Jinyuan Apartment.
The place was growing livelier and livelier. Counting everyone who had come, including Netherworld, the number of women here had already reached seven. Had the apartment not been big enough, it probably could not have accommodated so many people.
Ding Yumian quietly watched everyone playing around, feeling genuinely happy.
This was the scene she had wanted to see for so many years.
Liu Xian and Liu Ru had become the maids of this household, but no one actually ordered them around, except... Netherworld.
Netherworld was playing card games again, while Liu Xian was responsible for serving her tea and water.
There are more and more people... Ding Yumian unconsciously raised a hand and gently grasped the necklace around her neck.
This feels awful. What's happening to me...?
"Senior, that necklace is so pretty. I've been meaning to ask for a few days now. Where did you buy it?"
"Huh?"
"This... wasn't bought." Ding Yumian came back to her senses and added, "It's just a cultivation magic tool."
It wasn't bought?
Mu Nujiao looked thoughtful.
A few days later.
Late at night, on the balcony of Ding Yumian's bedroom.
She admired the bustle of Magic City alone.
"Feeling down?" Lu Ling's voice suddenly came from beside her.
"You startled me. Don't just barge into a girl's room." Ding Yumian smiled softly, but did not truly reprimand him.
"I'm well aware of that, which is why I'm on the balcony." Lu Ling sounded utterly shameless, like a deadbeat who had gotten away with taking advantage.
"You win." Ding Yumian chuckled and shook her head. "I'm very happy with this life. Thank you."
"Have you forgotten? I cultivate Mind Element Magic too." Lu Ling did not intend to let the matter drop and said directly, "You haven't seemed in a very good mood lately. Why not tell me about it?"
Hearing those words, Ding Yumian felt warmth in her heart. Lu Ling actually cared about her so much that he even knew exactly what she had been doing. She also felt he was going a little too far, actually knowing everything she did!
"Pervert," she said with a smile.
"..."
"I just feel a little upset, and I don't know why." Seeing that Lu Ling said nothing, she began talking on her own. "There are more and more people at home. I think I'm starting to understand why Ye Xin Xia always lashes out at you. With more people around, will you care about her less? Will you care about me less?"
"...You like me." It was a little conceited, but that was the most obvious answer.
"I... like you?" That blunt answer hit her square in the face, and she stared at Lu Ling in astonishment.
Lu Ling gently took Ding Yumian's hand and brought it to her own cheek.
"Can you feel it? Isn't it hot?" Lu Ling's tone sounded like the mocking laughter of someone whose scheme had succeeded. He smiled. "Your face is actually as red as an apple right now."
"I..." Completely flustered, Ding Yumian tried to shake off Lu Ling's hand and flee. But he held her hand firmly, giving her no chance to escape.
"Yu Mian, look at me."
"Huh?"
She instinctively looked up, and in the next instant, her eyes flew wide open.
"Mmph..."
A long while later.
"Your heartbeat is so passionate." Ding Yumian lay against Lu Ling's chest, all her thoughts occupied by the passion of the person in her arms and that scorching kiss just now.
"Isn't yours the same?" Lu Ling chuckled, suddenly applying a little more pressure with his hand. He mused, "A little soft, too."
"Lecher!" Ding Yumian was utterly embarrassed, but did nothing to stop him.
"Come on, let's go inside."
"Where to?"
Lu Ling scooped Ding Yumian up in his arms and walked toward the room.
"To the deepest place."
"..."
They slept until daybreak.
Lu Ling opened his eyes. The person beside his pillow was still there.
"Good morning." Wearing a frosty expression, Ding Yumian stuck a finger out from under the covers and poked hard at Lu Ling's cheek.
"...You're scaring me, staring at me like that."
"Weren't you pretty fierce last night? You're actually afraid of me?"
"Of course not. You believed a little joke?" Lu Ling turned his head and likewise poked her cheek with a finger.
It was smooth and soft, wonderful to the touch. He probably would not tire of playing with it even after a few years.
Gradually, that pretty face puffed up, like a sulking steamed bun.
Lu Ling smiled and brushed Ding Yumian's lips, as lightly as a dragonfly skimming the water.
Ding Yumian's pretty face reddened. Just as she was about to flare up, Lu Ling spoke.
"Thank you."
"Hmm?"
"What are you thanking me for?"
Ding Yumian was a little bewildered. Surely he was not thanking her just because he had gotten her? That would be far too scummy...
As it turned out, just as she thought, that was not the reason.
"After being intimate with you for a night, my spiritual realm broke through," Lu Ling said.
That was right!
After a night's sleep, his mental power had once again soared enormously, and it had now settled firmly at the Ninth Realm Stage!
Lu Ling did not know whether Forbidden Curse Mages' spiritual realms had surpassed this limit, but his spiritual realm had now reached the pinnacle of conventional cultivation.
The bottlenecks in his subsequent cultivation would no longer exist, fulfilling Long Zhanye's dream as well.
Hearing this, Ding Yumian gave a smile of understanding.
"...The way you get stronger really is... beyond comment."
Who... gets stronger this way? Even so, she took this opportunity to look inward at her mental world, carefully sensing the powerful yet never-stable force within her.
"I should thank you too. This treatment actually worked better than any of the previous ones. It feels like it can stay stable for a very long time." The more Ding Yumian spoke, the redder her face became, because the method of treatment was actually... Whenever she mentioned this, scenes of last night's cloud-turning, rain-stirring passion flashed uncontrollably through her mind!
"That's good, then."
"Wait..." Ding Yumian suddenly realized something utterly outrageous.
Sleeping together equals treatment? When she had first arrived in this household, Ye Xin Xia had still been in a wheelchair. Yet not long afterward, she had suddenly been able to walk! Didn't that mean there was something fishy going on?
"Lu Ling, have you done it with Ye Xin Xia too?" Ding Yumian asked the soul-piercing question.
"Ahem, ahem..." Lu Ling suddenly started coughing.
How is this girl's train of thought so formidable?! She actually managed to figure that out!
"Seriously? She's your little sister!" Seeing Lu Ling's spectacular reaction, she was already eighty percent certain of the answer!
"She's not related by blood, and she insisted." Lu Ling averted his eyes, looking embarrassed.
"To think you're actually that kind of person!"
"Your expression is too exaggerated. Your acting is terrible." Lu Ling pinched Ding Yumian's cheeks hard with both hands.
"Tch." Looking displeased, Ding Yumian rolled over and stopped looking at Lu Ling, never expecting it to have the opposite effect.
A pair of strong hands slowly climbed the peaks, his breath so scorching.
"Wait... I'm still really sore." Ding Yumian's expression shifted slightly, and she quickly reached out to stop Lu Ling, who had lost his reason.
"I don't want to!"