EHRPS CH170

Because of the youth’s side-lying posture, A-Hui had to lower his head slightly to look at him. This caused his long hair, which had become exceptionally soft after drying, to slip from behind his shoulders and fall to his front, covering his burning ears.

He wasn’t used to wearing his hair down; instinctively, he felt it was improper. Yet right now, he couldn’t help but feel a bit thankful. At least the fallen strands hid his slightly embarrassed expression.

The reason was simple. The youth in front of him practically wore his emotions on his face, making his thoughts incredibly easy to guess. Listening to the implications of his words, A-Hui felt that the other party wasn’t disgusted by his unclean clothes at all. Instead, he was repeatedly urging him to—

Strip, and lie down.

The youth’s words sounded utterly frivolous, exactly what an impatient, lecherous scoundrel would say. In a daze, A-Hui recalled the vulgar and indecent terms like “big chest” and “big butt” the other party had bluntly blurted out several times, his gaze constantly lingering on those areas…

It was to the point where being stared at gave him a phantom sensation of a prickling pain on his skin. But strangely, A-Hui couldn’t muster even a shred of disgust. Part of the reason was gratitude for saving his life, and the other part was…

A-Hui half-lowered his eyes, taking in the scene before him. The cave was dim, illuminated only by an orange glow. The youth was propping up his head. The short, fragmented bangs on his forehead looked a bit messy, with a few strands sticking up and swaying gently in the firelight, while the rest of his long hair was tied into a high ponytail with a black ribbon. Looking closely, the ends of his hair even had a slight curl. A few strands curled more noticeably, teasing the wrist he used to prop up his face, restless.

His eyes were clear and translucent, as if they had sucked in all the light from the fire, yet also as if fire was spewing out from within them. The small mole on the bridge of his nose shifted with his angry, cheek-puffing expression…

It was glaringly red.

A-Hui reacted quickly. Before the youth could utter even more unbearable words, he added in a gentle, accommodating tone:

“This bear skin blanket must be a beloved item of yours. Even if we are Dao Companions, you don’t have to share everything with another person. You have already been very good to me, and I haven’t even thanked you for healing my wounds. How could I force you to share your beloved possession with me? However, I still must thank you for thinking of me.”

With that, the man revealed an awkward yet polite smile.

Tu Tianba was in a rush to complete the new mission given by his inner demon; how could he accept a refusal? But just as he was about to raise his hand and cast a spell to burn that pile of hay, he was caught off guard by the man’s soft-spoken, gentle words.

The man’s voice seemed wrapped in feathers or clouds, yet his enunciation and pacing prevented him from seeming weak or easy to bully. Instead, it revealed a sense of dignified righteousness. Tu Tianba’s ears started to itch again. At the same time, his Adam’s apple bobbed, swallowing back the curse he was about to spit out. He couldn’t help but grumble inwardly:

Dammit! This bullshit Immortal Lord definitely cultivated some evil demonic sound-path technique. How cunning!

Seeing the youth’s anger halve, A-Hui secretly let out a breath of relief. Although the other party was quick-tempered and spoke harshly, he felt the youth’s true nature wasn’t bad. He was just so straightforward that it left one defenseless, but he was also easy to coax. He just hoped the youth wouldn’t repeatedly emphasize the matter of making him strip naked.

The next moment, a thought unconsciously flashed through A-Hui’s mind. Could it be that the youth agreed to become Dao Companions with him earlier because he lusted after his body?

Realizing what he was thinking, the smile on A-Hui’s face gradually faded. He hastily looked away from the youth, feeling utterly embarrassed and uncomfortable because of this presumptuous thought. He only felt that his thoughts were truly unseemly. His subconscious was deeply unfamiliar with such matters, and he didn’t know how to respond.

“Hey.”

Just as the man was staring at a piece of rubble on the ground, he suddenly heard the youth call out, followed by the question: “You really don’t want to sleep over here, huh?”

A-Hui nodded firmly, yet his voice remained gentle: “…Yes, thank you for your kindness.”

Tu Tianba took this gratitude as a matter of course. One must know, he originally intended to grind this man’s bones to dust and scatter his ashes. After finding him in the Zhaoyou River Valley, Tu Tianba had guarded his mind against the instigations of his many inner demons and refrained from taking his dog life right away. The bullshit Immortal Lord absolutely should thank him!

Tu Tianba felt he had endured tremendous hardship. Before the bullshit Immortal Lord woke up, he had slapped his own hands, swollen just to beat those clamoring inner demons into submission. It was really exhausting! But he wasn’t completely inflexible. As long as the bullshit Immortal Lord let him personally experience the ultimate bliss of dual cultivation, it would be fine. Once he completed the mission entrusted by the inner demon and successfully obtained a new physical body, Tu Tianba could consider letting bygones be bygones, burying the hatchet with a smile, and forgiving the man for showing up at his door, declaring to slay him, and for disrupting his separation from the Soul-Refining Cauldron.

Tsk. Tu Tianba. You are truly so kind-hearted.

Tu Tianba was half-coaxed by the man, and he coaxed himself for the other half. He no longer minded the man’s repeated refusals. He flipped over and sat up, swiped his hand to put away the bear skin beneath him, and then strode toward the pile of hay.

“Alright. Then I’ll sleep on the hay with you. Dual cultivating in this kind of place is a bit casual…” the youth complained with slight dissatisfaction while walking over, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s only because I have a good temper that I’m letting you have your way the first time, but next time, no more whining.”

Hearing this, A-Hui’s brain buzzed. His expression lost control for a moment, appearing blank and sluggish, as if his hearing had degraded due to his injuries. He subconsciously let out a sound of doubt.

“…Hmm?”

Stopping in front of the hay, Tu Tianba turned around to see the man standing motionless like a wooden post. He hastily gestured with his chin, urging, “What are you spacing out for? Hurry up, strip and lie down, time waits for no man!”

His time as a cut-sleeve was limited! Although the book described their first dual cultivation lasting for several days and nights, Tu Tianba had haggled internally, still holding a grudge against the bullshit Immortal Lord for ruining his plans. After careful consideration, he set a time limit of exactly one day. This was a decision he had made after deep thought.

A-Hui remained silent for a few breaths, struggling to find his voice. When he finally spoke, his tone was a bit unsteady, sounding somewhat hoarse, “…Dual cultivation?”

Despite losing his past memories, the man had no doubts about these two words; he subconsciously understood what dual cultivation entailed. Precisely because of this, he was so shocked he could barely speak.

Tu Tianba heard the hesitation in the other’s tone. Scratching the back of his neck, he thought for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands together as if enlightened. A crisp sound echoed as his palms met. He muttered to himself, “That’s true, the venue is a bit shabby. No matter what, it’s our first time dual cultivating; there ought to be some sense of ritual…”

As soon as he finished speaking, Tu Tianba reached into his sleeve, pulled out a few flowers, and scattered them over the hay.

This flower was no ordinary plant. It was called the ‘Enlightenment Epiphyllum’, a snow-white flower that grew on extreme peaks and in perilous environments. It was incredibly rare, blooming only once a century. The inner petals possessed natural Dao patterns that could help cultivators enter their spiritual mind space to comprehend the Dao. It was a heavenly treasure highly favored by righteous cultivators. Tu Tianba had expended a lot of effort to pick these. Who knew this flower would have absolutely no effect on his inner demons? It just looked pretty and could be used for decoration. Using it for this occasion was making the best of it.

After scattering the flowers, Tu Tianba used an undeniable tone and said to the man, “This should be fine now, right?”

He paused for two seconds, silently turning his head away to prevent the man from seeing his shifting eyes, and continued: “You were the one who insisted on paying off your debt with your body. Amnesia is not an excuse.”

A-Hui: “…”

In a flash of lightning, the man realized that all of this actually had a trail to follow; the youth had never bothered to hide his intentions. He pursed his lips, took two deep breaths, and replied, “It’s not because the venue is unsuitable…”

Tu Tianba’s patience was almost depleted. He questioned bluntly, “Then what is it? Weren’t you happily taking off your clothes earlier? How come you’ve become so coy after just a short moment!”

Inside the system space.

The white orb, like the man, fell into silence. Good heavens, it couldn’t even tell if this host was a lunatic or a genius. What a masterful stroke of twisting facts, slandering someone’s innocence out of thin air. His lying skills were so terrible that anyone could see right through them, yet how did he suddenly remember the ‘kind medical cultivator and poor sword cultivator’ background setting he had fabricated earlier! He even knew how to take advantage of someone’s vulnerability and extort favors!

The white orb rubbed its chin with its little nub, muttering to itself, “Eh? It seems to align with the original plot. Could it be that this lunatic is playing the ‘pig to eat the tiger’ trope? That shouldn’t be right; the host at this stage hasn’t merged with the Black Sea yet, has he?”

It rolled around in front of the light screen, suddenly recalling a scene.

The Black Sea boiled, sounding like the roars of billions of vengeful spirits. The seawater continuously surged into the sky, shrouding the entire world and blocking out the light of the sun and moon. The crests of the waves coalesced into a giant inverted black cauldron. With every tidal surge, it carved rifts wrapped in purple lightning across the heavens.

The Black Sea merged with the square cauldron; water vapor and blood mist intertwined. The spiritual energy between heaven and earth was devoured and refined by them at an unimaginable speed. Even the mountain-protecting grand arrays of the major cultivation sects could not be spared; the gilded array patterns blurred like melting water stains…

A man in black clothes hovered beneath the cauldron. The man was tall and imposing, his features handsome, yet his entire being exuded a terrifying, bloodthirsty aura. It felt as if merely meeting his gaze would melt one’s bones and destroy one’s soul. However, the man’s dark pupils were completely empty.

Whether they were righteous cultivators or demonic cultivators, everyone in the cultivation world was rushing toward this direction. At this point, no one cared about the distinction between good and evil anymore.

From afar, someone shouted in terror: “Oh no! He wants to refine this world!”

“…”

N001 withdrew its thoughts and glanced at the light screen. On the screen, the host was pouting, his cheeks puffed out, looking not very smart.

Cute? Haha, traded for his IQ.

The white orb complained internally. Adhering to its usual principle of ‘whether the host connects with me heart-to-heart or not, I will definitely play mind games with the host’, it did not tell this current host—

Dear, you actually aren’t the background cannon fodder who dies at the beginning of the book.

You were supposed to be the biggest foreshadowing and suspense in this book, as well as the ultimate villain. When the righteous and demonic paths in the original novel were fighting to the death, no one expected you to suddenly pop out and vividly demonstrate what it means to ‘don’t even think about stopping me from crashing the entire world to death’…

Unfortunately, just as this newborn book world fully formed, the Space-Time Bureau’s world simulation system triggered an alarm and forcibly nerfed you, this bug, into a background prop to stabilize the long-term operation of this book world. Commonly known as, a plot revision.

Sigh, NPCs are just like that. No human rights. They just get molded however others want.

N001 suddenly remembered the days when it was universally wanted by the Space-Time Bureau and accidentally fled to this newborn world. It couldn’t help but stretch out its nubs and hug its round self in distress.

It was still the more pitiful one! What the host lost were just points; what it lost was its dignity!

Inside the cave.

The two faced each other from a few meters away, locked in a stalemate. As they locked eyes, the man suddenly felt a wave of agonizing pain in his abdomen, as if swords, spears, and axes were churning inside him. In an instant, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and he could barely stand.

Tu Tianba stopped being angry. Tilting his head, he looked at the man’s abdomen and found that the spiritual energy there was exceptionally abundant, even showing faint signs of leaking out, which provoked the Soul-Refining Cauldron to become restless as well. In an instant, his ears were filled with greedy, thirsty shrieks.

At this very moment, a stroke of insight hit Tu Tianba. He pulled out an empty medicine bottle and suddenly remembered what had been inside it.

—It was the essence Moon Dew he used to cultivate and stimulate the growth of his Ganoderma flesh body.

If the system could hear this inner thought of his, it probably couldn’t help but complain: Isn’t that just highly concentrated agricultural fertilizer? Stop abusing the thousand-year-old elder!!