Chapter 573: Playing with Fire
Qin Lie left the training area on the second level of the s.h.i.+p and returned to his rooms, immediately shutting himself within the cultivation room to thoroughly refine the nine drops of liquid essence of the metal, earth, and water spirits that flowed within him.
He would occasionally use his soul consciousness to peer into the Soul Suppressing Orb. Each time he did, he only saw the three tiny beings sleeping peacefully, their bodies surrounded by the gentle glow of energies.
Having eaten, the three tiny beings seemed to have become content as their pocket-sized bodies underwent constant change, s.h.i.+fting between tangible and intangible states in an extremely strange manner while they slept.
“Are they ent.i.ties with both tangible and intangible states of being? Or can they just freely transition between the two?”
Qin Lie observed them many times, but he still couldn’t understand their mysteries. All he could do was silently give up.
By the time night fell, Xing Shengnan had finished her session of gathering spirit energy. She awakened from her cultivation and went straight to Qin Lie’s room.
Due to how bulky she was, she noisily moved through the hallway and startled many Xing Family clansmen in the middle of cultivating.
These people opened their doors and peeked into the hallway, complicated expressions emerging on their faces as they saw her walk to Qin Lie’s room.
Most of the Xing Family were more or less aware of the knot in Xing Shengnan’s heart and how she couldn’t let go of her little brother who had tragically died in her arms.
It was clear to to them that this trauma had once again taken over her, causing her to treat Qin Lie like her actual brother.
All of them silently sighed with worry, but they didn’t know how they could persuade her otherwise.
Xing Yao stood right behind the door to her own room, watching her aunt move toward Qin Lie’s room through a small gap in the doorway. She wore a bitter, pained expression as Xing Shengnan pa.s.sed by her.
She could still remember how lifeless Xing Shengnan had been after Enforcer Guo executed the spy from the Pan Family.
That lifeless state had lasted half a year. For half a year, Xing Shengnan became a recluse and didn’t talk to a single person, her cultivation grinding to a halt.
Xing Yao worried that her aunt would make the same mistake.
“I must use more insidious methods!” Xing Yao thought to herself, silently making a decision.
At the same time, Qin Lie opened the door to his room and welcomed Xing Shengnan into his room saying, “Big sister!”
After entering Qin Lie’s room, Xing Shengnan took several bound scrolls of varying sizes and thickness out of her spatial ring. All of them were related to cultivating, and some of them seemed to contain decent spirit arts.
“I’ve gathered several cultivation scriptures for you. Take a look. Do any of them suit you?” Xing Shengnan asked. “Do you have a vague idea of what direction your cultivation will go? Do you have a particular affinity for any energy?”
“Thunder and lightning energy,” Qin Lie answered, meeting her gaze with a serious expression.
“Ah! Then take a look at these.” Xing Shengnan picked out several scriptures and handed them to Qin Lie. “All of these are scriptures that detail techniques based on thunder and lightning.”
Qin Lie thanked her and put them away without even looking at them.
Xing Shengnan suddenly smiled.
“I heard you have three wives! Why don’t you call them over and let me meet them?” she asked, patting Qin Lie on the shoulder. “Little brother is truly fortunate.”
An embarra.s.sed look surfaced on Qin Lie’s face as he coughed softly and called for Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, and Xue Moyan.
Knowing they couldn’t avoid it, the three of them disguised their faces with special masks and walked out from the bedrooms. Following Qin Lie’s directions, they turned toward Xing Shengnan.
“We greet big sister,” they said in unison.
“Good, good! Very good.” Joy filled Xing Shengnan’s face.
Her small eyes s.h.i.+ned as her gaze moved back and forth across the three women, sweeping over their waists, thighs, behinds, and their general pelvic areas.
Afterward, she emphatically declared, “All of them are good! They’re suited for rearing children. I can finally feel at ease.”
Her words were so straightforward that Song Tingyu’s ears became red as she blushed behind her mask. Xie Jingxuan and Xue Moyan reacted even more strongly, silently bowing their heads as their necks took on a crimson hue.
“Little brother,” Xing Shengnan addressed him solemnly. “I’m afraid… you are seventh grandfather’s sole heir. Since his bloodline cannot be lost, you need to work hard and shoulder the heavy responsibility of producing an heir as soon as possible.”
Qin Lie could only respond with an awkward chuckle.
The moment Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, and Xue Moyan realized why Xing Shengnan had chosen to show up at night and speak to them, their faces grew even redder. She wasn’t here to bring them scrolls about cultivation and spirits arts.
—She was here to discuss the continuation of her seventh grandfather’s bloodline.
Aside from Song Tingyu, who found this entire situation hilarious, Xie Jingxuan and Xue Moyan helplessly hung their heads, silently cursing Qin Lie for wickedly calling them his wives for no good reason.
“It seems to me that you aren’t sleeping together,” Xing Shengnan said with a sigh. Then she began to sternly lecture Qin Lie. “You can’t just cultivate, little brother. You’re seventh grandfather’s sole heir, so you must give him a great-grandson as soon as possible. Yes, you heard me. You mustn’t shut yourself in the cultivation room all day. You’ve just entered the late stage of the Netherpa.s.sage Realm after all. You don’t need to work so hard. You can afford to relax a bit, indulging in some intimacy won’t do any harm. And you, my three little sisters, must genuinely encourage him. Some things ultimately don’t require a man to take the lead.”
Qin Lie coughed loudly.
Although she was normally bold and eager to take the initiative, Song Tingyu had calmed down by this point, but she still felt that the current situation was extremely interesting. In fact, she even dared to tease Xie Jingxuan and Xue Moyan.
“Big sister’s teachings are absolutely right,” she said. “I believe that you two, my sisters… may have to show more enthusiasm.”
Qin Lie’s coughing became even worse.
Hearing her words, Xue Moyan and Xie Jingxuan glared at Song Tingyu with embarra.s.sed fury.
Since she possessed a shy demeanor, Xie Jingxuan couldn’t oppose Song Tingyu’s sudden stream of words and could only glare at her.
Xue Moyan, on the other hand, had grown up in Illusory Demon Sect. She wasn’t as pa.s.sive as Xie Jingxuan and quickly responded.
“You’re right. Big sister’s words do make sense. Let me think…” She paused then said, “It just so happens to be Sister Tingyu’s turn to sleep with husband. Jingxuan, let us leave them to their business.”
With that, Xue Moyan turned around and drifted back into one of the bedrooms.
Xie Jingxuan snapped out of her daze and wordlessly followed Xue Moyan to the bedroom they had been staying in.
“Sister Tingyu, we’ve left a room for the two of you to use,” she said, counter-attacking from a distance. Then she promptly entered the room and shut the door behind her.
Xie Jingxuan wasn’t as good at acting as Xue Moyan. Although she was just pretending, she still couldn’t say the word “husband.”
A sinking feeling spread through Song Tingyu as she realized she had fallen into her own trap. The realization left her stunned, and she secretly cursed that fact that Xue Moyan wasn’t as benevolent, kind, or easy to mock as she expected.
“I see that you’ve still got it, little brother…” Xing Shengnan said happily, her praise for him written all over her face. “The relations.h.i.+p between the four of you is so friendly that everyone can see the big picture.”
Qin Lie couldn’t find the words to reply.
“Well?” Xing Shengnan exclaimed. “What are you just standing there for?”
“I’ll be waiting for you in our room, dear husband.” Song Tingyu took everything in stride, smiling sweetly and glancing at him seductively as she returned to the other bedroom. Once she reached it, she bewitchingly said, “You can chat with big sister a while longer. I’ll get in bed first and warm it up…”
Qin Lie’s mouth suddenly became as dry as a desert.
Xing Shengnan’s eyes lit up. “I really like this sister-in-law’s att.i.tude!”
Inside one of the bedrooms, an awkward expression appeared on Xue Moyan’s face as surprise shone from her eyes.
“Judging from her actions, it seems like this has been on someone’s mind for a while now,” she said. “Your Sister Tingyu’s really is quite something…”
“She’s a real she-wolf!” Xie Jingxuan whispered.
“What a great description!” Xue Moyan gently nodded in agreement.
Back in the living room, Xing Shengnan admonished Qin Lie, asking, “Why are you still standing here, little brother?”
“Th-this… big sister, you haven’t left yet!” Qin Lie scratched his head uncomfortably. “This is embarra.s.sing! This…”
“Alright, fine. I’ll leave first and take a stroll outside.” Xing Shengnan walked over to Qin Lie and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Put your heart into it.”
“Y-yes…” Qin Lie quickly nodded.
Satisfied with his answer, Xing Shengnan left the room.
She didn’t go far, however, and instead strolled back and forth within the hallway.
“It’s about time we added someone new to the Xing Family tree,” she whispered to herself.
Qin Lie felt helpless. He knew that Xing Shengnan was still paying attention to what went on within the room, so he had to bite the bullet and go into the bedroom that Song Tingyu had entered.
The moment he did, Qin Lie immediately went still with amazement, blood threatening to gush from his nose.
Song Tingyu was actually laying on the bed!
It seemed as if she had even taken off all of her clothes, only using the bedsheet to cover specific parts of her body.
Song Tingyu curled up at the far corner of the bed, exposing her l.u.s.trous jade shoulder and extending her long silky legs. Seduction bloomed on her face as she laughed at Qin Lie, a hint of her charm concept s.h.i.+ning from her eyes.
Qin Lie just stood at the doorway in a daze, staring at her provocative movements and the allure in her eyes.
Qin Lie trembled as he turned around and closed the door.
“You really want to play with fire, eh?” he exclaimed, grunting fiercely as he bent over to hide the lower half of his body.
Then he turned back to Song Tingyu, his eyes burning with ferocious flames of l.u.s.t.
“You brought this upon yourself!”
As soon as she saw the expression in Qin Lie’s eyes, Song Tingyu became nervous.
“D-don’t! I was just teasing you!” she shouted hurriedly. “Don’t actually do any…”
“I can’t stop myself anymore!” Qin Lie pounced onto the bed with a guttural howl and ripped the thin bedsheet from Song Tingyu, revealing all of her.
Song Tingyu wore thin silk clothing that clung to her shapely body, clearly showing off her figure but not revealing anything else.
Her usage of the bedsheet to present an erotic facade had really just been teasing. She had just wanted to see if her beauty could actually make Qin Lie go crazy with desire.
When Qin Lie turned back to face her, his answer made her rejoice, but also made her panic a little bit.
It wasn’t that Song Tingyu didn’t want to give herself to Qin Lie.
In all honestly, when Qin Lie carried her throughout all of the Forbidden Land of Wood to cure her of the voodoo toxin, dealing with their pursuers from Black Voodoo Sect and refusing to give up on her, she had already decided to devote her mind and body to Qin Lie.
He had fought Ye Yihao to obtain the blood of the voodoo insects.
He had put his life on the line for hers.
Song Tingyu’s heart was a mess because she was aware of what was happening outside the walls of their bedroom.
She knew that Xie Jingxuan and Xue Moyan were listening to what was happening in their bedroom.
She knew that Xing Shengnan was pacing in the hallway and paying close attention to their activity.
She knew that Xing Yao stood in her own room, eavesdropping.
Between herself, Xie Jingxuan, and Xue Moyan, Song Tingyu was definitely the most promiscuous and straightforward of the three. However, indulging in pleasure with so many people listening in… to make love in a situation that was no different from completely exposing herself…
—Of course she would feel uncomfortable.
“Wait! Calm down! Don’t do this now…” Song Tingyu whispered, pus.h.i.+ng against Qin Lie’s chest with both hands, her lithe body writhing like a slender water snake. “As long as you let me go this time, I’ll do it whenever you want to in the future. Don’t—please calm down... ah!”
Her mind froze as she realized that Qin Lie had already torn her thin layer of clothing away.
Her stunning chest was completely bare, her supple mounds swaying gently. They quivered with every breath she took, moving in a way that would make any man go insane with l.u.s.t.
In the next instant, Qin Lie’s impressive body descended upon hers, his strong scent a.s.sailing her senses.
In that moment, Song Tingyu surrendered completely.