STNS: Chapter 554 (Patreon)

“…”

Zhou Yichen’s rise to consciousness was slow and painful. There was a sharp pain in the back of his head. Someone had hit him hard enough to knock him unconscious in a single blow. He tried to recall what had happened, but his mind was lost in a thick haze. It felt like trying to grasp water with his bare hands. Everything kept slipping between his fingers.

As he became more aware, he realized that his body was bound to a chair. He kept his eyes closed and tried to move. No luck. Should he enhance his muscles with Qi? He might be able to break through the restraints if he did, but he didn’t know what his situation was like, and giving away both that he was awake and prepared to escape might backfire on him until he learned more. His head was also killing him. Using Qi right now wouldn’t be the best decision.

He opted to wait.

“Good… bringing… here…”

He heard voices, but they were coming from somewhere far away, and the sound only made his headache worse. The pounding went from a throb to a staccato burst. Despite this, he tried to focus. He needed to know who had captured him and what they wanted.

“You can… rest to me…”

“Are you… good idea…?”

“Yes. I can handle this myself.”

The voices eventually cleared up, and he was able to make out greater details. One of the people speaking was a woman. He couldn’t place her age based on voice alone, but she sounded very young, like a young woman just stepping into adulthood. Her voice was lilting and beautiful. There was a hypnotic quality to it that he struggled to fight against. The other voice was male. The man also sounded young, but he spoke with a quiet confidence that belied his seemingly young age.

“All right,” the young man said. “I’ll leave this to you, but be careful.”

“Don’t worry. I never underestimate my enemies,” the young woman said.

Footsteps echoed around him. Zhou Yichen opened his eyes, only to be met with cloth. They had blindfolded him. He took a deep breath to calm down. Not only was he blindfolded, but they had also stuffed his mouth with something. He tried to enhance his teeth with Qi and bite through it, but he was unable to use his Qi. They had likely used Qi restraints to prevent him from using any techniques. While he had not been trained in how to properly interrogate people, his family had trained him in how to resist interrogation attempts. He knew that taking away someone’s sense of sight was just one of many methods to make a prisoner feel helpless. He would not fall for it.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something,” an amused voice said. Zhou Yichen perked up as the woman continued. “I haven’t blindfolded you because I’m trying to deprive you of your senses and make you feel helpless. I simply do not want you to look upon me.”

Zhou Yichen swallowed. How had she known what he was thinking? There were of course ways to predict what someone thought, but they were all invasive techniques that destroyed a person’s mind. The only other way would be to read their face. It was possible to glean someone’s thoughts from facial expression alone, but that not only required a great deal of experience, it also required you to look into someone’s eyes. The eyes were the window to the soul for a reason. Even then, Zhou Yichen had been trained to resist revealing information that way.

“You really don’t seem to understand,” the woman continued, her amusement growing. “I don’t need to see your face to know what you are thinking, and I don’t need to delve into your mind. Anyone who has touched the Dao of Time even a little bit is like an open book to me.”

The Dao of Time?! Then this woman is--!!

“I know everything about you, little Yichen,” the woman whispered. She was close now. Not close enough that they were touching, but close enough that he could feel her presence overpowering him. It felt like he was standing under the shadow of a colossus. “I know your past, your present, and your future. I’ve already looked into everything. You are quite fortunate, you know? Your companion died without meeting me, but you? You have, and now I cannot kill you.”

Zhou Yichen wished that brought him relief, but all he felt now was terror. The only reason she wouldn’t kill him was because his life was tied to a Soul Crystal. The Zhou Family had some of the most powerful Soul Crystals in the world, and their techniques were far more advanced than anyone else’s. They had someone specially trained in using the Dao of Time to view what happened to someone tied to a Soul Crystal before they died. Everything he saw, everything he heard, would be sent back to the Zhou Family upon his death. 

“Though I imagine death might be preferable?” The woman’s voice turned thoughtful. “After all, since we can’t kill you, we’re just going to keep you here, locked away, cast in everlasting darkness. We won’t let you die either. We can’t afford to. That means you’ll remain here for all eternity.”

“!!!!!”

Zhou Yichen felt a moment of panic, and he started to struggle, but he quickly calmed down. Struggling was pointless right now. He couldn’t do anything. While he wouldn’t deny that he was scared, he was also a member of the Zhou Clan, and he had been trained extensively. This wouldn’t break him. An opportunity to escape would arise eventually. Nobody was perfect. Everyone slipped up. He just needed to wait for his chance. He could deal with being in the dark and deprived of his vision for a little while if it meant getting out of here.

He almost sensed the woman’s quickly growing amusement.

“What an admirable child you are,” the woman said. “Anyway, please enjoy our hospitality here.”

Footsteps echoed around him. The sound of a door opening and closing on creaky hinges filled his ears. And then there was silence.

***

Wu Jian’s mouth was hampered by another pair of lips, far softer and fuller than his. He sat within a tub, a young woman straddling his naked body, rubbing and grinding herself against him, their mouths pressed so fully against one another that nobody would have been able to see their tongues gliding across each other in a lascivious dance.

He had finished training several hours ago and decided to take a bath. His training at the moment wasn’t physically strenuous, but it had been mentally exhausting, and he’d spent nearly a month inside of an isolation chamber to prevent outside interference. The young woman who had fully sheathed himself inside of her had accosted him shortly after he finished wiping himself down.

Her name was Hou Jingshu. She was the imperial princess of the Shang Kingdom and one of Wu Jian’s lovers.

The young princess with the blood of Qinlong explored his naked body with her hands. She left no place untouched. Since she was so fervent about touching him, he didn’t hold back and let his own hands wander, gliding over the curvature of her powerful thighs and hips, slipping along the wet hardness of her stomach. Hou Jingshu was the only lover who had abs as hard as his. He let his hands travel up, until he was cupping her chest.

She must have just finished training herself.

Hou Jingshu was not necessarily reserved, but she did have a sense of modesty, which only went out the window after a hard bout of training. Once the blood got pumping, her libido rose significantly. She got very horny, in other words. He assumed this was because she had the blood of Qinlong flowing through her veins. 

Dragons were composed heavily of yang energy. Hou Jingshu even had the Perfect Yang Body, which was a unique constitution suitable for her style of cultivation. Those who embodied yang qi were bold and passionate. The masculine sexual energy of yang qi permeated every aspect of them. This was also why dragons were, in general, quite horny. Hou Jingshu was just following what her nature dictated.

Their passion mounted. Hou Jingshu was quite voracious. She was like a starving woman who, on the verge of dying, had been offered a gourmet meal. The way she consumed him felt reminiscent of that. He allowed her to have her way, waiting patiently until she dropped her guard, then struck. She moaned in his ear as their positions were reversed. Once, she had been on top of him, but now, she was underneath him, and he thrust forward with his strong, masculine thighs, even as Hou Jingshu wrapped her legs around his waist and prodded him onward.

It was rare that they were able to enjoy a moment together like this. Wu Meiying had a sixth sense about these things and normally arrived to stop them. She hated the fact that Hou Jingshu could freely have sex with him, while she could not. He had told her that it was fine if they did it. She, however, was adamant they wait. Wu Meiying had a goal, and she would not even allow her desire for him to stop her from achieving it.

Consequently, that desire had also prevented Zhou Lihua from sleeping with him as well. Among his three women, Hou Jingshu was the only one he had gone this far with.

“Jian… I missed you,” Hou Jingshu said.

Their love making had eventually ended and they wound up resting together in the tub, their limbs entangled as they sat there. Hou Jingshu was resting her head on his shoulder. He had one arm around her waist and was hugging her close, leaning his head on hers.

“Same. Six whole months apart sucks,” he agreed.

Their training this past year had been intense. His own training involved isolating himself for months at a time in places where the Dao of Space was heavy. He only returned after each breakthrough to adjust to his newfound power, and then he was gone again. His longest time spent in isolated training was sixth months. That was how long it had taken him to break through to the first subrealm of the Realization Realm.

“It does. I mean, I get it. I do. We need to get stronger… but I hate how it keeps us apart for so long,” Hou Jingshu said.

“I agree with you… but we should be fine now,” Wu Jian told her. “I don’t think I can cultivate any further right now… at least, not using the methods I have been using.”

“Is that so? Good. Hopefully, that means we’ll get to spend some time together,” Hou Jingshu said.

“Mmmm.” Wu Jian agreed with a nod. “By the way, I see your own cultivation has increased. Congrats.”

Hou Jingshu had also reached the Realization Realm. She was at the second subrealm. Her cultivation method was not as powerful as his, but it was often faster than his because of how she grew through combat. So long as she had powerful opponents to fight, she would grow stronger. Meanwhile, his progress depended on how well he could comprehend the Dao of Time. That was also why his progress was so slow. The Dao of Time was not something that a person could understand even if they spent decades meditating upon it.

“Heh heh. Thank you.” Hou Jingshu stared into his eyes as she wrapped her arms around him. She leaned in closer, her breath caressing his lips. “Now, then, I think I’d like to continue where we left off…”

The door suddenly slid open.

“That’s not going to happen,” Wu Meiying said as she stepped into the bathing room. The look in her eyes was anything but pleasant. Wu Jian felt a chill run down his spine. Meanwhile, Hou Jingshu shuddered slightly, though she tried to hide it. “Jingshu… you knew I was stepping out for a moment and used that as an opportunity to have sex with Jian. Don’t think I don’t know how your mind works.” Hou Jingshu flushed, and it wasn’t from the hot water. Wu Meiying’s lips thinned into a straight line, but she soon sighed and continued. “Anyway, something happened. I called for a meeting. You two, get dressed and come with me.”