Warning: Bondage, sexual references, shoe tossing...
Xi Huai frowned when he first woke up. He tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't see anything. All that greeted him was an endless darkness.
Then he discovered that he couldn't hear, nor smell, or even use his divine sense to scan the surroundings. Even his hands seemed to be tied up.
The loss of all these senses would make anyone uneasy.
Especially since his current state was...somewhat off.
He was very familiar with this state. The Hui Dragon Flames running amok in his body continued to converge on one point, where someone was siphoning them away.
He knew what this was.
He was dual cultivating.
Only his sense of touch seemed to be left. If he was back in those three years, there would be nothing out of the ordinary from what he was experiencing.
He asked almost instantly, "A-Jiu?"
Perhaps he hadn't received a reply, or perhaps he just couldn't hear it, but Xi Huai could still sense how flustered the person cultivating with him was. They seemed to be trying to get up and leave.
He instinctively reached out and grabbed the hem of that person's clothes with much strength and urgency, forcing them to sit down again.
The person's body trembled at that. Then they stiffened for quite a long time.
"A-Jiu...it's you right? I've always been looking for you, all this time." Xi Huai kept his grip on that person's clothes as he almost muttered to himself.
He couldn't hear anything, so he said to himself, "A-Jiu, I miss you so... Don't hide from me anymore, okay? Come back with me to the Qing Ze Sect and I'll tell everyone you're my cultivation partner, okay?"
Yet he still received no reply. In fact, he could sense that person was trying to escape. He quickly pulled them back before reversing their positions and pinning them beneath him.
The thing he feared most in these two years of searching was A-Jiu running away.
Now that they've finally crossed paths again, how could he let A-Jiu leave?
I need to make him stay.
Don't leave!
Don't!
His panic and the mad search he'd been on these past two years led to his handling being somewhat rough. He couldn't control his thoughts.
It was unavoidable for three years of suppression and more than two years of longing to turn into a tainted obsession.
And obsessions in turn make people become paranoid and mad.
Like a beast that saw blood, like a refugee who saw food, like a demon with red eyes...
After pinning the other person down, Xi Huai lifted his bound hands and struggled to touch their cheek, trying to feel out their bone structure.
Alas, his hand was pushed away.
Xi Huai was beyond panicked at this point. He dreaded A-Jiu running away again to the point that he neglected to think about just what was binding his wrists.
After all, no one's dumb enough to use an artefact refined by someone else to bind the refiner with, right? The thought was so absurd that Xi Huai didn't consider if he could untie himself for a moment.
He could only cradle the other person's head within his bound arms and bend down to kiss them.
So that person had nowhere to run.
He wanted to know what they looked like, but he couldn't do anything else at the moment. He could only map out their features like this. Their eyebrows, eyes and nose...
As well as their somewhat thin lips.
What should he do, what should he say to make this person understand his sincerity?
He genuinely liked A-Jiu from the bottom of his heart.
He'd thought about this scenario tens of thousands of times, yet an insatiable hunger overcame him when the time actually came. He couldn't stop smothering that person with kisses.
At the same time, he took control of this round of cultivation.
Many tears came into contact with him. This person was just as much a crybaby as he was in Xi Huai's memories, the realisation making him overjoyed.
A-Jiu.
His A-Jiu.
* * *
Chi Muyao was frantic. He never wanted to cultivate ever again.
The pain of cultivating with Xi Huai exceeded his imagination. He felt like his body would be torn to shreds by the skyrocketing spiritual energy flowing in.
He wanted to stop, but Xi Huai wouldn't let him. He wanted to push Xi Huai off and leave, but Xi Huai only became more domineering in response.
Chi Muyao was regretting sealing Xi Huai's hearing a bit right now, since it meant Xi Huai couldn't hear his pleas.
He was crying so much that he was out of breath. He dug his fingers into Xi Huai's back and pulled at his hair. He wanted Xi Huai to stop, to let him go...but Xi Huai seemed to have gone mad.
He called out 'A-Jiu' again and again in between frantic kisses.
The Hui Dragon Flames seemed to spill out, burning him.
He felt that things were better when Xi Huai's hands and feet were bound by chains. At least then he could catch a breather.
Perhaps the plum blossoms outside the cave residence were stained with blood, that would explain the red plum-like marks left on his body.
The air that was originally filled with the fresh scent of plum blossoms now also contained a floral chestnut scent from Chi Muyao.
The Hui Dragon Flames driving Xi Huai mad were finally siphoned from his body, relieving Xi Huai of madness as well as the pain of longing.
When you are young, you don't know how to cherish love. Only when you search for it for so long do you understand how precious it is.
Now that they could embrace when he needed it the most, it was truly a fitting, long-awaited reunion.
Chi Muyao was a little tired from crying. He pressed a hand to Xi Huai's forehead. Silver fluorescent light surrounded Xi Huai, causing him to fall unconscious by Chi Muyao's side.
He rested a moment on the stone bed before using the Simple Washing Technique to cleanse the both of them. Then he tidied Xi Huai's clothes.
Chi Muyao nearly lost his footing when standing up. He used a healing technique to repair the red marks on his neck and chest, as well as his sore throat and swollen eyes.
If he didn't have this healing technique, what he went through today would've probably left him half-dead.
After tidying his clothes, Chi Muyao carried Xi Huai back. He set him down somewhere near where Song Weiyue and Zong Sichen were staying.
Xi Huai seemed to sense something and refused to let go of Chi Muyao's clothes, leaving him no choice but to pry him off finger by finger. He almost wanted to kick Xi Huai once for good measure when pushing him away, but he refrained in the end.
When he rescued Xi Huai at first, his gaze was affectionate and his heart pounded with a bit of genuine love.
This was his first time feeling such a thing in all the years he'd lived.
But after cultivating? He felt like seeing Xi Huai again in this life would be too soon.
Chi Muyao's eyes were now dull and lifeless. He was basically in a trance-like state.
To put it simply...he was screwed silly.
Cultivating with Xi Huai once was enough to make him silly for three days.
Whatever, whatever. They really weren't compatible.
He suddenly knew profoundly that he and Xi Huai weren't a good match. They would probably not be able to be together.
Before bringing up anything else, his old arms and legs really couldn't bear Xi Huai's type of hole-drilling madness.
He’d discussed peaceful coexistence with Xi Huai during the three years they spent in the cave, but unfortunately everything went out of Xi Huai's other ear. Now that Xi Huai's hands and feet were no longer shackled, Chi Muyao realised profoundly for the first time that letting Xi Huai control the rhythm of their dual cultivation was basically a death sentence for him.
He would basically go to the River Styx and back each time they cultivated.
Other people's love lasted until death.
Xi Huai's love for him would be his cause of death.
Stewing in anger, Chi Muyao stuffed a note into Xi Huai's lap before hurrying away to hide. He only left to find Yi Qianxi after making sure Song Weiyue and Zong Sichen found Xi Huai.
Yi Qianxi followed Chi Muyao back into the secluded realm. She looked at him strangely and asked, "So you saw Xi Huai go mad. Then what? You helped save him?"
"I helped him treat some of his injuries."
"Is Xi Huai someone you should really be helping right now? What if he senses something's off and takes you as a hostage to try and get the little deer?"
"That won't happen. I concealed my traces. Also, Xi Huai isn't that kind of person."
"You say that like you know him."
Chi Muyao paused, not daring to answer that. He sat alone by the lotus pond in a daze. He was more than a little out of it at the moment, still recovering even now from being screwed silly.
This kind of stimulation was a bit much for someone like him, who rarely partook in intense exercise. His mind was muddled and his reflexes dulled.
Yi Qianxi thought for a moment before approaching him again. "I'm not saying you shouldn't help people, but at least wait until the little deer grows up. Otherwise things will become very dangerous if it's exposed, you know?"
She probably thought she scolded Chi Muyao into this silly state.
Chi Muyao nodded. "En. I know I was wrong. I'll be more careful from now on."
Yi Qianxi leaned back to stretch lazily. "Let's call it a night and continue hunting tomorrow."
Three people sat cross-legged across from each other.
Xi Huai's head was down, his eyebrows furrowed deep in annoyance. He seemed angry and helpless at the same time.
A piece of paper was clenched tightly in his hands. A few crooked words were written on it, ‘Don't look for me anymore.’
It was obvious at a glance that someone wrote it with their left hand in an extreme effort to conceal their identity.
Song Weiyu hesitated to speak several times.
Zong Sichen on the other hand kept glancing at the scratches on the back of Xi Huai's neck. He even imagined there was more hidden beneath his clothes.
Xi Huai was still out of his mind when he left, but now he came back normal and mostly healed. Additionally, the only thing missing from his Myriad Treasure Bell was some ointment.
Even the berserk Hui Dragon Flames seemed to have been cleansed.
Song Weiyue asked tentatively, "Did the old man...sleep with you again?"
He was immediately shoved by Zong Sichen, who lightly coughed before asking, "Did you find any clues this time? Like what he looks like?"
Xi Huai tried his best to remember. His senses were partially sealed, so he could only go on touch. Plus his hands were tied up.
He could only answer based on his vague recollections, "His face is very small with a well-defined nose that has a non-prominent tip. His lips are also on the thin side."
The other two were still listening, but that was all he had to say.
Song Weiyue was kind of confused. "So what is the old...A-Jiu trying to say, ah? What's he thinking?"
Xi Huai guessed, "Maybe he still doesn't want me to find him."
Song Weiyue was so agitated his voice became louder, "But if he doesn't want you to find him, why does he keep showing up everywhere? He even took you to dual cultivate this time! What was that for? Does he just want to use you to cultivate without taking responsibility??"
Xi Huai shook his head in clear dismissal of the idea. "I don't think so. He was trying to help me siphon off the berserk Hui Dragon Flames. And based on how hard he was crying during cultivation, he didn't seem that enthused."
"How did you know he was crying so much? I thought you couldn't hear anything?"
"I kissed his tears.”
Zong Sichen couldn't help but guffaw after hearing that. He mumbled, "So you're the type to take the initiative when you're interested."
Song Weiyue was also shocked beyond words. He stared at Xi Huai's swollen lips, unable to imagine just how forcefully he was kissing.
Xi Huai scowled at them both and coldly said, "Like you two are ones to talk. One of you gets scammed of money and has sex all day long and cries all the time, the other is still a virgin that only knows how to fight all the time."
The smiles immediately fell from their faces. This was really plunging a knife into their deepest insecurities.
Xi Huai continued, "And why do you guys always call him an old man? He's at the Foundation Building stage now, and since the lifespan for that stage is 300 years, he's actually in his prime. That guy called Guan Nan's almost 400 and I don't see either of you calling him an old man! And so what if he is old? Old men feel better!"
Basically, it depended on their looks.
How dare they say all these things before seeing what he looked like?
Xi Huai shook the little paper note somewhat haughtily. "See this? A-Jiu wrote this just for me. He came as soon as I lost control to siphon off some of the Hui Dragon Flames and he healed me. This means he's always watched me. It's just that I said the wrong things in the cave and misled him into thinking I'm only looking for him as an outlet for the Hui Dragon Flames. That's why he's avoiding me."
Song Weiyue grumbled, "Looks more to me like you risked your life to fend off the Golden-eyed Heavenly Wolves so he saved you to return the favour so neither of you owe each other anything..."
"Shut up!"
Song Weiyue obediently shut up.
Xi Huai didn't say anything more. He literally pressed Chi Muyao down and forced him to cultivate this time, evidenced by how much Chi Muyao had struggled throughout.
He finally knew why there was a wound on his tongue. Someone had bitten him.
Still, he was as satisfied as a bear who had plundered a beehive.
But even the kisses this time weren't enough. He wanted A-Jiu to remain by his side and cultivate with him forever.
He almost couldn't think of anything more pleasurable than cultivating with A-Jiu.
He wondered how the construction of the new bed for his cave residence was coming along.
At the end of the day…the other two couldn't come to any sort of conclusion.
Basically, Xi Huai lost control, A-Jiu took him away, slept with him and then dumped him somewhere.
How ruthless.
Still, he did help Xi Huai, so they couldn't say anything much.
* * *
When Xi Huai's group saw Chi Muyao next, he was hunting Jilingshou with Yi Qianxi.
They had run into quite the conundrum. There were three Jilingshou in this nest and only two of them. Even a battle of attrition would be difficult to manage.
Chi Muyao even had to use formations. He trapped two with a twist of his hand, leaving the third one for Yi Qianxi and her red fox to deal with.
The sudden arrival of Xi Huai's group diverted Chi Muyao's attention, allowing one of the Jilingshou in the formation to escape and charge at Chi Muyao.
Xi Huai quickly arrived by Chi Muyao's side and kicked the Jilingshou away.
Chi Muyao watched as the Jilingshou's body made a perfect arc through the sky before crashing into the mountain wall and then the ground. It died on the spot.
Chi Muyao suddenly felt like Xi Huai had gone easy on him.
Even though he hadn't tied up Xi Huai's legs at the time, at least Xi Huai just slammed into him, instead of sending him flying with a kick.
He pretended to be calm and continued to use formations to trap the other Jilingshou.
Xi Huai didn't care much about their hunt. He reached over and tapped Chi Muyao's forehead, trying to sense whether he had traces of Hui Dragon Flames in his body.
Xi Huai frowned upon not finding anything. Staring at him a while longer, he then tried to pull apart Chi Muyao's shirt to see if there were any red marks on his body.
Yi Qianxi noticed what he was doing and immediately took off and tossed one of her shoes at Xi Huai. "What are you doing, you pervert?!"
The shoe was sent flying before it even touched Xi Huai.
Xi Huai didn't retaliate. Instead he asked, "Why aren't you moving with the Nuan Yan Pavilion?"
Chi Muyao couldn't shift about while maintaining the formation, so he answered, "It wasn't convenient to do so."
"Oh..." Xi Huai stared at the red ribbon around his neck before tugging at Chi Muyao' sleeve. "These enchanted vestments don't fit you."
"I think they're okay..."
Xi Huai suddenly raised his Myriad Treasure Bell. "Pick one of the ones in here.”
"H-how can I possibly see inside your storage artefact?"
"Oh? You can't open it, huh?" Xi Huai acted like he was really shocked before continuing, "Then input your spiritual energy so I can have it acknowledge another master. Then you'll be able to open it from now on."
"No thank you."
"I told you to do it, so do it."
Xi Huai would find out that Chi Muyao could already open the Myriad Treasure Bell if he input his spiritual energy. Then whether he was A-Jiu would be as clear as day.
Xi Huai didn't walk away empty handed from this encounter with A-Jiu. At least he knew now that A-Jiu could control his artefacts.
This was in no way an ability gained by normal cultivation partners. The He Huan Sect was able to siphon the other party's spiritual energy and refine it into their own, after all. That was why this effect was present.
"Then you help me kill those two Jilingshou." Chi Muyao inclined his chin at them.
Xi Huai killed them at an astonishing speed just by raising his hand, like it was nothing more than ripping two pieces of paper.
Chi Muyao raised his hand and sent over the Colourless Yunni Deer's spiritual energy. The Myriad Treasure Bell didn't respond.
Xi Huai gave the Myriad Treasure Bell a puzzled look before turning to walk away just like that.
Song Weiyue followed him while transmitting his voice to only Zong Sichen, "I knew it couldn't be this little beauty. The Young Sect Master's just hoping that old man's a beauty, that's why he started with the best looking one first."
"Why were you so sure it wasn't him?"
”By the look in his eyes, ah. The eyes of old people reflect the vicissitudes of life. Look at the eyes of this little beauty. Do they look like those of a person in their nineties?"
Zong Sichen glanced back. "They look kind of dumb."
"So he's naive, ah."
What they didn't know was Chi Muyao's eyes were only dumb-looking because their Young Sect Master had screwed him silly.
To the point where he was still recovering.
Author’s Corner
Xi Huai: See this little beauty? He’s the wife I risked my life for.
Immediately after: See that rapidly fleeing shadow? He’s the wife I scared off with my strength.
Xi Huai’s opinion on cultivating: Addictive.
Chi Muyao, best at ‘eating‘ and running. Poor Xi Huai, gets ravished, then blamed for ravishing and has a shoe tossed at him as well… XD