Chapter 4: First Night

It was late at night.

In the dilapidated thatched cottage, moonlight spilled through the cracks in the roof, making the room look deathly pale.

Shen Yuyan squatted in front of the stove, stuffing dry firewood into the firebox.

The dry wood crackled and popped as the flames took hold.

The firelight danced across her smooth face... so beautiful it seemed unreal.

But facing this peerless beauty, Lu Xuan had no time to appreciate it.

He sat to the side, clutching the "Five Animals Transformation Art" in his hands, his eyes glued to the yellowed pages.

"Husband, you rest first. I'll boil some water and call you when it's ready."

Shen Yuyan's soft voice drifted over from the stove.

Lu Xuan gave a hum of agreement but didn't move.

He flipped to the first page.

The Five Animals Transformation Art: Bear, Deer, Tiger, Ape, and Crane.

By imitating the forms of these five animals and drawing Spiritual Energy from heaven and earth into the body to nourish it, one can expand the Qi Sea, cleanse the Meridians and marrow, and reshape their martial foundation.

Lu Xuan's eyes lit up.

Expanding the Qi Sea... cleansing the Meridians and marrow... and reshaping one's martial foundation?!

That bastard Lu Hao... because his own martial foundation was mediocre, Lu Tianhe had used a forbidden method to extract Lu Xuan's heart vein to supplement his son's naturally deficient talent.

But none of them ever expected that the Lu Family's old Ancestral Home actually held such a miraculous technique for rebuilding one's foundation from scratch.

To think he actually obtained this Five Animals Transformation Art.

Every page he turned showed a human figure performing various incredible movements, with dense annotations written beside them.

Lu Xuan flipped through page after page.

He flipped very quickly.

It wasn't carelessness... he was scanning it. Every page his eyes touched was being absorbed directly by the System, burned into his mind with perfect clarity.

While Shen Yuyan was adding wood to the stove, she glanced back at him.

The flickering firelight shone on his face. His gaze was focused, staring at the pages... one page, two pages, three pages...

He was flipping so fast it barely looked like reading.

As if he were looking for something.

Shen Yuyan didn't say anything and turned back to the stove.

But she thought to herself... Is he afraid I'll see that he doesn't understand it? Is that why he's flipping so fast?

The fire in the stove crackled, Lu Xuan flipped to the last page.

He closed the book, he was silent for three seconds, then he stood up and walked to the stove.

Shen Yuyan looked up. "Finished reading?"

"Finished."

As he spoke, Lu Xuan tossed the Five Animals Transformation Art straight into the fire.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"You...!"

Shen Yuyan panicked and reached out to grab it, but the flames had already licked the cover.

The paper curled in the fire, blackened, and turned to ash before her eyes.

She turned her head to look at Lu Xuan, her eyes wide with shock.

"You... why did you burn it?"

Lu Xuan didn't speak, he just watched the fire in the stove.

Shen Yuyan stared at him for a long moment... and then, slowly, something seemed to click in her mind.

She opened her mouth to say something but swallowed it back, then she looked up at the man before her, and a trace of heartache surfaced in her expression.

"It's... it's okay."

"I... I know. You can't practice martial arts, so seeing those things must be painful, I should have never brough it out in the first place."

She slowly stood up and took Lu Xuan's hand. The firelight reflecting on her face was stunning.

"It doesn't matter."

She gave a small smile, that smile was more heartbreaking than crying.

"Don't... don't be sad. It's okay if you don't know martial arts."

She paused, her voice becoming even softer... as if afraid he would hear, yet also afraid he wouldn't.

"I... I can do embroidery. One piece can sell for dozens of copper coins. I... I'll support you!"

The fire in the stove crackled again, Lu Xuan stood there. Looking at her.

She lowered her head, her ears red... extremely alluring.

At this moment, in Lu Xuan's eyes, she was no different from a fairy descended from the heavens.

Lu Xuan could no longer hold himself back, he pulled this fairy who belonged only to him into his arms, Shen Yuyan let out a soft gasp, and her body collapsed into his embrace as if her bones had turned to water.

He could feel everything: the intoxicating softness suddenly pressing against his chest. The impact was both gentle and fierce, leaving his usually calm mind in a state of utter confusion.

The radiant heat emanating from her skin seeped into his thin clothes, warming his once cold and lonely soul.

Her smooth arms wrapped around his neck, sliding innocently. Her petal-like, gentle lips pressed against his... blindly, clumsily, and without any strategy.

It struck his lips with a muffled thunderclap, a drumbeat, a snapping sound of reason breaking in his mind.

But he forced himself to hold back and did not make any rash moves that he will regret later.

Feeling his stillness, she added fuel to the fire, tentatively touching him with her lips again and again.

Before she could react, before she could pull away from her bold attempt, his arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly against him.

Shen Yuyan parted her lips slightly in surprise, as if to say something.

But he couldn't wait any longer and returned her a deep, overpowering kiss.

It wasn't a fleeting glance, nor a perfunctory greeting.

Without any build-up or transition, from the very first second he responded, he forcefully captured her lips, kissing her with a fierce, furious intensity. His breath was heavy and hot.

This was a powerful storm that Shen Yuyan had not anticipated when she took the initiative.

She tried to lean back to dodge him, but his other hand was already pressing down on the back of her head, leaving her no way to escape.

They were pressed tightly together, like a desperate spark licking dry, withered wood, suddenly igniting into a towering flame.

She was flustered, and at a loss. All sorts of emotions came rushing over her with that kiss.

Shen Yuyan didn't have time to close her eyes. She kept them open and watched him kiss her with his brows slightly furrowed.

That one second of hesitation turned into her tacit approval of his actions.

With her tacit approval, he became even more unrestrained and utterly irrational.

He kissed her greedily, letting her heart pound wildly against his own chest.

Shen Yuyan was trembling involuntarily.

Perhaps it was because of the biting cold draft blowing through the dilapidated room, and her clothes were thin.

Perhaps it was because of his sudden change of mood, which caught her completely off guard.

Or perhaps it was because of his overly possessive and passionate kiss, which made her very soul tremble.

Lu Xuan noticed her trembling.

She could feel them moving together, but she didn't know how he did it. He kissed her passionately, stopping being reserved and instead becoming wild.

The soft touch, the fiery breath, the rapid heartbeat. She was captivated by his bold intensity.

He's so bad.

She thought to herself as his lips trailed down her neck.

Oh yes, Yuyan... I know exactly what you're up to, and you're not getting away after rising the monster in me.

Lu Xuan thought wickedly, turning the kisses into gentle nibbles.

At this moment, Lu Xuan formally merged the bitter obsessions of his past life with the beautiful reality of his new life.

Good heavens, he was so wicked!

She sensed a sweet danger and moaned softly, feeling both unbearable pleasure and deep shyness about what to come.

But the sound did not elicit any sympathy from him; instead, it ignited an even fiercer fire within his heart.

The faded red bridal dress slipped from her shoulders, falling to the dusty floor like discarded petals.

His own tattered clothes soon followed, leaving nothing between them but the warm glow of the firelight.

Under the pale moonlight filtering through the thatched roof, two lonely souls finally found solace in each other.

He was gentle but firm, guiding her through the tender pain of her first time, slowly replacing her nervous gasps with soft, breathless moans.

Their bodies moved in a steady, primal rhythm... a perfect union of warmth and tenderness that chased away the cold of the dilapidated cottage.

In that small, broken room, they gave themselves entirely to one another, sealing a bond that neither heaven nor earth could break.