The Demon Seed

The stars and moon hung high; a spring babbled softly.

Zhuang Xun opened his eyes, feeling the weight and warmth pressing on his chest. He glanced down at his fully exposed robes.

A large expanse of his firm, neatly arranged pale abdominal muscles was exposed, exuding an undeniable sense of power.

Yet it was also highly unbecoming of a man’s virtue.

He reached up and rubbed his brow, feeling somewhat weary.

‘I clearly taught her well. She understands propriety, discerns good from evil, knows right from wrong…’

‘But in the end, how did it come to this?’

He quietly turned his head, careful not to wake the sleeping girl beside him.

He gazed at her silver hair… and her serene, beautiful sleeping face.

A thousand questions swirled in his mind.

[Daoling: Father, your Dao injury has fully healed~]

[I know. I can feel it.]

But the fact that it healed through such intimate contact with his disciple left a tiny crack in his heart.

‘What on earth did she go through… to become so obsessive?’

‘She tries every possible way to possess me completely…’

‘……’

‘Well, I need to figure out how to return to the mortal world.’

Zhuang Xun remained stubbornly determined. He refused to believe there was no way back.

“Mm…”

“Master’s scent…”

“Love it…”

Xuanyuan Luoshui, clad only in a sheer red slip, murmured in her sleep. Her arms were locked tightly around Zhuang Xun’s neck, the softness of her chest pressing against him—both overwhelming and alluring.

She rubbed her cheek against him like a kitten.

‘……’

‘I have to say…’

‘How did she develop such an octopus-like sleeping posture?’

‘I remember her sleeping so gracefully before…’

Zhuang Xun genuinely wanted to understand. After he had left, what path had she walked?

But for now, he had to free himself from her grip.

‘……’

With a thought, he activated a bone-contraction technique. His entire body compressed, emitting a soft rustling sound.

“Mm…”

Xuanyuan Luoshui’s eyelids fluttered. She felt the master in her arms gradually fading…

In her mind, a scene surfaced: on a vast desert under a yellow sky, Zhuang Xun dissolved into specks of starlight in her embrace.

“No…”

“I don’t want Master to leave…”

“Master, don’t leave Luoshui…”

‘……’

Gradually, she woke, a clear tear streak on her cheek. Then her crimson eyes flew wide open, disbelief in her face.

The master she had held so tightly was gone.

“Impossible…”

“Where is my master?”

She extended a trembling hand to touch the empty space beside her… Feeling the lingering warmth, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Ha…”

“Good. He probably hasn’t gone far.”

Xuanyuan Luoshui suddenly released her vast and powerful divine sense. She found Zhuang Xun’s traces on the training ground outside her palace.

‘It’s already late at night… What is Master doing?’

‘Practicing with his spear?’

With a graceful wave of her hand, she draped a form-fitting red dress over her alluring figure. Then, her jade-like feet lightly touched the ground as she stepped into the air, vanishing from the palace.

……

On the training ground outside the palace.

Zhuang Xun took a black spear, as polished as a cold star, from the weapon rack. He casually swung it a few times.

Shua!

The final strike shot out like a rainbow piercing the sun, stopping just short of the brow of the woman who suddenly appeared before him.

‘……’

Zhuang Xun put away the spear and tossed it back, landing precisely in its original spot.

“Is Master unable to sleep and practicing the spear at this late hour because he was uncomfortable in my embrace and now holds a grudge?”

“A beauty’s embrace is certainly tempting, but you and I are master and disciple…”

“In a sense, it would not be wrong to call it a father-daughter relationship.” Zhuang Xun’s expression was extremely serious, his eyes like a dark, cold abyss. “But with your behavior today, what face am I supposed to show you?”

“Didn’t Master say he would see me as a woman?”

“Could it be that Master intends to go back on his word?”

Xuanyuan Luoshui narrowed her eyes, making it impossible to discern her emotions, while dark tendrils began to rise in her heart.

“A word spoken is a word kept. I do not intend to go back on my word; I just need some time.”

Though Zhuang Xun said this, in his heart he was stalling for time.

“We have lived together for over a hundred years. I cannot change my view of you in an instant.”

“Time I will naturally give, but I hope Master can change quickly…”

“After all, I want to possess all of you sooner.”

‘……’

“So greedy,” Zhuang Xun said, as a pitch-black spear appeared in his hand.

Compared to the previous one, this spear’s shaft was covered in dragon-scale patterns, and the tip was as sharp and tough as a dragon horn, faintly emitting a dragon’s roar.

“Care to practice with me? Let me see how much you’ve improved over the years.”

“Oh?” Xuanyuan Luoshui’s lips curled in amusement. “But Luoshui is afraid of hurting Master and making him angry.”

More than that, she feared that if she really hurt him, she would be the one to suffer. After that incident, she never wanted to face him with a blade again.

As the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy. Piercing the heart of her beloved was enough for a lifetime.

“You’ve already made me angry enough today…”

“What? Won’t you let me vent some of this fire?”

Hearing this, Xuanyuan Luoshui waved her hand, and the mountains and rivers shifted, the stars changed places. In an instant, they arrived in a boundless, empty pocket world.

“If Master wants to vent his fire through battle, that’s simple!”

As she spoke, Xuanyuan Luoshui walked toward Zhuang Xun, slowly untying her collar to reveal her white, smooth shoulders…

“Luoshui can use other forms of combat to help Master vent his fire…”

‘……’

Zhuang Xun watched her approach with a catlike gait, her crimson eyes gleaming with an eerie light. “Have you been possessed?”

“Master, I am simply facing my true heart.”

“Your true heart?” Zhuang Xun tried to step back but found his legs wouldn’t move. “I refuse to believe my disciple’s true heart thinks with her lower half.”

‘As if she’s under some kind of control. Who would believe that?’

‘There’s definitely something wrong with her.’

Zhuang Xun still trusted Xuanyuan Luoshui’s promises. Though she could be stubborn, she always kept her word.

So this version of her, removing her clothes and approaching him…

He was fairly certain something was off, perhaps a mishap.

‘What a troublesome girl.’

Zhuang Xun’s expression gradually turned cold, and a pair of profound Dao eyes, like deep serene pools, opened…

[Daoling: Father, if you open your Dao eyes in your current state, you’ll revert to square one.]

[I know… But I have no choice.]

[Who told me I raised her for over a hundred years?]

[Daoling: ……]

[Alright, don’t bother me now…]

[I can get angry too, you know.]

Zhuang Xun’s sharp gaze made ‘Xuanyuan Luoshui’s’ heart tremble, as if her entire being was pierced by a mysterious Dao rhythm.

‘……’

He saw a black aura shrouding her heart, spreading toward her spiritual platform. But strangely, her spiritual platform was enveloped by a red aura, fighting the black aura to a standstill.

‘So that’s it…’

‘My good disciple would keep her promise…’

‘Why would she act like a seductress and undress for me at a time like this?’

‘Even if she wanted to, she’d probably just pounce and tear off my clothes…’

‘Not act like a gentle enchantress giving me a chance to reason.’

“Did Master do something to Luoshui?”

She paused, then leaped softly into his arms…

Her delicate skin rubbed against him, trying to arouse his primal instincts as a man.

“But even if Master did something to me, Luoshui would never resist.”

‘……’

Zhuang Xun immediately understood. A smile tugged at his lips.

His hand slowly covered her pale, heaving chest, and he whispered in her ear, “Luoshui, you really put me in a difficult position…”

“Mm…”

Xuanyuan Luoshui’s face flushed like a ripe summer peach, delicate and dewy.

She had no resistance to her beloved master’s gentle words and the touch on her sacred peak.

“But… I rather like your current state.”

When he said that, the eerie light in her eyes began to change, her mind wavering and relaxing. Her body trembled uncontrollably, as if struck by a huge shock.

“Hold on. I’m going to pull it out.”

Zhuang Xun’s tone suddenly turned cold, making her feel as if she had fallen into an icy abyss.

Wum~

A terrifying suction force emerged from his palm, causing even the void to tremble. Taking her off guard, he sucked all the black aura from her heart.

“Mm…”

“Master~❤”

Xuanyuan Luoshui let out a comfortable moan, collapsing limply into his arms, drenched in sweat and panting softly.

‘……’

Zhuang Xun silently held her with one hand while clutching the eerie black aura in the other.

His expression was grave. “Demon Seed… This is no joke.”