Chi Muyao and Xi Huai reached a bizarre agreement.

Xi Huai would help Chi Muyao use his Sect's cultivation method to cultivate to the Foundation Building stage. This way, Xi Huai would be able to leave the cave and Chi Muyao could extend his lifespan by another 200 years.

It was a win-win situation for both sides.

Xi Huai might be trapped, but Chi Muyao didn’t take any liberties when cultivating. He always respected the other person’s boundaries.

Aside from fainting on Xi Huai that first time, he always frantically climbed off the stone bed afterwards. Only after helping Xi Huai clean up would he go to a corner to absorb spiritual energy by himself.

Xi Huai had some qualms at first about the daunting number of times they would have to cultivate, but he gradually got used to this arrangement.

After all, all he’d been doing these days was lying on the stone bed, chatting a while with Chi Muyao after he finished absorbing spiritual energy or other interactions with Chi Muyao. These cultivation sessions were actually the only ‘entertainment’ he had left.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye before something out of the norm happened. 

—Xi Huai went berserk again.

Xi Huai was born with a madness inside him.

From the moment he entered the world, half of the Hui’s power had been sealed inside him. It was a method that involved sacrificing one’s body to make a spirit contract with a divine beast.

Normally, the spiritual contract would make him the divine beast’s master, able to command it as he wished.

But the Hui was forced against its will into this spirit contract by Xi Huai’s father. Even the contract wasn’t enough to suppress this divine beast. There was even a risk of the Hui turning against him.

There was a saying about his father in the cultivation world. The Qing Ze Sect Master went for wool and came back shorn. He instead became the slave of a divine beast.

After establishing the spiritual contract, the Qing Ze Sect Master’s body was perfused with the Hui Dragon Flames, which tormented him day in and day out. He did manage to become the most terrifying boogeyman of the cultivation world, but he paid a truly terrible price in return.

Out of sheer desperation, he had no choice but to go out of his way and have a child with another Nascent Soul cultivator in order to pass half the seal onto their child. Father and son split the burden, which was why they both had only one dragon horn on their foreheads. Xi Huai’s was on the right side.

Poor little Xi Huai had to suffer the pain of a hundred insects constantly tearing at his flesh, from the moment he was born. The savage nature of the Hui also influenced his personality, making him short-tempered, cruel and bloodthirsty.

When the torment of the Hui Dragon Flames became too much to handle, Xi Huai would lose his rationality and enter a berserk state.

He couldn’t recognise friend from foe. With a sword in hand, he would slaughter all in his path like a savage, mindless beast, leaving nothing but carnage in his wake.

His robes would be soaked through by blood and you could even tell where he had been by the trail of bloody footprints.

This was the reason why Xi Huai was so hated by everyone, eventually becoming the demon targeted by all.

However, the current Xi Huai was only eighteen years old, still an age where the Qing Ze Sect's Master could control him. Those terrible incidents hadn’t happened yet.

The death of the Qing Ze Sect Master and Xi Huai inheriting the complete seal would be when his killing spree would start.

The original Xi Huai would go berserk about once a month or so.

But recently, after having much of the resentful energy and impurities tormenting him siphoned out by Chi Muyao, he hasn’t gone berserk in half a year. This was Chi Muyao’s first time seeing him in this state.

He was in the middle of meditating and adjusting his breathing when the guttural noises Xi Huai was making startled him. Chi Muyao immediately stopped what he was doing and quickly got to his feet. "Xi Huai!"

Unfortunately, the berserk Xi Huai couldn’t hear him. He continued to howl and twist around frantically. Even the steel chains holding him down were trembling.

Considering Xi Huai’s frenzy as an attempt to forcefully break through, the cave’s restrictions lashed out once more. 

Wave upon wave of spiritual energy materialised out of thin air and struck like whips. There was no rhyme or reason to where they came from or where they hit.

The floor of the cave began to tremble. Small pieces of stone fell from the walls. A series of calamitous rumblings ensued, like thunder striking a drum.

Irrelevant of the danger, Chi Muyao reached Xi Huai's head and pressed his index and middle fingers together there, trying to cast a restriction once more.

Unfortunately, he failed to do so this time. Instead, a burst of energy from Xi Huai threw him back. It seemed like the uncontrollable thing residing in his body realised that this restriction was bad news.

Last time was just a response to his dream demon, but this was a full on frenzy. One was incomparably more difficult than the other.

At this moment, Chi Muyao was even thankful that Xi Huai was restricted. Or else Xi Huai would’ve killed him already.

Chi Muyao could only put his hands together to make a series of hand seals and send out a drop of blood from between his eyebrows, generating a barrier to protect Xi Huai from the backlash.

Unfortunately, his spiritual energy was far too meagre to manage such a feat. His barrier was barely present before it was shattered.

Chi Muyao had no choice but to plant his palms on the stone bed and shield Xi Huai with his own body.

Blow after blow of spiritual energy infused with lightning crashed into him. Sparks would linger in his accumulating wound after the initial impact, deepening the agony.

Chi Muyao, who rarely ever left the Sect, suffered the most intense attack of his life.

Even so, he tried to shift and cover every part of Xi Huai, protecting him to the best of his ability.

This was the first time they were so close together. Only now did Chi Muyao realise how tall Xi Huai was.

Folded over Xi Huai's body like this, with their chests pressed together, he had to strain his feet to reach Xi Huai's ankles

The same was true of his arm span. Chi Muyao had to stretch his fingertips to barely touch Xi Huai’s palms.

Their heights turned out to be this different?

Another thought actually passed through Chi Muyao’s mind at the moment, No wonder it hurt so much...

"Xi Huai! Xi Huai, wake up!" After covering Xi Huai, Chi Muyao tried to wake him up again.

Luckily, Xi Huai's frenzy didn't last long this time. He slowly returned to himself after fifteen minutes. If Chi Muyao hadn’t been continuously siphoning from him over the past six months, he would’ve gone berserk for at least a couple of days.

After opening his eyes, Xi Huai gradually sensed that something was wrong.

The air in the cave was so dusty that he found it unpleasant to breathe. Some potent seismic activity had obviously occurred that caused rocks to fall to the ground.

Someone was on top of him. They shifted after he woke up, propping themselves up and seemingly looking at him. "You're awake?"

He smelt the strong scent of blood. Chi Muyao was moving with difficulty, clearly wounded.

He opened his mouth, "Did I go berserk again?"

His throat was a bit sore from all that howling earlier, making his voice quiet and hoarse.

"En." Chi Muyao struggled his way off the stone bed, only to collapse and crash against it as soon as he let go.

Xi Huai subconsciously tried to catch him, but he was reminded of the chains that bound him a second later.

Xi Huai wasn’t stupid. He had already realised what happened.

Chi Muyao had shielded him when his berserk state triggered the backlash of the cave’s restrictions.

He asked again, "Are you hurt badly?"

Not being able to see or do anything but smell the stench of blood left a bad taste in his mouth.

For his part, Chi Muyao braced himself and slowly crawled to one side. “It just hurts a lot.”

His voice had a teary quality to it, presumably from the pain.

Chi Muyao sluggishly took off his sect uniform, fearing that the congealing blood would make his clothes stick to his wounds.

Then he took out the medicinal powder from his storage chain and used a telekinesis technique to apply it to his back. A fresh wave of pain washed over him as the powder touched his wounds.

Every time he drew a sharp breath, a shudder of remorse would wrack Xi Huai’s heart.

He said hoarsely, “Actually, my robes have defensive properties. You don’t have to look after me. Just keep yourself safe.”

Only then did Chi Muyao realise what had escaped him in the heat of the moment. Xi Huai was the young master of a large sect. Of course his robes were anything but ordinary. 

"I forgot..." 

He asked after a moment of thought, “Then why did the spirit beast from before manage to attack you?”

"It’s been attacking the same spot for several days already before you came, so it managed to create a hole in the defences. It was targeting that area the last time too.”

"I see."

"Doesn't your sect uniform have something similar?” Xi Huai asked.

"There is a variation like that, yes. But low ranking cultivators are given low ranking robes. After all, our Sect isn’t exactly made of money.”

“If I go berserk again, you come hide in my robes.”

"Wouldn't that be offensive to you?"

Those words offended Xi Huai more than anything. He got angry. “You offended the place you absolutely shouldn’t have already for half a year, but now you’re hung up on touching inoffensive places? You’ve already done that so what else can’t you do?”

"B-but I had a legitimate reason for offending you there.”

"I’m giving you my permission. You can touch me.”

"But you didn't let me before..."

"You! You—" Xi Huai couldn’t speak another word out of frustration. He clenched his fists tightly, his breathing a little ragged.

This guy listens to what I said before but refuses to do the same now...

...Should I describe Chi Muyao as obedient or stubborn?

Chi Muyao continued to quietly tend to his wounds. He said softly, “The estimate from before might have to be pushed back. I have to recuperate for a while and I won’t be able to cultivate in the meantime.”

"If that turtle geezer didn’t take my Myriad Treasure Bell, I would’ve been able to give you a good salve to make it hurt less.”

“Do you have a lot of good stuff in there?”

"En."

This was the first time Xi Huai had mentioned his Myriad Treasure Bell.

An ordinary cultivator's Qiankun Pouch could only store up to thirty things, and the He Huan Sect disciple’s White Butterfly Peach Blossom Chain could only store one hundred. Like its name suggested, the Myriad Treasure Bell could store ten thousand objects, each a high grade, rare treasure.

Xi Huai didn't seem to care too much about losing this Myriad Treasure Bell. He only brought it up to lament how he couldn’t give Chi Muyao better medicine for his injury.

Xi Huai spoke again, "There’s a black jade earring and necklace on my left ear and my neck. Take them. They’re both defensive artefacts. This way you’ll be able to hold on for a bit the next time I go berserk.”

“Maybe later. I don't want to move right now."

"Does it still hurt a lot?"

"En..."

Xi Huai couldn't do anything at the moment. He could only ask in vain, "Why did you shield me?"

"I thought that I could circulate my energy to heal faster and you couldn’t, so it would be better if I was hurt instead.”

Xi Huai's voice became even quieter. His usual confidence was nowhere to be heard, “Then, then why aren’t you circulating your energy?”

"It hurts too much…Give me a moment..."

Xi Huai didn’t make another sound. However, his breathing became shaky, like he was hurting too.

Chi Muyao took a moment before crossing his legs and circulating his energy.

He still hadn’t put on his sect uniform, but he wasn’t embarrassed because the cave was so dark that Xi Huai couldn’t see anyway.

His meditation barely lasted eight hours before he had to stop.

It was too cold.

Now that he thought about it, it was probably already winter outside the cave. Although it wasn't too cold inside, it still prevented him from meditating in his state.

Chi Muyao shivered. He felt that his wounds had healed a bit from when he sustained them, so he started rummaging around in his chain for a change of clothes.

After putting them on, he took out a quilt from his chain and walked over to cover Xi Huai's body.

Xi Huai: "..."

You know that my body’s always on fire, right?

Do you know nothing about the temperature of the Hui Dragon Flames?

Chi Muyao took the thin summer blanket he had left for himself. Draping it over his shoulders, he walked over to the corner. “I want to sleep for a while. You should also get some rest.”

Having said that, he roughly cleared out an area and laid down with his blanket.

In his mind, rest was the best medicine when you weren’t feeling well. Other cultivators might use meditation in place of sleep, but that went against the ideology of someone like him, who had decided to prioritise his health after dropping dead in his previous life. 

Xi Huai didn't want to bother him, but this blanket made him way too warm. However, he was afraid that Chi Muyao would take it the wrong way if he asked him to remove it.

After a while, he heard the sound of Chi Muyao shivering and curling into a tight ball.

Chi Muyao’s advanced age combined with his injuries made him too weak to withstand these cold temperatures.

"Hey." Xi Huai called out.

Chi Muyao didn't wake up.

"A-Jiu." He called out again.

"What's wrong?" Chi Muyao woke up dazed.

"Why don't you sleep on the stone bed? The Hui Dragon Flames inside me raises my body temperature."

"Oh right. Your body’s always so hot. I was scalded by you so many times…” Chi Muyao walked over with his little blanket and crawled onto the stone bed. He then covered Xi Huai with it before getting under the combined layers and laid down next to Xi Huai.

After a while, Chi Muyao teared up due to how warm it was under the blankets. He murmured with closed eyes, “Young lads are so full of energy…”

Then he fell asleep.

Xi Huai was at a complete loss as to what he should do. He was getting irritated by how hot he felt.

As he was pondering whether a shake or two would be enough to dislodge the blankets, the sleeping Chi Muyao shifted again.

Chi Muyao started to worm his way closer to him, as if instinctively seeking out warmth. Then he tucked his feet under Xi Huai’s legs, basically using him as a personal heater.

Xi Huai was a little uncomfortable. As he was pondering whether to lean away or not, Chi Muyao tugged at his lapels and snuggled up against him.

Xi Huai immediately froze, not daring to move a muscle.

...I guess this heat isn’t entirely intolerable.