did. Those still remaining within the Burning Heaven Nether Palace were likely only low- to mid-level rogue cultivators hoping to try their luck.

Hearing this, Chen Yixin’s lips curved slightly upward as he drifted off to sleep. In truth, the best way for him to recover now would be to sit in meditation and nourish his spirit, but at Wenren Li’s side, he preferred this kind of completely unguarded rest.

“A-Rong, wake up…” Wenren Li lifted him from his lap, gently stroking Chen Yixin’s cheek and smoothing his hair before softly calling again, “Wake up. Once we head back, you can continue sleeping.”

Chen Yixin had no idea how long he had slept—ten full days. Wenren Li had long since finished refining his pills, but seeing how deeply Chen Yixin slept, he chose not to wake him. And so, he waited all that time.

Wenren Li coaxed him for a while, but Chen Yixin only nuzzled into his palm and drifted back to sleep. “A-Rong, be good…”

Before Wenren Li could finish coaxing him, Chen Yixin opened his eyes. Tilting his head up, he lightly bit Wenren Li’s lips. “A-Li disturbed my good sleep—surely you must compensate me.”

After saying this, Chen Yixin planted a loud kiss on Wenren Li’s lips. Smacking his lips thoughtfully, he added, “This will count as compensation.”

Wenren Li’s breath hitched slightly. Lowering his head, he sought out Chen Yixin’s lips and returned the kiss, deep and sweet.

Chen Yixin licked his slightly numb lips. Seeing Wenren Li lean closer again, he gently licked his lips as well. The redness and tingling faded, replaced by a soothing coolness.

Chen Yixin could not control his heartbeat—it pounded even more fiercely than during their earlier kiss. Perhaps it was because Wenren Li, like this, was far too gentle—so gentle it stirred his heart.

“A-Li, did you wake me just to kiss me?” Chen Yixin wrapped his arms around Wenren Li’s neck, leaning into his embrace as he asked.

Wenren Li fell silent for a moment before honestly shaking his head. “No. There is something else.”

As for the kiss just now—it had been driven by emotion, an act born of impulse, neither something he could control nor something he needed to restrain any longer.

Chen Yixin’s eyes curved into a smile, finding this version of Wenren Li especially endearing. Unable to resist, he kissed the base of Wenren Li’s ear before stepping out of his embrace.

They were no longer in the palace where the pills had been refined. They had returned to the entrance of the Burning Heaven Nether Palace treasury. He and Wenren Li were aboard the flying spiritual vessel they had used upon arrival. The reason he had slept so comfortably, losing all sense of time, was due to the Weaving Cloud and Wenren Li’s aura.

As for the trap to subdue the strange beast, Wenren Li had already prepared everything. The reason he woke Chen Yixin was for him to perform the final act of binding it as his master, which had to be done consciously and voluntarily.

“Where is it? What does it look like?”

Chen Yixin stepped out of the vessel’s cabin and looked around, yet saw nothing—only a pale silver mass spread flat across the wooden deck at the front of the vessel. It looked like a high-quality fur rug, making him almost want to step on it barefoot.

Wenren Li followed him out, his gaze also falling on the shapeless, sprawled strange beast. He took Chen Yixin’s hand and pricked his fingertip. A drop of blood flew out. Chanting an obscure incantation, he directed it toward the beast.

Yet before it could reach the beast, a silver membrane swelled up, repelling the drop of blood.

Wenren Li tried several more times, but each attempt was blocked.

“Did you chant the incantation incorrectly? Or should I try?” Chen Yixin asked.

After so many failed attempts, something must have gone wrong. The problem was that the manor spirit who had provided the method had already fallen into slumber—they had no one left to ask.

“I will teach you,” Wenren Li said. With that, he transmitted a segment of obscure text directly into Chen Yixin’s mind through divine sense. This was not a language or pronunciation commonly used in the Taixuan world; Chen Yixin could not even understand its meaning.

After transmitting it, Wenren Li was about to explain when Chen Yixin briefly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he began to chant—without a single mistake, and with an even deeper sense of solemnity than Wenren Li.

After finishing, Chen Yixin flicked the drop of blood from his fingertip. It fell directly onto the strange beast. Instantly, a burst of silver light flared up, enveloping him completely.

Two breaths later, the light dissipated. The beast, which had previously covered half the vessel, shrank down to the size of a meditation cushion.

Having consumed a Soul Transformation primordial soul infused with medicinal power, it had fallen into slumber two days earlier. Now that the master-binding was complete, it was time for it to awaken.

Chen Yixin lightly kicked it. The slumbering silver-skinned strange beast visibly bulged, transforming from a rug into a flattened, round cushion.

Unable to distinguish its head from its body, the beast suddenly opened a pair of round eyes. Its silver pupils were cold and dangerous—but in the next instant, that coldness vanished. A large tear welled up in its eyes.

It began to cry.

“Mother, Yinzi is hungry… I’ve grown thin from hunger.” It glanced at its flattened belly and cried even more pitifully.

Chen Yixin was completely stunned by this display. The beast’s voice carried a rough, rustic accent, yet it was acting cute—and even calling him “mother.”

“Who is your mother? I am your master. Remember that. Call me Master—or, if you don’t like that, call me Young Master.”

The cushion-like Yinzi froze for a moment, its tear-like droplets continuing to fall. It rolled forward slightly, and from beneath its silver skin, two long whiskers suddenly extended, wrapping around Wenren Li’s leg. “Father, Mother is being fierce to Yinzi again.”

Wenren Li paid no attention to the strange beast Yinzi. After a brief moment of thought, his spiritual power stirred, and Yinzi’s whiskers retracted. It turned its back and continued weeping pitifully, not forgetting to complain.

“Mother doesn’t like Yinzi anymore, Father doesn’t like Yinzi anymore, no one wants Yinzi… Yinzi is going to starve…”

Chen Yixin narrowed his eyes slightly, then turned to glare at Wenren Li. “Is it your son?”

Even if Wenren Li had somehow had a child behind his back, it shouldn’t look like this. And from his own perception, Wenren Li was clearly untouched—there was no way he could have a child. Could it be that someone had secretly “picked his flower”?

Chen Yixin’s eyes narrowed further, a dangerous glint appearing within them.

Wenren Li took Chen Yixin’s hand and led him back into the spiritual vessel, turning it toward the exit of the secret realm. As they continued speaking, he replied, “No.”

“Waaah… Mother won’t acknowledge Yinzi, Father won’t acknowledge Yinzi, no one wants Yinzi… Yinzi is going to starve…”

The strange beast Yinzi cried even more miserably, its wailing truly heart-wrenching.

Chen Yixin thought for a moment and tried to awaken the manor spirit, but that old thing had likely anticipated this situation—it was sleeping so deeply that he could not wake it at all.

“Yinzi, come here.”

Chen Yixin suddenly called out to the beast, his tone softening slightly. The Yinzi who had been crying so pitifully immediately rolled over.

“Mother, Yinzi is here,” it said in an ingratiating tone, like a shameless little lackey.

“Tell me—why are you calling us Mother and Father? If you don’t explain it clearly, how can we acknowledge you?”

The strange beast Yinzi was overly familiar by nature. It squeezed itself at the feet of Chen Yixin and Wenren Li, presenting its large, flat face to them as it continued speaking in its broken, coquettish voice. “Because you are Yinzi’s Mother and Father, of course.”

“Mother and Father haven’t forgotten Yinzi, have you… waaah…”

“Stop crying,” Chen Yixin said more sternly. Yinzi, who had been howling, immediately fell silent.

“Tell us properly—where did we… give birth to you, and how did we interact with you?”

As he spoke, Chen Yixin couldn’t help but touch his stomach. There was absolutely no way he could have given birth to such an ugly child. No—he shouldn’t be able to have children at all.

Yinzi blinked, thinking for a moment, then shook its head. “I can’t remember either. But you are Yinzi’s Mother, and he is Yinzi’s Father.”

As the strange beast finished speaking, Wenren Li suddenly tapped its forehead. Fragmented images appeared before both him and Chen Yixin—within what seemed to be a palace in the Burning Heaven Nether Palace, Chen Yixin was holding Yinzi in his arms, then reclining into Wenren Li’s embrace, smiling in an especially alluring manner.

Chen Yixin’s pupils shrank slightly, his heartbeat accelerating sharply. Yet when he tried to think further, there was nothing to grasp—perhaps it was something from a previous life, but having passed through reincarnation after drinking Meng Po’s Soup, he had no way to recall it.

“Could it be that I was the original master of the Burning Heaven Nether Palace?” Chen Yixin said, his brows knitting slightly. He had no particular interest in origins or past identities—such things would only become burdens. It was far better to remain unencumbered.

Besides, that supposed original master had lived too miserably—the estate was in ruins, the manor spirit was damaged, and even the ‘child’ had been starved into a thin sheet… Who had harmed him? Or rather, who had harmed them?

Wenren Li did not immediately judge whether it was true. He was equally puzzled by the version of himself in those images—because in his thirty thousand years of memories, such a scene did not exist.

“A-Rong, don’t overthink it. Since it has formed a contract with you, it cannot harm you… for now, let’s just keep it.”

Chen Yixin did not understand the meaning of that contract incantation, but Wenren Li did. The bond between Chen Yixin and the strange beast Yinzi exceeded even a master-servant contract, and this beast likely had an extraordinary origin.

The strange beasts of the void were usually violent and bloodthirsty, rarely possessing intelligence. Yet this one was clear-minded and even knew how to act cute—it was clearly no ordinary creature among them. Of course, the fact that it could be raised as a “child” by immortals also spoke of its uniqueness.

Yinzi understood Wenren Li’s words and nodded vigorously. “Mm-hmm! Father, don’t worry—I won’t compete with you for Mother…”—because it knew it couldn’t win.

Though it could not remember many details, certain facts and habits remained.

Its whiskers wrapped around their ankles as it acted spoiled. “Mother, Father, Yinzi is hungry—so hungry…”

Chen Yixin suddenly felt that he and Wenren Li might be eaten into poverty by this creature.

“A-Rong, feed it some Duoduo Fruit,” Wenren Li said, pulling Chen Yixin to sit down.

Chen Yixin still had several hundred Duoduo Fruits in his storage space. He could already feel that after forming his Golden Core, the fruit’s effect on him had diminished. Going forward, there was no need to rush breakthroughs—steady accumulation was the proper path.

After feeding ten fruits in succession, the little silver beast was finally satisfied and fell asleep at their feet.

As it sank into deep slumber, a burst of silver light flashed, and it transformed into a silver pattern, imprinting itself onto Chen Yixin’s ankle.

Chen Yixin lifted his pant leg and examined it carefully. A round silver mark—not particularly ugly. For someone as picky as him, he surprisingly felt little aversion toward this strange beast.

Before he could lower his pant leg, Wenren Li crouched down, lifted Chen Yixin’s foot, and examined it carefully, even reaching out to touch it.

Chen Yixin had been thinking seriously, but seeing Wenren Li crouched before him made it hard to remain focused. Leaning forward, he wrapped his arms around Wenren Li’s neck.

“A-Li, don’t worry. No matter what connection we had in the past, I only know that right now, I am your Dao companion.”

Moreover, in the fragments of memory Yinzi revealed, his relationship with Wenren Li had been just as intimate. Even if there had been a past life, they had clearly loved each other. Thinking this way, Chen Yixin felt much less troubled.

“Mm,” Wenren Li nodded. He set Chen Yixin’s foot down, pulled his pant leg back into place, then straightened up and bent slightly to lift him into his arms, carrying him toward the bed inside the cabin. “I’ll accompany A-Rong to continue resting.”

“Alright,” Chen Yixin replied, turning his head to kiss Wenren Li’s cheek.

Having slept for ten days, he was already well-rested. Lying there, he found himself unable to fall asleep. Turning onto his side, he carefully observed Wenren Li’s face as he closed his eyes, then reached out to touch his glabella.

In Yinzi’s memory, Wenren Li had been slightly different—there had been a slender silver mark at his glabella, like a star in the sky, exquisitely beautiful. But to Chen Yixin, it was still not as captivating as Wenren Li’s green hair and green eyes—that appearance was truly enchanting.

Wenren Li caught the hand roaming across his face and opened his eyes, turning onto his side as well. “A-Rong, are you no longer sleepy?”

“Not sleepy,” Chen Yixin replied, shifting closer to Wenren Li until their noses were nearly touching, each breath becoming distinctly perceptible.

Chen Yixin’s eyes curved into a slight smile. A trace of daze appeared in Wenren Li’s gaze. Then Chen Yixin lightly bit the tip of Wenren Li’s nose, which soon turned into a gentle, lingering kiss.

He kissed upward across Wenren Li’s glabella, then over his eyes. His hand pressed lightly on Wenren Li’s shoulder, guiding him to lie flat, while he straddled him.

“But I want to lie with A-Li like this,” Chen Yixin said without the slightest guilt. His kisses continued to scatter across Wenren Li’s face, a smile playing at his lips and in his eyes—his every movement even more alluring than Wenren Li, who was already half-demon.

His lips brushed past the corner of Wenren Li’s mouth and continued downward, lightly grazing his throat. His hand slipped into Wenren Li’s clothing, exploring wherever he found pleasing to touch.

Wenren Li’s aura surged outward, forcing cultivators flying in the distance down from the air. The spiritual vessel shot out of the Burning Heaven Nether Palace’s exit—appearing only for an instant before vanishing again. Wu Fei and Nan Ke, who were carrying a sedan chair, barely had time to react, their mouths opening without even managing a greeting.

Chen Yixin was unaware of all this. Tugging open Wenren Li’s clothing, he had already grown addicted to teasing him.

He teased Wenren Li until his breathing grew unsteady, though he himself was no better. Grabbing Wenren Li’s hand, he guided it to where his body had already reacted, lowering his voice.

“A-Li… must I continue to endure?”

At first, he had only intended to tease—but once the sensation built, he found it difficult to stop.

Wenren Li’s hand at Chen Yixin’s waist tightened slightly. In the next moment, the world spun, and their positions reversed. He then lifted Chen Yixin into his arms and stepped out of the spiritual vessel. Descending from the sky, they returned to the courtyard in the small town of the Xiguang Plains.

Leaning against Wenren Li’s chest, Chen Yixin grew quiet, allowing himself to be carried to the only bed in the room.

Wenren Li removed Chen Yixin’s outer robe, steadying his shoulders. Only then did he recall that there was something he had yet to explain.

“A-Rong, remember—when my Yang essence enters your body, you must circulate your cultivation method. Also…”

Before Wenren Li could finish speaking, Chen Yixin, eyes widened, pressed his lips against his to stop him. Wenren Li was speaking so seriously while teasing him—he might as well act already…

Understanding perfectly the meaning behind Chen Yixin’s expression, a trace of helplessness appeared between Wenren Li’s brows. With a sweep of his hand over Chen Yixin’s body, their clothes vanished completely. The scene before them was just like that night in the illusion—their wedding chamber.

Wenren Li’s face flushed slightly. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he had returned to his green-eyed, green-haired form. At his fingertips, he gathered a small amount of spiritual fluid to assist in their dual cultivation.

Chen Yixin was once again captivated by this appearance of Wenren Li. He leaned closer, kissing Wenren Li’s eyes. “A-Li, you look better like this—don’t change back.”

Wenren Li nodded, then found Chen Yixin’s lips. The gentle kiss lasted only a moment before turning intense, like oil poured into water—lips and tongues entwined, skin brushing against skin, everything unfolding naturally.

Wenren Li’s jade-green hair intertwined with Chen Yixin’s black hair. Their fingers interlocked above their heads, beads of sweat forming and sliding down, a scene filled with both strength and sensual beauty.

Even the sturdy bed in the main room creaked repeatedly, its sounds mingling with low murmurs and heavy breaths into a rhythm of its own.

Outside, in the small courtyard, blades of grass broke through the soil, and flowers bloomed one after another in the wind. Not only this courtyard, but every household in the town experienced the same—beyond the town, even the dilapidated City God Temple became overgrown with lush vegetation.

Above the Xiguang Plains, clouds gathered and rain poured down. Beneath the rainfall, the land grew wildly, spreading into a vast, flourishing expanse.

Wu Fei, Nan Ke, and the others approached and hovered at low altitude to observe. Having once cleared the vegetation from the courtyard, they already knew what their Demon Lord and Consort were doing. Fortunately, this rampant growth was not occurring in their Demon Palace, so they did not need to deal with it again.

“A-Rong,” Wenren Li reminded softly. Lowering his head, their glabellas touched. His soul entered Chen Yixin’s sea of consciousness, accompanied by his Yang essence.

Within the sea of consciousness, Chen Yixin appeared much the same as his physical self, though his expression was clouded and unfocused.

“A-Li…,” he murmured softly, opening his arms. His form dissolved into a soft golden light—the true form of his soul body.

Wenren Li’s soul body, however, was neither the green of a tree spirit nor the gray of a ghost cultivator, nor any of the five elemental colors of ordinary cultivators—it was a mass of silver light. When it collided with Chen Yixin’s, a burst of multicolored radiance erupted. Outside, their entwined bodies released a simultaneous, suppressed groan.

Wenren Li steadied the back of Chen Yixin’s neck and reminded him again, “A-Rong, focus.”

Chen Yixin blinked in slight frustration. At a moment like this, having to divide his attention to cultivate was truly against human nature—but he also knew this was not the time to be willful. Otherwise, all their restraint up to now would have been for nothing.

He began circulating the Ascendant Immortal Scripture, while Wenren Li’s spiritual power, carried along with his Yang essence, entered Chen Yixin’s body to assist the process. After just one cycle, Chen Yixin’s Golden Core second-layer cultivation reached perfection. If it continued further, he would directly face a tribulation.

Wenren Li loosened his hold slightly. With a flick of his finger, streaks of silver-gray light formed several restrictions within Chen Yixin’s body. He continued circulating the energy, sealing the excess spiritual power within those restrictions, to be released when Chen Yixin needed it.

Cycle after cycle, the energy flowed through their point of union, returning to Wenren Li before circulating again. A faint daze appeared in Chen Yixin’s eyes. He began guiding the energy himself—yet not according to the method of the Ascendant Immortal Scripture, but along a completely opposite path.

After completing one such cycle, he grew slightly alert. “A-Li, do you feel any discomfort?”

“No,” Wenren Li replied. Within Chen Yixin’s sea of consciousness, the silver light of Wenren Li’s soul suddenly blazed brightly. Something seemed to shatter, and a cultivation method emerged within his awareness—the Ascendant Demon Scripture.

The changes did not stop there. Deep within Wenren Li’s own sea of consciousness, the sapling of his spiritual body suddenly grew, extending slightly. It still bore only a single bud, but compared to its unchanged state for tens of thousands of years, it had undeniably developed.

For nearly ten thousand years, Wenren Li had traveled the Taixuan realm in search of a suitable cultivation method, yet found nothing. He had long since let go of that obsession—never expecting the method to have been sealed within his own sea of consciousness all along, unlocked in such a way.

This realization lasted only a moment. His spiritual power completed another cycle and returned to Chen Yixin, continuing its flow. Within the sea of consciousness, their souls intertwined even more tightly than before—the trembling no less intense than the union of their physical bodies.

Chen Yixin adapted to this rhythm, relaxing completely and allowing Wenren Li to guide his spiritual power. He opened both his body and soul without reservation, responding instinctively—embracing, touching, and adjusting their positions to match Wenren Li’s movements.

Their dual cultivation lasted nearly a month. On one such day, Chen Yixin, exhausted, closed his eyes and curled into Wenren Li’s embrace, falling asleep.

Wenren Li lowered his head, kissing away the tear at the corner of Chen Yixin’s eye. Holding him with quiet satisfaction, he too closed his eyes to rest.

Their first dual cultivation should not have required an entire month, but with Wenren Li newly obtaining the Ascendant Demon Scripture, and Chen Yixin actively cooperating in his cultivation, time passed unnoticed—a month of intense, intoxicating experience that lingered in memory.

Yet while they were immersed in their practice, they completely forgot about the small town they were in—and the Xiguang Plains beyond, which had been affected by their aura.

Wu Fei, Nan Ke, and the others had long since gone from astonishment to complete indifference.

After all, if their Demon Lord and Consort casually created an entire forest through dual cultivation, there was no need to be surprised—because there were still countless forests yet to grow before their eyes.

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