I Will Come Back! . . .
Cha Eun Xiao hastily employed his martial arts to alleviate the soreness. To his astonishment, as he channeled his techniques, he felt the spiritual power within his meridians and channels surging like a raging tide, coursing through him with overwhelming force, as if it sought to obliterate any impediments in its path.
The intensity was beyond anything he had ever experienced.
"By the heavens!" Cha Eun Xiao was flabbergasted and ceased his practice. He pondered, "What in the world is happening? My cultivation... it appears to have undergone a tremendous transformation overnight. What is the cause?"
Unfathomable thoughts raced through his mind.
"I haven't done anything..." He was bewildered. "How could this happen? My strength has evidently skyrocketed overnight without any intervention! It's utterly perplexing!"
Had Xuan Bing been privy to his bafflement, she would have likely administered a resounding blow to him and retorted, "You claim to have done nothing? You've already done more than enough..."
"Could it be related to the melted stele?"
Cha Eun Xiao attempted to manipulate his spiritual qi, only to find it surging with an intensity that could propel him up twelve levels. He felt the qi coursing through him, completing multiple cycles within the span of a breath.
"Level nine of Dream Origin Stage!" Cha Eun Xiao's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
All he had done was sleep twice, and he had catapulted from level seven to level nine.
"Is this even conceivable?"
"Moreover, the cold component of the ice and fire energies has reached the pinnacle."
"I did use Cosmic Hades' cold qi numerous times, but it was always in tandem with the power of fire. I balanced the ice with fire, and fire with ice. The two elemental energies invariably progressed concurrently. So, why has the cold component surged so significantly now?"
He sensed that using East-rising Purple Qi to absorb the Yin Yang Energy Sources within him could propel him beyond the Dream Origin Stage to reach Dao Origin Stage immediately.
"It's a miracle!" he exclaimed.
Despite his extensive experience as a cultivator, he remained stymied by this inexplicable turn of events. It was an extraordinary and inexplicable occurrence.
A thousand miles away, in a dense mountain forest, Xuan Bing descended from the sky within a swirling mass of black mist. Her visage bore flushes of pink, and she kept massaging her waist while casting furtive glances at her own chest.
"What an insatiable brute. How could he possess such stamina? He didn't seem human at all! More like a beast! No, even worse than a beast... He nearly left me incapacitated..."
Ever since she had extricated herself from Cha Eun Xiao's room, her body had felt achingly stiff and sore.
Walking had become a taxing endeavor, and she could scarcely feel the ground beneath her feet. This physical exhaustion surpassed any intense battle she had previously encountered. In that regard, Cha Eun Xiao had proven to be more untamed than even the fiercest of animals.
Yet, recollections of their night together made her blush. She had been utterly at his mercy, lacking any means to resist his vigorous advances. He had overpowered her completely.
This, she struggled to come to terms with. "Master has learned unsavory practices..."
The memory of the extraordinary postures she had been coaxed into still lingered. She had been unable to resist his dominant passion, allowing him free rein to do as he pleased.
Her thoughts of that night had her positively blushing with embarrassment.
"I have always been in a position of superiority over others, never once contemplating a day like this might come!"
To have been so ardently and sensually ravished by a man left her feeling bereft of any desire to resist. In fact, she found herself yearning for it, even openly desiring it.
The most unsettling aspect of the experience was that she had engineered it herself. If she hadn't chosen to return to Cha Eun Xiao, if she hadn't used Ling Xiao Ice Art to cast Shadow of Dreams, would Cha Eun Xiao have been so uninhibited in bed? Would he have unleashed his desires with such reckless abandon?
She acknowledged that her actions had led to consequences, and she would have to bear the results. Whatever occurred, she had to keep it hidden deep within her heart, a secret known to none but herself. Whether the experiences were pleasurable or painful, they were hers alone to carry.
As night drew to a close, she was almost at the brink of passing out. Summoning the last vestiges of her strength, she resolutely rose to her feet. Her fervent endeavors eradicated every trace of her presence, restoring the bed to its pristine state. Taking a seat once more, she steeled herself for what would come next.
Cha Eun Xiao was on the cusp of awakening, and in a frantic hurry, she made her escape...
Though she was now a thousand miles removed from Cha Eun Xiao, her body still bore the unmistakable sensations of that night. It felt as though she were floating, weightless, suspended in the air.
"What a formidable opponent... How do you view me..." Xuan Bing gnashed her teeth, ruminating over those audacious postures, blushing as she pondered her feelings. She was unsure whether to be indignant or not.
Her eyes misted over as her mind grew clouded.
It seemed as if her inner self, the Bing'er within her, was beginning to surface once more, asserting control over her thoughts. [I am master's concubine... he may do as he pleases with me... and I shall derive contentment from it...]
"Confounded!" Xuan Bing promptly called upon her Ling Xiao Ice Art to quell that insistent voice. She cried out to the heavens.
Her cry reverberated to the skies, much like a phoenix soaring through a tempestuous realm.
"Hm?" Xuan Bing, as a formidable cultivator, detected a peculiar change within herself.
"My cultivation... has improved! But why?" She assessed her own spiritual power and realized the discrepancy. It left her utterly stunned.
The events of the night hadn't constituted an actual battle, yet they had exacted a significant toll on her body. Now, she perceived that her powers had surged. Although it hadn't pushed her to an entirely new level, her might had greatly intensified.
Xuan Bing had already ascended to the pinnacle of the Qing-Yun Realm. Save for Wu Fa, widely acclaimed as the most potent cultivator in the realm, few could rival her. Following her return from the Land of Han-Yang, and the successful removal of the adverse effects she'd suffered, her power had further ascended. She might even have equaled or surpassed Wu Fa's might.
Progression for cultivators at her level was an extremely daunting feat, more challenging than reaching the heavens themselves. It necessitated a confluence of factors including mindset, opportunities, luck, and more.
The unanticipated question nagged at her: Why had she experienced such remarkable advancement following a night of unrestrained abandon?
It amounted to a significant leap in her capabilities, to the extent that she now felt confident in contending with Wu Fa, at least on an even footing.
"Why? Why have I made such leaps after a night of carnal pleasure?"
"I did nothing else but engage in those relentless amorous encounters with that rascal!"
Could it be that those encounters...
Xuan Bing's face deepened in shade, but it only served to enhance her beauty.
After a time, she arose once more, and the dark clouds in the sky billowed and dissipated.
"I shall return shortly!"