Li Yin voiced her question. “What does this have to do with Doctor Wen?”
Her eyes were clear, evidently not understanding.
She hadn’t grasped his arrangements, and Ci Yuan had no intention of explaining to her.
Arranging a side chamber for his wife was truly the worst possible strategy, no different from asking for trouble. He was already in a foul mood.
Judging by her attitude, she didn’t dislike Wen Xunzhu. It wouldn’t be too late to bring it up once she developed feelings for him someday.
Ci Yuan didn’t answer. His expression softened slightly. Li Yin heard a light hum, but the man fell silent again.
He sank down further, hugging her tightly. The side of his face pressed against her cheek while the rest of him sank in as well. Separated by their clothes, he couldn’t melt into his wife’s softness. He only conveyed a faint chill from his body temperature, which gave her an urge to shiver.
The Supplementation was still ongoing. Relying on the effect of the Jade Ecstasy Seal, he had spoken quite a lot to her unusually. Now, he seemed tired. Tantalizing, alluring breaths spilled from beside her ear.
Li Yin was well aware of the Supplementation process. It was normal for these men to suffer. Only she felt completely at ease, admiring the postures they revealed.
She hesitated slightly before lifting her other hand to respond to his firm embrace. Her fingertips pressed against his lower back and gently stroked.
Disturbed by her actions, Ci Yuan let out a muffled grunt, breaking the silence. “…In any case, stay in the valley. The valley has everything. You can have whatever you want. Stay here.”
After he finished speaking, the person in his arms shifted slightly.
“But I cultivate the Joyous Union Dao. I need lots of cauldrons…” Li Yin hesitated as she said, “And look, your cultivation is at Mahayana. Your lifespan is much longer than mine. I need more cauldrons to cultivate and break through faster, to extend my lifespan. Otherwise, in another hundred years, when my lifespan is up, you’ll be left alone again…”
Before she could finish, a suddenly icy voice countered, “Do you really need lots of cauldrons, or do you want lots of men? Am I not enough to serve you?”
He was sensitive and perceptive, cutting straight to a certain truth and seeing through her excuse in an instant.
“That’s not the issue…” The girl’s voice weakened. She said softly yet clearly, “I can’t let others down.”
Ci Yuan sneered coldly. “Others? How many others?”
For an instant, Li Yin’s lips moved. Soon, she reacted and refused to announce the list of winners.
“It’s like with you. You told me you’re my dao companion from my previous life… Suddenly, someone else jumps out claiming they were married to the me from my previous life. But the previous life is the previous life. It’s not the current me.”
She made an irresponsible statement. His purple eyes chilled. Under his gloomy gaze, Li Yin changed tack.
“But I can’t bear it… I can’t bear letting you down, so I won’t ignore you. The same goes for others.”
The man didn’t fall for the player’s trick. Ci Yuan sneered again, piercing right to the heart. “Are they all your dao companions from your previous life too? In your previous life, I was your only dao companion.”
He emphasized his status once more. One hand gripped her wrist tightly, refusing to let go no matter what.
If she were a native of the Cultivation World, he would probably be right. Unfortunately, she wasn’t. The player thought to herself that it really wasn’t certain.
Her “previous life” had plenty.
She looked at him and stated her stance plainly. “In the end, it’s all from the previous life. I’m not some heartless, unrighteous person, so I’m taking responsibility for you in this life. In other words, I won’t let you down, nor will I let down the others.”
Her dark eyes were clear. She was serious. But while she kept saying she wouldn’t let anyone down, she was openly demanding he accept others—which was already letting him down. How could Ci Yuan agree?
He gripped her wrist even tighter, leaning in close to her face. He stared at her almost hatefully, repeatedly correcting and emphasizing his status. “No, that’s wrong! I am your rightful dao companion. I am your dao companion—”
With a tone like he was grinding his teeth to bits, outside the curtain, on the table, the placed silver vessels came under control. They trembled and clinked. Among them, one or two gu containers floated up.
Subtly responding to their master’s summons, the Reincarnation Gu floated into the air.
Li Yin didn’t see his covert actions. She only said, “Besides, are you really not deceiving me about those things from the previous life…”
Bringing up old matters reignited past debts that couldn’t be erased. By sheer coincidence, the outer container went still for a breath.
Immediately after, the Reincarnation Gu fell silent. Another container floated up and flew toward the inside of the curtain.
Li Yin caught a glint of light in her peripheral vision. It seemed like one of the silver ornaments he wore, all containing gu.
She had the Purification Gu protecting her, so she wasn’t afraid of his poisons. But she needed to watch out for those gu of his.
Before she could turn her head, the man on top of her suddenly let out a muffled grunt. Accompanied by his rapid breathing, spiritual energy scattered while something else abruptly burst forth.
The Jade Ecstasy Seal solidified. The Supplementation was complete. The beauty closed his eyes, his breathing shallow and rapid. Those sharp purple pupils shut, rarely revealing a hint of vulnerability. He hugged her tightly, as if seeking some comfort.
This display successfully drew her attention. Sure enough, she no longer focused on the movements outside. Her gaze fell entirely on him.
His wife finally lifted a hand and hugged him back.
As if feeling a bit better, the man gradually steadied his breathing. “I… didn’t deceive you.”
Though his tone was cold, it was gentle. His fingertips cradled her cheek. His slightly cool, fragrant lips lightly ground against hers. “No other people. I am your dao companion.”
【Unlocked New Cauldron: Ci Yuan】
【Achievement Reward: Directed Random (1)】
After a peck of a kiss, she said no more disagreeable words and finally quieted down.
Ci Yuan still had some energy left. He formed a hand seal on his own, casting a spell to clean everything up.
It was probably his appearance that bewitched her once again. In his every raised hand and thrown foot, there was a lingering tenderness. The upturned corner of his eye inexplicably revealed a subtle nobility and smugness.
But in the instant he cast the spell to clean himself, Li Yin glimpsed another flicker in her peripheral vision. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat, snapping her out of the temptation of his beauty.
A silver gu vessel had flown into the curtain at some point. In that moment, she had a bad premonition—
The newly harvested cauldron planned to plant a gu on her. He wanted to plant a gu on her.
She had no idea what gu was in that vessel. The player suddenly thought of many possibilities. If the Cultivation World had some kind of loyalty or devotion gu, her game would be over.
This man could accept a demonic cultivator but refused her other cauldrons. He’d dragged things out until now, never willing to relent or tolerate others…
But she had her ways too.
Her thoughts raced. Li Yin quickly came up with an idea. It had originally been a countermeasure in case he rejected demonic cultivators, but it was reasonable to repurpose it now.
Abruptly, Ci Yuan sensed it. His wife loosened her embrace. The hand that had been pressing on his back moved, gently grabbing his hair and tugging to make him look up.
She pressed her forehead against his. Her dark, bright eyes showed no fear as they met his purple ones.
“No, you’re still deceiving me,” she said.
Ci Yuan’s pupils contracted sharply. Then he heard her continue.
“I’ve given you a chance.”
The force at the back of his head tightened. Now it was his wife’s turn to look at him coldly. “The moment I touched you, some fuzzy memories came back to me. It’s nothing like what you said! You’re still deceiving me!”
Reincarnation circumstances varied, making it impossible to discern the truth of her words. Ci Yuan reacted first, retorting, “No, we were always…”
His words were cut off. She accused him sentence by sentence. “All that talk of loving spouses and deep affection—it’s all your lies! There was no treacherous third party sowing discord. It was you! You refused to be intimate with me. You confined me here. You restricted me everywhere! You drove me to my fall!”
“Now you still want to trap me here, even trying to hinder my path to enlightenment!”
She suddenly lashed out. The silver vessel that had flown in clattered to the ground.
It was as if she’d found an excuse. She shoved him away and retreated repeatedly, putting distance between them.
The girl looked somewhat panicked and startled. She glanced at the gu on the ground, then at him. “You still want to plant a gu on me!”
“If you truly care for me, since you know I cultivate the Joyous Union Dao, how can you not tolerate even one or two cauldrons? You even want to plant a gu on me. Aren’t we spouses?”
Her tone was righteous and assertive. The thorn that had long been embedded in his heart could no longer be ignored. Ci Yuan stared at her fixedly, even forgetting the side chamber he’d prepared for her.
“How can you say such things? Yes, we are spouses, dao companions. But how could there be a third person between dao companions!”
He nearly gnashed his teeth. “Your temperament really hasn’t changed at all.”
The girl nodded slightly. “Yeah, and neither has yours.”
The earlier tenderness vanished completely. His wife was as detestable as ever—detestable enough to reassure him, detestable enough to convince him that this was indeed his detestable wife.
Soon, Li Yin’s momentum weakened because the man had picked up the fallen silver vessel.
“…What gu is that?” Li Yin showed wariness on her face, staring at his movements.
The man kept a cold face and didn’t answer, only letting out a cold hum. The silver vessel hovered at his fingertips, seemingly poised to act.
He said nothing, and the player grew anxious.
No matter what gu it was, what if it was some loyalty or infatuation gu…
Startled by her own guess, she immediately used her movement technique, flashing to the door and running out.
She had been aggressive during the interrogation, but now she suddenly turned and fled, clearly misunderstanding something.