Beastmaster of the Ages

The dawn sunlight shone on Soulburn Hall, marking an end to the earlier snowstorm. It was as if the whole courtyard had quieted down, bringing a relaxing tranquility. Tianming’s long, white hair was splayed out across the snowy ground. He squinted and looked toward the sun, his limbs completely spread out. Feiling, on the other hand, was using his arm as a pillow and burrowing her face into his body, covering it with both hands.

”Hey, don’t I smell? You’re practically glued to me,” Tianming said. Her face was almost completely fused with his body now.

”Hey, don’t talk! You’re embarrassing....” She let go of her face with one hand and pinched his arm, revealing her shy, flushed appearance. Even her eyes still seemed a little dazed. She felt like she was still on cloud nine.

”How was that embarrassing? You were the one that took the lead with so much gusto! You even pulled me into your embrace!” Recalling how she had acted, his heart was filled with praise for her. He never thought she could be so hot.

”Shut up, shut up!” Frantic, she hurriedly covered his mouth, her face still plastered against his body from embarrassment.

”Haha, I get it.” He cleared his throat awkwardly, the mere thought of her assertiveness causing his head to heat up again. Thinking about how he had reacted back then, he couldn’t help but want to find a place to bury his head in as well. Having had his fill of sweet bliss, his mind now explored the valleys of shame and shyness. ”No need to be embarrassed, Ling’er. You were really charming.”

”Hmph, you’re just saying that because you’re trying to trick me into doing it again. No way, you meanie.” She hammered his chest with her little fists.

Either way, it still felt utterly rapturous. ”Is this really the wondersky realm? Did we only mess around in our caeli forms? How does it differ in real life? Dying in the wondersky realm doesn’t feel realistic at all, after all....” Even Tianming was confused as to whether he had truly consummated their relationship. What was the difference between doing it as caeli or as fleshy bodies in meatspace? He couldn’t be sure. ”Either way, I don’t suppose it’s too different from the real world.”

Ideally, he wanted to be able to ’dual cultivate’ in real life as well, but thanks to the Curse of Frost, the two of them could only resort to using the wondersky realm.

”Ling’er, did it feel real to you?”

”I guess so... not like I know how it feels outside of here,” she mumbled.

”Either way, make sure you try looking into your body’s condition. Do you have any ideas so far?”

”Not really.... Let’s not talk about it. I’m a little tired, so I want to doze off.”

”Sleeping in a dream world... only a genius like you can come up with this.”

”Yep....” She slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep in his embrace. Like an octopus, she wrapped all of her limbs around him, basking in the sense of security.

”To think you’d really be able to fall asleep here.” If falling asleep in real life sent the caelum to the xenomemory space, what would happen to someone who fell asleep in a wondersky realm? He didn’t overthink it and merely smiled warmly as he watched her doze off. ”Oh, I forgot to tell you—I love you too.”

......

Soulburn Hall was indeed a beautiful place. They could shape the space of the wondersky realm as they wished, so it was a good choice. After quite a while, Feiling gradually woke up. Tianming pinched her lips and made her lips puff out before giving her a huge kiss. ”Lazy piggy, time to wake up.”

”Mmmmh....” She still seemed really sleepy.

”Rise and shine!”

A resounding slap sounded out and she jumped and glared at him. ”You’re rough!”

”Didn’t you say you liked it rough?”

Her face flushed so red that she couldn’t even speak. Back then, it was like she was in a drunk trance. She hadn’t had any inhibitions at all.

”Come, let’s go back,” Tianming said.

”Alright.” Feiling thought about something else and continued, ”Big Brother, when our caeli return, they’ll interface with our vitae. I wonder if it’ll be a problem.”

”It should be fine, right?” He held her hand and the two of them woke up in the real world once more. Tianming stretched his body and stood up. Then, he turned to look at her. When she opened her eyes, they were black, much to his relief.

”Big Brother.” She stood up and looked at her body. Everything seemed fine.

”It’s fine—” Right as Tianming was about to say that, Feiling’s body and aura suddenly shifted. The icy blue color flooded her eyes, making her look cold and fierce in an instant. Tianming felt a chill down his spine when he saw her fierce glare.

”You... you!” Her expression seemed like one she would wear if Tianming had forcefully violated her. Blood began trickling out of her mouth. ”I will kill you!”

She charged toward him and strangled him with both hands. Her sharp nails pierced into his flesh as the cold flooded into his body, much to his surprise. Tianming clutched her hands tight. Fortunately, she wasn’t using enough force to kill him.

”Ling’er!” He pushed her hands aside and pulled her body close. Touching her in the real world was different from doing so in the wondersky realm. He immediately felt a chill, and not a single drop of loving warmth.

”You ruined my—”

”Ling’er, snap out of it!” Tianming couldn’t care less about the cold and hugged her as tightly as he could.

”Big Brother, I can’t breathe....”

Hearing that, he loosened his hug. One of her eyes had returned to normal, but the other stayed the same icy blue. ”What’s wrong?”

”I don’t know... I just felt really angry all of a sudden. I didn’t mean it....”

”Is there perhaps another vita inside your sea of consciousness?”

Feiling shook her head. If it were that simple, things wouldn’t be nearly as troubling. ”There’s only one vita, but I feel like there are two mes. One of them is the me you’re familiar with, but the other feels foreign toward you. She hates and loathes you, especially after what happened.”

Two of her? It sounded almost like she had a split personality. That was different from possession, so there was no risk to her body yet. Perhaps the part of her that resisted was the Lord of Perpetia, or a remnant of her personality. This time around, she had wanted to kill Tianming.

”What do we do, Big Brother?” The blue eye still remained, and she was wavering between gentle and angry from time to time.

”Maybe the only thing I can do is make the other you accept me so that you can become one again?” It felt like he had won the heart of her mind, but not her body. Nobody could tell which version of her would dominate if they combined together, so that didn’t sound like a really good solution, either. At the very least, their intimate interaction had been deemed nonconsensual by the other personality that lurked within. The single blue eye glared at Tianming with veiled killing intent and cold rage.