Chapter 112: Desire

Su Bai felt like a salted fish stranded in the desert, with moisture constantly evaporating from her body.

She also felt like a sponge left to bake under the scorching sun—dry, shriveled, and devoid of a single drop of water.

So thirsty~ so very thirsty~

Dying of thirst~~

Last night, that accursed fiend seemed to have lost his mind. She’d only exchanged a few words with her cheap second disciple, brought over in this life’s simulation, but he went straight ahead and stuffed her with a Thousandfold Sensitivity Pill, his hands wandering up and down, left and right, never resting.

Su Bai was swept away by surges like the great rivers joining the sea; even Bai Suzhen would have called it the work of an expert. Beside them, Blood Concubine ceaselessly egged the fiend on, barely stopping short of the final step. Last night, they nearly accomplished the feat of “One female atop another, soaring into the Azure Emperor’s Palace.”

Suddenly, a gentle warmth pressed against her lips, the heat spreading from that point onward.

An indescribable flavor burst forth, as if tasting the most delicious food in the world, or a peerless celestial treasure encountered once in ten thousand years—she drank greedily.

Was it water?

Not quite. The texture was peculiar, the sensation unusual, and there was a distinct scent to it—something special.

When this peculiar episode ended, Su Bai slowly opened her eyes, meeting Blood Concubine’s pair of bright, crimson, bewitching blood pupils. Blood Concubine gazed at her with a playful, sly, half-smile. The taste of something delicious still lingered on her cherry lips.

“Did it taste good, my true self?” Blood Concubine parted her red lips, her voice filled with mischief.

“This was a millennia-old Heavenly Essence Liquid~” she added with pride.

“I sneaked it out from A Xuan’s storage.”

Su Bai sat up, her fingers unconsciously touching her lips, where the fragrance lingered. Her fingertips felt a bit warm, as if the lingering taste between her lips and teeth would never quite dissipate.

“Why is it so hot?”

“It was just heated up. Drinking something warm in the morning is good for your stomach.” Blood Concubine blinked her big eyes, looking utterly innocent and pure.

Su Bai didn’t dwell on it. She glanced around—her verdant imperial robe was still there, but Zhou Xuan was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did that fiend go?”

“He just left, going to have a chat with our cheap second disciple, also your second son.” As Blood Concubine spoke, she reached out and gently wiped the white residue from Su Bai’s lips, then popped her finger into her own mouth and smacked her lips contentedly.

“Peach blossom flavor~ so tasty~”

Su Bai:

This was definitely mind control down to the bones!

Such a pervert!!

The morning light was faint.

In the private room of the inn, a simple breakfast sat steaming on the table. Ma Zhen, who had “voluntarily” guarded the door all night and listened to an endless night of passionate moans, had no appetite, eating mechanically, bite after lifeless bite.

Just then, the door to the room creaked open with a “squeak.”

Zhou Xuan entered, tall and straight, dressed in a white robe embroidered with gold. At the sight, Ma Zhen immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks, stood, and saluted respectfully.

“Elder Brother.”

“No need for formalities.” Zhou Xuan waved his hand and casually sat down to the side, neither touching the food nor leaving.

For a moment, the air in the room seemed to freeze. The already quiet atmosphere grew even more oppressive, and the occasional street noise drifting in through the window couldn’t break the suffocating stillness.

Ma Zhen remained silent, unsure how to break the silence.

He truly didn’t know how to face this elder brother of his, who had betrayed both master and family, now even courting his own aunt.

It wasn’t the breach of blood ties that terrified him, but the earth-shattering power that man held in his hands.

The world was still so beautiful—he hadn’t lived enough yet.

So the two sat there in silence.

After a long while, Zhou Xuan finally spoke. “Deliver something for me.”

Ma Zhen quickly replied, “Elder Brother, just say the word.”

“The Northern Wastes, Longevity Heaven, Heavenly Wolf Immortal Venerable. Deliver an item into his hands.”

With just a few words, the renowned True Lord Hongyuan’s expression flickered—but he quickly masked his inner turmoil.

“Elder Brother, you jest. Not to mention that the Heavenly Wolf Immortal Venerable has long since fallen, even if he were still alive, Longevity Heaven in the Northern Wastes is only accessible to those with special permission.”

“Though I was born in the Northern Wastes, I am now a dyed-in-the-wool Central Province man. Moreover, since the five domains were unified, the whereabouts of Longevity Heaven have become impossible to trace, and even our Azure Emperor Divine Palace has found no trace…”

As Ma Zhen spoke, he noticed Zhou Xuan’s faint, detached gaze and immediately understood its meaning.

This was not a request—it was an order.

He instinctively shut his mouth, an awkward smile appearing on his face, and hastily changed his tone. “But since it is Elder Brother’s command, I will spare no effort and will not fail you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a pitch-black treasured mirror appeared out of thin air in Ma Zhen’s arms. Zhou Xuan said nothing more and turned to leave the room.

Left alone, Ma Zhen gazed at the mirror in his arms, his fingertips gliding gently over its smooth surface, his expression growing somber.

After a moment, he let out a faint sigh.

Mother, Elder Brother, Aunt.

And—

He slowly turned his head to look toward the northwest, where the Northern Wastes lay.

Ancestors…

After settling the small matters, Zhou Xuan took Su Bai and Blood Concubine back to the Azure Emperor Divine Palace.

Their absence for a night caused little stir. Clearly, everyone in the palace had long grown accustomed to the current Profound Heaven Dao Venerable’s occasional willful truancy.

As soon as they returned to the Azure Emperor’s bedchambers, Blood Concubine scampered off to Zhou Xuan’s hall, while Su Bai quietly resumed her study of mind control techniques.

Regarding this “self” who had been ensnared by mind enchantment and seduction—though she often said, “I’ll chop you up sooner or later,” she still had to save herself, after all, it was herself, just momentarily led astray by a bewitchment.

Damn Zhou Xuan! Damn Su Xiaohei!

After raising him all these years, in the end he wants to go against me, and even make me his woman!!

After finishing her study of the combined “Mind Enchantment Technique of the Way of Servitude” and Furnace Techniques alongside the “Six Desires Demon Patterns,” Su Bai glanced over the pile of manuals on the bed. Her eyes landed on a particular book. Picking it up, she saw the bold inked title: “Great Art of Controlling Mares.”

Resenting the heavens’ injustice! Cursing the earth’s unfairness! Lamenting that she had always been like an ant, with no talent, no hope of the immortal path!!

I have no talent, but others do, so I can control them! I have no treasures, but others do, so I can control them! I have no longevity, but others do, so I can control them!!

Flipping open the first page, just a few short lines caught Su Bai’s attention. In half an incense stick’s time, she finished reading “Great Art of Deceiving the Heavens by Controlling Mares.”

With a thud, Su Bai tossed the entire book onto the bed, her mouth twitching uncontrollably!

Damn! This wasn’t just a deviant path—it was the most heretical of all heretical ways!!

Those old devils really were all insane! Each more deranged than the last!!

The entire book revolved around one word—“Control!”

I don’t have it, but others do. As long as I “control” them, whatever they have becomes mine.

The old devil who created this art was a wealthy mortal, born without talent but dreaming of immortality since childhood, so he created a technique—the “Art of Controlling Mares.”

At the cost of twenty years of his lifespan, he would draw a forbidden formation, lure his green plum childhood friend (who had Grade D aptitude) into the formation in a certain state, and have her kneel in a specific posture to pledge her body and mind, becoming a special existence under his control.

Once the ritual was complete, he could borrow her aptitude to cultivate, and everything she had—from body to will, from soul to spirit, even life itself—would fall under his control.

Relying on this one evil technique, the old devil kept cultivating, and along the way, either coerced or lured others into becoming his new subordinates. He even added to his creation mind enchantment spells, special interactive techniques, yin-yang theories, blissful techniques, and other twisted doctrines.

Every cultivator who joined his harem would be immersed in a sea of pleasure, unable to extricate themselves or resist.

Eventually, this devil relied on the forbidden art to survive the Spirit Transformation Tribulation, achieving the level of Nascent Soul Dao Venerable, and amassed a harem of three hundred thousand beauties. Yet, not long after becoming a Dao Venerable, he was dragged out of his lair and beaten by an aged Dao Venerable on the verge of death, wielding a Spirit Transformation divine weapon.

Kicking the evil art off her bed, Su Bai decided she’d better not read it again—just skimming through it was polluting her eyes.

Just as she was about to pick up another book, the voice of Bai Changsheng rang out with excitement in her mind from the outside world.

“My true self, great news! I got promoted!!”