Dual Cultivation.

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It was unknown how much time had passed, but after ten years in the cave, Ying Yue's master finally woke up from his state of comprehension, just after opening his acupuncture points. During the time she waited for him to awaken, she focused on cultivating and increasing her martial proficiency, ensuring she was no longer an amateur in combat. Her cultivation had reached the second layer of Skin Tempering, with twelve layers remaining before advancing to the Muscle Tempering stage.

Although the slow pace of cultivation was somewhat disappointing compared to her previous life as Mei Li, the progress she made with just these two breakthroughs left her previous cultivation in the dust. Here, even though the stages remained the same, the energy and levels kept growing larger. This meant that if she had septillion jin of strength in her previous life, she now needed only two hundred jin to surpass her previous cultivation. Thus, she didn't mind the slow pace, knowing that she was becoming more powerful with each breakthrough.

"Yue… How is it? Your cultivation? Did you encounter any complications while I was meditating on the Dao?"

Shaking her head and knowing her master was probably unable to detect her cultivation level clearly and didn't want to use his Tian Ming Dao for a simple question, Ying Yue replied, "No, master. There were no complications while you were meditating. As for my cultivation, as you can see, I have achieved the Body Refinement realm, the Skin Tempering stages, and the second layer. I can perform 200 jin worth of strength units in this world. In other words, I can shatter rocks with my bare hands."

Nodding, Tian Xing said, "So Yue, can you provide master with pointers to reach that level of cultivation? I'm currently not in the mood to work on it myself, as I need to focus on understanding the natural laws of holomorphic dynamics present in this world. My mind needs to be fully immersed in comprehending and remembering it. If there's even one miscalculation, the whole pattern will collapse, and I'll need to start over."

Smiling, knowing this was what she had been waiting for, Ying Yue nodded. "Okay then, Ying Yue won't be polite. Master mustn't be disturbed if we cultivate together in the future. Is that okay, my honey master?"

Seeing him nod and return to meditation in front of the Qi ponds without saying anything, Ying Yue didn't mind or get frustrated, as this was how her master was when he found something interesting to occupy his mind. She noticed her master's lower attire was raised, waiting for her. Peeling away his robes for easier access, she removed her own undergarments as well. Positioning herself on top of her master, she paused, thinking about how the red juices might be hard to clean off. Using her Skin Tempering cultivation, she ensured that the blood would only stick to her walls and her master, preventing a mess later.

As she lowered herself to feel her master once again after ten years of loneliness, Ying Yue enjoyed the act, wanting to make up for lost time. Moving up and down nonstop, she produced golden drops of essence that she kept only at the flesh of her body to avoid staining their clothes again. Noticing her master kept his eyes closed without any reaction, Ying Yue gathered her courage to kiss him, knowing he was still like a statue. This meant she could taste her master's fruits as much as she wanted without disturbing him, now that she had his implicit permission.

After satisfying herself, Ying Yue fell into her master's broad chest and took a deep breath to calm down for four hours. Once she felt rested, she began dual cultivation in earnest. With their lower dantian still connected, she started transferring all her Yin energy to him and guiding it to refine his Body Transformation Jing energy, advancing his cultivation level. It seemed this process was not one-sided, as her master quickly picked up the circulation techniques she taught him and modified them to return the circulation to her, creating a Yin-Yang cycle.

Touched by her master's progress and realizing his words were true—that he wanted their relationship to be as normal as possible when not dealing with serious matters—Ying Yue worked with full dedication to make the Dual Cultivation technique more sophisticated. This resulted in her cultivation accelerating by 30% compared to normal due to the profound Yin-Yang circulation. She continued cultivating for another seventy years, reaching the twelfth layer of Skin Tempering, while her master achieved ten layers, before their progress was interrupted by the sounds of fighting outside the cave.

Sensing that the intruders were five stages higher than her and possibly part of the group that rode the flying boat, Ying Yue saw her master make a gesture for her to stay silent before drawing their fate in the ponds with his finger. This time, unlike before, it took less than two seconds to complete, a significant improvement from decades ago. Although she wanted to congratulate him on his improved comprehension, it was not the time, as the guests were still in the area, even though they were fighting in different locations due to her master's intervention.

After four days and nights of remaining silent, knowing that even the slightest move could be detected by the group of fifth-stage Blood Refining cultivators, Ying Yue was lifted by her master, who then disconnected their lower dantian, signaling that the conflict was over. Even though she could still hear the loud battle outside, she trusted her master's relaxed demeanor, believing that everything had already been calculated. Seeing her master adjust her attire and then contract all his muscles to create a booming sound that cleaned himself off, Ying Yue heard news that made her both excited and reluctant.

"Come, Yue. Clean yourself up. The group of people outside is already on their deathbeds; we can easily finish them off. And behave yourself as a silent servant of mine, because master wants the one being chased to be one of your potential sisters."

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