Dual Cultivation’s Reward

With her previous experience to lean on, Xiao Siyu didn’t faint this time. However, staying conscious meant she participated in every step under Yuan Xing’s guidance, experiencing every sensation in vivid detail.

She felt the peak of physical pleasure, but more than that, she felt a deeper sense of fulfillment she couldn’t explain.

When the storm of passion finally passed, Xiao Siyu didn’t jump away like a startled bird. Instead, she lay docilely in Yuan Xing’s arms, holding him tightly as if afraid he might vanish. When he looked down at her, she shyly buried her face in the crook of his neck.

Yuan Xing smiled, feeling a profound sense of satisfaction. This was the first time he could truly savor their intimacy without the distraction of a life-or-death battle.

He gently stroked her jade-smooth back and sighed playfully. “Satisfied now? My cultivation base has been drained by you; there isn’t a trace left.”

“Hehe, you really think I care about your meager cultivation? I was just fooling—Hey? Wait…” Xiao Siyu started to laugh at having “tricked” him, but then she froze.

Earlier, she had been too caught up in the experience to check her internal state. Now, looking inward, she found her spiritual power was not only abundant but her cultivation level was noticeably higher. She had just broken through to Foundation Establishment and hadn’t meditated once. How could her power have increased so significantly?

Could I really have absorbed power from him? she wondered, panic rising.

“Ah! I… I didn’t mean to!” Xiao Siyu sat up abruptly, taking his hand and placing it against her chest. “Let’s circulate our energy again. I’ll return all your power to you!”

Seeing her earnest, worried expression, Yuan Xing couldn’t help but laugh. “Actually, that wasn’t a power-transfer technique at all. It’s a dual cultivation method I ‘invented.’ It allows partners to cultivate together, exponentially increasing the speed for both.”

“You invented… dual cultivation?” Xiao Siyu was bewildered. In this world of the Eight Desolates, such a concept—and such a term—simply didn’t exist.

“Want to understand it better? That depends on your insight. Let’s use this method to refine the remaining spiritual energy in this cavern.” Yuan Xing smiled and pulled her back into his arms.

A new round began.

****

The spiritual energy in the cave eventually grew thin, the blue fluorescence dimmed, and the chamber returned to the state of an ordinary cavern.

On the stone platform, Xiao Siyu finished her meditation. She opened her eyes, her face filled with shock. Her cultivation level had reached the peak of the Early-stage Foundation Establishment; she was already at a bottleneck. If she had the necessary medicinal herbs, she could immediately advance to the Mid-stage.

To go from the beginning to the peak of a stage in just a few days… this efficiency shattered her understanding of cultivation. Normally, such progress took decades of solitary meditation. Even with a Spirit Vein, it shouldn’t have been this fast.

The key was the dual cultivation with Yuan Xing. His “self-created” technique was more effective than top-grade elixirs. And best of all, it required no expensive materials.

How could an Initial-stage Qi Refining newcomer possess such an ability?

As she pondered this, Yuan Xing exhaled a final breath, finishing his meditation. When he opened his eyes, he was equally thrilled. He had never used a Spirit Vein before, nor had he ever dual cultivated. The results were beyond his wildest dreams.

He had reached the Crystal Formation stage.

Because he had no bottlenecks, he didn’t need external materials to progress. And because his “mortal” genes didn’t absorb his progress as “nutrients,” he gained far more from the environment than a typical cultivator.

Before entering the Spirit Realm, he was at the Foundation Establishment stage. In just a few days, he had skipped an entire major realm. In the Eight Desolates, this speed was likely unmatched.

At the Crystal Formation stage, he could turn reality into illusion. As a sword cultivator, his progress was terrifying. At Qi Refining, the sword had to stay in his hand. At Foundation Establishment, he could control flying swords from a distance. But now, at Crystal Formation, he could merge his soul with his blade. Man was the sword; the sword was the man. Wherever his mind went, his sword intent followed. With enough spiritual power, he could manifest thousands of sword shadows to slay enemies on all sides.

Before, he had worried about being overwhelmed by a mob. Now, he feared nothing. No matter how many came, they were merely targets. Yuan Xing finally felt a true sense of ease.

When he looked up, Xiao Siyu was staring at him intensely. “What?” he asked with a smile.

“Did you really create that technique yourself?” she asked suspiciously.

Yuan Xing maintained his smile. Such a powerful technique was indeed suspicious for a “newbie.” He shrugged. “I had a lucky encounter. I once stumbled into a hidden cave where I found a manual and a miraculous fruit. Eating the fruit allowed me to master the technique instantly.”

Lucky encounters were a staple of the Eight Desolates. Stories of falling off cliffs to find treasures were common enough that Xiao Siyu didn’t doubt him.

“If the technique is so powerful, why were you still at the Initial-stage of Qi Refining?” she asked.

“Well… no one was willing to dual cultivate with me,” Yuan Xing said with a wry smile. That was the literal truth. In this paranoid world, such intimacy was practically non-existent.

“That makes sense.” Xiao Siyu nodded. If Yuan Xing hadn’t appeared so weak and harmless, she never would have let him get close enough to try it. Her eyes twinkled. “Well, if others won’t do it, that’s their loss. It’s my gain. Hey… from now on, you only dual cultivate with me, okay?”

“I couldn’t ask for more,” Yuan Xing replied. Finally, he had someone to alleviate the crushing loneliness of this world. “But not right now. I’ve reached a limit and need to rest my meridians.”

“Oh, no rush. I need to return to my sect to get the pills for my next breakthrough anyway,” Xiao Siyu said.

“Alright. I’m from the Tianyun Sect. Come find me when you’re free.”

“Tianyun Sect, huh? Luckily, they aren’t hostile toward my sect. It’s a deal.”

With the Spirit Realm depleted, there was no reason to stay. They left the cavern hand in hand. Outside, the storms in the valley had weakened significantly because the energy source was gone. They summoned their flying artifacts and took to the sky. Soon, they spotted several groups of cultivators wandering the distant ridges.

“They’re still looking for the Spirit Realm?” Yuan Xing remarked.

“Heh, thanks to your trick, we refined every drop of energy before they could even find the door,” Xiao Siyu laughed.

As they joked, a ragged, desperate shout echoed from below: “There! It’s them! I found them!”

They looked toward the source and saw Lei Lie. His condition was pitiful. His face was covered in fresh scars and bruises, and the wound on his chest from Xiao Siyu’s ambush looked inflamed. He looked like a man who had finally found a lifeline in a sea of fire.

After his escape, Lei Lie had spread the news of the Spirit Realm to get revenge. But as the mob’s search proved fruitless, they began to suspect he had lied to lead them into a trap. Naturally, the “deceived” cultivators had tortured him for information.

Lei Lie couldn’t understand why the Spirit Realm couldn’t be found, nor where the two had vanished to. To the angry mob, the weakening of the valley’s storm was proof that the “treasure” had either been taken or that Lei Lie was stalling.

Now, seeing the two of them flying through the sky, looking refreshed and happy, Lei Lie’s voice was a mix of pure murderous rage and hysterical ecstasy.