Chapter 1099: Cultivating in His Sleep
Zu An was stunned. The capital’s former number one beauty was lying within the covers, and she was calling him over bashfully to sleep with her. Which man in this world could resist such a temptation?
Yu Yanluo quickly explained when she saw his strange expression, “Do not think any random thoughts. I am only saying this because you have worked hard for an entire day, and you are still injured too. You have also used up so much energy helping me, so you need to rest. Sleeping on the bed would at least allow you to rest a bit better.”
Only then did Zu An sigh in relief. Even though he was narcissistic, it wasn’t to the point that he believed others would throw themselves at him just like that. He chuckled, then began to strip down, saying, “Then I’ll have to thank the madam.”
Yu Yanluo began to panic when she saw him remove his clothing near the window. At the same time, she was regretting her decision. Why did I have to invite him over just now? Her voice trembled as she murmured, “Why did you not refuse even once…” If he had refused her, she could still use that chance to take back her invitation.
“Refuse?” Zu An exclaimed, stunned. “Could it be that madam doesn’t actually want me to agree?”
Yu Yanluo was a bit at a loss for words. Zu An had saved her several times, and he was only so exhausted and worn out because he had worked so hard to treat her. How could she just let him sit on a chair for the entire night? She bit her lip, then gently shook her head in the end, saying, “Of course not.”
Zu An smiled and didn’t say anything. He then took off his pants too.
Yu Yanluo looked away as she blushed. Good thing he is not going to go so far as to take everything off. Zu An was about to get in bed, but she quickly stopped him. Under his shocked gaze, she hesitated and said, “You should recover your original appearance, or else I will feel really awkward.”
Zu An laughed and said, “I changed into the duke’s appearance because I was worried that the people from the manor might find out.” As he spoke, however, he returned to his original appearance. Yu Yanluo sighed with relief, and also retracted her hand.
Zu An had a strange expression as he thought, This woman wouldn’t let me get in bed with the appearance of her husband, and instead let me in. Why does this feel so weird?
The bed sank a bit, and Yu Yanluo knew that Zu An had gotten on the bed. She moved aside to give him some space, but said, “Just to make this clear, you cannot do anything disrespectful at night. Also, you have to find your own covers.” She immediately wrapped the entire blanket around herself, scared that Zu An might just get into her covers.
Zu An was starting to get a headache. He asked, “How am I supposed to get covers in this kind of situation? Do you want me to go outside and ask for them? Won’t that just completely expose our relationship?”
Yu Yanluo turned around. There was an ambiguous smile in her eyes as she said, “You are a bad person; I do not trust you.”
Zu An was dissatisfied as he replied, “I’m a bad person? Then I wouldn’t have gone through all that effort to help you get rid of the poison’s effects and would instead have used my body to do it.”
Yu Yanluo’s face turned red when she remembered the intimacy of that process. It was not even that different from really doing it… But she had to give him credit for that. She said, “You were indeed a gentleman in that matter, but you are thinking naughty things right now.”
Zu An was stunned. Yu Yanluo sighed and said, “You even have clothes in your storage pouch, and you told me that you had prepared all types of essential goods. I refuse to believe that you do not have covers.”
Zu An was speechless. Why the hell did I kick myself in the foot?! I wouldn’t have bragged about that to her if I knew it would be like this.
He was about to deny it, but when he saw the clear expression in her eyes, he was too embarrassed to lie. He could only take out some covers and lie down, looking depressed. Yu Yanluo grinned when she saw his dejected state, feeling quite proud of herself.
Zu An lay down. His ears were a bit itchy for some reason. When he turned around, he saw that Yu Yanluo’s hair had scattered off to the side. Her hair was soft and sleek, giving off a faint fragrance. Zu An couldn't help but reach out and twirl a bundle of her hair.
Yu Yanluo’s breath quickened. She said in alarm, “I am too tired, so I am going to sleep. You should rest early too.” She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, but her trembling eyelashes sold her out.
Zu An chuckled. This woman was always surrounded by all sorts of men, and had fooled all of them. She always gave off a calm and unhurried demeanor, making them feel as if she were neither close nor distant. But now, she didn’t seem all that unreachable anymore.
From the dating sims he had played, he knew it was the best time to farm points with her. If he was too impatient and crossed the line, it would instead make her attitude toward him plummet.
He had his own affairs to take care of, so he laughed and said with a smile, “Goodnight, madam.”
He closed his eyes and began to cultivate using the method Mi Li had passed onto him. He thought, Right, Mi Li seemed to have said that she could cultivate even in her sleep. If she can do it, there’s no reason why I can’t!
As such, he began to try her method. Unfortunately, the more he relaxed and cleared his mind, the more random thoughts came in, disturbing his meditation. All of his attempts ended in failure. Out of helplessness, he could only give up. Is my aptitude really inferior to hers? I guess it makes sense. There were probably many people with transcendent aptitude back in her age.
He didn’t let it bother him too much and stopped thinking about it. Seeing as his thoughts were messy, he didn’t force himself to cultivate. Instead, he began to count sheep.
One sheep, two sheep, three sheep…
He didn’t count them in a simple way, but rather clearly visualized every single sheep that passed by. Some were cute little sheep, and some were mischievous big black sheep.
Whenever he counted a sheep, it would then return to its pen. The big black sheep that were naughty were put in another pen, and he gave them a kick.
Sure enough, by the time he counted up to seventy or eighty, he unknowingly fell asleep.
…
Huh? I’m asleep, right?
But why is my consciousness still clear?
There was nothing else for him to do, so he tried to meditate. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that his soul really did start to slowly grow stronger.
My aptitude wasn’t inferior after all! The next time I see her, I’ll be sure to tell her that her method really is great.
If Mi Li had been awake, she would be completely flabbergasted by such a thing. She didn’t even know such a sleep meditation method herself. She had just said what she said to show off. Never would she have thought that with Zu An’s transcendent aptitude, he would actually somehow succeed!
After doing it for some time, Zu An got used to the meditation method, but he wasn’t satisfied with it alone.
Didn’t Mi Li release Old Mi’s leftover cultivation and soul fragments? I’ll just use this chance to refine it all away.
If other cultivators knew what he was doing, they might just curse him for courting death. After all, tempering the soul was something only those at the master rank could do. Only when the body was strong enough could it protect the weak soul. Trying to cultivate the soul before reaching the master rank was equivalent to courting death for most cultivators.
Zu An was relying on his strong body and ki reserves that far surpassed others of his level in order to barely be able to train his soul. But he hadn’t reached the proper cultivation rank, so he was still taking a huge risk.
And yet, he wasn’t using a seclusion room to do so, and no one was watching over him. Instead, he was choosing to condense his own soul in his sleep? And he chose to do it while sleeping in the same bed as the capital’s number one beauty?
How could any normal man resist such a tremendous temptation? Wasn’t this just willingly letting himself be destroyed? The final trial of soul condensation wasn’t something that permitted the slightest bit of distraction!
But Zu An wasn’t someone from this world. He didn’t know a lot of common cultivation knowledge. As such, he decided to just try it.
Yu Yanluo had thought that Zu An would find a reason to get closer to her. She had been a bit distressed, wondering how she was going to refuse him. If it were anyone else, she wouldn’t feel such a headache at all. She was more than proficient in rejecting men.
But this guy was completely different from other men. She didn’t want him to feel hurt or discouraged from her rejection, worrying that it might ruin their relationship. Of course, if it had been any other man, there was no way she would have let anyone else sleep in the same bed as her anyway.
But even though she was conflicted for so long, Zu An didn’t do a thing. She couldn't help but secretly open her eyes a crack, looking at the man beside her.
“He fell asleep?” Yu Yanluo exclaimed, stunned. After all, she had experienced too many underhanded methods from other men, so her first thought was that he was pretending to fall asleep, that he was doing so to gain her favor.
But she was a cultivator. She quickly discerned that he really was asleep. Now, it was her turn to question life. She subconsciously rubbed her own cheeks, thinking, Do not tell me I am so worn out I have already lost all of my charm?
But she quickly laughed at her own behavior. When had she suddenly become like a young lady, worrying about such things?
She turned around to face Zu An. This was the first time she’d had a chance to carefully examine his face. She looked at his handsome face that looked as if it had been carved out of stone. This brat is pretty handsome.
She recalled the young man she had met back then on Brightmoon City’s outskirts. At the time, he had vowed that he was going to become her man. Of course, he had still been so weak back then, so she hadn’t treated such ‘bold and visionary’ words as a big deal.
But the whims of fate loved to toy with people. Now, she had actually ended up sleeping with that young man in the same bed. When she realized that, a blush filled her cheeks, making her look even more charming and moving.
Suddenly, Zu An appeared to be having a nightmare. He suddenly groaned in pain.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Yanluo exclaimed, jumping in fright. She quickly moved over to check his condition.
She had never expected Zu An would reach out and grab her.
“Ah!” Yu Yanluo’s bashful and angry cry echoed through the room.