Chapter 12
Chapter 12
I still hadn’t quite recovered. I stared blankly at the youth before me, his face brimming with a wicked aura.
“Xuanya, why are you here?”
“Sister Ruogui, are you going to stop recognizing me now that we’re done sleeping together?” Xuanya propped himself up on one hand beside me, tilting his head as he looked at me.
“No… that’s not it. It’s just that I owed Cangyu my cultivation from before. Since you are his split soul, returning it to you is the same.”
“You only pity me because you owe him?” He raised an eyebrow slightly.
“No, I didn’t…”
“I don’t want to hear that. Sister, hug me…” Xuanya buried his head in the crook of my neck.
“Wait… tell me first, what happened between you and Cangyu?” I hurriedly sat up and pushed him away.
Night fell, filling the room with a soft glow.
Xuanya slowly explained what had happened after I left.
Only then did I learn that any demon who undergoes Apotheosis must seal away their original nature-sealing the unrestrained demonic nature to amplify the desireless divine nature.
Xuanya was the demonic nature that Cangyu had sealed away after his Apotheosis. If I had met the Cangyu who had his demonic nature sealed during that Demon Tide, I fear I would have been slain by his sword as well.
On the day the Demon Tide was repelled, it was Cangyu and Xuanya together who had taken the initiative to give me the demon core.
Later, the Empress of Heaven used the process of Apotheosis to seal Xuanya away, leaving only the cold and detached War God Cangyu, who bore the weight of all living beings on his shoulders.
It was also the battle where Cangyu died that broke the seal of Apotheosis. His divine nature perished, and Xuanya underwent nirvana.
“Later, Sister gave her cultivation to me, which allowed me to remember everything.”
“Then Cangyu… what happened to him?” I asked hesitantly.
Xuanya seemed to grow jealous. He huffed and bit my earlobe, sending a wave of goosebumps over me.
“Why do you only care about him?”
Xuanya toyed with the ribbons of my moon-white flowing immortal dress.
“Sister Ruogui, this dress of yours… is it very easy to undo?”
My face flushed at his words.
“Tell me what happened to Cangyu first… after all, back then we…”
Perhaps displeased by my repeated attempts to push him away, Xuanya’s expression soured.
“The one who liked Choulu was him, not me.”
My body stiffened at his words.
I remembered the day Cangyu’s sword was pointed at me, as if I had desecrated Choulu and he was going to execute me the next second.
“Is Sister angry? Then let’s do something to spite him, shall we?”
“Spite him?” I was stunned.
The wicked aura in Xuanya’s eyes intensified. He caught my hand, leaned down, and took the ribbon of my dress in his teeth.
“He is, of course, also inside this body, watching us…”
Realizing the taboo nature of the situation, my body froze.
“No, we shouldn’t…”
Xuanya lifted his head slightly, and the ribbon was undone.
“When Sister pinned me beneath her before, she didn’t ask if her little brother was willing.”
“That was to return my cultivation to you!” I explained frantically.
“Then this time it’s Dual Cultivation, alright? Sister?”
Xuanya coaxed me slowly, taking the opportunity to sap my strength.
“Sister’s cultivation is so weak, surely you don’t want to soak in that pool every day?”
I wavered. It really had been too much trouble for Sihun lately.
“Immortal Sihun is only using Sister to ward off unwanted suitors; he doesn’t like you.”
But what about Cangyu? My mind was in a mess.
“The War God Cangyu also has his heart set on someone else; he doesn’t like Sister.”
And as for my feelings for Xuanya…
“Only Sister and I share a mutual affection.”
Was that true?
My mind was a chaotic haze.
The youth before me leaned down and kissed me.
“From the moment I first saw Sister, I wanted to seize control of this body.”
Xuanya pinned me down, just as I had once overpowered him.
There was no trace of that innocent panic or helplessness on the boy’s face now.
“Sister is so cruel. Last time, I was clearly the one who moved your heart, yet you called out Cangyu’s name.”
He gathered a lock of my long hair and kissed it. Just as I had done that day, he looked down at me from above, speaking with a persuasive tone:
“Good Sister… call me Xuanya.”
I finally understood what ‘demonic nature’ meant.
He was nothing like the shy youth I had first met; he was clearly wicked and overbearing.
He was Xuanya, and he was also Cangyu without the shackles of divine nature.
A mirror manifested by Xuanya appeared before us. In the reflection, my long hair was tangled with his. He tilted my chin up, gesturing for me to look.
“Sister Ruogui, look. We are a match made in heaven.”
“Forget about them, alright?”
He leaned down and pecked at my collarbone.
I don’t remember what I said.
Whether it was ‘yes’ or ‘no’ didn’t matter anymore.
Xuanya pestered me for Dual Cultivation. At first, I refused, but later I discovered that with his assistance, I could actually activate the Monster King’s Inner Core.
Vaguely, I felt myself touching the threshold of the Heavenly Dao once more.
In the past, I had worked so hard to climb to the Ninth Heaven for Cangyu’s sake.
But now, I no longer wanted to become an immortal. I only wanted to return to the West of Weak Water and be a happy Peach Blossom Demon.
Xuanya propped his chin on his hand, watching me while playing with a lock of my hair.
Sensing the cultivation within me surge and then settle back into silence, Xuanya asked in surprise:
“Sister, you’re not going to become an immortal?”
“No. I don’t want to go back to the Ninth Heaven.”
Hearing this, Xuanya paused for a moment, then broke into a grin that revealed a small snaggletooth.
“Then I won’t go back either. I’ll stay here with Sister.”
“You have to go back. You and Cangyu share one life; you can’t be so willful.” I pinched his cheek.
“He can’t win against me right now. I’m the one in control of this body,” Xuanya chuckled softly. “Besides, now that I’m practicing Dual Cultivation with Sister, who knows how long it will be before he wakes up.”
“If he wakes up, will you fall into a slumber?” I hesitated.
“Sister, if you can’t bear to part with me, we can just keep…” A wicked glint gradually colored his eyes.
“Go away.” My face flushed, and I hurriedly pushed him back.
After these few days, I knew his character all too well.
Before we could even exchange a few sentences, he would always steer things toward Dual Cultivation.
For instance, when I attempted my transformation and ended up with a human upper body but a tree trunk for a lower half, unable to move, he would take advantage of my inability to escape. He would hook his arm around my neck and kiss me until I was breathless.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the very first moment I saw Sister.”