"Rihai, I don't know much, but isn't dual cultivation also a type of technique? Why have I never seen one in any of the thousands of techniques I bought? Could it be that dual cultivation techniques are higher-level and don't exist in low-level manuals?" Aotian asked, confused and curious.
Rihai's face couldn't help but turn red at his question. She was still a virgin and inexperienced, and talking about such things made her shy.
But even so, with her face flushed, she answered:
"W-Well… it's not anything high-level. Actually, it's quite low-level, a-and everyone knows how to do it, you don't need a manual?" she stammered slightly and, in the end, even ended up confusing herself, asking instead of asserting.
"Uh? What do you mean everyone knows?" Aotian, showing no mercy for the embarrassed girl, continued asking shamelessly, with a curious face.
"T-that… well… when a man and a woman do 'that', their spiritual energy synchronizes, and they can help each other cultivate," she stuttered and rushed to finish her sentence, her voice lowering a bit as she spoke.
Aotian was secretly amused by Rihai's face, which looked like it might start steaming from how red it was, and he couldn't help but enjoy seeing this shy side of her that was forcing herself to speak.
In previous times when she got embarrassed, she usually ran away, so he didn't often get to see this.
But he was also focused on what she was saying.
"Oh! Then that's really good, it must help a lot with cultivating faster," Aotian said, becoming interested in dual cultivation.
Rihai didn't say anything more, but it took her a moment to calm down and sit beside Aotian again, as she had stood up from his lap earlier when she got mad.
Composing herself, she began to explain:
"Well, from what I know, dual cultivation isn't all that great. A cultivator can help or be helped during dual cultivation, but that means one of them ends up wasting time. After all, they have to focus on a single person while cultivating. It's not easy to concentrate on two things at once—cultivating and helping someone else cultivate at the same time. So, it's common sense that dual cultivation benefits one person while holding the other back. That rule even applies to people with dual cultivation physiques. Ironically, they don't really dual cultivate. They just cultivate individually during the act, and the physique grants some bonus to cultivation as a side effect—but the specific effect depends on the physique." She explained, now moving into the theoretical part, which calmed her embarrassed heart.
"So, no one really practices dual cultivation?" Aotian asked, stunned by this world's customs, which were very different from what he'd read in his past life.
"Of course not. There are cultivation brothels for that, where young masters spend fortunes to pay women to help them cultivate through dual cultivation… and of course, to satisfy their filthy tastes too." Rihai shook her head, speaking with a hint of disgust.
She didn't like those promiscuous young masters who thought they could do whatever they wanted just because they had some backing.
"And what about higher-level cultivators helping their partners?" Aotian asked, with an interested look.
Rihai narrowed her eyes at him.
"You're not thinking of finding a powerful cultivator woman to help you, are you?" she asked dangerously.
"No, no, no! I, Aotian, am loyal!" Aotian quickly shook his head, raising his hand and solemnly pledging, then continued, a bit proudly: "And I don't need help cultivating, I already do just fine."
Rihai stared at him for a moment, and seeing that he truly wasn't thinking about chasing after some powerful woman, she relaxed and explained:
"Of course it helps to have a partner with a higher cultivation, but again, it delays their own cultivation while helping the other. It's not really worth it. After all, it's still limited by the cultivator's body. You can't just pour powerful energy in and hope for the best. It has to be controlled and at a proper level. So even if a powerful cultivator is helping a Qi Refiner, maybe it increases the partner's cultivation efficiency tenfold, but it would still take time, and not be worth sacrificing their own cultivation. Time is too precious for a cultivator. It's better to invest in better pills and techniques for the partner than to spend your own cultivation time. The results would be better for everyone." She explained in detail, and Aotian gained a full understanding.
'Uhm… not as great as I thought, but maybe I could still help Rihai when we cultivate together, since I have multiple minds, which would already be very useful, though not as much as having a synthesized techni—' Aotian's thoughts froze at that point, and a sudden realization sparked in his mind. 'Wait… just because dual cultivation techniques don't exist, doesn't mean they can't exist!!'
His eyes began to shine, and an absurd idea began to take root in his mind.
'If I gather thousands of experiences from cultivators in brothels—maybe even from mortals—couldn't I, theoretically, synthesize an extreme dual cultivation technique from the accumulated knowledge?!'
The more he thought about it, the more viable it seemed. He couldn't even imagine what the effects of such a technique might be—whether it would be incredible or useless. But now that the idea had come, he was determined to try.
"Tian'er?" Rihai asked, looking strangely at Aotian, who had suddenly gone silent.
"Huh?! Oh! Sorry, I got lost in thought." Aotian snapped out of it at her call and quickly came back to his senses.
He looked at her, thoughtful, but didn't reveal what he was thinking, and returned to the reason he had come there in the first place.
"Hai'er, if you want to keep your physique a secret, then the sect won't be able to give you a technique that truly suits you. I can give you an excellent fire-element cultivation technique, it should still be useful to you, but I can't be sure. What do you think?" he asked, giving the only viable alternative he could come up with at the moment.
Rihai, upon hearing his offer, couldn't help but smile in relief.
"Thank you, Tian'er, for understanding and helping me," she said sincerely.
Aotian leaned forward and gently caressed her cheek, and she tilted her face into his palm.
He took her hand and placed it against his own cheek as well, closing his eyes slightly and feeling the warmth of his beloved.
"In our relationship, there's no need for thanks. We can always rely on each other, no matter what," he said softly, looking into her eyes.
Rihai's eyes softened and a gentle smile spread across her lips. She nodded lightly with her face still in his hand.
Then, exchanging tender glances, they both pulled each other's faces closer in sync, with Aotian having to lean down slightly due to his height, bringing her lips to his.
Kissing her softly, feeling her moist and tender lips, Aotian got lost for a long while in the feeling of warmth and love that surrounded them.
…
At the peak of the tallest mountain of the Bamboo Sword Sect, in the hall where the sect's main meetings took place, a side room was now filled with elders from the Infinite Dao Sect.
That particular room had been reserved for the official meetings of the Infinite Dao Sect during the earlier discussion. And as soon as the agreement was sealed, it was already being put to full use.
As part of the sect, Jian Huiyin, the leader of the Bamboo Sword Sect and now also an inner elder of the Infinite Dao Sect, naturally had to be present.
Earlier, right after the end of the meeting and the departure of the elders from both the Bamboo Sword Sect and the Infinite Dao Sect, an elder named Lie Zheng — inner elder of the Punishment Pavilion — had informed her of the new meeting. Naturally, she was interested in attending, wanting to better understand the sect she had now joined.
Now, she and the other twenty inner elders were seated around a long table, with Tian Zhu, the leader of the Infinite Dao Sect, occupying the seat at the head. There were also fifty outer elders present, standing behind her and the other inner elders.
Low conversations spread among the elders, which she didn't take part in — both due to her naturally indifferent nature and because she didn't know anyone there.
'I must admit, I never thought that after becoming the leader of a sect, I'd be sitting in a meeting with such a… normal identity.'
She pondered, observing the elders beside her interact with each other, ignoring her as if she were just another among them — something that, given her identity as the leader of a Golden Core sect, would be unthinkable anywhere else.
It was then, as she was deep in thought, that one last figure appeared in the room like a shadow, at a speed she couldn't even register, stopping beside Tian Zhu, who remained calmly seated with his eyes closed, fingers of both hands interlocked before his mouth.
The arrival of the figure, although silent, drew everyone's attention.
All the elders immediately stood when they saw him, and Jian Huiyin rose without hesitation as well.
They bowed, clasping their fists in salute to the figure.
"Greetings, Ancestor Bao!" they all called respectfully.
"Hm." Bao Wuji — the newcomer — with his hands behind his back, nodded calmly, and everyone silently thanked him and returned to their seats.
'A figure beyond the Golden Core level... I still find it unbelievable that I'm seeing one with my own eyes,' Jian Huiyin thought, part admiration and part bitterness, after greeting the powerful cultivator.
The bitterness came from the fact that this figure was now in her Bamboo Sword Sect, and she couldn't be sure whether his presence would eventually bring trouble.
Tian Zhu, noting that everyone was present, calmly rose from his seat.
"Ancestor Bao." He clasped his fists and greeted the ancestor in a less formal tone.
"Tian Zhu." Bao Wuji nodded in return.
With the greetings done, Tian Zhu turned and looked at everyone present, his eyes passing over each face.
Jian Huiyin couldn't help but be inwardly surprised by how naturally Tian Zhu acted in front of the powerful ancestor. It only deepened her curiosity — and confusion — about how things worked in that mysterious sect.
After surveying everyone, and with a solemn, silent atmosphere settling over the room, the leader of the Infinite Dao Sect finally spoke.
"This is the first official meeting since we provisionally established ourselves within the Bamboo Sword Sect. So before we begin, I would like to introduce our newest member, our new inner elder: Elder Jian." He introduced her calmly, without any change in tone.
At the table, nearly a hundred powerful eyes turned to Jian Huiyin, putting a certain pressure on her shoulders. But, as a dignified sect leader, she remained composed.
Once again, she rose to her feet, clasped her fists, and offered a slight bow in greeting to everyone.
"I, Jian Huiyin, thank the sect leader, the elders, and the ancestor for entrusting me with this position. I will strive not to bring shame upon the sect with my actions in the future. I hope to count on your support." She concluded her introduction cordially.
Still, for those more sensitive — if one disregarded her natural indifference — a certain detachment in her words could be perceived.
And for Aotian, with so many avatars gathered in one place, it was hard for any detail to slip past him. But he didn't blame her. Everything was still very new to her.
In time, her loyalty would grow… and even if it didn't, Aotian wasn't concerned. After all, there wasn't much to lose. Still, he was confident it would grow.
After her introduction, she received polite nods from most of the elders.
Jian Huiyin remained standing, awaiting Tian Zhu's words before sitting.
"Elder Jian will be affiliated with the Sword Pavilion from this moment on. As a recent addition, she will still be in a probationary period and will not have access to any jade slips above the Founder-Tier level. Elder Jian, do you have any objections to this arrangement?" Tian Zhu declared directly, without any ceremony, and asked while staring at her indifferently.
"I have no objections to the arrangement. I thank the sect leader," she replied with the same indifference, clasping her fists in thanks, not seeming particularly surprised by the decision.
She hadn't expected real access to anything valuable for a long time, given her clear lack of loyalty or connection with her new sect. Her focus was on the elemental stones, which she had already begun to receive.
But just as she was about to sit, Tian Zhu spoke once more, catching her off guard.
"Elder Jian, as a word of advice to welcome you, I suggest you do not underestimate the sect's lower-tier materials. Even the lowest level is far beyond anything you've seen on this continent." He said simply, before waving a hand, giving her permission to sit.
Jian Huiyin nodded and sat down without showing expression.
But in her heart, a strong curiosity began to bloom.