Chapter 683 - 678: The Hope You're Looking For
Noticing the excited light of realization dawn inside the eyes of the man before her, the beautiful woman leaned back slightly against the bed, her large, exceptionally tantalizing bosom bounced slightly, and revealed a small smile. However, within her lightly pink-colored eyes were a wisp of indistinguishable pity and disgust.
Her deliberate movements accentuated her body's exquisite curves and brought to the forefront her alluring features. She waited for Wei Wuyin to hastily disrobe himself in an attempt to find his happy, enjoyable ending to this scenario.
Like all the others.
"…"
Several seconds of silence ensued.
There was a distinct air in the room developing, an air that was brought about by a strange sequence of unexpected inaction. The beautiful woman's slim eyebrows faintly furrowed. She hadn't expected this silver-eyed man to remain frozen in place, staring at her with a bright, intrigued gaze.
"Are you worried I'll bite? Or is it that your 'thing' isn't as impressive as your face?" She spoke out, teasing the man before her with a glance at his groin. Her implication and teasing voice could provoke most men, especially since this beautiful woman was actively inviting all comers with every last movement.
Men and women, especially talented, handsome, and high-leveled cultivators, were all prideful figures. Oftentimes, when something of theirs is brought into question, they would jump at the chance to prove the other wrong. She had used this very simple trick to force many men to hop over to her with drooling tongues and provocative sneers, declaring their willingness to show her otherwise.
But as the silence from the man before her continued, the beautiful woman found herself unsure. Could it be that the man before her lost his soul after seeing her? Some would say they fell in love with her at first sight despite being captives, believing that they'll escape this dastardly place. They would spout nonsense.
Idyllic and hopeful idiots, all of them.
She added, "how unfortunate." She gave one last glance at his groin and sat slightly up as if disappointed at the silver-eyed man's inability. Her trick furthered, she waited for the inevitable fish to bite the lure. However, the silver-eyed man stayed quiet, observing her with a faint, interested smile. Her heart raced slightly.
'How can someone be so attractive? No wonder they sent him to me, he must've cultivated a powerful Yang-attributed Cultivation Method. But…he doesn't seem like the others. There's no explosiveness to his looks, just a unique grace. It's far more natural. I can't even see the lines of falsity outlined on his face.' Her thoughts swirled, causing her to lose sight of her purpose slightly.
The lines of falsity were a unique physical manifestation brought about by the gradual change of a person's appearance through certain beautification methods. Many females and males sought to have better physical appearances, so they would resort to altering themselves to an ideal version through artificial facial and body reconstruction. These operations would lead to lines of falsity, faint areas of natural inconsistency due to the body's repeated attempts to regain its original appearance and the method's continuous exertion to suppress it.
If a cultivator used this type of method, lost their bodies, and it was reconstructed, their original appearance would take shape rather than their altered appearance.
Quite a few vain cultivators resorted to such methods to elevate their appearances. But this silver-eyed man had none of it. She had doubts whether he even cultivated a yang-attributed method. 'It truly is a pity.'
Her thoughts aside, the silence continued. The silver-eyed man before her took no action, just observing her with that interested smile. After this continued for nearly a full minute, an air of awkwardness started to form. She was at a loss. It's not as if the man's a mute, he had just spoken, and he didn't seem to have any outright deficient yang aura, so he certainly wasn't unable, yet he remained where he was.
Was she not attractive enough to lure a hot-blooded youth? From his life aura that he released, he wasn't old.
Suddenly, the silver-eyed man moved and the tension finally shattered. She faintly smiled, regaining her confidence. But he didn't stroll over; instead, he turned to the numerous paintings that depicted an artistic uniqueness of calamities in action.
He waltzed over, using his hands to sift through his dark hair. "You painted these?"
The beautiful woman was so taken aback by the question that a topic she would normally avoid slipped out of her mouth in an unconscious reply: "I did." After speaking, she furrowed her brows.
"They're incredible," the silver-eyed man remarked. He finished sorting his hair, regaining a little bit of its volume and luster.
The beautiful woman grew impatient, a tad frustrated. She didn't like his compliments. To her, these paintings were…
"But they're also sad—limited. The lady of elegance, forced to watch the flames engulf the forest with a tool that only had hope, hope for rain to end her suffering."
"…!" The beautiful woman's expression changed on the spot, distorted by shock.
The silver-eyed man continued, "Or the fish that helplessly flailed to beg the sun to return its home, trying to survive off the small puddles that remained. Only an artist that knew suffering, knew what it meant to be trapped without an escape could paint this. Could paint any of these. An artist that lacks hope despite their means."
The beautiful woman frowned, her eyes released a forlorn look, but her expression soon returned to normal after the silver-eyed man's last words. It didn't resonate with her.
"No," the silver-eyed man continued, reaching out to the burning forest painting but not touching its edges, just hovering, "there's hope here. A strong hope, in fact. The strongest form of hope placed within each brush stroke." After hearing this the beautiful woman's slender fingers clenched her sheets, agitated by those words.
"Enough!" The beautiful woman softly exclaimed, her voice that was smooth as silk became faintly harsh. She didn't stand, merely ordered: "Remove your clothes and come, or I'll do it myself." A faint pressure was released from her. The pressure exerted was unseen by mortal eyes, a form of pressure only belonging to beings who've properly ascended.
"Why?"
She realized the man was looking at her, no, seeing through her as he asked, his eyes bright and mysterious. Her pressure seemed to have very little effect on him, shocking her as his cultivation base was merely at the Astral Core Realm, and the sixth stage of it at that.
The silver-eyed man before her gave her a glance, from top to bottom without restraint, "You act as if you want it, but can your virgin body handle it?"
"…!" The beautiful woman jolted into standing position. Her eyes widened, then became incomparably sharp. Her aura seethed, causing the air within the room to become wild. "Who are you?"
"Me? Just someone that can see your hunger," the silver-eyed man chuckled while his robes were buffeted by raging winds.
'Hunger?' It was as if a lightning bolt shot through her mind. This young man who arrived before her like tens of thousands of others was far too strange!
"You're not the one I'm looking for, but I'm interested in you now. So I'll introduce myself: Born from the Wei Clan of Red Dove City, I was given the name Wuyin by my parents before heaven and earth." With those eloquently put words, he bowed slightly in greeting.
"And you?"
"…" The beautiful woman fixated her light-pink eyes on Wei Wuyin's figure. She repeated his name in her mind several times, but it didn't ring any bells with those established or reclusive figures. There wasn't even a prestigious Wei Clan in the Ninestar Starfield. Unable to find any irregularities with his aura, she knew he was certainly a Gravity Emission Phase cultivator. This was an indisputable fact.
A mere mortal couldn't evade her senses!
"Yue Songli…" She didn't know why, but she gave her name. Even her exuded pressure settled down.
Wei Wuyin lifted himself from his slight courteous bow, inspecting the room with a renewed vigor. "Such a well-built cage, even an Ascended is unable to escape."
Yue Songli's exquisite brows twitched. She let Wei Wuyin walk around the room, looking at the opulent design, even inspecting the sheets. She blushed slightly when he touched it. No man has ever gotten close enough to touch them, but her curiosity prevented her from acting as usual.
Wei Wuyin got close to her, only a few feet away, giving her a look. "So what's your job here? Extracting yang energies?"
"…" She didn't answer.
Wei Wuyin backed away slightly, "So this organization doesn't use formations to do it? I guess it is more effective using cultivators suited for it. Potent yin can attract and extract weaker yang, vice versa. Your cultivation method must be quite unique to extract yang energies without intercourse. I've only heard of certain formations or tools, but the purity is heavily damaged or the energy extraction losses are far too high. Yours shouldn't be too far off from those."
As if vexed by Wei Wuyin's inaccurate statement, she pointed at Wei Wuyin. Her index fingertip emitted a faint pink light, a mist formed and shot towards Wei Wuyin. Before he could react, it entered his body and left with a mote of light with a golden hue in tow.
Wei Wuyin allowed all this to happen, curious. When the pink mist entered his body, instinctively, his Astral Souls were about to release their strongest means to obliterate it, but he held them back.
He saw the golden mote was a minuscule portion of his innate yang energies. It didn't originate from his Primal Yang, the source of his yang energies, containing his yang quintessence, but from his muscles instead. As for the process, it wasn't painful, more like a slight discomforting prick. However, this might be due to his own pain tolerance or strong body.
Wei Wuyin was amazed, never knowing there was a way to extract yang energies from flesh, giving a nod of astonished acceptance. There were boundless methods beneath the heavens and earth. Then, he looked at the floor. "You can't use your cultivation or abilities beyond a certain distance? A safeguard placed for the others who take care of your needs? Is that why you tried so hard to lure me over here?"
"…" Yue Songli remained totally silent. Wei Wuyin was in range, so she could suck him entirely dry if she wanted, especially since he was a mere mortal. But his earlier words and calm demeanor caused her immense hesitation.
She maneuvered her finger and the pink mist returned to her, when she did, she glanced at it and her eyes explosively widened. Her eyes sharply moved to Wei Wuyin. "This…"
Wei Wuyin gave her a faint smile. A cultivator's Primal Yang and Primal Yin are refined by the qualities of one's cultivation base. The stronger the cultivator, the higher quality their yin and yang energies became. The greater their physical, mental, essence, and spiritual energies, the purer, denser, and stronger the yin or yang energies emitted. While the quantity doesn't change much, the quality does.
The aspect of quantity was why Na Xinyi, who possessed multiple Primal Yins, was so valuable as a dual cultivation partner. Furthermore, they link together, strengthening their purity and quality beyond her cultivation base.
Even at the Foundation Establishment Realm, Na Xinyi's yin energies rivaled those at the Yin Form Phase, the fourth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. Wei Wuyin had used only one of her primal yin to rise to the Yin Form Phase, proof of her extraordinary physique.
As for him, was there even a reason to delve into why his yang energies was impressive?
"Who are you?!" Yue Songli no longer stayed quiet. While she already asked this before, the meaning behind this was different.
Wei Wuyin brightly grinned, without any fear, he stared into her enchantress eyes and declared: "I'm the hope you're looking for."