“Peak Master Yao, things have come to this. Why don’t you… go find a corner and relieve yourself a little?”
In the dim underground palace, filled with wails, suggestive moans, and low growls, Shen Jingyuan emerged from around a corner, a faint flush of relief coloring his face.
When he looked up, he saw Yao Qianci sitting cross-legged in the very center of the main hall.
Dressed in white, he looked like an immortal—refined, aloof, and utterly untouchable.
But Shen Jingyuan knew that this was only an outward appearance.
Everyone from the Falling Immortal Sect who had entered the underground palace—from elders and peak masters down to ordinary disciples—had been affected by the palace’s aphrodisiac power.
Their bodies were unbearably hot, and the torment was excruciating.
At first, everyone had desperately tried to suppress it with their spiritual power.
But the deeper they ventured into the palace, the more of that aphrodisiac power they absorbed. The agitation within them gradually slipped beyond their control, growing stronger and stronger.
Before long, some disciples could no longer endure it and went to the corners to relieve themselves.
The aphrodisiac power filling the air affected everyone equally.
And more and more people began doing the same.
If not for the sect’s rules, some of them probably would have been unable to hold back and would have put on a full display of the “Illustrations of the Bedchamber” right there on the spot!
Shen Jingyuan and Yao Qianci belonged to the stronger group—and, consequently, the group with the greatest endurance.
They had held out until the very end.
But now, even Shen Jingyuan could no longer endure it.
Feeling the unbearable heat churning more intensely inside him, he had no choice but to cast aside what remained of his dignity and relieve himself nearby. Only then did his body feel somewhat better.
After letting out a breath of relief, he thought he would persuade Yao Qianci as well. They were both men, after all. There was no need to feel embarrassed.
But the moment he spoke, Yao Qianci cut him off in a low voice.
“No!”
“Why not?”
Shen Jingyuan frowned, unable to understand. Then, as though he had thought of something, he continued, “If you’re worried about there being too many people, you can set up a barrier. I’ll keep watch outside for you.”
Yao Qianci’s fair face was flushed with a faint blush. Sitting cross-legged, he circulated his spiritual power to the utmost and desperately suppressed the restless heat within his body.
Meeting Shen Jingyuan’s concerned gaze, he still firmly shook his head.
“I promised someone that my primordial yang would be given only to her!”
“Ah, you… this…”
Shen Jingyuan opened his mouth, his face filled with disbelief.
He truly had never expected that Yao Qianci, who had lived for several hundred years, would still retain his primordial yang.
It was simply too inconceivable.
He nearly cried out in shock, but out of consideration for Yao Qianci’s dignity, he forced himself to hold it back.
“Ahem. Ahem. This is an unusual situation. You wouldn’t be touching another woman—you’d only be relieving yourself. Surely your dao companion wouldn’t blame you.”
Shen Jingyuan looked somewhat awkward, but he still tried to persuade him.
No one had expected that there would be an underground palace beyond the Heaven’s Gate Realm. Even less had they expected to find the kind of aphrodisiac power that normally belonged only to the Hehuan Sect inside it.
It seeped into everything and entangled itself with their spiritual power.
They had all been caught off guard and fallen victim to it!
This aphrodisiac power was no ordinary thing. If it accumulated to a certain degree without being released, it would likely cause serious damage to the body.
As a fellow peak master of the same sect, Shen Jingyuan truly did not want anything to happen to Yao Qianci.
However, Yao Qianci’s attitude remained firm. At his words, he merely closed his eyes and gently shook his head.
In the main hall, nearly four-fifths of the people had already relieved themselves. At this moment, they were using the spiritual power they had left to suppress the aphrodisiac force.
Those who had already done so clearly possessed greater resistance. With the help of their spiritual power, they were able to remain conscious.
Shen Jingyuan frowned, wanting to say something but holding back. Yao Qianci, however, wore an indifferent expression and closed his eyes again to meditate.
It was obvious that he had no desire to say more.
Shen Jingyuan could only shake his head helplessly.
When he looked up, he happened to see Immortal Venerable Jianming, the leader of the Myriad Sword Sect, walking over with a troubled expression as well.
“Immortal Venerable, what happened?”
“Ah, it’s that disciple of mine. His life is at stake, yet he refuses to go off to relieve himself. When I ask him why, he won’t say a word.”
Jian Ming shook his head and complained, “The aphrodisiac power in this underground palace is so severe. Who can endure absorbing it indefinitely?”
“I’m already this old. Surely you don’t expect me to stand by and watch him hold it in until he dies?”
Jian Ming clenched his fist in anguish, his face full of worry.
Shen Jingyuan froze for a moment.
“There’s someone in the Myriad Sword Sect who refuses to relieve himself too? Who is it?”
“That Mu boy, Mu Fengyun. He came to cultivate at the Falling Immortal Sect a few years ago. You should have met him.”
Shen Jingyuan recalled him.
“It’s him! That young man with exceptional cultivation talent who was later affected by the Cangming Ice Soul, causing his talent to suffer?”
“That’s the one. Tell me, what am I supposed to do? Surely you don’t expect me, as his master, to drag him over and personally help him relieve himself?”
Shen Jingyuan: “…Ahem. That would be inappropriate.”
After a pause, he added, “There’s someone here who also refuses to relieve himself. He says he wants to preserve his primordial yang.”
The two men suddenly raised their heads, their gazes meeting.
A quarter of an hour later, Yao Qianci and Mu Fengyun, who had been sitting cross-legged, were moved next to each other.
Both their fair, handsome faces were flushed red. They looked toward Shen Jingyuan and Jian Ming at the side, utterly bewildered.
“What are you two looking at? If you don’t want to die, then listen obediently and get on with it!” Jian Ming glared at Mu Fengyun, his eyes bulging with anger.
“If you keep being stubborn, you’ll just have to watch each other fail to suppress the aphrodisiac power and drop dead!”
Mu Fengyun’s gentle, dark eyes trembled slightly. He lowered his gaze and said nothing.
He had come to the Falling Immortal Sect this time with a selfish motive.
He wanted to see Yuan Shu and ask whether she was willing to be with him.
The last time he had been at the Mu residence, he had heard Yuan Shu say that a man’s primordial yang was beneficial to her.
He did not know whether Yuan Shu was willing to be with him, but apart from the wealth of the Mu family, the only thing he possessed that might make her like him was his untouched primordial yang.
That was why he was unwilling to let it go to waste like this.
Meanwhile, Shen Jingyuan could not help trying to persuade Yao Qianci once more.
“Peak Master Yao, why don’t you reconsider?”
Once one reached the Deity Transformation Realm, there was really no need to keep preserving one’s primordial yang, was there?
The response he received was still a shake of Yao Qianci’s head.
Yuan Shu had told him before to “come find her when he had the time,” and Yao Qianci had always remembered it.
His primordial yang, as a cultivator in the Deity Transformation Realm, should be extremely beneficial to Yuan Shu.
How could he throw it away simply to save his own life?
Seeing how stubborn the two of them were, Shen Jingyuan and Jian Ming were utterly helpless.
Time passed second by second, and the aphrodisiac power within their bodies grew increasingly dense.
As it spread through their meridians and flesh, waves of agony rose within them, bringing them nearly to the point of collapse.
What surprised everyone was that Mu Fengyun, whose cultivation was weaker, had managed to hold out just as long as Yao Qianci.
The Cangming Ice Soul hidden within Mu Fengyun’s body played a major role in this.
Whenever the aphrodisiac power raised his body temperature, the Cangming Ice Soul continuously lowered it, allowing him to endure for quite a bit longer.
Jian Ming scratched his head until he was nearly bald.
“That foolish boy—why is he so stubborn? Losing his primordial yang would at most slow his cultivation speed a little. How could that possibly be more important than his life?”
Shen Jingyuan nodded along.
“Exactly. Surely the Falling Immortal Sect isn’t going to let a peak master die over something like this?”
Seeing the faces of Yao Qianci and Mu Fengyun turn from red to pale as they used their life force to hold on, Shen Jingyuan and Jian Ming exchanged a glance.
They knew they could not delay any longer.
Just as the two were preparing to intervene, a beam of azure teleportation light suddenly flared in the center of the grand hall, instantly drawing everyone’s attention!
