Li Su was pissing.
Under the night sky, a crystal-clear torrent traced an arc two zhang long, then plunged like a silver waterfall pouring from the heavens. It struck the earth, sending up muddy waves that swirled together with a gurgle as murky froth spread in all directions.
“That must be seven meters, right?”
Li Su stood with his hands on his hips, grinning proudly.
The days when he had to hold it while peeing or risk wetting his shoes were finally behind him.
Though he was only in the Body Tempering Realm, his body was so powerful that, had he possessed it in his previous life, it would not have been an exaggeration to say he could “pluck mountains from the earth and tower over all beneath the heavens.”
Just as he was now, with only a slight effort, he had already achieved a length countless men in his previous life could only dream of.
“If nothing unexpected happens, I’ll break through the Body Tempering Realm this year. Then I’ll finally be a normal man.”
Li Su’s eyes brimmed with anticipation.
In this life, he was tall and slender, with sharp brows and bright eyes, and an exceptionally handsome face.
It might sound shameless, but with looks like his, he was confident he could visit a brothel and get a free night.
Unfortunately, men in the Body Tempering Realm had to remain virgins. So Li Su, who had once dreamed of reclining against a beauty’s knees, didn’t dare set foot in a brothel to find out whether his face alone could get him a free night.
…
It was already night, and hardly anyone ever came to these woods. Li Su had no qualms about showing off, unconcerned that anyone might catch him proudly “commanding the rivers and mountains.”
“Man!”
A soft, trembling voice suddenly rang out.
Li Su jumped and shuddered despite himself.
He quickly looked to his right. A woman in a white Daoist robe was standing behind a crooked apricot tree. He had no idea when she had arrived.
She gripped the trunk with both hands. Her peerlessly beautiful face was faintly flushed, her eyes unfocused as she stared intently at Li Su.
“What a beautiful woman…” Li Su’s heart began to race. He had been in this world for nearly ten years, and he had seen plenty of young ladies from distinguished families in Gusu City, but none could compare with the woman before him.
She was exquisitely beautiful, radiant beyond compare.
The woman in white stepped out from behind the crooked apricot tree and staggered toward Li Su.
Li Su froze, then quickly realized what was happening. He gave himself a quick shake and pulled up his trousers.
“Miss…” Li Su had only just begun when the woman in white seemed to sway. In an instant, she appeared right in front of him and placed both hands directly on his shoulders.
Her warm, fragrant breath washed over him. Li Su instinctively held his breath, his heart pounding.
“Miss, are you all right?”
“Man!” The woman in white’s red lips trembled. Her eyes were unfocused as she studied Li Su’s face. Then her right hand suddenly tightened.
“Oh no.”
Li Su’s expression changed. Pain shot through his left shoulder, and threads of force spread through his body. In an instant, he lost the ability to fight back.
Gripping Li Su by the shoulder, the woman lightly touched the ground with her toes. Her body grew light as she sped toward the edge of the woods.
“Miss! Heroine, have you got the wrong person?”
Li Su, his feet off the ground and his body unable to move, shouted in alarm. A growing sense of dread stirred in his heart.
“Be quiet.”
…
…
It was late at night.
Outside Gusu City stood Hanshan Temple.
It was a dilapidated temple, deserted by everyone.
Li Su wisely shut his mouth, then opened his eyes wide.
The white-robed heroine, still holding his shoulder, gave a light sweep of her sleeve. In an instant, the ruined temple, once covered in dust and cobwebs, became spotless.
“She’s stronger than me. I can’t fight her.”
Li Su’s heart hammered. When he saw the heroine’s seductive gaze and the unnatural flush on her stunning face, he could no longer stay calm.
Only then did he truly understand: this wasn’t a robbery!
This was the most common “detoxification” plot in martial-arts stories.
“Heroine, calm down.”
“I’ve been tempering my body since I was young. I’m still in the Body Tempering Realm. I absolutely can’t…”
“Be quiet!”
“No, wait, you…”
“…”
Dawn broke, and the first light appeared.
Gu Qingyan finished dressing and stood up. She glanced at Li Su, who lay on the ground, and said softly, “You’re lucky to have spent a night with the famous Yuheng Fairy.”
As she spoke, the faintly flushed, exquisite face changed in an instant, becoming another face of peerless beauty.
“The poison is gone, but my power…”
Gu Qingyan shook her head and walked away.
It was noon when Li Su woke groggily. His whole body felt warm and exceptionally comfortable.
Memories of what had happened the night before flooded his mind. He jolted and hurriedly sat up.
He looked around. The graceful figure was gone.
“Oh no, I…”
Remembering the forced frenzy of the previous night, Li Su turned deathly pale.
When a martial artist in the Body Tempering Realm lost his virginity, his vital essence dissipated, and he could never advance beyond that realm for the rest of his life.
Ever since arriving in this world and learning that cultivation existed, Li Su had devoted himself entirely to it.
Unfortunately, he was neither a scion of a wealthy, powerful family nor some legendary child of destiny. He had never managed to obtain an orthodox manual of profound techniques.
All he had learned was some rudimentary martial arts from a Thousand-Household Commander surnamed Zuo, along with the military’s methods for tempering the body.
For ten years, he had tempered his body day after day, all so he could break through the Body Tempering Realm as soon as possible.
Now, it had all come to nothing.
“What kind of heroine is she? She’s a demoness!”
Li Su gritted his teeth. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a bloodstain on the blue martial outfit beneath him, and his expression stiffened.
The night before, he had realized that although the white-robed heroine looked alluring and carried herself with seductive charm, she was still a virgin.
After sitting stunned for a long while, Li Su shook his head. What was done was done; he would have to find another way.
As he got up and dressed, he noticed a gold-threaded sachet beneath his clothes, embroidered with a pure white lotus and roughly the size of his palm.
He picked it up and weighed it. Li Su was surprised to find that, though the sachet looked small, it was rather heavy.
“Could this be… compensation she left me?”
Li Su’s face darkened a little. He used two fingers to pry open the sachet’s flower-edged mouth, and his eyes widened.
Though it was only palm-sized, the sachet seemed bottomless.
“This…”
Li Su’s heart began to race. He reached inside with the index and middle fingers of his right hand and felt around. He thought he had pinched something, so he drew out his fingers and pulled out a white Daoist robe.
After a brief silence, three Chinese characters surfaced in Li Su’s mind:
A storage pouch!
“Her identity must be extraordinary,” Li Su thought. As far as he knew, storage pouches were exceedingly rare in this world. Even the princes of the Great Qian imperial clan were not guaranteed to have one.
His gaze fell on the sachet again, and a little hope stirred in his heart.
If it contained genuine treasures of heaven and earth, perhaps they could make up for the damage caused by the loss of his virginity.
“Heroine, you took my virginity, so don’t leave me only a few articles of clothing. You’d better leave me some treasures of heaven and earth—or an unparalleled secret manual would do, too.”
Li Su reached into the sachet again with two fingers. After a moment, he pulled out a white undergarment, which gave off a faint, refreshing orchid fragrance.
“Ahem.”
Li Su’s face flushed with embarrassment. He hurriedly stuffed the undergarment beneath the white Daoist robe he had just pulled out, then reached into the sachet again.
An undergarment.
A Daoist robe.
A long sword.
Wine.
Rations.
Gold and silver.
Books.
When he pulled out a book with gold trim, Li Su’s eyes shone like stars.
The Supreme Cauldron-Control Art.
“Is this a Daoist method of Qi cultivation?”
After flipping through a few pages, Li Su’s eyes grew brighter still.
Daoist Qi cultivation was a genuine method of cultivation, worth a fortune and nearly impossible to obtain.
“Even though I’m no longer a virgin, I should still be able to practice the Supreme Cauldron-Control Art, right?”
Li Su closed the book, uncertain.
All the cultivation knowledge he had came from what Commander Zuo had told him.
Commander Zuo had served in the military. Twenty years ago, he had already broken through the Body Tempering Realm and forged a body of bronze sinews and iron bones. He was one of the strongest men in Gusu City.
“I’d better head back first.”
Li Su looked around, tucked the book into his clothes, then cautiously tried stuffing the other things he had taken out back into the sachet.
The sachet was like a snake’s mouth: though it was clearly small, the moment he put one end of the long sword to its opening, the mouth seemed to stretch with tremendous elasticity and swallowed the sword whole.
…
Gusu City, the northern district.
Zuo Residence.
“Li Su, courtesy name Boyang… Is he a scholar?” Tian Qi asked hesitantly as she looked at the portrait in her hand.
The portrait showed a young man in white scholar’s robes, with sharp brows and bright eyes, handsome beyond compare.
Zuo Lin shook his head. “He’s devoted to martial arts.”
“Then he must be quite strong, surely?” Tian Qi asked softly.
Zuo Lin shook his head again. “He’s still tempering his body. He hasn’t broken through the Body Tempering Realm yet.”
“Well…” Tian Qi looked at the portrait, at a loss for words.
She had assumed that such a handsome young man would have a great talent for cultivation.
Zuo Lin considered the matter. “Having Her Highness the Princess temporarily marry him as cover is the best arrangement. Until he breaks through the Body Tempering Realm, he can’t go near women; otherwise, his path of cultivation will be over.
“I know him. He’s so obsessed with cultivation that he would never dare offend Her Highness the Princess.”
“I’ll follow Uncle Zuo’s arrangements.” Tian Qi lowered her eyes slightly, a faint blush rising to her cheeks. Her gaze returned to the portrait in her hands.
Zuo Lin glanced at the woman in purple standing behind Tian Qi. She was exceptionally tall, nearly half a head taller than Zuo Lin himself.
“The court has raised the bounties on all of you. Gusu City has been unsettled lately, too. Since you’ve decided to stay in disguise, it would be best to avoid fighting unless you have to.”
The woman in purple gave a slight nod. “We won’t cause you trouble unless it’s necessary.”
“It’s not trouble,” Zuo Lin said, shaking his head. He hesitated, then added, “I’m worried that if that boy Li Su finds out you know how to cultivate, he might latch onto you.”
“Looks like he really does love cultivation.” The woman in purple lifted her delicate brows slightly.
Tian Qi looked at the portrait of Li Su without saying anything.
Zuo Lin smiled. “When he was not yet ten, he used to bring me two jars of fine wine every day because he wanted to learn martial arts.”
“Then his family must be fairly well off,” the woman in purple said casually. Anything Zuo Lin praised as fine wine clearly couldn’t have been cheap.
“His family?” Zuo Lin shook his head, his voice tinged with emotion. “He has no family background to speak of. You could say everything he has now, he earned himself.”
“Self-made?” The woman in purple stared, then furrowed her brows. “You just said he brought you two jars of fine wine every day before he was ten.”
“That’s right. By the time he was ten, he was already richer than most people in Gusu City.” Zuo Lin smiled.
Tian Qi couldn’t help asking, “Where did he get the money?”
“He…” Zuo Lin smiled, his voice unhurried. “By publishing poetry collections.”
“…”
…