After returning to his room, Yuan went to his closet and retrieved a basket of medicine.
“Are those the medicine you’d acquired from the Jaded Garden? Do you plan on tempering your body tonight?” Chu Liuxiang asked him when she saw the basket.
“Yes. Do you want to join me?” Yuan asked her.
“Is that even a question? Of course, I want to join you!” Chu Liuxiang wasted no time removing her clothes, stripping herself naked before Yuan could even prepare the bath.
“I haven’t even prepared the bath. You should put your clothes back on unless you want to catch a cold.” Yuan said to her.
Chu Liuxiang chuckled, “I haven’t caught a cold ever since I became a Cultivator. I don’t think Cultivators can even catch colds.”
“Anyways, I already took my clothes off. I will just wait under the blankets until you’re done. You can join me at any time.” Chu Liuxiang said as she entered the bed.
Yuan couldn’t help but smile at Chu Liuxiang’s behavior that reminded him of Elder Shan from the Dragon Essence Temple, and they both give off similar vibes.
Half an hour later, once the bathtub was prepared, Yuan entered the green water with Chu Liuxiang.
“Have you ever tempered your body before?” Yuan asked her.
“I have,” she calmly replied.
“Really? Where does the Chu Family obtain their medicine?”
“They grow them just like the Six Spiritual Families, but they use a different method. It’s even a little stronger than the medicine we’re currently using. I will ask Sebastian to bring some over tomorrow if you’re interested.”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Anything for you, Brother Yuan…”
“Actually, can I just call you Yuan from now on?” Chu Liuxiang suddenly said.
“Eh? Of course, you can. But why the sudden change?” Yuan asked.
“Calling you ‘brother’ is obviously something very special for Yu Rou, so I decided to not take that away from her. She was the only one in the Yu Family who cared enough to take care of you, after all.”
Chu Liuxiang explained, and she continued, “Furthermore, it feels weird trying to start a family with my ‘brother’.”
“You can call me whatever you want.” Yuan smiled.
“Really? Then can I call you darling? I find that more fitting than just Yuan! It’s more unique as well!”
“D-Darling? I think that’s a little bit too much…”
“Eh?! Please! Everybody already calls you ‘Yuan’, and I want you to feel special when we’re together!”
Yuan sighed.
After pondering for a moment, he gave up and said, “Fine, but you can only call me that when we’re alone. It will feel awkward if you call me that in front of everyone.”
“Don’t worry, I will wait until we’re officially a family before I start doing that.” Chu Liuxiang smiled.
The two of them casually spoke to each other while absorbing the medicine. Because both of them were used to tempering their body in stronger medicine, they were both felt relaxed enough to chat while tempering their body at the same time.
“You spoke with my sister today, right? What did you talk about?” Yuan suddenly asked.
“That’s a secret.”
“You can’t even tell me a little?”
“I cannot. We promised Yu Rou that we would keep it a secret, after all.”
“Since you made a promise, I won’t ask anymore. Let’s change the topic. Your cultivation base in Cultivation Online… I was surprised when I saw it.”
“Second Level Spirit Apprentice? I didn’t think it would be that low…”
“Meixiu also said the same thing, you know?” Chu Liuxiang smiled.
And she continued, “Is it really that bad? I am already a Spirit Master in this world. Why do I need to cultivate in that world as well? I don’t have enough time in this life to cultivate two bodies at once.”
“Like you’d said, you’re already a Spirit Master in this world, which is the limit of this world. Your progress will now be incredibly slow, and it could take years to increase even a single level. However, that’s not the case for Cultivation Online. In that world, you can surpass Spirit Master and become a Spirit Grandmaster and so much more.”
“Furthermore, some of the things you do in Cultivation Online, such as consuming treasures, will somehow affect you in this world. What if increasing your cultivation base there also affects us but we just don’t know how… yet?”
“D-Darling… That… That actually makes a lot of sense! You’re a genius! I never thought about it like that until you mentioned it! You have opened my eyes! I will focus on my cultivation in Cultivation Online now!”
“R-Really?”
“Yes. As you’d mentioned, I have already reached the limits of this world, so there’s almost no point for me to continue cultivating this body. Instead, I should cultivate my second body! It might even help us break through the limits of this world and reach an unprecedented level!”
“Unfortunately, it’ll require a lot of resources if I want to catch up to Meixiu, much less you.”
“I could ask my family for help, but that would require me to return home and I don’t want to do that.” Chu Liuxiang sighed.
“I can help you if you want. After eliminating the Blood Sect, I managed to acquire a bunch of treasures and spirit stones, especially their Sect Master’s spatial ring. He was loaded with treasures!”
Chu Liuxiang nodded, “Since you offered, I won’t be humble, Yua— darling! In return, you can do whatever you want to me tonight— and every night after that!”
The two of them left the bathroom about three hours later after they cleaned out the medicine bath.
Yuan went to sleep shortly after without taking up Chu Liuxiang’s offer, but it wasn’t like she didn’t anticipate it. In fact, it would be shocking if he actually did anything to her.
In his sleep, Yuan had a dream— a nightmare. He was underneath a crimson sky, there were mountains upon mountains of corpses around him, and he stood in a sea of blood that nearly reached his knees.
Yuan felt a presence behind him, so he turned to take a look, and as he’d expected, the handsome man was there, casually sitting on one of the corpse mountains while staring at the red sky with a dazed face.