Chapter 62: First Treatment |
[September 28, 2023]...
It was windy and snowy the next day. Lady Jīn led Shěn Lí and Xíng Zhǐ through the deserted main trading hall. It could be assumed from this it was only open to the public at night. Shěn Lí’s constant turning to look around at the rare treasures on display made Lady Jīn smile. “The items here are all items my house will be selling. If girl likes any, then this humble one can have the house sell less and give the items to girl instead. If girl is willing to kiss this humble one. . . that would be good too.”
The corner’s of Shěn Lí’s mouth twitched. Xíng Zhǐ twisted her head and kept her looking straight ahead. “Let’s go.”
Lady Jīn smiled. “This humble servant is only joking. High God is so jealous. Truly petty.”
Xíng Zhǐ ignored Lady Jīn and kept pushing Shěn Lí forward.
Once they passed through the main hall and walked through a patch of snow, they came to a cave. Lady Jīn turned around and spoke to Xíng Zhǐ. “High God must remain out here. The girl will be healed inside, and this humble servant hopes High God can guard outside the cave and keep anyone from entering.”
“I can guard from inside.”
“That will not work.” Lady Jīn formed white qi on her hand and reached out to hold Shěn Lí. “This servant will have to undress the girl later. How can a woman’s skin be seen by men at will? High God is a divine being, so the suggestion will not work. If High God insists on coming in, then High God can treat the girl’s injuries instead, and this servant will guard and guide from here. However, please know there must be skin to skin contact during treatment. High God. . . ” A teasing light shone in Lady Jīn’s eyes. “Is High God OK with that?”
The smile on Xíng Zhǐ’s face didn’t falter. “In that case, I will keep watch outside.”
Shěn Lí felt the chill around him get worse as soon as he finished speaking, but Lady Jīn smiled and said, “Come girl. Let us go inside,” to Shěn Lí before leading her into the cave.
Shěn Lí abruptly stopped once they were fully inside. She couldn’t hear anything because the thick stone walls blocked out exterior noise. She couldn’t see anything because there was no light, and she couldn’t smell anything because no scent reached her nose. It was like she was trapped without her senses again. The only difference this time was her hand being held by Lady Jīn.
“Girl?” Lady Jīn asked softly.
“Wait a moment. . . ” Shěn Lí closed her eyes and tried hard to adjust her mental state. Once she opened them again, the vulnerability there earlier was gone. “Let’s go.” Because the person holding her hand wasn’t Xíng Zhǐ, she had to arm herself as the invincible Azure Sky king.
Lady Jīn’s golden eyes lit up in the darkness. She smiled softly and said, “I really like your temperament girl.”
Shěn Lí saw a glimmer of light as they continued forward. It was coming from a simple stone room that had a stone bed covered in straw. Behind the bed was a large, bottomless hole. Lady Jīn led Shěn Lí to the stone bed and asked her to sit down. Smiling, Lady Jīn said, “This is where my house usually practices and meditates.”
Shěn Lí looked around strangely at the dark hole extending downward. “Where does that lead to?”
“Where?” Although Lady Jīn was still smiling, her words came out with a warning. “That’s not a place living creatures should go. Girl knows that this humble servant is a demon, and inevitably, evil thoughts will be born. That hole is filled with all the evil thoughts and desires this humble one was severed over the many years. If girl cherishes living, then girl must not go in and girl must not be curious about it.”
Shěn Lí nodded. “I was the one who took the liberty of asking.”
Lady Jīn smiled. “It does not matter. It was something that needed to be shared in any case. Now then girl, if you can undress.”
Shěn Lí put her hands on her belt, and suddenly thought of something. She paused then said, “Do you want. . . me to strip completely?”
Lady Jīn smiled happily. “You can take everything off if you want; I don’t mind.”
As soon as Lady Jīn finished speaking, a sharp light penetrated the cave and pierced directly at Lady Jīn’s feet. Shěn Lí stared intently. It was an ice arrow.
It had to be from Xíng Zhǐ. . .
“Oh, High God is angry.” Lady Jīn chuckled. “I almost forgot. With High God’s abilities, it would be easy to eavesdrop through the magic barrier. Well that’s enough then. Girl, you only need to take off your top.”
Xíng Zhǐ was eavesdropping? For some reason, when she thought of this, Shěn Lí found it difficult to move her hand and keep undressing. But it wasn’t the time to hesitate and be embarrassed. She gritted her teeth and tore off her top. When she turned around again, Lady Jīn was gone. Stunned, Shěn Lí called out, “Lady Jīn?”
“This humble servant is here.” A golden snake head emerged from the straw bed after some rustling. Lady Jīn settled on Shěn Lí’s shoulder after climbing up her leg and twisting around her waist. “Girl’s temperature is just right for my current body. Nice and warm.”
Shěn Lí felt the body of the snake rubbing against her bare skin, alternating between tightening and loosening its grip. She was naked on top. No matter how many times she told herself to calm down, it was impossible to not feel embarrassed. “How will Lady Jīn treat me?”
“It’s easy. It’s just injecting my spiritual power into your body to help clear your blood vessels and balance the two forces inside girl.” Lady Jīn paused before continuing with, “Oh, there are a lot of wounds on your back. It’s distressing to look at. But this humble servant also likes them, so bloody and handsome. Ah, no, no, no. This humble servant doesn’t want a star from the Celestial realm anymore; this servant wants girl.”
So saying, Lady Jīn swept her tongue across Shěn Lí’s chin.
Shěn Lí silently pushed her away. Fortunately Lady Jīn was in snake form, otherwise. . . she may not be able to resist beating her.
Whoosh! A sound broke through the air and countless ice crystals stabbed into the cave. Lady Jīn waved her tail and blocked all of them. She giggled into Shěn Lí’s ears as she spoke, “Girl, do you see how dear High God holds you?”
Shěn Lí was patient. “Treat the injury.”
“It was just a joke. Girl and High God have no sense of humor.” Lady Jīn raised her head slightly. “The process will hurt, but bear with it.”
Shěn Lí felt a stinging pain at her neck as Lady Jīn tightened around her body. She imagined sharp teeth piercing her flesh as cold qi rushed in and flooded her blood. Though it was cold, it was also smooth as it travelled through her limbs. After a full circuit, it stopped in her abdomen and drew out hot qi. She had no mana in her body, but after the burning qi appeared, she suddenly felt that the long-sleeping mana in her body was revived. It immediately clashed with the burning qi, as if they wanted to devour each other. Sweat dripped from Shěn Lí’s forehead, and her abdomen burned hot enough to be painful. It was like the heat she used to burn up that day when she was bathed in fire. . .
Lady Jīn wrapped her serpentine body around Shěn Lí’s belly and shot out cold air. It suppressed the burning pain there and wrapped the two conflicting forces in Shěn Lí’s body together, forcing them to fuse and eventually become one entity. It was something Shěn Lí had never felt before hidden inside her.
The cold air continued to move forward and dealt with four or five other spots of entanglement in the same manner, only returning to Lady Jīn about an hour later. Lady Jīn sighed and relaxed. The bite she made on Shěn Lí’s shoulder immediately began healing. Lady Jīn said, “Today is the first day, so this humble servant will stop here. After becoming acclimated to it, tomorrow this humble servant will integrate a few more places. Does girl feel unwell anywhere?”
Shěn Lí clenched and unclenched her fists. “No. . . it’s just feels like there is something strange in my body.”
“How so?”
“I can’t explain it, but I do feel refreshed.”
“Is that so? That’s good.” Light flashed in Lady Jīn’s body and she took her human form again. “Then put on your clothes, and this humble servant will bring girl out.”
“Lady Jīn, I have a question.” Shěn Lí thought for a long time before asking. “Someone said that the Bìhǎi Cāng[notes]bead, that is the burning source in my body, which originally belonged to me and I was born with, why is it only clashing with my spiritual force now?”
“Born with a bead?” Lady Jīn tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Oh, it turns out girl is the famous Azure Sky king. This power was something Your Highness was born with and in this humble servant’s opinion, it must be because the spiritual technique Your Highness practiced later in life are incompatible with your innate power, and that's why the two powers can't merge.”
Acquired spiritual powers. . . everything she learned, she had learned from the Demon emperor, even the Bìhǎi Cāng bead was given to her by the emperor. He had to have known the spiritual techniques he taught her would clash with the innate powers in her body. So then why did he spend so many years teaching it to her?
The next five days saw Shěn Lí in the cave with Lady Jīn. She was teased every day by Lady Jīn, and though she was not used to it at first, she quickly adjusted and grew inured to it. Lady Jīn knew how to behave and wouldn’t do anything excessive, and in fact even chatted with Shěn Lí to distract her during treatments. Her anecdotes were definitely interesting.
She revealed a few things about Xíng Zhǐ’s past too. Like how when he was born, he’d been so beautiful that the gods sent him flowers to tease him. And then there was the time he lost a beauty contest to Qīng Yè[notes] by one vote. He refused to leave his room for a hundred years over that. In the end, Qīng Yè had to use fine wine to coax him out.
Shěn Lí thought it was amusing. Turned out Xíng Zhǐ was this kind of person before. But as the gods disappeared one by one, the Celestial realm lost its vibrancy and became empty. His best friend, Qīng Yè, was punished by Heaven and forced to reincarnate until annihilation. Xíng Zhǐ was left to observe the changes in the mountains and rivers alone as he supported the three realms.
After so much loss, how could he not be indifferent?
Shěn Lí’s relationship with Lady Jīn improved through these anecdotes. Xíng Zhǐ had stood outside the cave as they talked inside. When he heard Lady Jīn talking about his past, he held his head in his hand. He didn’t want to remember any of that. “This snake demon has quite a tongue.”
It took five days, but Xíng Zhǐ stopped using his magic to spy on them. He kept to waiting outside the cave for Shěn Lí to come out.
Once she was better acquainted with Shěn Lí, Lady Jīn was more informal and direct in her speech. Their session for today was just ending when she suddenly said, “Little sister, older sister has been thinking about this for several days now, and I feel I should tell you about it.”
Shěn Lí looked at Lady Jīn. “I wonder if you can feel it. The scorching power in your body isn’t purely demonic or celestial. Before, you told me the source of this power was the Bìhǎi Cāng bead. But let this older sister make a bold guess. Your Bìhǎi Cāng is more like a demon’s golden core.”
“Demon?”
Lady Jīn nodded. She rummaged through the dry straw on the bed and took out a dusty bead. Wiping the dust off she said, “Look, this is my golden core.” The object suddenly glowed.
Shěn Lí’s mouth twitched. “You just toss your golden core around like that? If I remember correctly, without it won’t a demon die?!”
Lady Jīn smiled. “This older sister is no longer an ordinary demon. Don’t judge me using common sense.” She frowned slightly. “But let me ask you seriously, don’t you feel your life is a bit strange?”
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