Candlelight flickered inside the stone house, its dim, dancing glow falling across the woman's skin, lending its delicate, soft whiteness the warmth of jade.
Looking at the woman with the exquisite curves on the bed, Chen Yu recalled her details.
Yun Miaozhen.
A nominal disciple of the Dao Sect.
Qi refining second layer.
Yun Miaozhen lay on her side on the bed, propping up her head. When Chen Yu entered, she coyly addressed him as "my dear husband," but rather than carry the intimate mood further, she stared at his body for a moment, stunned. Surprise and delight crossed her face. "You've broken through to the qi refining first layer?"
She could clearly sense spiritual energy flowing inside Chen Yu. His blood and vital energy were brimming, and he was countless times stronger than when she had first sedu...
Moreover, after reaching the qi refining first layer, Chen Yu looked even more handsome.
Before, Chen Yu had been like a frail young gentleman, someone who inspired tender affection.
Now, he gave her an air of rustling pines standing tall, bright and gracefully poised.
"Gulp..."
Yun Miaozhen swallowed too.
As she gazed at her Dao Companion's face.
And the spiritual energy flowing inside him, his abundant blood and vital energy...
Her body could not help trembling gently.
"Yes. While practicing the Qi Guiding Art today, I suddenly felt the world grow quiet, and spiritual energy flowed into my body much faster. When I came back to my senses, I realized I'd broken through to the qi refining first layer," Chen Yu said in his deep, magnetic voice.
"Very good... very good!"
A radiant smile spread across Yun Miaozhen's face.
Her body burned hot,
As though urging him on, longing for something.
As she spoke, she had already moved to the edge of the bed. Her slender, pale arms wrapped tightly around Chen Yu's waist. Looking up at her Dao Companion, she rubbed her body upward little by little, and soon her exquisite face was beside his ear.
The next second, Chen Yu felt warm breath brush his ear and neck, fragrance lingering beneath his nose.
Then a sweet, delicate voice rang out, sending tingles through him:
"Congratulations, my dear husband..."
A day later.
After waking, Yun Miaozhen did not first straighten the gauzy clothing on her body. She sat up and immediately circulated her spiritual power. Sensing that her cultivation had increased, she beamed with joy.
"The spiritual energy I harvest really has increased!"
"At this rate, I'll definitely pass the Dao Sect's assessment in seven days!"
With that, she turned to glance at Chen Yu, who lay on the bed with his eyes closed, seemingly asleep. Her gaze lingered on her Dao Companion's face for a long time before an expression of wonder and regret appeared.
"To break through to the qi refining first layer despite my frequent harvesting-you truly are exceptionally gifted. But meeting me was your fate."
"What a pity to waste such a handsome face..."
As she spoke, Yun Miaozhen placed her soft, delicate hand against Chen Yu's face, stroking it with lingering reluctance.
Then she smiled again and murmured to herself, "But rest assured. Once I become an outer disciple of the Dao Sect, I'll keep the spiritual essence refined from you in my possession and treasure it dearly."
After speaking, Yun Miaozhen dressed, braced herself against the wall, and swayed her hips as she got off the bed.
On the bed, Chen Yu's eyelids stirred slightly.
"My strength... has regressed."
It was not that he had failed to restrain himself.
He had only wanted to test whether his physical weakness was related to Miaozhen.
Now he had confirmed it.
It was related.
After Yun Miaozhen plundered him, a system notification appeared before Chen Yu's eyes.
[Attributes updated!] [Name: Chen Yu.] [Age: 18.] [Level: Qi refining first layer (0/20).] [Spiritual root: false spiritual root.] [Martial skills: none.] [Cultivation method: Qi Guiding Art.] [Currently available experience points: 0.]
He had lost 0.2 experience points.
That was only equivalent to about three minutes of cultivation in the mass graveyard...
"Having my cultivation harvested is secondary. The real problem is... isn't this the Dao Sect? Why do Miaozhen's methods seem to come from the Demon Sect? Could it be..."
Chen Yu glanced out the window. The sun was about to rise, and some memories suddenly surfaced in his mind.
He hesitated briefly.
Then cautiously withdrew.
A succubus was a succubus precisely because, once the two conditions of being indoors and having a bed were met... sometimes, even the latter condition was entirely unnecessary, things would naturally lead to a certain outcome.
Chen Yu quickly dressed and left the house.
He headed straight for the mass graveyard.
Towering trees stretched toward the heavens, their lush leaves obscuring the sky.
Although the place was still gloomy during the day, it was not as frightening as it had been at night.
Returning here, he found that the chilly sensation around his body was less pronounced than before. Chen Yu quickly reached the cold mountain hollow where he had cultivated yesterday and sat cross-legged.
He took a deep breath.
Closed his eyes,
Calmed his mind.
And gradually entered a meditative state.
He sensed the "energy" drifting around his body.
He went through the motions of circulating the Qi Guiding Art.
A system notification appeared before his eyes.
[Cultivating...] [Experience points: +0.00003.] [Experience points: +0.00003.]
"?"
Chen Yu froze.
"How much?"
"0.00003?!"
Chen Yu's eyes widened as he examined it closely.
Why had the experience he earned suddenly become so pitifully small?!
He picked up a stick and calculated on the ground.
"0.00003 per second, multiplied by 60, makes 0.0018 per minute. Multiply that by 60 again, and that's... 0.108 experience points per hour?!"
"To save up 20 experience points now, I'd need... fuck!"
185 hours!
Chen Yu's expression darkened.
He had to remember that these figures were all based on ideal conditions. In practice, earning 20 experience points would take far more than 185 hours!
There were fewer than seven days left before the Dao Sect's assessment, roughly 160 hours in total.
At this speed, never mind passing the assessment at the qi refining third layer-he would struggle even to reach the second layer!
"What went wrong?"
Chen Yu frowned in thought.
"Is it because the rising sun suppressed the yin energy? No, I cultivated yesterday afternoon. Even with the sun blazing that fiercely, the yin energy didn't seem affected at all. I was still raking in experience points."
"Then is it because cultivating depleted the yin energy? That's even less likely..."
Suddenly-
Chen Yu thought of something.
"Could it be that, after my strength increased, my body's resistance to yin energy grew stronger?"
With that thought, Chen Yu suddenly realized something.
When he was cultivating just now, the yin energy gathering around his body really did seem to have slowed considerably.
If yesterday's yin energy had been an insatiable young wife with a ferocious offensive, today's was more like a shy, inexperienced girl of seventeen or eighteen.
"Yesterday, my body would topple at a breath of wind. I wasn't even as strong as an ordinary mortal, so naturally, yin energy could invade me easily. Now that I've reached the qi refining first layer, spiritual energy circulates inside me, providing some resistance to yin energy. That's why my cultivation speed has slowed."
That made sense.
Chen Yu scratched his head.
"If that's really the case, then to regain my previous cultivation speed, I'll either have to come cultivate in the dead of night, when yin energy is thickest, or..."