Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 123(Part 1). Hope you'll enjoy it!
This(Or last depending on the POV) week: Well, I was a bit out of it last week, so accumulated a bit of delay. Nothing too harsh, but I keep moving from 11 advance chapters to 12, then back to 11. It feels a bit frustrating for me, but there's not much I can do about it. My brain is strange, I guess. Growing my stack of advance chapters is truly a challenge for me, but I'll make it somehow. One chapter at a time. I AM done with chapter 134 and I only need to edit it, which should be done by today. Fingers crossed, by Saturday I should be back to 12 advance chapters. Hopefully.
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Bright Star City, Bright Star Island, Flowing Stars Archipelago, Earth
Omniscient P.O.V.
Having made his decision, Demian used a neat trick he learned recently, thanks to the growth in his Physique's cultivation. With a thought, the young man started growing his shoulder-length black hair until, merely a few seconds later, it had reached around the mid point between the small of his back and his shoulders. The manipulation done, the slight tension on his face vanished, followed by a few mutters escaping his lips. "Good thing it's getting easier with practice." Indeed, he noticed that since he had condensed his Water Intent, the control he had over his body had started to increase progressively, to the point that he could now grow his hair out in a few seconds, or stop his beard from growing altogether, among many other useful applications. However, those two were the ones he found the most practical in his daily life, the rest being merely superfluous. Interestingly, his strength, which should have plateaued with him reaching the Peak of his Rank, seemed to be still growing, though the increments were minuscule compared to his previous cultivation. Another change was that the bottleneck blocking his way to the next Rank was getting increasingly weaker. Using an analogy, if overcoming that bottleneck was akin to crossing a small river for an average cultivator, then in Demian's case, it would be closer to scaling a heaven-reaching mountain range. Now, however, those seemingly insurmountable Heavenly Mountains have been reduced to average great mountains. Although they were still blocking the way, the scaling difficulty was still reduced by a massive amount. And that was simply after a few days of 'Perk-grinding'. Who knew how flimsy that bottleneck would become after a few more weeks? Well, whether it became weaker or not would not really affect Demian's chance of breaking through. After all, his Foundation was so deep that those 'Heaven-Reaching' Mountains could have been pulverized in one shot had he simply tried, shifting his situation from the usual 'trying to break the bottleneck to breakthrough' to an abnormal 'doing his best to avoid carelessly obliterating the bottleneck'. Some people's starting lines were truly others' finish lines, and then, beyond that, there was Demian. Back to the young man. Feeling satisfied with the length of his hair, he turned toward Seraphine, who was still styling her own hair, and asked. "Love?" Seeing her turn in his direction, he noticed her lips' corners lifted as soon as her gaze fell on his longer hair. "That's the perfect length. No pun intended." Rolling his eyes, he retorted. "Somehow, I doubt that..." Nodding while giggling, she replied. "You're right. It was very much intended." Pausing for a second, she swiftly regained her calm before questioning. "Seeing your expression, I'm guessing you need my help?" With a slightly embarrassed expression, he explained. "I'm not really sure what style to go for, so I thought you could help me choose a style to go with my outfit." Seeing the knowing smile plastered on her face, he hesitated for a brief moment before muttering, embarrassed, his eyes avoiding hers. "Fine! The truth is, I'd appreciate it if you could help me style my hair. Happy?" A few chuckles escaped her lips, after which she exclaimed. "Knowing that my man enjoyed getting pampered by me? Of course, I'm happy." Halting her words for a moment, she then slightly tilted her head and added, a playful grin gracing her lips. "Honestly, I really don't get why you feel so embarrassed about me taking care of your hair. It's not like you'd be less manly if I did." Taking a deep breath while chanting a few times in his head, 'Long hair can be manly!', he then explained, his gaze turning back toward her. "I..." A brief pause. "I can't help it, alright? Maybe it's got to do with how I was balding in my previous life, who knows...? Something like a coping mechanism..? I don't know..." Shaking his head, he continued. "Forget it! I'll just get over it with time." Grinning, Sera added. "And getting pampered to death by me." Chuckling lightly, he said. "As long as you don't style it in the same way you styled yours yesterday..."
The next few minutes were spent with Sera choosing not only the right headdress for his current outfit, but also the right hairstyle. Fortunately, the playful woman had a thing for anything that had to do with cultivation novels, and thus had recently studied many different topics about people from Ancient China, from outfits to hairstyles. So, a few minutes later, Demian's hair was styled perfectly in a top bun, leaving a part of his much longer hair falling on his back with two locks of his silky raven hair framing his face, the latter a perfect blend of sharpness and softness, giving rise to an otherworldly attractiveness. The headdress he used depicted a golden white dragon with deep blue eyes, perfectly emphasizing that particular feeling, which brought his beauty to another level. With Seraphine standing behind his back, Demian was seated in front of their bedroom's full-length mirror, silently admiring his reflection. Only a while later did the elven beauty let out a sigh and say. "I'm starting to regret asking you to dress up." Cocking his brow in confusion, it was only a brief moment later that his brain made the connection, eliciting a few chuckles from the man who remarked playfully. "If you keep saying things like that, I'm gonna start getting narcissistic, you know?" Shaking her head, the young woman stayed silent, clearly not sharing his amusement. Seeing her a bit irritated, the young man stood up and embraced her gently, doing his best not to mess her well-styled hair. "What's wrong, Love? I don't understand why you feel so bad about me being handsome. Isn't it a good thing? I mean, when I see the three of you in those outfits, I get butterflies in my stomach. Well, that's also the case when you DON'T wear any clothes, but that's besides the point." That joke brought a few weak chuckles from the young woman, who seemed a bit more composed as she explained. "It's just..." Letting out a sigh, she continued. "When I think about other women seeing you like this, trying to seduce you, I... I can't help myself. I just feel so jealous... It's so strong that I've got the urge to lock you into a room and I'd be the only one with the key... Well, I guess I may let Sis and Mom get in from time to time..." That last sentence was said in a very low tone, but Demian still caught it, prompting a thought. 'It's not much, but I guess she's getting better?' Out loud, though, he said tenderly. "That's a very dangerous line of thought, Love. Even I wouldn't want to do that to the three of you, so I'd rather we forget about that idea, alright?" Sensing the slight anxiety barely hidden in his tone, a small playful smile appeared on her face before she replied. "Don't worry, Babe. It's not like I would really do it. I guess it's just some kind of intrusive thoughts, nothing else." Shaking his head inwardly, he exclaimed also inwardly. 'Weirdly, I doubt that. But let's act as if I believed her.'
Before he could say anything more, though, she interjected with a question of her own. "Speaking of which... How do you do it? I mean, I can sense how much you want the three of us, but I never felt that same jealousy when there were other men around us. It's... Too strange..." The two fell silent for a few moments while Demian pondered how to explain without saying how crazy the idea of locking someone up 'for love' sounded. Normally, that kind of crazy talk would have been a massive red flag for him, but since he knew there were 'extenuating circumstances' behind her behavior, and she was his beloved cousin and bonded partner, he decided to help her come back to the 'light side', where yandere talks were not allowed. Thus, he simply said. "For three reasons. First, I trust the three of you completely, so I'm not afraid of you girls cheating on me. Second, I had a friend in my past life who acted like that with every girlfriend he had, checking their phones for incriminating messages, or checking their clothes to see if he could find men's hair on them, among other things. Let me tell you, it never ended well with any of them. Either they left him because they couldn't take it anymore, or they actually cheated on him because—and I quote—'Since you want me to cheat on you so much, then I might as well do it'. That last one happened only once, but it was pretty rough on the guy. Though I do think he needed that wake-up call." Pausing for a few moments while shaking his head, he recalled a few old memories, prompting him to continue. "So, with that guy's example, I learned to trust others more. Of course, I also listen to my intuition, and if I feel that there's something fishy with someone, then I won't act as if nothing's wrong." As he halted his words, Sera asked him, her voice a bit muffled since her cheek was pressed on his upper chest. "What's the third reason?" Thinking of the answer to her question, a playful smile appeared on his face before he responded, matter-of-factly. "Because I'm confident in both my current strength and future potential." Lifting her head to look at him, she had a confused expression on her face as she questioned. "What does that have to do with anything?" With a growing smile, the latter became slightly colder as he explained. "If I'm strong enough, why should I be afraid of other men? With enough power, I can just make those people disappear if they cross the line. Think of it as helping them avoid accumulating bad Karma and helping them reincarnate into a better next life." Pausing for a second, his face had a sudden look of realization as he mumbled. "When you think about it, doesn't that mean I'm actually doing good deeds...? I'm such a great guy." Listening to the ridiculous statement, the elven woman had a giggling fit that lasted for a while, bringing a feeling of relief to Demian's Mind, while his smile lost its coldness for its usual warmth.
Once Seraphine calmed down, she remarked, her tone much lighter. "And here I thought I was the crazy one. I guess that's why we're perfect for each other. Two psychopaths in love... I think it has potential." A few low chuckles escaped his lips before he replied. "It does, doesn't it?" Pausing for a second as he recalled something, he then added. "By the way, I forgot to ask you with everything going on recently, but what did Aunt Ling say about the cause of your extreme moods when you went to ask them yesterday before Sis's Tribulation? Did they know the reason?" Nodding her head, she responded with a complicated look on her face. "It should be because of my Dark Elf Bloodline." Seeing the 'I knew it' look on his face, she explained further. "They told me that every member of the Dark Elf sub-species has to deal with extreme emotional fluctuations. It can be extreme lust, jealousy, greed, etc. It differs from person to person, with some people experiencing more than one of those emotions, like me with my Lust... And I guess my Jealousy..." Her explanations brought a light of realization to his Mind, prompting him to exclaim. "And here I thought that your extreme Lust came from our Bond. I mean, I'm also pretty much constantly turned on, so..." Furrowing her brows, Seraphine replied, her tone a bit hesitant. "Actually, I think the Bond amplifies the Lust I normally experience because of my Bloodline and... Well, I'm not entirely sure of that one, but I think the Bond also shares some traits from me to you. And extreme Lust may be one of those traits. Or I could be entirely wrong, I don't know." Feeling that she made sense, he said. "Whatever the case, as long as it's manageable, that's what matters." The two then stopped talking, their gaze hiding nothing of their shared feelings. A few moments later, Sera turned her head away and muttered in a tone so low that, if it was not for his strong cultivation base, he would have missed them entirely. "Fine. I'll listen to your advice." Her adorably shy reaction turned his grin bigger before he replied. "I'm sure you can do it. But don't stress out too much, we've got plenty of time to get things right. After all, if things continue like that, we should be able to live for a veeerrryyyy long time..." With an amused smile, the dark elven woman replied in a low tone. "Could be worse, I guess..."