The Great King Ordered Me to Marry – Chapter 45
by Little PandaSpeaking of the Fox Swallowing Spiritual Power and Provoking Mating Heat
Three days in the Nightmare Dream were but half a night in the mortal world.
The hour had passed; the Huangliang Dream Market had already closed its doors to guests. They would have to go elsewhere to seek the scent of the Misty Rain Dream.
If they could break the restriction, they could spare themselves the journey to procure the Tearful Eye from Kunlun Jade Capital.
Over mountains and across waters, the vast road ahead remained uncertain. If anything went wrong along the way, who knew when they would finally expose the schemes of Emperor Tianji and the Nightmare Tribe.
Zhuoxue was not weary of the journey—her life was simply at stake. If she could boost her cultivation by swallowing spiritual power, that would kill two birds with one stone.
Except…
Why was Longming staring at her so fixedly? She had been unhurried before, but now she seemed consumed by an inner fire, the blaze hidden right there in her eyes.
Once it burned through her disguise, a pair of crimson eyes would be exposed.
Zhuoxue said faintly, “That is the Nightmare King’s spiritual power. This little one is but a small demon—where would I find the nerve to eat it?”
“All spiritual power in the world shares the same source though it flows through different channels. As long as you can assimilate it into your own spiritual meridians, even immortal qi or divine power can serve you.” Longming’s tone was even, but her gaze was not entirely calm.
Beneath those eyes surged dark currents, vast and turbulent.
Zhuoxue met that gaze and could only trace its source back to the Nightmare Dream.
Had she pushed things too far and given herself away?
Zhuoxue stammered, “You wouldn’t be trying to make things difficult for me using the Nightmare King’s spiritual power just because I knocked you twice with a ladle, would you?”
Longming fell silent a moment. “I had no intention of bringing up that ladle.”
Zhuoxue’s expression soon turned shifty again, scrutinizing Longming’s face with painstaking care before whispering, “Aside from that ladle, what else do you remember?”
“Everything from when I was awake, I remember in full. As for how you dragged me into the deep forest, I have no way of knowing.” The blaze in Longming’s eyes dimmed slightly.
Zhuoxue smiled.
Good thing she had only reached out after Longming had passed out. That made it truly a case of heaven knows, earth knows, the fox knows, but the tiger does not.
Longming added, “At the Yellow Springs Bureau, you flipped through the Destiny Register, didn’t you? What did you see?”
Zhuoxue’s smile faltered. Just as she had expected, this great tiger was indeed suspicious of her and was now seizing the opportunity to interrogate her to the root.
She lowered her eyes. “I saw many things. But since you can no longer read the words on the Destiny Register, would you really dare to believe me on my word alone?”
“Tell me.” Longming would not let it go.
Zhuoxue began counting on her fingers. “I saw myself serving as an official in the imperial palace of Yunjing, and I was so impressive—I even had armies upon armies under my command. I campaigned north and south, I galloped across battlefields. What else, let me think…”
Her lips curved up, and she continued with a beaming smile, “Also, the Princess and I were as close as liver and gallbladder. I risked life and limb for the Princess.”
“You—” Longming was speechless.
Zhuoxue was fabricating wildly, claiming every good deed for herself—feigning caution while actually audacious beyond measure. “What’s wrong, you don’t believe me?”
How could Longming believe it? She said coolly, “Enough. Swallow it.”
“I really have to eat it?” Zhuoxue still did not dare, though she figured Longming would not harm her.
Last time, soaking in the cold spring at Lingkong Mountain, she had lost consciousness and nearly drowned. If not for Longming’s timely intervention, she would certainly have become a wisp of fox soul by now.
A demon who had once been the Old Master of Wugou Stream was, after all, different. Longming was experienced and knowledgeable—perhaps she truly could protect her.
Zhuoxue looked apprehensive. “What if I don’t eat it?”
“Even if we could enter the Dream Market and obtain a tear from the Tearful Eye, it might not break this predicament. If chaos erupts then, I might not be able to guarantee your safety,” Longming said.
How could Zhuoxue not understand? She looked at Longming’s clenched fist without speaking, and only after a long while said, “You will guard my cultivation for me?”
For a proper great demon to serve as her cultivation guardian was a waste of talent, but the fox had no other choice—she could only make the tiger swallow her pride for now.
“Why not? I can protect you, but you must have the courage to swallow it.” Longming opened her fingers.
Zhuoxue held her breath and stayed still. One moment she pictured herself with flowing silver hair, the next she imagined herself with boundless power.
Breaking through to the next realm was not a bad thing at all. Once she broke through, the mating heat would be suppressed, and she would never again have to worry about dignity or indignity.
The only uncertain factor was this wisp of spiritual power drawn from the Nightmare King.
If the Nightmare King sensed something, he might even seize the opportunity to use this very spiritual power to kill her when she least expected it.
That spiritual power still rested in Longming’s hand. It was lighter than thistledown, its color pure ink—at first glance it looked like ink dispersing in water, floated up into the air.
Zhuoxue raised her arm and was struck cold by the spiritual power. It felt as though it had just been dug out of an ice cavern—sharper even than Longming’s oppressive aura.
It looked like a wispy, soft strand, but it was covered in barbs that pricked her fingertips raw.
She clenched her fingers tightly, thinking: if this thing flowed into her spiritual meridians, she would be poked full of holes like a sieve.
Zhuoxue shuddered all over and looked at Longming, wondering how she managed to keep a straight face while holding this thing in her hand.
“What if my spiritual meridians can’t withstand it?” she said.
Longming answered calmly, “Spiritual meridians can be widened. With someone assisting from the side, I will help you.”
“I don’t want to die just yet.” Zhuoxue looked at Longming, already wearing the expression of someone on her deathbed though she had not even begun to swallow.
“I will not let you die.” There was fire in Longming’s eyes—it had never disappeared.
Zhuoxue believed her. Before she cupped both hands around it, her palms felt as though they had been pierced with a thousand holes, the pain nearly making her fling it away.
As she drew a deep breath, that cold seeped into her skin like keen blades and sharp needles, the pain as if flaying her flesh.
“Sit cross-legged,” Longming said.
Zhuoxue did as told, folding her knees and settling onto the dirt.
This spiritual power only looked thin—in reality, a mere half-drop could fill her spiritual meridians completely. She had swallowed less than half and was already stuffed to the point of wanting to vomit.
After all, this was spiritual power capable of sustaining an entire Nightmare Dream. How could it truly be just a wisp or a strand?
Cold sweat poured from Zhuoxue. Her hands, resting on her knees, could not help but shift toward her abdomen, and her back hunched forward. Not only her spiritual meridians but even the lingtai connected to them cramped with unbearable pain.
Longming pressed her palm to the top of the fox’s skull and indeed widened those narrow spiritual meridians.
But this was not an ideal solution. If the spiritual power failed to assimilate into the lingtai in time, the fox’s spiritual meridians would likely buckle under the strain and rupture.
Zhuoxue raised an arm to brace the side of her head, listing sideways with a splitting headache. Her breathing fell into sudden chaos, and along with it, her own spiritual energy became a tangled mess in an instant.
Thousands of gossamer threads of spiritual power crashed wildly through her meridians. She could not smooth them out, and two pained groans escaped her tightly pressed lips.
Last time had been painful too, but nowhere near as agonizing as this.
The restriction on the back of her neck took the impact and immediately burned hot, revealing the outline of runes. Their light was dim—already on the verge of crumbling.
This time it felt as though sharp knives were carving out her viscera, and her skin burned as if she had been thrown into a hot wok. Another half-moment and she would be reduced to a pot of fox stew.
Zhuoxue no longer had the strength to calm the spiritual power within her. She collapsed sideways, drenched in sweat. The spiritual power from her hands had fully merged into her spiritual meridians, but she lacked the strength to guide it—the power could only crash about blindly, slashing and gouging everywhere.
She appeared whole on the outside, but her internal organs were nearly reduced to mangled pulp. Her tear-blurred gaze turned slowly toward Longming, and her pupils suddenly shifted into golden vertical slits.
That was supposed to be her original eye color.
“I’m going to die of pain.” Merely uttering these words took everything she had. A metallic taste of blood surged up her throat.
Longming swiftly reached out, pressing her palm over the back of Zhuoxue’s neck, gradually guiding the chaotic spiritual power back to its proper course.
But Zhuoxue’s spiritual meridians were still too narrow. The Nightmare King’s spiritual power was too ferocious—the meridians were riddled with wounds, and the lingtai even more so.
Longming could not see the damage inside Zhuoxue’s body, but when she caught that faint trace of blood in the air, she knew they had reached the threshold of life and death.
Zhuoxue curled up on the ground and abruptly shifted into fox form. Her fluffy ears were not just drooping—even her tail lay motionless, like nothing more than a fox pelt.
“Calm your mind. You must not rush success, but having begun, you cannot abandon it halfway.” Longming’s voice was low.
Had it been any other demon daring to swallow the Nightmare King’s spiritual power, the outcome would likely have been nothing but a burst body and instant death.
Longming had anticipated this, yet was still somewhat surprised. The Nightmare King’s spiritual power had actually forced Zhuoxue’s demonic core to shed another layer.
The once-dull demonic core looked as though dust had been wiped from its surface. Its intricate patterns grew clearer, and light even shone through in several places.
Longming steadied herself, soothing Zhuoxue’s pain both inside and out, and drew upon the cold carried within the Nightmare King’s spiritual power to quell the burning of the runes.
The fox had been curled tight, paws clenched. At this relief, even her ears perked up, and her silvery-white whiskers twitched slightly with the movement of her mouth.
Zhuoxue vaguely felt the spiritual power that had been slashing and gouging everywhere transform into a pool of warm, gentle spring water, slowly flowing through her lingtai.
The pain was no longer pain. It soaked her until her bones went soft and her limbs went numb—she truly wanted to just close her eyes and sleep.
She had not yet broken through the realm. But the Nightmare King’s spiritual power had lost its edge and was now hers to command.
“Try again.” Longming’s voice brushed past the fox’s ear.
The fox slowly sat up, resting her chin on her forelimbs. The vast spread of runes was still visible on her back, draped over half her body like a dharma robe.
In the deep forest, plants and trees rustled, and occasionally a few insect calls could be heard.
Longming scanned the surroundings and suddenly cast a barrier, lest the Nightmare Demon catch up to them.
The fox gradually assimilated that spiritual power as her own. In fox form, only the base of her ears should have been sweating, but whether it was rain-like perspiration or her beast and human forms losing their boundary, the fur across her entire body was soaked—as if she had been plunged back beneath the Wangchuan River, becoming a white-furred water rat again.
Longming’s suspended palm drifted down and patted the fox’s drenched neck.
The realm breakthrough was something only the fox could achieve herself. All she could do now was wait.
The spiritual power within Zhuoxue had been smoothed out, but her thoughts were a tangled mess. She could no longer tell whether she was currently in beast form or human form.
Calm the mind.
Spiritual power squeezed into the demonic core bit by bit. Now it was not only the lingtai—even the demonic core was swelling unbearably.
The pain had been dispersed, paradoxically. She did not hurt—she simply felt like a dumpling whose filling was bursting through, the skin about to split open.
The demonic core suddenly trembled several times. Its intricate patterns remained unchanged, but the core body became like polished jade. Its gray coat fell away entirely, leaving only a radiant, luminous interior.
She had broken through!
Longming’s pupils contracted slightly. No—it was not yet done.
After the breakthrough, there was still enough spiritual power for the fox to attempt a second breakthrough.
The restriction took an immense impact. Starting from the fox’s tail, the runes burned to ash, bit by bit.
But the runes did not burn completely. More than half remained, gradually fading back into the fox’s fur.
The luminous demonic core dimmed in an instant, reverting to cold gray stone. The realm… had not broken through to the end.
In an instant, fierce winds howled outside the barrier. Rain poured from the sky, and tree shadows in the forest swayed like ghosts and monsters.
With a crack, a bolt of lightning suddenly descended from the darkened horizon, striking the barrier dead on.
All beings, when shedding ignorance and ascending the steps to break through their realm, must, if fortunate enough to approach the Primordial Boundary1, endure three lightning tribulations.
Longming’s expression darkened. Her raised left arm trembled slightly from the lightning’s impact.
The fox had not yet broken through to the next realm and was nowhere near the Primordial Boundary’s edge. The lightning tribulation had come at the wrong time.
Unless she had provoked heavenly wrath and the Heavenly Dao forbade her from advancing further. Or unless…
Tianji!
Longming gave a cold scoff, raised her head to gaze at the cloud-choked sky, and used her index finger as a brush, chanting incantations while drawing runes.
The runes were endless, gradually affixing themselves to the barrier. No matter how the heavenly lightning struck, the barrier held firm.
She was certain that Tianji would not dare to rain down heavenly lightning endlessly. Such reckless behavior would surely be noticed by the other celestial beings in Kunlun Jade Capital.
Sure enough, the lightning and thunder struck only three times. After the third bolt, the black clouds dispersed, and stars and moon reappeared.
Longming suddenly looked at Zhuoxue. The fox was trembling.
The fox’s realm had been on the verge of breakthrough yet failed to break through. Her spiritual power was nearly exhausted by the demonic core, and at this moment the core only absorbed without releasing. She was at her most vulnerable—even the slightest pain or itch was unbearable.
The white fox abruptly shifted into human form, her silk garments blooming against the dark mud like a tuberose too shy to show itself by day.
But her arms and legs were still slightly curled as they had been in fox form, like a demon newly shaped into human figure, not yet knowing how to manage its limbs.
Zhuoxue’s long hair spilled down, more than half of it turned white—like a silver spring clinging to half a cliff of black mountain, lacking only the sound of flowing water.
She felt awful. The back of her neck was no longer hot, but an inner fire was burning.
The mating heat had boiled her blood and qi to a frenzy. Yet her eyes seemed veiled in gauze—she could not see anything clearly.
She was in a daze, not knowing where she was.
The golden-eyed, silver-haired fox demon crawled forward two steps in panic and collided with the barrier. It was like crashing into a frozen waterfall—she let out a sudden sigh.
Her hem trailed far behind her. Perhaps because of the change in her demonic core, even the magical garment from her transformation was different from before.
Her gaze shifted. She could vaguely make out a figure, and, just as she had in fox form, crawled forward on bent limbs.
Zhuoxue, delirious, reached out and grabbed the corner of Longming’s robe. She curled up against her like a pup, seemingly unable to tell who was before her, yet calling out for help.
“I feel awful.” Tears welled at the corners of Zhuoxue’s eyes, and her breath was damp and sweltering.
Longming pressed her lips together and said nothing. She turned her gaze elsewhere and said flatly, “Endure it.”
Zhuoxue drew extremely close. Her misty gaze traced down from Longming’s brow to her eyes, and this time she finally saw clearly. She propped herself up and pressed forward into an embrace, her body softer than silk.
“Longming, I feel awful.”
The fox was on the verge of tears, and even the words spilling from her lips seemed steeped in midsummer humidity—hot and damp.
At this moment, even the lightest scratch or brush made her shiver uncontrollably. She seized one of Longming’s hands and pressed it against her own cheek, whispering, “I don’t know what’s wrong. Am I going to die?”
“No.” Longming’s still, quiet gaze was stirred into turmoil, suddenly unsure where to settle. “Do not move about anymore, or I will—”
The fox would not comply. “No way. Staying perfectly still is for a wangba2.”
With that, she bit down on Longming’s tiger’s mouth3.
The fox choked out, “Didn’t Auntie Lan say that if something on your body hurts, you pinch somewhere else and the pain moves away?”
After a long while, Longming said, “You are biting my hand.”
Footnotes
- 鸿蒙 | hongmeng | Primordial state of chaos preceding creation in Daoist cosmology; the ultimate boundary of existence, approached only at highest realm breakthroughs.
- 王八 | wangba | Literally 'turtle'; common Chinese insult for a coward, punning on Lan Hui being a turtle deity who urged Zhuoxue to endure.
- 虎口 | hukou | Anatomical term for the web between thumb and forefinger; literally 'tiger's mouth,' punning on Longming being a tiger demon.
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