Bao Gu closed the door.
When she turned back, she saw Yu Mi standing straight as a pine in the middle of the room, expressionless, eyes lifted to the window. But Bao Gu clearly saw the skin from her face down to her neck changing color—snow-pale turning, almost visibly, to a soft pink.
She walked over to Yu Mi’s side, flicked her sleeve, and sent a spirit stone flying. It hit the array node dead-on, activating the concealment array that wrapped around the entire room inside and out.
Then she raised her arms and, from behind, slipped them around Yu Mi’s slim, toned waist. The moment her hands settled at Yu Mi’s waist, Yu Mi’s whole body tensed up.
Bao Gu’s lips curved. She chuckled.
“Senior Sister, you’re more shy than you used to be.”
Yu Mi turned around to face her. She curled a finger and flicked Bao Gu lightly between the brows.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
When she turned, Bao Gu’s face was already so close it was practically pressed to her own. The shock made Yu Mi’s breath catch. She stiffened her face and blurted,
“Y–you… lie down properly…”
The words were barely out before she wanted to bite off her own tongue. Her blush raced from her cheeks all the way to the base of her neck, so hot it felt like it might bleed.
Bao Gu, amused and curious, leaned even closer. Their noses brushed.
“How did you get this shy?” she asked, smiling.
Yu Mi thought of the first time she’d run into Jade Shura after having her memories sealed. That woman had sought her out, drank with her first, then after they warmed up to each other again, Jade Shura had mysteriously started teaching her all the secrets of bedroom pleasure.
Hand positions, acupoints, what reactions to expect from the other party, how much strength to use and where—though it was all just theoretical practice, Jade Shura had insisted she imagine “the other person” doing this and that while she did this and that…
Who would have thought that afterwards, when she slept, she’d start having those unspeakable dreams?
In those dreams, a hazy figure would call to her in a soft voice, “Senior Sister,” then pull her along to do all those things Jade Shura had wanted her to do “to someone else.” Only, in the dream, she was the one being done this and that to by that “someone else”…
Over and over, those dreams overlapped with bits and pieces of her past days with Bao Gu. Yu Mi was mortified and flustered to death, half wanting to bolt out the door, half secretly looking forward to it, and very much wanting to drag Jade Shura out and beat her up a thousand times.
A long-awaited reunion—wasn’t she supposed to be pouring her heart out under the moon? But thanks to that bastard Jade Shura, the moment the door closed, all she could think about were the words “long-separated lovers, dry wood and raging fire.”
And what she imagined wasn’t even what Jade Shura wanted—her taking Bao Gu this way and that, and that way and this. No, what she imagined was being taken this way and that by Bao Gu, then that way and this.
Those thoughts left Yu Mi both ashamed and secretly excited. Then she looked at Bao Gu’s clear, bright eyes and wanted to crawl into a crack in the floor.
Yu Mi forcibly steadied her mind.
“Do you know Jade Shura?” she asked.
Bao Gu gave Yu Mi a sidelong, laughing look.
“What about Jade Shura? She’s been teaching you bedchamber arts again?”
Yu Mi: “…”
I bring her up and before I can even sell Jade Shura out, you’ve already guessed everything. Are you going to let anyone talk properly?
Bao Gu tugged Yu Mi down to sit beside her on the soft couch.
“So,” she said, “what else did Jade Shura teach you?”
Yu Mi bit her lip, cast a sultry, sidelong glance at Bao Gu, and said,
“Why don’t you lie down and let me give you a demonstration?”
Bao Gu agreed without hesitation.
“Sure.”
Then changed tone mid-sentence.
“But, Senior Sister, could you try not being so nervous, blushing, and shaking like that first?”
Yu Mi: “…”
She ground her teeth in frustration, fished out a jug of strong liquor, and thrust it at Bao Gu.
“Drink.”
Bao Gu took the jug of Immortal Drunk spirit wine from Yu Mi. She slapped the seal open, lifted the jar in both hands, and started drinking straight from it.
That small cherry-red mouth parted, the jar tipped, and the spirit wine poured between her lips like liquid light. Now and then, a couple of drops slid past the corner of her mouth and rolled down her jade-white neck. There was something indescribably teasing about it, and Yu Mi suddenly felt her own throat go dry.
She actually wanted a drink too.
Then Yu Mi realized Bao Gu wasn’t stopping.
She was still going.
Yu Mi’s eyes dropped to the jar. It looked like a two-catty pot by size, but the jar itself was a storage artifact she’d specially refined. Low-grade or not, it could hold two thousand catties of wine.
Yu Mi saw Bao Gu’s lower belly start to bulge.
“Slow down…” she blurted.
Right in front of her eyes, Bao Gu’s skin—white as carved jade—was flushing red.
Yu Mi stared, stunned.
Could it be Bao Gu’s cultivation realm had risen, and her capacity for alcohol had risen with it?
Bao Gu drained the entire jar in one go. To digest the sheer amount of liquid and alcohol, she had no choice but to mobilize her spiritual power. Spiritual energy surged through her body, wrapping her in a sharp aura like fierce astral wind.
She had never drunk like this before. Afraid she might lose control and accidentally hurt Yu Mi, she hurriedly dispersed her power again.
The spiritual power in the wine was fine—once it passed through her stomach and spread out into her meridians, it was like a trickle of creek water flowing into a great river. It didn’t even cause a ripple.
The alcohol, though, left her a bit dizzy. And on top of that, she felt uncomfortably bloated—no matter how high your cultivation or how strong your digestive tract, even with a stomach that could store mustard seeds in a void, cramming in two thousand catties of liquid at once was still like having an entire river poured straight into your gut.
Yu Mi saw the bottom of the two-thousand-catty wine jar was empty and nearly had her eyes pop out.
She laid a worried hand on Bao Gu’s stomach.
“You’re not about to burst?” she asked.
She’d told Bao Gu to drink, not to drink it all.
Bao Gu pressed her lips together, sneaked out a tiny burp, and said coolly,
“I’m fine.”
Just a bit dizzy. Her vision swam.
“Were you trying to get me drunk?” she asked.
Yu Mi glared at Bao Gu’s slightly unfocused eyes.
“I was just trying to stuff your mouth with wine.”
She shot the empty jar a pained look.
“Immortal Drunk goes for a ridiculous price these days. Two thousand catties…”
The taverns usually only sold it in two-catty jars. This one jar held a full thousand tavern jars’ worth.
Bao Gu was speechless.
This woman, who drank Monkey Wine like water, actually thought Immortal Drunk was too expensive? Had its price gone above Monkey Wine now?
“What does Immortal Drunk go for these days?” she asked.
Yu Mi said, “Two-catty jars. Fifty mid-grade spirit stones each. They only sell five thousand jars a year.”
Bao Gu felt her head spin even worse.
The spiritual power in this wine wasn’t even that abundant—at best it was decent. In terms of grade, it wasn’t high at all. If it had any real special quality, it was just that the liquor was strong.
And yet it sold for mid-grade spirit stones?
A true disciple of Xuantian Sect wouldn’t even be able to afford one jar with a month’s stipend.
“What’s so special about this wine that it’s that expensive?” she asked.
Yu Mi saw Bao Gu’s straight-sitting posture start to sway. A hazy drunkenness was already floating in her eyes. Yu Mi shot back,
“What do you think?”
She watched Bao Gu carefully, terrified that Bao Gu, with her well-known terrible tolerance, would react badly.
She knew Bao Gu’s combat power. Anyone who could reach out and drag her Little Martial Aunt down from the sky in one move was definitely in a realm above her own. And that stomach—able to hold two thousand catties at once—made it clear Bao Gu’s current strength was nothing to scoff at.
Yet Bao Gu was drunk.
Yu Mi was half angry and half amused. She’d told Bao Gu to drink; she’d never said drink it all.
Bao Gu frowned, shook her head.
“I don’t see anything special about it. If I have to say something, it’s this: it’s awful wine. Goes straight to the head.”
Her head spun harder.
“If it didn’t go straight to the head, how could it be called Immortal Drunk?” Yu Mi said.
Even immortals could be knocked flat.
She saw Bao Gu’s body going soft and hurried to catch her, then half-carried, half-cradled her toward the bed.
Bao Gu’s feet left the ground and her dizziness worsened. Yu Mi’s familiar scent curled around her; she nestled into Yu Mi’s arms, resting her head on Yu Mi’s shoulder, eyes closing to rest.
By the time Yu Mi laid her on the bed, Bao Gu was already fast asleep.
She stared at that peacefully sleeping face, dazed.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a long-awaited reunion with dry wood and raging fire?
It felt like she’d just hoisted a rock to drop it squarely on her own foot.
Then she thought again—Bao Gu didn’t seem to have any intention of turning this long-awaited reunion into crackling flames at all. Was this the path of ascetic purity?
Yu Mi zoned out for a long while before finally crawling into bed herself. She lay beside Bao Gu and wrapped an arm around her.
Bao Gu slept soundly and serenely.
Yu Mi, on the other hand, wasn’t drunk. She wasn’t sleepy.
She lay there with Bao Gu for a while. When she realized the night was still long, she carefully tucked the quilts up around Bao Gu, put the wine jar away, and slipped off toward the study.
In the center of the study a large round table had been added. The people seated around it all looked up when they sensed Yu Mi arriving.
Every one of them wore an astonished expression.
Jade Shura stared and asked blankly,
“Why are you here instead of tossing the sheets with Bao Gu? We’re all familiar here—don’t tell me you came over at midnight to play host?”
Qu Yirou looked a bit worried.
“You two didn’t have another fight, did you?”
The Demon Saint asked, “What’s wrong? Bao Gu didn’t come?”
Yu Mi pulled out a chair and sat down. She casually picked up a jade slip.
“She drank a two-thousand-catty jar of Immortal Drunk and passed out,” she said.
She did her best to sound light and unconcerned, but there was no stopping that faint thread of frustration from creeping into her tone. And everyone present was sharp as a razor.
How could Yu Mi’s mood escape them?
The Demon Saint knew Bao Gu only ever let herself get this unguardedly drunk when she was by Yu Mi’s side. She was quite pleased to see Bao Gu this relaxed. She just smiled softly and bent her head over the jade slip again.
Jade Shura, on the other hand, was full of teeth-grinding frustration.
She scooted over to Yu Mi’s side, opened her mouth to speak—but Yu Mi suddenly straightened up.
“The night is long,” Yu Mi said. “Come outside and spar with me.”
A prickle of bad premonition ran through Jade Shura. She looked up at Yu Mi and saw that though Yu Mi’s lips were curved, the smile was anything but kind.
In a flash, Jade Shura darted back to her master’s side.
“No,” she refused righteously. “I have to help my master copy books.”
But in her heart she was baffled.
Did I offend Yu Mi somehow? I didn’t, right?
Zi Yunshu scooted a bit closer to the Demon Saint, dropped her voice, and said,
“A Sheng, Yu Mi looks a bit… frustrated.”
Her “whisper” was quiet, but with everyone’s sharp spiritual senses, every word went in crystal clear.
The Demon Saint didn’t even look up.
“Mhm,” she said. “Why don’t you cook up a bowl of sobering soup and send it to Bao Gu? Remind her of a thing or two while you’re at it?”
Yu Mi lifted her eyes toward Zi Yunshu.
“Little Martial Aunt,” she said, “come outside and spar with me.”
Who was afraid of whom?
Zi Yunshu liked fighting far more than copying books.
“Alright!” she answered cheerfully, and bolted out the door like she was tossing away a hot potato.
The Demon Saint opened her mouth to stop her.
“Shu’er—”
But Yu Mi had already followed her out, and the sound of blows rang out immediately. It was too late to intervene.
The Demon Saint could only swallow the rest of her words. She picked out a bottle of internal injury pills and a bottle of external ointment for Zi Yunshu and then glanced over at Jade Shura.
See how smart Jade Shura was?
Jade Shura kept her head bent, copying diligently, pretending not to notice the Demon Saint’s gaze at all. Her ears, however, twitched ever so slightly, betraying her.
She listened to Yu Mi and Zi Yunshu trading blows outside. It hadn’t even been ten moves when Zi Yunshu let out a yelp.
“Ah—!”
Then another pained howl, like a dragon roaring in agony.
Jade Shura winced. Yu Mi had barely started fighting, and Zi Yunshu had already been pummeled back into her original flood dragon form.
She patted her own chest, full of lingering fear.
Good thing I was quick on the uptake.
Silently, she lit a candle for Zi Yunshu in her heart.
After the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn, a large flood dragon burst back into the study, then instantly shifted into human form and flopped down beside the Demon Saint.
Zi Yunshu held a hand over her face and asked in a muffled voice,
“A Sheng, did she bruise my face?”
Jade Shura glanced up, then hastily ducked her head and carved words into the jade slip with renewed focus.
Qu Yirou looked at Zi Yunshu, then at her own disciple. Her expression went dim and unreadable.
The Demon Saint was speechless.
She took out the healing ointment.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “I’ll put some on and it’ll be fine in a bit.”
Nothing? Her whole face was bruised—eyes and nose swollen.
Drag her in front of her father like this, and he might not even recognize his own daughter.
She finished dabbing ointment over Zi Yunshu’s face and asked,
“No internal injuries?”
“No,” Zi Yunshu answered.
Yu Mi would never hit her hard enough to damage her internally.
The Demon Saint nodded slightly.
“Then copy your books quietly.”
Zi Yunshu murmured an “mm,” then lowered her voice again.
“A Sheng, I can now say for sure Yu Mi is definitely frustrated.”
Having a martial aunt like this, Yu Mi really had no face left to linger in the study. She decisively retreated back to her room.
As she walked, she brooded.
Am I frustrated?
I’m not.
When Bao Gu woke up, she felt Yu Mi’s warmth right beside her. Yu Mi was lying close against her.
Bao Gu lifted an arm and gently circled it around Yu Mi’s waist. She opened her eyes and raised her head.
Yu Mi had her head bowed. She turned slightly toward Bao Gu, a faint smile on her lips.
“Senior Sister,” Bao Gu murmured.
She pillowed her head against Yu Mi’s chest, wrapped in pure ease and contentment.
With Yu Mi there, her sleep was steady and comfortable. She no longer had to endure boundless loneliness all by herself.
She clung greedily to Yu Mi’s waist, unwilling to let go.
Yu Mi let out a soft sigh and lay back down. She hooked a finger under Bao Gu’s chin.
“Last night,” she said quietly, “Little Martial Aunt mocked me for being… frustrated.”
Bao Gu froze.
Then she remembered: she’d drunk a very large jar of wine and then… fallen asleep?
Guilt prickled up. She shrank a little under the quilt and gave Yu Mi a sheepish little smile.
“Um… Senior Sister…”
She took a breath, steadied herself, and said,
“I’ll work really hard!”
Before Yu Mi could react, she suddenly pounced, pressing Yu Mi down beneath her.
Yu Mi was stunned for a moment by this childlike move. Then she saw Bao Gu’s guilty yet ingratiatingly bright grin.
In a flash, she seemed to glimpse the Bao Gu from their childhood.
Her nose stung. Her eyes filled with tears.
Yu Mi clutched Bao Gu tightly.
The tears burst free like a breached dam.
Bao Gu panicked at once.
“Senior Sister, Senior Sister, what’s wrong?” she stammered, flustered and at a total loss.
Yu Mi shook her head and buried her face against that soft mound on Bao Gu’s chest. She hadn’t meant to cry. She had just suddenly felt like something lost had been returned.
She’d found that familiar figure and that familiar smile again.
She rubbed her tears away on the slight rise of Bao Gu’s chest, forcibly swallowing them back. Then she settled into Bao Gu’s arms, hugging her close.
All of a sudden, she realized there was no need to do this or that with Bao Gu at all.
Just holding her like this felt so comfortable. So satisfying.
And so Yu Mi once again confirmed to herself that she was not frustrated.
A long-awaited reunion—no raging flames, no endless talk. Just an embrace, quiet company.
The missing piece in her heart felt like it had been mended, and the pain and emptiness faded away.
Yu Mi suddenly thought—even if she could never cultivate to true immortality, never gain eternal life, as long as she could lie down forever with Bao Gu at her side…
If she had to choose between becoming an immortal and sleeping eternally with Bao Gu, she would choose Bao Gu without a moment’s hesitation.
She finally understood what it meant to “envy only mandarin ducks, not immortals.”
And she also realized with a touch of self-mockery that she could be pretty much a little woman sometimes.
Like now, curled up in Bao Gu’s arms, feeling so safe.
The thought made her feel a bit ashamed. She shrank down a little, her face going scarlet again.
Bao Gu saw her wriggling, bashful manner, noticed those small movements, and thought of what Yu Mi had said earlier.
Naturally, she misunderstood.
Soft, scattered kisses fell on Yu Mi’s forehead, her neck, her collarbone, then trailed slowly downward…
In the study.
The sun was already dipping west, and the book-copying group still hadn’t finished. Yu Mi hadn’t shown her face since returning to her room last night. Their door had stayed tightly shut.
Jade Shura asked Zi Yunshu,
“So… think Bao Gu’s sobered up yet?”
Zi Yunshu glanced at the Demon Saint.
The Demon Saint didn’t look up.
Zi Yunshu just kept staring.
The Demon Saint sighed inwardly.
“She probably sobered up a long time ago,” she said.
Given Bao Gu’s current cultivation, no matter how strong the wine, the drunkenness should’ve dispersed quickly.
Jade Shura and Zi Yunshu both drew out a long, meaningful:
“Oooh—”
After that drawn-out “oh,” Jade Shura added to Zi Yunshu,
“You don’t have to worry about getting your face beaten to a pulp by a frustrated Yu Mi anymore.”
Zi Yunshu set down her carving knife and squinted at Jade Shura.
“I get the feeling Yu Mi wanted to beat you up just now, actually,” she said.
Jade Shura hurried to protest.
“It was clearly you who mocked her. I didn’t offend Yu Mi at all. I didn’t provoke her either.”
Zi Yunshu thought about it and decided that was true. She nodded lightly, then bit down on her lower lip, eyes flashing.
“Her wings have gotten hard, she’s turning the heavens upside down. Dares to bruise my face and doesn’t even remember who raised her!”
Jade Shura nodded vigorously in agreement.
“Exactly. Make her kneel on a washboard later.”
Zi Yunshu rolled her eyes at her.
“You have a washboard at home?” she asked.
Jade Shura paused. Right. You could search the entire cultivation world and probably not find a single washboard.
“Then what do you think we should make Yu Mi kneel on?” she asked. “Why don’t you refine a washboard artifact? I’ll pay for the materials!”
The Demon Saint and Qu Yirou exchanged helpless looks. Together with Si Ruo—who had been burying her head in her copying this whole time, deaf to all outside nonsense—they split up the remaining jade slips and books and each dragged their own people off to a different room to continue copying.
