Chapter 43 The Joyous Union Technique won't hate you, Shen Zhou. ...
"Do I need to take my medicine again?" Hua Deng looked warily at the medicine bottle in Shen Zhou's hand.
"You don't want to eat?" Shen Zhou paused in his action of taking the medicine.
"I just... don't want it to be like the nights before last."
"Did I make you uncomfortable?" Shen Zhou asked calmly.
"Yes... a little," Hua Deng stammered.
It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but the comfort was excessive and somewhat frightening. He knew his own concoction all too well; no matter how much she called him, he wouldn't stop until the effects wore off completely.
It's hard to imagine that this person, with his aloof and world-weary face, could come up with so many ways to torment her.
“Then do it yourself,” Shen Zhou said.
"ah?"
“The side effects of the medicine are different from your usual symptoms. Just toughing it out won’t harm your body, and you won’t need my internal energy to regulate it,” Shen Zhou said. “If you don’t want to endure it, you can do it yourself.”
Hua Deng: "..."
Shen Zhou recalled for a moment: "That's also possible."
He took out a piece of jade and a dagger from Hua Deng's storage ring, and quickly shaved them into a strange shape.
The streetlights were a bit too bright for my eyes: "Could this be...?"
Shen Zhou: "That's how it's written in the book, so I shouldn't have done anything wrong."
What on earth have you been watching?!
"Are these things really in my storybooks?" Hua Deng asked in shock.
"Yes," Shen Zhou replied calmly, casually pulling out several storybooks from her storage ring. "I have these few. Would you like to take a look?"
Hua Deng tossed the book aside: "Don't you know there's a gap between theory and practice?"
Shen Zhou handed her the jade and the dagger, looking easygoing: "Then adjust it yourself, this size might not be right."
Hua Deng quickly withdrew his hand, as if afraid of being touched, and stamped his foot in frustration: "...That's not the difference I was talking about!"
A smile flickered in Shen Zhou's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it, and Hua Deng didn't notice. She was still trying to explain, "What I meant was, is there a way to resolve the side effects without using you or me?"
Shen Zhou raised an eyebrow. Of course he had, but he hadn't learned it.
“If you need it,” he said slowly, “I can learn.”
I just hope that after she finishes learning, she won't end up crying miserably and regretting it.
Before Hua Deng could ask him how he learned, he disappeared from the spot. A short while later, he returned, carrying nothing with him.
"Where did you go?" She circled around Chen Zhou but found nothing unusual.
"Hehuan Sect".
"???"
“I’ve already finished learning them,” Shen Zhou said. “Their immortal-level spells are quite good.”
Hua Deng, not bothering to be surprised by his learning speed, hurriedly stopped him as he reached out, saying, "Wait a minute, what have you learned? It's not just another bunch of random stuff, is it?"
“I’ve combined several spells,” he said. “If you don’t want me to touch you, then use this.”
"You really can leave me alone?" Hua Deng hesitated.
“Okay.” Shen Zhou pressed his finger between her eyebrows. “Like this.”
Hua Deng waited for a while, and even after Shen Zhou withdrew his fingers, she didn't feel any change in her body. She was dumbfounded: "Is it over?"
Shen Zhou nodded and handed the medicine back to her: "Take your medicine first."
"oh."
Hua Deng reached out and took the medicine bottle. The moment her fingertips brushed against his, a tingling sensation shot straight to her bones, almost making her drop the medicine.
Even after putting the medicine in her mouth, she hadn't quite processed the taste, and it took her a long time to look at Chen Zhou in disbelief.
She must understand what that feeling was like.
But this body, though sensitive before, had never been this sensitive.
This is just... it's like it'll go out of control if you touch it.
As darkness fell, Chen Zhou lit the lamps, casting shadows over her.
He casually pulled off his outer robe, sat on the edge of the bed, and then extended a finger. A warm current flowed into his forehead, so comfortable that Hua Deng momentarily lost consciousness.
When she came to her senses, she was already lying on the bed, and Shen Zhou pressed her down tightly, his teeth slowly digging into the skin on the side of her neck.
For this extremely sensitive body, the pain lasted only a brief moment, followed by endless pleasure and stimulation.
"Do you like it?" Shen Zhou asked.
Hua Deng opened her eyes wide, feeling the floodwaters engulf her body. In the suffocating surge, she had no power to resist.
The process was so long that time seemed to stand still. Suddenly, she let out a sob, her body tensing. After a long while, she finally managed to utter, "You promised you wouldn't touch me..."
"I didn't touch you." Shen Zhou's teeth ground against her skin, but his hands restrained him at his sides, never touching her.
Tears welled up in Hua Deng's eyes. Although she was dressed neatly this time, the feeling was stronger than the previous two times, as if it came from the depths of her soul.
She didn't have the strength to push Shen Zhou away, and even if he did nothing, the waves kept crashing over her.
Why did he learn this kind of magic so quickly? Should we praise his extraordinary talent or say he's not following the proper path?
Her mind was hazy when she suddenly heard Shen Zhou say, "Don't move, behave yourself."
Did she move?
She blinked her teary eyes and suddenly saw the scene before her clearly.
She did move.
Her two legs had bent up at some point and were draped over Shen Zhou's waist, rubbing against him at varying speeds, until even the leather belt had loosened considerably from the friction.
"The Joyous Union Sect..." She turned her head away in shame and indignation, completely unable to stop herself from doing so, "You're not allowed to go to the Joyous Union Sect again..."
"They're really hard to please," Shen Zhou said, his eyes lowered.
etc……
Why aren't you blindfolded?
"Oh, I forgot."
Hua Deng kicked his leg with her toe: "Who gave you permission to open your eyes? Cover them up, you're not allowed to look."
Shen Zhou stared at her for a few moments, then stood up and pulled off his hair tie to cover himself.
He then remained still, sitting with his back against the headboard, waiting for Hua Deng to process the effects of the spell on his own.
After a while, her cuff was gently tugged, and a lingering breath brushed against her. She said, "Come with me to the Sword Immortal's Tomb."
Shen Zhou turned his head and said, "I promised you, and I won't go back on my word."
After a moment of silence, Hua Deng said in a very soft voice, "Stay by my side."
Shen Zhou's lips twitched, but the "okay" he was about to say was suppressed by the tip of his tongue. He asked instead, "Don't you hate me?"
"Um?"
Hua Deng recalled that she had indeed said "I hate you" many times in the past two days.
"I only said that one sentence, why did you take it so seriously?" she complained, shaking his sleeve. "Of course I don't hate you, not at all."
As Shen Zhou listened to her, his expression remained unchanged, but his left hand reached under the hem of her shirt and pressed against her waist, suddenly asking, "Don't you find this annoying?"
Every time he moved, the streetlights seemed to be battered by waves. Even if he only gently caressed her with his fingertips, she felt an electric shock all over her body and clenched the hem of her dress in her hands.
But this time, for some reason, she didn't want to back down. Instead, she leaned closer and said, at a distance where he could hear her clearly, "I don't dislike it."
As soon as she finished speaking, a hand slipped under her gauze skirt, its rough palm caressing the skin on her thigh, the nails seemingly scratching it unintentionally.
"Mmm..."
“How about this?” he asked.
Hua Deng gripped his arm, unable to utter a complete sentence: "N-no, I don't hate it..."
She suddenly reached out and cupped the man's face in her hands, almost nose to nose, and said softly, "I won't hate you, Shen Zhou."
The person in front of me remained silent for a long time, as if frozen in place.
After a moment, he slowly moved his hand up, pressing it against her throat: "If I wanted to kill you—"
Hua Deng mimicked his gesture, pressing her fingers against his throat and speaking in a relaxed tone devoid of fear, with a faint smile: "Then I want to kill you too."
Her pulse was beating clearly and strongly. Chen Zhou counted to ten and then withdrew his hand.
The urge to kill her subsided, replaced by the impulse to remove the blindfold and see her clearly.
And...and something else, he couldn't say for sure.
Hua Deng murmured, "Chen Zhou, I feel so bad, please hug me."
Shen Zhou: "If I hug you, you'll feel even worse."
Hua Deng: "No, I like it."
Shen Zhou finally embraced her, placed her on his lap, and wrapped his arms around her back, in a way that was like coaxing a child.
Despite trembling all over, Hua Deng hugged him back with satisfaction.
She liked the feeling of being held by him; only then did his sharp edge soften.
Someone must have hugged and cared for him like this before. Hua Deng couldn't help but ask, "Did your parents love you very much?"
It wasn't the parents who abandoned him as described in the documents, but his actual relatives.
The woman he saw in his memories back then had such a gentle voice; she would hold his hand and call him "my darling."
Shen Zhou seemed to pause for a moment, then replied, "Maybe."
Hua Deng grunted and then asked, "What about your sister? You two have a good relationship, right?"
Shen Zhou said, "This is not good."
Completely unexpected, Hua Deng asked in confusion, "Why?"
Shen Zhou couldn't explain why either.
In my memory, Chen Xi was a very peculiar child.
While he was vomiting uncontrollably and having nightmares all night after his first murder, six-year-old Chen Xi was already able to calmly plunge a dagger into the heart of her enemy. At twelve, she learned to cut off the head of her enemy and hang it on the door of their house as a warning.
Her father was killed by enemies when she was only two years old, and her mother was forced to flee and wander. She never felt her father's kindness or her mother's gentleness.
So the colder she was, the more guilty Shen Zhou felt, and he always wanted to protect her and make it up to her.
Then one day, Chen Xi suddenly said to him, "Brother, why do you look at me like that?"
She said, "Do you think I'm abnormal, and that you've always felt guilty towards me?"
Shen Zhou didn't know how to answer, so she asked a question: "If one day I were also taken hostage, and that person had great power, enough to destroy a city, would you choose the people of the city or me?"
Without hesitation, he said, "I choose you."
“But if you were the one being held hostage, I would choose the people in the city. My parents would do the same.” Chen Xi said in a calm tone, “So brother, do you understand? The abnormal person in this family is you.”
A headache pulled him from his memories, and the streetlights brushed against his chest, urging, "Why?"
Shen Zhou cradled the back of her head and said, "Because she looks a lot like her parents, while I don't."
“Oh…” Hua Deng pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, “Then I’m not either. I don’t resemble my parents at all.”
She said with feigned seriousness, "I'm much more selfish than they are."
"Is that so?" Shen Zhou smiled faintly.
Hua Deng hugged his neck tightly and whispered, "If there are many people in the world who want to catch me, some of whom have done many good deeds, and some of whom are pillars of the righteous path—would you help me or them?"
Shen Zhou said, "I'll help you."
Upon hearing the answer, Hua Deng sighed contentedly and rested her head against his neck.
"I knew you would help me." The spell's effect had worn off, but her voice was still sweet and gentle. "Chen Zhou, you are truly the best person in the world."
"..."
She fell asleep.
After an unknown amount of time, Shen Zhou raised his hand and pulled off the hairband, finally seeing her face clearly.
Her face still had a slight flush, and the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned, as if she had a sweet dream.
He wanted to tuck a strand of hair behind her cheek, but suddenly his heart ached, and a drop of blood trickled down the corner of his mouth and fell onto his outstretched palm.
He shielded Hua Deng's face with his hand, thankfully without getting her dirty.
He casually cast a spell to suppress the sudden pain.
He has been stuck in the Integration Stage for too long and is about to lose control of his cultivation.
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