Dual Cultivation System: My Cultivation Was Crippled, So I Rely on Intimacy to Level Up

Chapter 244: The Living Heart Beneath the Demon Suppression Platform

Wu Hongxiao shifted comfortably against his chest, but Zhou Kai’s attention was already elsewhere. His gaze swept coldly over the jagged, continuous peaks of the valley below.

“This entire valley is a treasure trove. It’s overflowing with Fated Chances, rare spirit herbs, and priceless ores. Once Youci is safe, we can’t just sit on our hands,” Zhou Kai said. He looked at Shen Hanyi, then let his gaze drift over Mo Qianyuan and Fish Baibai.

Mo Qianyuan stood perfectly still. Her pale, simple robes were immaculate, and her expression was strictly business. “Splitting up will maximize our efficiency.”

Shen Hanyi was characteristically brief. “Agreed.”

Zhou Kai nodded, weighing the logistics. “As protectors, we can’t stray too far from Li Youci. But keeping everyone clumped together in one spot is a massive waste of time and resources.”

He flipped his palm, producing a dark, intricate talisman, and offered it to Mo Qianyuan. It was the black pagoda talisman treasure he had looted from Yun Kang’s corpse. “Qianyuan. Keep this on you for emergencies.”

Mo Qianyuan didn’t waste time with false modesty. She reached out and took it. As her cool fingertips brushed the warmth of his palm, she paused for a fraction of a second before securing the talisman. She offered him a curt nod. “Be careful yourself.”

Before the words fully left her mouth, she blurred into a streak of light, launching herself into the distance without a backward glance.

With Mo Qianyuan off the board, Zhou Kai turned his attention to Fish Baibai, who was currently staring at him with wide, expectant eyes.

She immediately shot her small hand into the air. “The Young Miss brought me here specifically to hunt for Fated Chances! She told me I could play on my own!”

Zhou Kai let out a wry chuckle. He tapped the Spirit Beast Bag at his waist. Instantly, a deafening mechanical buzz filled the air.

Over a thousand Split-Back Katydids swarmed out of the bag, forming a tight, swirling cloud of pitch-black armor. Among the drone workers, about a dozen larger Katydids pulsed with a sickly, emerald-green light from the fissures on their backs—the highly venomous elites.

“Take the swarm with you for protection,” Zhou Kai instructed. “And use your head. Don’t wander too deep into the inner zones.”

“Don’t worry, Junior Brother!” Fish Baibai puffed out her chest, patting the small, rabbit-shaped Storage Bag tied to her waist. “I have over twenty offensive Dharma Treasures stuffed in here!”

With a delighted giggle, she mentally corralled the insect swarm, waved cheerily at Zhou Kai and Shen Hanyi, and stuck her tongue out at Wu Hongxiao. Summoning a sleek flying shuttle, she hopped aboard and shot off in a random direction.

Watching the young girl vanish over the horizon, Shen Hanyi’s cool voice drifted into Zhou Kai’s ear. “Qianyuan’s mind is sharp. Tempering herself in a live-fire environment like this will do her good. But… I have to ask. How exactly did you handle Ziqing and Lanyin?”

Zhou Kai didn’t bother dodging the question. “Lanyin’s cultivation foundation is too shallow; tossing her into Tongming Valley would be a death sentence. And Ziqing is the administrative core of my faction. I couldn’t risk her life in a meat grinder like this.”

He paused, turning to look at Shen Hanyi. A soft, slightly helpless affection warmed his eyes. “As for you, Hanyi… yes, you’re officially my protector. But let’s be honest. Even if I had ordered you to stay behind, you would have just sneaked in and followed me anyway.”

The faintest ghost of a smile touched the corner of Shen Hanyi’s lips, softening the usual ice in her gaze. “I told you. My sword only draws for you.”

“Ahem!”

A highly exaggerated, aggressively loud cough shattered the tender moment.

Wu Hongxiao wriggled fiercely in Zhou Kai’s arms, her tone dripping with vinegar. “Hey! Zhou Kai! You’re literally still holding me! Am I suddenly invisible?!”

Zhou Kai looked down into her fiery, indignant eyes and burst out laughing. “How could you be invisible? You’re far too much woman for me to miss.”

He tightened his grip on her waist, pulling her flush against him. “Which is exactly why, moving forward, you are also a permanent fixture of my core team. The indispensable kind.”

Wu Hongxiao froze. The heat in her cheeks spiked violently, but this time, it wasn’t from embarrassment. It felt as though a seed planted deep in the bedrock of her heart had suddenly cracked open, sending a thrilling, electric jolt through her veins.

She buried her face into his chest, refusing to speak, but her hands gripped his robes with a desperate tightness that betrayed exactly how much those words meant to her.

The hours bled away.

Inside the cabin, Su Xuan remained locked in deep meditation. The Calamity Abyss Valley disciple was dead to the world, entirely focused on forcing his Qi to heal his shattered internal pathways.

Roughly twenty-four hours later.

The jade token at Zhou Kai’s waist vibrated violently. It was a short, sharp burst from Du Chuyao.

Target lured. Heading Southeast.

Success.

The coiled tension that had been locking Zhou Kai’s muscles instantly evaporated. He stood up so abruptly that Wu Hongxiao nearly fell out of his arms.

“What is it?” she asked, quickly righting herself.

“Youci is clear,” Zhou Kai said, his voice crisp and commanding. “We’re moving in.”

He muttered a quick command phrase. The Spirit Boat beneath their feet hummed like a struck tuning fork. The hull flared with brilliant azure light before the vessel violently banked, tearing across the sky like a bolt of lightning.

Sensing the movement, Su Xuan stepped out of the cabin. With a casual flick of his wrist, eight Array Flags shot from his sleeves, embedding themselves perfectly into the deck to form an octagram. A translucent, water-like barrier shimmered into existence around the ship.

His hands blurred through a sequence of seals. “We’re going in.”

A few miles away, nestled within a crater of shattered rocks, Li Youci sat in perfect lotus position.

Thick, suffocating black energy coiled around her body like living serpents. Behind her, a horrifying tapestry of twisted, wailing ghostly phantoms writhed in the air before being violently sucked into her flesh by an invisible, gravitational force. Her aura pulsed erratically, shifting between abyss-like calm and explosive, demonic rage.

Fang Lizhe stood guard a few dozen yards away, his hand white-knuckling the hilt of his long blade.

When he spotted Zhou Kai’s group descending from the sky, his taut nerves finally snapped. He opened his mouth, nearly shouting “Big Brother!” in relief. But a quick glance at the deeply meditating Li Youci made him swallow the words. He settled for a stiff, heavy nod toward Zhou Kai.

Without a single warning sign, Li Youci’s eyes snapped open.

Her pupils were pools of fathomless dark, swirling with sharp spiritual light. There was absolutely no sign of the sluggish backlash that usually accompanied an interrupted cultivation session.

You were just refining standard vengeful ghosts. You could have severed the connection at any time. Why didn’t you just run when the Yang family showed up? Zhou Kai’s voice projected directly into her mind via Divine Sense.

Li Youci didn’t answer him verbally. Her body simply flickered, and she reappeared instantly on the deck of the Spirit Boat.

Her sharp gaze swept over the crew. She took in Su Xuan; his robes were pristine, but his aura was a chaotic mess, and the jade flute resting at his side was completely devoid of spiritual luster. Her Divine Sense then pierced the cabin walls, landing on Gao Feihuang. The blood cultivator looked like a wax corpse, his breathing so shallow he was practically a ghost.

Her elegant brows knitted together. Her tone brooked no argument. “Su Xuan. Take Gao Feihuang and evacuate the valley. I will be fine from here.”

Su Xuan hesitated, his pride warring with his logic. “Young Miss, I still possess enough strength for one final battle.”

“It is unnecessary,” Li Youci stated coldly. “I possess high-tier concealment techniques. Having you wounded men lingering near me will only serve as a beacon and a liability. Once I exit the valley, I will personally explain the situation to my elder brother.”

The moment she finished speaking, her physical form began to blur and dissolve, exactly like a drop of ink washing away in a rushing river. Within the span of a single breath, she vanished from the deck entirely.

Su Xuan’s pupils dilated. He pushed his vision to the absolute limit and violently swept the deck with his Divine Sense, but he found absolutely nothing. It was as if she had been erased from reality.

Suitably humbled, he didn’t argue further. He formally cupped his hands toward the empty air on the deck. “Thank you for your understanding, Young Miss. Su Xuan takes his leave.”

Without wasting another second, he marched into the cabin, hauled the comatose Gao Feihuang over his shoulder, and launched himself off the deck. He blurred into a streak of light, abandoning the eight Array Flags of his Water Moon Grand Array, and vanished over the horizon.

Li Youci’s disembodied voice echoed again. “Fang Lizhe. Retreat to the outer perimeter and hunt for minor Fated Chances.”

Fang Lizhe looked up at Zhou Kai for confirmation. Zhou Kai clicked his tongue, pulled a high-grade Void-Piercing Talisman from his robes, and tossed it down to the man. “Don’t play the hero. Run if you have to.”

Fang Lizhe caught the talisman, offered a deep, respectful bow to both Zhou Kai and the empty air, and said, “Big Brother, Young Miss, please be careful!” With that, he turned and sprinted away.

Only after Fang Lizhe’s aura had completely faded from the immediate area did the air on the deck ripple. Li Youci’s stunning figure re-condensed into reality.

“Zhou Kai,” she said, finally addressing his earlier scolding. “You are correct. Refining those ghosts wasn’t strictly urgent. However, the moment I absorbed them into the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, I established a faint, psychic tether to their origin.”

Her gaze flicked briefly toward Wu Hongxiao, assessing the other woman before dismissing her presence entirely—a silent, arrogant acknowledgment of her existence.

Li Youci turned her full attention back to the group. “Perhaps it is due to my unique physique, but I was able to brush against the deepest foundational imprints hidden within those spirits. I have always wondered where the endless tide of vengeful ghosts and demons in Tongming Valley originates.”

She took a slow breath. “I forcefully read the fragmented, chaotic memories of those ghosts. After drowning in their shattered resentment and screams for a full day, I finally pieced together the truth.”

Li Youci’s expression hardened into a mask of absolute, chilling gravity.

“Deep within the absolute center of Tongming Valley, buried directly beneath the Demon Suppression Platform … there is a heart.”

She locked eyes with Zhou Kai.

“A heart that is still beating.”