Off Track

The moonlight was clear and bright, shining through the window into the room, illuminating the bed sheets and blankets in a pristine white glow.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, the door was violently thrown open from the outside. A beautiful woman with a tall, graceful figure entered, carrying a handsome young man in her arms. Her face was cold as frost, but her eyes burned with intensity. With a surge of energy, she slammed the door shut behind her.

In the pure moonlight, she carried him to the bed and tossed him onto it, blocking out the light. The moonbeams now fell upon him instead.

Not giving him time to react, she swiftly straddled him, pinning him down to prevent any escape.

In the cool moonlight, her beauty surpassed that of flowers, the snow-white glow making her even more enchanting. There was a kind of cold yet passionate beauty to their tableau in the moonlight.

"Li Shiyin! Stop this at once!" the man beneath her cried out, trying to halt the impending violation.

But the unruly disciple paid him no heed. She reached out, using the moonlight streaming through the window to undo his belt. He could only raise his hands to try and stop her actions.

The two Golden Core Cultivators engaged in an intense struggle over the waistband using only their physical strength. In the end, the master prevailed due to having reached the Golden Core stage a few years earlier, giving him greater bodily power. He managed to grab hold of his disciple's wrists.

Holding both her wrists, he lay on his back, looking up at the rebellious disciple straddling him. The moonlight cast half her face in cool light and half in shadow, making her appear like a demonic cultivator who had fallen to darkness. He berated her, "Haven't you had enough of this nonsense?!"

The disciple's face remained expressionless. Seeing that her hands were restrained and her struggles fruitless, she raised her eyes to glare at her master, then let out a cold snort. Suddenly, a flash of sword intent gleamed in her eyes.

"Swoosh!"

A sharp sword energy darted through the narrow bedroom.

The master was stunned for a moment before realizing what had happened. He looked down at himself to see the clothes on his body sliding off in pieces. Each fragment of fabric had been cut with perfect precision by the sword energy.

The cloth fragments, propelled by the air disturbed by the sword energy, danced about the bedroom in the moonlight like flower petals or snowflakes.

The master never imagined his disciple would fight so dirty, resorting to sword energy when overpowered... and third-level sword energy at that.

"Have you gone mad?!" he shouted.

The disciple snorted coldly and asked in an icy tone, "You're clearly aroused, so why do you keep pretending to be so clearheaded?"

With his clothes gone and nothing left to hide behind, the master was at a loss for words. He awkwardly turned his head to the side.

The disciple, following techniques her sister-in-law had taught her, leaned down to kiss her master, but he turned his head away, denying her.

So she kissed his cheek instead.

As she continued kissing him, she suddenly noticed a tear sliding down her master's face.

She paused, sitting up to see that her master was indeed crying pitifully.

A manly man shedding tears was truly heart-wrenching... but she only smiled wickedly and sneered, "Go ahead and cry. You can scream too. Let's see if any female hero comes to save you!"

With that, she leaned down again and licked the tears from his face with the tip of her tongue.

"Tsk, how bitter!" she remarked.

Seeing that even this act wouldn't work, the master knew there was no escaping his fate today - he was done for.

So be it...

"Close the window and curtains," he sighed, completely resigned to his fate. He added, "And activate the sound barrier array..."

In the moonlight, the Sword Immortal on the bed smiled triumphantly. She patted the Alchemist's face, gloating, "See how much easier it is when you just cooperate? Did you really think an alchemist like you could escape the clutches of a sword cultivator like me?"

With that, she waved her hand, using sword energy to shred her own clothes as well. The fragments scattered like snowflakes. Another surge of magical energy drew the curtains closed, hiding the intimate scene within.

The Alchemist beneath her quietly activated his powers, turning on the array formations in the bedroom to block all sound and spiritual sense from escaping to the outside world.

But just before the array fully activated, the Sword Immortal could be heard asking naively, "Master, where exactly is it? How do I get it in?"

And the Alchemist's mocking laughter in response: "Weren't you so cocky earlier? Figure it out yourself..."

But what transpired after that, with the curtains drawn and all sound, aura, and spiritual sense blocked, outsiders could only guess.

Some hints could be gleaned from subtle changes, however. For instance, the small wooden cabin on Dan Peak shook rhythmically all night long, shattering many of its roof tiles. The mother and son, Yu Chi Zhen and Li An, sleeping in the next room were kept awake all night by the noise, with Li An crying incessantly. The branches and leaves of the old locust tree outside the window kept swaying without any wind. Even the moon in the sky seemed inexplicably shy, pulling a cloud over to hide its blushing face.

Beneath the Devouring Demon Willow tree, a group of children were having a serious academic discussion.

Chasing the Wind sat leaning against the Devouring Demon Willow like a person, his tiger brows furrowed in concentration. Moonlight filtered through the willow branches, dappling his face and lending him an air of profundity and mystery.

He looked at the small wooden cabin shaking with a steady rhythm in the distance. Stroking his chin with a tiger paw, he asked in a low, rumbling voice, "If Li Shiyin and Dad are fighting, who should I help?"

Long Qiqi, perched on his left shoulder, watched the roof tiles dancing on the eaves. As she watched, one tile danced its way right off the roof.

"Crack!" A crisp sound rang out in the moonlight.

She explained, "According to North Chu laws, there's a mandatory legal relationship between father and son, but not between friends. If your dad gets into a fight - no, I mean if your dad is in danger and you don't help him, you'd be breaking the law and could go to jail. But there's no such obligation to help between friends.

"North Chu governs through filial piety and righteousness, so you should help your dad."

"Oh, I see!" Chasing the Wind nodded in understanding.

Liu Xiaoji, floating above Chasing the Wind's head, quivered and spoke in a trembling young boy's voice. He curiously asked Chasing the Wind, "Then why haven't you gone to help yet?"

"You think I'm really that stupid?" Chasing the Wind looked up at Liu Xiaoji. "I know what they're doing. When I was a divine beast in Wuyi City, people often prayed to me for things like having children, maintaining virility, or a night of passion - you know, that stuff between men and women! But they were asking the wrong deity. I'm still a child myself, without even a wife. How could I bless them with children?"

He noticed Liu Xiaoji was shaking and asked curiously, "Hey, why are you trembling? Are you sick?"

"My main body is shaking. What can I do about it?" Liu Xiaoji replied helplessly.

Chasing the Wind turned around to find that the Devouring Demon Willow he was leaning against was indeed quivering non-stop.

"Golden Core Cultivators, truly terrifying!" Zhang Junyi, sitting next to Chasing the Wind's right side, shook his head repeatedly in awe as he felt the ground trembling.

"You're just a little brat. What do you know?" Chasing the Wind scoffed upon hearing this.

Zhang Junyi answered seriously, "Uncle Chasing the Wind, I may be young, but I've experienced a lot. When I was wandering in the mortal world, I saw all kinds of things. It's just consummation, how could I not understand?"

"Hmph!" Chasing the Wind snorted disdainfully. "No wonder your cultivation is so slow, with your mind full of such things. Let me tell you, cultivators must sever all emotional ties to advance. Women can only slow down your claw speed."

Zhang Junyi opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but thinking of that figure in white robes, he fell silent. Because that woman truly had affected him.

"Smack!"

Suddenly, Long Qiqi slapped Chasing the Wind, saying, "Who are you to teach my disciple?!"

Chasing the Wind glanced at her, not bothering to respond. This great tiger wouldn't quarrel with a little snake... mainly because he was afraid he might accidentally kill her with one swipe of his paw.

"You'd better worry about yourself..." Long Qiqi sneered. "Tomorrow when Li Shiyin comes out of your dad's room, are you going to call her 'mom' or 'mother'?"

"What's the big deal?" Chasing the Wind grumbled, unconcerned. "In the cultivation world, everyone minds their own business. Why bother with such formalities? Li Shiyin is Li Shiyin, Dad is Dad. What's the problem?"

"Hah!" Long Qiqi folded her arms and tilted her head to one side.

Whether it was Yu Chi Zhen and her son in Li Shiyin's room, or the four little ones under the Devouring Demon Willow, or Tushan Youyou in her cave dwelling on the back mountain, none could find peace that night.

After all, Golden Core Cultivators were truly terrifying.