Lian Yunzhi pulled back: “Oh, forget it then.”
Mu Cheng: “.”
Mu Cheng’s “massage and spiritual power circulation” had finished the calf area and gradually moved past the knee. Lian Yunzhi felt a bit ticklish and dodged, but Mu Cheng gripped him tightly.
“This is too slow.” Lian Yunzhi stepped on Mu Cheng’s thigh and suggested: “Let’s dual cultivate— I mean the normal kind.”
Lian Yunzhi’s fingertip hooked Mu Cheng’s clothes and tugged gently: “I’m also at Golden Core Peak, close to Nascent Soul. You won’t lose out.”
Mu Cheng stopped his movements and looked at him.
Lian Yunzhi leaned in close, blinking his eyes, his breath sprinkling on Mu Cheng’s face: “Okay?”
Mu Cheng couldn’t refuse verbally.
Because Lian Yunzhi had already leaned in and kissed him.
Pinned under the bedding by Mu Cheng and kissed until he could barely breathe, on the verge of suffocation, Lian Yunzhi suddenly remembered that earlier conversation.
—Mu Cheng, the first time we met, why did you kick me into the pond?
—Because there were scenes I didn’t want you to see.
Ah.
Lian Yunzhi’s arms climbed up Mu Cheng’s neck, thinking with some regret.
He had forgotten to bring Little Gold back too.
.
Dual cultivation was indeed the best method for spiritual power circulation. After just one session, much of the discomfort in Lian Yunzhi’s meridians dissipated, and the excess spiritual power in his body was refined, solidified, and stabilized.
The only downside was that Mu Cheng discovered Lian Yunzhi secretly reciting the Cauldron Dual Cultivation Incantation midway. Even after Lian Yunzhi explained repeatedly that the incantation focused on “Dual Cultivation,” not “Cauldron,” that he hadn’t treated Mu Cheng as a Human Cauldron or stolen his spiritual power, Mu Cheng still didn’t believe him. Not only did he forbid Lian Yunzhi from reciting the Cauldron Dual Cultivation Incantation again, but he also drew “true mutual benefit Dual Cultivation Dao Companion Inscriptions” stroke by stroke on his body.
Lian Yunzhi didn’t understand inscriptions at all and suspected that what Mu Cheng drew was actually a Furnace Cauldron Inscription, but without evidence and given how comfortable the spiritual power flow felt during dual cultivation, he silently accepted this “Dual Cultivation Dao Companion Inscription.”
In short, by the end of the dual cultivation, Lian Yunzhi was on the verge of breaking through to Nascent Soul.
Or rather, it was precisely because Lian Yunzhi was about to break through to Nascent Soul and sensed Xiaoze State’s repulsive force against him that the dual cultivation ended.
“You go fix the passage to the outside first. I need to consolidate here for a while.” Lian Yunzhi put on his inner clothes and sat cross-legged.
Mu Cheng took out Spirit Stones and set up a Spirit Gathering Array around him: “The rift to the outside is easy to repair and doesn’t need advance preparation, but I need to make a trip to the Chen Family. You consolidate your cultivation first.”
Lian Yunzhi opened his eyes: “You’re going to the Chen Family to kill people?”
Mu Cheng: “I’ll be back soon.”
But Lian Yunzhi got up and picked up his outer robe: “I’ll go with you.”
This time, he wanted to use his Divine Soul Force to carefully observe the relationship between the corpses, the Black Mist, and Mu Cheng. Moreover, if Mu Cheng had another episode of Madness Illness, he could still help.
Mu Cheng pressed him down: “You’re not consolidating your cultivation?”
Lian Yunzhi thought about it—time was too tight; there wasn’t enough for Mu Cheng to wait for him to finish consolidating before going to kill at the Chen Family—so he shook his head: “Forget it. I’ll consolidate after we go out.”
.
There weren’t many people Mu Cheng needed to kill at the Chen Family—just the Family Head and a few Black Guards. The only trouble was that they had heard the news early and fled the Chen Family. Mu Cheng dragged them out from a Small Secret Realm.
This time, Lian Yunzhi observed clearly with his Divine Soul Force. When those people were killed by Mu Cheng, massive, dense Black Mist drifted out from their corpses and shot toward Mu Cheng’s spine like arrows off a string!
Fortunately, Lian Yunzhi was one step faster than the Black Mist. He covered Mu Cheng’s back firmly with his Vines in advance.
But Mu Cheng slightly turned his body and gently peeled off the Vines on his back with a bloodstained hand: “Zhi Zhi, I need this power.”
Lian Yunzhi looked at him for a moment and silently withdrew the Vines.
The Black Mist rushed into Mu Cheng’s spine. Mu Cheng threw his head back, letting out a muffled grunt from his throat. The power on his body became even more profound and unfathomable—even Lian Yunzhi at Half-step Nascent Soul couldn’t see through it.
Mu Cheng quickly opened his eyes, but the depths of them were already a dark red.
He walked step by step toward Lian Yunzhi.
Lian Yunzhi pursed his lips, turned his head, and offered his wrist—just like in the previous Illusion Realm, when he had countless times offered his wrist to the Madness Illness-afflicted Little Mu Cheng.
His wrist was tightly grasped.
But this time, instead of the expected bite and sucking, he received a cool embrace and a scorching kiss stained with the scent of blood.
