06
“Dao Gia, let’s go to the Hehuan Sect right now!”
The man’s voice was excited as he whisked me out of that room.
In the blink of an eye, we were in the Hehuan Sect’s library.
My master must have been here before, which was why the inner demon had this memory.
I watched as he drew out a book with practiced ease.
“Dao Gia, this is the secret art of dual cultivation.”
The man flicked his sleeve, and the book immediately rose into the air and opened.
The book depicted two little figures, so lifelike that they seemed to move in midair, performing all sorts of poses.
I stared, mouth agape!
Back in someone else’s room, there had at least been a screen blocking the view.
Now it was all right there in plain sight!
The Hehuan Sect’s secret art of dual cultivation really was terrifying!
What kind of pose was that… Did you really have to bend your back like that?
I was so astonished I forgot to blink, my face burning hot.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
The man’s low voice sounded beside my ear.
I shuddered and hurriedly stepped back.
“It’s not beautiful!”
The man chuckled. “You’re lying. You were staring without blinking just now.”
I stammered awkwardly, “That’s because… because I was wondering why my master was looking at this stuff at the Hehuan Sect.”
Was that really it?
Why was something like this in my master’s memories?
“Your master has plenty of secrets.”
The man said it casually, then suddenly leaned close to me. His dark, phoenix-shaped eyes blinked softly. “Dao Gia, when can I practice dual cultivation with you?”
I shoved his chin away and pushed him back with all my strength. “You don’t even have a body, and you’re still thinking about dual cultivation!”
“Silly Dao Gia, did you know that harmonizing our souls can bring us to completion, too?”
I glared at him. “In your dreams!”
How could I do something so outrageous with him inside my master’s sea of consciousness?!
—
07
“Dao Gia, let’s go explore the Demon Realm.”
The man did whatever came to mind.
Inside the sea of consciousness, he could transform into anything.
In the blink of an eye, we arrived in the cold, gloomy Demon Realm.
“This is…”
I stared in astonishment. The Demon Realm had a magnificent, grand palace like this?
“This is the underground palace of Huyền Mặc, the Demon Venerable,” the man explained. “They say the Demon Venerable Huyền Mặc died in the great war between the immortals and demons a hundred years ago. With no one ruling the Demon Realm, it has been suppressed by the Immortal Realm for the past hundred years.”
I pouted. “From the way you tell it, the Demon Realm sounds pretty pitiful.”
Good and evil could never coexist.
Since time immemorial, immortals and demons had been like fire and water.
As a disciple of an immortal sect, I had always been taught that it was my duty to eradicate monsters and demons.
“Dao Gia, this place feels familiar to me.”
The man walked through the palace as if he knew its layout. Whenever he opened a door, he seemed to know what was inside.
“My master must have been here before. That’s why it feels familiar to you.”
I guessed.
The man shook his head, lost in thought.
“I’ve slept in this room before.”
He sounded certain.
I followed him into the bedroom and couldn’t help but be taken aback.
The entire bedroom was built from black jade, dark and cold.
The man walked to the black jade bed and lay down, settling naturally onto his side.
Curious, I touched the black jade bed. It was cold and hard, and carried a profound sense of loneliness.
“Is this the Demon Venerable Huyền Mặc’s bed?” I asked, puzzled. “It’s so hard. Doesn’t it feel uncomfortable?”
“Try it and find out.”
The man suddenly pulled me down.
I stumbled onto his chest. Just as I was about to get angry, he wrapped an arm tightly around my waist, rolled over, and pinned me beneath him.
“Is it hard?”
he asked.
I glared at him. “Let me go!”
His lips curled, a wicked look flashing across his handsome face. “Tell me first—is it hard?”
Pinned beneath him, how could I focus on whether the black jade bed was hard or not?
But strangely, the bed’s surface had softened, as if I were sinking into a pile of cotton.
“Huh?”
I couldn’t help being surprised.
8.
“This black jade bed was nurtured by the Demon Venerable Huyền Mặc until it developed a spirit of its own. It can change shape according to its master’s wishes.”
The man waved a hand, and the bed’s surface rippled like water, rising and falling.
I asked suspiciously:
“You’re not the master of this black jade bed, so how can it obey you? You’re just conjuring this up, aren’t you?”
The man offered no real explanation. He lowered his head to look at me, his gaze brushing my lips as his pupils gradually brightened.
“Dao Gia, I want to kiss you.”
He said it bluntly, without a trace of shame.
“Are you tired of living?!”
I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face.
A crisp smack rang out.
He didn’t dodge. He simply let me hit him.
I froze for a moment. In that instant, he suddenly bent down and captured my lips.
It was like being struck by lightning.
—
08
Back when I was in the mortal world, I was once a beggar. Afterward, I cultivated in a sect for three hundred years.
That meant I was now over three hundred years old.
But… this was the first time I’d ever been so intimate with a man.
His lips pressed against mine, moving gently.
Clearly, he didn’t have any experience either.
But he was eager to learn. He’d watched the Hehuan Sect’s secret art of dual cultivation so intently, and now he was putting those techniques into practice.
Tentative at first, then steadily more insistent.
His curiosity was fresh, his touch clumsy yet fierce.
My mind went blank. My whole body trembled, and I struggled instinctively.
“Dao Gia, don’t move.”
He caught my struggling wrists, raised them, and pinned them above my head.
Beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and his ears and the skin along his neck had turned bright red.
He tried to kiss me again.
The next moment, the drizzle turned into a torrential storm.
The force and domineering nature in his character seemed to erupt in that moment, and his fierce kiss left my lips aching.
“Let me go…”
I was both embarrassed and furious.
Even though this wasn’t the real world, everything felt utterly real.
“Dao Gia, draw your sword and stab me.” He reluctantly pulled away from my lips, his eyes gleaming dark red as he struggled to hold himself back. “Otherwise, I’m afraid I won’t be able to control myself.”
I lifted my leg and kicked him off me.
“You’ve gone too far!”
He didn’t resist. My kick sent him tumbling off the black jade bed, and he landed flat on his back on the floor, panting.
“So this is what a kiss feels like…”
he murmured.
I touched my lips. They were still tingling from his forceful kiss.
“Dao Gia, now that we’ve been intimate, shouldn’t you marry me?” He sprang upright like a carp, gazing at me excitedly. “Can I call you my wife?”
I grabbed the black jade pillow and threw it at him.
“Don’t talk nonsense! What do you mean, ‘intimate’? You forced a kiss on me!”
He ignored me and called out cheerfully, “Wife!”
—
09
My master wanted me to use affection to resolve the inner demon, but the ultimate goal was to guide him toward goodness.
After thinking it over for a long time, I decided to practice our sect’s Supreme Goodness Like Water cultivation method with him.
“Come here and sit down.”
I sat cross-legged and closed my eyes to regulate my breathing.
“Yes, wife!”
He obediently sat down beside me.
“You probably already know the recitation for the Supreme Goodness Like Water method. Now, practice it with me.” I gently advised him, “In the future, if you leave my sea of consciousness, you must keep a kind heart. Never fall into demonic cultivation or harm the world.”
He obediently practiced with me.
I didn’t know how much time had passed when I felt the energy in my body growing more and more erratic.
Perhaps it was the faint demonic energy beside me, but my whole body grew feverishly hot, and my face flushed.
“Wife?”
He opened his eyes and touched my cheek. “You’re so hot.”
I caught his hand and pressed it against my cool palm, greedily soaking up its coolness.
“Wife, are you suffering a cultivation deviation?”
He was astonished.
I reached out, grabbed his collar, and, my mind hazy, forcibly kissed him on the lips.
He looked delighted, his eyes shining.
“So when you suffer a cultivation deviation, you kiss me. Then I should make sure you go into a demonic state.”
He began to kiss me back.
At first, he simply went along with me. But gradually, he grew enamored with taking the lead, leaning over to push me down and kiss me deeply.
In my daze, all I could think was how good it felt, how wonderful.
For three hundred years, I had strictly followed my master’s teachings, striving to cast off the seven emotions and six desires and cultivate the Heartless Sword Dao.
But at this moment, I felt so stifled.
I wanted to be myself.
I wanted to let go.
I wanted to live life on my own terms.
—
10
There was no day or night in the sea of consciousness.
The black jade bed beneath me was like a little boat adrift on the vast sea, rocking without end.
I, too, was swept up in the raging waves, feeling as if I were about to drown.
The world around us seemed to sink into darkness. With my sight taken from me, my other senses became extraordinarily keen.
“Dao Gia, Dao Gia…”
A man’s hoarse voice sounded beside my neck.
He called my name again and again, each wave washing over me.
I couldn’t tell which of us was more lost in it. Though our souls were merely entwined, every sensation felt strangely real.
“Dao Gia, I truly want to marry you.”
“Once I remember who I am, I’ll take you away with me.”
“Dao Gia…”
In my haze, he whispered words in my ear.
Annoyed by his chatter, I bit his lip.
He gave a low chuckle in his throat.
“Wife, don’t rush…”
…
When my mind finally cleared, everything around me was still shrouded in gloom.
I clutched a brocade quilt that had appeared from nowhere, my thoughts in utter disarray.
Oh, heavens!
What in the world had I done?!
I was in my master’s sea of consciousness, and I’d acted like that!
Worse still, the inner demon was a fragment of my master’s divine consciousness. Didn’t that mean he was my master?!
“Waaah…”
I covered my face and sobbed.
I was the very definition of betraying my master and defying my ancestors!
How could I ever face my master again?
“Wife.”
His deep voice, a little hoarse and sounding quite satisfied, rang out as his arm wrapped around my waist.
“Have you cried enough yet?”
Mortified beyond belief, I bit down hard on his hand.
“Mm.”
He gave a soft groan, but didn’t seem offended at all.
“Bite harder, like you did just now.”
I couldn’t stand hearing him say that, so I quickly covered his mouth with my hand.
“Shut up! Don’t say such things!”
He laughed into my palm, making it tickle.
Furious and embarrassed, I said, “What just happened was nothing, understand? You don’t even have a body, so it was only our divine consciousnesses mingling. It doesn’t count as anything.”
He took my wrist and gently lowered my hand, his gaze deep and burning.
“Dao Gia, have you ever heard of the Primordial Divine Kun? This ancient divine creature can sow the seed of life when souls mingle.”
I stared at him blankly.
“I’ve never heard of it. Does that mean I could get pregnant?”
He flicked my forehead and gave me a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.
“You silly thing.”
—