Chapter 31: Seduction

Sang Ying resolutely and firmly rejected Xie Lingyu's suggestion.

She hadn't even accepted reality from what had just happened yet, how could she let him do it again? She pushed him away, "No."

She suppressed her embarrassment, put on a serious face, and gave a very proper reason for refusing: "Even if I could draw on more fire elemental energy, my body wouldn't be able to absorb it all at once, and I would feel uncomfortable."

That's true. With so much spiritual energy introduced at once, she wasn't yet adapted to this power and couldn't make it her own.

Xie Lingyu carried her to a shallower part of the hot spring, sat down by the edge, and hugged her from behind. The hot spring water just reached her chest.

"Junior sister, try absorbing these elemental spiritual energies first, and get used to them."

Sang Ying was now completely nestled in his lap, her whole body enveloped, her back pressed against him.

Her clothes were soaked through by the hot spring water, revealing her collarbone, which was slightly red from the steam, and the heart-protecting scale pendant hanging in the middle was crystal clear and beautiful.

She could feel the young man's breath tickling her neck.

That would have been bad enough, but the dragon's tail underwater didn't let go of her after it sat down; it still wrapped around her legs, circling her calves.

The fluffy tip of its tail casually stroked its ankle, as if it were writing.

Sang Ying suddenly twitched her eyelashes, a little annoyed, "Xie Lingyu, how am I supposed to cultivate like this!"

The young man rested his chin on the crook of her neck, his voice clear and cool: "This doesn't affect your junior sister's circulation of qi, so why is it not okay?"

Sang Ying's ears turned bright red. How dare he say she was clingy in public when he was the clingy one himself!

When I revealed my true nature yesterday, I clung to her and hugged her for ages. Now, even while soaking in a hot spring, I still want to be hugged.

Sang Ying pushed him awkwardly: "How did you endure this for the past three years after you got married? Can't you just endure it a little longer now?"

The young man behind her suddenly chuckled, grabbed her hand that was pushing her away, pulled it to his lips, and kissed it. When they separated, a deep red hickey slowly appeared on her slender white wrist.

He traced the hickey with his fingertips, his voice low, "Is this what you mean, Junior Sister?"

Sang Ying had only ever seen hickeys before, never witnessed the process of creating them, but now she saw it with her own eyes. It stung slightly, and felt a little numb.

She suddenly remembered something, her eyes widening, "So all those marks I've found over the years were from your secret kisses!"

In the past three years, she first noticed these red marks. At that time, they were very light, only a little red, and the location was in some inconspicuous places.

She thought it was an accidental bump and didn't pay attention to it. Later, the red marks became deeper and more obvious. A while ago, they were on her wrist, and then in the demon realm, they were on her neck and back...

Sang Ying grabbed his fingers, "Tell me honestly, what else did you do?!"

Xie Lingyu glanced at her, then wrapped the dragon tail around her waist and tightened it. He casually took her fingers and lightly kissed the back of her fingers, his voice also somewhat sickly, gloomy, and sticky.

"What can I do? My junior sister is a light sleeper. What if she wakes up and thinks I'm a lecher and arrests me?"

Sang Ying: "...You're no different from a lecher now."

The young man lifted his eyelids and pressed his face against her neck. "So, junior sister, are you going to arrest me?"

Sang Ying snorted coldly, took out a Binding Immortal Rope, slipped it out of his arms, and quickly tied him up. "Don't bother me."

She sat down next to him, deliberately keeping a distance, and began to adjust her breathing and cultivate.

This time, the lecherous dragon finally behaved itself and didn't bother her anymore.

After cultivating for an unknown amount of time, all the elemental spiritual power had been absorbed into her dantian. Sang Ying exhaled and opened her eyes.

She picked up a talisman between her fingers. Unlike the usual method of channeling spiritual power, this time the talisman burst into flames and instantly unleashed a gust of wind that severed many vines.

Sure enough, with elemental spiritual power, I was able to control the talismans much more easily.

Sang Ying was about to try other talismans when she suddenly stopped.

He looked towards the young man opposite him.

The seemingly aloof and detached young man was still bound by the Immortal-Binding Rope, leaning against the edge of the hot spring, his expression calm and devoid of emotion.

Sang Ying looked at him, then looked down at the water.

The dragon's tail swayed back and forth beside her legs, the furry tip occasionally brushing against her ankles, causing a ticklish sensation, before inadvertently wrapping around her calves.

Sang Ying: "..."

Sang Ying lit a talisman without expression, reached out and grabbed the dragon's tail, pulling it out of the water.

The jade-like scales were cool to the touch. She pulled the dragon's tail to her mouth, opened her mouth, and then bit down hard.

The dragon's tail stiffened noticeably, and a soft hiss was heard from the young man.

It's like hurting the enemy a thousand while losing eight hundred of your own. Even after using the hardening talisman, your teeth still ached when you bit down. Sang Ying let go, covered her mouth, and grimaced as she gasped for breath.

Damn it, these dragon tail scales are too hard.

The jade dragon's tail wrapped around her waist, and with a twist and a pull, Sang Ying was back in the young man's arms. However, she didn't have the energy to care, and covered her teeth with teary eyes.

Xie Lingyu was both angry and amused. She lifted her little face, pinched it open, and checked it over. "It's alright, the teeth aren't broken."

He rubbed her cheek to relieve the soreness and said with a laugh, "What were you thinking? You just took a bite right away, weren't you afraid of hurting your teeth?"

"But my junior sister has pretty good teeth. It was still a little sore just now," he commented seriously. "The same thing happened yesterday; the bite mark from her is still very clear."

...Who knew your tail scales would be so sharp!

Sang Ying gasped for breath, thinking to herself that she would try to bite somewhere else next time, and refused to believe that it would be so hard again.

She grabbed the tail of the mischievous dragon that was always causing trouble, shook the tip of the tail, and water droplets fell everywhere.

After examining it, I couldn't find any weak points. On the contrary, the layers of scales were quite beautiful, and the tail fin was thin and translucent.

Sang Ying poked the gold ring tied to the end of the tail. "I didn't expect you to have such a leisurely time to dress up your tail."

The dragon's tail tip pressed against the finger, and the young man behind him said in a calm voice, "All adult dragons will develop golden rings, but not for aesthetic purposes. They are used to suppress the dragon's hot flashes. Without these, given the nature of dragons, they would be in a hot flash every day, constantly pestering their cultivation partners."

Sang Ying, who was curiously about removing the golden ring, quickly stopped her impulsive act.

The voice behind her drew closer, landing near her ear, a low, clear voice tinged with amusement, "Junior Sister, why aren't you picking them?"

Sang Ying's ears burned. She had heard about the nature of dragons and had even experienced it firsthand, as evidenced by what Xie Lingyu had done to her.

However, she also had some doubts. If he really wanted to continue the joint training, why didn't he continue yesterday?

Sang Ying paused, then asked softly, "Xie Lingyu, that..."

The young man then embraced her again, his chin resting against the crook of her neck, his voice low, "What's wrong, junior sister?"

"Weren't you under the spell of love yesterday? You didn't do 'that' with me... How did you resolve it?"

The young man narrowed his eyes slightly. "Junior sister suspects I've been cheating on her?"

Sang Ying: ?

How could she not know that's what she meant?

The young man took her hand, placed it on the dragon's tail, and let her fingertips touch the golden ring. "The dragon's binding ring that has not been combined with other dragons is pure gold. Each time it is combined with other dragons, a red stripe will be added. As the number of times it is combined with other dragons increases, it will slowly turn into a golden-red color."

...Is that even a possible interpretation?

Sang Ying was embarrassed but also very curious. She slowly turned her eyes, her face slightly flushed, and looked at the golden ring.

It was a clear, pure gold color, without a single blemish, which meant that he had indeed never practiced combined cultivation.

Sang Ying became increasingly puzzled, but since they had never practiced together, how did he manage to cure his medicine?

Seemingly sensing her confusion, the young man said calmly, "There is no solution."

While Sang Ying was stunned, the dragon's tail wrapped around her arm, and he hugged her a little tighter, pulling her closer to him.

Sang Ying felt the touch of the dragon's tail through her clothes. It was still warm in the already hot spring water. Her face flushed red, and she immediately struggled to move away from the dragon's tail.

"...Xie Lingyu!"

The young man embraced her, the tip of the dragon's tail wrapped around his arm swaying slowly. "This medicine is indeed potent, but the dragon's heat cycle is already superior to all aphrodisiacs in the world."

Sang Ying was a little confused, "You're still in your hot period?"

Xie Lingyu responded calmly, "One month."

Sang Ying thought he seemed normal today and assumed it was over after she comforted him in the demon realm last time. By that calculation, his hot flashes weren't even halfway over yet.

She looked down at the arms wrapped around her waist.

...Is that why he's been clinging to her so much these past two days?

Sang Ying blinked. Dragons would want to cultivate together with their partners during their hot period, not to mention that he had taken aphrodisiacs, which would only make it more unbearable.

She had just sensed it too; he really wanted it. But apart from holding her, he didn't do anything else to her.

Even the kiss he just gave her was something she asked to do.

Sang Ying thought about yesterday, when he stopped after she said it hurt. Could it be because of this that he is enduring it and not doing anything now?

Her eyelashes fluttered, she poked at the tip of the dragon tail on her wrist, and whispered, "Xie Lingyu..."

"Um?"

Xie Lingyu was staring at the girl's fair earlobe when she heard this and responded.

"Are you feeling unwell? I can help you, but only for a moment, considering you just applied the medicine for me."

She spoke softly and hesitantly, her fair earlobes gradually turning crimson, like little cherries, glistening with dewdrops, making them exceptionally alluring.

Xie Lingyu touched the little cherry with his fingertip, and water droplets fell on his fingertip. He gently pinched it, and his soft earlobe looked even redder.

As he played, he casually asked, "Junior sister, how do you want to help me?"

The girl paused, as if she had made up her mind.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, his tone hesitant and his voice barely audible: "...I'll use my hand."

Xie Lingyu paused.

Sang Ying finally managed to say it, her eyes, damp from the steam of the hot spring, drooped and trembled, and she felt her ears getting hotter and hotter.

After saying that, he quickly added, in a dry tone, "Don't overthink it. I'm just afraid that you might go astray again like that day and die out there without even knowing it."

Suddenly, his jaw was grabbed, and the young man behind him spoke in a cold, gloomy, and even sinister voice. He felt a chill run down his spine as he felt the cold air.

"Who has my junior sister ever done this for?"

Sang Ying was confused and asked, "What do you mean, 'for whom'?"

Realizing what he meant, she grabbed his finger in embarrassment and anger, and bit it hard. "Xie Lingyu, what do you mean!"

"hiss."

Xie Lingyu hissed softly, not pulling her hand back to let her bite, but staring intently at her with her dark eyes: "Junior sister has never done this to anyone else?"

Sang Ying took another bite, "Of course not!"

What's wrong with him? He's so suspicious. He suspects she likes her senior brother and he suspects she's close to other people.

And such intimate behavior, how could she possibly do it with someone else? Did she even mentally prepare herself for a long time before saying it out loud?

The tense atmosphere around us finally eased.

Xie Lingyu gently lifted her small face with her fingers, pinching her cheek flesh lightly with two fingers, and continued to ask:

"How did my junior sister know that this could be done?"

Sang Ying suddenly froze.

She knew it from the secret manual given to her by the Hehuan Sect sister, but how could she possibly tell him such a thing?

Sang Ying looked away, pretending to be naive, and whispered, "Well, you just used your hand too, and if that works, I think you should be able to too."

The young man's expression softened considerably. He wrapped his dragon tail around her waist again, reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him. Sang Ying was stunned, her ears turning red. Was he going to do this without giving her any time to prepare?

She stammered nervously, "Xie Lingyu..."

Her fingertips landed on something cool and refreshing. The cool, jade-like touch startled her, and she looked down in surprise at the pair of beautiful, jade-like dragon horns beneath her fingertips.

"If you really want to help me, junior sister, just touch it."

Sang Ying blinked after hearing his words and whispered, "Is this all I need?"

The young man pressed her soft fingers against the dragon horns and hummed in agreement.

That's not difficult. Since he said so, Sang Ying took action.

The dragon horn felt cool to the touch. She gently and slowly touched the tip of the dragon horn downwards, when she suddenly heard him say, "A cultivator's primordial yang is a very important thing. Abundant yang energy is beneficial to cultivation. We must feed it all to our junior sister when we cultivate together."

? ? !

Sang Ying couldn't stop herself from squeezing the dragon horn hard.

The young man let out a muffled groan, and the dragon tail that was loosely wrapped around her suddenly tightened. He quickly pulled her hand down and released the dragon horns, breathing heavily, "It seems that junior sister's strength is not much worse than her teeth."

Sang Ying's face was already flushed. Seeing that he seemed to be in a lot of pain, she felt guilty and annoyed. "Who told you to say those lewd things, you pervert! You deserved it!"

Xie Lingyu chuckled and pinched her cheek. "Junior sister, you really are a double standard. I just said something and you're already being labeled like this. What about the things you asked me to do tonight?"

Sang Ying: "..."

Memories from not long ago flooded her mind. Sang Ying looked at his lips, her mind filled with the feeling from that time. It was like his tongue, soft, licking for a long time, and even sucking several times... The more she thought about it, the more confused she became, and she just wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

She wanted to explain herself, but it was indeed something she had asked for, and this time, she, who was usually eloquent and good at sophistry, had no way to argue.

After stammering for a while, Sang Ying slammed her head against his chest in frustration, weakly saying, "...You're not allowed to say it."

“My junior sister and I are already husband and wife, and also Daoist partners. It’s perfectly normal for us to cultivate together. Why can’t we say it?”

Sang Ying knew this was normal, but she just felt embarrassed in front of Xie Lingyu!

A warm sensation filled her lower abdomen as the young man's palm covered her dantian. He whispered, "After we cultivate together, Junior Sister's cultivation will greatly improve by absorbing my yang energy, several times faster than cultivating on her own."

Sang Ying was almost tempted by what he said. Cultivation was something she cared about a lot. She didn't want to ascend to immortality; she just wanted to live a little longer.

She greedily thought that this way she could spend more time with him and wouldn't grow old so quickly.

The young man continued in a low voice, "Besides, Junior Sister is weak. Didn't she find it difficult to endure such strenuous cultivation methods when she was cultivating on the mountain before? Joint cultivation is different; Junior Sister doesn't need to exert herself."

...A cultivation method that doesn't require much effort!

Sang Ying's eyes lit up. She was the kind of person who even needed Xie Lingyu to carry her up the mountain, so she was immediately tempted when she heard this.

But I feel really awkward about cultivating together with Xie Lingyu...

Sang Ying pressed her head against his chest, torn between two conflicting thoughts: on one hand, he claimed that she was neither tired nor had a fast cultivation speed; on the other hand, she saw a heart-pounding scene in the manual that made her blush.

After much deliberation, the former ultimately prevailed. Anyway, couples will have to work together sooner or later; it's just a matter of time.

Thinking this, she suppressed her shyness and was about to look up and tell him she agreed when the young man continued:

"But there's no rush. Junior Sister hasn't even reached Foundation Establishment yet, and her body is too weak to withstand the power of joint cultivation. Before that, Junior Sister can take her time to consider it."

Sang Ying: "..."

Sang Ying blushed, grabbed his hand, pulled it close, and bit down hard, silently sulking.

What are you telling me I can't do now?!

Xie Lingyu thought she was angry because of his coaxing words, so he was quiet for two seconds and, afraid that she would be even angrier, he took back the sentence "but it won't be long."

"It's almost time to soak. Soaking it any longer will make you feel uncomfortable."

He put one arm around her waist and lifted her up, walked out of the hot spring, used his spiritual power to dry their clothes in an instant, and then sat down on a clean rock with her in his arms.

The old underwear and shoes were left here, only covered in grass leaves. He didn't want her to wear them anymore, so he took out a clean pair from his storage ring and put them on her by her ankles.

Sang Ying was feeling lazy after her bath, but she didn't refuse his services.

She squinted and stared at it for a moment, then asked in confusion, "These look like my clothes... Why do you carry my undergarments with you?"

The young man asked casually, "Junior sister, do you really want to know?"

Sang Ying's ears turned red, and she gritted her teeth: "...Pervert."

The young man helped her put on her shoes and socks, then suddenly chuckled, "Junior sister, what are you thinking? It's just that you need some soothing breath during your hot flashes."

"Does Junior Sister want me to stick to her even when I'm out?"

Sang Ying paused, "Oh, right. During her hot period, which lasts a month, he sometimes goes out for many days at a time and can't come back to cuddle with her at night."

Thinking about it this way, he seems quite pitiful. Not only can he not cultivate together with his wife, but he can only secretly hug and cuddle her when she is asleep at night.

Even the mighty Jade Sword Master has been reduced to secretly taking his Daoist partner's personal clothing to comfort himself, which sounds quite pathetic.

Thinking this, Sang Ying felt a little sorry for him.

She took the pair of underwear next to her, shook off the grass leaves, crumpled them up, and handed them to him: "Here you go. This one was just taken off, so the scent should be stronger."

A sudden pain shot through my ankle as it was gripped tightly by long, slender fingers.

Sang Ying suddenly sensed some danger, looked up, and met the dark and brooding eyes of the young man who was putting shoes on her.

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Thanks to the sofa user for the grenade! [doge emoji with rose in hand]