Drinking tea while listening to music and watching erotic dances at Fengyue Tower; drinking tea while listening to storytelling and watching plays at a teahouse; or drinking tea while listening to drums and watching martial arts competitions at the martial arts arena…
Wang Sandong’s life was inseparable from drinking tea.
Even when he was flipping through ancient texts in his study, he could not do without it.
Now, whenever he felt tired from cultivation, he would have the young servant, Wang Tong, brew a pot of tea to refresh his spirits.
Cultivation was truly a mentally taxing, physically exhausting, and incredibly dull affair.
Moreover, after sitting for a long time, it was easy to develop backaches and sore muscles.
Consequently, Wang Tong had acquired an extra chore: pounding Wang Sandong’s back.
Unfortunately, Wang Tong’s technique for massaging the waist and back was terrible.
“Young Master, why don’t I have Sister Tianxiang come to serve you instead?”
Wang Tong said with a self-aware, sheepish expression.
“I always seem to do a poor job.”
Tianxiang, like Hongxiu, was a maid who had served Wang Sandong’s mother.
Wang Sandong closed his eyes, recalling Tianxiang’s charming appearance and voluptuous figure.
He gave a bitter smile and said, “Forget it. If I get all worked up and don’t dare to release the heat, I’ll only suffer more.”
Wang Sandong never dared to touch women; he didn’t even dare to satisfy himself.
He was worried that the consequence of doing so would be him playing himself to death before he even had the chance to pull his pants back up.
After all, with this frail body of his, just thinking about such things made him feel as if he couldn’t catch his breath.
Now that he was practicing *Huitian*, it would likely keep him hanging on by a thread so he wouldn’t die easily.
However, his physical frame was still weak, and he couldn’t do anything—it was too stifling.
Perhaps once he reached the Great Vehicle stage of the manual, his body would become stronger?
At that time, he would certainly find 100 lovely women…
Before his beautiful daydream could even begin, he felt dejected and lost at the thought that he might “potentially turn into a woman.”
*Sigh…*
Lately, Wang Sandong’s emotions had been somewhat unstable.
Whenever he thought about how he could at least linger on in his pathetic existence, his mood would brighten.
When he thought about the possibility of becoming a woman in the future, his mood would sour.
Or, when he thought about his betrothed, he would become melancholic.
With a body like his, marrying Miss Zheng and making her live like a widow in the Wang family was truly doing her a disservice.
Hongxiu had come by earlier, saying that the wedding date had been set for the sixth of next month.
There was less than a month left.
That Miss Zheng had a fiery personality; she would probably come to break off the engagement soon, wouldn’t she?
She was a pitiful person as well.
Born into a large clan, she couldn’t even make her own decisions regarding her marriage.
After a bout of idle thoughts, he had rested enough.
Wang Sandong stood up, returned to his room, and continued his seated meditation.
Desperately doing something he disliked just to survive—what kind of wealthy second-generation heir lived like this?
Wang Sandong felt aggrieved but helpless.
It was an ordeal.
For Wang Sandong’s weak body, meditation was a form of torture.
Having finally endured until dusk, Wang Sandong finally finished his session.
After several consecutive days of cultivation, he still didn’t feel the Demonic Qi “galloping like a runaway horse” as Yuan Di had described.
Instead, his chest suddenly felt a strange, inexplicable itching sensation.
It might just be common skin irritation.
Or perhaps it was time for a bath.
Surely it couldn’t be that he was about to transform, right?
At that thought, Wang Sandong felt uneasy all over.
From time to time, he would check his body to see if anything had been added or removed.
‘I don’t know if it’s just psychological, but it feels like the size of certain parts has “shrunk” a bit.’
It wasn’t too late yet; perhaps he should head to Fengyue Tower?
“Wang Tong, prepare the horse,” Wang Sandong called out, getting ready to head out.
Unexpectedly, he ran right into someone at the entrance of Anzhi Courtyard.
“Third Sister,” the newcomer said with a beaming smile.
“Congratulations, congratulations.”
Hearing the title “Third Sister,” Wang Sandong was quite speechless.
He frowned at the visitor and said, “Brother Teng, is something the matter?”
The man’s name was Wang Yunteng, Wang Sandong’s older cousin.
Because Wang Sandong had been delicate and pretty like a girl since childhood, and Wang Yunteng had a mischievous personality, he always liked to call Wang Sandong “Third Sister.”
In the beginning, Wang Sandong would protest.
But since his protests were always ineffective, he eventually couldn’t be bothered to object anymore.
“I’m here to congratulate you.”
“What is there to congratulate?”
“The grand wedding on the sixth of next month.”
“Tch.”
Wang Sandong gave a bitter smile and said, “It’s still unknown if I’ll live to see the sixth of next month.”
Hearing this, Wang Yunteng’s sharp brows furrowed.
“Stop saying such inauspicious things.”
Having said that, he pulled a delicate small brocade box from his robe and handed it to Wang Sandong.
“A wedding gift for you.”
Wang Sandong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
He opened the small box and saw a pair of exquisite, beautiful earrings inside.
“They’re quite nice. I’ll thank you on behalf of my wife.”
“These aren’t for your wife; they’re for you.”
“Get lost!”
“Hahaha!”
Wang Yunteng laughed loudly and reached out to affectionately pat Wang Sandong’s head—a habit he had maintained for 16 years.
Even though Wang Sandong disliked it, Wang Yunteng couldn’t change it, or perhaps had no intention to.
He looked at Wang Sandong and asked with a smile, “Are you heading out?”
“Fengyue Tower. Want to come along?”
“Uh, no thanks,” Wang Yunteng laughed.
“The tea at Fengyue Tower isn’t very good.”
Wang Sandong felt a bit embarrassed.
Wang Yunteng wore an affectionate smile as he scrutinized Wang Sandong, teasing, “I haven’t seen you in half a month, and yet Third Sister has actually become more and more beautiful.”
Wang Sandong lowered his eyelids and replied half-deadly, “Thanks.”
Wang Yunteng smiled again, pursed his lips, and added, “That lady from the Zheng Clan has a temper like fire. If she says anything unpleasant, don’t take it to heart. In a marriage, you just have to endure, and it’ll pass. It was the same for your sister-in-law and me; we didn’t see eye to eye at first, but aren’t we doing well now?”
He then looked at the brocade box in Wang Sandong’s hand and said, “These are custom-made earrings from the Jin family. There is only one pair like them in the world. When you give them to your bride, tell her you commissioned them yourself.”
Wang Sandong looked at Wang Yunteng and smiled.
“Brother Teng, you’re very thoughtful.”
“Sigh, time really flies.”
Wang Yunteng looked Wang Sandong up and down and sighed with emotion.
“It feels like not too long ago, you were just a toddler who had just learned to walk. In the blink of an eye, it’s time for you to marry.”
As he spoke, a hint of sorrow appeared in his gratified eyes.
Taking a breath, he forced a smile.
“Weren’t you going to Fengyue Tower?”
He took two gold leaves from his robe and stuffed them into Wang Sandong’s hand.
“Take these and spend them.”
Wang Sandong wasn’t polite and took them with a smile.
“Thanks.”
Wang Yunteng said with a stern face, “I am your brother, why the need for thanks?”
“Heh, I’m off.”
Wang Sandong laughed and left under Wang Yunteng’s watchful gaze.
—
Although he had practiced *Huitian* for many days, the act of climbing into the carriage still left Wang Sandong panting for breath.
Allowing Wang Tong to drive the carriage slowly forward, Wang Sandong opened the brocade box Wang Yunteng had given him again.
Looking at the finely crafted earrings and recalling Wang Yunteng’s doting smile, his heart felt unexpectedly heavy.
Paper cannot wrap fire; a secret cannot be kept forever.
In the future, someone would eventually discover he had become a Demonic Cultivator.
When that time came, he wondered how his cousin would react.
Would he execute his own kin for the sake of justice and to eliminate a demon?
How tragic would it be for family members to turn against each other?
Perhaps, making the members of the Wang family kill each other was precisely Yuan Di’s goal.
“I don’t have that much idle time.”
In that room on the third floor of Fengyue Tower.
Yuan Di scoffed at Wang Sandong’s speculation.
As she spoke, she grabbed Wang Sandong’s wrist and pressed on his pulse point.
“Hiss… your progress is incredibly swift. You’re almost at Level 1.”
The current cultivation system was divided into nine levels.
Level 1 was the weakest, while Level 9 was the strongest.
Rumor had it that the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were existences who had already surpassed Level 9.
Wang Sandong asked, “Is it really okay to progress this fast?”
“It’s within expectations,” Yuan Di said.
“If I’m not mistaken, before Level 3, it will be ridiculously fast. After Level 3, it will slow down slightly. Once you reach Level 5… well, we’ll see when the time comes.”
“It’s very annoying when you keep things shrouded in mystery like this.”
“So what if it’s annoying?”
“You… fine, fine.”
Wang Sandong hadn’t come here to bicker with Yuan Di.
He had serious business.
“I have a serious question for you. I have a bit of an itching sensation here. What’s the situation?”
As he spoke, Wang Sandong patted his chest.
Yuan Di replied with a smile, “Normal. If you had a Spiritual Root, the power would attach to it and then disperse through your meridians to strengthen your physical body. Since you don’t have a Spiritual Root, the power will initially wander around aimlessly and eventually need a place to settle.”
“Settle in my chest?”
Wang Sandong blinked and looked at Yuan Di.
“I have a rather improper guess.”
His inspiration came from a novel he had read in his “past life.”
Yuan Di maintained her elegant smile.
“You guessed right.”
Wang Sandong looked at Yuan Di in a daze, his mouth twitching several times.
After a moment, he asked, “Will they develop evenly? They won’t end up being different sizes, will they? If that happens, I’ll be lopsided when I walk.”
The smile on Yuan Di’s face could no longer remain elegant.
She raised an eyebrow, looked at Wang Sandong, and said, “Your concerns are truly… truly unique.”
The image of him being “lopsided” involuntarily surfaced in her mind, and she couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.
She added, “Rest assured, there won’t be a situation where they are of different sizes.”
“That’s good.”
Wang Sandong breathed a sigh of relief and then lowered his gaze, looking at Yuan Di’s body with a slight frown.
Yuan Di knew what he was looking at.
She originally didn’t want to pay him any mind, but being stared at made her feel somewhat uneasy.
She crossed her arms over her chest and said, “I am different from you.”
“Oh.”
Wang Sandong gave a dry laugh, a flash of regret in his eyes.
After a moment of contemplation, he recalled the original question.
“You’re teaching me demonic cultivation. Do you really not have the intention of making the Wang family kill each other? My grandfather is your enemy, after all.”
Yuan Di appeared indifferent, saying casually, “One’s misfortune shouldn’t be visited upon their family.”
“Uh…”
Wang Sandong was momentarily speechless.
He then thought of Wang Yunteng’s care for him and couldn’t help but sigh.
“Even if you don’t have such a sinister goal, it’s hard to guarantee things won’t develop that way in the future. After all, I am a Demonic Cultivator. The Wang family cannot possibly tolerate me.”
Yuan Di thought for a moment and nodded.
“Indeed, righteousness and evil cannot coexist. You are destined to have a tragic life.”
As she spoke, the corners of her mouth curled up.
“In your spare time, think more about how you’ll go about exterminating your own clan in the future.”
Wang Sandong lowered his head, looked at his chest, and frowned.
“If they get too big later on, it’ll be very inconvenient, won’t it?”
“You certainly have confidence in your own aptitude,” Yuan Di mocked, then added with disgust, “Isn’t this conversation topic jumping around too much? Can’t you stay on one subject for more than two sentences?”
“You’re already asking me to exterminate my own clan; how can we continue that conversation?”
Wang Sandong replied testily.
He then pressed on the table to stand up and walked toward the door.
He opened it but paused, saying without turning his head, “Whether it’s a tragedy or a comedy isn’t always easy to define.”
Yuan Di chuckled and said, “If you are happy, it’s a comedy. If you are unhappy, it’s a tragedy. In other words, if you want to exterminate your clan and ultimately succeed, then for you, it is a comedy.”
Wang Sandong felt that what Yuan Di said made a lot of sense.
If one could achieve their heart’s desire, it would naturally be a comedy.
So, what exactly was his “heart’s desire”?
Wang Sandong thought for a long time, and it wasn’t until the carriage reached the main gates of the Wang Mansion that he finally decided.
‘My only desire is to live.’