The two gazed at each other. After a long while, neither could have said who moved first, but by the time Xu Ziqing noticed, their lips had met and they had reached the bedside.
Their breaths mingled. Xu Ziqing sighed softly within his heart, and an almost entranced expression appeared on his face.
They had not seen each other for so many years… so many years…
Yun Lie rested a hand against Xu Ziqing’s waist. Their chests pressed together as they held one another close.
Desire stirred with each breath, and longing entwined with every kiss.
There was no need to speak of their many feelings. They had already risen from the depths of their hearts and found expression in their intimacy.
Before they knew it, their clothes had fallen away, leaving them naked beside the bed.
They parted slightly. Xu Ziqing smiled tenderly and lay back, while Yun Lie leaned over him.
Their lips met again, full of lingering affection.
Perhaps because they had been separated for so long, Xu Ziqing was not as embarrassed as he had been during past sessions of dual cultivation. As he wrapped his arms around his senior brother’s shoulders and back, his fingers tightened involuntarily.
Yun Lie, ordinarily so restrained, seemed to move with greater force today.
His other hand slowly moved lower and closed around Xu Ziqing’s erection, while his own arousal gradually pressed against Xu Ziqing’s waist.
Then his hand began stroking.
Pleasure surged in waves. Xu Ziqing drew a deep breath and raised his legs, resting them against Yun Lie’s sides.
His cheeks flushed faintly, and he could not help calling out, “Senior Brother…”
He had scarcely spoken before even his body began to redden.
Yun Lie bent down, his fingers moving more insistently. Before long, he brought Xu Ziqing to release.
A tingling sensation ran across Xu Ziqing’s scalp. Then his body arched, and something foreign entered him from behind.
He had never known such hungry urgency. Yet he did not find it strange; instead he wrapped his legs around his senior brother’s waist, shifted against him, and urged him on.
Yun Lie held his junior brother tightly with one arm. With the other hand, he inserted three fingers before withdrawing them.
Then he pressed himself inside.
When he had entered deeply, both of their bodies went still.
But only for an instant. Yun Lie grasped Xu Ziqing by the waist and pulled him closer still.
The hard length lodged firmly inside him, as though nailing him to the other man’s body. At first the sensation was not comfortable.
Yet as it remained there, an intense warmth seemed to transmit the pulse of the man’s body through him, beating and surging until their heartbeats gradually seemed to become one…
As though they had merged into a single being.
Xu Ziqing panted softly, feeling that tonight’s lovemaking was unlike any they had shared before.
His senior brother’s movements were forceful. With each movement in and out, a tingling numbness rose from where their bodies joined and spread instantly throughout him.
Desire advanced like waves upon the sea, surging in layer after layer and washing ceaselessly through his whole body.
That fierce, burning sensation was like scalding tides. Before long it left him utterly weak and aching.
Xu Ziqing found it increasingly difficult to bear, and several low moans escaped his throat.
His arms moved of their own accord, winding around Yun Lie’s neck and drawing him closer. As their tongues intertwined, his passion deepened, until even his toes curled.
For a moment, he could not help opening his eyes to look at his senior brother. What he saw startled him.
Yun Lie’s expression was unchanged and his gaze intent, yet both his eyes had somehow turned entirely black.
They looked just as they had when he suffered qi deviation all those years ago. The whole of each eye resembled black glass or dark jade, fathomless and deep.
Wh-what was happening?
Xu Ziqing was just about to speak when the thrusts against him abruptly became harder and faster, leaving him unable to form a word.
Yun Lie drew him completely into his arms. His lips moved from Xu Ziqing’s mouth downward until he buried his face against the hollow of his neck.
Xu Ziqing could no longer see his senior brother’s face. He felt only a dampness against his neck and a breath so hot that it scarcely seemed to belong to Yun Lie… Yet he knew this was an illusion. His senior brother was still his senior brother, now and always.
But wave after wave of pleasure rose within him. He managed only a breathless sound, his voice breaking before it became a word.
Xu Ziqing’s thoughts grew hazy. All he could sense was his senior brother’s presence surrounding him, a profound comfort mixed with searing heat, as though he were dreaming.
He had no idea how much time passed before a rush of warmth erupted deep inside him, making him tremble and bringing him back to his senses.
“S-Senior Brother…”
The words had scarcely escaped when Xu Ziqing suddenly realized that all the moisture brought by that warmth had vanished.
He froze. Only when he sensed that trace of heat within the true essence in his dantian did his face flush scarlet.
So he had… without even realizing it, he had used their dual-cultivation method to dissolve and absorb his senior brother’s… his…
Before he could dwell on his embarrassment, Xu Ziqing remembered the strange appearance of his senior brother’s eyes during their passion. He hurriedly asked, “Senior Brother, your… your eyes…”
Yun Lie lifted his head, and their eyes met.
Only then did Xu Ziqing see clearly that his senior brother’s eyes had indeed become as they had been during that earlier qi deviation.
But… looking closely, he could detect one difference.
Around the edges of the jet-black eyes was a very faint golden glimmer, too slight to notice without careful attention.
Xu Ziqing raised a hand and lightly stroked his senior brother’s eyelids.
Then he saw thin strands of black qi fade from the edges of Yun Lie’s eyes. At last only the pupils remained black, while all the blackness around them had disappeared.
Something seemed to become clear to him.
Yun Lie said, “It arose from desire. There is no need to concern yourself.”
Xu Ziqing breathed easier, his gaze growing gentler still.
It was probably a consequence of his senior brother’s immortal-demon constitution. As long as he was unharmed, that was what mattered.
Their earlier lovemaking had eased some of their longing after such a lengthy separation.
Yun Lie had not yet withdrawn from Xu Ziqing, and their bodies remained joined. As they embraced, they felt an even deeper intimacy.
This separation had left both of them somewhat out of control, but it had only deepened their love.
They held each other tenderly for a while before their lips met again.
This time both were considerably calmer. True essence flowed back and forth through the point where their bodies joined, circulating without cease. They had entered the state of dual cultivation.
Perhaps because both had now reached the Nascent Soul realm, the exchange of true essence brought even greater benefits. The Geng-Metal qi within Yun Lie’s true essence helped Xu Ziqing refine his conception of death. In turn, the Yi-Wood qi in Xu Ziqing’s true essence helped Yun Lie nurture that single thread of life within his boundless killing intent.
Gradually their true essence merged and separated, taking on more and more of each other’s aura. Their inner worlds also became increasingly connected.
At last, after their true essence had circulated through the dual-cultivation pathways for a long time, it slowly came to rest.
Yun Lie pressed his forehead against Xu Ziqing’s and sent his primordial spirit into Xu Ziqing’s Purple Palace.
As they had done so many times before, Yun Lie’s primordial spirit rushed directly toward Xu Ziqing’s and immediately merged with it.
They were thoroughly accustomed to this. Because their love was so deep and unwavering, they had never needed the deliberation ordinary Dao companions often required each time their primordial spirits joined. For these two, it was simply part of most of their dual-cultivation sessions and came naturally.
Xu Ziqing opened his Purple Palace to welcome his senior brother’s primordial spirit. Yet at that very instant, his body suddenly went rigid!
It felt as though something incomparably sharp had struck his primordial spirit. A fierce sensation like a storm swept through it in the blink of an eye. He shuddered as though a tremor had risen straight up his spine, and his whole body began shaking beyond his control.
The intensity of the stimulation was terrifying!
His consciousness nearly scattered. The pleasure struck like an electric shock, drawing him helplessly into a strange, wondrous state.
Yet somewhere amid his confusion, he understood. His senior brother had already achieved the first refinement of his sword soul. His primordial spirit was therefore also a sword soul, which was more powerful than an ordinary primordial spirit. In the past, their primordial spirits had mingled smoothly, like water and milk. But the sudden arrival of a sword soul was something Xu Ziqing had never experienced, and he was not yet accustomed to it.
No wonder… no wonder they had not joined their primordial spirits during dual cultivation after Yun Lie refined his sword soul. His senior brother must have known how formidable it was. At Xu Ziqing’s earlier Golden Core realm, his primordial spirit could not possibly have endured such a union. Not only would they have gained nothing, but his primordial spirit might have been injured.
Now, however, Xu Ziqing had formed his Nascent Soul, and his primordial spirit had become much stronger. He could merge with Yun Lie’s sword soul and use its power to temper his own primordial spirit even further.
This would greatly benefit his future cultivation.
As these thoughts passed through his mind, the sword soul’s impact continued. Wave after wave washed across his primordial spirit, making him tremble each time, but also leaving his spirit a little more condensed and solid.
Gradually, he grew accustomed to the fierce sensation and even began to enjoy the shivers it brought…
At the same time, illusory manifestations of their Minor Cosmoses appeared behind both Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie.
Yun Lie’s Minor Cosmos was nearly solid, while Xu Ziqing’s was more indistinct. But compared with that of an ordinary early Nascent Soul cultivator, Xu Ziqing’s was already considerably stronger.
As their primordial spirits mingled, the two Minor Cosmoses drew closer as well, until they seemed to overlap even while occupying two separate spaces.
Inside the sword domain, killing intent was heavy and sword intent reached the heavens. In the world of myriad woods, vitality flourished and baleful qi circulated.
Soon their Minor Cosmoses touched. The conceptions, auras, and Daos within seemed to flow like water, pouring into each other’s space and intertwining.
It was almost as though the two worlds themselves had merged.
Within the inverted river of stars, the black-and-gold sword intent grew stronger and sharper. In the world of myriad woods, rich green qi rose above the trees and plants.
A gigantic Taiji appeared where the two Minor Cosmoses mingled, standing upright with an awe-inspiring presence. At the same instant, the inverted river of stars swept toward it, seeming almost to enfold the Taiji entirely! They pulled and rotated around one another, until the Taiji balanced atop the inverted river of stars.
Then the great black-and-gold sword within the river of stars suddenly transformed into an immense black-and-gold dragon!
The dragon let out a long cry that almost shook the primordial spirit apart!
The green qi gathering in the sky appeared to answer the dragon’s call. It rolled and transformed into a green dragon as well, plunging down through the yin fish of the Taiji. At the same time, the black-and-gold dragon turned and rose proudly through the yang fish.
The two dragons passed through the Taiji several times. Then their enormous bodies met and, in an instant, entwined.
The black-and-gold dragon was above and the green dragon below. Just like the two men whose primordial spirits were mingling, they, too, intertwined tenderly.
Even greater waves of pleasure enveloped the two cultivators.
Yun Lie and Xu Ziqing were still physically joined, their dantians pressed tightly together.
At that moment, Xu Ziqing suddenly saw the Nascent Soul within him open its eyes. A hint of anticipation appeared upon its childish face.
The next instant, he felt heat outside his dantian, as though something had pierced through and entered.
It was another Nascent Soul, which suddenly appeared inside his dantian.
Xu Ziqing saw clearly that this newly arrived Nascent Soul had precisely the same features as his senior brother.
It was Yun Lie’s Nascent Soul!
The black-and-gold Nascent Soul and the green Nascent Soul gazed toward one another from a distance. Both noticed the other’s presence.
Then, without any visible movement, the black-and-gold Nascent Soul appeared directly before the green one.
The green Nascent Soul regarded it with a bewildered expression.
At the same time, the black-and-gold Nascent Soul opened its arms and slowly embraced the green Nascent Soul.
In an instant, pleasure like a vast tsunami crashed over Xu Ziqing. His consciousness was hurled backward, and he knew nothing more.