701 The Message

"You guess?"

Meng Qi felt a sudden urge to curse loudly boiling within him. But with his survival hinging upon the demoness herself, he could only wonder quietly about her designs and intentions.

Even though they have an agreement to maintain peace during the exploration of the ruins of the Celestial Court, the demoness Gu Xiaosang could have easily paid no heed to Han Guang's attempts to do him harm and did nothing if she had wished him ill. She did not have to risk herself to save him and only kill him after all the troubles and hassle.

And she would only have to pay to the Dominator of the Samsara in Six Realms additional Karma Points if she had wanted to leave a mark or an enchantment upon him. There was hardly any need for her to suffer the inconvenience.

Would this mean that it was a direct approach that would yield quick results?

Without waiting for Meng Qi's reply, Gu Xiaosang wore a smile on her face that her dimples sank. She retrieved a little white vase from her Space Ring and swallowed the two berries she had stored within. She leaned closer to Meng Qi. Meng Qi felt the sweet scent of her fragrance, the blood in his veins and his heart beat rousing. He could see the crimson shade of blood in her pale-pinkish lips as she snuggled closer and their lips met.

Immediately, he felt her tongue brushed his lips before slipping between them and parting them apart! With her tongue, Gu Xiaosang slipped one of the berries into his mouth!

"W-what the!" Meng Qi could hardly believe this was happening. He tried to fight back and vomit the berry from his mouth but to no avail, for his Vital Spirit and his physical body were being restrained!

Most men would have enjoyed with spine-tingling exhilaration and pleasure to have a woman of such beauty and grace in their arms and their lips intertwined with intense passion. But Meng Qi felt nothing but fear and panic. What was the berry that he had just been force fed? What was Gu Xiaosang's deliberate scheme that she has to share one of the berries with him in such manner?

The berry melted slowly and disappeared, fusing itself with Meng Qi's Vital Spirit and physical body. Gu Xiaosang withdrew her tongue from his mouth and looked at him with a playful smile, "Would you not like to know what was the berry that I had fed you, Husband?"

"What was it?" Meng Qi instantly asked.

Gu Xiaosang laughed bashfully with apparent delight, "The fruits of the Three-life Temple are naturally the Three-life Fruits. With you and I each consumed one, our Fates shall be interweaved together for three lifetimes. We shall be spouses together forever."

"Really?" Meng Qi could hardly believe that the cunning demoness Gu Xiaosang had gone through all the trouble at the risk of her life only for fruits of such trivial significance!

She was, by no means, an ordinary woman who would be so innocently smitten with love!

Gu Xiaosang asked with half a smile, "What do you think it was, Husband?"

"And still she wants to keep the truth from me..." Meng Qi understood the gist of her remark, wondering quietly if the Dominator could remove the effects of the berry from his body.

But Gu Xiaosang seemed to have guessed his thoughts. With a laugh, she told him, "Some matters are best kept from the knowledge of the Dominator, Husband. You will never be able to free yourself from His dominion if he knows everything about you."

"Ah?!" Meng Qi was astonished. "Keep it away from the Dominator? What were the power and use of the fruit? Was it only a ruse by the cunning demoness to keep me from getting the help of the Dominator to expel the effects of the fruit?"

Gu Xiaosang pointed her finger at Meng Qi's chest and tapped on him. With heaving breaths and high difficulty, she removed the restraining spells she cast on Meng Qi.

At the same time, in a tone so hushed that bordered on silence she spoke, "This hall, the Ashram Hall, possesses the ability to shield us from the tracking perceptions of the Dominator. He will know nothing of what we do here."

Shield from the senses of the Dominator? Meng Qi regained his freedom to move and channeled his powers to sense his own body for anything wrong as he surveyed the insides of the Ashram Hall. There were gray-colored gravel and stones littered around the forsaken hall. Fissures in the fabric of time and space occasionally crackled around them, the incoherent blend of the future and the past as if they had returned to the epochs of the ancient. He noticed that his senses could project no further than his sight, allowing him only to see things that were around him.

Everything was absurd in this place!

Meng Qi quietly kept a distance away from Gu Xiaosang, afraid from any more sudden ambushes. He had felt nothing since the ingestion of the berry. There was no healing effect and no signs of him being cursed or poisoned as if the berry had vanished within him.

"A bizarre fruit it is..." Meng Qi muttered and heaved a breath of relief.

With light footsteps, Gu Xiaosang drifted deeper into the hall. Meng Qi hesitated for a moment but relented and followed behind.

They walked for some time until an ancient, green-rusted bronze door loomed before them. There was a stone stele sitting beside the doorway.

"The stone slab... It looks oddly familiar!" Meng Qi caught notice of the stone stele. Immediately he was astounded by the runic seal script engraved upon the stone,

"Only Ye May Enter, Ye of the Realm of the Legends!"

The tone of the message was recognizable to Meng Qi. His gaze subconsciously drooped to the bottom corner of the stone stele and, lo behold! There was indeed the engravings of "Yang Jian of the Jade Virtual Palace!" quietly in waiting, as if in anticipation of his coming.

"The Lord of Purity and Magic was indeed here! At the Celestial Court!"

"What led him to seal this entrance?"

"Was he leaving anything behind?"

Meng Qi could not help but look around. But there was nothing to be found save for the vast and boundless emptiness around the ancient bronze door before them.

"I wonder if the waist plate of the Jade Virtual Palace left by the Lord of Purity and Magic can undo the seal?" Meng Qi thought hesitantly to himself. With the cunning demoness Gu Xiaosang present and him still suffering the drawbacks of using the Nature-involving Knack earlier, he was in no fit state to repel Gu Xiaosang. She would have easy access to the secrets or treasures hidden within if the waist plate could indeed undo the magic holding the doors.

To his surprise, Gu Xiaosang merely chuckled and turned on her heels, drifting wordlessly away with the grace of a willow. As if displaying a gesture of honesty and sincerity for his benefit, she even walked away until she was out of sight.

Meng Qi was doubtful as he wondered. Finally, he took out his waist plate and walked to the stone stele. On the stele, he slapped the waist plate.

Nothing happened.

Meng Qi took another step and walked to the bronze door. This time, he slapped the waist plate on the cold surface of the door.

Clang!

The archaic door shuddered faintly, followed by the steady voice of a man that seemed to float through the timeless epochs and divides of eternity to reach into Meng Qi's ears,

"All that you seek awaits you in the Jade Virtual Palace!"

The voice disappeared swiftly like a mere dream that had never been real.

"Everything is in the Jade Virtual Palace?" He repeated the words within himself. "Yang Erlang knows of what I am pursuing? Or was the message for the actual intended recipient of the waist plate instead of me?

Silence and peace returned to the area where the bronze door sat. There were no signs of opening previously. Meng Qi stood there pondering for some time until Gu Xiaosang returned.

She returned with color returned to her face. Without her previous paleness, she spoke cheerfully to Meng Qi, "As far as I know, the highest most levels of the Ninth Heaven lie behind that very door. The seat of the Heaven Sovereign."

"The highest, you say? Not the next level?" Meng Qi had thought that the door would lead to the next level of the Immortal Realm. Never had he guess that the door would skip through levels and lead directly to the top!

"The entrance to the Nacre Lake lies somewhere else where there would be other magical seals. I believe Yang Jian had the top-most levels moved here." Gu Xiaosang seemed to be profoundly familiar with the workings of the Celestial Court.

This confused Meng Qi. But this also made him even more amazed by the realm and powers of Yang Jian. "To think that he could relocate an entire level of the Immortal Realm! And it was the center-most core of the Realm too!"

"There seem to be nothing of use here, Husband. Should we consider leaving?" Gu Xiaosang suggested.

"Leaving?" Meng Qi would, of course, concur to that suggestion. But the cunning demoness's initiative in suggesting the notion made him doubtful. "How could she have no interest to explore the abodes and halls of the Immortals in this level?"

Gu Xiaosang teased him. "Our current powers and strengths would not permit us thus, Husband. For our safety and wellbeing. Or would you still want to explore any further?"

That was true. Meng Qi was enduring the drawbacks for using the spell of the Nature-involving Knack without having the Dominator of the Samsara in Six Realms to heal him, and the Bhaisajyaguru Relieve Pill could only help so much in just curing his injuries but not relieving him of the agony of the drawback. It was with the help of the Eight Nine Mysteries discipline that he could still stand and his Dharmic Form could be restored by amassing the required exotic minerals and produce. If he were to get himself into trouble and become trapped within the dimension of the Ninth Heaven, he would never be able to recover and escape without a year or more!

As for Gu Xiaosang, her condition would require at most ten to fifteen days for a full recovery.

"Moreover there were only two most precious items in this level. The first was the berries that we have both shared, and the next was the strange and yet large and leafy tree which is also in our possession. With such fruitful harvests, why should we wait any longer here? Avarice bodes peril, my husband..." Gu Xiaosang looked into Meng Qi's eyes with a bemused expression.

"She knew that that incident earlier with the large and mysterious tree was of my doing?" Meng Qi shuddered with shock. At the same time, her words had eliminated all his doubt that the two berries indeed contained secrets!

"I would like to leave myself. But how?" Meng Qi's gaze transfixed upon Gu Xiaosang.

With her plans generally well thought out, the cunning demoness most definitely knew a way out!

Gu Xiaosang feigned a sad sigh, "I may have had a way. But now I am weakened by the drawbacks of my skill. I am afraid that I shall not be able to leave without ten to fifteen days of recuperation. But by then, your Elder and Second Brothers would have completed their exploration of this level and return here to try and open the bronze door."

"That is true..." Meng Qi frowned as he started to think of other ways.

"Nevertheless, I have a way that can help both of us recover quickly." The feigned dismay vanished from her face, being replaced an alluring smile on her face. "And once we have recovered, I can activate my Secret Treasure to transport us from here."

Meng Qi asked doubtfully. "And what method may that be?"

A bright, pink patch burned on her cheeks. Her beauty once again struck a chord within Meng Qi's heart, "You are also no stranger to the method, Husband. The Dual Cultivation methods of the Shang River Fairy. We are both chaste, both wielding the strong powers of the First Celestial Ladder. By harnessing my Yin energies and your Yang energies blended as one to heal ourselves, our powers will restore swiftly, and the effects of the drawbacks dispelled. We might even be able to leap into the next Realm of powers too."

"T-This..." Meng Qi recalled the methods of the Shang River Fairy and immediately stammered with faltering tongue. He had never thought of this!

Gu Xiaosang gazed to him with intensity, her eyes like deep waters of a lake. She giggled and said, "I would still have a substantial chance to survive when they return. With the Dharma King still be around. But you, Husband, will have to hope that your Elder Brother is still deranged. Why tread the risk of endangering yourself when we have a most secure way to restore ourselves and leave safely?"

"Moreover, the effects of the Dual Cultivation methods are jointly shared by us both when we begin. You can rest assured that I have no ill will towards you. I will also put myself at risk if I do anything to endanger you. Moreover, we are both husband and wife. It is only right that we enjoy each other's company in matters of the earthly pleasures."

She clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle, "Could it be that you are embarrassed, Husband? Have you never thought about this? Or are you a true monk at heart since your birth?"

Meng Qi remarked indignantly, "What is there for me to be embarrassed? Unlike a woman, a man does not worry about the consequences in matters of this kind!"

"Is the cunning demoness serious?"

"In anyhow, I do not have a lover, and Gu Xiaosang chose to do this on her own volition. There are no dangers or drawbacks in the methods of the Shang River Fairy. I have nothing to fear to restore my powers and quickly leave this dangerous place!" With gritted teeth, Meng Qi steeled himself. There was no need to risk more perils with a safe plan which did not contradict his morals presented before him. It was more likely that the cunning demoness wished to humiliate him further!

"Really?" There was a tender look in Gu Xiaosang's eyes like the deep waters of a lake which could engulf the hearts of men. She slipped out of one of her white boots, the soft flesh of her legs presenting itself to him. The toes of her beautiful feet, wrapped in her socks, held a vague appeal that beckoned to him. Gu Xiaosang gently kicked off another boot off her other foot. With a strip of her waist sash, her white dress fell gracefully into a heap around her feet, her movements delicate and graceful as if she was dancing.

Meng Qi could not take his eyes off her as his breathing grew heavy.

...….....

Overwhelming passion and delirium of eros came and go. Meng Qi tried his best to repressing his ecstasy of the prurient pleasures he had just tasted, channeling and steadying his Vital Spirit as he felt the rush of Yin and Yang energies pulsing through his veins. The blend of the two polarising energies healed his injuries and restored his Dharmic Form. Bit by bit, his aura grew with a strength that he could feel his powers reaching its pinnacle and yet it was still growing!

The Form of the Immortal Primogenitor materialized behind him, spinning like a whirlpool until it converged into a single dot. Formless and shapeless, it manifested in an image of a Taoist. Slowly, the picture gained more apparent sharpness, looking majestic and stern of glance that it resembled Meng Qi himself!

Meng Qi had broken through the barriers of the Fifth-fold Heaven!

Petals of white lotuses fluttered in the wind with the fragrances of the water blossoms wafting around them, signifying that Gu Xiaosang had just broken through the very same barriers herself.

Meng Qi awoke from his stupor, feeling the soft and tender skin of the woman in his arms against his touch, the creamy smoothness of her skin, her alluring scent, and the slim waist that he was holding in his arms.

Gu Xiaosang laid lazily in Meng Qi's arms; her head rested against his chest. Giggling as she spoke, she teased at Meng Qi, "It is clear that you enjoyed it, do you not, Husband? You were in no way a monk earlier."

Meng Qi coughed a little; his cheeks were burning red in embarrassment.

Gu Xiaosang appeared to remembered of her earlier rapture of pleasures as she grew bashful. She nibbled gently on Meng Qi without hurting him before she rose to her feet. Lightly, she got up and dressed up in her dress, her socks, and her shoes, leaving Meng Qi once again breathless.

"We have to go," Gu Xiaosang turned back to him with a charming smile.

Meng Qi inhaled a deep and heavy breath, repressing the boiling passion that reared its head once more. He retrieved some extra clothing from his Space Ring, with the Qingyuan Taoist Robes currently tattered from the clash with the ancient Sun God.

Gu Xiaosang tugged at Meng Qi's left hand. Green leaves and branches of trees grew from where she stood, the very same tree that earlier left the Supreme-wisdom Tree in a fit of frenzy.

The boughs and branches of the tree wrapped around them and transported them through the clouds and strata of the Immortal Realm.

Finally, Meng Qi found himself and Gu Xiaosang on a path beside the Golden River.

His brows twitched with doubt, and he asked, "Why was it that you did not seem to need much of your powers for us to return?"

"The methods for us to leave the Immortal Realm barely deplete much of my powers." Gu Xiaosang answered without even batting an eyelid.

"What? T-then what was that earlier?" Meng Qi was perplexed.

"I was bluffing." Gu Xiaosang smiled slyly like a fox.

Meng Qi was stunned with disbelief. "Why had she engaged in the Dual Cultivation with him earlier?"

He suddenly felt as if cheated out of something.

Gu Xiaosang's playful smile faded a little. "You have been careless, Husband. You are not holding in your grip the Reincarnation Charm. I have more than enough confidence to take your life if I want to."

"Ah?" He was stunned by her remark. Indeed, he was no longer cautious and careful in her presence.

A thoughtful smile lined across her face. "I am, after all, a notorious demoness who spills innocent blood even at my slightest whim and fancy. Have a care, for I might not be so gracious next time."

She turned around. Flecks of petals glided in the air in the trail of her wake as she disappeared at the end of the path.

Meng Qi watched blankly at her departing figure until he could no longer see her. Time passed, a long while, until he remarked in a hushed voice,

"Does this count as heartless?"