No one knew how long their dual cultivation lasted. At last, one morning, Xu Ziqing woke from a deep sleep.
He was nestled against someone’s chest, utterly naked, without a single piece of clothing on his body.
Something still filled him from within, creating a swollen sensation that made him a little uneasy.
Xu Ziqing froze for a moment, then understood. A faint blush immediately spread across his face.
Remembering scenes from their prolonged intimacy and dual cultivation, he was suddenly so embarrassed that for a moment he forgot how many benefits he had obtained from it.
It had really been… rather excessive.
At that moment, a calm male voice came from above his head. “Ziqing.”
Xu Ziqing looked up at once and saw Yun Lie reclining against the head of the bed, holding him in one arm.
His senior brother had just opened his eyes and had probably been resting quietly.
So Senior Brother had already been awake.
Though Xu Ziqing remained embarrassed, he smiled faintly. “Senior Brother.”
Yun Lie nodded. “Shall we get up?”
Xu Ziqing nodded and asked, “How… how much time has passed?”
Yun Lie answered, “Eighty-one days.”
Xu Ziqing went still.
That… long?
Although he knew cultivators’ weddings differed from those of mortals, hearing the length of time still astonished him.
Then he recalled the irresistible pleasure of their joined primordial spirits, and his face grew hot again.
But having decided to get up, he braced a hand against the bed and tried to rise, only to stiffen immediately.
As he moved, the object still inside him grew harder. Only now did he remember exactly how he and his senior brother were positioned, and he became completely flustered.
Seeing this, Yun Lie drew back slightly, slowly withdrawing himself from Xu Ziqing’s body.
The unfamiliar sensation made Xu Ziqing more embarrassed still.
Yun Lie said, “We are Dao companions now. Dual cultivation is natural between us. There is no need for such alarm.”
Xu Ziqing’s scalp tingled. When the hardness finally withdrew, a soft sound followed, making him especially mortified.
He was so embarrassed that he even forgot his habitual reply of “Yes, Senior Brother.”
Only then did he realize that he had been holding his breath, almost to the point of suffocation.
Once separated from Xu Ziqing, Yun Lie swung down from the bed. He was entirely composed and showed no discomfort at being unclothed.
He raised a hand and put on his undergarment, then waved his sleeve and draped his plain white robe over it.
Thus he returned to his ordinary appearance.
Xu Ziqing finally collected himself. After a pause, he also stood and dressed.
When his feet touched the ground, he noticed that although the lingering feeling of fullness behind him had not yet disappeared, nothing else felt amiss, nor was there any wetness. During their dual cultivation he had clearly felt Senior Brother release something into him. Now it was all gone. But when he remembered how it had disappeared, his embarrassment grew even worse.
He quickly calmed his mind and dispersed those feelings.
Once both were dressed, Yun Lie walked over and took his hand.
Together they left the stone chamber.
After dual cultivation, it was proper for them to pay their respects to Master.
Yun Lie’s cave abode on Slaughter Sword Peak had been opened in the place where its second-rank spirit vein gathered the richest spiritual energy. Because the two had still been living on Little Slaughter Peak earlier, Yun Lie alone had arranged the middle peak. Even now, its surroundings remained bleak, devoid of living vitality.
It resembled Yun Lie’s sword Dao: filled with killing intent, but excessively cold and solitary.
Upon emerging from the cave, they saw Yun Zhengrui and Yun Tianheng sitting cross-legged and cultivating several dozen zhang away, apparently having waited a long time.
The two Yun family youths sensed their arrival at once, raised their heads, and greeted them.
“Master! Eldest Martial Uncle!”
“Master! Second Martial Uncle!”
It turned out that after the ceremony, all the nominal disciples, whether demon cultivators or immortal cultivators, had temporarily stayed on Little Slaughter Peak to await their two masters’ emergence from seclusion and further instructions. But Qiu He had ordered the uncle and nephew to come and guard the entrance to their masters’ cave.
After waiting eighty-one days, they had finally seen their two elders again and both sighed in relief.
Yun Zhengrui was straightforward and honest, while Yun Tianheng was naturally composed. Even so, both stole curious glances at their elders.
But they respected their teachers. Discovering nothing unusual, they suppressed their curiosity.
Xu Ziqing asked gently, “Why are you two here?”
Yun Tianheng answered, “Grandmaster ordered us to guard the mountain.”
Yun Zhengrui added, “Grandmaster also gave us something to place in Martial Uncle’s hands.”
Xu Ziqing was surprised. What could be so urgent?
Yun Zhengrui brought out a wooden box, holding it with both hands as he presented it respectfully.
Yun Tianheng explained, “It’s a wedding gift from two ancestors. They did not deliver it to Master earlier, and later asked Grandmaster to pass it on.”
Xu Ziqing was still puzzled but accepted the box.
One glance told him why Master had entrusted the delivery to these two juniors.
The box was protected by a restriction that could only be undone by a cultivator of at least middle Golden Core. Perfected Qiu He was precisely at middle Golden Core, so to avoid any appearance of impropriety, he had asked the two youths to deliver it unopened. Though master and disciples did not normally need such precautions between them, Qiu He respected and cared deeply for both his disciples.
Xu Ziqing brushed his hand over the box, undid the restriction, and opened the lid.
Inside was a supreme-grade spirit stone and an embroidered pouch. When he felt the pouch, he found dozens of seeds within, every one a different variety.
Precious seeds were often essential to wood-attribute cultivators. And even among Nascent Soul ancestors, a supreme-grade spirit stone was exceedingly valuable. Yet someone had offered one as a wedding gift.
It was a generous present indeed.
Who had sent it?
Xu Ziqing asked, “Do you know what the people who delivered this looked like?”
The uncle and nephew had seen them personally, so they answered, “They were two ancestors who looked like young men, and their faces were exactly alike.”
Xu Ziqing understood immediately.
It had been the brothers Jin Cheng and Jin Shi.
Before his wedding, Xu Ziqing had remembered how the Jin brothers once protected him, nearly losing their own lives in the process. On such an important occasion, he had sent them an invitation too. Though they had a poor reputation and were regarded as cultivators of the wicked demonic path, he felt no contempt for them, considering them benefactors whom he wished to thank in person.
Yet the brothers had not appeared on the wedding day. Xu Ziqing assumed that because the ceremony was being held inside a great immortal sect, they were unwilling to come. He had thought that the Jin brothers had never committed any great evil, that the Wuling Immortal Sect would not indiscriminately condemn people, and that Yun Lie’s status should protect them from harassment. Still, the immortal and demonic paths were different. It was understandable if the brothers had reservations, especially as there were scoundrels and fanatics among immortal cultivators too. Their caution was reasonable.
Unexpectedly, they had attended after all, but had not shown themselves before the crowd.
When the Sect Master’s incarnation came to the wedding and the sect’s Nascent Soul ancestors emerged from the void, the two Jin brothers had remained hidden. That was why Xu Ziqing had not seen them.
Xu Ziqing sighed inwardly. He had never been able to give them his thanks and had instead received such a valuable gift. He felt deeply ashamed. If he encountered the brothers again, he would give them one of his remaining Flesh Upon Bones herbs, providing them with a means of preserving a life in a crisis.
After putting away the wooden box, he held the supreme-grade spirit stone out to Yun Lie. “Senior Brother, take this.”
His cultivation was still relatively low, so such a valuable stone would naturally be more useful to Yun Lie.
Yun Lie accepted the stone without arguing.
The two then set out for Little Bamboo Peak. Yun Tianheng and his nephew returned to Little Slaughter Peak.
Little Bamboo Peak now held only Perfected Qiu He and his disciple Qiu Ze. Yue Jun and the other acquaintances who had lived there were away traveling and training, seldom having leisure time.
The couple entered the cave abode and found Perfected Qiu He in the wooden house, still wearing his extraordinarily youthful appearance.
Qiu He had been meditating. When he saw his two disciples arrive, he immediately examined them from head to toe. His eyes brightened. “Ziqing, have you broken through again?”
Xu Ziqing smiled. “Yes. We gained a great deal, so…”
Seeing the excellent condition of his disciples, Qiu He relaxed. In particular, it comforted him to know that his naturally solitary eldest disciple now had a companion on the immortal path. “Seeing you two live together in harmony makes this old master truly happy.”
Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie exchanged a glance, then sat with their master and talked.
Because their master’s aptitude was not outstanding, the two had given him a Posuo Fruit that offered an eighty-percent chance of forming a Nascent Soul. But eighty percent was not certainty, and they remained concerned. Qiu He’s resolve to pursue the Dao was now stronger, yet he still had a long way to go before Nascent Soul. Yun Lie, already at that realm, therefore discussed the Dao with Master to offer guidance.
It could easily cause conflict when a disciple became stronger than his teacher. But Yun Lie was upright, and Perfected Qiu He broad-minded, so no estrangement arose. Qiu He regarded Yun Lie almost as his own son and felt only joy and pride at his achievements, without the slightest jealousy or resentment.
Xu Ziqing watched with a smile. Whenever they reached a topic concerning his own Dao, he shared his understanding as well. For a time, all three complemented one another, though Yun Lie chiefly guided the other two. The atmosphere was thoroughly harmonious.
Their discussion of the Dao continued for several months.
Perfected Qiu He seemed to gain an insight and wished to enter seclusion again. Though this was not a breakthrough from middle to late Golden Core, it would still constitute a modest improvement.
Xu Ziqing was pleased for his master and departed with Yun Lie.
On their way back, the couple visited Little Slaughter Peak first.
Xu Ziqing now had four nominal disciples: Yun Tianheng, Yuehua, Yanhua, and Hu Xue’er. Yun Lie had two: Yun Zhengrui and Yan Shuang. All six lived on Little Slaughter Peak and, without permission, did not dare leave for anywhere else.
As soon as the two entered the peak, the six disciples came to greet their masters.
Pleased that they had been cultivating diligently, Xu Ziqing told them, “Once you succeed in Foundation Establishment and pass my tests, you may formally enter my school as personal disciples and open your own cave abodes on Slaughter Sword Peak. Whoever reaches Foundation Establishment first will rank first in seniority. Those who succeed later will have to call themselves junior brothers and sisters.”
Yun Lie glanced at Yan Shuang and Yun Zhengrui. “The same applies to you two.”
The nominal disciples exchanged looks, then rejoiced.
The status of a personal disciple was one thing, but moving to Slaughter Sword Peak was even more appealing. The spiritual energy of a second-rank spirit vein was vastly stronger than that of a third-rank vein!
Cultivating there would allow them to advance by leaps and bounds.
Each disciple was filled with anticipation, wanting nothing more than to advance immediately and become a personal disciple.
Xu Ziqing encouraged them for a while. Seeing their determination, he was satisfied and returned with Yun Lie to Slaughter Sword Peak.
Xu Ziqing arranged and transformed the middle peak, making it lush with greenery and full of vitality, like a true immortal’s paradise. The restrictions and formations he installed differed from Yun Lie’s sword formations, yet they could combine with them to create defenses of extraordinary strength.
Yun Lie allowed him to work as he wished, occasionally correcting a weakness to make the mountain-protecting formation ever more flawless.
The two Dao companions settled on the peak together, cultivating diligently while sharing a tender, affectionate life.
From time to time they guided their disciples through difficulties, living peacefully and leisurely for quite a while.
In the blink of an eye, twenty years passed.