Outside the window, the silver moon slowly rose above the marketplace, and the streets were still bustling, as usual.
Pei Lianxue held her brother in her arms from sunset to now, and she had finally, completely removed the "miscellaneous energy" with an unknown origin from his meridians.
After double-checking to make sure his condition was stable, she slowly released him and placed him on the bed.
"Phew-- it's finally over..."
Pei Lianxue wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, then tugged on her brother's pants, lay on his chest, and took a peek inside.
"The swelling here has also subsided... hmm."
After concentrating on conveying spiritual energy to Ye Anping for nearly three consecutive hours, Pei Lianxue only now felt exhausted and just wanted to lie down there and close her eyes to sleep.
Get some sleep...
Sleep...
Sleep with brother...
After a series of keyword associations, Pei Lianxue suddenly jumped on the bed like a frightened little rabbit, her cheeks blushing with embarrassment.
Previously, she only thought about saving her brother and didn't even realize that she simply hugged him like that for three hours.
And now he seemed to have fallen asleep directly...
Pei Lianxue glanced at Ye Anping, who had his eyes closed, and pursed her lips, rubbing her hands that had no strength in them.
When she was three or four years old, she also bathed and slept with her brother, but this had stopped happening since she was six.
The elders of the ***Hundred Lotus*** Sect told her that men and women were different and that they needed to sleep in separate rooms after the age of six. It was at that time that she developed a sense of shame and learned that men and women should not be together without wearing clothes.
And it was later that she learned that only men and women who became cultivator couples could sleep in the same bed at the same time. This was called 'bridal chamber.'
In addition, she remembered that the elder sisters also said that the first 'bridal chamber' was an extremely precious thing for women. Therefore, they should consider the partner of their 'bridal chamber' really carefully and never rush to agree to a man's request for a 'bridal chamber' just because they thought he was handsome.
"Bridal chamber..."
Pei Lianxue looked at her brother's sleeping face and felt an inexplicable drumming in her chest as if there was a warm current stuck in her lungs, which was stifling but very comfortable.
"Um... brother?"
Pei Lianxue leaned down to his ear and called out softly. Then, she waited for a while. Seeing that there was no response, she leaned on his shoulder and took his hand.
"In this case... it can be said I was in a 'bridal chamber' with my brother, right?... Hehe..."
Pei Lianxue laughed softly and wanted to leave, but after taking a look at Ye Anping peacefully sleeping, she suddenly felt reluctant.
She bit her lip lightly as if fighting off guilt.
"Anyway, brother is sleeping soundly. It would be nice to stay in the 'bridal chamber' for a while longer... well... I will leave before brother wakes up..."
"Yes, leave before he wakes up..."
Saying this, she gently rolled the sleeping Ye Anping over to face her, then carefully burrowed into his arms and placed her small hands on his chest. With the tip of her nose in front of his collarbone, she slightly raised her head to stare at his face.
At this time, she suddenly had a thought...
"Did I take away brother's innocence? He has been tainted by me like this... He should be angry when he wakes up."
It was as if her heart was urging her: *"Leave quickly. If you don't leave, brother will definitely be furious when he wakes up and sees you like this!"* Pei Lianxue was a little scared and wanted to leave.
However, she now felt that Ye Anping was like a magnet, drawing her into his arms.
After hesitating for a while, she took a deep breath and made up her mind. "Just a little while... just a little while... count to fifty and then go..."
One...
Two...
Three...
...
Forty-nine...
Fifty.
"A little longer... count to fifty again... no, forty, forty, and go..."
One...
Two...
Three...
...
Thirty-nine...
Forty...
"The last count, to thirty..." Pei Lianxue half-squinted her eyes and squeezed into Ye Anping's arms. "The last thirty... um..."
One...
Two...
Three...
Four...
Four...
Five...
"Five...hoo..."
"Huh-hoo-"
"*Zzz*..."
...
Ye Anping had a dream.
In the dream, he felt as if he had arrived at the sixteenth level of the eighteen levels of hell and was thrown into the crater of a volcano, and his whole body was wrapped in magma.
The unbearable burning sensation made him subconsciously open his mouth wide and want to scream, but this caused magma to pour into his mouth, burning his tongue, throat, and even his organs.
When he couldn't bear it anymore, he began to urge the lava in his heart to kill him sooner.
Suddenly, the darkness in his field of vision was broken by a stream of blue water.
A stream of cold blue water came toward him from somewhere.
The severe pain in his body gradually disappeared.
Moreover, he felt that after touching the stream of water, his skin and internal organs, which had turned into black coal, miraculously slowly revived.
At this point, he fell asleep in his dream.
...
Ye Anping slowly opened his eyes and frowned as he remembered his dream.
The pain he had felt in the dream was so unforgettable that he might remember it clearly even decades later.
He calmed down in a while, and then he felt a fragrant and soft girl actually hugging him. He tilted his head and looked at the lovely girl in his arms.
After seeing that it was his sister, Ye Anping felt a rare peace of mind. He used his spiritual sense to explore his own meridians. When he saw that the yang energy that had been blocked on the meridians disappeared, he understood what had happened.
It seemed that his sister arrived in time and used her spiritual sense to detect his excess yang energy. Then, she used her extremely yin spiritual energy to help him neutralize and eliminate the excess yang.
Looking at his little sister sleeping soundly in his arms, Ye Anping smiled fondly.
"She's turned into a big girl now... she'll reach maturity in just over two months."
He raised his hand and gently poked her cheek, but she just murmured twice and squeezed into his arms again.
"Uhm... brother, stop it..."
"..."
Ye Anping felt slightly helpless, but he wasn't going to wake her up. So, he simply put his chin on top of her head, changed into a comfortable position, and held her in his arms.
At the same time, he began to think about the problem that he had not yet had time to think about.
Why had he suddenly risen from the fifth to the final level of the *Qi Refining* stage?
This was by no means the right time or the right circumstances.
In this world, no one could do such a thing.
This matter was basically no different from "defying the heavens".
In his previous world, it was equivalent to ignoring the theorems of physics.
And there was basically only one thing that could do such a thing.
--***Wind Spirit Moon Shadow***.*
He didn't know why, but it was like he suddenly pressed a modifier key, and then a connection was made.
Previously, after coming back from the ***Black Star*** Sect's back mountain, he had also suddenly risen from the third level of the *Qi Refining* stage to the fifth level.
Inferred from this, a conjecture arose in Ye Anping's mind.
In the game, there were basically only four ways for players to progress in cultivation---killing monsters, meditating, taking experience potions, and completing quests.
He couldn't test whether he could gain experience by fighting monsters in this world.
In the game, a single monster had the cultivation level of a mosquito's leg, so one would have to kill at least a thousand monsters of the same degree in order to move up a level.
Besides, killing monsters in the game was called leveling up, and killing monsters in this world was called destroying the natural habitat.
Regarding meditation, it should be possible, but there was absolutely no way to jump five levels in a row to complete the *Qi Refining* stage.
As for taking experience potions, they were only sold in the store later in the game. They were called "*Nine Transformations and Five Elements Spirit Cultivation Golden Body Elixir*," and allowed players to ascend directly from the *Qi Refining* stage to the *Void Returning* stage.
He had inquired before, but there wasn't even a legend about it, so it was very likely that such a thing didn't actually exist here.
That only left the possibility of the reward for completing the quests.
The last time was the day after returning from the ***Black Star*** Sect's back mountain...
This time, it happened shortly after Feng Yu Die came back...
"Thinking this way, it's really possible that this would be the case."
Ye Anping has been thinking about this for some time.
Because he had dual spiritual roots, the gap between him and his sister would probably get bigger and bigger in the future. He was worried that in ten or twenty years, she would be already at the *Nascent Soul* stage while he would be in the middle to late stage of *Foundation Building*, so he had been looking for ways to cultivate quickly.
Otherwise, he won't be able to continue to protect his sister, and he might even drag her down.
But if it was as he suspected, and he could improve cultivation by completing quests, maybe he could still stay by his beloved sister's side and protect her.
Thinking about all this, Ye Anping felt a little tired.
"That's enough for now... we'll talk about it tomorrow morning."
With that, he gently kissed Pei Lianxue's forehead.
"Good night, little sister."
After that, the brother and sister fell asleep in each other's arms, just like when they were little.
