Chapter 43: “…I am yours now.”…

Although she had agreed, Sang Ying had no idea how to cultivate or where to even begin.

She had only sneaked a few glances at the illustrations in the secret manual before and had never actually studied it, leaving her completely in the dark.

Thinking of this, Sang Ying leaned against the door, her fingers slowly clutching his clothes as she averted her eyes and murmured softly, “Um, do you know how?”

After a pause, recalling the painful experience from last time, she hurriedly added, “Maybe we should read something first… to learn?”

Xie Lingyu narrowed his eyes slightly, his knuckles rubbing against her slender waist with a deliberate pressure, his tone unfriendly. “Junior Sister seems to doubt me?”

Sang Ying looked up at him, blinking twice. “Remove the ‘seems.'”

Her expression serious, she poked his shoulder and pointed accusingly. “Last time you cultivated, it hurt me so much, and I even got injured. I haven’t forgotten it yet!”

Xie Lingyu: “…”

“Fine.”

Her body suddenly lightened as the young man picked her up and carried her toward the desk. He pulled out a chair, sat down with her in his arms, settling her on his lap, his tone indifferent.

“Take out your book, Junior Sister. Let’s read it together.”

Sang Ying stiffened. “How could I possibly have that kind of book!”

The young man glanced at her dismissively, not bothering to argue. Instead, he directly rummaged through her storage ring and pulled out her Joyful Union Sect secret manual.

Sang Ying’s ears instantly flushed red as she frantically reached out to grab his hand. “Xie Lingyu! Who said you could go through my things?!”

The young man raised the hand holding the book, using his other arm to wrap around Sang Ying’s waist and hold her in place, chuckling lightly. “Didn’t Junior Sister say she didn’t have it?”

Sang Ying, embarrassed and annoyed, retorted, “That was forced on me by someone else! And it’s all your fault. Back then, everyone heard about your deep youthful love story and pitied me. They kept giving me things like Love Gu and love potions, trying to help me avoid divorce.”

Xie Lingyu was taken aback. So that was how these things came to be.

He had thought she had found someone she liked and deliberately sought these things to win that person over.

His dragon tail slipped out and familiarly wrapped around her waist. He rested his chin against Sang Ying’s neck, nuzzling gently, his voice low. “Then why didn’t Junior Sister use them on me? Were you really that eager to divorce me?”

“…”

Was this a normal way of thinking?

Normal people would despise and reject such underhanded methods, right? Even in stories, those who used such means to win others over were always villains, and none of them ended well.

But here he was, blaming her for not using Love Gu or love potions on him.

Sang Ying grabbed his hand angrily and bit down fiercely, her voice muffled. “Do you think everyone is as twisted and dark as you, locking people up when you can’t have them?”

“And…”

She slowly released her teeth, her voice softening. “After all, we are fellow disciples. If you truly had a girl you liked and wanted to spend your life with her, I shouldn’t stand in the way and become an annoyance.”

The dragon tail tightened around her waist as the young man lifted his hand to pinch her cheek, his voice low and displeased by her ear. “Has Junior Sister already forgotten the words I spoke to express my feelings in just half a month?”

“…It was just a hypothetical!”

Of course, Sang Ying remembered what he had said—that he… liked her.

But even without those words, Sang Ying could sense that he liked her. After all, she had only mentioned divorce, and he had gone mad, lost control, and locked her up in a dark room.

Although his behavior was a bit perverted, Sang Ying… didn’t actually dislike it. She had always felt his affection for her was too ethereal and unreal, so this kind of behavior instead made her feel that he truly cared about her.

The young man lowered his head and bit her shoulder, nuzzling against it. “There are no what-ifs.”

“Even if junior sister fell in love with another man, I would never agree to a separation,” his voice was gloomy and morbid. “…From the moment junior sister drank my blood, she could never leave me again.”

“Junior sister likes Yun Ling Realm, doesn’t she? The environment here is excellent. We could build a palace with no exit, just the two of us, no one else…”

Sang Ying: “…”

“Um.”

She took the secret manual and opened it to the first page, sitting up straight and changing the subject: “I think we should start by looking at this book to learn.”

She really couldn’t keep up with the extent of his perversion anymore.

His parents and clan were all so normal—how did he end up growing so twisted?

The young man held her tighter, his dragon tail firmly encircling her in his embrace as he held the book with one hand and began reading with her.

Sang Ying regretted it after just a few seconds. The illustrations in the manual were just too… The clothing was scant, and they were embracing each other. Just looking at it made her blush and her heart race.

To make matters worse, the young man whispered in her ear, “Junior sister only glanced at it a few times and stopped. Does that mean she already understands it all?”

Sang Ying’s ears burned intensely, and she stammered incoherently, “Y-yes, is it so strange to be naturally gifted?!”

She turned her face away. “So you can read it yourself. Tell me when you’re done learning.”

The young man gently kissed her ear, which was turned away from him. The moment his cool lips touched her flushed earlobe, the girl in his arms trembled.

He chuckled softly, spreading the book open and asking, “Since junior sister already knows everything, which method of dual cultivation would you like to use?”

“?”

Sang Ying was taken aback. There were different methods for dual cultivation?

Upon second thought, the Cultivation World was filled with countless techniques and martial arts from various sects and schools—sword cultivators, talisman cultivators, alchemy cultivators, all flourishing in their own ways. It wasn’t strange for dual cultivation to have different methods either.

“Anything is fine.”

Sang Ying’s ears tinged slightly red as she randomly pointed to a page. “…Let’s go with this one.”

Suddenly, the young man turned with her in his arms and stood up. Afraid of falling, Sang Ying instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, holding onto him tightly.

The desk was cleared, and by the time Sang Ying realized it, she was already sitting on it. She looked up in confusion. “What are you doing?”

The young man stood before her, his dark eyes looking down at her from above, almost completely enveloping her in his shadow.

The scent of white sandalwood was both cool and intense, much like the distance between them. Though they weren’t physically touching, it felt both distant and intimate, yet Sang Ying felt an overwhelming sense of pressure.

She felt inexplicably flustered and pressed a hand against his arm. “Xie Lingyu…?”

His dragon tail hung beside her legs, swaying slightly. The fur at the tip brushed lightly against her ankle, sending a wave of tingling sensations through her.

His slender fingers lifted her chin as he held the book open before her eyes, his tone unhurried. “What’s wrong? Isn’t this the method junior sister chose?”

Only then did Sang Ying see what was depicted on that page: a female cultivator sitting on a desk, leaning back with her hands supporting her, while a male cultivator leaned over her, holding her waist and kissing her soft, white rabbit tail.

The tail disappeared beneath the light, sheer gauze skirt, faintly visible yet elusive.

Her face instantly flushed crimson. How, how could they cultivate at the desk? This was clearly a proper place for grinding ink and writing!

Sang Ying pushed the book aside and looked up, about to speak, when the young man pinched her small face and kissed her, silencing her completely.

As expected, she was kissed into a daze once more.

Only when she felt cool knuckles land on the back of her neck, brushing aside her collar, did a finger hook and loosen the red cord. The taut string suddenly slackened, letting in a rush of cool air.

Startled by the chill, she abruptly regained her senses.

Her eyelashes fluttered violently. The thought of the images she had just seen in the illustrated manual was unbearable. In her understanding, such matters should only take place in more private spaces.

“Mmm…”

Her light, thin undergarment slipped onto the desk. Feeling the knuckles wander to the bend of her knee, Sang Ying panicked and hurriedly pushed against his arm.

The young man paused the kiss, pulling back slightly. Sang Ying’s eyes were still misty with tears as she frantically grabbed his clothes and spoke: “No kissing at the desk!”

The Dragon Tail coiled around her slender ankle, the Golden Ring pressing against her ankle bone. Xie Lingyu chuckled softly, lifting her small face. “Why not?”

Sang Ying averted her gaze, her voice almost inaudible. “It’ll dirty the desk. Besides, the study is a place for reading and writing.”

“This is my study. I don’t mind, yet my junior sister minds on my behalf?” Xie Lingyu spoke leisurely. “Even if it gets dirty, we can just wipe it clean. How would that affect continuing to read?”

Sang Ying had initially only felt shy about being in the study. But now, hearing his words and imagining the scene of him writing and reading at this very desk after they cultivated together, she was overwhelmed with embarrassment.

She clung tightly to his arm. “No! Absolutely not!”

“But what if I want to do it here?” The young man’s Dragon Tail still coiled around her ankle, his tone carrying a hint of grievance as he sighed softly. “My junior sister chose this herself, yet now she wants to go back on her word. Will she later renege on the Dual Cultivation as well? So my junior sister was just toying with me.”

“…I won’t go back on that.”

Sang Ying’s eyes brimmed with glistening tears as she looked away, gritting her teeth. “In any case, not in the study. Aside from this, I can agree to any other request you have.”

“Is my junior sister serious about that?”

Remembering something, Sang Ying quickly added before he could speak: “But it can still only be once! No more!”

Xie Lingyu glanced at her lightly. “Fine.”

He agreed so readily that Sang Ying was somewhat surprised.

She had prepared herself to argue with him, at most conceding one more time, but she hadn’t expected him to agree just like that.

A slight weight settled on her shoulders as the young man draped his outer robe over her, enveloping her completely in the scent of White Sandalwood.

Sang Ying wrapped her arms around his neck and was carried out of the study, into another room in the Bamboo Courtyard. He pushed the door open.

Her eyes were met with a scene of rich, vibrant red.

Wedding candles, lanterns, flower petals… festive decorations hung from the beams, and the red gauze of the bed curtains cast faint, dreamlike shadows under the moonlight.

For a moment, it felt as if she had returned to their wedding night.

Still in a daze, Sang Ying was carried by the young man to the edge of the bed. He parted the red gauze curtains and laid her down on the soft Mermaid Silk Brocade Quilt.

He knelt on one knee beside the bed, cradling her face as he gazed at her. His dark eyes reflected the moonlight, as if holding stars within them, watching her quietly.

Sang Ying blinked suddenly, her eyes lighting up with realization. “So you’ve been wanting to do this since we got married three years ago! You perverted dragon!”

“You were too young back then, junior sister.”

The young man chuckled, his cool fingers cradling her face as he planted a gentle kiss on the corner of her rosy lips. “At most, I only thought about doing something like this back then.”

Sang Ying froze, her cheeks flushing with heat.

She pushed him away and burrowed into the brocade quilt, sweeping aside the flower petals before pulling out her favorite pillow. She patted it a few times and placed it next to his pillow.

The man behind her wrapped his arms around her, his dragon tail coiling around her waist. “Junior sister, do you remember how the cultivation process begins in the book?”

“…”

Sang Ying hadn’t read it at all, so how would she know the procedure? She resorted to her usual evasive tactics: “Well, you just… do this first, then that, and then it’s over.”

Since he was the one who had read it, Sang Ying shifted all responsibility onto him. “You take charge. You said before that cultivation wouldn’t require any effort from me and wouldn’t be tiring.”

The young man behind her chuckled softly but didn’t press further. Instead, he reached out and clasped her ankle, kissing her just as he had done in previous sessions.

As expected, Sang Ying was soon kissed into a daze, only able to cling to her pillow and hum softly. But before long, even the pillow was taken away and replaced with something else.

Warm breaths brushed against every inch of her skin.

The surrounding Water Elemental Spiritual Power grew exceptionally rich. Water Lotuses floated in the air, while Qinglong swam through the lotus pond, his dragon tail coiling around one of the lotuses. He opened his mouth to bite into the lotus heart, his slender, serpentine tongue delving inside to consume the Lotus Dew.

The rich scent of White Sandalwood intertwined with the increasingly intense fragrance of Lotus Dew.

Her dark hair fell against her collarbone, tickling her skin, while her soft rabbit tail was pinched and bitten by his fingers as if it were a toy.

Her lips were kissed until they turned a deep crimson, the corners of her eyes flushed red, and her gaze grew hazy with misty tears.

Finally, the young man took her hand and whispered in her ear, “I’ve helped junior sister undress so many times. How about you help me just once?”

…How dare he bring that up!

Even though she had tied her robes so intricately this time, it still hadn’t stopped him—he had effortlessly undone them in just a few moments.

Sang Ying was about to refuse when she suddenly remembered the promise she had just made to him. With a soft hum, she grabbed his belt and began tugging at it.

Her movements were rough and straightforward, devoid of any sense of atmosphere. She pulled off one piece of clothing after another, tossing each onto the floor.

When only his inner robe remained, Sang Ying stared at the small patch of fair skin visible beneath his loosely tied collar and quickly stopped, turning her back to him. “I’m tired. You can handle the rest yourself.”

The young man embraced her from behind, his long fingers toying with hers as he teased, “Is junior sister perhaps too shy to look at me?”

Sang Ying, the proud young mistress who couldn’t stand being provoked, immediately retorted, “How could that be?”

She turned around and, in one swift motion, tore open the red inner robe before him, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it onto the floor. Then, she turned her gaze back to him. “See? I just…”

Two seconds later, as she took in the sight before her, her face instantly flushed bright red, and she hurriedly averted her eyes.

…Was that his dragon tail?

She hadn’t gotten a clear look, but it seemed different from the color of his scales—almost pinkish.

Remembering his earlier teasing words, Sang Ying forced herself to turn her head back, keeping her eyes fixed on his face and not daring to let them wander.

She let out a heavy hum. “Is that all? What’s there to be shy about?”

Silken strands of dark hair fell lazily across his chest, revealing large expansions of cool, pale skin. The young man gazed at her with unhurried dark eyes, the pair of jade-green dragon horns on his forehead adding an otherworldly allure to his already breathtakingly beautiful features.

He took her hand. “Then what comes next, shimei, surely you won’t have any trouble with it either?”

On the surface, Sang Ying remained calm, but her mind was already a muddled mess. She could only speak on instinct. “Of course not. Just look at who I am.”

“Mhm, our little Ying is the most capable.”

That tone, as if coaxing a child, left Sang Ying deeply dissatisfied. Just as she was about to speak, her palm was suddenly guided to rest upon the dragon tail, her skin meeting its surface.

The young man rested his chin in the crook of her neck, his voice languid. “Shimei, touch it.”

…Was this also part of the process?

In her dazed state, Sang Ying tentatively stroked the dragon tail with her fingertips. Its texture was peculiar—perhaps due to the influence of Water Lotus elemental spiritual power—smooth yet somewhat supple, even a little endearing.

As she caressed the dragon tail, the young man simply watched her, his breath warming the hollow of her neck. Another dragon tail coiled around her leg, its jade-green scales smooth and lustrous, translucent like fine jade.

A playful impulse seized Sang Ying. She reached out and grasped the dragon tail, only to quickly realize her hand couldn’t fully encircle it. What was going on…?

Puzzled, Sang Ying glanced down, and in an instant, she was jolted awake by fright. She hastily released her grip and tried to scramble backward.

But with the dragon tail coiled around her, where could she possibly go? The young man effortlessly drew her back into his embrace. “What are you running from, shimei?”

Flustered and panicked, Sang Ying tried to evade him. “Your dragon tail is just too… It’s impossible!”

Now she finally understood why it had hurt so much back then. It wasn’t due to a lack of knowledge or skill—it was simply a matter of incompatibility.

Seeing her little face pale with fright, Xie Lingyu paused. If just one dragon tail could scare her like this, then in the future…

Never mind. Let her adjust first. For now, he’d keep it concealed.

He pulled her into his arms, kissed the corner of her lips, and whispered softly by her ear, “Baobao.”

…!!

Hearing this address, Sang Ying’s face flushed crimson.

These past few days, Rong Xue Man had often called her “little Ying, good baobao,” and she hadn’t thought much of it. But Xie Lingyu had always addressed her as shimei. Suddenly hearing him call her this made her feel intensely embarrassed.

Especially since the young man’s voice was clear yet slightly hoarse, murmuring the endearment so intimately by her ear, his warm breath tickling the shell of it, making it itch.

Just hearing him call her that, she felt the Lotus Dew fragrance in the air grow stronger. As the realization dawned, she wanted to cover her face.

Sang Ying’s heart pounded chaotically. Utterly defenseless, she succumbed once more, allowing him to kiss her, her consciousness drifting hazily as she closed her eyes.

She didn’t even notice when the young man removed the Golden Ring from his dragon tail and slipped it onto her wrist.

Outside the window, the moonlight was pale and gentle, casting its glow upon the shallow inlet.

Beyond the Bamboo Courtyard, the entire lake was adorned with blooming pale blue Spirit Lotuses, swaying in the breeze. Lotus Dew dripped into the water, stirring faint ripples.

It wasn’t until pain startled her awake that Sang Ying’s eyes flew open.

Instinctively, she tried to push him away, but as soon as she parted her lips, the young man kissed her, swallowing the muffled whimper that escaped.

Cool, slender fingers intertwined with hers, slowly lacing together until their palms pressed flush, leaving no gap between them.

The Heart-Protecting Scale Pendant at her collarbone pulsed with a heartbeat, intertwining with her own, thumping so intensely it felt almost scorching.

Tears welled at the corners of Sang Ying’s eyes, and it took a long while for her to catch her breath.

As he loosened his hold, she suddenly bit his hand, leaving a fierce mark of teeth, sobbing and cursing him between gasps.

“Liar! Bastard Xie Lingyu!!”

He said cultivation wouldn’t hurt—she had nearly died from the pain just now!

You can’t trust a single word men say!!

Yet the young man showed no anger, letting her sink her teeth into his finger while his Dragon Tail coiled tightly around her.

With his other hand, his slender fingers cupped her face, kissing away the tears at the corners of her eyes as he murmured in a low, obsessive, almost morbidly gloomy tone, over and over: “Shimei, Little Ying, my baby…”

Sang Ying met his molten-gold vertical pupils, which had appeared at some unknown moment, fixed intently upon her—for how long, she couldn’t tell—filled with an intense, profound emotion.

The Golden Ring on her delicate, pale wrist swayed gently.

His cool, slender fingers guided her hand to rest on her slightly rounded belly, and he brushed a light kiss at the corner of her lips, his voice soft.

“…I am yours now.”