Wenren Li still looked slightly dazed, earning him an impatient glare from Chen Yixin, who was kissing him with considerable urgency. Chen Yixin was not deliberately taking advantage of him. It was just that this blockhead Wenren Li had to be aroused before the mark that belonged uniquely to him would appear.
And Chen Yixin was already personally trying this hard to arouse him, yet Wenren Li was still staring blankly and failing to react. Of course Chen Yixin was annoyed.
“What are you staring at? Hold me and keep kissing me…” Couldn’t he see that Chen Yixin was already tired from doing all the kissing himself?
“Mhm… all right.” Wenren Li nodded. Perhaps this was also Chen Yixin’s way of comforting him. In that case, he would gladly accept it.
Having completely failed to understand the real reason Chen Yixin had stripped off his clothes, Wenren Li interpreted his actions this way. He wrapped both arms around Chen Yixin’s waist and pulled him down onto the bed with him. His kisses landed on Chen Yixin’s forehead, heavy with affection, then gradually moved lower. A faint layer of silver spiritual power covered his palm, and wherever his hand brushed, Chen Yixin’s long blue robe dissolved like water, revealing luminous white skin beneath.
Chen Yixin’s breathing quickened. The explanation he had been about to give Wenren Li died on his lips. Whether Wenren Li had become aroused or not, he no longer knew; Chen Yixin himself certainly had, and there was no stopping it now.
He lifted his arms around Wenren Li’s waist and held him tightly.
“A-Li, don’t think about anything else. Just think about me.”
Whenever Chen Yixin thought of Wenren Li, he could not help feeling happy, his heart instinctively softening. Surely thinking about him would make Wenren Li happy too.
“I’m thinking about you…”
Wenren Li pressed his cheek lightly against Chen Yixin’s and murmured beside his ear. The faint crease between his brows gradually smoothed away, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly. Just as Chen Yixin had thought, once Wenren Li was thinking of him, every other troubling thought receded into the distance.
“I’m thinking about you too.” Chen Yixin shifted slightly and told him this with absolute certainty.
With Wenren Li pressed against him so unmistakably, there was no room left in Chen Yixin’s mind for anything else. He had probably forgotten all about his earlier resolve to practice restraint for a while.
Wenren Li raised himself slightly and met Chen Yixin’s gaze before lowering his head to kiss him. Their lips tangled together, and the tiny flame that had already been burning spread throughout their bodies. Outside the tent, the mutated Phoenix Flowers bloomed even more beautifully. Yet Chen Yixin’s condition during their lovemaking was no better than before. His divine power still flickered unpredictably, impossible to grasp, and the faint pain that accompanied his arousal, though uncomfortable, gave him an even clearer sense than before of what was happening.
Wenren Li’s Adam’s apple moved, the muscles of his body slightly tense. He too was having difficulty controlling his desire.
He wanted to stop and let Chen Yixin rest, but the instant Chen Yixin looked at him accusingly, the desire already surging through him swept away the last of his reason.
By the time Wenren Li came back to himself, they had already begun another seemingly endless round of lovemaking, their bodies colliding again and again.
“Ow… my waist hurts, and my legs hurt too…” Chen Yixin lay sprawled in Woven Cloud, muttering complaints. He did not want to move so much as a finger. He no longer even knew how long he and Wenren Li had been fooling around inside this tent.
“A-Li has practically wrung me dry…”
Hearing this, Wenren Li reached over and pulled him out of Woven Cloud and back into his arms. Without using spiritual power, he massaged Chen Yixin’s waist and legs with his hands. “Sorry. For some reason, I’ve been having trouble controlling myself.”
After thinking for a moment, Wenren Li tried to use spiritual power to ease Chen Yixin’s discomfort. The instant Chen Yixin noticed, however, his eyes widened and he rolled straight out of Wenren Li’s arms and back into the mass of Woven Cloud.
“There’s nothing left to squeeze out of me. A-Li, don’t start again.”
The moment Wenren Li’s spiritual power touched him, Chen Yixin’s legs went weak. If Wenren Li kept this up, he really would not be able to leave the tent today.
Looking somewhat innocent, Wenren Li withdrew his hand. His gaze lifted again, and after another moment he nevertheless reached over and pulled Chen Yixin back into his arms. He did not like seeing Woven Cloud wrapped all around him.
Chen Yixin glanced sideways at Woven Cloud, but in the end he obediently leaned against Wenren Li and stopped moving. His hand slowly slid along Wenren Li’s back. The silver-tree mark had not disappeared.
“My words might not be convincing enough, but this silver-tree mark is unique. I can guarantee that puppet could never have one. What worries me now is the Fengming Realm…”
The red phoenix feather Qingruo had given him still carried the mark of the Fengming Realm. Those people should be the only surviving members of Qingruo’s old forces in the Upper Realm—the very people Nangong and Dongfang wanted to eliminate. They might very well use that puppet to do something against them.
“Once things here are settled, A-Li, come with me to the Fengming Realm.”
Originally, they had no way to return to the Upper Realm for the time being, but the puppet had left a small Divine Ruins secret-realm fragment in their hands. That was enough to let them make one more round trip.
“Mhm.” Wenren Li answered softly. Resting his chin on Chen Yixin’s shoulder, he patted his back. “A-Rong doesn’t need to worry. I’ve already thought it through.”
Chen Yixin rubbed against him. He knew that was not easy for Wenren Li, who carried such a heavy past. Then again, Chen Yixin had sacrificed his charms to finally get Wenren Li to think it through, so he had not exactly had an easy time either.
Not long afterward, Chen Yixin fell asleep in Wenren Li’s arms. To prevent Wenren Li from possibly bothering him in his sleep, he returned to his true form before drifting off—a breathtaking blue-feathered phoenix curled peacefully against Wenren Li’s chest. Wenren Li put on his clothes and raised a silver barrier around the sleeping phoenix before carrying Chen Yixin to the command tent. This time, the two of them had remained shut inside their tent even longer than before: a full ten days.
By now, news of the Lingxu Sect’s destruction had spread throughout both the immortal and demonic paths. Even the rogue cultivators in the impoverished Western Domain had probably heard of it. During the ten days Chen Yixin and Wenren Li remained inside their tent, the Ten Demon Generals, having recovered from their injuries, resumed the offensive.
This time, however, the immortal alliance was on guard. With formations, barriers, and several unusual methods at their disposal, Ze Fang and the others had still failed to take the Wuliang Sect according to plan.
When Wenren Li carried Chen Yixin into the command tent, only Qiu Yi, An Cheng, and the injured Qing Peng were present. The others were still at the front, attacking the Wuliang Sect.
“What happened?” Wenren Li asked.
“The Wuliang Sect has a demon corpse whose cultivation surpasses Soul Transformation. Even with all of us fighting together, we couldn’t defeat it.” Qing Peng stepped forward to report, then waved a hand and recreated the demon corpse’s appearance before them.
“A mid-stage Tribulation Transcendence demon corpse. No wonder you couldn’t defeat it.” In truth, if not for the pills Qiu Yi had refined, some of the Ten Demon Generals might have been killed or seriously injured before Wenren Li and Chen Yixin ever emerged.
“Call them back first,” Wenren Li instructed An Cheng before continuing to study the image of the demon corpse.
After another moment, he looked at Qing Peng. “Go to Qiu Yi’s Medicine Pavilion and recover from your injuries. We’ll discuss the rest after everyone has returned.”
“Yes.” Qing Peng and Qiu Yi answered simultaneously before leaving. Wenren Li continued meditating inside the command tent with Chen Yixin in his arms, while An Cheng gradually brought in jade slips containing battle reports and news from both the front and rear lines. Two hours later, the other nine Demon Generals who had been surrounding the Wuliang Sect had all returned to camp.
Wenren Li did not summon them immediately. He sent every one of them to Qiu Yi’s Medicine Pavilion first to heal and restore themselves to peak condition. That was not something that could be accomplished in a few hours; it would take at least three to five days.
After night fell, Wenren Li carried Chen Yixin back to the tent where they rested and began cultivating.
He had not even kept his eyes closed for half an hour when he opened them again. The phoenix sleeping soundly in his arms had transformed into a completely naked, beautiful man, who rubbed against Wenren Li without the slightest awareness of what he was doing, his voice thick with sleepiness.
“A-Li… what time is it?”
“It’s fine. Keep sleeping. I’m here.”
Wenren Li gently stroked Chen Yixin’s hair while taking a robe from his storage space and draping it over him. His self-control around Chen Yixin was far worse than it used to be. His body was much more honest than his mind.
Chen Yixin kept shifting around because Wenren Li’s stiff embrace was becoming rather uncomfortable. But he really was exhausted, and since Wenren Li had said it was fine, he simply went back to sleep. He slept for a full three days before waking.
And he was still in Wenren Li’s arms. Wenren Li had spent all three days cultivating.
“Come on. We’ll go to the Medicine Pavilion too.” Wenren Li kissed Chen Yixin on the lips and half-carried him upright.
Chen Yixin did not understand why, but he nodded anyway. Tilting sideways, he kissed Wenren Li on the lips in return, then even licked his own lips afterward as though savoring the taste.
Now that his body had recovered, he had already forgotten what he had looked like begging for mercy beneath Wenren Li.
“Ah. A-Li and I really aren’t suited to abstinence. From now on, we should just do whatever comes naturally.” Chen Yixin took Wenren Li’s hand and pulled him toward the exit. After those ten insane days, he had concluded that restraint was neither particularly possible nor particularly appropriate when he and Wenren Li were together. For one thing, even Chen Yixin himself had a hard time holding back.
Wenren Li could not suppress a smile. Interlocking their fingers, he nodded. “It really doesn’t suit us.”
When they arrived at the Medicine Pavilion, all Ten Demon Generals—including Qing Peng, Ze Fang, and Hei Yu—had gathered. After Chen Yixin and Wenren Li took the seats of honor, Wenren Li gestured for the Ten Demon Generals to sit as well.
Until now, none of them knew why Wenren Li had asked Qiu Yi to restore all of them to their best possible condition.
Wenren Li raised the hand that was not holding Chen Yixin’s. A silver wheel of light appeared in his palm. Looking at the Ten Demon Generals, he said, “You have one chance. One chance to break through to Tribulation Transcendence.”
There were countless Soul Transformation cultivators in Taixuan who had been trapped at late-stage Soul Transformation, unable to advance. The only way to escape the suppression of the Taixuan Heavenly Prison Realm was to enter the wheel of light Wenren Li had refined. But they would receive only one opportunity. Whether they succeeded would depend entirely upon themselves.
The instant Wenren Li finished speaking, the previously quiet hall stirred with commotion before falling into a silence so complete it was almost deathly.
Ze Fang, Hei Yu, and the others nearly wondered whether they had misheard. Yet Wenren Li would never joke with them, much less about something like this.
“Do you need time to steady yourselves?” Wenren Li asked with a slight frown. Judging from how agitated they were, he was concerned they might waste the opportunity he was giving them.
“This subordinate does not. I will succeed!”
Ze Fang rose, his voice trembling slightly, then dropped to both knees before Wenren Li and Chen Yixin, offering them his absolute loyalty.
Wenren Li inclined his head. A silver thread flew from the wheel of light, and Ze Fang vanished from the hall of the Medicine Pavilion.
One after another, those who managed to calm themselves stepped forward and knelt as Ze Fang had before being drawn into the wheel of light by Wenren Li. Their emotions might not yet have been completely calm, but they had long since made every preparation they could. What they lacked was precisely an opportunity like this.
After several exhausting days, Qiu Yi was finally free to go to the rear courtyard and pay his respects at the Divine Well, so he was not present. Before long, only Chen Yixin and Wenren Li remained in the Medicine Pavilion.
Chen Yixin stared at the wheel of light as well, then reached out and touched it.
Wenren Li glanced at him. The wheel immediately dropped into Chen Yixin’s arms and revealed its original form: a small tree about half a person tall, with three branches and only a sparse scattering of leaves. The flower bud Chen Yixin had molested so many times, however, was nowhere to be seen.
Chen Yixin carefully felt the entire little tree before raising his eyes to Wenren Li. “Where did you hide the flower bud?”
Wenren Li did not answer. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Chen Yixin’s waist and pulled him onto his lap. “If A-Rong wants it, we can go back to the tent right now.”
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