The cave abode was filled with passion.
Their limbs entwined, Yun Lie thrust deeply into Xu Ziqing, then slowly withdrew. Each movement was forceful yet measured.
His expression changed little. Only his gaze was intent, fixed entirely on the person beneath him.
Xu Ziqing’s cheeks were flushed. The unceasing hardness within him seemed almost to strike him apart.
Yet his senior brother was everywhere: against his waist, his lips and tongue, his chest and skin. Even in his dazed state, he felt pleasure amid the overwhelming sensation.
His body had grown soft and yielding. Waves of pleasure surged through him and rose to his head, drawing muffled moans from his throat.
They made love for a long time. Xu Ziqing lost all sense of passing time and could only feel Senior Brother’s affection rushing toward him with each thrust.
When a movement struck too forcefully, he gripped Yun Lie’s shoulders tightly, only to release them abruptly for fear of hurting him.
Again and again this happened, until all conscious thoughts faded away.
He did not know how much time passed. Yun Lie continued moving as before, and Xu Ziqing could do nothing but pant more quickly as the heat rose within him.
Gradually pleasure spread through his whole body. Xu Ziqing was nearly senseless when he suddenly heard someone call his name, and murmured, “…Senior Brother?”
Opening his eyes, he found that Yun Lie was still inside him, but had broken their kiss and was looking directly into his eyes.
“Ziqing,” Yun Lie called again.
Xu Ziqing took several breaths, his face growing even redder. “Senior Brother, you…”
He could not finish. Their position was simply too embarrassing.
Yun Lie extended two fingers and touched Xu Ziqing between the brows.
A stream of spiritual sense entered Xu Ziqing’s Purple Palace, instantly imprinting itself upon his primordial spirit.
Countless cultivation formulas flooded his mind, making his head feel slightly swollen. Then he recovered his awareness.
Yun Lie instructed, “Remember this method.”
Xu Ziqing’s mind cleared. “Yes, Senior Brother.”
He rapidly looked through the formulas. In the next instant, his face grew hot.
Th-this was a dual-cultivation method!
It looked somewhat familiar. After a moment’s thought, Xu Ziqing remembered the two demonic cultivator brothers they had met in the Taigu Desert. Those men had committed innumerable evils, corrupting what had originally been a proper dual-cultivation method into a demonic technique and harming countless people. His senior brother had executed them.
When Xu Ziqing searched the two demons’ storage rings afterward, he found the secrets of their cultivation, including a mention of this set of techniques. He had merely glanced at it at the time and had not memorized it, but upon carefully examining the method his senior brother was transmitting now, the memory returned.
Xu Ziqing calmed himself and studied the formulas carefully. After considering them in silence, he committed them all to memory.
Yun Lie asked, “Have you memorized it?”
Xu Ziqing nodded. “Yes, Senior Brother.”
Yun Lie said, “Then follow the formula.”
Embarrassed, Xu Ziqing nevertheless answered, “I understand.”
Yun Lie resumed his movements. This time they were even firmer, his penetration deeper and more forceful than before.
Soon he pressed Xu Ziqing heavily toward himself, released his restraint, and ejaculated his primal yang!
Xu Ziqing felt a hot current enter his body and strike deep within, making his entire body seem to burn.
He immediately recognized it as Senior Brother’s primal yang, and silently recited the formula while circulating his true essence.
In an instant the primal yang transformed into burning essence qi, drawn along by the cultivation method into Xu Ziqing’s dantian. There it combined closely with his true essence, entwining with it and penetrating deeper into the flow.
Xu Ziqing circulated his true essence according to the prescribed method, gradually incorporating the essence qi into it.
When all the essence qi had fused with his true essence, he felt the small seed of their oath inside his Purple Palace dissolve into something intangible. It seemed to become a slender current flowing into the river of his Great Dao and merging with his path. Only now was his half of their oath truly established.
The true essence mingled with essence qi then circulated through Xu Ziqing’s limbs, meridians, and entire body.
It was like a gentle stream flowing through every part of him.
Gradually it grew stronger, warming his dantian and making his meridians feel slightly swollen.
Xu Ziqing was a little embarrassed, but raised his head and pressed his lips against Yun Lie’s.
He slipped his tongue into Yun Lie’s mouth and entwined their tongues.
At once his true essence began circulating fiercely. One current descended through his meridians while another rushed upward, and both were transmitted into Yun Lie’s body along different routes.
Yun Lie accepted them, taking Xu Ziqing’s true essence into himself and directing it downward through his meridians and along his many channels.
Unlike the fierce heat of the essence qi transformed from his own primal yang, Xu Ziqing’s true essence was much gentler. It carried the essence qi from Xu Ziqing’s body and mixed it with Yun Lie’s true essence.
Thus each man’s true essence and essence qi entered the other’s body, as though seeking to merge completely.
After this essence and qi had fused, they drew out still more true essence and essence qi and flowed back into Xu Ziqing’s body.
They circulated through him several times, then carried his own true essence and essence qi back to Yun Lie.
This repeated endlessly, in an unbroken cycle.
Their true essence traveled between them through their lips and tongues and through the intimate places where their bodies were joined.
As it circulated, even their auras gradually began to blend.
For a time, each man could perceive the other’s cultivation circulation routes with complete clarity. Traces of their techniques and comprehension of the Dao also entered the other’s body.
Metal ordinarily overcame wood, but Yi-Wood could accommodate Geng-Metal.
Xu Ziqing possessed the essence of Yi-Wood. Although the qi of Jia-Wood balanced his wood energy, Yi-Wood remained dominant. Yun Lie, now possessing an immortal-demonic body and a single metal spiritual root, had already refined away the last of his impurities, leaving only sharp Geng-Metal qi.
Their dual cultivation, with Yun Lie taking the lead and Xu Ziqing receiving, was perfectly suited to the natural relationship between Geng-Metal and Yi-Wood.
They therefore blended together almost without effort, and their dual cultivation was remarkably successful.
At the same time, the seed of the oath in Yun Lie’s Purple Palace also dissolved into his Great Dao as Xu Ziqing’s true essence entered and merged with his.
Now both halves of the oath had drawn together and become complete. Their bond was truly established.
The Heavenly Dao stood above them to supervise it, forbidding them from breaking their vows for the rest of their lives.
As they continued dual cultivation, each circulation caused their true essence to expand slightly. Because Yun Lie was stronger and Xu Ziqing weaker, Xu Ziqing’s true essence naturally became denser, more stable, and purer with each tempering.
Through this process, Xu Ziqing also gained a measure of the immortal-demonic body’s special benefits.
Yun Lie, meanwhile, received Xu Ziqing’s endlessly renewing life force.
Yun Lie walked a path of warfare and killing. His intent to kill was profound and he cultivated the supreme Dao of slaughter. Although his seven emotions had been brought to completion through Xu Ziqing, his Dao contained only death, without any trace of life.
Even the laws of the Heavenly Dao left living beings a slender chance to survive. If Yun Lie could not comprehend that chance within absolute killing, then he could not control it. In future encounters, a powerful enemy might find that gap on their own, escape through it, and bring endless trouble upon him.
Such were the entanglements of cause and effect.
Having obtained Xu Ziqing’s vitality, Yun Lie could use it as a foundation from which to seek out the flaws in his sword Dao.
His path would still be one of boundless slaughter, but the sliver of life within it would also come under his control, allowing his comprehension of the realm to advance again.
When all their true essence had been mobilized, Xu Ziqing felt tremendous power arriving from Senior Brother, filling his dantian.
The surging power formed a vortex there, like an inverted cone, gathering the energy and pouring it into his Golden Core.
The Golden Core gradually shone more brightly, yet the enormous power continued to stream in without end.
Xu Ziqing suddenly realized that Senior Brother’s Nascent Soul realm held such vast true essence that his Golden Core felt ready to burst. Yet the inflow still continued.
Because Xu Ziqing had received Senior Brother’s primal yang, he already bore something of his aura and could turn this true essence to his own use. In only moments, his cultivation increased explosively!
When the Golden Core had expanded to its limit, an inner barrier suddenly shattered.
Xu Ziqing advanced from middle Golden Core to late Golden Core. His dantian instantly returned to its normal size, but its capacity had become several times greater than before.
Now he could absorb Yun Lie’s true essence much more easily, without the feeling that his Golden Core might burst.
Only after he had gradually absorbed every bit of the extra true essence did Xu Ziqing slowly exhale.
His power had increased enormously compared with before their dual cultivation. The barrier from middle Golden Core to late Golden Core had broken as naturally as water finding its course, without the slightest obstruction. Even the vast spiritual energy normally required for such a breakthrough seemed unnecessary.
Under ordinary circumstances, increasing his cultivation this quickly would have made his foundation unstable. But after examining himself, he found it extremely steady, apparently even firmer than after the years he had previously spent cultivating and tempering it.
Were these the benefits of dual cultivation?
In the past Xu Ziqing had seen many evil demonic cultivators recklessly drain others to improve their own cultivation. He had thought those demons outrageous and weak-willed, pursuing such wicked shortcuts because they lacked resolve. Now, after a single session of mutually beneficial dual cultivation with Senior Brother had yielded such remarkable results, he could imagine how much more pleasurable it would be for those demons who simply drained others.
If a cultivator with poor aptitude obtained such a predatory method and tasted its rewards even once, would it not become terribly difficult to stop?
After sighing at the thought, Xu Ziqing put it aside.
Today was the joyous day on which he and Senior Brother had become Dao companions. His thoughts ought to be entirely upon Senior Brother, not distracted by such other matters.
When the thought passed, he looked up and said, “Senior Brother, I’ve reached late Golden Core. I have you to thank for helping me.”
Yun Lie still held him in his arms. “Your true essence has also given me many insights.”
Xu Ziqing smiled, his heart filled with happiness.
But the next moment, Yun Lie lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Xu Ziqing’s.
Then something intangible, neither wholly illusory nor entirely real, passed through the point where their brows touched and entered Xu Ziqing’s Purple Palace.