Chapter 86: The Dual Cultivation Revelation

As Chixiao rose, the campfire happened to burst forth a shower of sparks.

He glanced down at his pocket watch, its hands already indicating the shift change.

“Well then, Brother Ye, Chief Su, please take your time to enjoy this enchanting night, while I retire for the evening.”

His gaze lingered for a moment on their closely intertwined figures, a knowing smile playing on his lips.

Finally, he was free!

“Go on.”

Ye Xingchen naturally drew Su Liyue closer, his arm circling her slender waist, allowing her to lean more comfortably against his shoulder.

“We will stand guard here.”

“Very well, then do be careful in the meantime.”

Chixiao nodded, yet as he turned to leave, he could not resist one last glance back.

Beneath the moonlight, the silver-haired maiden nestled almost entirely within the dark-robed youth’s embrace, their forms intertwined like a tranquil painting under the moon.

Shaking his head with a soft chuckle, he walked towards the resting area, his footsteps rustling through the fallen leaves.

***

Only when Chixiao’s footsteps had completely faded into the night did Ye Xingchen lower his gaze to the maiden nestled in his arms.

Just then, Su Liyue happened to lift her eyes, their gazes meeting; within her clear pupils, a luminescence like moonlight seemed to swirl.

“Now, no one will disturb us…” Ye Xingchen murmured softly, the ‘Yin-Yang Qiankun Art’ left by Master Xuantian already manifesting in his divine consciousness.

Ye Xingchen gently drew Su Liyue closer into his embrace, holding her with the utmost care, as if cradling a rare and precious treasure.

He adjusted their posture, ensuring she could lean comfortably against his chest, his left hand securely encircling her slender waist, while his right continued to gently massage her shoulder.

Su Liyue gave a slight nod, her long lashes trembling softly as she closed her eyes.

Feeling the warmth and steady beat of a heart against her back, her consciousness gradually sank into the depths of her spiritual platform.

The profound scriptures of the ‘Yin-Yang Qiankun Art’ slowly unfolded within her sea of consciousness, each character shimmering with a faint golden glow.

However, the moment she perceived the first chapter of the cultivation art through her divine consciousness, both she and Ye Xingchen froze simultaneously; even the hand that had been massaging her paused in its motion.

For emblazoned upon the art were the words: “To cultivate this technique, one must engage in Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation.”

Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation??

‘Master Xuantian, is this cultivation art you left behind truly… proper???’

Su Liyue and Ye Xingchen were utterly bewildered, their minds filled with questions.

Master Xuantian had been renowned for his sword skills during his lifetime; should he not have bequeathed an art related to the Way of the Sword? How could a dual cultivation technique suddenly appear?

‘Could Master Xuantian have foreseen that he would split into two bodies, one male and one female?’

Yet, upon closer reflection, this seemed unlikely.

If Master Xuantian truly possessed such foresight, he should have at least revealed something beforehand, rather than simply passing away and leaving behind such an inscrutable cultivation art.

‘Could it be… that this cultivation art concealed a deeper mystery?’

‘Perhaps, like the legendary Sunflower Manual, which began with “To cultivate this technique, one must first castrate oneself,” only for later passages to reveal that castration was not, in fact, necessary for success?

Might this “Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation” merely be an introduction to the art, with the true method of cultivation lying further within?’

After all, the name ‘Yin-Yang Qiankun Art’ certainly seemed to align with the distinct left- and right-handed sword techniques Master Xuantian had employed during his life: one Yin and one Yang, forming the Way; one Qian and one Kun, corresponding to Heaven and Earth.

His Master’s left-hand sword and right-hand sword were inherently disparate, one rigid and one yielding, one swift and one slow—did this not subtly echo the essence of “Yin-Yang Qiankun”?

However, as Su Liyue finished reading the entire text of the cultivation art, she found no hint whatsoever of an alternative path, unlike the Sunflower Manual’s “success without dual cultivation” clause.

Instead, the entire treatise predominantly expounded upon the principles and benefits of Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation.

A simultaneous twitch pulled at the corners of both Su Liyue and Ye Xingchen’s lips.

“Oh, Master Xuantian…” Su Liyue murmured, her grip on Ye Xingchen’s hand trembling slightly.

“No wonder you only deigned to pass on this art just before your passing; those who knew you would think you were a dual-wielding Sword Saint, but those who didn’t might well mistake you for the new Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect!”

Especially that annotation, “Requires joint cultivation by male and female,” which elevated their current predicament to an unprecedented and delicate new level.

‘Not only had she inexplicably found herself engaged to herself upon arriving in this world, but now she was expected to engage in “dual cultivation of love”? Why not just have them enter the bridal chamber tonight and be done with it?’

However, upon further study, Su Liyue discovered a unique aspect of the art: if the souls of the male and female cultivators possessed an extremely high degree of compatibility, their spiritual energies would achieve a complementary Yin-Yang effect.

This would not only significantly accelerate the cultivation speed of her female body but, with further deduction, might genuinely resolve her body’s inability to absorb the spirit energy of heaven and earth.

After all, there was, ultimately, a world of difference between the advancement of demonic energy and the cultivation of spiritual energy.

Furthermore, her own soul compatibility with herself was inherently one hundred percent, making this cultivation art exceptionally suitable for both Su Liyue and Ye Xingchen in their current state.

It could not only utilize the male body’s spirit energy to enhance the female body’s cultivation speed but also integrate spirit and demonic energies through the art, offering incredibly convenient effects for the future combination of time and space.

Were this art to be practiced by anyone else, it would likely be difficult to unleash such divine efficacy.

Yet, at this moment, he possessed two bodies, precisely one female and one male, one Yin and one Yang, perfectly aligning with the art’s description of Taiji fusion and the complementary path of Yin and Yang.

After careful deliberation, Su Liyue reasoned that since she would be cultivating with herself, it wasn’t as if she were benefiting an outsider.

She decided to go all-in, concluding that the key was to swiftly enhance her strength and grasp the profound mysteries of time magic.

Having made her decision, Su Liyue gently leaned into Ye Xingchen’s broad chest.

She could clearly feel the powerful thump of a heart within his chest, along with the warm aura emanating from that body.

Taking a deep breath, she began to cautiously circulate the ‘Yin-Yang Qiankun Art’.

The sensation of sluggishness as demonic energy flowed through the meridians made her frown slightly, for its path of circulation diverged greatly from that of spiritual energy.

Nevertheless, following the art’s instructions, she guided Ye Xingchen’s strong hand to gently rest upon her flat, soft abdomen.

In that instant, a peculiar warmth emanated from where their bodies touched.

Su Liyue was astonished to find that the demonic energy within her body and the spiritual energy from Ye Xingchen began to slowly intertwine and coil, like flowing water.

Two distinctly different energies formed a subtle vortex in her Dantian, one black and one white, chasing each other head to tail like Yin-Yang fish.

‘This was clearly… she had truly succeeded in dual cultivation with herself!

The brilliance of this art, it turned out, lay not in its restriction to spiritual energy, but in its direct approach to the essence of the Grand Dao of Yin and Yang, allowing it to fuse energies of differing natures.’

No wonder the Joyful Union Sect had stood firm in the cultivation world for millennia through this path; after all, the fusion of male and female spiritual energy indeed held profound mysteries.

The profundity of this energy fusion truly surpassed ordinary cultivation methods.

However, as she continued to study the subsequent key techniques, a passage that made her blush fiercely suddenly appeared before her eyes: to fully merge the two Yin and Yang energies, the final step required the joining of their lips and teeth.

If the energy could not be transferred through the mouth to enter both bodies and complete the fusion, all previous efforts would be in vain.

A blush simultaneously bloomed across the faces of both Su Liyue and Ye Xingchen. “I… I have to kiss myself?!”

She bit her lower lip, a mixture of shame and indignation coursing through her, her entire body trembling.

“Master Xuantian! You old man, you couldn’t possibly have foreseen this day for me, and deliberately kept silent just to watch me make a fool of myself, could you?”

But matters had reached this point; there was no turning back!

After all, the cultivation art explicitly stated that once one began cultivating this technique, stopping midway could lead to “trouble”—a word that was even circled and specially annotated, striking terror into their hearts and deterring any rash speculation.

Given that Master Xuantian himself had made this note, who knew what specific “trouble” entailed? He dared not gamble with Su Liyue’s body against such unknown perils.

The candlelight flickered, casting their intertwined shadows upon the ground.

Su Liyue gazed at “herself,” so close at hand; that familiar handsome face now held an unfamiliar tenderness, and she could distinctly feel warm breaths caressing her lips.

Her heart pounded like a drum, whether from the art’s influence, hormonal surges, or something else entirely, she could not tell…

The moment their lips met, the Yin and Yang energies converged like flowing streams.

The moonlight seemed to gain substance, circling the passionately kissing pair as shimmering bands of light.

As their lips and teeth intertwined more deeply, the two energies within their bodies finally merged and stabilized completely.

Suddenly, a trembling call abruptly shattered the romantic atmosphere:

“Yueyue, you two… what is this…?” The sharp clatter of a magic staff hitting the ground was particularly jarring in the night.

It was the voice of her close friend, Mu Wanqing.