Occasionally, a sliver of clarity surfaced in her mind—it seemed, it seemed that Dual Cultivation shouldn’t be like this. They hadn’t circulated their spiritual energy yet, nor had they allowed their energies to probe each other.
Li Fei struggled to steady her mind, attempting to circulate her spiritual energy, when suddenly both her wrists were seized by Lei Xiuyuan and pressed into the bedding. With her pulse points restrained, the spiritual energy she had just begun to circulate was instantly cut off. In the fathomless darkness, Lei Xiuyuan’s voice was hoarse to the extreme: “Don’t move.”
She trembled as she spoke: “Dual Cultivation…”
“Forget about it.”
He actually told her to forget… Li Fei bumped her head against him. Without the calm probing of spiritual energy, she was flustered and passive, like a strand of seaweed in the ocean, unsure of what to do.
Lei Xiuyuan’s fingers traced along her sweat-dampened cheek, down her neck, and finally came to rest slowly over her heart. It was beating so fast, as if it might leap out and land in his palm. He sighed softly: “I am yours alone.”
Unrelated to the world’s rituals and norms, unrelated to being cultivation partners—they were simply the most ordinary lovers in love. And now, they were together.
Li Fei’s fingers tangled in his hair. He was Lei Xiuyuan, belonging to her alone in this world. Something within her seemed to quietly awaken, and she tilted her head up to whisper: “I am yours alone too.”
No more words were spoken; all speech became superfluous. The still rhythm began to move, gradually becoming instinctive and fervent.
Li Fei couldn’t remember when she had fallen asleep. Halfway through, she hazily felt someone stroking her forehead repeatedly. Soon after, Lei Xiuyuan’s muffled voice sounded from under the covers: “Weren’t you supposed to teach me Dual Cultivation?”
Dual Cultivation…
Li Fei forced her eyes open, murmuring as if in a dream: “Then circulate your spiritual energy first…”
“I don’t know how.”
“Then release the spiritual energy from the top of your head.”
“Still don’t know how.”
Was he deliberately making trouble? Li Fei pinched his ear.
When she woke again, the window was already bright with daylight. Lei Xiuyuan’s dark eyes were right before her, his lashes fluttering slightly. Suddenly, he lowered his head to kiss her face. Li Fei wrapped her arms around his neck and murmured coquettishly: “Aren’t you sleeping?”
Over his shoulder, she drowsily gazed at the sunlight outside the window. She couldn’t tell what time it was. The village was clearly bustling, with voices occasionally drifting in from outside. The piercing sunlight filtered through the paper window, scattering across the table and walls. The ancient perpetual calendar depicted a Celestial from Star Rectitude Hall, so lifelike it seemed real, majestic and awe-inspiring.
This was the sight Lei Xiuyuan saw every day as a child—a disciple from Star Rectitude Hall treating him like both an elder brother and a mentor. Back then, he must have been filled with hope, yearning to enter Star Rectitude Hall to cultivate. Even the perpetual calendar he chose bore the image of a Star Rectitude Hall Celestial. Yet, his hopes had ultimately not come true.
But thank the heavens, he had come to No Moon Court and was with her.
Li Fei raised her hand to gently caress his cheek. Like a cat, he closed his eyes contentedly, letting her stroke and fondle him. A few strands of long hair fell by his cheek, and she lightly brushed them aside before asking again: “Not sleepy?”
Lei Xiuyuan tightened his embrace: “What do you think?”
Li Fei laughed and bumped her forehead against his: “Learning Dual Cultivation was as good as not learning at all.”
He laughed too, burying his face in the crook of her neck, his voice muffled: “We’ll Dual Cultivate next time.”Li Fei gently combed through his soft, long hair. Whether it was due to the sunlight or something else, his skin faintly glowed with a golden hue, warm to the touch.
“Didn’t you have a secret to tell me?” she asked softly. “Can you say it now?”
Lei Xiuyuan lifted his head to gaze at her. Even in his pitch-black eyes, there flickered a dim golden light, making him appear dazzling yet cold. Unconsciously, Li Fei cupped his face in her hands.
He seemed to think for a long time before speaking. “I’ve told you before that I have no memories before the age of six, right? In truth, as I grew older, I occasionally dreamed of fragments. Until the Martial Competition Tournament, when I had a long dream—I dreamed of an endless, churning black sea. I floated on it for a long time, then eventually reached the shore. Alone, I walked slowly through the mountains and forests until I came to a town. There, an old woman noticed me, and after being passed around several times, I was finally bought by Lord Lei of Gaolu to be his adopted son.”
Li Fei was stunned. After a long pause, she murmured, “Floating on the sea? Just that? You couldn’t have floated for six years, could you?”
Lei Xiuyuan shook his head lightly. “I don’t know. I can only dream of these fragments. The rest are scattered pieces I can’t make sense of. Seeing that arm bone in the Outlander Tomb gave me some insight, but it’s still something I can only grasp intuitively, not put into words.”
At this, he suddenly smiled. “Perhaps we both came from beyond the sea. Isn’t that a secret?”
Across thousands of miles, through the underworld and the heavens, the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea—in the end, she was still his. Ri Yan might not have been wrong. He truly wanted her as his own forbidden treasure. If only he could hide her within his chest, from life to death, she would belong only to him, her thoughts and mind forever filled with him alone. This terrifying desire for possession had always been locked deep within his soul.
Yet his feelings for her couldn’t be reduced to mere possession. During those lost and wary years of youth, she alone had been the color in his world—irresistible, inevitable, deeply alluring. He would do anything for her. But love and possession were always entwined, and even he was powerless against it.
Lei Xiuyuan lowered his head to kiss her. The spiritual energy within him began to circulate, surging through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians before slowly spilling out from the crown of his head.
“Come, let’s begin Dual Cultivation,” he murmured with a low laugh. “Teach me well.”
Li Fei flustered in panic. He had just dropped the earth-shattering line—“Perhaps we both came from beyond the sea”—without giving her any time to react, and now he wanted to start Dual Cultivation?
She struggled, protesting urgently, “Wait, wait! We—we haven’t finished talking!”
Lei Xiuyuan slowly withdrew the overflowing spiritual energy. “Then no Dual Cultivation.”
The overwhelming blanket engulfed her once more. Li Fei struggled desperately, but like a small beast caught in a net, she soon found herself unable to move, unable to break free.
Zhao Min Shijie’s earlier warning still echoed in her ears, yet it felt so powerless now. They had just tasted sweetness, and it was no longer clear who was ensnaring whom.
No one could say who started it first. Spiritual energy slowly rippled through the small room, wave after wave, until it formed a swirling vortex. They were pulled in, lifted up, turned upside down—lost in a frenzy of ecstasy.
OpenNovel