(Light NSFW Warning: The beginning of this chapter contains explicit content!)
Word Count: 4,591 Words
******
Cai Lin's protest dissolved beneath Xiao Yan's kiss. He drew her tighter into his arms, one hand braced at her slender waist, the other sliding over her back as if he meant to press her straight into his chest. Her soft fragrance lingered at his nose, sweet and faintly cool, yet all it did was stir the fire in his blood higher still.
Her long, narrow eyes grew misty. She tilted her head slightly, lips parting as she answered his kiss. Their tongues tangled in a heated dance, breath mingling between them. Her lithe body trembled once, and a muffled sound escaped her throat, half sigh, half moan.
"Xiao Yan..."
That husky call nearly snapped the last thread of Xiao Yan's restraint. He slipped an arm beneath her knees and lifted her effortlessly. Cai Lin's arms looped around his neck, the warm weight of her breasts pressed firmly against his chest, sending another wave of heat surging through him.
The brocade sheets rustled as he laid her down. Her long black hair spilled like ink across the pillows. Her enchanting face was flushed, eyes gleaming with a watery sheen that could topple cities.
Her robes had already been loosened by his wandering hands, and now he tugged them aside bit by bit. Silk slid from her shoulders, revealing skin pale as snow and curves that had grown even more lush and alluring since bearing their daughters. Her waist was still as slender as a snake's, but that only made the full swell of her chest and the graceful flare of her hips all the more striking.
Xiao Yan drew in a sharp breath. His palm traced the smooth line of her calf, gliding slowly upward over the firm, generous curve of her thigh.
"Mm... ah..." Cai Lin shivered, her long lashes quivering. Her voice had turned low and throaty, that natural seductive timbre melting straight into his bones.
He lowered his head, kissing along the pale column of her neck and then lower, following the edge of her inner robe. His hand slipped beneath the thin fabric, feeling the heat of her skin. Her back arched involuntarily as a stifled whimper slipped past her lips, fingers twisting into the sheets.
Her inner robe soon followed the outer one to the floor.
Under his heated, almost reverent gaze, Cai Lin's mature body lay fully revealed. Snow-white skin carried a faint rosy flush. Her waist curved like a serpent's, yet her breasts and hips were full and soft, the contrast almost sinful. Every line of her form radiated lethal charm.
Xiao Yan's eyes darkened. The Fallen Heart Flame within him surged violently!
His lips trailed downward, each kiss drawing soft, trembling sounds from her throat. When he finally took a rosy peak into his mouth, her reaction was immediate.
"Nngh..." Cai Lin's jade-like toes curled, her fingers clenching the bedding so tightly her knuckles whitened. Her breathing turned shallow and rapid, chest rising and falling in a rhythm that made his throat go dry. Broken whimpers tumbled past her lips, each one stoking the fire in his blood hotter still.
But just as he positioned himself at the entrance of that pink, glistening valley, Cai Lin suddenly gathered her strength and shoved hard against his chest.
The unexpected force sent Xiao Yan stumbling back half a step. Before he could react, her jade-like hand flicked outward. The bedsheet flew up from the mattress and wrapped snugly around her body, neatly concealing every inch of the spring scenery he had just painstakingly unveiled.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Yan stared at her, utterly baffled. His own robe was halfway off already, and now, at the very brink, she pushed him away?!
The arrow was already on the string!
The corners of Cai Lin's lips curled upward, a teasing smile spreading across her face. Even wrapped in the sheet, the seductive lines of her figure couldn't be fully hidden.
"While you were refining pills, Gu Xun Er and I discussed a few things," she said, her voice light.
"Discussed?" Xiao Yan's heart jolted. Those two had been scheming behind his back?!
A prickling sense of crisis crept up his spine. His Dou Saint instincts screamed that whatever this was, it couldn't possibly be good news!
Cai Lin gave a soft laugh. For some reason, her gaze carried a trace of pity as it settled on him. "Gu Xun Er has tacitly accepted our relationship. But as punishment for your wandering heart, before you and she meet again, you're not allowed to pick any wildflowers outside."
!!!!!!?????
Xiao Yan's mind went completely blank.
Wandering heart? Wildflowers? What wildflowers?!
Words of protest nearly burst from his mouth, but then faces began flashing through his mind one after another like a revolving lantern, and the corner of his mouth twitched violently.
Inside his Acceptance Soul, the Mysterious Yellow Flame, which usually brought him good fortune, turned its back and pretended not to know him. Even the Ten Thousand Beast Flame expressed utter helplessness! The Fallen Heart Flame that had been raging moments ago deflated on the spot.
He'd been ambushed! Xun Er wanted him to practice abstinence!
Though Xiao Yan desperately wanted to resist, to protest, to demand his freedom, in the end he could only grit his teeth and nod. After all, Xun Er had already reached the Nine-Change Dou Venerate level and gained enlightenment beneath the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree. Once she went into seclusion back in the Gu Clan, her cultivation would definitely soar. With the Gu Clan's resources behind her, a breakthrough into the Dou Saint realm was all but guaranteed.
Cai Lin watched his expression shift from shock to despair to bitter resignation, her smile growing more teasing by the second. Then, right before his burning eyes, she slowly let the sheet slip a little lower.
"But... I'm not a wildflower."
She propped herself up on one arm, black hair tumbling over her shoulder, every inch of her body radiating a mature and dangerous allure. She looked at him with the queenly pride she carried in her very bones. "Since this queen agreed to it, then before you meet Gu Xun Er again, I naturally have to keep proper watch over you."
Her fingers hooked into his robe and tugged. Xiao Yan, a dignified Dou Saint, was pulled straight back onto the bed.
Before he could utter a word, Cai Lin had already straddled him. Her cool fingertips traced down his chest, but the contact only made the heat beneath his skin burn fiercer.
Her jade-like hands slid lower, tracing lines of hard muscle before pushing his remaining clothes aside entirely. Warm skin met warm skin, and the sudden full-body intimacy made his breath catch.
"Cai Lin..."
The Mysterious Yellow Flame may have abandoned him in the argument, but on this battlefield the Fallen Heart Flame roared back to life!
"Mm? Still planning to argue your innocence?" Cai Lin rolled her hips against him in a slow, deliberate grind, drawing a sharp hiss from between his teeth.
Xiao Yan gazed up at her. The dangerous charm swimming in her eyes, the mature curves pressing down on him, the faint bite mark he had left earlier blooming crimson against her pale skin...
Any words of defense evaporated on the spot. Protesting now would be an insult to the heavens themselves!
He flipped their positions in one smooth motion, capturing both her wrists in a single hand and pinning them above her head. His free hand ran from her shoulder, over the soft fullness pressed against his chest, then continued lower, tracing the delicate curve of her waist and the intoxicating swell of her hips.
Cai Lin's pupils contracted as a violent shiver ran through her. A broken sound escaped before his lips sealed over hers and swallowed it whole.
The last barrier between them finally dissolved.
He entered her in one deep, steady thrust, and Cai Lin's spine arched sharply off the bed. A raw cry tore from her throat, her nails raking down his back as her body clenched around him with breathtaking force.
"Mm... Xiao Yan... ahh..."
The quiet room soon filled with increasingly urgent sounds. Ragged breathing, the rustling of sheets, and the rhythmic slap of skin against skin echoed through the chamber as Cai Lin's voice grew more disordered with each passing moment.
"Didn't you say you'd keep watch over me?" Xiao Yan's low chuckle vibrated against her ear before he caught her earlobe between his teeth.
Cai Lin gritted her teeth, her nails digging half-moons into his broad shoulders. A particularly fierce thrust struck something deep within her, and her entire body seized. Her back bowed sharply, a long, trembling moan spilling uncontrollably from her lips as her inner walls clamped down on him in rhythmic, fluttering waves.
In the corner, the yellow light barrier shuddered once under a surge of uncontrolled Spiritual Strength before quickly stabilizing, continuing to shield the slumbering Xiao Xiao and Xiao Cai from the scene beyond.
Cai Lin had originally planned to 'discipline' her husband, to exhaust him so thoroughly that he would never think of any wildflower again.
She quickly discovered her fatal miscalculation.
This was Xiao Yan as a Dou Saint!
His cultivation had soared, his Spiritual Strength was vast, and, unfortunately for her waist and legs, his stamina had become absolutely monstrous!
Each time waves of blinding pleasure left her limbs weak and her thoughts scattered, Xiao Yan's breathing merely grew slightly heavier. The animalistic fire in his eyes didn't dim in the slightest.
"Can't handle it anymore?" Xiao Yan's voice was rough with desire as he slowed to a torturous crawl, the agonizing friction drawing a muffled whimper from her lips.
"Who... who says I can't..." Despite her thighs trembling like leaves, Cai Lin's pride refused to let her yield. She planted both hands against his chest and shoved, forcing him onto his back before straddling him again on shaking legs.
She braced herself against his chest and sank down in a single motion, a breathy, shuddering moan escaping as he filled her completely once more. Her head fell back, exposing the long, pale line of her throat.
"Cai Lin." Xiao Yan's hands found her hips, fingers pressing into the soft flesh. "At this rate, you'll be the one begging."
"In your... ngh... dreams..." Cai Lin rolled her hips and ground down hard. Her heavy breasts swayed with every desperate movement, and broken gasps tumbled from her parted lips with each rise and fall.
The sight shattered what remained of Xiao Yan's restraint. He gripped her waist and thrust upward fiercely, meeting her frantic rhythm with brutal precision.
"Ahh!" Cai Lin's voice broke into a raw, unrestrained cry. Her nails dug half-moons into his shoulders as another devastating climax crashed through her, pleasure searing through every nerve like wildfire.
Yet even when her body went from taut to boneless, and from boneless to violently trembling, she refused to beg for mercy.
Who was Cai Lin!
She was Queen Medusa, ruler of the Snake-People Tribe! Even if her legs had turned to jelly, her pride remained unbroken!
Whenever she caught a brief lull in his movements, she would grit her teeth, force her spent body upright, and roll on top of him again, eyes misty yet stubbornly defiant, lips swollen and parted, refusing to concede a single inch.
Xiao Yan looked up at the woman above him. Hair a tangled veil, cheeks burning, gaze wet with unshed tears of overstimulation yet blazing with unshakable pride. He felt his blood ignite all over again.
That night, Xiao Yan poured every shred of grief and indignation over his wives' 'unjust punishment' into making passionate, unbridled love with Cai Lin. He drove her through peak after shuddering peak until her cries grew hoarse and her body could do nothing but tremble helplessly in his arms.
By the time dawn lightened the sky, Cai Lin lay collapsed bonelessly against his chest. Her throat was raw, her body utterly spent, and she couldn't lift so much as a fingertip. Yet even then, she managed one last languid glance through half-lidded eyes, misty, exhausted, and absolutely refusing to admit defeat, before her lashes finally fluttered shut.
He held her sweat-slicked body close and laughed silently to himself.
This punishment... doesn't seem too hard to endure.
What Xiao Yan never expected, however, was that while he had assumed Xun Er would break through to Dou Saint quickly and come find him, that wait would stretch into three full years!
…
Upon returning to the Yan Alliance, Xiao Yan learned that Venerable Tian Huo's enlightenment under the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree had not only raised his cultivation to 9-star Dou Venerate but had actually enabled him to upgrade the Five Ring Flame Expelling Technique into a Tian Class Dou Technique.
Originally, the Five Ring Flame Expelling Technique was merely a fire-control Secret Technique passed down from ancient times, not a true Dou Technique. Through his enlightenment under the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree, Venerable Tian Huo experienced a sudden, crystallizing insight. Combining it with the formation diagram Xiao Yan had obtained from an auction and the conjectures surrounding the Flame God Seal, he created a Low Tian Class Dou Technique called the 'Five Beast Incinerating Sky Seal.'
With the help of Venerable Tian Huo's Five Beast Incinerating Sky Seal, plus a Dou Technique Xiao Yan himself had comprehended during the first ninety-nine cycles of the Hundred Reincarnations, Xiao Yan completed his own self-created Dou Technique half a month later.
The Flame God Seal!
A High Tian Class super-strong Dou Technique. Founder: Xiao Yan!
"Damn it, a High Tian Class Dou Technique. I really never thought I'd live to see the birth of one." Even someone of Venerable Tian Huo's temperament couldn't help cursing as he stared at the Flame God Seal Dou Technique scroll in his hand.
He held a crimson scroll. When Xiao Yan had completed the Dou Technique's creation, the energy of the world and the insights born in that moment had been imprinted upon this scroll. In a sense, this was the original, a unique copy acknowledged by heaven and earth itself. One of a kind.
For Xiao Yan to produce another Flame God Seal scroll would take at least several years, perhaps even longer. That alone showed how precious this scroll was.
"Old Yao, you didn't just stand by and watch," Xiao Yan said with a faint smile. In a sense, Venerable Tian Huo was one of its founders as well.
Xiao Yan finally understood why so many Dou Techniques had prerequisite techniques. Just as the Three Thousand Lightning Illusionary Body required one to first cultivate the Three Thousand Lightning Movement, he estimated that the Three Thousand Lightning Illusionary Body's creator had also cultivated the Three Thousand Lightning Movement first, only then gaining the insight needed to create the advanced technique.
The same was true for the Flame God Seal. The best approach was naturally the one Xiao Yan had taken: first cultivate the Five Ring Flame Expelling Technique, then Venerable Tian Huo's Five Beast Incinerating Sky Seal, and finally the Flame God Seal, advancing layer by layer.
To cultivate the Flame God Seal directly would be impossible unless one was a Dou God.
So in a sense, the Flame God Seal existed in three volumes: upper, middle, and lower. The upper volume was the High Di Class Five Ring Flame Expelling Technique. The middle volume was the Low Tian Class Five Beast Incinerating Sky Seal. The final volume was the High Tian Class Flame God Seal!
Of course, in practice this Flame God Seal was basically an exclusive Dou Technique that no one else could cultivate. Apart from Xiao Yan, it was impossible for anyone else to possess five Heavenly Flames.
Just like the Five Ring Flame Expelling Technique, cultivating it required locating five special Beast Flames or other unusual flames, even Heavenly Flames. Possessing four Heavenly Flames allowed one to reach quasi-Tian Class might. Possessing five enabled true Tian Class might.
The Five Beast Incinerating Sky Seal worked similarly. With five Heavenly Flames, its power could reach the peak of Low Tian Class, approaching Intermediate Tian Class.
As for the Flame God Seal, the cultivation requirement was five Heavenly Flames. This High Tian Class Dou Technique was therefore basically destined to become a lost art. But that was only natural. If a High Tian Class Dou Technique could be cultivated casually, it wouldn't be worthy of the name.
"Now the Yan Alliance finally has its own Tian Class Dou Technique inheritance." Xiao Yan smiled faintly and let out a long breath. He wasn't referring to the Flame God Seal, of course. Ordinary people simply couldn't cultivate it, so releasing it for disciples to learn would be pointless. He meant the Five Beast Incinerating Sky Seal that Venerable Tian Huo had created.
Pride straightened Venerable Tian Huo's back, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. "Only with a Tian Class Dou Technique inheritance can one truly be considered a top faction on the Dou Qi Continent, on the same level as the Two Sects."
The 'Two Sects' were top-tier factions because they both possessed Tian Class inheritances and Dou Saints. Before this, the Yan Alliance had always been inferior to the Profound Sky Sect. It had relied entirely on the Flower Sect's maneuvering and Xiao Yan's reputation. Otherwise, the Yan Alliance would have long since been destroyed by the Profound Sky Sect and the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe.
As for the Hall of Souls and the Pill Tower, the Yan Alliance still couldn't compare.
"The Two Sects..." Xiao Yan's eyes narrowed. "It really is time to find an opportunity to eradicate the Profound Sky Sect. Otherwise, they'll become a disaster sooner or later."
Now that the Yan Alliance had grown truly massive, there was no further need for him to hold back in certain matters.
Factions stood in great numbers across the Dou Qi Continent. Throughout history, countless factions had risen, and naturally, countless had declined. The rise of the Yan Alliance meant some factions would have to say their farewells. This was the law of heaven. The strong were revered.
The Dou Qi Continent was only so large. Whether for resource competition or personal grudges, only one of the Yan Alliance or the Profound Sky Sect could remain. After all, the Profound Sky Sect occupied too many secret realms, mineral veins, and other vital resources. For the Xiao Clan to return to its peak, those resources were essential.
Venerable Tian Huo nodded gravely at the sharp glint in Xiao Yan's eyes. "The Profound Sky Sect indeed needs to be dealt with. After their deputy sect leader's death, the grudge has become completely irreconcilable."
"However, the Profound Sky Sect and the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe have been allied for a long time. They each have Dou Saints who've established Wormholes connecting them. If we move against the Profound Sky Sect, the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe's two Dou Saints will definitely intervene. And the Profound Sky Sect's Sect Leader, Old Demon Tian Ming, is a High Half-Saint, just a step away from breaking through to true Dou Saint."
The Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe was stronger than the Profound Sky Sect. According to the memories from those Nine Serene Deep Ground Python snake slaves Qing Lin had absorbed, the Tribe Leader, Yao Xiaotian, was an intermediate 1-star Dou Saint, and the First Elder had even reached the advanced 1-star Dou Saint stage. Moreover, rumors suggested the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe had a former Tribe Leader named Yao Ming who had also reached Dou Saint. After Yao Ming's disappearance, his younger brother Yao Xiaotian had assumed the position.
If Yao Ming was counted, the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe had three Dou Saints. For Xiao Yan, fighting one against three might not be a problem, but it was still their territory. There was no telling whether they possessed any special methods.
Furthermore, between the Profound Sky Sect and the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe, the number of Dou Venerate-level experts was beyond counting.
Xiao Yan smiled, a faint, meaningful curve at the corner of his mouth. "Don't worry, Old Yao. They're just some low-level Dou Saints. Besides, my Yan Alliance doesn't have only me as a Dou Saint."
"Hm?" Venerable Tian Huo's face went blank. When had the Yan Alliance gained a second Dou Saint?
"Queen Medusa? Or Little Fairy Doctor?" he asked curiously.
"Neither. You'll find out soon enough."
…
A few days later, after harvesting some medicinal ingredients from the small valley, Xiao Yan left the Yan Alliance. Accompanying him was Qing Lin.
Xiao Yan was now a 9th-tier alchemist and possessed sufficient means to resurrect the Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent. However, aside from refining the Supreme Unity Precious Pill, he also needed large amounts of essence blood to condense the Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent bloodline.
Xiao Yan didn't just want to resurrect the Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent. He wanted to obtain a Rank 9 Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent!
If the Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent failed to reach Rank 9, it wouldn't have the strength to protect Qing Lin. Moreover, to deal with the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe, it would be best if their ancestor took the field personally.
Qing Lin's fingers twisted together nervously. She shyly raised her head to steal a glance at Xiao Yan's profile. She had assumed her Young Master would bring both her and Cai Lin along, but it turned out to be only her!
Alone with Young Master...
She had never truly experienced that before!
Certain thoughts surfaced unbidden, and as vague images formed in her mind, her cheeks turned bright red, even the roots of her ears flushing scarlet.
If only...
Unfortunately for Qing Lin, she had no idea that Xiao Yan was currently 'grounded.' For the time being, that fiery heart of his could only be poured into cultivation and into a certain serpent queen who was already officially his.
"What is it? Is there something on Young Master's face?" Xiao Yan looked at her with a playful smile. It seemed he truly had never been alone with her before; there were always others around.
"Ah! N-no." Qing Lin lowered her head shyly, not daring to look directly into his eyes.
Xiao Yan gently grasped her jade-like hand. Her heart began pounding wildly at his touch, as if it would leap out of her chest.
"Come on. Young Master will take you to get your revenge." A fierce light flashed in Xiao Yan's eyes as he gazed at the boundless ocean before them. Just because the Flood Serpent Demon Venerate had escaped back then didn't mean Xiao Yan was willing to let him go.
Many Yan Alliance members had been killed or injured in that battle. Both emotionally and rationally, Xiao Yan had to seek justice for them!
He waved his hand, and the Sea Heart Flame appeared. With a resonant roar, the sea-blue Heavenly Flame transformed into a blue flood dragon that coiled around Xiao Yan and Qing Lin. The flood dragon then plunged into the ocean, crashing beneath the waves with a thunderous boom.
The Flood Serpent Tribe were sea pythons. They lived in the deepest reaches of the ocean.
The Sea Heart Flame was originally a water-and-fire dual-attribute Heavenly Flame born in the heart of the sea. In the ocean, it could not only burn but could ignite the seawater itself and manipulate it. Only beneath the waves could the Sea Heart Flame display its greatest power.
Before long, Xiao Yan and Qing Lin arrived at a deep-sea trench on the ocean floor. Powerful Spatial Strength sealed its entrance.
The Flood Serpent Demon Venerate clearly understood he had offended someone he should never have provoked. He had sealed the entrance to the Flood Serpent Tribe's territory and severed all contact with the outside world.
Xiao Yan smiled faintly. This sort of method might work against ordinary people, but against him, who possessed the Heaven Seed Flame, it was all but meaningless.
A wave of his hand, and a black hole tore open before him, warping the surrounding seawater. He took Qing Lin's hand, stepped through, and emerged on the other side of the trench's barrier.
"Wow, it's so beautiful here!" Qing Lin couldn't help exclaiming at the sight that greeted them.
A vast, colorful coral forest stretched in every direction. It likely extended for a thousand li, growing along both sides of the trench. Such a spectacular expanse looked truly magnificent, a scene rarely glimpsed by human eyes.
Everywhere she looked, corals of every shape and color glowed softly in the dim undersea light. For marine life, this coral forest was like the mountain ranges and deep woods where magical beasts dwelled. Swaying seaweed formed underwater meadows, schools of shimmering fish darted through the gaps, and crabs and shrimp retreated into their sheltered holes.
Walking through such a coral forest was dazzling to the senses. The countless sights were simply too beautiful to take in, the kind of scenery that made a person linger and forget the purpose of their journey.
Wrapped within the Sea Heart Flame, the two of them were effectively merged with the ocean itself, invisible to the outside world. Moving through the coral forest, they attracted no notice at all.
"Young Master Xiao Yan, look! There's a big sea turtle over there!" Bright excitement flashed in Qing Lin's jade-green eyes. It was her very first time seeing the ocean.
Xiao Yan couldn't help but smile wryly and rub his nose. They had come to settle a score, not go sightseeing. A fierce battle awaited them.
But seeing Qing Lin's unguarded excitement, how could he bear to interrupt this little girl who had always thought of herself as his maidservant?
"Oh? Where?" He deliberately feigned ignorance, glancing left and right.
"There! Over there! And there's another one!" Qing Lin's jade-green eyes shone with joy. She unconsciously hugged his arm and pointed toward a cluster of coral.
The soft weight of her body pressing against his arm sent a small, involuntary jolt through Xiao Yan's chest. Being held like this felt… rather wonderful.
Let that Flood Serpent Demon Venerate live a little longer. It won't kill him.
"Come on. Let's look around a bit more," Xiao Yan said.
"Mm!"
Qing Lin was only a little younger than Xiao Yan. Now in her twenties, the maturity in her features was fully revealed, an aura of a woman just beginning to bloom that was faint yet irresistible. Beneath that newfound maturity lingered the fresh innocence of a young girl still.
These two temperaments blended perfectly in Qing Lin, creating a unique and peerless charm, a beauty that was quiet yet utterly arresting.
She carefully cupped a seahorse in her hands, her large eyes staring curiously at this creature she had never seen before. Her clothes wrapped snugly around her body, outlining her graceful curves with startling clarity, beautiful and quietly captivating.
The two of them wandered through the undersea world, taking in the sights while following the direction of the Asura Soul Chasing Mark Xiao Yan had left behind.
After traveling for an entire day, a massive Dragon Palace City finally appeared before them.
It was a colossal palace. Its entire structure was crystal-clear, as though carved from a single piece of translucent jade. Waves of crystalline light rippled endlessly across its surface, making it look exactly like the Dragon Palace of legends.