After that day of kissing, Xu Ziqing no longer concealed his feelings for Yun Lie. Where he had once shown only a fraction of his love, he now let it shine through plainly.
Although Yun Lie did not understand the feelings Xu Ziqing had yet to explain, he seemed to enjoy the affection in his eyes. In daily life, he became more and more intimate with him.
The days passed. As Yun Lie refined more petals of the Demon Mara flower, the dangerous aura surrounding him grew stronger. Xu Ziqing did not need to investigate carefully to know that Yun Lie’s cultivation had advanced considerably. He was probably several times more powerful than when he first entered the demonic region.
At the same time, his demonic impulses became more intense. He could remain longer in the bright region, and the time he spent close to Xu Ziqing increased accordingly.
Though no sun, moon, or stars shone here, the passage of days and nights created a sense of being beneath the open sky.
Xu Ziqing lay on his back on the jade pavement before the Cold Jade pool, with Yun Lie leaning over him. His arms were raised, his dark hair had come loose, and his clothes were disordered.
Yun Lie reached around Xu Ziqing’s waist, keeping their lips pressed firmly together. Their tongues entwined as the kiss continued, their breaths deep and lingering, neither drawing away for a long time.
Xu Ziqing’s breathing grew uneven.
Unlike Yun Lie, Xu Ziqing had long cherished deep feelings for the man beside him. Their growing intimacy stirred those feelings more strongly every day. He could neither bring himself to refuse Yun Lie nor prevent himself from becoming more attached.
When desire arose in a young person, it could be difficult to control. Although Xu Ziqing had lived two lives, he remained innocent in matters of love. Once his feelings were awakened, restraining them became especially difficult.
By now, the moment Yun Lie began making advances toward him, Xu Ziqing could not help feeling a restless heat rise within him.
He felt his body stir with a slight erection, his face flushing red as a soft moan escaped his throat.
Yun Lie seemed to enjoy seeing him this way. One hand stroked back and forth over Xu Ziqing’s waist, and a little added pressure made Xu Ziqing grow more restless, his body trembling.
Yun Lie loosened the sash at Xu Ziqing’s waist and slipped his hand beneath his clothing, moving over his waist and thigh before taking hold of his arousal.
Xu Ziqing gasped in surprise and climaxed almost immediately.
He was immediately overwhelmed with embarrassment. His face turned red, and he shut his eyes, turning away and breaking their kiss.
He could scarcely bear to think about what had just happened.
Yun Lie frowned, drew his hand away, and noticed the sticky fluid on his fingers.
He touched a finger to it, gently turned Xu Ziqing’s face back with his other hand, and brushed that finger across Xu Ziqing’s lips.
Xu Ziqing’s breath caught. He opened his eyes abruptly, saw what was on Yun Lie’s finger, and stared in disbelief.
Senior Brother… how could he possibly…?
Mortified and unable to express his feelings, Xu Ziqing caught Yun Lie’s hand and hastily wiped it clean with his own sleeve.
Seeing his face become even redder and his expression so different from usual, Yun Lie relaxed his brow.
He did not understand the reason for Xu Ziqing’s embarrassment, but he vaguely sensed that Xu Ziqing was upset. Yun Lie himself could not explain his actions. He had simply wanted to do something, so he had done it.
But Yun Lie did not want this person to be upset. Sensing his displeasure, he reached out to stroke Xu Ziqing’s face, then lowered his head and licked Xu Ziqing’s lips in a gesture of reassurance.
Xu Ziqing froze again.
Ever since his senior brother fell into demonic corruption, his actions had been unpredictable. Xu Ziqing had indulged him at every turn, but not knowing his thoughts still made him uneasy.
Yet this gesture seemed to carry genuine comfort. His senior brother was still his senior brother. However different his behavior, he could still make Xu Ziqing feel safe.
Xu Ziqing sighed inwardly, parted his lips, and welcomed the tip of Yun Lie’s tongue.
Then he lifted his arms around Yun Lie’s shoulders and back, drawing him close until their chests touched.
Their intimacy resumed.
Thirty days passed. Yun Lie’s previously overflowing aura gradually became restrained, and the demonic energy around them thinned further.
Throughout this period, the two had spent intimate time together every day. Though they had not fully consummated their relationship, the closeness between them had far exceeded anything Xu Ziqing had once imagined.
At the same time, Yun Lie was refining the Seven Emotions Demon Mara more quickly.
In the beginning, each session had taken most of a day. Later it took only several shichen. Eventually, he could refine the petals with only one shichen of meditation each day, spending most of his remaining time with Xu Ziqing.
Their intimacy left Xu Ziqing happy, but also somewhat helpless.
If his senior brother had not fallen into demonic corruption, he could have asked what these gestures meant. But as things were, he had no way to know whether Yun Lie acted from love.
Still, Xu Ziqing was not a person who indulged endlessly in self-pity. He now regarded his corrupted senior brother’s affection as a kind of unexpected fortune, a temporary fulfillment of his own deepest wish. Even if their feelings were never returned equally in the future, he could treasure this time for the rest of his life.
Apart from accommodating Yun Lie, Xu Ziqing devoted his remaining hours to consolidating his realm and strengthening his cultivation. Using the exceptionally pure spiritual energy here, he also circulated the Wood-Nurturing Art to nourish the ancient seeds he had acquired at auction.
Perhaps the ancient spiritual energy suited the seeds particularly well. Under Xu Ziqing’s care, more than ten of them regained enough vitality to be incorporated into his dantian.
Delighted, Xu Ziqing began doing so at once. Most became subordinate Woods, but one seed, called the True Yang Divine Wood, was assigned a place among his secondary Woods. It was an excellent material for refining artifacts. The older it became, the greater its Yang power. A specimen more than ten thousand years old was exceptionally precious and could even be used to refine treasure artifacts.
There was another reason Xu Ziqing wanted this Wood among his secondary Woods: balance. Rong Jin, his innate Wood, was an extremely fierce Yin-aligned plant. Its thirst for blood left it steeped in baleful energy. Xu Ziqing needed Yang-aligned Woods to counterbalance it. Simply gathering many such plants as subordinate Woods would not be enough. He had to reserve some of the limited places among his secondary Woods.
The True Yang Divine Wood was an ancient spiritual tree long thought extinct. Its origins were sufficiently distinguished to qualify it as a secondary Wood. If he could find several more rare Yang-aligned Woods in the future, Rong Jin would be able to display even greater strength without harming Xu Ziqing’s physical body.
Several of the other seeds were rare as well, but most belonged to medicinal plants and were comparatively delicate. Making them truly useful in battle would demand further painstaking work.
Only the Golden Blood Grass remained especially troublesome. It had recovered just sixty percent of its vitality and still lacked the remaining forty percent. Much more time would be needed before it could fully recover, merge into his dantian, and stimulate the demon vine’s growth. Several other exceptionally stubborn or precious seeds were also still lacking vitality.
Even so, Xu Ziqing could count himself fortunate to have broken through to late Essence Transformation. Otherwise the seeds might have regained sufficient vitality only for his dantian to lack the capacity to hold them all, which would have been a terrible pity.
Xu Ziqing also tempered every subordinate Wood he had already acquired. He devoted particular attention to Thousand-Year Steelwood, which he had so often used against enemies.
Another technique he had recently comprehended was a derived fragment called the Myriad Woods Spirit-Transformation Art. It could grant the myriad Woods a semblance of sentience and change their forms, allowing them to move like beasts or birds and perform numerous useful tasks. According to legend, someone who cultivated this art to its highest level could also comprehend the Myriad Woods Dragon-Transformation Art, which turned plants into dragon shapes and granted them a portion of a dragon’s might.
The more Xu Ziqing’s cultivation advanced, the more clearly he understood why the Great Art of Myriad Woods Heart-Planting was considered legendary. Its many derivative chapters, incomplete fragments, and adaptations were wondrous enough on their own. Learning them all might occupy him until the very day he attained immortality, and they would still prove useful.
Thus, each brother made considerable progress within these strange inheritance grounds.
Xu Ziqing had broken through and gained numerous new methods, while Yun Lie’s changes remained difficult to comprehend.
At least his aura offered Xu Ziqing some clues.
On the forty-fifth day, Yun Lie had absorbed nearly all the demonic energy. Only three petals remained on the Seven Emotions Demon Mara, giving its bare stem a rather pitiful appearance.
As the demonic energy receded, the region of light expanded. Eventually, everything was brightly illuminated except the small area around the Demon Mara’s roots.
Yun Lie’s aura had become so restrained that he felt almost identical to the man he had been before entering this place.
Yet Xu Ziqing knew that Yun Lie’s demonic impulses had not diminished. On the contrary, they had become even deeper.
His pitch-black, unfathomable eyes were more chilling than ever.
Just then, the twin lotus blossoms in the Cold Jade pool finally began to change.
That day, Yun Lie held Xu Ziqing between his legs, his face nestled against Xu Ziqing’s neck as he slowly licked and sucked at the skin. Xu Ziqing did not push him away. Instead, he tilted his head slightly to make it easier for his senior brother. After so many days, they had both grown accustomed to this closeness and no longer found it remarkable.
Suddenly Xu Ziqing’s expression sharpened, and he looked toward the Cold Jade pool.
Above it, vast amounts of spiritual energy formed two small vortices, each suspended above one of the twin lotus blossoms. Faint thunder seemed to stir inside them, but as soon as it emerged, the surrounding spiritual energy pressed it down, reducing it to scattered glimmers of light.
An extraordinarily strong consciousness arose inside each lotus bud.
Both were clear and joyful, filled with the excitement of being reborn.
Before long, two streaks of light shot straight out of the buds and landed beside the Cold Jade pool.
At the same time, the two vortices vanished. The gathered spiritual energy rushed outward with a soft roar and dispersed into the air.
Within the red and white radiance, indistinct human figures appeared. Their features could not yet be seen clearly, but one seemed dressed in red and the other in white. Their bearing differed considerably, though both appeared exceptionally beautiful.
Then Xu Ziqing heard two remarkably similar voices speak.
“Yanhua.”
“Yuehua.”
“We pay our respects to the Lord of Myriad Woods.”