Mu Hanyang had previously thought that Feng Qingyun’s so-called claim of “he even ate a couple of my flower buds” was just his way of deliberately making him angry with his words, and not eating in the actual sense. Now, not even his nightmares were cruel enough to paint the scene he was witnessing.
In the end, he was too angry to maintain the spiritual power transmission, and having the blood deed completely suppressed also sent a wave of backlash, distorting his face.
Feng Qingyun observed his reaction. In the gradually disintegrating illusion, Mu Hanyang could only helplessly watch as that precious flower bud was kissed by another man. The layers of petals trembled and, although close to losing his mind, Feng Qingyun still struggled to push the Demon Lord away. However, his main vine subconsciously dug at the man’s face, but even while bullied to that extent, it still carefully avoided stabbing him with its thorns. In fact, rather than struggling, it looked more like a kitten’s paw, coquettishly playing with its owner.
Mu Hanyang was so enraged that he smashed his sword through the stone door of the Main Hall of his Xiān Gōng Sect almost on the spot. One of his disciples, a poor soul who had carefully come in to inquire about his situation, was shocked and hit, quickly running away with his head down.
But what would make him even angrier was yet to come. Mu Hanyang clearly saw that while Long Yin did retreat a little according to Feng Qingyun’s refusal, Feng Qingyun did not look happy at all!
The crazy flower demon saw that its prey was about to leave so, in a hurry, it struggled to climb up on the man’s shoulders, eagerly bumping into his lips again. Mu Hanyang could only grit his teeth and swallow the mouthful of blood that rose from his chest because of the backlash. Like a perverted voyeur, he continued looking at everything in front of him with jealousy and despair.
In his eyes, his precious little brother was like a demon sucking human blood, with tender arms wrapped around another man’s neck, asking for love. As for that despicable Long Yin, he rightfully seemed to be very happy. He smiled helplessly but in the end, still indulged Feng Qingyun, hugging him and feeding him another mouthful of essence.
Between the mixed lips and tongues and the ambiguous sound of water, Feng Qingyun’s movements finally slowed down, completely full. His main vine waved, and all the blood-rose petals scattered on the floor of the Demon Palace were absorbed like falling leaves.
The link of the blood deed was also suddenly interrupted, and Mu Hanyang’s face changed, choking on yet another mouthful of blood. As for Feng Qingyun, his own face was indeed also pale at the beginning, but it was his consciousness that turned more and more confused with each passing moment. He felt a great sense of sleepiness, suppressing any trace of remaining clarity in his mind. After all, he just finished ingesting too much demon Qi of the same origin, needing sleep to assist in digestion.
He tried his best to open his eyes, but a voice came to his ear: “Sleep.”
There seemed to be some magic and a sense of security in that voice and, after hearing it, Feng Qingyun closed his eyes again. In a trance, he vaguely saw Long Yin holding him in one hand and his sword in the other, a scene that happened before in his memories. Then, that sword once again slashed across time and space, and Mu Hanyang disappeared. In the end, Feng Qingyun finally lost consciousness, falling into a deep sleep.
…………………..
He seemed to have slept for a long time, and he also dreamed a very long dream. He dreamed of a vast plain of snow, but his face was warm, and something was also struggling to give him body heat. Seeing that his sleep was restless, the same voice coaxed him once again: “Just sleep a little bit more.”
Feng Qingyun tried his best to open his eyes, only to see in the faint snow that it was his dragon.
His healthy, powerful dragon and not the one in his memories, full of wounds and blood. So he completely relaxed, turned sideways, and fell asleep hugging the dragon’s scales.
“I’m so sorry, open up for me,” that same voice sounded, and Feng Qingyun felt his lips were opened by something soft. However, he had no rational restraint left, subconsciously opening his mouth to cater to him, swallowing the hot and sticky liquid that was poured inside[mfn]it’s probably blood, okay?! Think virtuous thoughts, everyone, okay?! :))[/mfn]…
… And after being forced to swallow that thing, a hot current spread down his throat to his whole body, falling into chaos again. Amid his confused mind, he seemed to hear some little sparrow relentlessly talking in his ear and making noise, making the dream not so boring.
…………………….
In dreams, time often passed quickly. After all the spiritual essence sucked from the Demon Lord was digested, Feng Qingyun finally opened his eyes. Looking at everything in front of him at a loss, he came face to face with a pair of swollen, crying eyes.
“Brother, you’re finally awake!”, Bai Ruolin shouted.
The memories from before falling into a coma suddenly came back to the cage of his mind, making Feng Qingyun understand the little girl’s worries. “I don’t blame you,” he thought, struggling to say. “Everything is Mu Hanyang’s fault and has nothing to do with you.” However, he didn’t know why, but although he had drunk so much in his dream, his throat was so dry that he couldn’t make a sound.
On his second attempt at speaking, Feng Qingyun turned his head, noticing that there was actually a second person next to Bai Ruolin. The moment he saw her face clearly, his mood changed slightly, suddenly remembering – it seemed to be Ku Xue, the dignified blood demon who raised her cultivation by cannibalizing other demons when the sky collapsed in his previous life…
… How could she be here?! Long Yin, where exactly did you hide her until now?!
Cultivator Ku’s current appearance was different from the one Feng Qingyun remembered, but it was definitely her, a respectable and beautiful woman who liked to occasionally indulge in consuming warm, still-beating demon hearts! After hearing Bai Ruolin’s shout, she turned her head and exhaled a little relieved, saying: “Your Highness finally woke up!”
However, her words were not as fast as Long Yin who immediately rushed to him. Seeing the third person in the room, Feng Qingyun felt his heart drown in guilt and heartache at the same time, struggling to sit up and check his state. “Relax your heart, you did not suck me dry this time,” the man seemed to know what he wanted to ask, taking the lead to answer while simultaneously holding Feng Qingyun’s waist, letting him lean on his shoulder. “I’m fine.”
“…How can you be fine?!” Feng Qingyun’s voice was hoarse, almost sounding like a harsh gust of wind. He then persistently touched Long Yin’s wrist and lowered his head down, trying to explore the situation of the other party. And yet, maybe it was because he indeed did not suck too much, or maybe Long Yin already had the experience but… This time around, he took advantage of Feng Qingyun’s coma to go and replenish his blood and Qi, showing no evident signs of loss. But Feng Qingyun still frowned and held Long Yin’s wrist, with distress and fear written on his eyebrows. Looking at him, the Demon Lord held back whatever it was he wanted to say, only joking: “This battle was far worse than the last one. It seems that my Little Palace Master really wanted to hurt someone.”
Feng Qingyun was used to his mocking words. Hearing him speak now, he was too sad and depressed to answer. In his mind, he quickly replayed Mu Hanyang’s every move with the distinctive feeling that, for the first time in his life, he really hated that someone.
On the other side of the bedroom, Bai Ruolin, who heard the conversation between the two, couldn’t help but blush. Because of the atmosphere her brother had every time he interacted with the Demon Lord, she no longer had the same resistance to Long Yin as before. Feng Qingyun was in a coma for seven whole days and, for seven whole days, Long Yin fed him his blood continuously. Seeing that the other party could sacrifice so much for her brother’s well-being, Bai Ruolin felt more and more ashamed because of the prejudice she had held before.
After all, everything happened because of her, with Feng Qingyun taking the brunt of her stupidity. How could she not feel guilty and how could Long Yin not despise her? However, the man mostly ignored her, too busy to care for her brother and only leaving her with a few words: “Instead of feeling sorry for yourself here, you might as well talk to your brother a few more words every day. Maybe he’ll wake up early.”
It was a way of comforting her but Bai Ruolin, as a child of the Xiān Gōng Sect, only knew her brother’s warmth. And yet, those blunt words temporarily withdraw some of the negative emotions in her heart.
Things already happened. Instead of being immersed in guilt every day, she should simply do more to make up for it! So Bai Ruolin began to go to the bedroom every day to accompany the sleeping Feng Qingyun, of course, after Long Yin finished feeding him blood.
The Demon Lord’s schedule was very regular, so Bai Ruolin never asked for instructions after visiting several times. Generally, she always arrived after Long Yin finished however, one day there seemed to be something wrong in the Demon World. The skeleton Ancestor who accompanied Bai Ruolin to the Demon Palace came to report, making Long Yin run a little late. Despite knowing about the matter, she still went forward as usual, only to stop at the door of the bedroom completely mortified…
The Demon Lord hugged and kissed her still-sleeping brother, and there were even some rose buds squished in his hand. She didn’t even know that her brother could subconsciously release his main vine and, according to logic, Feng Qingyun was clearly still in a coma!
No matter how she looked at it, Long Yin’s behavior was obviously that of a hooligan taking advantage of a defenseless victim!
But the bloody rose buds swaying under Long Yin’s hands acted very intimately. Even while kneaded by others, they only slightly shook twice, with no sign of rejection. Bai Ruolin naturally understood the meaning flower buds had for a spiritual plant, making her blush and run away in a hurry, not daring to visit Feng Qingyun’s bedroom from then on.
In a sense, she was afraid of bumping into yet another intimate and blasphemous scene and, to this day, the impact of what she saw was still huge.
Even now, with Feng Qingyun awake, Bai Ruolin was obviously overjoyed, but her mind still replayed the situation of that day. So she cleared her throat like a thief, turned her head, and looked away with a guilty look on her face, just like her brother had acted when he previously faced Yue Jinshu.
Feng Qingyun was a little confused by her reaction, but the most pressing point was obviously something else. He turned his head to look at the dignified woman and asked knowingly: “This is…?”
“I am the blood cultivator, Ku Xue,” the woman introduced herself. “His Majesty sent for me to solve the problem of Your Highness’s blood deed.”
Feng Qingyun’s mind immediately became clear. After realizing that Long Yin became involved with such a ruthless existence as Ku Xue because of him, the guilt in his heart grew even stronger. But as usual, Long Yin saw through his thoughts and did not give him a chance to continue to ferment his emotions. “How do you feel after a nap?”, he quickly asked.
Feng Qingyun shook his head and answered: “My body feels different, and the inner Qi is magnificent, but… I feel that the blood deed has not been solved. Although on the surface it seems to be suppressed, I fear it’s only temporary.”
The people present were surprised to hear his words, with only Cultivator Ku nodding expectedly: “That’s true.” She then immediately explained: “In ancient times, there were cultivators who liked to collect all kinds of spiritual plants as demon pets. For blood roses that have not yet cultivated a human form, one only needs to feed them blood during their seeding period, and then use the same blood when they bloom, and the plant would naturally regard you as its master. It’s a trivial matter, not as complicated as taming other demon pets…”
“…This time, I’m afraid Lord Mu used this method to try and sneak in a blood contract on a fully formed, conscious demon.”
Since the ancient war, experts naturally emerged in different fields of the cultivation world. Since Ku Xue, a demonic cultivator who specialized in blood magic said that was the case, then Mu Hanyang’s calculations might have been just that. Feng Qingyun suddenly felt his body turn cold, thinking that… If he had blossomed in the Xiān Gōng Sect, Mu Hanyang only needed to pour some blood again, and he would have completely become a slave!
Thinking along that line, there was an indescribable sense of nausea in his stomach, making him close his eyes for a long time before reluctantly asking: “Then, dare I ask if there’s a solution to this kind of blood contract?”
“Yes.” Ku Xue nodded and said. “In fact, it takes feeding twice to complete a blood contract. The one Your Highness encountered as a seed was obviously not perfect, and Lord Mu also failed to fully complete it. He couldn’t control Your Highness with direct orders, so he could only come up with a second strategy and use a blood relative as a medium to amplify the power of his blood. In the end, although he failed to complete the blood deed, it still awoke the brand he left in your body.”
“However, using that child over there… His influence over you could have been countered by killing her and yet… In such a short time, he still dared to take the bet and act rashly. Next, Your Highness only needs to cover his brand with a stronger blood deed when it comes time to bloom. Getting a second contract will naturally weaken the effect of the original one, so it will be eliminated after a few days.” Speaking so much, Ku Xue paused for a moment before continuing: “It’s just that the blood deed has already been stimulated, so before Your Highness is ready to bloom, we still need to suppress it slightly for you to be able to act normally.”
After listening for a long time, Feng Qingyun fell silent, thinking about the feasibility of that solution. In the end, he seemed to understand something, asking with raised eyebrows: “Then… The method of suppressing it…?”
“That’s also quite simple,” the ruthless Cultivator Ku responded. “One just needs to consume enough blood to suppress the rotten one that runs freely in their veins. As for the choice of blood… Is better to use one that already worked before.” The way she said it was very euphemistic, but even Bai Ruolin understood who “the chosen one” was. With embarrassed red ears, she let out a small cough, getting even more embarrassed when the three other people in the room looked at her. Unfazed, Ku Xue continued: “If the owner of the blood deed is affected by the blood they consume, then the blood deed would also be affected. However, it takes quite a lot of blood to achieve that… In the end, swallowing not just blood, but also essence is still the best, cost-effective choice.”
Now, even Feng Qingyun’s ears turned red, asking: “…Can it be suppressed by demonic Qi alone? What about Qi and blood?”
“I’m afraid that’s not going to work,” Cultivator Ku refused plainly, continuing: “In fact, using just essence would be the absolute, best choice at present. However, I have a feeling Your Highness would disapprove of that. If Your Highness takes in too much demonic Qi, it may affect the purity of the aura in your body. However, if you only take in blood, there’s the possibility of becoming addicted. For blood roses, blood had always been a staple food, but it’s only by supplementing essence in small quantities over many instances that you’d be able to suppress the blood deed and not fall addicted to the hunt. As for the one who takes on the role of the prey, losing demonic Qi will hurt their fundamentals, so it’s only the regular extraction of small amounts of blood and essence that will give the best result for both of you.”
Every word that came out of her mouth was both rigorous and fully recognizable, but after listening, Feng Qingyun’s mind still exploded with a bang, giving his all to not look at Long Yin.
Bai Ruolin was also a little embarrassed, gently looking away. As for Ku Xue, the respect she felt for the Demon Lord and his Empress prevented her from looking at them straight anyway.
Therefore, in the entire Demon Palace, it was only Long Yin who dared to fully and unapologetically look at the situation.
Obviously, he was to become the prey, getting consumed every day, for the foreseeable future. And yet, he felt like the one who took advantage of the situation, pridefully smirking before asking: “Why, did my Little Palace Master not understand what she said? Then this Lord would explain it to you reluctantly. In your state, only I can help deal with the blood deed. After all, this Lord can’t let you travel to the Underworld like this, it’s way too dangerous.” Mentioning that half-baked, god-forsaken blood contract that was integrated into Feng Qingyun’s very existence, Long Yin’s mood seemed to be a little disturbed, and a trace of fierce anger flashed in his eyes. However, he soon masked it, unwilling to let Feng Qingyun notice anything wrong before continuing: “You’ve already been in a coma for seven days. The time for the Ghost Gate to open is coming close so, before we go to the Underworld, the two of us have to make you bloom.”
“And during that period, you also need to regularly extract my blood and essence to suppress that stupid blood contract.” Reaching that point, Long Yin finally cleaned up his mood. He looked at Feng Qingyun with a smile and said: “I went through a lot of effort to find Lady Blood Cultivator over there, based on the clues you gave me earlier so… It’s easy for me to fix everything, but my Little Palace Master, you can’t be slack. You have to learn new skills, bloom as soon as possible, and repay this Lord for his favor.”
…What did blooming have to do with repaying some favor?!
Feng Qingyun listened to his dirty words but, for the first time in his life, he did not scold back because of guilt. Most likely, Long Yin once again saw his heart at a glance, because he pinched his chin and deliberately said: “Go on, try it now. Don’t wait until she’s gone, only for something to go wrong. In that case, it would still be this Lord who would have to carry you and look for help.”
Feng Qingyun’s ears were hot, and his eyelashes trembled when he heard those coaxing words. His fingers curled up on the bedding and almost ripped the fabric apart, but in the end, not a single word of objection escaped his lips.
And, there seemed to to something else. In the depths of his heart, the guilt was mixed with unspeakable emotions. If it wasn’t for Long Yin… He knew very well that he might have attempted to go to the Underworld in his state and, even if he changed his mind, it would only be for a brief stop to fight Mu Hanyang. And, with the other party holding the reins of his blood deed, it would be extremely likely for them to die together, a terrible waste of his life.
Also, it was very likely that someone else would also end up paying the price for him wasting his life away, as it already happened at least twice in his previous life.
So, he needed to do it.
Long Yin no longer urged him, just sitting by the bed and waiting. Finally, Feng Qingyun closed his eyes with shame and guilt, pursed his lips as if he had made up his mind, and said: “… Ruolin, can you go out with this lady first?”
After realizing that the two of them needed space to “practice”, Bai Ruolin’s face turned even redder than his. Hearing her brother’s plea, she didn’t even wait for him to finish, leaving the room while hugging her sword. By the time she reached the bedroom’s exit, she was already moving with her legs and arms synchronized, almost bumping into the heavy door.
And yet, as opposed to her reaction, the stone-cold Cultivator Ku seriously said: “I heard what Your Highness said but… Based on the previous attempts, Your Highness doesn’t seem to be that adept at feeding on essence just yet. There might be the need for some guidance now.”
Feng Qingyun’s body simply exploded into flames of shame, feeling ready to ascend on the spot. However, deep down, he knew she was right. He… He couldn’t do it properly. All of his skills were based on instinct and, if it wasn’t for Long Yin’s extraordinary talent and strength, he would have become a waste a long time ago. However… It was true that he indeed needed some guidance, but it also meant that… He needed to suck essence in front of a third party, with his mind completely clear!
Feng Qingyun was ashamed, too ashamed to look at anyone in front of him. But at the same time, everything happened because of him, and time wasn’t waiting for anyone. Finally, after Feng Qingyun closed his eyes, he endured shame in front of Ku Xue and simply dragged Long Yin down, forcing him to lie down next to him on the mattress.
The distance between them instantly shortened to a breath. For a moment, Feng Qingyun couldn’t remember another instance he had been so close to Long Yin in a sober state, desperate enough to look for a crack in the face of the earth to hide into. However, at that moment, Cultivator Ku started her lesson: “At first, try to probe deeper, take enough for a day at once, but avoid taking too much.” Seeing that Feng Qingyun didn’t move for a long time, she thought that the other party did not know what to do, so she continued: “Your Highness, you can hold His Majesty’s face with your hands for easy fixation, and use your lips and tongue to pry open his teeth.”
Feng Qingyun blushed. After raising his trembling hands to Long Yin’s face, he tried to maintain etiquette despite his inability to look at anyone. “…Thank you for your guidance,” he mumbled.
As for Long Yin, he smiled and said: “Looking at it this way, I have become a furnace[mfn]in cultivation novels, a Furnace is someone who has their life force/essence/cultivation absorbed (depending on the novel) through dual-cultivation to strengthen whoever they’re doing it with[/mfn], which is quite fresh.”
“…Wake up from that illusion, please.” Feng Qingyun held his face and said patiently.
“I’m sorry, I’m here.” Long Yin deliberately lowered his voice and urged: “Then hurry up.”
The sound of his voice seemed to explode in his ear. Feng Qingyun closed his eyes, finally making up his mind. Then, he held Long Yin’s face and kissed him. The breath of the two people entangled in an instant, and Feng Qingyun clearly felt the sensation of their lips come together, sending an electric shock through his whole body and making him regret everything.
It was too… Deadly.
It was simply too deadly.
Obviously, it was the most intimate and ambiguous thing in the world but, at present, Feng Qingyun still had to pretend to be studious, eagerly learning under Cultivator Ku’s teachings. The contrast between what his body craved and what his mind told him to act like almost broke through his shame, but Ku Xue still had the guts to comment: “There you go, it’s available for the taking.”
Hearing that, Feng Qingyun plucked up the courage to stick out the tip of his tongue. With a blank mind, he licked the man’s lips and probed in. But the next second, Long Yin, who had not moved from beginning to end, suddenly stuck out his tongue and curled it around his, playfully teasing him.
Poor Feng Qingyun was slightly stunned, opening his eyes: “–?!”
But the ever-so-reliable Cultivator Ku promptly did her duty, instructing: “The amount Your Highness consumes at a time should be accurate enough. It’s the amount that would make your Dantian feel slightly hot, but not fully running. Please feel it a little.”
Feng Qingyun felt… He did not feel a damn thing in his Dantian, okay! He only felt the sense of moisture in his mouth and the numbness of having the tip of his tongue sucked. Being bullied like that in front of an outsider, his eyes turned red and he could only hook the man’s neck, trying his best to chase his tongue in an annoyed and angry way. Long Yin understood his restless and ashamed mood, so he did not tease him anymore.
The first mouthful of essence was easily taken out and, after entering Feng Qingyun’s body, it aroused a burst of ripples and the pleasure of feeding.
…However, was it simply the pleasure of feeding?
If so, how could it make his body shiver so much?!
Feng Qingyun forcibly ignored the question in his mind. After feeling that his Dantian indeed reacted in the way Ku Xue said, he immediately stopped, pulling away from Long Yin. However, nothing could prevent that infuriating man from taking advantage of him, grabbing the back of his head and holding him closer just for a little bit longer.
Cultivator Ku looked proper and dignified, pretending she did not see the Demon Lord’s little movements. After the two finally separated, Feng Qingyun’s eyes turned a little dodgy. He raised his hand and rubbed the corners of his red mouth, not daring to look at the man in front of him. “…After I bloom,” he started saying. “I’ll return your essence to you.”
Long Yin didn’t say anything more. Of course, he will return it. If the Demon Lord was sure about something, it was the fact that he would, absolutely, return it. And not only that, they would absolutely pass it back and forth a couple more times… However, he still hooked the corners of his mouth and asked: “And how do you plan to give it back to this Lord?”
Feng Qingyun looked down and answered: “…Don’t worry about that.”
Long Yin smiled even more. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll wait for you.”
Although there were still outsiders in the room, Feng Qingyun’s scalp still turned numb, imagining various methods of returning it. He simply looked away and did not continue the topic, instead asking Cultivator Ku: “The way of feeding on essence… It’s just like this?”
“That’s right, Your Highness mastered it very quickly.” Ku Xue nodded. However, Feng Qingyun only had time to breathe a sigh of relief before her next words made him stiffen: “Starting from today, and until the original blood contract is completely dissolved, Your Highness would have to do it every day[mfn]Every day means every day, I see Cultivato Ku is also a woman of culture[/mfn]. Please remember it.”
Feng Qingyun was shocked, feeling it was unbelievable. And looking at Long Yin did not help at all, since it seemed that the Demon Lord knew the inside story for a long time.
Do it like that… Every day?!
Without waiting for Feng Qingyun’s thoughts to return to his body, Ku Xue’s next words shocked him even more.
“There is one more thing I forgot to tell Your Highness,” she said very seriously. “If you plan to use the method I just described to override the original blood contract, then during your blooming, the second blood contract that gets branded will remain active for several days, or even months.”
“During this period, the effects of a full blood deed will be in play. In other words, you’ll temporarily submit… Or at least, develop a deep desire to rely on your new… Master. Of course, this particular type of blood contract is inherently flawed since it’s not meant to work on a conscious individual so, when it eventually weakens, it will cause an even more intense backlash…”
“…That means that once Your Highness is able to resist the blood deed, its effects will rebound upon the initiator of the second one, at double strength. The roles between you two will reverse, and that state will persist until that second contract also fully vanishes.”
“Please, Your Highness, keep in mind,” she continued. “A blood deed was originally a means to tame spiritual beasts, so its effects act on the spiritual level. There have been cases where, during the duration of the contract, the submissive party was treated like an actual beast so… When the backlash hit, they ended up savagely consuming the one who forced them into a contract.”
“So I urge both of you to be very careful in deciding when His Highness should bloom, and whether or not to enter into a second blood contract afterwards. If you do, the timing and location must be chosen carefully to avoid unforeseen consequences.”
“Because the moment the original blood contract is overridden, its holder will immediately feel the backlash… Meaning that Lord Mu will sense that His Highness has bloomed. Even if the price of the backlash is enormous, possibly enough to damage his cultivation or even cause him to drop a whole realm…”
”…No matter what, we must avoid the risk of the enemy ambushing His Highness during the blooming, or dragging him into mutual destruction. So again, the timing and place must be chosen with utmost caution.”
T.N: Oh, welp, I understood shit :)) What I did know though, is that we’re about to get a couple of chapters of Feng Qingyun acting like a spoiled little baby to Long Yin, followed by another couple of chapters of Long Yin acting like that in turn, all the while Mu Hanyang is simultaneously trying to kill them both. Fun times ahead, stay tuned :))) Also, I can absolutely assure everyone that there’s a lot of action waiting to happen in the next chapters, and by action, I 100% mean allll kinds of action~
As usual, up to five chapters in advance are available here. Happy reading!
……………………..
As usual, up to five chapters in advance are available here. Happy reading!