After getting drunk, Xi Huai fell into the clutches of his dream demon.
He rarely slept, for his sleep was erratic and full of torment courtesy of the dream demon. This time was no exception. He powerlessly descended into the place that he feared the most.
This wasn't his first time being physically bound. His father would always tie him up before transferring the Hui Dragon Flames to him. Not only his hands and feet, but his entire body, so that he couldn't move about.
With his mouth sealed by a restriction—unable to utter a single sound, he was reduced to a small beast by the agonising pain. One that couldn't howl, even once.
He felt the pressure in his ears begins to rise. His eardrums seemed on the brink of rupturing.
He didn't want to cry as a child, but tears and snot streamed down his face. It was the only thing left under his control.
The Hui Dragon Flames coursed through his body, making him feel like tens of thousands of bugs were burrowing into his marrow and beasts were tearing at his flesh. The excruciating agony made him want to tear his organs out.
He knew that his father only had him to alleviate the effects of the Hui Dragon Flames on himself—by channelling them into someone else.
But what about him? What was he supposed to do? What about his suffering?
When he woke up again, Xi Huai noticed a cool sensation on his forehead.
He still couldn't see anything when he opened his eyes, but he could feel that someone's fingers were resting against his forehead. They were steadily siphoning something from his body.
He knew that this person didn't have any malicious intent, for that index and middle finger were taking away the resentful energy in him. His mind and body were slowly relaxing.
This person was helping him.
Isn't this the He Huan Sect's technique for siphoning out people's cultivation? Who knew it could be used like this...
Seeing that he had woken up, Chi Muyao frantically explained, "You seemed like you were about to go berserk just now. Your struggles triggered the restrictions' backlash, so I had no choice but to do this…"
He went berserk again...
But he didn't remember a thing.
Xi Huai collected himself and asked, "Why didn't you keep going? You could've siphoned my cultivation to raise your own. Then you won't have to be stuck here until you die."
"This is a wicked forbidden technique. If I had continued, your cultivation may have degraded to mid or even early-stage Foundation Building. Yes, I can siphon away your cultivation, but it will be hard for me to control it and even harder to convert it into my own. If I lose control, a qi deviation is only a moment away. Since this technique results in a loss for both parties, it was forbidden by the Sect."
If this technique was feasible in application, why would the He Huan Sect go through all the trouble of developing dual cultivation techniques?
Seeing that he seemed better now, Chi Muyao stopped tending to him and went to deal with the aftermath of the previous attack by himself.
Trying to break the restrictions through brute force would cause it to retaliate against them.
Chi Muyao's cultivation was too shallow, and Xi Huai's was sealed. If the restrictions' harsh spiritual energy hit them, they would disintegrate in an instant.
Xi Huai was still in a bad mood after waking up.
His brow furrowed. Being locked up and unable to walk for so long was getting to him.
He started chatting with Chi Muyao, "Can you tell me some interesting things?" "Huh?" Chi Muyao was moving a fallen boulder with his object control technique so that he wouldn't trip on it later. The sudden question stumped him. "What do you consider interesting?"
"Anything you find interesting."
Chi Muyao racked his brain for topics, but ultimately, he could only talk about sect affairs.
Like how one of his shijie had slept with the young master of so-and-so manor. When the young master found out she was a He Huan Sect cultivator, he came and caused quite a ruckus for a while. It was so bad that anyone leaving the sect was harassed for four years straight.
That shijie was very aggrieved. That guy was the one who approached her, but now everything was somehow her fault?
On another note, one of Chi Muyao's little Shimei was lucky enough to fall in love with a cultivator who returned her feelings. He didn't care about what cultivation techniques she practised, so they lived happily ever after.
Before, Xi Huai had only occasionally heard of the He Huan Sect. He thought they were just a bunch of loose women, but Chi Muyao's stories gave them depth and character.
Chi Muyao rambled on and on. He drank some more Peach Essence Brew when his mouth became dry.
Unlike Xi Huai, he still needed to sleep eventually. He would take a nap when he got tired of speaking and wake up to chat some more. That way both of them could stave off boredom.
Xi Huai has always been a man of few words. He mostly listened and seldom responded.
But Chi Muyao heard him laugh a few times. It was a very faint sound, ephemeral almost.
After another ten or so days passed like this, Chi Muyao ran out of things to talk about.
His consciousness was also gradually fading. He couldn't sit straight anymore and had to rest against the stone wall. His voice was also getting quieter and quieter. Perhaps he was confused, for he said some things that Xi Huai couldn't understand.
"I tried to escape from the Harmony Sect many times after finding out I was cannon fodder. But even when I finally managed to leave the mountain, I would find myself back there as soon as I closed my eyes. I'm just a puppet dancing to someone else's tune."
"I once dislocated my jaw while eating a Big Mac by trying to take a giant bite. I ended up getting sent to the emergency room for the first time in my life in the middle of the night. It was so embarrassing."
"They couldn't save me the second time I went in…"
"I didn't need to try that hard. There was no way I was getting into Qingbei University, even if I only slept four to five hours a night and studied my butt off. What did skipping a grade or ranking top in the province matter in the end?"
"My sister recommended this novel to me. She said that I was turning into an emotionless robot from studying so much and that I wouldn't be able to find her a sister-in-law…"
"Self-care is important. You should go to bed wake up early and try not to be angry. You young people are always in such a hurry…"
"I suddenly dropped dead one day, ah… At least it was over quickly. I didn't have to wait—like now."
Xi Huai noticed something.
Chi Muyao's breathing was becoming more and more irregular. More air was being breathed in than was coming out.
The other person became dazed and unfocused, muttering nonsense like he was reminiscing about his life. By now, his voice was so quiet that it seemed like any word could be his last.
"You're going to die?" Xi Huai was taken aback.
"En. I only had about two years left the last time I checked. How unfortunate that I ended up in a place like this. There's no nourishing spiritual energy, sunlight or anything good here. I might even die sooner than expected. It's a pity that I can't go into the bamboo tube for storing spirit beast corpses. I don't know how much my rotting corpse will affect you." Xi Huai fell into silence.
The two didn't speak another word for an entire day.
Chi Muyao remained quiet. He was someone who wouldn't cause trouble for others, even in death.
Xi Huai, however, suddenly said, "If...if we dual cultivate, can you raise your cultivation to the Foundation Building stage?"
"En?" Chi Muyao suspected that his mental state had deteriorated to the point of hallucinations.
Xi Huai's words came out with extreme difficulty, "It's not entirely for your sake. This is my only way out too. How long do you and I have to...for you to get there means to Foundation Building, not orgasm (as, ahem, some of us initially thought...) XD?"
Chi Muyao finally came back to his senses. With wide eyes, he stared blankly through the darkness in Xi Huai's direction.
Did the heart of the future Lord Demon Venerable...soften?
In the book, the He Huan Sect disciple whose body he had taken over, used Xi Huai to cultivate for seven whole years.
The book brushed over what happened in a sentence or two.
But all Chi Muyao could think about in the years leading up to this moment, was how painful it must've been for a straight man like Xi Huai to be forced to do it with another man for so long.
This kind of long-term humiliation had the potential to be the worst of them all. It was torture for one's mind and body. No wonder Xi Huai dealt with that disciple so cruelly later on.
Chi Muyao had already made up his mind a long time ago that he wouldn't make Xi Huai experience such things. That way, Xi Huai wouldn't be so unhinged in the future.
But did Xi Huai just say he was now willing?
Chi Muyao still shook his head. "No, you'll get out one day. There's no need to go so far for my sake."
Xi Huai snorted dismissively. "Whatever. I just don't want to deal with your rotting corpse, that's all. At least this way we can both have some fun."
"Seriously?"
"Why are you acting like I'm forcing you or something?"
Chi Muyao propped himself up to a sitting position, weighing the situation in his mind.
The original host used Xi Huai for seven years to cultivate to peak stage Foundation Building, but that wasn't necessary for him. He just needed to reach the Foundation Building.
So he answered, "Three or four years. It depends mostly on how much spiritual energy I can absorb from each cultivation session. I can have a more accurate estimate after we do it once."
According to his top student brain, he could even figure out how many times it would take to raise his cultivation to the required level, down to the exact number and days.
"Come on then." Xi Huai said.
He had prepared himself to make this sacrifice. Chi Muyao swallowed dryly. Should he do this or not? That was the question.
If he did, he could live and Xi Huai could get out. He could just run away after they got out. If he didn't, he would soon bite the dust and bid this world farewell.
What happened after that would be none of his business.
Xi Huai added hastily, "But don't you dare think that there'll be something between us after we dual cultivate. What happens in this cave stays in this cave. We'll go our separate ways afterwards."
"That would be for the best." His words ended up reassuring Chi Muyao.
For some reason, when he saw that Chi Muyao didn't want to get involved with him, Xi Huai became upset. With a temper worthy of any scummy, overbearing CEO, he asked, "Don't you know who I am?"
"You've taught me the Qing Ze Sect's techniques, you sometimes go berserk, and you have a dragon horn on your forehead. It's not exactly hard to guess."
Was there a second eighteen-year-old cultivator in the world with those characteristics?
"So you don't want to get involved with me? Don't you know how many people would do anything for me to look at them twice?"
What's wrong with this guy?
You ignore people when they come looking for you, but you also get angry when they don't??
Chi Muyao was reluctant to proceed. He leaned back against the wall and curled his body into a ball, breathing steadily as he prepared to sleep.
Xi Huai waited a long time for an answer that never came. He pressed, "What are you doing?"
"I'm waiting to die."
"But I've already permitted you! Why aren't you saying yes?"
"I don't want to dual cultivate."
However, Xi Huai refused to give up. "Are you asexual means a person who has no sexual feelings or desires, or who is not sexually attracted to anyone.? Then why on Earth did you enter the He Huan Sect?"
"I did it just to stay alive."
"You don't want to do it anymore?"
"En. After thinking about it, I might as well die. Besides, I've lived peacefully in the He Huan Sect for eighty years. That's good enough for me."
"Fine, be like that then!" Xi Huai decided to save this old dude's life after some serious consideration, but this old dude didn't seem to appreciate the favour. Hmph!
Even Xi Huai himself had realised that he sometimes did some strange things.
For example, while chatting with his friends one day, he suddenly took them to the Jin Se Sect to ask for a girl's name. He didn't even know why he wanted to ask her that afterwards, or why he immediately returned to the Qing Ze Sect. The entire trip was puzzling, to say the least.
This time was no different. He had never been the one to play hero, but for some reason, he unwittingly saved someone and ended up imprisoned in this cave for his troubles.
In contrast, at least agreeing to dual cultivate with Chi Muyao was something he had given thorough thought to, and not some inexplicable whim.
Furious, Xi Huai lay on the stone bed and gnashed his teeth in anger. As his temper flared, his madness reared its ugly head. The steel chains binding him began to shake. Chi Muyao noticed and hurriedly scrambled to Xi Huai's side, asking, "Why did you relapse again?"
"Don't talk to me!"
"I was afraid you would be hurt, but it seems that I hurt you regardless. Then..." Chi Muyao took a deep breath. "Then wait for me to take some pills."
If this young master lost his temper, he could go from dying peacefully of old age to dying a terrible death. Chi Muyao was truly afraid of the backlash of the restrictions.
Xi Huai's temper cooled. He asked, "What kind of pills?"
He thought it was some pill to prepare for dual cultivation, but Chi Muyao said, "One that boosts…"
Xi Huai's face suddenly changed. His mood was somewhat unpleasant.
Immediately afterwards, he heard Chi Muyao add, "Gut function."
"..."
Xi Huai: I thought you were going to take Viagra*. But you're just boosting your gut function?
Chi Muyao: After drinking no more than three bowls of this a day, I'll bring enough guts to fight a tiger to cultivate with the Demon Venerable!
* 壮阳 – Yang energy is attributed to males, so yeah. Viagra XD