AZI Volume 5 Chapter 18.5 Intermission – Baima’s Regret

Your grand aunt—the one from Xianhe's bloodline, was named Líng Lán.

Her husband's name was Báimǎ.

From a young age, Ling Lan had been accompanied by magic beast cubs, and this caused her to develop an interest in the art of beast rearing when she grew up.

All of Ling Lan's allowance would be spent on acquiring food, or training equipment for her pets.

Occasionally, Ling Lan would even outright purchase a magic beast at an auction, and bring it home.

At some point, her pet collections had become so large that the family estate had to be expanded.

One might think that spending so much resources for the sake of a single person's hobby was inappropriate. However, she was allowed to get away with such selfishness because the magic beasts that she had raised were a valuable asset to our household.

Old histories of the household aside, the relationship between Ling Lan and Baima started when the former had been out to collect the egg of a rare magic beast.

During the collection process, the parents of the magic beast had returned, and attacked her.

But just as the two magic beasts were about to finish Ling Lan off, Baima had saved her by blocking the two beasts off with his body.

Background wise, Baima was the son of a powerful practitioner household that was renowned for focusing on only physical body cultivation.

And seeing the durability of a physical body practitioner for the first time, Ling Lan became interested in Baima.

As the two parted ways at the gates of our family's estate, our clansmen nearby felt like they were watching a young couple parting ways—with the intent to reunite a day or so later.

A naïve child might have thought that this was the beginning of a romantic story; however, they couldn't be more wrong.

Ling Lan's goal was to tame Baima, as she would a magic beast; hence, she stalked him, and knocked him out cold with a powerful magic treasure.

When Baima had regained his consciousness, he found himself in an unfamiliar dungeon, where he was chained against a wall.

With an expression of concern, Ling Lan looked at Baima, and asked if he was fine.

Having focused on physical body cultivation at a young age, Baima was naturally fine.

And that was when it all began with Ling Lan saying—

"I see. In that case, we can begin."

Taking out a whip, Ling Lan had struck Baima with it, and despite how powerful the latter's physical body had been, the latter was still made to bleed after being struck for a great deal of time.

Upon finishing their session, Ling Lan had promised Baima that she would return the next day with something of greater strength, to which, Baima had replied with—

"Bring it on, woman!"

...…

"…"

Hearing this story up to this point, the child—who is now ten years of age, can't help but look to his father with an odd expression on his face.

Blinking his eyes in amazement, the child asks—

"Why didn't Baima simply break himself out? Or rather, did he scream at all?"

Heaving a sigh, the child's father replies—

"Baima's father once told his son, "if you can find a woman who is able to make you feel pain, it means you've found the right person to marry." Apparently, this was a tradition in their household."

"…?"

"In any case, being whipped by Ling Lan was something that Baima had looked forward to daily. The cultivation method that his household possessed was rather unique; the greater the injuries sustained, the stronger one's physical body would become after the wounds healed. To them, being beaten to a pulp was their main way of cultivation."

"…To think there's such a perverted cultivation method like that in this world…"

Raising his right hand to scratch his cheek, revealing scale patterns on the back of the hand, the child's father awkwardly says—

"…Heaven and Earth are vast; there exists a myriad number of cultivation methods and divine arts, along with species of intelligent lifeforms that we cannot even begin to count."

"…What happened afterwards?"

"Afterwards…"

...…

Receiving a beating from Ling Lan daily—with her methods growing crueler and crueler by the day, Baima gritted his teeth.

Despite the immense pain that he was being subjected to, he was also excited to feel the strength of his physical body being raised every day.

That was—until the day Ling Lan brought in a massive amount of poison pills.

At first, Baima didn't think much of those poison pills, but rather quickly, he realized that most of those pills were meant to make his body more sensitive to pain.

And having been fed a massive amount of poison pills of this nature all at once, a light lash of the whip on his skin was already enough for Baima to feel as if he had just been stabbed by a scalding knife.

That day, for the first time since his arrival into that dungeon, Baima had raised a shrilled scream.

Overwhelmed by excitement, Ling Lan continued to whip Baima, while shouting—

"Submit to me! Call me queen! Yield your body and soul to me! Scream until your voice is hoarse!"

Despite Baima's submission, Ling Lan didn't cease the movement of her whips.

From then on, Ling Lan continued her training of Baima—who despite having had his physical body raised to a level that had outclassed even the ancestor of his household, he felt no joy; after all, that physical body of his was a product of pain that made him wish for death.

Towards Ling Lan, who had already become his wife by that point, Baima felt immense regret in piquing the interest of this female-devil.

...…

"…Father, are there only unusual people in our household?"

Being asked this, the child's father can't help but frown—finding it difficult to answer off the top of his head.

Eventually, the child's father replies—

"Ai, my son, the moral of this story is—do not try to be a chivalrous hero. Attempts at performing a damsel in distress rescue act—could potentially make you a second Baima."

Towards these words, the child nods his head with a solemn expression on his face.