That night, I slept fitfully, waking up at random times because I felt like there was something with me inside the dark room.
Yet, I could never find anything each time I awoke, and I would promptly drift back off to sleep.
This was my fifth time reawakening, but this time someone was inside the room; Gao Chen.
Stumbling towards the bed, she collapsed beside me and groan, sluggishly tossing her robes off and revealing her bare skin.
Blushing slightly as I saw her chiseled figure, my eyes drifted lower, towards the thing that I hated yet craved.
However, while it normally stood tall and proud, it was currently shrunken and flaccid, making me frown.
I was disgusted with myself that my own lower half was growing warmer, while also disappointed that I wouldn't get to taste that pleasure again tonight.
My heart clenched as I realized that Gao Chen had laid with someone else, before I grit my teeth as I turned back around, not wanting to stare at her.
Of course she grew tired of me already; Da had a curvaceous figure, was beautiful, and knew how to pleasure Gao Chen.
Me?
I was thin, average at best, and I only laid there like a fish when Gao Chen raped me, but now...
Biting my lip, I pulled the blankets further over my body, trying to rid myself of the shivering that washed over me.
"Yi'er..?"
Hearing her soft whisper, I gulped as I remained on my side, my eyes clamped shut as I clenched the blanket in my fists.
"Yi'er~?"
Gao Chen shuffled closer to me, and I felt myself grow hotter in anticipation, only for my disgust to rise just as much.
"Little bunny..."
Feeling Gao Chen's breath on my neck, I shivered, before I yelped as she turned me over, forcing me to look into her orange eyes.
"I knew you were awake, little bunny. Answer me when I call for you."
Staring up at her, I shivered again while blushing, her bare skin pressed against my robes.
Smirking, Gao Chen let her hands roam over my body, her voice wriggling into my ears, the soft melodic words chewing away at my disgust.
"When you sleep in this bed, don't don these robes again, little bunny~"
Undoing my clothes, she pulled them off and tossed them to the side, before smirking down at me.
"That's better. Now..."
Leaning down, she pressed her lips against mine, and I bit my cheek as we kissed.
Feeling something poking me down below, I yelped again before moaning as Gao Chen started taking me, her movements selfish as she pleasured herself.
That next morning, I was red as I stood up, my skin bare to the world as I moved towards my clothes, tying on the robe while Gao Chen watched me with a smirk.
"If you think that I won't have energy for you, little bunny, you're sorely mistaken. Especially when I get to sow my seed with naught a worry in the world..."
Gulping, I glared at her as she stood up, her body on full display as she stretched.
However, my anger returned as I saw various marks coating her normally flawless tan skin; there were dozens of small bruises peppering her collarbone and neck, testament to her time with Da yesterday.
Feeling something in my heart swell with hate, I pulled my robe tighter to my body and stalked towards the door, slipping out without a word.
Making my way to the courtyard that Gao Chen and I cultivated in yesterday, I sat down and began, ignoring Gao Chen as she sat beside me, her sigh entering my ears.
The black vapor that had filled my dantian was now gone, however there was more liquid Water Qi stored and condensed inside, so I resumed my cultivation, wanting to climb further.
My drive and desire was reignited after my resolution to watch over my child, and it became apparent as I quickly lost myself to revolving the murky Water Qi around my meridians, slowly filling my dantian.
As I cultivated, I eventually snapped out of my meditation, my heart pounding with fear as I heard someone whisper "Li Yichen..." directly into my ear, and yet...
No one was behind me; Gao Chen was sitting in quiet meditation beside me, and a complex aura surrounded her hands, her Dark Qi solidifying in her palms.
It couldn't have been her, as she was too deep into her cultivation...
But if it wasn't Gao Chen, then who..?
Gulping, I looked around the courtyard, my Qi sense washing over the various plants and trees inside this lush garden, but...
No one was around us, not even a Servant.
Feeling my hands shaking, I unconsciously reached for the turquoise coin around my neck, my heart calming down as I felt the familiar mineral on my palm.
Taking a deep breath, I was about to return to my cultivation when I noticed something.
Sitting on the ground before me was a small, murky blue seed, the familiar black vapors that filled my dantian wafting off of its surface.
Picking it up, I flinched at the searing cold and immense pressure rolling off of small seed, but...
After a moment, the dangerous feeling washed away, the seed returning to being just that; a seed.
Staring intently at the cool seed, I pursed my lips before slipping it into my pocket, deciding to investigate it later.
Falling back into meditation, I failed to see the black vapors pour off of the turquoise coin again, the figure that formed sitting in front of me.
Tilting its head to the side, it reached its hand forwards, towards my cheek, but never touched me.