A Guide to Self-Rescue in the Cultivation World - Chapter 34

He seemed to be dreaming, yet he felt intensely awake.

The rain pattered softly outside the window, its sound filtering through the paper to make the night feel even more silent.

In the dream, his Little Junior Sister was leaning against him, and she was so warm.

The warmth was so real, so direct. The heat between their skins permeated the thin sleeping clothes and sank into his chest, becoming so scaldingly warm that for a moment, he couldn’t tell if this was a dream or reality.

If only it were reality.

If this wasn’t a dream, if she was truly lying in his arms like this…

Once this thought took root, it grew like wildfire, instantly occupying his entire mind.

Thinking this, he slowly stroked Little Junior Sister’s back.

It was just like a thousand years ago, before his ascension, when he was still a mortal. His mother would gently rock him to sleep on countless cold or stormy nights.

Stroke after stroke, slow and gentle, bringing endless security and warmth.

His movements now were just as soft, filled with infinite cherishment, as he lightly patted her back.

Time seemed to slow down within the dream.

Every moment felt like an entire lifetime.

Little Junior Sister stirred lightly in his embrace, then raised her head, her bright eyes looking up at him.

Her eyes were so beautiful. Outside of the dream, bound by ethics and a mountain of morality, he had never truly looked at them.

Now, seeing them so seriously for the first time, he was utterly captivated.

Her eyelashes were thick but not curled upward; they were slightly downturned. The corner of her eye was almost completely obscured by the fringe of her lashes.

He reached up in a trance, wanting to use the back of his finger to lift those obscuring lashes so he could clearly see his own reflection in her eyes.

Instead of lifting the lashes, the action made his heart leap into a frantic rhythm.

His heartbeat suddenly sped up, each thump heavy and rapid, threatening to burst from his chest.

Little Junior Sister seemed unaware, tilting her head and flashing an innocent smile.

“Senior Brother, is there something on my lashes?”

Her voice was soft and gentle, and because they were so close, the warmth of her breath sprayed directly onto his neck.

His body instantly went rigid. A familiar, almost uncontrollable heat surged from below, nearly making him surrender instantly.

He used almost all his willpower to suppress the gasp that was about to escape his lips.

But passion ran deep. He could suppress his breath, but he couldn’t suppress the love in his heart.

“Little Junior Sister…”

He called her name hoarsely.

The green rain around them instantly transformed into countless peach blossoms, fluttering down, scattering everywhere, as if proclaiming to the world his uncontrollable infatuation.

Even the dream was able to peer into his deepest delusions.

Their breaths inevitably intertwined. Zhou Shan Yuan could feel his rationality dissolving inch by inch. His mind had become a useless muddle.

He couldn’t think of anything else but the person before him.

The Great Dao, the clear skies—all became void in this moment.

“Junior Sister… my good Junior Sister…”

He murmured, sounding like a sigh, and yet, a desperate plea.

He was devoted, more devout than he had been in any of his cultivation practices over the past millennium.

And so, he finally covered her lips with his own.

Warm. Soft.

Feverish.

Inseparable.

It was as if all the suffering and loneliness he had endured over the centuries were, in this one kiss, finally soothed.

The warm sensation spread from their connected lips, gradually becoming moist and lingering. His throat was too dry to make a sound, leaving only the sight of the dazzling, falling peach blossoms, petal by petal, striking the core of his heart.

Warm and wet.

He was too lost and confused to speak, seeing only the person lying among the chaotic, mesmerizing peach petals.

“It hurts…”

Little Junior Sister’s voice was like the sharp claw of a kitten, scratching his senses back to a slight clarity.

He realized then that he had unknowingly embraced her so tightly, his fingers unconsciously digging into the soft flesh of her arm.

Yet, even though he knew he was clearly in a dream and everything he saw was an illusion, he instinctively felt pain for her. He almost reflexively took her hand and gently kissed it, apologizing and consoling her with endless remorse and pity: “It’s my fault… I lost control… I’ll be gentler…”

More and more peach petals fell, so numerous they threatened to bury them both.

His heartbeat grew more rapid, and his body grew hotter.

Little Junior Sister clung tightly to his neck, and their bodies gradually became inseparable in the warm stickiness.

As if they were born to be this intimately close.

His heart pounded like a drum.

Each beat slammed against his eardrums.

Drowning out all the other surrounding sounds.

However, just as he was lost in this state of infatuation, before he could fully regain his wits, his legs stood up uncontrollably.

Even before he realized it himself, a ball of flame had been summoned into his hand, instantly converging into a beautiful Fire Phoenix.

And in a moment, he did not recognize as his own, the flame in his hand shot towards Zhou Suyao with alarming speed.

“Eldest Senior Brother?!”

Little Junior Sister’s eyes were filled with panic. She didn’t even care that her clothes were disheveled, instinctively dodging the attack.

Her voice was filled with utter disbelief and the shock of being suddenly attacked by someone close to her.

“I am not your Eldest Senior Brother…”

He could clearly hear his own voice, slow, word-by-word, cold and unfamiliar, completely beyond his control:

“I am a Lord of the Spiritual Dao, a God revered by ten thousand people.”

“I am Xun Dan, the only Lord of the Spiritual Dao who ascended at a young age… No…!”

His speech abruptly cut off, replaced by a painful roar that erupted from his throat.

The flames erupted again. This time, the raging fire was not the spiritual flame attacking Zhou Suyao, but a flame bursting from inside his own body.

He struggled. The violent pain instantly swept through his limbs and bones. Bl00d tears streamed from his eyes, as if endless suffering was seeping out of his body.

He seemed to be resisting something, and the hidden power he was fighting against was immensely strong. In an instant, bl00d began to flow from his nose and ears.

Bl00d seeped from all seven orifices.

He paused, vaguely raising his hand to wipe away the bl00d flowing from his nose, then staring blankly at the bl00d covering his hand.

A suffocating pain instantly overwhelmed him.

Was this a dream?

If it was a dream… why did the pain feel so real?

He struggled, forcing himself to slam his body hard onto the ground to gain a moment of clarity.

But it seemed useless.

That fleeting clarity vanished instantly. His mind seemed to have been stripped of all consciousness, leaving only one word repeating mechanically.

“Kill her…”

“Your father is in grave danger… The collapse of the Spiritual Dao’s hierarchy is imminent.”

“All you can do, all you must do  is kill her…”

“Kill this… unpredictable woman…”

“No…” He struggled with his last shred of strength, bl00d foam spilling from his lips. “I am… Zhou Shan Yuan… I am… Suyao’s Eldest Senior Brother…”

The fire inside his body raged hotter and hotter, searing his internal organs.

The voices in his mind were like ice picks, turning into countless sharp cones that gnawed repeatedly at his remaining consciousness. He saw Zhou Suyao stumble backward, her clothes in disarray, his reflection mirrored in her eyes.

A monster with seven bleeding orifices and a hideous, devilish face.

At the same time, what was falling from the sky was no longer peach petals or the green rain of early spring, but sticky, metallic-smelling bl00d rain.

It drizzled down, soaking his clothes.

And staining her pale face red.

“Senior Brother…” The voice of the person before him trembled, filled with unbelievable fear. “Eldest Senior Brother… what’s wrong with you?”

She received no answer.

Zhou Shan Yuan’s soul screamed, trying to wrest control of his body from the dominating consciousness, but simultaneously, a more desperate realization struck him hard—

He realized that the entity wildly screaming to kill Zhou Suyao was not some external force or another person.

It originated from his own subconscious.

It was the thing he believed he absolutely had to do.

It stemmed from a mission he was convinced he must complete, even if he hadn’t fully acknowledged it.

Realizing this, Zhou Shan Yuan was completely despairing. All the fight drained out of him. Like he was accepting his fate, he stopped struggling against his own consciousness and let himself raise his hand. Flames rapidly gathered in his palm, forming the immortal Fire Phoenix, which then flew quickly towards Zhou Suyao.

This time, she didn’t dodge.

The flame struck her chest directly.

Her body was hit. The immense impact sent her flying hundreds of feet away. Bl00d splattered from her broken body, spraying all over his face.

The scalding sensation shocked him into full awareness.

The feeling was too real.

It made him momentarily panic, truly believing he had killed Zhou Suyao.

Pain instantly enveloped him.

It was as if a pair of hands were firmly squeezing his neck. He immediately struggled for breath. In his flailing, his hand suddenly grasped a hint of warmth.

Then, a voice calling out to him, like celestial music, gently rang in his ear, pulling him out of the boundless chaos.

“Senior Brother… Senior Brother… Eldest Senior Brother…!”

He panted violently, opening his eyes in a daze, meeting a pair of clear, beautiful eyes.

The concern filling those eyes looked genuine.

He was stunned for a moment, his lips trembling, unable to speak.

“Eldest Senior Brother…?” Zhou Suyao knelt by his couch, her fingers still tightly intertwined with his. “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”

Zhou Shan Yuan blinked. The bitter pain pooling in his chest dissipated the moment he saw her.

The rain outside still fell, reminding him that this moment was reality.

And his Little Junior Sister was safe and sound before him.

Realizing this, he slowly flipped his hand, tightly grasping her cold fingers, squeezing gently as if to confirm something.

“Yes.”

His voice was very soft, so soft that Zhou Suyao could barely hear him in the rainy night.

I had a nightmare. In the dream I lost my mortal world again.