After the alchemy class ended, Bai Shuying said bye to Xiao Yunxi and made her way to Hua Qingyan's garden.
When she arrived in front of the pavilion, she noticed the low table and cushion were replaced with a high table and chairs, but that did not attract her attention; instead, her eyes moved to Hua Qingyan.
Bai Shuying was already used to Hua Qingyan's physical changes, but what attracted her attention was Hua Qingyan changing her clothes.
Hua Qingyan nervously sat in her seat, waiting for Bai Shuying to comment on her change in style.
Before, Hua Qingyan wore a dull gray robe that reached her calves, but now she wore a green martial robe that stopped just below her knees.
"... Shuying?"
Hua Qingyan softly called out.
Bai Shuying snapped out of her daze and quickly sat in front of Hua Qingyan.
"Elder Hua, your new clothes look great."
Bai Shuying complimented Hua Qingyan's new clothes.
In the Yin-Yang Sect, the elders were allowed to wear anything they wanted, while the disciples had to wear the sect's uniform.
The Yin-Yang Sect's uniform was martial robes that were pinkish white for men and women, the only difference was the color outlining the cuff on the arm sleeves. For outer disciples it was blue, inner disciples red, and core disciples gold. But for personal disciples of the elders or sect master, there were no colors, so Bai Shuying's sleeves had no color on the cuffs.
Hua Qingyan smiled brightly at the compliment since she had changed for Bai Shuying in the first place.
They ate and chatted for a while until Hua Qingyan, whose face slightly turned red, said.
"Shuying, do you remember what you said the other day about continuing the energy exchange?"
Bai Shuying nodded her head since the energy exchange benefited Hua Qingyan's cultivation. Bai Shuying was all up for it since she had an abundance of energy.
"Of course, do you want to do it now?"
Bai Shuying said while looking into Hua Qingyan's emerald eyes.
Hua Qingyan was stunned.
How bold! Right here in the pavilion?!
"Well, Shuying, energy exchange is a delicate thing. How about we head to my residence?"
Hua Qingyan asked, wanting to find a better place to do it. After all, who wants to do such a thing out in the open?
Bai Shuying nodded excitedly at the prospect of seeing Elder Hua's residence.
Hua Qingyan took Bai Shuying to the outer area of the garden. There sat a small wooden house. When Bai Shuying saw it, she was stunned.
We really do have a lot in common.
Bai Shuying thought.
Hua Qingyan opened the door. She nervously turned to Bai Shuying and gestured with her hand for Bai Shuying to enter.
"Shuying, this is my… home."
Bai Shuying was confused by Elder Hua's odd behavior and thought.
It's just a house, hmm, is she hiding anything in there?
Bai Shuying's eyes brightened at the prospect of finding out Elder Hua's secrets. She excitedly walked in and was stunned by how minimalistic Elder Hua was.
Elder Hua's residence was not as grand as Su Meilin's; her home consisted of three rooms: one living room and two bedrooms. The living room had a low table at the center and two cushions, while the walls held scrolls of flower paintings. On the low table was an incense holder with a burning stick of incense releasing scented smoke into the air.
Bai Shuying's nose twitched, sniffing the fragrance.
Roses?
Bai Shuying felt as if she had smelled this scent somewhere, but could not remember where.
"Um, Shuying, over here."
Hua Qingyan opened a door the a room located on the right side while the bedroom door on the left side remained closed. Bai Shuying followed Elder Hua and entered the bedroom, but when she looked inside the room, her lip twitched.
The bedroom had a bed against the wall, a low table in the center with cushions, and paintings lining the wall.
Elder Hua was embarrassed. Other than Hua Xiran, no one has entered her room, let alone her house. As for her deceased dao companion, Hua Qingyan erased him from her mind.
As Bai Shuying curiously looked around the room, trying to find Hua Qingyan's secrets.
Hua Qingyan nervously placed two cushions on the floor facing each other. Hua Qingyan sat cross-legged on one of the cushions, revealing her delicately painted toes. Hua Qingyan watched Bai Shuying curiously move around the room with a smile on her face as her nerves calmed down.
"Cough."
Hua Qingyan lightly coughed to get Bai Shuying's attention. Bai Shuying, realizing her behavior was improper, became embarrassed and quickly took a seat on the empty cushion.
Bai Shuying faced Hua Qingyan with less than an arm's length between them.
"Shuying, do you know about energy exchange?"
Bai Shuying shook her head. Hua Qingyan thought for a moment.
So, she unintentionally did it?
Hua Qingyan remembered the first energy exchange the two performed and blushed.
"Well, energy exchange is usually taught when you become an inner sect disciple."
"Why is it not taught earlier?"
Hua Qingyan said while Bai Shuying curiously asked.
What is Xiran even teaching these days?
Hua Qingyan thought, shaking her head at her daughter's lack of guidance.
If Hua Xiran knew her mother thought this, she would have complained and said with a pout, It's not my fault she's too abnormal!
"Hmm, when you first enter the Yin-Yang Sect, you are given the first part of the Yin-Yang Fusion Scripture, which in energy circulation."
"Energy circulation?"
Bai Shuying remembered the first time she absorbed qi through her meridian channels.
"By using a cultivation art to perform energy circulation, it is easier to absorb, refine, and use qi."
Hua Qingyan patiently explained.
"Now, for energy exchange, if you practice the Yin-Yang Fusion Scripture, you need to balance Yin and Yang, so you need to find a way to supplement with the energy you lack."
Hua Qingyan said, but excluded all the valuable parts since she assumed Bai Shuying would know, but in reality, Bai Shuying was clueless that energy exchange is just a way to help your partner get familiar with their qi.
The ambient qi in the Martial Heaven Continent is mixed with many elements, turning somewhat impure. So, a cultivator who absorbs this impure qi needs to refine it to suit their bodies, keep the essentials, and dispose of the dregs.
By doing this, the qi turns unique, solely belonging to that person, just like a fingerprint. So, when cultivators inject qi into another person's body, it is seen as an attack, just like how human bodies have antibodies to fight viruses.
Hua Qingyan raised her arms and held out the palms of her hands facing Bai Shuying.
"Here, Shuying, place your hands on mine?"
Bai Shuying copied Hua Qingyan, connecting both of their palms. Bai Shuying became distracted for a moment, feeling Hua Qingyan's soft and delicate hands while Hua Qingyan focused on starting the energy exchange.
"Shuying, I'm going to start to operate my cultivation art, my Yin energy will flow to you, then you can start to operate your cultivation art and let the energy flow to me."
Hua Qingyan said with a smile. Hua Qingyan closed her eyes, seeing that Bai Shuying also followed along.
Hua Qingyan started to use the Yin-Yang Fusion Scripture, a faint tai chi symbol manifested below her, but it seemed oddly imbalanced. The Yin covered most of the circle while the Yang barely held inside, remaining on the circumference of the circle.
If Hua Qingyan turned transparent, in her body the meridian channel spread like veins from the tips of her green-painted toes to the top of her head. The ambient qi was absorbed through her skin and entered the meridian channel from different points, but to the same destination. The qi flowed through the channels towards her navel, where the dantian was located.
Soon, Hua Qingyan stopped gathering qi from the outside and let it all accumulate in her dantian. After a moment, Hua Qingyan willed the refined Yin qi to travel from her dantian towards the palms of her hand.
Bai Shuying felt energy flowing into her from the palms of her hands. After their previous exchange, Bai Shuying's body did not reject Hua Qingyan's refined Yin qi. The refined Yin qi traveled through Bai Shuying's meridian channel to her dantian.
Bai Shuying activated the Blooming Lotus art, a faint lotus with three open petals formed beneath her.
Due to Bai Shuying not being in the foundation establishment realm, she could not open or store energy into her dantian. As a hybrid, who is a Tier 1 Spirit Beast, her body automatically absorbs ambient qi at all times. After all, beasts do things by instinct!
Primitive demon beasts just need to eat, sleep, and poop as for working on cultivation themselves, no need, their bodies do it for them.
The ambient qi is refined by using their own flesh and blood. That is why beasts are hunted, their blood is a great tonic, their bones sturdy enough to be weapons, and their flesh is a delicacy.
At a certain point in the Martial Heaven Continent, beasts were hunted fervently due to having bodies filled with treasures. This declined when beasts created demon cores inside their bodies, a concentrated sphere of qi. This led them to obtain human forms, and while in humanoid form, would humans kill them to eat their flesh? Nope, it would weigh on their consciousness because it would make them think they were cannibals.
Eating a four-legged creature was okay, but a two-legged animal with the same appearance as your own race was a hard pass.
Bai Shuying could only watch helplessly as her body and cultivation art moved with flawless precision, completely beyond her control. It was a masterful display, the kind that would ignite envy in any cultivator's heart.
The Yin qi entered the Lotus in her dantian and was converted into Yang qi, and as if it had a will of its own, it traveled out of her dantian through her meridian channel to her palms.
Hua Qingyan's left hand sent Yin qi to Bai Shuying while Bai Shuying's right hand sent Yang qi to Hua Qingyan.
Soon, an astonishing scene unfolded. The lotus and the tai chi symbol started to merge. The lotus expanded while the tai chi symbol rested in the center of the lotus.
Now the tai chi lotus encompassed both Hua Qingyan and Bai Shuying. If other high-level cultivators, especially those who practice the Dao of dual cultivation, saw this, they would be shocked. After all, Hua Qingyan and Bai Shuying reached the fabled resonance.
Just as a true sword cultivator is defined by their mastery of sword intent, a genuine dual cultivator is only proven through the sacred act of resonance, that sublime harmony where two souls align as one.
Currently in the Yin-Yang Sect, which pursues the Dao of dual cultivation, no cultivator has been able to achieve resonance.
How could they? With their promiscuous behavior, reaching resonance is impossible! Even when both parties cultivated the Yin-Yang Fusion Scripture tailored to this Dao path, none could achieve it. That is why what Bai Shuying and Hua Qingyan achieved is miraculous! Using two different cultivation techniques, with a large difference in cultivation. They might have a better chance at climbing to the top of Mount Everest!
All this shows is how compatible the two loners are. One stays in their garden, the other in their wooden house.
What Bai Shuying and Hua Qingyan are experiencing is only the tip of the iceberg since they have not performed a soul union.
Bai Shuying was in a state of meditation, unaware of the situation happening inside and outside. She failed to notice the odd behavior of Hua Qingyan across from her.
When they both reached resonance, Hua Qingyan started to feel strange. A blush appeared on her face, her breathing started to become rapid, she shifted her butt slowly back and forth and wiggled her toes.
Due to a long period of Yang deprivation, Hua Qingyan was experiencing strange symptoms. To balance the Yin in her body, Hua Qingyan greedily absorbed and expelled her energy to Bai Shuying. Soon, the imbalanced tai chi symbol changed; the Yin slowly receded while the Yang slowly expanded.
Neither noticed this phenomenon. Hua Qingyan opened her emerald eyes, which appeared hazy and unfocused. Hua Qingyan's body had the urge to go closer to Bai Shuying, but as a nascent soul realm cultivator, she defied this urge and kept her rationality. She bit her lower lip in frustration. She started to exude a fragrance that even over shadowed Bai Shuying, who had the fragrance trait herself, even if it was subdued with the scent of herbs.
While inside Bai Shuying, she was sweating, looking at what was happening to her demon core.
"Oh, no, is it going to break?!"
Bai Shuying said in distress.
Her demon core wiggled and expanded slowly while showing faint cracks on the surface.
The lake below her blue lotus expanded more and more.
Suddenly, Hua Qingyan ceased the energy exchange and quickly vanished, only leaving a piece of paper on her cushion. Bai Shuying felt the energy stop cycling, but all her attention was on her demon core. The cracks started to spread until the red core gleamed a crimson light.
On the outside, Bai Shuying's fox features could not be suppressed by the anklet.
The light from the demon core became so bright that Bai Shuying had no choice but to close her eyes.
The demon core that was once six millimeters now became twenty-five millimeters, the outer shell cracked, revealing a shiny new surface as if it had shed its old skin. The old skin broke apart, turning into dust that disappeared into Bai Shuying's dantian.