I Was Forced to Marry a “Trash” Cultivator, But She Turned Out to Be a Reborn Empress!

Chapter 224: The Northern Region, Realm Advancement

Several months later.

With a thunderous boom, the Sun and Moon Boat smashed through the final spatial barrier, emerging into a vast, open world.

The scenery that greeted them was not a paradise.

A gray-brown wasteland stretched to the horizon, the earth cracked and parched like dried reptile skin. Dark red thorns, resembling dried blood vessels, crawled sparsely across the ground. In the distance, a few twisted, withered trees clawed at the gray sky, looking less like plants and more like dying monsters frozen in their final struggle.

“This is… the Northern Region?”

Qiu Ruoli’s voice carried a heavy note of confusion.

In her imagination, the Northern Region was a legendary cultivation sanctuary—a place veiled in rosy clouds and auspicious mists, where spirit springs gushed from jade rocks and rare herbs bloomed in eternal spring.

But the reality before her eyes was a graveyard of silence and desolation.

For a moment, she suspected the spatial rift had spat them out in the wrong dimension.

Shen Xian waved his hand, recalling the Sun and Moon Boat into his ring. The top-grade spirit treasure let out a low groan as it vanished; the journey through the void had left its hull riddled with scars and fractures. It would need serious repairs before it could sail again.

Without the vessel’s protective arrays, the raw atmosphere of the Northern Region assaulted them.

A pungent stench of sulfur hit them first, underpinned by the sickly-sweet odor of ancient decay.

“The Spiritual Qi here is different from the Southern Region,” Shen Xian noted, his voice grave.

Qiu Ruoli attempted to circulate her cultivation technique. Immediately, her expression changed.

The spiritual power here was dense—several times thicker than in the South—but it was wild. It felt like drinking wine mixed with coarse sand. As she drew it into her body, it scraped against her meridians, causing waves of stinging pain.

Even more bizarre was the “will” embedded in the energy. It was violent, restless, and aggressive, causing her own True Essence to become sluggish and heavy.

Shen Xian activated the Void Reflecting Spirit Mirror.

His Soul Formation-level Divine Sense swept out like a radar, analyzing the microscopic structure of the environment.

In his perception, the Northern Region’s energy was indeed high-grade, but every particle was stained with a faint, blood-colored baleful aura. This aura wasn’t just mixed in; it was fused at a fundamental level. Ordinary filtration techniques were useless against it.

“What do we do now?” Qiu Ruoli asked instinctively.

Over the past few months, the terrifying methods Shen Xian had displayed—slaughtering Void Demons, refining artifacts in lightning, tearing through space—had thoroughly crushed her will to resist.

Her only goal now was to survive, reach the Nascent Soul realm, and perhaps find a sliver of a chance to escape later.

But unbidden, a dangerous habit had formed. The proud Holy Maiden of the Tianyao Sect was unconsciously beginning to rely on her captor.

Shen Xian scanned the horizon.

His knowledge of the Northern Region came from ancient Shen Family records, but eons had passed. The maps in his head were likely dust. He had no idea where they were.

They needed a guide.

“But first,” Shen Xian decided, “we must adapt to this environment.”

His gaze locked onto a severely weathered cliff face a few miles away. A natural fissure near the base offered a secluded shelter.

“We rest there.”

He raised his hand and summoned the Heavenly Mechanism Disk. The bronze compass spun in the air, projecting eight luminous spirit runes. The runes crawled over the cliff face like living spiders, weaving together to form a concealed defensive array.

Qiu Ruoli followed him into the cave. She noticed Shen Xian had layered two restrictions: an outer mist barrier to hide their aura, and an inner golden shield for physical defense.

Shen Xian sat cross-legged immediately. The Li Fire True Seal on his forehead glowed like a dying coal as he began to purge the violent impurities from the ambient Qi. He sat motionless, his breathing rhythmic, like an old monk in deep meditation.

Qiu Ruoli sat opposite him, biting her lip as she tried to do the same.

“This energy… it’s strange.”

Despite the pain of refining it, the sensation was addictive. The “sand” in the Qi scraped her meridians, but once refined, the remaining power was potent and intoxicating. It flowed through her like liquid fire, far more stimulating than the gentle Qi of the South.

ROAR!

A shrill, blood-curdling beast roar echoed from outside the cave.

Qiu Ruoli flinched, her body instinctively leaning toward Shen Xian.

Shen Xian didn’t open his eyes, but his long eyelashes trembled slightly. The crimson glow surrounding him expanded outward, silently enveloping her within his protective circle.

Bathed in his aura, Qiu Ruoli felt her tension melt away. It was warm. Secure.

She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the traitorous warmth blooming in her chest. Deep down, a hidden part of her psyche was quietly rejoicing in this feeling of being protected, of being… owned.

She didn’t realize that a faint, submissive smile had crept onto her lips.

Several days passed.

Both of them had successfully acclimated to the harsh environment. They could now filter the “sand” from the Qi with ease.

Shen Xian opened his eyes. He looked at Qiu Ruoli, who was deep in meditation, and stood up.

Sensing movement, Qiu Ruoli’s eyes snapped open. She scrambled to her feet, backing away until her shoulders hit the cold stone.

“What… what are you doing?”

“Cultivation,” Shen Xian stated flatly. “Naturally.”

He didn’t wait for consent. He stepped forward, seized her slender wrists, and pinned them against the rough rock wall.

The uneven stone bit into her back, stinging sharp and cold, but the pain only triggered a jolt of adrenaline that felt suspiciously like anticipation.

“N-no… not here…” Qiu Ruoli’s voice was barely a whisper, her eyes darting around the damp cave, afraid to meet his gaze.

She wanted to push him away. She told herself she wanted to push him away. But in the face of his Nascent Soul pressure, her struggles were feeble—more like the playful resistance of a lover than the defense of a victim.

Shen Xian sneered. He released one hand to trace the line of her collarbone, his touch burning like a brand.

“What? Does the Holy Maiden find this cave too primitive for her high status?”

His hot breath ghosted over her ear, sending shivers cascading down her spine.

After months of travel, he knew exactly how to dismantle her defenses. To make a woman like Qiu Ruoli submit, one didn’t break the body; one broke the pride.

“It’s not that… I…”

Her weak protest was cut short as Shen Xian’s spiritual power surged into her.

It was an invasion. His Fire-attributed energy rampaged through her meridians, hunting down her Sunflower Water currents. It was domineering and absolute.

The sensation of being forcibly filled with his power made her knees buckle. She had no choice but to wrap her arms around his shoulders to keep from sliding to the floor.

Shen Xian’s hand roughly pulled open her robes.

The shock of the cold air hitting her skin, followed immediately by the scorching heat of his palm, made tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

‘So shameful…’

But horror dawned on her. Her own spiritual power wasn’t fighting him. It was welcoming him. Her Qi rose to meet his invasion with eager, desperate hunger.

Every collision of their energies sent waves of pleasure crashing through her core, a hundred times more intense than solitary meditation.

She was trembling, not from fear, but from an overwhelming sensory overload.

‘I’m going crazy…’

Outside, the distant roars of demon beasts echoed across the wasteland. The danger, the raw setting, the risk of discovery… it all twisted the shame into a darker, sharper thrill.

She bit her lip until she tasted iron, trying to stifle the sounds bubbling in her throat. If anyone from the Tianyao Sect saw their Holy Maiden now, pressed against a cave wall, whimpering in the arms of a man…

But her reason was drowning. The tide of desire and power swept her away.

An hour later.

Qiu Ruoli sat in the corner of the cave, her robes straightened, her expression restored to a mask of icy aloofness. But the flush on her cheeks betrayed her.

She checked her internal state. Her cultivation had jumped again. The barrier to the Nascent Soul realm felt paper-thin.

Her gaze drifted involuntarily to Shen Xian, who sat calmly refining the residual energy.

‘If… if we did it just a few more times…’

The thought terrified her.

“No! How can I be so shameless?” She bit her lip, forcing the thought down. She was the Holy Maiden. She had dignity. She could break through on her own!

Suddenly, Shen Xian’s eyes snapped open. A sharp glint of cold light flashed within his pupils.

“We have company.”

Qiu Ruoli’s heart tightened.

Without thinking, she shifted closer to him. The movement was fluid, natural, and completely instinctive.

Shen Xian noticed. The corner of his mouth quirked up—a subtle sign of satisfaction.

He stood, dusting off his pristine robes.

“Perfect.”