~~Inside the Dual Cultivation room~~
"Wow! There are so many things to do here!" Huo Lei said, running around in between things.
"It's as if this place is designed to help a cultivator establish their true Qi and turn it into the far more powerful Saint Qi." I said, feeling the profundities of the room.
Huo Lei started jumping up and down on the bed. "Ah, the bed is so comfy. It's so soft. Hmm… This place is great!" She said, standing on the bed reaching up. Her tails couldn't help but show her excitement.
I walked over and sat down on the bed myself. It was incredibly soft and comfortable. I then laid down on my back, arms stretched out in each direction. "It really is a comfortable bed. When was the last time I slept in my human form? I wonder…" I said slowly nodding off.
"Oh nap time cuddles! YAY! Let's just move these up here." Huo Lei said, pulling my legs up.
"Huh, what's wrong?" I asked, noticing that my whole body moved. Even my shoes were off.
"We can't cuddle properly if you aren't on the bed fully. And now one likes shoes on the bed. Now let's nap and cuddle." Huo Lei said, as she crawled up close and nuzzled on my shoulder and upper arm.
"You really like cuddling don't you? This is good, because so do I." I said, wrapping my other arm around and hugged her close.
"Ah, my future husband is warm. My mother and the rest are all just messing with Leiji. There's no need to rush us. It's just cute to see you turn all flustered." Huo Lei said, nuzzling a little bit.
"Good, I want to focus on my cultivation anyways. Besides, it is still the seniors generation who are better for this. The time will come for us. When it does I'll make sure to make it happen." I smiled and slowly fell asleep.
Huo Lei blushed and a few of her tails wrapped over top of me, pulling us closer together. The two of us fell asleep like this. Huo Lei would have the occasional nightmare. However, in every nightmare there was a figure of a lone man that always came to her rescue. It was a nightmare of the events caused by the bandits. She was forced to relive them constantly.
While I slept I found myself in a nightmares dream where I had to watch as bandits raped women and killed the men and young boys. There were scenes of some girls who fell victim in a similar way to the older women. It was a scene that made me curse in my heart.
I only wished I could torture the souls of these bandits even more than I did thus far. It was the only thing I could do. I would always be forced to watch until a certain point when I'd finally be able to step in and kill the evil. Shortly after the dream would end and a calm would fill my heart. The sounds of death faded and tears no longer flowed.
~~In my Knowledge sea~~
"These dreams, they feel like they are coming from Huo Lei." Fang Qing pondered aloud.
"They are, it seems that the trauma she suffered was immense. It will take some time to recover from that. I will do my best to help her." I said, worried about this.
"Master, what's wrong?" Shandain asked, putting a finger on her chin.
"If Huo Lei is having these nightmares. Wouldn't this mean the others are as well. Huo Lei is more outgoing and upbeat than the others. If she is suffering like this then I can only imagine what the others must feel like right now. They likely can't get a good night's rest. Even worse, they may even have difficulty cultivating their strength." I said, solemnly.
"Young master is right. This is not a problem that Huo Lei suffers from alone. It's also very likely that she has a lesser extent of suffering as a direct result of being your fiance. Perhaps, it's even better now that you are cuddling with her so closely." Fang Qing said.
"I'll do what I can to address this later. I can't have them hanging on it forever after all. For now though I'll stay and cuddle with my fiance." I said.
"That's good. I think the two of you are really cute together. And she clearly has feelings rooted deep in her heart. Even if it is out of joy for your saving grace. It is still a good thing she fell in love after suffering such an experience." Fang Qing said, hugging my soul.
"That's why my father had me accept the arrangement! It was for this very purpose. To give them all the peace of mind that I would protect them from the bandits once again. I could have done this without accepting a fiance. However, since the opportunity presented itself. This only made it easier to cement in the hearts of the other monster race that I would put forth the effort to protect them. Hehe, I even ended up playing along without even realizing it." I said, having realized the depth of the action my father took.
"And it all started with a simple nuzzle." Shandain said excitedly.
"Indeed, for all my effort I couldn't realize this simple fact until now. My father is quite well versed in the ways of a woman's heart and those of the masses. No wonder he had 9 wives already." I said.
~~In the Dual cultivation room~~
The two of us didn't just nap. We practiced our cultivation slowly. I would learn to comprehend the mysteries of Saint Qi while I broke down the Saint Crystals into monster Qi for Huo Lei. This way she would gain some strength while we were in seclusion together.
~~1 month later~~
With my help Huo Lei quickly grew stronger reaching the peak of the 4th order monster race cultivation. Which means she is equivalent in strength to the True Element Realm peak.
I, on the other hand, discovered the mysteries behind Saint Qi. It was not only a matter of time before I stepped into the Saint Realm. Once this happens… I won't have another roadblock until the time when I step into the Origin Returning Realm.