He made his move

Bai Yuqing looked up at the devilishly beautiful youth and smiled coldly. "You certainly know your place."

The casually delivered words carried a hostility only the two of them could sense.

Xie Jun gritted his teeth. Without another word, he raised his sword and thrust straight at Bai Yuqing's face.

"Yesterday's match was never decided. Let's go again!"

His opening move was a killing strike.

"Know your limits!" Bai Yuqing scoffed, pushing off with one foot and easily dodging. Almost simultaneously, a palm turned over, sending a blast of true energy straight at Xie Jun's chest.

In the space of a breath, they exchanged three rounds of blows.

Every move was lethal, without a trace of mercy.

Xiao Qinghe finally understood why Xie Jun had been covered in injuries earlier. They were practically fighting to the death. He should have thanked his lucky stars he had survived at all.

It was only a sparring match. Did they really have to go this far?

Was this the legendary world of the strong?

Xie Jun flicked his sword upward, its blade flashing coldly.

Bai Yuqing easily dodged and struck at Xie Jun's chest with a palm.

Xie Jun grunted as the blow landed. Clutching his chest, he staggered back two steps and stopped beside Xiao Qinghe.

Xiao Qinghe was badly frightened. Seeing that Xie Jun still intended to exchange blows with their master, he hurriedly stopped him. "Junior Brother, your old wounds haven't healed, and now you've added new ones. Don't push yourself. If you damage your muscles and bones, it won't be worth it."

At that, Bai Yuqing waved a hand. "Take him away."

Xiao Qinghe hurriedly helped him leave.

Xie Jun's unsteady footsteps made it clear that his injuries were serious. Remembering that the brat had refused to let Ouyang Susu apply medicine, Xiao Qinghe feared there wasn't a single uninjured patch left on him, with fresh wounds layered over old ones.

He reached out and started pulling off Xie Jun's clothes.

"Senior Brother?" Xie Jun stiffened all over and clutched his collar. "What are you doing?"

Faced with this scene, Xiao Qinghe suddenly felt like a thug abducting an innocent maiden with evil intentions.

Come to think of it, Xie Jun was so devilishly gorgeous that even the female lead, with her built-in beauty filter, looked somewhat inferior beside him.

The way he turned his face aside, not daring to look at Xiao Qinghe, was even more alluring than a coy beauty playing hard to get. He could practically captivate men and women alike.

No wonder, out of all the handsome men in the original novel, he had stood out and won the female lead's special favor.

If he had just used those good looks a little and been more attentive to the female lead, he wouldn't have ended up in this situation, angering her into leaving time and again.

Xiao Qinghe sighed. "Take your clothes off and let me look at your injuries."

Xie Jun remained rigid for a few seconds before finally, slowly undoing his clothes.

His body was mottled with bruises, hideous and horrifying to behold.

Just looking at them hurt.

Xiao Qinghe had no idea what he hoped to gain. He was already covered in wounds, yet he still insisted on asking for more punishment by challenging their master.

"Junior Sister went out of her way to apply medicine for you. Why wouldn't you appreciate it? Look at you now, new wounds on top of old ones, suffering for nothing." Xiao Qinghe fetched the ointment, annoyed that Xie Jun had squandered such a wonderful opportunity.

All his painstaking efforts to give them some time alone together had gone to waste.

Xie Jun disliked hearing him constantly mention Ouyang Susu. He merely said, "Men and women shouldn't have physical contact."

"So physical contact is fine between men?" Xiao Qinghe scolded.

Have you forgotten you're afraid of men, brat?

"If it's you, Senior Brother..." Xie Jun pressed his lips together, his voice almost inaudible. "If it's you, I can bear it."

"What did you say?" Unable to hear clearly, Xiao Qinghe leaned a little closer.

Xie Jun's breath caught. His body went stiff as a board, and his face heated up.

"Why is your face so red?" Surprised, Xiao Qinghe pressed a hand to his forehead. "Do you have a febrile illness?"

A febrile illness meant a fever.

But according to the original novel's setting, cultivators were physically robust and rarely fell ill or developed fevers.

Had their master beaten him so badly that his body's defenses had broken down?

"No..." Xie Jun's Adam's apple bobbed. Looking at his senior brother so close before him, he clenched his fists and forcibly suppressed the restless impulse rising in his heart. "Senior Brother, stop checking. I'm not sick."

"Then why is your face so red?"

"I said I'm not sick!" Xie Jun suddenly lunged, tackling the man before him to the floor.

He leaned over Xiao Qinghe and pressed their foreheads together, his breathing uneven and his gaze burning. "I don't have a fever. Do you believe me now, Senior Brother?"

Xiao Qinghe saw a blur of movement. Before he could react, the system suddenly erupted with a rapid barrage of donation notifications.

[Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!]

The reader comments were packed with endless cries of "Aaaaaah!"

[He made his move, aaaaaah!

A historic moment! Let the whole world celebrate!

Kill me to add to the festivities for these two, aaaaaah!]

The comments scrolled past too quickly for Xiao Qinghe to make them out.

At that moment, Xiao Qinghe had no attention to spare for the position he and Xie Jun were in, because the system suddenly displayed a bright red notification-

[Congratulations, host! Your donation points have reached a total of 1,000. You may redeem a reward! Keep up the good work!]

Thrilled, Xiao Qinghe said, "Can you turn me into a martial arts master, unrivaled under heaven?"

[This request requires 100,000 points to fulfill.]

What a rip-off!

Xiao Qinghe fumed. "Then what good is this reward?"

[Ding!]

With a crisp notification chime, the system displayed an announcement-

[Warm congratulations to reader "Jun Qing yyds" for their lavish generosity in donating a key item to the host: the Ring of Deception!]

What was this now?

[The Ring of Deception is a secret treasure of the Demon Realm, with the miraculous ability to conceal demonic energy and deceive all observers! With this treasure, the host may engage in dual cultivation with Xie Jun an unlimited number of times, without worrying about demonic energy leaking out. Enjoy using it!]

So there was something this good!

Joy surged through Xiao Qinghe's heart. Another crisp ding sounded, and two jade-colored rings fell into his hand.

At that moment, Xie Jun was still on top of Xiao Qinghe.

Seeing Xiao Qinghe's expression change again and again, Xie Jun abruptly stiffened, wondering whether he had been too aggressive and made Xiao Qinghe dislike him.

"Senior Brother, I..." He hurriedly got up, at a loss for what to do.

Xiao Qinghe hadn't even noticed their earlier position. He grabbed Xie Jun's arm, his eyes shining. "Junior Brother, we can practice dual cultivation now!"

He displayed the two rings in his palm. "These are Rings of Deception. With them, we don't have to worry about demonic energy. Even Master won't notice anything!"

Mediocre talent? No foundation for cultivation? To hell with all that!

Starting today, I can cultivate too!

Xiao Qinghe was completely swept up in his excitement. Dual cultivation required neither grueling sword practice nor the insane beatings Xie Jun took when challenging their master. Easy cultivation and rapid leveling-it was practically tailor-made for him!

Xie Jun stared at the pair of rings, unconcerned about where they had come from. He cared far more about Xiao Qinghe's proposal to practice dual cultivation.

"Senior Brother, do you know that the Dual Cultivation Manual only allows you to practice dual cultivation with one person?" Xie Jun raised his hand and pressed the tip of his index finger against Xiao Qinghe's chest, his eyes unreadable. "You already have my energy inside you. If you cultivate with someone else, your energies will fall into disorder, making cultivation deviation extremely likely."

Xiao Qinghe quickly recalled the prohibitions in the Dual Cultivation Manual. There did seem to be such a rule.

Xie Jun looked up, his gaze burning. "Then do you know when the best time to practice the Dual Cultivation Manual is, Senior Brother?"

"There's even a best time to practice?" Thoroughly baffled, Xiao Qinghe opened the Dual Cultivation Manual and flipped all the way to the leveling section before finally finding the passage-

[The ultimate secret of the Breath-Exchange Method! The easiest, most effortless secret cultivation technique in history, letting you level up even in your sleep!]

Below it was an instructional illustration of two men sleeping face-to-face at close quarters on the same bed.

Both text and illustration were vivid and lifelike.

How wonderfully considerate.

And yet, two grown men sleeping face-to-face in the same bed-didn't something seem off?