The blood of Elder Bai dripped onto the wooden planks of the veranda. The sharp sound of the old man's soul cracking cut through the calm of the lake like breaking glass.
Zhì Yuǎn looked down and blinked, noticing the crushed patriarch at his feet.
"Ah."
He raised his index finger. A subtle thread of the Law of Space wrapped around the old man. The crushing pressure vanished instantly. The cracks in the elder's soul froze, sparing him from death.
Zhì Yuǎn calmly adjusted the sleeve of his gray tunic and inclined his head in a polite nod.
"I apologize," he said, his voice polite and serene. "The fabric of this world is very thin. I forgot to restrain my aura when stepping out of the rift."
It was a small lie. In truth, the moment he stepped onto this plane, he sensed the old man's instinctively circulating Qi and reacted by reflex, manipulating the space around the elder's meridians with precision.
Elder Bai drew in a desperate gasp, collapsing sideways into his own pool of blood. Alive, but unable to speak.
Bái Wǎn remained seated on the veranda floor. Her brown eyes were fixed on Zhì Yuǎn, unable to look away. Fear, confusion, and an inexplicable, overwhelming attraction swirled in her chest.
Yù Qíng noticed her gaze immediately. The corner of her lips curved upward.
Zhì Yuǎn ignored the silent exchange and turned his attention back to the old man.
"I have frozen the foundation of your soul," he said directly. "In exchange for the breath I have returned to you, I want the central maps and all the knowledge from this sect's libraries."
Elder Bai tried to support himself on his elbows, his face wet with tears of relief and terror.
"Yes… everything… I will give you everything the Lord desires…"
Bái Wǎn felt a chill run up her spine. The man had saved her grandfather's life, but the price was extremely high. And nothing guaranteed that, after receiving everything, he wouldn't kill them anyway.
The parchment slipped from her trembling hands.
Without thinking, she leaned forward and pressed her forehead to the cold wooden planks of the veranda, right in front of Zhì Yuǎn's boots. Her voice came out thin, desperate, and shaky:
"Please… My grandfather will give you everything the Lord demands. He will fulfill the agreement. In exchange for his life… I offer mine. I will be your servant. I will do anything the Lord desires. Just… spare my grandfather's life."
Yù Qíng took a step forward, her smile growing slowly.
"A little lotus begging to serve in our house…" she murmured, sweet and possessive. "We accept."
Zhì Yuǎn took his eyes off the kneeling girl and turned his attention back to the old man.
"Time is running out, Elder Bai," he said, his voice practical and impassive. "Go fetch the maps and the scrolls. Bring everything here."
The old man did not dare argue. Supporting his trembling hands on the veranda pillar, he rose with great difficulty and dragged himself out of the courtyard, disappearing down the bamboo path as fast as his injured soul allowed.
In the center of the garden, the silver rift still remained open. Mò Zhōng was the last to cross it. The old butler stepped onto the white gravel, adjusting the storage ring on his finger after storing the carriage. The moment his boot touched the ground, the spatial rift cracked and closed, vanishing into the air as if it had never existed.
Bái Wǎn remained with her forehead pressed to the veranda planks, her breathing short and irregular.
Yù Qíng approached her.
"Rise, little lotus," the eldest ordered, her tone soft yet absolute.
Bái Wǎn obeyed immediately, rising on trembling legs. The girl clutched her sweaty hands against her white tunic, unsure what to do with them.
"Where is the main room?" Yù Qíng asked.
Bái Wǎn pointed with her trembling chin toward the double doors at the back of the pavilion.
"Boil water in the cauldrons at the back. Then come and kneel outside this door," Yù Qíng instructed, her black eyes fixed on the small woman. "And prepare a decent room in the back for our butler. If anyone approaches this courtyard, inform us immediately. Other than that, maintain absolute silence."
Bái Wǎn swallowed hard and nodded quickly. She turned and ran to the back of the pavilion, almost tripping in her haste.
Zhì Yuǎn walked to the indicated room, followed by Yù Qíng, Yù Méi, and Mò Yán. The heavy wooden door slid shut with a dull thud, completely isolating the family from the rest of the sect.
------
The room was simple: straw mats on the floor and a large bed in the center.
Mò Yán suddenly stopped in the middle of the room.
A low, hollow sound, like cracking glass, escaped from her abdomen. The bottleneck of the Ninth Mortal Stage had finally reached its limit. The long journey, the tension of the past few hours, and the dense concentration of Qi from the center of the continent had pushed her body to the extreme.
Cold sweat ran down the diplomat's pale neck. A fever of pure Yin surged violently through her veins.
Her legs failed. Mò Yán fell to her knees on the straw mat, her breathing turning into a hoarse wheeze. With trembling hands, she grabbed the collar of her silver-gray hanfu and, in a desperate tug, tore the fabric, exposing her sweaty shoulders and her chest that rose and fell uncontrollably.
"My heaven…" her voice came out thin and ragged, her scarlet eyes rising to Zhì Yuǎn in pure desperation and lust. "It burns… The wall is giving way. I can't hold it back anymore."
Zhì Yuǎn observed the woman kneeling before him. His gaze traveled over her feverish body with dense calm.
"It is time," he answered, his voice lowering to a rough and deep timbre. "I already feel a Law forming inside your dantian, my snow."
He took a step forward, grabbed the white-haired woman bare waist, and lifted her off the ground with a fluid motion. Her burning skin collided against his chest. Zhì Yuǎn walked to the bed and threw her onto her back on the straw.
Mò Yán bounced on the mattress, her long legs spreading instinctively as she gasped, anxious for the weight that would make her transcend.
Zhì Yuǎn untied his belt. The gray tunic and pants fell to the stone floor with a soft thud.
He climbed onto the mattress and knelt between Mò Yán's trembling thighs, firmly holding her wide hips. The moment his calloused fingers sank into her soft flesh, thick red marks appeared on the woman's pale and flawless skin.
The sound of her core cracking echoed again, more urgent. There was no more time for preparations.
Zhì Yuǎn thrust his hips and buried his entire length in one go.
The impact tore through her tight entrance. Mò Yán threw her head back, letting out a sharp, hoarse cry. Her long nails scratched the straw mat as his hot, dense Yang invaded her womb, being ground in the Primordial Mill. The resulting energy collided violently against the stagnant limit of the Ninth Mortal Stage.
"Hold on tight, my love," he murmured against her ear, his voice rough and deep.
The rhythm began savagely.
Zhì Yuǎn pulled her waist and slammed with brutal force. The wet sound of flesh against flesh echoed in the room. The wooden structure of the bed creaked dangerously with every deep thrust. He hammered without mercy, injecting his own foundation directly into her depths, forcing the closed bottleneck to break.
The fever of lust rose quickly. Mò Yán's pale neck and full breasts became covered in intense red. Sweat ran down her white hair spread across the straw. All the woman's restraint melted under the heavy friction. Her scarlet eyes rolled back, and her calculating mind completely blanked, leaving only the overwhelming sensation of the thickness and heat that filled her.
Leaning against the wooden wall, Yù Qíng watched with her arms crossed under her breasts, a sweet and proud smile on her lips.
"She looks so cute when she's desperate with lust…" the eldest murmured, her black eyes shining with satisfaction.
Beside her, Yù Méi licked her lips slowly, her breathing quickened as she watched the powerful, rhythmic movement of her husband's hips.
On the bed, the Primordial Qi generated by the friction destroyed the final barrier. The mortal bottleneck shattered completely. Mò Yán's Qi Sea opened wide in her lower abdomen, greedily swallowing the energy from their dual cultivation.
She had finally crossed into the Transcendent Realm.
The overwhelming mixture of ascension and carnal shock drowned her. Mò Yán came violently, her tall and voluptuous body convulsing on the mattress as her inner walls crushed him in desperate spasms.
"My heaven… ahhh… husband…" she whimpered, shaking her head from side to side on the straw, completely blinded by pleasure.
But the new Qi Sea did not accept the energy passively. At the peak of her orgasm, her survival and control instincts awakened. The loose Laws in the room began to bend around the bed, responding to her desperate will to dominate the force tearing through her from within.
Mò Yán's political instinct, sharpened by two decades of intrigue, found an explosive fuel in the new Qi Sea.
Blinded by pleasure and the merciless thrusts, she opened her eyes. Her scarlet irises shone with absolute authority. The newly born Law of Mandate responded to her desperation. Mò Yán opened her mouth and the command cut through the room like a conceptual blade:
"SLOWER!"
It was not a request. It was an imposition upon reality.
The air in the room froze. Dust stopped in mid-air. Leaning against the wall, Yù Qíng and Yù Méi had their breathing and movements locked by the crushing authority that filled the environment. The eldest took a second to regain her composure.
But Zhì Yuǎn did not stop.
The diplomat's command collided against his body and dispersed like smoke. His Inner Universe was far too vast to obey a Law that had just been born from his own seed.
Mò Yán's illusion of control collapsed in an instant.
Zhì Yuǎn pulled out of her with a brusque motion. The cold air touched her soaked entrance, making her gasp in confusion. Before she could react, large, heavy hands grabbed her waist. With brutal force, he spun her voluptuous body in the air and threw her face-down onto the mat.
Mò Yán's face sank into the sweaty straw. Her pale buttocks instinctively raised.
"My woman doesn't give orders in my bed," he growled, his voice deep and filled with pure territorial domination.
He knelt, grabbed her hips, and buried his thick shaft inside her from behind in one thrust.
Slap!
The violent sound of flesh against flesh echoed in the paralyzed room.
"Ahh! N-No! My heaven!" Mò Yán screamed, her political sanity shattering under the crushing weight that impaled her again.
Zhì Yuǎn doubled the speed. His right hand came down hard, leaving the red imprint of five fingers branded on her buttock. Then he buried his fingers in her white hair and pulled her head back, arching the woman's sweaty body.
"Tell me who you belong to," he growled against her ear, hammering without mercy.
"O-Only to you! Husband! Mnnn!" she sobbed, blindly pushing her ass back, completely broken.
Zhì Yuǎn pressed his lips to her ear, his voice low and non-negotiable:
"Use your Law. Order yourself to cum for me."
Mò Yán's mind shattered completely.
Mò Yán was already at her limit. The last wall of pride and self-control that remained inside her crumbled entirely.
What was left was a woman completely enslaved by pleasure. Crying, eyes rolling back, and trembling uncontrollably, she invoked her own Law against herself:
"I order…" she gasped, her voice failing as the Authority distorted her own body. "That my body… cum for my husband! AAAAAHHH!"
The effect was devastating.
Subjugated by her own Law and mercilessly pierced, Mò Yán collapsed. A violent and uninterrupted orgasm consumed her. Her inner walls crushed him in frantic spasms, pulling the Qi with fury.
Zhì Yuǎn clenched his jaw and exploded deep inside her. A thick, boiling torrent of seed and Primordial Qi flooded her new Law Sea, cementing her newly born power.
Completely ruined, legs trembling and mind blank, Mò Yán collapsed onto the mat with an empty, devoted smile on her lips.