In a deciduous broadleaf forest within the deep valleys of the southern Northern Territory, inside a cave that no spiritual sense could detect, was Ding Nan.
His wrists were repeatedly bound with white silk ribbons, and he was hung up like cured meat.
Behind him stood a girl.
She had her hair in twin rabbit-ear buns, wore maid’s attire, her eyes were as black and shiny as black pearls, and her frost-white beauty formed a stark contrast with her shadowy smile.
It was none other than Luo Yao, Ding Nan’s most loyal maid!
At this moment, Luo Yao was wielding a whip, leaving red welts all over Ding Nan’s back.
It didn’t draw blood, but his entire back was beaten to a color resembling barbecued pork.
Why was he here?
Why was he suffering like this?
Ding Nan let out a whimper.
Ever since he was caught and brought back to the courtyard after trying to escape, he had been whipped by Luo Yao.
During the whipping, he had to call out Luo Yao’s name, or the beating would continue.
No matter what, he would be whipped for three hours, and then he would undergo a medicinal bath under Luo Yao’s supervision.
The medicinal bath was excellent.
In just one night, it would completely heal his whip marks and bruises.
Then, he would be beaten again, again crying out Luo Yao’s name in agony.
Ding Nan had begged Luo Yao, pleaded with her to let him go, but the result, of course, was not as he wished.
Luo Yao naturally didn’t listen to Ding Nan’s pleas.
She was always afraid he would run away, convinced he would leave her.
Before, she had only forced him to ‘pay the marital tax.’
After being beaten, Ding Nan genuinely wanted to escape; he had developed a deep fear of Luo Yao.
So Ding Nan ran away.
While Luo Yao was out, probably shopping for ingredients, he wriggled like a maggot to the courtyard and used a weapon from there to cut the white silk ribbons.
Using the residual spiritual qi on the ribbons, he simulated Luo Yao’s soulfire and finally managed to craft the ribbons into talismans.
Utilizing the power of the Hiding Talismans, he evaded the Ding Clan members, even the Golden Core experts among them.
After pilfering some valuables from home, he finally boarded a donkey cart leaving Qingquan City.
He arrived at a small town next to Qingquan City.
It was a considerable distance from Qingquan City, so Ding Nan finally felt at ease.
That day was a night, a rainy night.
The rain poured down.
Ding Nan knelt on the ground, raising his hands, letting the rain soak him.
The rainwater flowed over his body, feeling refreshingly cool.
In the torrential rain, Ding Nan, having gained his freedom, laughed heartily.
Until he noticed the figure standing behind him, laughing just as loudly.
Ding Nan was startled by the sudden, wild laughter.
He hadn’t heard any footsteps and instinctively thought he’d seen a ghost.
When he saw it was Luo Yao, he was so frightened he nearly fainted.
When he woke up again, he was already in this cave.
This time, Luo Yao no longer concealed herself.
“Young Master, reminiscing about the past is over. Let’s create the future together.”
The soulfire hidden within Ding Nan’s body took control.
As he stepped closer to Luo Yao, one step at a time, and opened his arms to embrace his maid, Ding Nan had a premonition:
In this life, he was destined never to escape Luo Yao.
Yet Ding Nan remained confused.
He couldn’t connect love with pain.
Why did he have to be beaten?
Why was Luo Yao treating him like this?
Logically, Ding Nan should hate Luo Yao for inflicting this pain—he didn’t have any strange fetishes.
But every time Luo Yao whipped Ding Nan, she was crying.
After the whipping, she would cover her face with tears and apologize to him.
Seeing her beautiful, helpless face, weeping because she felt powerless, Ding Nan couldn’t muster any hatred.
He was puzzled by why Luo Yao’s love was so twisted.
But he didn’t know for how long—the cave was pitch dark, and Ding Nan lost track of time.
At first, he remembered Luo Yao occasionally carrying him, trussed up, outside the cave entrance to sunbathe.
After being whipped for a few days, he lost all sense of time.
What remained clearest in his memory was the dim light of the oil lamp and Luo Yao’s face, made shadowy by that light.
After a period of hazy, indistinct time, Ding Nan saw Luo Yao again, kneeling on the ground after whipping him, covering her face and sobbing.
For a moment, Ding Nan’s mind felt as if it were in heaven, bathed and scalded by holy light, then as if it had fallen into an ice cellar, feeling the concern of the King of Hell.
Stimulated by this bizarre sensation, Ding Nan suddenly burst into tears.
An intense sense of guilt pressed down on his shoulders, on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
Ding Nan understood.
To love someone is to give yourself unreservedly to another person.
Luo Yao loved him.
Precisely because she loved him, she was unwilling to let go.
And because he failed to respond to her love…
If he hadn’t repeatedly tried to escape, why would Luo Yao have raised her whip?
The pain is on my body, but it hurts her heart.
Ding Nan understood.
This was love!
The pain spread throughout his body, striking straight at his heart.
Yet at this moment, his soul felt as clear as a mirror, as if he had received redemption!
The moment he comprehended this, for the first time without his body being controlled by the soulfire, Ding Nan actively embraced Luo Yao.
Luo Yao trembled in Ding Nan’s arms, like a little rabbit.
As Ding Nan stroked her, Luo Yao said something, and Ding Nan said something back.
He couldn’t remember what he said, but he remembered Luo Yao showing a blissful smile.
As long as Luo Yao was happy, that was enough.
He couldn’t recall other things, but since he couldn’t recall them, it meant they weren’t important, right?
Ding Nan was truly proud of his own logical reasoning.
The passage of days?
Unimportant.
Living in a cave?
Unimportant.
Only being able to see Luo Yao?
Everything else was unimportant.
If there was any glorious undertaking in this world, it was making Luo Yao feel happy.
As long as Luo Yao was happy, that was enough.
With such a wife, what more could a husband ask for?
What could calm Luo Yao down was affection.
Ding Nan tried to actively care for Luo Yao, revolving his world around her.
Although life in the cave was monotonous and dull—eating, being whipped, medicinal baths, sleeping, sleeping—it was uneventful.
But Ding Nan thought this kind of plain life was quite good too.
No worries about food or clothing, and living with a pretty girl.
Moreover, as long as Ding Nan was more proactive, more intimate, learned to cling to Luo Yao’s thigh, and satisfied her emptiness, Luo Yao would become as gentle as a lamb.
Why had he been so foolish before?
Trying to escape just because it was hard?
If he held Luo Yao tighter, kissed her more passionately, was more silver-tongued, she wouldn’t feel so anxious and frequently need to confirm love through physical distance.
He was so stupid.
Why hadn’t he realized sooner that love is about the distance between hearts?
Thus, Ding Nan’s days in the cave became increasingly normal, just like before.
Master and maid lived together in harmony.
Although occasionally, this master would still be whipped by his maid, in the eyes of outsiders, it would only appear as deep affection between master and servant.
Rare and exotic fruits.
Delicacies from land and sea.
Ding Nan had finally become a true young master.
Leisurely days were especially indolent, even decadent.
Because he had too much free time, he learned the technique of reoreoreo-ing grapes like Kakyoin did with cherries, and he could also leisurely enjoy Luo Yao’s… ‘abalone.’
In the past, he hadn’t dared to eat seafood or drink milk because it was a luxury his family couldn’t afford.
After all, Qingquan City, where Ding Nan was from, was inland, making it difficult to get seafood.
Now, he lay in a beauty’s embrace, eating grapes and drinking milk, pairing fine wine with delicacies in the evening.
What a comfortable life!
Don’t think of milk as something like cola or the common boxed or bagged milk from supermarkets.
Fresh milk wasn’t cheap because livestock production was relatively low.
You must understand, before transmigrating, both dairy products and fresh milk were relatively expensive foods for Ding Nan.
To get a good taste, he had to go to places with yurts.
In this cultivation world, most people had only been breastfed by their mothers.
Yet Luo Yao could actually produce fresh cow’s milk, goat’s milk, and other types of milk.
Feeling the delicate silk stockings and soft thighs beneath his head, wasn’t this exactly the life he had wanted to enjoy before transmigrating?
Ding Nan was truly too happy.
“Luo Yao, you wretched woman! What have you done to my master?!”
Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice shattered Ding Nan and Luo Yao’s peaceful days.
The voice was furious and resounding, seeming to come from very far away.
“They actually managed to track us down here? How persistent!” Luo Yao clicked her tongue.
Luo Yao kissed Ding Nan’s forehead.
“Young Master, I’ll be back soon.”
“Mm, I’ll wait for you.”
Ding Nan smiled at Luo Yao, his smile perfect, making Luo Yao immensely pleased.
Luo Yao kissed Ding Nan on the lips.
“You shameless wench! How dare you?!”
Outside the cave, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled.
A fierce wind rushed into the cave, howling.
The violent wind tore through space.
A figure appeared at the cave entrance.
The newcomer wore purple robes, had purple hair, a graceful figure, an immense ‘scale,’ a pure and beautiful face with a clear beauty mark at the corner of her lips.
Her eyes sparkled like morning sunlight scattered on the rippling surface of a lake.
At this moment, those bright, sparkling eyes were wide open, filled with rage.
“Luo Yao!”
It was none other than Ji Lanruo, who had been searching for Ding Nan.
Luo Yao licked the taste of Ding Nan from her lips, savoring his saliva as if it were sweet dew, looking at Ji Lanruo with considerable arrogance.
Ji Lanruo snorted coldly and raised her hand.
“You should return the father of my daughter!”
“Ji Lanruo!”
Luo Yao instantly bristled, responding angrily.
She raised her hand, pulling three Spirit Transformation Stage Great Perfection Weapon Puppets from her spatial ring.
Their attire was almost identical to Xuanbing’s; the only difference was their clothes were dark gray.
Ji Lanruo’s hand rested on the sword at her waist.
But neither of them moved immediately.
Luo Yao stood up and walked to stand before Ji Lanruo.
Large steamed buns faced off against honeydew melons.
They stared into each other’s eyes.
After Ding Nan took several breaths, their figures instantly vanished from the cave entrance.
The three Weapon Puppets looked at Ding Nan.
Ding Nan stared blankly at the bright white cave entrance.
Compared to the continuous explosions echoing from the horizon, it looked so peaceful.
Ding Nan lowered his head.
Even the three Spirit Transformation Stage Great Perfection Weapon Puppets beside him, whose oppressive aura felt like solidified spiritual qi, couldn’t stir any reaction in this young man who had yearned for strength and to hold his head high for so many years.
“I can’t run away… If I run, Luo Yao will be sad again. I mustn’t make that mistake again.”
Ding Nan lay back on the bed in the cave, curling up his body.