Li Yingying asked urgently, "Whatâs the way?"
"I have a dual-cultivation technique," Wang Yue said. "Itâs incredibly effective for both boosting cultivation and healing internal injuries. If I cultivate with her, I should be able to fix her right up."
"Dual... dual-cultivation?" Li Yingyingâs face went scarlet. She was a martial artist now, and with a mentor as experienced as hers, she knew exactly what that implied.
In fact, the Su NĂź technique her master taught her was inherently designed for dual-cultivation. It was just that her master had never had a man in her life, so that part of the technique had stayed dormant. She knew exactly what "dual-cultivation" meant: sex.
Li Yingying had initially thought she would agree to any price Wang Yue askedânothing was more important than her masterâs life. She didnât want him to get the short end of the stick, either, considering how much energy it would take to heal such a wound. But she never expected Wang Yue would ask for something far more difficult to give than money or medicine.
Others might not know, but Li Yingying did: despite her master being a mature, breathtakingly sexy woman, she was actually still a virgin. Her master was even less experienced than her; at least Yingying had experienced... that... with Wang Yue on the bus. Her master hadnât even held a manâs hand.
"Is there... no other way?" Li Yingying asked, clinging to hope.
Wang Yue shook his head. "If we were in Jinling, we could find Divine Doctor Miao. But weâre in Tianhai. Even if we rushed back at top speed, your master wouldnât last the trip."
"Are there no miracle doctors in Tianhai?"
"Maybe. But do you think we can trust them?" Wang Yue countered.
Li Yingying fell silent. She knew better than anyone who was hunting them. Famous doctors were usually well-connected. Faced with a choice between befriending a Martial Holy Land or saving a stranger and offending one, the choice for a doctor was obvious. Her master would be handed over before she was even healed.
Driven into a corner, Li Yingying sighed. "Can you wake her up for a second? We have to ask for her opinion on something like this."
"Iâll try." Wang Yue nodded. He wasnât the type to do things behind someoneâs back. He wasnât above using a little force sometimes, but he didnât like taking a woman while she was unconscious. Well... except for that one time with his aunt.
He had Li Yingying prop Yu Suxin up. Sitting behind her, he pressed his palms against her back, right over the Mingmen point, and began to funnel his True Qi into her to suppress her chaotic energy.
The moment his Qi entered her, Wang Yue felt a violent backlash that nearly threw his hands off her back. He was stunned. He was a powerhouse at the late stage of the fourth level of the Mortal Shedding Realm, and his Qi was incredibly refinedâhis actual combat power rivaled the peak of that realm. Yet a comatose womanâs unconscious Qi was this strong?
"Whatâs her actual cultivation level?" Wang Yue asked, pushing more Qi inside.
"Master said she can only put out the power of a peak True Return Realm fighter right now," Yingying explained. "But she used to be much stronger. A few years back, she got into a fight and took a hit so bad it damaged her foundation. Her level dropped to what it is now."
"What was she before the injury?"
Li Yingying shook her head. "She never said. She never even told me what comes after the True Return Realm."
"After True Return comes the Mortal Shedding Realm. One of the guys in black chasing you was a Mortal Shedding powerhouse," Wang Yue said. It clicked for him then: her master probably hadnât been beaten by her opponents; she had likely forced out power beyond her current limit to fight that Mortal Shedding expert, causing her old injuries to flare up and her Qi to backfire.
That made things ten times worse. New wounds are easy; old ones are a nightmare to fix.
As he funneled more Qi into her, he realized the situation was even grimmer than heâd thought. Her energy was completely haywire. She was one step away from total cultivation deviancy. He had to be surgical. He slowed down, meticulously suppressing the berserk Qi in her meridians and guiding it back into the proper channels.
Since this was a slow, tedious process that didnât require his total focus, he started chatting with Li Yingying. He was curious how they ended up in Tianhai and how they got caught despite being masters of disguise.
Li Yingying didnât hide anything. As it turned out, her master decided to take her out for some "real-world experience" during the summer break. They chose Tianhai as their first stop.
The reason they got caught was simple: vanity. Even though they wore disguises, they didnât want to be ugly. Instead of making themselves look plain, they just "shifted" their looksâthey were still high-tier beauties, just with different faces.
Shortly after arriving in Tianhai, they were spotted by a local creep. Specifically, he was eyeing Yu Suxin. Even with a "shifted" face, her beauty was off the chartsâputting her in the same league as the legendary Su twins. Wang Yueâs personal "rating system" put her in the elite 90+ bracket.
The real bad luck came when that creep turned out to have ties to the four çç´ é¨ (Xuan Su Sect) goons who were in town on business. While the master and student were busy dealing with the creep, the Sect goons recognized their martial arts style. Their cover was blown.
It took over an hour for Wang Yue to stabilize her Qi. But this was just a band-aid. Once he stopped, her energy would go wild again. Furthermore, her realm was technically higher than his; his Qi was pure, but he didnât have the volume to keep this up all the way back to Jinling.
However, the hour wasnât wasted. Yu Suxin finally flickered awake.
"Master, how do you feel?" Yingying asked instantly.
Yu Suxin gave a weak, frail smile. "Yingying... I donât think Iâm going to make it. Youâll have to go on without me. You know the Su NĂź technique by heart now. Keep practicing... and youâll eventually succeed."
"Master, donât say that!" Li Yingying cried. "Young Master Wang has a way to save you."
Yu Suxin looked at Wang Yue, her emotions a mess. Back in Jinling, she had looked down on him as a guy from some small-time martial family, unworthy of her star pupil. But now, he was the only reason they werenât deadâor worse, defiled by those four bastards.
"Wang Yue... Iâm sorry," she whispered. "Take care of Yingying. Protect her. Donât worry about avenging me..."
"Sheâs my sister-in-law. Iâd protect her even if you didnât ask," Wang Yue smiled. "But youâre the teacher. You should be the one to guide her. I donât know the first thing about your sectâs arts."
Yu Suxin sighed. "Even if we were back with Doctor Miao, Iâm a goner."
"Miao might be useless, but Iâm not," Wang Yue said with total confidence.
Li Yingying chimed in, "Itâs true, Master. We just need your okay."
"What method? Why do you need my permission?" Yu Suxin asked. A spark of hope flickered. She wasnât afraid of death, but she wasnât exactly in a hurry to die either, especially with Yingying to look after.
Wang Yue looked at Li Yingying, signaling her to explain.
Li Yingying flushed. "Itâs... Young Master Wang has a dual-cultivation technique. He can heal your injuries through... the process."
"Nonsense!" Yu Suxinâs first instinct was disbelief. As a practitioner of the Su NĂź art, she knew about dual-cultivation. It could speed up training or heal minor scrapes, but it was useless against foundation-level damage. Plus, even if it worked, she couldnât wrap her head around sleeping with him. She valued her chastity above all else.
"Sheâs not lying," Wang Yue said seriously. "How do you think I reached the Mortal Shedding Realm so fast?"
"Stop," Yu Suxin said firmly. "I wonât do it."
"But Master, your life is on the line!"
"I said noâcough!" Yu Suxin suddenly sprayed a mouthful of blood and slumped back into a coma.
"Master!" Li Yingying looked at Wang Yue, terrified.
Wang Yue shook his head. "Her Qi is worse than before. I canât hold it down anymore."
A look of resolve crossed Li Yingyingâs face. "Forget it. Brother-in-law, use your method. Save her!"
Wang Yue was impressed. Li Yingying usually seemed soft, but she was decisive when it counted. Just like her sister. "Alright. Iâll do it. But you have to stay and help."
"Help with what?"
"I have to use both hands to suppress her Qi directly so she doesnât explode during the process," Wang Yue explained. "I wonât have a spare hand to... guide things. You have to handle the logistics."
Li Yingyingâs face turned bright red. He was going to be busy funnelling Qi, so she had to handle the "insertion"?
"If youâre too shy, I can call one of the guys from outside," Wang Yue teased.