Grass, a type of plant. The women of the Human Domain won't do either.
On the second day, at the entrance of his tent, Wu Wang sat on a small stool on the slightly elevated slope, his hands buried in his hair, with an indescribably dejected expression.
He always felt targeted!
This thieving... darling Heaven had blessed him with a reasonably handsome face, outstanding talent for Cultivation, and the status of a Young Master in a Large Family Clan. Yet, it had taken away his eligibility to make contact with the opposite sex!
Any physical contact with a woman, even through clothes, as long as there was a tactile sensation, would immediately make him black out, losing all sense of the world. He coined a name for it himself: "Swooning upon Touching Women Syndrome."
Wu Wang suddenly began to envy the male Cultivator he had sent away. Though the other lacked talent, determination, and responsibility, and had a short-sighted vision with little hope for significant achievements in Cultivation, At least he was normal.
A bit of sunlight fell, and Wu Wang looked up at the pale blue sky, his lips twitching slightly.
He kind of, might, possibly, faintly knew where the problem lay.
What else happened when he was seven or eight years old?
Out of curiosity, he began researching the Praying Star Technique. These strange symptoms appeared just as he had a major breakthrough in understanding the technique, sensing the Star Power Origin.
But why was this so?
What was the exact principle behind it?
Wu Wang had investigated for a long time but to no avail. Besides, of the thousands in his clan eligible for battle, not one Priest showed any sign of such a malady. There was even a Star Festival who had fathered nine children, and he was awarded the tribe's 'Vibrant Vitality' honorary title.
When he started to suspect that the Praying Star Technique might be the cause of his illness, he immediately sought out his first teacher of the technique, a great expert in the clan—his biological grandmother. Of course, blood relation wasn't important. What mattered was her expertise.
Moreover, Wu Wang couldn't have contact with women, and it was his grandmother who was most anxious about this. Inadvertently, the bloodline of the Clan Leader of the Bear Hug Tribe might truly come to an end!
But they tried everything, exhausting more than a dozen of the most powerful Priests in the clan. Still, they couldn't find the root cause of this bizarre illness, leaving his grandmother with no choice but to attribute his condition to a 'Divine Blessing.'
The news that Wu Wang had contracted some kind of peculiar illness was now confined to a very small circle.
—For the stability of the tribe, a Clan Leader's successor could be mediocre, but never this unique.
But as Wu Wang grew older, every unmarried maiden in the clan had already prepared their 'concussion clubs,' ready to offer a subtle hint of romance for the Young Master's premarital life.
How long he could avoid it was unclear to Wu Wang.
And he was a very traditional man, holding deep respect for the clan's traditions. If not for the strange illness, he wouldn't want to avoid such a traditional pleasure.
"SIGH~ Young Master~"
A sweet, sticky call came from a distance. Wu Wang followed the sound and immediately felt somewhat better. Several girls wearing leopard print skirts and leather tops were vigorously waving their hands with basins of water at the gentle slope below.
The sunlight was perfect. Their healthy skin glistened with a silky sheen due to the nourishment of Spiritual Energy. Their universally attractive faces brimmed with youthful vitality. Especially since they enjoyed riding wolves across the plains, most of them boasted long, slender legs and a waist with a defined mermaid line...
Wu Wang was crying inside, he really was!
However, he still maintained a gentle smile on his face, nodding slightly at the girls, eliciting a burst of joyous cheers.
「After the girls left.」
"SIGH."
Wu Wang let out a defeated sigh and began to adjust his mindset.
There had to be a way.
Heaven never seals off all exits; he hadn't struggled through this life for nothing. If he couldn't even overcome this problem, then what was there to talk about resting in peace?
He had already begun developing it, the "Always Awake Machine"!
A few bubbles appeared behind Wu Wang's head. Inside, a mechanical structure that wasn't too complex appeared, similar to a hair-washing chair from his previous life. He could lie on it while a wooden bucket above continuously dripped ice water to refresh his face.
It's just... maintaining an excited state under such conditions truly required a period of arduous adaptive Cultivation. Time waits for no one.
Although people in the Great Wilderness lived longer lives, adulthood was at twenty.
The issue of lineage continuance had to be resolved, not only because of his own craving for pleasure, but also for the sake of the clan! Yes, for the clan!
"Young... Young Master?"
A faint voice called from behind. Wu Wang turned his head, immediately brightening up a bit. When he had saved the woman from the Human Domain yesterday, she was exhausted, and he had not paid much attention to her. Now, after a night's rest and a simple makeover, she looked like a completely different person.
A vermillion hairpin horizontally fixed her neat black hair. Her willow-leaf-shaped eyebrows and autumn-hued eyes exuded grace. Her face carried an innate gentleness, her porcelain skin blushed slightly, and her features were refined. Her neck was slender, and there wasn't a single imperfection from her forehead to her collarbone. Her lithe figure, somewhat tall due to her slenderness, was also likely to captivate onlookers.
She still remembered what had happened the day before. Seeing Wu Wang in such dispirited spirits after waking up, she couldn't help but step forward to check on him.
This Young Master was rather pitiful, so young and already...
"Hmm," Wu Wang responded, pulling his gaze away from her. He searched through the waist pouch for a small stool, which he threw to a spot a few feet away—a safe distance. "Have a seat and let's talk."
"Okay," Lin Suqing said, tucking in her skirt and sitting down with her legs together, a bit unused to the small stool.
Wu Wang said, "You can meditate if you prefer."
"This is fine." Lin Suqing raised her hand to adjust a lock of hair by her ear. "Young Master, are you alright now?"
"Don't bring it up."
"Understood, I won't mention it," Lin Suqing blinked and quietly asked, "Did something go wrong with your Cultivation?"
Wu Wang didn't answer but simply snapped his fingers. A couple of guards brought over a recliner upholstered with precious animal fur and a sizeable sunshade made of stitched fur. Another guard brought a wooden bucket filled halfway with water, containing seven or eight wine jars. Wu Wang swirled his middle finger in the bucket, and at once, a layer of ice floated to the surface.
Ah, life. Just lying there ordinarily, idly living—ordinary sunlight, ordinary drunkenness.
"Is the wind direction off?" Wu Wang muttered. Immediately, a guard beside him bowed and ran off. In the distant bushes, two Priests dressed in cloaks and holding Crystal Balls popped out and began chanting a series of strange tones. Soon, a gentle breeze blew from the direction of the snowy mountains, not giving the hot sun on the grasslands a chance to show its might, bringing a touch of coolness to the hillside.
Lin Suqing: ...
"What's your name?" Wu Wang suddenly asked.
Lin Suqing hastily replied, "Suqing."
"Pretty ordinary."
"This..."
"Your Sect, years of Cultivation, your own age—do a self-introduction."
Wu Wang said indifferently, "You will be following me for the next six years, and I will give you appropriate compensation. What you'll have to do isn't related to taking off your clothes. Instead, you'll help me verify some Cultivation theories and, incidentally, give me a detailed introduction to the situation in the Human Domain."
Lin Suqing pondered for a moment and said softly, "Since childhood, I studied under the Clear Wind and Moon Sect, following my master Zuo Dong for more than thirty years. Although there aren't many Cultivators in the Sect, everyone respects and helps each other, walking the path of immortality together."
Wu Wang nodded and summarized, "From a small Sect, average talents, over forty years old."
Lin Suqing's forehead immediately streaked with black lines, and she said anxiously, "As long as I step into the Condensation Establishment Realm, I could live for a thousand years. Forty-something is just, just..."
Wu Wang showed a tender smile, nodding in agreement and adding, "Mhmm, mhmm."
Lin Suqing's mouth twitched. She silently turned her head away, trying to smooth out the cross veins on her forehead.
Dammit, why is he so irritating!
"By the way," Wu Wang said calmly, "your junior brother and sister left in the middle of the night. Luckily, there was a boat from the Human Domain passing by. Seeing the look on your junior brother's face, if the ship had left any later, he looked like he could have carried it away."
Lin Suqing's figure fell into shadow. Her left hand rose weakly, with nowhere to put it, finally resting on her right arm.
Pretty funny, isn't it? she murmured to herself.
Wu Wang was about to offer some comforting words, considering she was going to be his 'home teacher' he'd be relying on. But before he could speak, he heard Lin Suqing snort coldly.
"Decades of Cultivation without achievement, the junior brother I taught for over a decade left me, and my master is gravely injured, but no one in the Sect cares."
She raised her head, tears in her eyes and a cry in her voice, "I'm really terrible, aren't I?"
"This..." Wu Wang started.
"Being only at the mid-stage of Returning Origin at forty-something is really terrible, is that it?"
"Mhmm..." Wu Wang responded noncommittally.
"Studying pill concoction for over a decade and still exploding furnaces is really terrible, is that it?"
"Not having Spiritual Energy like the new junior sisters makes me terrible, right?"
"Always taking things on myself, not coquettishly relying on my junior brother, making him feel a bit constrained, that's terrible too, isn't it?"
"WAAAH—I'm just an ordinary female Cultivator, that's terrible, isn't it!"
Mom, I'm sorry! I should have listened to you and found someone to marry in the secular world instead of pursuing immortality!
Wu Wang was somewhat at a loss in the face of this female Cultivator who was covering her face and crying bitterly.
They say in the Human Domain there are systematic Cultivation Methods. In Cultivation, maintaining a steady Dao heart is preached, and in Demonic Cultivation, pursuing one's true nature is emphasized. But this sister's—no, this auntie's—Dao heart is so fragile.
Wu Wang turned his head and looked around. Choosing a guard who seemed fairly handsome and slightly younger, he said, "Come here. Let her feel the presence of a man's spirit; give her some comfort."
The guard's lips pursed, his brow furrowed, and his face turned white as he whispered, "Young Master, she's unwanted, and I'm already married."
Lin Suqing's crying abruptly stopped. Her head tilted, and from the corner of her mouth drifted a wisp of white smoke, which solidified into a tiny soul, mumbling things like, Might as well sever my own heart meridians.
Wu Wang almost let out a laugh.
"You're actually quite good," Wu Wang said soothingly. "The world doesn't have that many geniuses. Perhaps you're just accumulating slowly now for a breakthrough later on. We're all ordinary people; it's just that we excel in different areas. Just like earlier, when you came out of the tent, you captured my attention, and I thought you looked quite beautiful."
Lin Suqing's lips quivered. "Young Master..."
"Keep your distance."
Wu Wang raised his hand in a stopping motion. "This afternoon I'll take you for a stroll on the grasslands to relax, and tonight I'll help you come up with a curriculum to teach me."
"Curriculum?"
"Yes," Wu Wang nodded earnestly. "It could be about methods of Cultivation, if your Sect's rules allow it. It could also involve music, attire, courtesy, or even the customs and culture you've seen and know about. This includes some gossipy news about various Cultivation Sects in the Human Domain. I need your knowledge and experience."
"Young Master, do you want to go to the Human Domain?" Lin Suqing asked softly.
"Maybe." Wu Wang looked toward the grassland horizon, his voice growing more dreamlike. "For now, I'm still the only Young Master here, and I need to be responsible to the clan members who trust me. But when the time is right, I definitely want to see the Human Domain."
His eyes sparkled with points of starlight, which in Lin Suqing's eyes, seemed incredibly dazzling.
Wu Wang declared, "I must find a way to cure this strange illness that afflicts me!"
"Young Master..."
"Before getting married, I'll enjoy a few years of freedom!"
"COUGH! COUGH COUGH!" Lin Suqing clutched her chest, coughing, while the surrounding guards cast admiring glances at Wu Wang.
This was the bearing of their future leader.