The sounds of a horse-drawn carriage on a snowy road were somehow very soothing as Shen Min was silently sitting in Wu Long’s embrace. He did not urge her to move and was also enjoying the feeling of her soft body against his.
One of the talismans he placed earlier shielded the inside of the carriage from losing temperature, so the cold did not get inside.
She finally started to move when she felt the slightly uncomfortable feeling starting to appear between her legs as both her pants and underwear were drenched. 𝒷𝓭ℴ𝓋𝓵.𝒸ℴ𝓶
She stood up, and sat on the opposite side from him, as he silently took out some towels. She questioningly looked at him and he smiled.
“I will start cultivating your Yin Qi if you do not mind me doing so”
She nodded, as that gave her time to change with him not looking, she also did not lose anything from him cultivating the Yin Qi she released, and could even call that subtly paying him back for the help he was providing by teaching her control of her Yin Qi and subsequently her physique.
She knew him for a short time, but she was able to relatively accurately figure out his character. He was, sometimes brutally, honest. He did not bother masking his intentions, and advances, but there was also no offputting feeling from his pursuit, and it felt very genuine. She knew that people could be two-faced and untrustworthy, but she also was very perceptive toward character traits, thus her intuition told her that this assessment was most likely who he was really. He also could have taken advantage of her if he really wanted, but he did not do so.
There were people pursuing her before, prior to her life going astray, but she was either not interested or felt a slimy sensation from them, which she did not even remotely feel from him.
His honesty allowed her to have peace of mind when he was basically saying that he would not look, by saying that he will cultivate.
As he closed his eyes and started cultivating the Yin Qi, she took off her bottom clothing, cleaned up, and wore spares. Shen Min felt a strange fuzzy feeling when she wore the underwear he bought for her, it was the most expensive and best one the store sold. She brushed it off but the feeling did not disappear and only went deeper inside, away from the surface of her consciousness.
As she finished, she sat back down across from Wu Long and looked at him, listening to the monotonous sounds of the travel and pondering. She could not deny his handsome looks, and she also thought about his charming personality, and how easily he can make her laugh with his stories. Though he made her lighter side laugh, it was an extension of herself, and she vividly felt the sensations of her lighter side. There was also his strength and intelligence. These were the most attractive qualities in a man of the cultivation world.
His confidence and charisma also felt not off-putting but reassuring and attractive to her, as she felt something authentic in them. Something that cannot be faked.
The warmth he treated her with and the attention he gave her felt genuine and sincere. And his honesty about his own vices, as well as openness in admitting them, felt refreshing in a world where most people try to cover up their less likable side.
She was wondering how such a seemingly perfect in every way man was interested in her, and what it meant. She would be lying if she said her heart was not moved at all, but there was doubt and suspicion that she could not get rid of. She could not find any reason for it.
Wu Long opened his eyes after some time. He did not cultivate to increase his cultivation base but to improve his Spiritual Qi and its reserves with the Spiritual Qi War Art, which he now could cultivate with the 13th layer of the technique.
As his vision opened up he saw Shen Min staring at him intently, not moving her gaze away, as her different-colored eyes were flickering with the lights coming from outside the carriage. Her gaze felt somehow both sharp and alluring.
“Why me?”
She asked him after some silent time looking at each other as they were both slightly swayed by the movement of the carriage.
“I told you, I like beautiful women. There were also the emotions I saw in you when we first met, as well as the character I saw when we talked in that roadside restaurant. All of those made me interested, but not to the extent that I would have really pursued you, only teased a little”
He said as his pursuit of her really did start as a light teasing as he saw that she feared him and would not be wounded by such teasing. He then placed his hand on his chin, as he stroked it with his finger in a pondering pose.
“Hmm, your Extreme Yin physique is very precious to me as a Dual Cultivator, but I did not base my pursuit of you solely on that either… although I might have in the past…there is now less attraction in me for such traits it seems. I wonder what it was… yes, that look of caution, and longing… as well as something else… but I cannot really put my finger on it”
He said with an introspective tone and overall mood. She looked at him with wide eyes as she did not expect him to start wondering what attracted him to her as well. The feeling of insecurity she initially felt from him being attracted to her solely because of her looks was now pushed aside by astonishment at the fact that first, he did not really start pursuing her until the meeting with the princess, in other words when he met the real her, and second, he was attracted the most not to her lighter side but by the real her, complete with all of the darker sides of her personality.
“A-are you really attracted to me?”
She asked to be sure, since he looked so unsure about the reason he was pursuing her.
“Yes”
He said with absolute confidence, and she felt how genuine he was by looking into his eyes that held true care and some tenderness. She was mesmerized by that look for a moment, as this one word spread a warm and cozy feeling through her.
She slightly blushed and looked to the side.
He simply smiled, as he threw away his thoughts. In the end, the reason was not important, what mattered was that he really was attracted to her. But he did not feel like using any of the flirting and seducing techniques he knew to woo her. He did not really understand this feeling, as it was something that started happening only after his descent into this world. But it did not feel out of place, and even somehow felt comfortable to him. There was no outside intervention that influenced him, but a genuine change, something so rare for an immortal that it barely ever happening.
He then gave her a theory lesson that in this case came after the practical one, but she was able to harness the experience to better understand it anyway. She also gained initial control over her Yin Qi. It was a very elementary control that could not help her much, but it was a very big step. She was learning at a much faster pace than he anticipated, as she truly was talented.
Her caution towards him dropped a little again, and there was a wondrous feeling she had around him, but she still kept her guard up.
They soon met a pack of 1st tier demonic beasts. Wu Long quickly disposed of them, and they moved on. Such attacks were not actually rare, and many unlucky mortals would meet an unfortunate end this way. Countries dispatched the army and hired mercenaries to clean up areas near cities and major roads from demonic beasts regularly, but they could not completely secure the lands. Not to mention that the public order and the overall stability of the kingdoms further south were worse in recent centuries, and thus the situation with demonic beasts was not as well regulated as before, causing the populations of demonic beasts to increase and thus more turmoil and chaos.
Most of the demonic beasts that would roam about were 1st tier demonic beasts, who, depending on the levels could be thwarted by Body Transformation Realm martial artists, thus making the whole situation not as dire. But mortals were the biggest population segment and had almost no chance of killing such a beast. Frequent travelers like the carriage driver would buy protection measures such as stink pills much like the one Wu Long once received from the Armoury Hall in the Yin Yang Unity Palace prior to going to the Spiritual Land outside.
They also met regular bandits that were not sent by anyone, but Shin Min dispatched them very quickly. And like that, they reached a town they picked to stay the night in.