As one of the Great Yan's most luxurious aerial avian pavilions, the black eagle not only boasted painted pillars, carved beams, and artfully crafted furnishings, but its guest cabins were also furnished with exceptionally spacious beds.
To ensure buyers had ample room, each bed could easily accommodate seven or eight people without feeling crowded in the slightest.
Under Lou Ji's watchful eye, Bai Muxi behaved with utmost docility.
Kicking off her boots, she clambered onto the bed and knelt obediently, her back straight as a ramrod.
Her instincts told her that this buxom, smiling beauty before her might be even more terrifying than that cold princess who bound her chest.
If she failed to handle this properly, this woman would truly dare to kill her.
Glancing at the girl who had suddenly turned so remarkably obedient, Lou Ji let out an elegant chuckle. "Sitting so far away, how do you expect to perform dual cultivation with me?"
Hearing this, Bai Muxi hastily shuffled closer to Lou Ji on her knees, inch by inch, and explained in a timid whisper, "Muxi... has never seen this method of dual cultivation before, so I did not know."
"Oh?"
Lou Ji voiced mild curiosity, a flicker of oddity surfacing in her eyes.
She had assumed the girl had merely put on an act earlier to get closer to Changtian, but now it seemed that was not the case.
How strange.
Millennia ago, dual cultivation arts were entirely distinct from other cultivation methods.
Over time, however, the pathways for circulating Source Qi used in dual cultivation had been integrated into virtually every cultivation manual in the world.
Apart from martial apprentices who walked the path of the physical body, practitioners of orthodox mystic arts all understood at least a little dual cultivation.
After all, transferring energy to heal injuries was itself part of dual cultivation.
After a moment's thought, Lou Ji immediately connected this to Luo Xiran, who had lived sequestered from the world for ten thousand years.
It seemed Bai Muxi hailed from the same place as Luo Xiran.
With a soft laugh, Lou Ji gave a slight shake of her head. "It seems you must come from some isolated little backwater. No need to be nervous, though. Changtian's issue can be resolved with the shallowest form of dual cultivation. As long as you know how to circulate Source Qi, you will pick it up in an instant."
Saying so, Lou Ji signaled for Bai Muxi to hold out her hands.
"Palms out before you, fingers curved."
"...Yes."
Bai Muxi complied, extending her hands with fingers held close and curved into claws.
Lou Ji smiled gracefully and rested her hands atop them.
The dual cultivation began almost immediately.
The unorthodox kind.
There was no shedding of clothes, no physical union—only upright, cross-legged meditation and soft, slender fingers hooked and clasped together.
A perfectly standard posture for dual cultivation.
The qi drifting from the two women formed a convection against the rain outside. A faint breeze brushed across Xu Yuan's pained face, and the coolness it brought stirred his tightly shut eyes halfway open.
Within his dark pupils, countless divine lights seemed to flicker.
Amid the interweaving of bloody crimson and pale gold, there was even a faint shimmering glint of pink.
Xu Yuan felt his current condition was exceedingly bizarre.
Looking inward, he could sense that his sea of consciousness was on the verge of bursting, yet he could no longer feel the agony from moments before.
All of his surrounding senses seemed to be slipping away from him.
Hearing, touch, smell—even Lou Ji and Bai Muxi beside him, as well as Tianyan standing by the bedside, were constantly receding from his field of view.
Xu Yuan knew this boded ill. For a cultivator, losing awareness of one's own body was perilous under any circumstance, to say nothing of the intent-soul secret art that continued churning relentlessly inside his sea of consciousness.
Yet Xu Yuan was not particularly worried that he would simply drop dead.
Entering this state at least spared him the tearing agony in his sea of consciousness.
As these disjointed thoughts drifted through his mind, Xu Yuan noticed that Lou Ji and Bai Muxi both opened their recently shut eyes at the same time.
What felt like an instant was truly just an instant.
When circulating a cultivation technique, a cultivator's perception sharpened immensely, much like entering bullet time.
When high-tier cultivators ran their arts, the movements of ordinary mortals appeared as slow as a crawling turtle.
To Xu Yuan, it felt like an instant, but for Xiao Bai and Lou Ji, it was enough time to complete one or even several full circulation cycles.
As Lou Ji's closed eyes slowly opened, the unique art caused her originally emerald-green pupils to dazzle with brilliant, amethyst-like splendor for a fleeting second.
As the art dispersed, her irises returned to normal, and she asked softly, "Have you learned it?"
Bai Muxi withdrew her hands and nodded. "Yes."
Lou Ji arched a brow, her tone turning stern. "This matter is no joking matter."
Bai Muxi lowered her gaze, her voice gentle and soft. "How would Muxi dare deceive you on such an occasion?"
Lou Ji was somewhat astonished by Bai Muxi's natural talent, then gave a soft laugh. "Quite talented, aren't you? Changtian certainly picked up quite a few treasures on this trip to the Northern Border."
With that, she moved to help Xu Yuan sit up.
Yet the moment the thought crossed her mind, her movement froze.
Dual cultivation involved three inner sanctuaries: the body's meridians, the sea of consciousness, and the dantian. The slightest misstep could induce qi deviation, demanding absolute concentration.
She had not noticed earlier, but now that it was over, Lou Ji suddenly perceived that Xu Yuan's current aura was profoundly strange.
From his body, she sensed three distinct auras.
Xu Yuan's own, Tianyan's, and... the earlier one belonging to that Bewitching Soul Fiend Physique.
Lou Ji had seen this bizarre, mingled qi dynamic before, and more than a few times.
A fiend art...
No.
She could not rashly let Bai Muxi dual cultivate with Changtian, or something would definitely go wrong!
The smile in her eyes vanished instantly, replaced by sheer gravity. She looked back at Tianyan, who stood by the bed. "Saintess, care to explain Changtian's aura to me?"
"......"
Though she had not joined them on the bed, Tianyan had been watching him closely from bedside the entire time.
Thus, she had witnessed the abrupt change in him from the very beginning.
Golden radiance gleamed brightly within her pupils.
As Lou Ji questioned her, a faint touch of divinity surfaced in Tianyan's beautiful eyes.
Glancing back at Lou Ji as the cold breeze ruffled her long hair, Tianyan's clear voice carried no trace of emotion. "Certain fiend arts possess an aura like this."
"......"
Lou Ji narrowed her eyes.
She realized that, for reasons unknown, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Saintess before her seemed to have undergone a shift in demeanor, but this was hardly the time to probe that.
"Naturally, I am familiar with fiend arts, but those arts never make an aura this pure."
There were countless cultivation arts under heaven; 'fiend art' was merely a broad umbrella term for methods that took deviant, wicked paths to boost one's cultivation.
Essence harvesting, limb grafting, even bestial metamorphosis—all were called fiend arts.
The most prominent trait of those who practiced fiend arts was that their auras were extraordinarily murky, like several colors of dye stirred together in a vat, mutually incompatible yet indistinguishable.
Tianyan kept her eyes on Xu Yuan on the bed, her gaze remaining detached. "The art Changtian cultivates is likely not inferior to the Heaven-Deducing Art. Naturally, it would not be like those inferior fiend arts."
Lou Ji understood at once that the Saintess had discerned something. Wasting no words, she asked, "Does the Saintess have a solution?"
"None."
"......"
As Tianyan's calm, divine voice softly fell, the atmosphere in the room froze solid.
A dazzling, alluring violet gleam rose in Lou Ji's emerald eyes, and the fragrance of red spider lilies permeating the room grew thick and heavy.
Her voice was very quiet. "Are you certain there is none?"
"......"
Sensing the shift in surrounding qi, Bai Muxi clutched the hem of her skirt, keeping her head lowered without moving an inch as she cautiously edged closer to Xu Yuan.
Seeing this, Tianyan showed no noticeable change in her expression, keeping the circulation of her Heaven-Deducing Art to a bare minimum. "Chief Lou, Xu Yuan is currently devouring and fusing my Heavenly Yan divine soul. We can only wait."
Lou Ji swung her voluptuous legs off the bed, walked up to Tianyan, and stared at her. "Because of the technique you taught him?"
Tianyan hovered in midair, meeting Lou Ji's gaze at eye level. "No."
"No?"
"As I said earlier, Changtian is not comprehending it."
"......"
After a moment of silence, Lou Ji narrowed her eyes slightly. "The Divine Soul Chapter of your Heaven-Deducing Art is unmatched by any soul secret art in the world."
Suspended in midair, Tianyan met Lou Ji's gaze with calm composure. "With Chief Lou's methods, you should have noticed by now. Do not doubt it; that is simply the truth. Changtian is indeed devouring and fusing it."
"......"
Hearing this, Lou Ji fell silent.
Although the world still spoke of entering the Dao through qi or through martial arts, the paths to entering the Dao had long since diversified.
Lou Ji had seen many soul-path cultivators, and she even had Origin Realm experts specialized in the soul path under her command.
Among them were fiend art practitioners capable of devouring another's intent-soul to bolster their own.
Yet every devouring carried immense risks; it was essentially a final desperate gambit in a dire predicament, where the slightest slip would reduce the practitioner to a mindless beast.
More importantly, such methods only absorbed raw soul power.
Yet the meaning of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Saintess before her was clear:
Changtian was fusing the traits of the Heavenly Yan divine soul.
Before Lou Ji could make another move, Xu Yuan's somewhat frail voice piped up first: "Tianyan... help... help me up for a second."
"......"
Silence followed his words. Both Lou Ji and Tianyan immediately looked back.
Seeing the dazed, feeble state of the young man on the bed, Lou Ji remained silent for a moment before sighing softly and stepping aside to clear a path.
Tianyan said nothing, calmly stepping through the air past Lou Ji.
However, upon reaching the bedside, she suddenly sent a low voice transmission to Lou Ji:
"In the Charm God Illusion realm, Changtian comprehended the Meishen Dao Charm far too easily. At the time, I thought it was aided by the Meishen tree spirit's soul key, but looking back now, it was likely also because his intent-soul had already absorbed elements of the Meishen Intent."
Lou Ji did not reply, merely looking at Xu Yuan on the bed with concern in her eyes.
Gently helped up by Tianyan, Xu Yuan remained in a muddled daze.
The surroundings seemed near one moment and distant the next; the voices in his ears rose and faded intermittently.
It was like the dizziness of being spun around a windlass hundreds of times, or the blurred haze of being utterly drunk.
Glancing at Tianyan supporting him, he noticed the familiar divine detachment in her eyes and chuckled hazily, "Turned back into the Little Ice Block?"
"......"
Supporting his bare back, Tianyan glanced at him from the corner of her eyes upon hearing this. "What is a 'Little Ice Block'?"
"A nickname, of course."
Xu Yuan offered a silly, instinctive grin, taking it as a matter of course. "Ran Qingmo is the Big Ice Block, and you're the Little Ice Block. Heheh..."
"......" Tianyan remained silent.
After a beat of stillness, Tianyan spoke coolly. "I do not like this nickname."
"Then Washboard Sain—"
"Hiss—"
A sudden pinch at his waist sent a sharp sting piercing deep into his intent-soul, snapping Xu Yuan's wits slightly back to clarity.
Meeting the girl's callous, impassive eyes, he gave a light cough and rubbed the space between his brows. "Just a joke."
Tianyan stared at him, her tone completely devoid of emotion. "I do not like that kind of joke, either."
"Is it because I struck a sore spot? Don't worry, small ones are cute to—"
Xu Yuan replied instinctively, but halfway through, Tianyan's cool stare forced his words back down his throat.
After a brief pause, Xu Yuan cleared his throat. Feeling the world spinning around him, he chuckled in a mutter, "Ahem, back to business... What you two said just now, it was a bit quiet, but I heard it all.
"I always thought this intent-soul secret art was useless. Earlier, I asked the Tian'an Chamber of Commerce for soul pearls and cultivated all the way from Jingjiang Prefecture, yet saw no obvious progress. Turns out my method was wrong."
With that, Xu Yuan slung an arm around Tianyan's shoulder, chuckling as he spoke:
"As expected, this art of mine isn't inferior to your Heaven-Deducing Art at all. I just hadn't found the right method.
"Still, I never imagined... that the Meishen Dao Charm I grasped in the illusion realm was actually linked to that woman Su Jinxuan's Meishen spore. Even I didn't notice such subtle changes in my intent-soul..."
"Wait."
The divine Tianyan paid no heed to the arm slung over her shoulder, but hearing up to this point, she abruptly cut in, "Are you saying Su Jinxuan's Meishen spore is a Bewitching Soul Fiend Physique?"
Xu Yuan chuckled. Lifting the hand resting on her shoulder slightly, he gave her expressionless cheek a squeeze, his speech slurred as though drunk: "Even in Little Ice Block mode, you can still get jealous? What time do you think it is? My sea of consciousness could burst and kill me at any second..."
"I do not like this joke, either."
Her fair, soft cheek was squished out of shape, yet Tianyan remained unbothered, her retort crisp and forceful: "If your head is not clear, you can keep your mouth shut."
"......" Xu Yuan fell silent.
A dizzy brain really had too many side effects...
He actually couldn't out-talk this washboard Saintess.
As he pondered this, Tianyan's clear voice suddenly sounded in his ear: "The reason I mentioned the Bewitching Soul Fiend Physique was that earlier remark was sent via voice transmission to Chief Lou."
Xu Yuan's reaction was like a sloth's. Only after two breaths did he look up at Lou Ji nearby.
Violet light danced in Lou Ji's eyes as she gave a slight nod. "The Saintess is correct. She indeed used voice transmission."
Xu Yuan took a long moment to process this before slowly turning back to Tianyan, sounding somewhat hesitant: "You mean... I can hear voice transmissions now?"
With that, he drew a deep breath, furrowing his brows in thought. "If I recall correctly, hearing other people's voice transmissions is one of the techniques of your Heaven-Deducing Art, isn't it?"
Tianyan raised her hand, brushing away the fingers that were still pinching her cheek, and said clearly, "Changtian, to be precise, it is a technique of the Heavenly Yan divine soul."
Xu Yuan opened his mouth, then raised a finger and pointed at himself. "Are you saying that I've already learned the Heavenly Yan divine soul?"
Tianyan was silent for several breaths before shaking her head gently.
"Not the Heavenly Yan divine soul itself. But once you have fully absorbed and devoured it, your intent-soul will possess some of its traits.
"Of course,
"that is assuming you do not turn into a fool during the devouring process."
Chapter 368