“Ahem, Master, don’t expose me like that. I just… I was afraid you’d look down on me.”
Xiushe blinked its beautiful jade-gold snake eyes and rubbed against the barrier of Yuan Shu’s sea of consciousness in an ingratiating manner.
It was afraid Yuan Shu would despise it for being a useless spirit-sense serpent, so it had confidently promised her that it would soon be able to reconstruct its physical body.
But in truth, it had abandoned its body during the tribulation to save itself. A millennium of cultivation had been destroyed in an instant—how could it possibly reconstruct its body so easily?
Yuan Shu gave a mocking laugh, condensed a palm out of spiritual sense, and lightly flicked it on the head.
This fellow clearly had no idea how to reconstruct a physical body, yet it still acted as though it knew everything.
If she hadn’t been so observant, she really might have believed it was capable of doing so!
Xiushe hurriedly rubbed the spot with the tip of its tail, then looked at her with a pair of limpid, aggrieved eyes.
Yuan Shu: “…”
Not only could this snake lie, it knew how to act cute, too.
And sometimes, Yuan Shu really did fall for that sort of thing.
Yuan Shu stopped teasing it and continued reading carefully.
For a ferocious beast to reconstruct its physical body, there were generally three steps.
The first step was to condense the soul seed and stabilize the spirit sense. Ling Chi had already done this very well. His spirit sense had taken the shape of a serpent and remained fully intact, so he did not need to spend any more effort on it.
The second step was to transform fiendish energy and forge a skeletal frame. This required devouring the turbid energy of heaven and earth, baleful and murderous qi, or the essence of ancient beast bones.
Using one’s spiritual thoughts as a hammer and baleful energy as iron, one had to first forge a phantom skeleton at the core of the soul.
This step alone was exceedingly difficult.
The turbid energy of heaven and earth, baleful and murderous qi, and the essence of ancient beasts were all extremely difficult to obtain.
Yuan Shu stretched her lips into a wry smile and continued reading.
The third step was to gather vital essence and produce flesh and blood. One had to devour the blood essence of demonic beasts, spiritual-marrow earth milk, or heavenly treasures, then enter seclusion and reforge the body.
She sighed softly. “Any place that contains the turbid energy of heaven and earth, baleful and murderous qi, or ancient-beast essence isn’t somewhere we can go right now.”
A trace of disappointment swept through Ling Chi’s eyes, but he had long anticipated this.
“It’s all right. I believe that one day, we’ll be able to do it!”
It was an incredibly difficult path to begin with.
The corners of Yuan Shu’s lips curved upward. Her spiritual sense condensed within the sea of consciousness, and she reached out to stroke his head.
In the next instant, Ling Chi’s form within the sea of consciousness suddenly grew taller. Under Yuan Shu’s astonished gaze, it gradually took on a human shape.
His features were refined and handsome, his outline soft and elegant. A faint blue immortal mark appeared between his brows, lending him an air of quiet, otherworldly coldness.
His eyes were clear and bottomless, distant and hazy, untouched by the smoke and grime of the mortal world. His silver hair flowed like wisps of mist, and his delicate, exquisitely handsome features were almost unreal.
A faint, chilly mistlike aura lingered around him. His body was transparent, and his entire figure resembled a solitary shadow beneath the moon, radiating the uniquely pure quality of a soul’s origin.
He slowly raised his eyes to look at her.
“Ling Chi?” Yuan Shu called out tentatively.
“It’s me.” Ling Chi’s voice was as pleasant as the tinkling of spring water, just as it had been before.
Yuan Shu’s eyes widened slightly. She walked around Ling Chi twice, her expression filled with astonishment. “This… is this your human-form incarnation?”
“Yes.”
Ling Chi nodded again. Then he suddenly reached out and took Yuan Shu’s hand. His starry eyes trembled slightly as he gazed at her with a hint of nervousness.
“Master, actually… I can do it, too.”
“Hmm? Do what?” Yuan Shu asked, not understanding.
Ling Chi suddenly took two steps forward, closing the distance between them.
As Yuan Shu tilted her head up slightly, he abruptly reached out, cradled the back of her head, and lowered his head to kiss her.
!
Yuan Shu’s eyes widened slightly.
Ling Chi’s lowered lashes trembled. Feeling the warm touch of her lips, even his usually placid heart seemed to beat a little faster.
Although he had already been intimate with Yuan Shu while in his spirit-sense serpent form, this was the first time he had kissed her.
His spiritual sense had only recently learned to condense into human form.
Every time he saw another man kiss her, all he could do was watch silently from within the sea of consciousness, unable even to express his emotions. Heaven knew how agonizing that had been for him.
Clearly, they had already done things far more intimate than this.
And now, he had finally found his chance—Yuan Shu had entered the sea of consciousness.
The faint fragrance of pear blossoms hovered close at hand, like a seductive enchantment tugging at his heartstrings.
Ling Chi wrapped one arm around Yuan Shu and supported the back of her neck with the other. Imitating what he had seen others do, he pried open her lips.
A cool, jade-like sensation brushed against her, and Yuan Shu truly froze for a moment.
She had never expected Ling Chi to suddenly take human form, much less kiss her without warning.
Unlike an ordinary person, his touch was like soft, warm jade, carrying a unique, crisp spiritual fragrance.
More importantly, a spirit-sense body could change its shape and size at will.
He could easily sweep away every trace of air between Yuan Shu’s lips and teeth.
Yuan Shu grabbed the front of his robe, a soft whimper escaping her lips as he pulled her tightly into his arms.
After a moment, one hand slipped beneath the hem of her clothes and moved along her slender waist.
Yuan Shu’s lashes trembled. She lightly bit him.
Ling Chi paused, then released her and gazed at her with a pair of beautiful, pitiful eyes.
“Master, don’t you want to try? I’ve only just transformed this human-form spirit sense, and I can change its shape however I wish.”
Yuan Shu couldn’t help recalling how, the last time they were in the sea of consciousness, Ling Chi had used his innate ability to tempt her into dual cultivation in order to save himself.
Although she had been angry, the process…
The serpent nature was inherently lustful—and most importantly, he knew far too many tricks.
Yuan Shu had always been thick-skinned, but even she felt her cheeks grow warm at the memory.
“Stop fooling around. There’s still someone waiting for me outside.”
She hadn’t forgotten that Xiao Li had gone to prepare food for her.
If she really let Ling Chi have his way, she would be trapped in the sea of consciousness for several hours. How could that be acceptable?
Ling Chi bit his lip. His peerlessly handsome face took on an aggrieved expression. “Then, Master, when will it be possible?”
“...In a couple of days.”
“All right. I’ll remember that.” Ling Chi nodded in agreement.
Looking at Yuan Shu’s lovely face, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. He stepped forward, pulled her into his arms, and lowered his head to kiss her again.
“Master, if I can’t have anything more, surely I can at least have a kiss?”
Yuan Shu said, “I… mmph.”
Ling Chi gave her no chance to finish.
This was time he had stolen for himself. He couldn’t waste a single moment!
…
When Xiao Li entered the room, Yuan Shu seemed to still be lost in the sensation of warm jade and hadn’t yet come back to her senses.
“Miss Yuan, the food is ready. Shall we eat now?”
Xiao Li had deliberately changed into a clean robe. Not the slightest trace of cooking smoke clung to him.
He was as fresh and elegant as a breeze passing through a hall, his bearing refined and gentle.
Yuan Shu blinked. The tip of her tongue brushed across her lips and teeth as she swallowed. “Sure. Let’s eat.”
“Then, Miss Yuan, could you put down the clay jar you’re holding first?” Xiao Li’s gaze swept over the clay jar in Yuan Shu’s hands, and he gave an almost imperceptible tremble.
Yuan Shu blinked, then lowered her head to look.
At some point, she had apparently picked up the clay jar from the antique display shelf beside her and had been absentmindedly stroking it.
She smiled apologetically. “All right.”
With that, she raised her hand and prepared to put the clay jar down.
“Master, there’s something wrong with the aura inside this jar!”
Ling Chi’s voice suddenly rang out in the sea of consciousness, and Yuan Shu’s movement came to a halt.
“What did you say?”
