It Went Limp

"Woohoo—I'm flying! That's what you get for acting so cocky, heh heh heh. About time you tasted some hardship. I've got a simulator, Su Laoliu. What are you going to do about that?" Four chapters later, Su Ming finally let out the wicked laugh of a petty man who had come out on top. Birds of a feather, indeed. He was every bit as shameless as his simulated self.

[In the seventeenth year of the simulation, your breakthrough to quasi-godhood was still nowhere in sight. You even shut out all thoughts of Tang San and Sea God Island, but your progress remained slow.]

[You felt as though you were going mad. Every day, you sat motionless, then sat some more. At this rate, you felt you might meditate yourself to death. You couldn't understand how Su Wu had managed to sit in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well for two whole years. If you tried that now, you figured you'd turn feral.]

[With no hope of breaking through, you decided to let loose for a while and put your mind at ease.]

[You traveled the continent with the Snow Empress, the Ice Empress, and Ah Yin, who had only recently taken human form as a little girl, enjoying yourselves and growing closer along the way.]

[Honestly, being surrounded by three women felt incredible. Your real self had gone from green with envy to downright sour.]

[You were enjoying the journey, but gradually, you began to feel that something bad was about to happen. The premonition wasn't particularly strong, yet it had etched itself deep into your mind.]

[You felt as though you had forgotten something. Seeing how restless you were day after day, the Snow Empress picked you up without a trace of embarrassment and asked as if soothing a child, "Su Ming, what's wrong? Is something bothering you? I can help."]

[Ah Yin envied how close the Snow Empress was to you and wanted you to hold her. The Ice Empress wanted to take your place in the Snow Empress's arms.]

["It's nothing. I've just been too tired lately." You didn't tell her the truth, mainly because you doubted anything serious could happen. At worst, Tang San and the others were close to becoming gods, and one of them wanted revenge. You weren't afraid. If it came to that, you would absorb the complete set of soul bones you had collected and go fight them.]

[With combat strength four times that of a pseudo-god, your confidence was through the roof. Compared to you, even an Ultimate Douluo was little more than a slightly tougher small fry.]

[You rested and meditated at an inn, drawing wind elements into your body.]

[Ah Yin slipped inside. She wanted to grow closer to you.]

[In your heart, you wanted to respond, but your body gave no reaction. No matter how Ah Yin tried to draw close, it remained utterly still, as though it had lost all sense of romantic desire.]

[You hated to admit it, but your condition led you to a terrible suspicion: something might be seriously wrong with your capacity for desire.]

[Ah Yin didn't give up. Despite your lack of response, she still tried to bring you closer together.]

[You looked at the little-girl version of Ah Yin, barely over 1.3 meters tall, and felt her press close. Yet nothing stirred within you. You sank into deep confusion.]

[After spending some time together, Ah Yin waited hopefully for a response, but your body still showed no reaction.]

[You felt almost none of the excitement between a man and a woman, let alone any urge to respond. It was as though you had been stuck in a state of detachment for ages.]

[More precisely, you seemed trapped in that unruffled state. No matter how your thoughts stirred or how intimately you touched a woman, your body gave no hint of romantic feeling in return.]

[Your mind longed to go further, but some inexplicable force held your body captive. Its instincts took control. Unlike Su Wu's experience, this was not something you could slowly adjust to over time.]

[After trying for a long while without getting any response from you, Ah Yin began to wonder if she simply wasn't attractive enough. She had no idea the problem lay with you.]

"Pfft—hahaha! That's karma for you! Surrounded by women? Fat lot of good that does you. At this rate, you'd better stay single for life. If you actually build yourself a harem and can't respond to any of them, just wait until they all drift away!" Su Ming was happier than ever. Before, he had merely been a petty man gloating over a win. Now he was rubbing salt in the wound.

Ah Yin watched Su Ming babble at thin air, baffled. Then she ignored him. It wasn't the first time she had heard him muttering to himself, and by now she was used to it.

[After Ah Yin trudged away on her short little legs, looking dejected, you examined the strange state of your body in utter despair.]

["Damn it! After all that, nothing? How am I supposed to face anyone around me now?" You were devastated. This was a matter of masculine pride. If you couldn't fix it, you felt there would be nothing left to look forward to in this life.]

[You had little experience with romance to begin with. After what had just happened, you desperately searched for a way to cure your condition. You began gathering an absurd amount of whale glue, all of exceptionally high quality.]

[In just one month, you killed several hundred whale soul beasts over ten thousand years old, along with more than a dozen over a hundred thousand years old.]

[You consumed all the whale glue you had gathered and prepared a medicinal mixture at a thousand times the usual dosage to stimulate your blood circulation and vital energy. You thought your condition might improve. For an instant, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope, but you immediately returned to square one. The whole ordeal had become a cruel joke.]

[You fell to your knees and cried out, "No! How can this be? I've used so many things to boost my vitality! Why hasn't anything changed?"]

[Your cry drew the Ice Empress to the room. Seeing you on your knees with your clothes in disarray, she mistook it for an attempt to relieve your distress in private. She pretended she had seen nothing and hurried away.]

[Before leaving, she added, "If you're not feeling up to it, this empress could consider helping you work through it."]

[The Ice Empress's words left you bitter. Your body was perfectly intact, yet it had all but lost the ability to respond to romantic feelings. You had a body, but no way to share in physical intimacy.]

[You continued traveling with the three women, though now you searched everywhere for rare ingredients that could stimulate circulation and restore balance to your body. You refused to accept it. Spending your entire life bound by this affliction would be unbearable. Su Laowu's ending might not have been perfect, but at least he had a family. You, on the other hand, couldn't even set your own body right.]

[The Ice Empress, the Snow Empress, and Ah Yin naturally noticed that something was wrong with you, but none of them knew what you were trying to treat with all the materials you gathered.]