Love to the Extreme, Madness to the Extreme

"Alright," Ye Xuan suddenly nodded, his face full of smiles. "I also desire for Senior Sister to bear me a child."

This sudden obedience made Xia Lengyue zone out for a moment.

But soon, wild ecstasy drowned out her rationality.

"Husband... Husband..."

Like a child who had just received candy, or a wild beast starved for three days, her movements were so urgent they bordered on rough. Her hands roamed over Ye Xuan's body, not missing a single inch of skin, wishing she could devour this man right then and there, thoroughly marking him as her own.

Ye Xuan closed his eyes, his hands wrapping around Xia Lengyue's waist. He appeared to be catering to her, but in reality, the spiritual energy within his body was frantically reversing.

The Five Elements Chaos Sutra was an extremely overbearing cultivation method.

The five elements generated one another, producing life endlessly.

But what if... the five elements clashed?

With a thought, Ye Xuan forcefully manipulated the water and fire energies within his body, making them violently collide above his dantian!

Boom!

It was an agonizing pain, as if his internal organs were being shredded to pieces.

Just at the exact moment Xia Lengyue was about to take the final step and completely possess him.

"Pfft!"

Without any warning.

A mouthful of boiling hot blood wildly sprayed from Ye Xuan's mouth!

This mouthful of blood wasn't an act; it was genuine heart-blood.

The bright red blood, like a mournfully beautiful spider lily, instantly dyed Xia Lengyue's snow-white chest red and splattered all over her face.

Warm, metallic, and sweet.

Xia Lengyue entirely froze.

The lust in her eyes instantly faded, replaced by extreme terror.

"Husband?"

She lifted her head in panic.

She saw Ye Xuan beneath her, his face as pale as gold paper, his breath as weak as a gossamer thread.

His body was violently convulsing. The spiritual energy in his body was like a runaway wild horse, rampaging through his meridians. Under his skin, one could even see streams of dark blue and black currents frantically darting around.

"It hurts..."

Ye Xuan gripped the bedsheets tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. He looked at Xia Lengyue, his eyes filled with pain, unwillingness, and deep guilt:

"Senior Sister... I can't..."

"My body... feels like it's going to explode..."

"Husband! Don't scare me! What's wrong with you?!"

Xia Lengyue was frightened out of her wits. She hurriedly channeled her spiritual energy, wanting to probe Ye Xuan's body.

However, the moment her spiritual energy entered Ye Xuan's body, it was ruthlessly repelled by that chaotic power of the five elements!

"Is this... spiritual energy backlash? Qi deviation?"

Xia Lengyue's face turned deathly pale.

How could this happen? He was perfectly fine just a moment ago!

"It's... because..."

Ye Xuan coughed up blood while struggling to squeeze out a few words, his voice intermittent as if he would stop breathing the next second:

"It's because... pure Yang..."

"The Five Elements Chaos Sutra... is exceptionally overbearing... Before forming the Golden Core... the five elements are unstable..."

"Once my virginity is broken... my primal Yang leaks... the five elements lose their balance... and it will result in... my body exploding and dying..."

Speaking the last few words, Ye Xuan spat out another mouthful of fresh blood, his body stiffened, and he passed out directly.

"No!"

Xia Lengyue let out a shrill, mournful scream.

She hugged the unconscious Ye Xuan, no longer caring about any child, not even caring about her disheveled clothes. She frantically pulled out various life-saving pills from her storage ring, stuffing them into Ye Xuan's mouth as if they cost nothing.

"I won't do it! I won't do it!"

"Husband, don't die! I don't want a child anymore! I just want you to live!"

"I beg you... please don't leave me..."

At this moment, how could Xia Lengyue retain even the slightest bit of her previous overbearing demeanor of wanting to forcefully possess him?

She trembled, her tears mixing with Ye Xuan's blood flowing down her face.

Fear.

An unprecedented fear gripped her heart.

She feared neither heaven nor earth, not even death. But she only feared... losing him again.

In her previous life, she had watched helplessly as he died right in front of her.

In this life, if she caused his death again because of her own desires...

Then she would truly go mad.

Completely and utterly insane.

Three days later.

Ye Xuan finally woke up.

Although this bitter flesh trick came at a heavy price, with his meridians severely damaged and requiring at least half a month of recuperation, the effect was remarkable.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Xia Lengyue guarding by his bed. She had lost a significant amount of weight, her eye sockets were sunken, and she looked haggard.

Seeing Ye Xuan wake up, the medicine bowl in Xia Lengyue's hands fell to the ground with a smack.

"You're awake... you're finally awake..."

She wanted to throw herself at him and hug him, but she didn't dare to touch him, afraid of triggering another backlash.

Ye Xuan looked at her cautious appearance, and the trace of pain in his heart from his self-mutilation finally found a bit of balance.

"Senior Sister..."

He weakly reached out his hand, revealing a pale yet warm smile:

"I'm sorry... I made you worry."

"I... actually wanted to push through that day..."

"I wanted to give you a child... even if it meant death..."

"Stop talking!"

Xia Lengyue abruptly covered his mouth, tears bursting from her eyes.

She shook her head desperately, her eyes full of lingering fear and self-blame:

"We won't have one! We won't have a child!"

"What child, what bloodline, I don't want any of it!"

"I just want you to live well... As long as you can stay by my side, I don't care even if we never have children for the rest of our lives!"

She held Ye Xuan's hand, pressing it against her cheek, her voice trembling:

"Husband, remember this."

"From now on, until you reach the Golden Core stage... no, until you are absolutely certain, you must never break your celibacy!"

"If anyone dares to force you, I'll kill them! Even if it's myself... no one can!"

Watching Xia Lengyue swear oaths like this, Ye Xuan lowered his eyes, concealing the deep exhaustion and coldness in his gaze.

He won the gamble.

Golden Core stage.

This was the final protective talisman he had fought for himself, and also the final buffer period.

As long as he didn't form his core, he would remain pure.

As long as he didn't form his core, Xia Lengyue wouldn't dare touch him.

But...

Ye Xuan didn't feel much joy in his heart.

Because he knew very well that while this lie temporarily preserved his innocence, it also placed an even heavier shackle upon him.

"Golden Core..."

Ye Xuan smiled bitterly in his heart.

In the cultivation world, the step from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core was a heavenly chasm.

How many amazingly talented individuals spent their entire lives stuck in the False Core realm, unable to take that final step.

And the Five Elements Chaos Sutra he cultivated, although an ancient divine art with boundless power, consumed resources like a bottomless pit.

An ordinary cultivator breaking through a minor realm in Foundation Establishment might need a hundred mid-grade spirit stones.

But he needed ten thousand!

And top-grade at that!

Not to mention breaking through a major bottleneck like the Golden Core. The resources required for that would probably not be enough even if the current Azure Cloud Sect were sold off.

"I must endure."

Ye Xuan closed his eyes, feeling the five elements spiritual energy within his body, which, although damaged, still retained its foundation.

"Without Xia Lengyue, I can't move a single step."

"This life of living off a woman... I not only have to accept it, but I must force myself to swallow it while on my knees."

"Until... the day I truly transform into a dragon."

Time flew by like a white horse flashing past a crevice.

In the blink of an eye, two more years passed.

In these two years, Ye Xuan's life became extremely regular and extremely dull.

Cultivate, act, pop pills, and cultivate again.

As if to make up for her mistake that day, Xia Lengyue's doting on Ye Xuan reached an outrageous level.

The storehouse of Lengyue Peak was thrown completely open to him.

All kinds of rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures flowed into Ye Xuan's cultivation chamber like water.

Millennium spiritual milk was drunk like plain water.

Tier-five monster cores were eaten like jelly beans.

Even the Spirit Gathering Array Disk that the Sect Master himself was reluctant to use was snatched by Xia Lengyue just for Ye Xuan to sit on.

However.

Even with such a reckless piling of resources, the growth of Ye Xuan's cultivation began to slow down more and more.

It was so slow that it made one panic.

Inside the cultivation chamber.

Ye Xuan looked at the pile of supreme-grade spirit stones before him that had lost their spiritual energy and turned to ash, his face so gloomy it looked as if water could drip from it.

Failed again.

A full thirty thousand supreme-grade spirit stones, plus ten Barrier-Breaking Pills, and yet the bottleneck to the late Foundation Establishment stage hasn't loosened in the slightest!

If it were an ordinary cultivator, these resources would be enough for a mortal to charge straight into the Golden Core stage!

But for Ye Xuan, it was like pouring a cup of water into the Sahara Desert; it didn't even make a splash.

This was the price of a Five Elements Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

Invincible among peers, slaughtering enemies above his realm like butchering dogs.

But advancing in realm was harder than ascending to the heavens.

My dantian... is like a black hole that can never be filled.

Ye Xuan looked inward at his own body.

Within his dantian, the five Dao foundations stood like five towering mountains. Although they were magnificent and majestic, the energy required to make them undergo a qualitative change and condense into a core was simply terrifying.

At this rate...

Let alone ten years... even in fifty or a hundred years, I might not be able to form a core!

Ye Xuan clenched his fists tightly.

He couldn't afford to wait.

Xia Lengyue's patience was limited. Although she said she wouldn't force him, as time went by and she watched his cultivation stagnate, that sense of anxiety would sooner or later return.

Moreover, Bai Qiangu of the Limitless Demon Sect had been making bigger and bigger waves recently.

He heard that she had already expanded her search radius to several areas near the Azure Cloud Sect.

The time left for him was truly running out.

Husband?

Xia Lengyue's voice came from outside the door.

Ye Xuan took a deep breath and instantly adjusted his expression. The gloom and anxiety on his face vanished, replaced by a look of guilt and helplessness.

The door opened.

Xia Lengyue walked in.

She glanced at the pile of spirit stone waste on the floor, then looked at Ye Xuan, whose aura remained stuck at the mid Foundation Establishment stage. A barely noticeable hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes.

But she quickly covered it up, smiling as she walked to Ye Xuan's side and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.

It's alright, Husband.

In matters of cultivation, haste makes waste.

We are not in a hurry, take your time.

Ye Xuan lowered his head, his voice bitter.

Senior Sister... am I completely useless?

You have given me so many resources, so much of your blood, sweat, and tears... but I...

I am just a bottomless pit that can never be filled.

If this continues, I will drag you down.

This was retreating in order to advance.

He had to constantly display his guilt in front of Xia Lengyue to make her feel that he wasn't slacking off, but that it was simply too difficult.

Sure enough.

Hearing these words, the tiny bit of disappointment in Xia Lengyue's heart instantly vanished into thin air.

She hugged Ye Xuan affectionately.

What nonsense are you talking about!

How could Xia Lengyue's man possibly be trash?

You have a Five Elements Heavenly Dao Foundation! It is a physique from ancient legends! It's normal for advancing to be difficult!

This just shows that your potential is massive! It means that once you form your core in the future, you will be number one in the world!

She cupped Ye Xuan's face, her eyes resolute and domineering.

As for resources...

You don't need to worry.

If the Azure Cloud Sect doesn't have enough, I'll go rob other sects.

If the Azure Continent isn't enough, I'll go rob other continents.

As long as it exists in this world, I will get it for you.

I refuse to believe that the entire cultivation world won't be enough to fill this pit of yours!

Ye Xuan looked into her eyes, which were burning with raging ambition.

At this moment.

He felt a complex mix of emotions in his heart.

This woman truly loved him to death, and was also truly mad to the extreme.