15 Chapter 7: The Past_1

"Miss, why are you naked again early this morning? Don't be too carefree. Thankfully, Qingyue is still sleeping in and hasn't woken up. Hurry and put on your robe."

Fuling, carrying the tea set into the living room, saw Lady Wangshu with her snowy buttocks propped up on the bed and felt a headache coming on.

Lady Wangshu cooed at her maidservant, "Fuling, help me take a look. I fell asleep at the bottom of the lake last night, and it feels like some insect bit my butt. Is there a scar or not...?"

Fuling's eyebrows twitched, she had been around her lady for so long that they were quite informal with each other. She slapped the fairy hard enough that Lady Wangshu yelped, "Miss, you are a Nascent Soul cultivator, and moreover, you've eaten all the living creatures in the cold pond. What could possibly bite through your skin? Stop teasing me. Put on your bellyband and come to have breakfast tea!"

"Eh... but it really did sting..." Lady Wangshu, having her face covered by a thrown gown, lazily got up, twisting her body to half-lie on the bed without any proper posture, "What's for tea today? Have any demon spawn been sent in from the outer mountains to accompany the drink?"

"Chrysanthemum tea, chrysanthemum cake," Fuling served her mistress a full cup without a good cheer, "I heard that last night, Qin Jian almost transformed into a demon, the whole mountain was about to summon even the Ink Sword. In the end, he bit off his own three heads and one tail to stop it. It was a close call."

Lady Wangshu was hugely disappointed, swallowing her saliva, "What a pity. If the master could have broken through to the Spirit Transformation, that would have been the best. Even if he'd turned into a demon infant or spiritual embryo, eating it would have greatly increased my cultivation. But if he forcibly suppressed it and stayed in the Nascent Soul state, the taste would be a bit... lacking.

How about this, Fuling, you go to the outer mountains on my behalf to haggle for a piece of meat to cook for Qingyue, to nourish him a bit."

Fuling, still shaken, bowed, "As you wish, Miss."

At that moment, the sound of a door opening came from the corridor. Fuling glanced at Lady Wangshu, who still had most of her white leg spread open on the bed, and with a flick of her finger, summoned two rolls of gauze curtains from her storage bracelet. They rose with the breeze and hung in front of the room, hiding her mistress's body.

"Qingyue, it's still early; you can sleep in a little longer and grow."

Then Fuling turned her head to look at the boy who walked out from the front hall and suddenly froze.

It was clearly the same Daoist youth she'd seen the night before, yet somehow, he wasn't the same person.

His eyes flashed with golden light, brilliant as starlight; his whole body was luminous, radiating white light. His aura was calm, and his qi substantial yet concealed, like a hidden, soft, and elegant, warm jade.

It seemed as if...

"Oh, Qingyue, you've actually deduced the Heavenly Essence Qi Circuit on your own?" Master Wangshu said with a pleasant surprise from behind the curtain.

"To reply to the fairy, thanks to Sister Fuling's pointers, I was able to gain some insight," Li Fan said indifferently, glancing behind the gauze curtain at Lady Wangshu's charming and enchanting figure. It didn't matter to him anymore; having comprehended the celestial cycle of qi, he no longer had those mundane desires...

'Li Fan's mood has increased by 1 point'

Well, maybe just a little...

"To have opened your Inner View and circulated the Heavenly Cycle in one night... how long will it be before you form your Core?" Fuling realized she had lost all concept of what normal cultivation progress was.

Lady Wangshu casually gathered up her moon robe, tied a silk ribbon around her waist, and walked out from behind the curtain, licking her lips and smiling.

"Don't mind it, Fuling. Qingyue has had insight into Taishu's heavenly Dao; his cultivation is naturally a thousand times faster than ordinary Qi cultivators. Haven't I told you before? If you want to form a golden core, stargazing and moon worship is the true heavenly path. Or you could eat a piece of my flesh; that's a shortcut too."

Fuling's hand trembled abruptly, tea spilling over the table, and her face and eyes hung low, "I dare not, Fuling doesn't dare to covet the heavenly Dao."

"Each to their own, it's not a wild wish," Lady Wangshu didn't care and smiled at the bemused Li Fan, "But now that you've circulated your qi through the Heavenly Cycle, you must have grasped the subtleties of the great Dao, no?"

Yeah, I've learned a bit, and it really feels awesome. Li Fan had circulated his qi throughout the night; at this moment, it felt seamless. He felt light and refreshed, his body full of qi as light as a swallow. His meridians and Inner View were now abundantly filled with true qi, and his five viscera were suffused with five-element true qi. Inside the qi ocean, there had formed a whirlpool of qi like a galaxy, constantly rotating internally. Once this swirl filled the qi ocean and converged into a liquid state, suffusing the qi ocean and the entire body's meridians and apertures, he would have completed forming his Core.

Lady Wangshu laughed, "I was planning to Dual Cultivate with you today and personally guide you through the knowledge of meridians and acupoints, to integrate and understand the qi. However, since your realm has advanced so quickly, it seems you've gained much from the Void Star Ancestor. I won't be of much help now."

...wait a minute! Did I just miss out on a billion because of my too fast cultivation?

'Li Fan's mood has decreased by 1 point'

Li Fan hurriedly said, "Ahem, that is, fairy, actually, I think my cultivation is not very stable yet. I still need more... guidance..."

Fuling gave the little lecher a sidelong glance.

Lady Wangshu shook her head and smiled, "Now that you have completed the Heavenly Cycle, your qi ocean is still unstable. If I were to infuse you with more qi, it could actually hinder your cultivation. As for the knowledge of the acupoints and meridians, you can learn them by rote memorization. You can go to the scripture tower later to get the books; I won't personally demonstrate anymore."

Dammit... my first experience with Dual Cultivation is gone just like that! What a loss!

'Li Fan's mood has decreased by 1 point'