Ji Xuanyue’s sole objective was to obtain the medicinal spirit nectar. With that in mind, he surrendered to the moment, just as he had the night before. He knew that by simply maintaining this rhythm, everything he desired would inevitably emerge of its own accord.
Sure enough, amidst their kisses, his wife’s voice began to falter; she struggled to pull away, arching her delicate, vulnerable neck. She trembled uncontrollably, shaking like a leaf.
Ji Xuanyue lowered his lashes. Even in the darkness, he could clearly see the fine sheen of sweat at Su Yu’s slender neck. A sweet fragrance seeped from it, threading its way into his lungs and very marrow, strand by strand. His gaze fixed on the pulse throbbing at the side of her neck. An itch rose in his teeth, and an impulse suddenly seized him, urging him to sink his fangs deep into it.
The medicinal spirit was simply too delicious. That cloyingly sweet scent pushed him to the brink of losing control. He sensed the impulse was no longer driven solely by the desire to mend the cracks in his demon core. Something else mixed into it, something buried deep in the very bones and blood of his kind.
He closed his eyes briefly and forced the fangs that had already begun to protrude back behind his gums. Then, amid the lingering tremors of the woman beneath him, he pressed a kiss to the pulse fluttering at the side of her neck.
Su Yu felt as though she was about to die. Trapped in a blank, dazed haze, she had already lost control of her body. It took her a long while to come back to her senses. Only then did she realize something cool and soft was resting lightly against the throbbing pulse at the side of her neck. Warm, damp lips pressed against that patch of skin, teeth gently holding it as they slowly rubbed and worried at it.
Su Yu instinctively shrank her neck. In her daze, she felt like prey caught in a serpent’s coils, with sharp fangs poised to pierce her skin at any moment. The illusion sent a shiver racing across her scalp, yet she could not move. All she could do was tremble faintly, still caught in the lingering aftereffects.
Staring blankly at the canopy overhead, Su Yu could sense that Ji Xuanyue seemed to be restraining something. Yet he remained buried deep inside her, refusing to move. After a long while, he finally lifted himself slightly from the hollow of her shoulder, sparing the patch of skin he had held between his teeth for far too long. At the same time, he slowly withdrew, seemingly intending, just as he had the night before, to stop there.
“Husband…” Su Yu’s voice was so hoarse it was barely audible. “You haven’t yet…”
“It’s fine.” His voice fell softly beside her ear. “As long as you’re satisfied, my wife.”
An indescribable ache welled in Su Yu’s chest at his words. She remembered what the matrons had told her before her marriage: in matters like this, a woman would never find as much pleasure as a man. Even so, she had to endure it and wait for her husband to finish before it could be considered complete. But now, it felt as though their roles had been reversed.
She was the one experiencing pleasure. He was the one enduring it.
She didn’t know where the courage came from, but just before he could pull away completely, she reached out and wrapped an arm around his.
“H-Husband…”
“You can keep going.”
After those words, Su Yu’s heart pounded so hard it felt like it would leap from her throat. Yet she didn’t let go; instead, she wrapped herself around him. She was so embarrassed by her own actions that she squeezed her eyes shut. Even the leg wrapped around him trembled.
Ji Xuanyue froze. Seeing Su Yu with her eyes closed and cheeks flushed crimson, he found that the restless desire he had suppressed for so long could no longer be contained. The sensation surged arrogantly from the depths of his dantian, and even the cracks in his demon core, which had only just begun to heal, warmed in response.
This was his wife’s request. As her husband, it was his duty to satisfy her. With that thought, he suppressed the last trace of hesitation.
“Alright.” He bent down again and drew her into his arms.
Ji Xuanyue hadn’t felt the loss of control in a very long time.
The last time it happened seemed to be after the annihilation of Jun Mountain, when he had survived by sheer luck. Back then, he had still been young. Gravely injured, he had reverted to his serpent form and curled up alone in a dark cave where no light reached. His mother’s corpse lay beside him, her blood still caught between the scales of his body. He didn’t know how long he remained curled up in that cave. Only when pain began seeping from the cracks in his demon core, wrenching his entire body into spasms, did he finally force himself to crawl out. The moment he emerged, he saw the corpse of an unidentified demon beast that had died during the massacre at Jun Mountain.
The creature’s claws clutched the scales of a young serpent.
He remembered coiling himself beside that corpse and, driven by overwhelming hatred, sinking his fangs viciously into its cold, lifeless flesh. He had lost control, tearing everything in his path apart. By the time he came back to his senses, the ground was littered with mangled remains shredded by his own hands. But now, he was buried within the warmth of a mortal body. What he tasted was not blood, but the fine beads of sweat seeping from her skin. He heard not screams, but her soft, nasal whimpers, as gentle and fluid as water. That thing that had once threatened to drive him mad with loss of control was now rising within him in a completely different way. And to his surprise, he did not want to stop.
“Su Yu.” He called her name.
Within the gently swaying gauze curtains, Su Yu struggled to open her eyes. Through tears blurring her vision, she saw her husband frowning for some reason. The darkness in his eyes alarmed her.
“H-Husband…” Su Yu’s voice came out in fragmented, unsteady gasps. Yet she still tried to lift a hand, her trembling fingertips lightly brushing the furrow between his brows. She did not even know what she was trying to say. She only called to him again, softly.
“Husband…”
Perhaps her voice was too soft. Or perhaps because the medicinal spirit was too gentle. At last, Ji Xuanyue completely lost control.
Su Yu woke to a dull, aching fullness in her lower abdomen. She groggily opened her eyes. Beyond the gauze curtains, dawn had only just begun to brighten the sky. A sound came from the doorway. Ji Xuanyue had entered, carrying what appeared to be a bronze basin.
Still overwhelmed by drowsiness, her mind remained hazy, and her body was so weak she could barely muster any strength.
She looked toward Ji Xuanyue and weakly tried to shift on the bed. Her body barely moved, but with that slight motion, a warm stream trickled down.
Lying limply on the bed, exhaustion weighed her down. Her eyelids drifted shut once more. Unable to speak, she only vaguely heard him say: “I was too indulgent. Let me clean you up.”
One of her legs was gently lifted, and a warm cloth touched her skin.
“Go back to sleep, my wife.”
His familiar voice sounded beside her. Through her lingering haze, Su Yu caught a brief glimpse of his jade-like profile as he lowered his head. Too tired to care what he was doing, she soon fell back into a deep sleep.
Ji Xuanyue kept his head lowered and carefully wiped her clean. He was a serpent demon who had cultivated for a thousand years. The vital essence within him had likewise accumulated over a millennium.
A mortal body had its limits. To receive such a large amount of his pure essence in so short a time was simply too much to bear.
At that moment, that essence slowly flowed out, tainting even the medicinal spirit nectar that should have been sweet and pure.
He felt dissatisfied with himself, having lost control and missed an opportunity for nourishment. Yet as the cloth moved, his fingers occasionally brushed her skin, and the sensation that had nearly drowned him moments ago surged back.
Well then. Tomorrow, he would first draw upon her sweetness, and only afterward fulfill his duties as a husband.