Because there was no pain relief, Ning Ke spent more than half a month cursing Xiao Yuan.
Every time he drew blood after that, he cursed Xiao Yuan all over again.
He cursed her so much that Xiao Yuan no longer dared show herself to talk to him.
And while Lou Yunxiao cultivated, Ning Ke also had to keep converting his own demonic power into the purest spiritual energy and feeding it to him.
While protecting Lou Yunxiao's heart, he helped him clear every blockage.
With this, in barely two months, Lou Yunxiao was already showing signs of breaking through to the early Nascent Soul stage.
His face pale, Ning Ke set up a Spirit Gathering Array for him.
He also placed Sealing Arrays at the entrances and exits of the central hall.
This would ensure that Lou Yunxiao wasn't disturbed.
Once he had finished everything, Ning Ke leaned against the wall to rest, unable to stop himself from rubbing his chest.
"It really hurts..."
Drawing blood from his heart had a side effect: his chest would ache at the slightest provocation.
"Anyone who didn't know better would think I had heart disease," Ning Ke muttered.
Bored out of his mind, he took out My Days and Nights with the Daoist Supreme to read.
Now that he could open Lou Yunxiao's Heaven and Earth Bag whenever he liked, he could naturally start with the first volume.
At first, he felt embarrassed and reluctant. Then his eyes widened, and the more he read, the more hooked he became.
After all, the artwork and story were both fantastic. Even though it was a love story between two men, he couldn't put it down. He even took out the second volume.
The story was about a Daoist Supreme who cultivated the Path of Heartlessness and had been born without emotions. He took in a great demonic villain as his disciple and taught him with devoted care, never imagining that the disciple was an obsessive psychopath whose love for him would spiral out of control. Not only did the disciple imprison his master, he also did that to him. But this destroyed his master's Path of Heartlessness, causing him to suffer heavenly punishment and descend to the mortal world to undergo his trials.
The second volume covered the first lifetime of those trials, in which the master was a boxer and the disciple was a pitiful little thing who suffered domestic abuse.
The last page of the second volume cut off right after the boxer master died in the ring for him. The poor little disciple was still completely unaware, foolishly hoping to tell his master the good news about the award he had won...
"Fuck! Why does it stop here? I was waiting to see how the poor little guy reacted!" Ning Ke slapped the cover in frustration.
Once I get back to the Demon Realm, I have to ask Yueya for the third volume!
That aching, bittersweet feeling was seriously addictive!
All he could say was that this author knew how to write melodrama!
[You kept saying you wouldn't read it before, but look how hooked you are now!] Xiao Yuan snorted. [Sure enough, a man's mouth is full of lies.]
Ning Ke ignored her and secretly reread the book several times, still hungry for more.
He picked up quite a few new "positions" in the process.
He marveled at how two men could feel good together, too.
No wonder there were plenty of gay men in the modern world as well.
A certain Mr. Ning failed to realize that his current behavior was already drifting further and further from the straight man he claimed to be...
Meanwhile, Lou Yunxiao had absorbed enough spiritual energy and reached the most critical stage of forming his nascent soul.
Cultivation had eight major stages, from lowest to highest: the Qi Refining stage, the Foundation Establishment stage, the Golden Core stage, the Nascent Soul stage, the Spirit Transformation stage, Integration, the Mahayana stage, and the Tribulation stage.
Of these, the Nascent Soul stage was the dividing line.
Forming a nascent soul was like gaining an extra life.
Even if a cultivator's physical body died, there was still hope of resurrection as long as their nascent soul escaped.
A nascent soul took the form of a miniature version of its cultivator.
It contained all of the cultivator's traits.
At that moment, Lou Yunxiao was controlling the golden core inside his body, transforming it from a round pellet into a tiny person.
But his tiny figure wasn't pure gold.
Demonic energy coiled around it, interfering with the process.
The resulting figure was mostly black, with only a smaller portion gold.
Clearly, it hadn't reached a balance.
Even so, thanks to his constitution, he successfully completed the formation of his nascent soul three days later.
As he opened his eyes, his spiritual energy rapidly drew inward, gathering entirely within his body.
"A Ke, I've formed my nascent soul!" he announced, but received no reply.
Following the sound of breathing, he walked over and discovered that Ning Ke was asleep.
"A Ke is a little piggy," he whispered, but didn't disturb him.
Instead, he gently lay against Ning Ke's chest, pressing his ear over the young man's heart.
His brows furrowed slightly.
He didn't know whether he was imagining it.
Lately, he kept feeling that A Ke's heartbeat was much weaker than it had been at first.
And sometimes A Ke would suddenly fall into a deep sleep, unable to wake unless someone called to him loudly.
He listened like that for a while.
Then he took off his outer robe to cover Ning Ke, and his fingers brushed against a book.
He picked it up and ran his fingers over it. The words automatically appeared in his Sea of Consciousness.
"My... Days and Nights with the Daoist Supreme?"
Lou Yunxiao raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall, marveling that he could read this book without using his eyes.
At the same time, he grumbled that Ning Ke clearly had storybooks and novels, yet never read them to him.
All he ever did was make him cultivate, day after day. It was boring him to death.
Now he could take advantage of A Ke being asleep and sneak a peek...
When Ning Ke woke up, he felt someone's arms wrapped tightly around his waist.
He turned over and exclaimed in delight, "Senior brother, you successfully formed your nascent soul?"
"Mm." Lou Yunxiao's voice sounded a little muffled.
Then he tightened his arms around Ning Ke's waist even more.
"Gah, gah, gah... Senior brother, ease up a little. I can't breathe..."
Only then did Lou Yunxiao loosen his hold.
Then he said clingily, "I want a reward."
"What kind of reward?"
As Ning Ke asked, he caught sight of My Days and Nights with the Daoist Supreme lying open on the floor out of the corner of his eye...
(ΩДΩ)!
D-did I forget to put the book away before I fell asleep?!
Lou Yunxiao didn't see it, did he?
He's blind, and I never told him he could read this book by touch, so he definitely hasn't read it!
His heart pounding nervously, Ning Ke stretched both hands around Lou Yunxiao, trying his best to reach the book.
Quick, put it away before he notices!
Put it away!
But the instant his fingertips touched the corner of the book, a large hand came down with a smack, pinning both his hand and the book beneath it.
"..."
Every hair on Ning Ke's body stood on end.
He was just about to force an awkward laugh to smooth things over when Lou Yunxiao spoke.
"A Ke, I want you to do what's on page 86 of this book to me."
"That would be the best reward I could ask for."
Before you continue