Dao Of The Salted Fish

86. Dual Cultivation

Lin Yijun was walking through the Sect pathways when he sensed Wen Zhihao’s aura. He turned his head and spotted Disciple Wen and Disciple Sun over the low plants and bushes, walking down a different pathway.

Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu were holding hands. Sun Fuyu was slightly ahead, tugging Wen Zhihao along. Matching pendants hung from their waist.

Lin Yijun’s upper lip curled slightly. Look at them! Even if they haven’t dual cultivated, they’re clearly Dao Companions!

Unfortunately, Zhou Sheng wasn’t there for him to retort to, and he didn’t know when Zhou Sheng would come back.

Lin Yijun’s eyes grew a little colder as he hurried to the Elders’ Receiving Hall for a meeting.

 

 

The Inner Sect Library was grand: solid pillars, sweeping roofs and surrounded by white stone pavement. Inside, ceiling-high shelves covered all the walls, laden with jade slips, old paper and bamboo scrolls, stone tablets...

The librarian was a wrinkled white-haired woman in flowing pale yellow robes who greeted them as they entered. She explained how to use the Request Artifact, a smooth round ball placed on the podium at the centre of the first hall and left them alone.

As directed, Wen Zhihao touched the surface of the ball and asked it: Respectfully requesting easy-to-understand manuals on dual cultivation.

A moment later, a feeling of ‘light’ touched his mind, and Wen Zhihao knew where to find the manuals in the library complex.

Sun Fuyu followed him closely up the stairs to another, smaller room.

“Here they are,” Wen Zhihao said, sweeping his hand to the shelf with some neatly laid out ivory-coloured jade slips. “Is there any that Xiao Yu wants to borrow in particular?”

Sun Fuyu shook his head. “Whichever ones that Wen-ge wants!”

“Alright.” Wen Zhihao lightly touched some of the jade slips and skimmed over their introductions and picked a couple to borrow.

Luckily, the borrowing process was automatic, using the Request Artifact.

They headed back to their quarters to read the manuals. Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu leaned comfortably against pillows and cushions.

Wen Zhihao took one jade slip that he liked the look of best to start with.

It wasn’t that Wen Zhihao didn’t know what dual cultivation was, or what it could be. However, he had read a webnovel where a character thought dual cultivation meant the adult yellow book1 kind, only for it to turn out to be completely suitable for young audiences and had therefore stressed out about nothing and embarrassed himself in the process.

And perhaps even more importantly, Wen Zhihao was wary of crossing that line before the ‘mortal’-style wedding. He had a feeling that Aunty Liu would know.

Immortals...cultivation...internal self...blah blah blah...the discovery of dual cultivation. Wen Zhihao skimmed over the introduction and only slowed down when the words he wanted to see appeared.

The discovery of dual cultivation revolutionised the world as the processes of cultivating the Dao could now be shared with another. By dual cultivating, two originally disparate immortals would become Dao Companions, as witnessed by the Heavens. Dual cultivation, in its most fundamental form, is the union of two energies...

...Woops, Wen Zhihao had forgotten that Dao Companions were Dao companions because they cultivated the Dao together. Was that why Sun Fuyu was still a little unconfident about their ‘Dao Companions’ status?

Wen Zhihao moved on to read the detailed methods section, his mind slowly glazing over as it became more complicated.

Sun Fuyu already knew about dual cultivation: it was cultivating together! It was holding hands while meditating and exchanging qi at the same time. Exchanging qi was very intimate, and the thought of doing that with Wen-ge made Sun Fuyu’s cheeks heat up and his heart beat faster. Wen-ge was stronger than him, and Sun Fuyu had quietly basked in Wen-ge’s qi before, But for Wen-ge to accept Sun Fuyu’s internal qi...

Sun Fuyu sneakily looked at Wen-ge. Wen Zhihao’s eyes were closed as his consciousness explored the jade slip manual. He reached out and pressed in some strands of Wen-ge’s hair that were falling out of the hairstyle.

Wen-ge was concentrating, so Sun Fuyu picked a jade slip to read too. Perhaps it had more information that he didn’t know. However, despite his best efforts, he couldn’t concentrate, not when Wen-ge was right next to him.

Wen Zhihao’s mind automatically retreated from the jade slip as his concentration failed. There was more than half of the manual to go, but he already got the gist. Luckily, it wouldn’t require elopement before marriage and Aunty Liu wouldn’t kill him. Passing a bit of qi back and forth sounded simple enough, though Wen Zhihao would need to read up how to cultivate again.

He turned to Sun Fuyu. Sun Fuyu immediately opened his eyes and gave him a questioning look.

“Xiao Yu…” Wen Zhihao’s voice came out low and a little hoarse from dryness. He cleared his throat. “Do you want to dual cultivate? We are Dao Companions, after all. Otherwise, we can wait until after the wedding.”

Sun Fuyu straightened. His cheeks were red, but his bright gaze was as steady as he could make it. “Yes,” he said seriously. He didn’t know what wedding Wen-ge was talking about (was one of the mortal staff getting married?), but he ignored that in favour of the important point.

“Tonight? We have to pick up the kids first.”

Sun Fuyu’s stomach sank in disappointment, but he understood responsibility. “Okay.”

Wen Zhihao reached out and pinched Sun Fuyu’s cheek. “Don’t be so sad, we have all the time in the world together.”

Sun Fuyu liked the feeling of being coaxed. His response this time was warmer. “Okay.”

 

 

The two of them went to pick up the young ones from school and took them to the cat garden.

“Little baobei2 kitty, kitty, look!” Ruan Lanxi tugged the fur of one of the medium-sized cats.

The cat internally rolled her eyes but followed along as Ruan Lanxi ‘pulled’ her towards Wen Zhihao.

“Look, kitty, Uncle has tiny kitties!”

The cat reached out and pawed at the jade pendant hanging from Wen Zhihao’s waist. “Meow!” she said interestedly. The object had a lot of qi!

Wen Zhihao patted the cat on the head and then patted Ruan Lanxi on the head. He laughed as the cat continued to play with the jade pendant. “You like it? Sun Fuyu gave it to me. The engraving of cats is truly wonderful.”

“Meow!” Cats are superior, of course! the cat agreed.

The cats that were already surrounding Wen Zhihao came even closer to see, and they all agreed that having the likeness of cats on that jade treasure was a truly intelligent choice. One cat rubbed his side against Sun Fuyu to show his appreciation.

Sun Fuyu’s rabbiting heartbeat slowed down as he petted the demonic cat in return.

Although it was now autumn, the weather was still warm enough to take their afternoon naps outside with the cats.

“Not sleeping?” Wen Zhihao asked as he laid down against a large cat, with Xiao Bai tucked in on his other side.

Sun Fuyu shook his head. “Protecting you and the others.”

Wen Zhihao smiled fondly. Once he closed his eyes, his mind turned to dual cultivation. The manual said that dual cultivation was exchanging qi, but what if there was some secret dual cultivation that was like that? Wen Zhihao thought that his thoughts would stop him from falling asleep, but he soon quickly fell asleep.

Sun Fuyu’s nervousness only increased when he realised that Wen-ge had fallen asleep. He hugged a large fluffy demonic beast in his arms. What if Sun Fuyu messed up tonight? What if Wen-ge didn’t like his qi? What if, what if...Maybe it was better to delay dual cultivation until Sun Fuyu became stronger.

Sun Fuyu buried the side of his face into cat fluff, his eyes peering through the cat fur to watch over Wen Zhihao. His heart yearned. Wen-ge… He wanted to hug Wen-ge, but for now, this cat would have to do.

 

 

The sun slowly descended in the sky. The blue sky slowly warmed to reds and oranges before darkening to deep blue.

Sun Fuyu helped some of the children with their homework while Wen Zhihao helped others with their bath. The children seemed less tired today, wanting to stay up and have Sun Fuyu recount to them another story about one of his missions.

Sun Fuyu gave them a strained smile, glancing at Wen Zhihao.

“Aiyo, if you all go to sleep early, then you can wake up early and train just like Little Uncle,” Wen Zhihao coaxed them. “Isn’t it better to experience those missions yourself? If you become good enough, you can accompany your Little Uncle.”

Ruan Lanxi’s eyes became determined. “Okay!” she said seriously. Despite being the one who had called loudest for a story, she was the first to scramble into bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. “Xixi is going to sleep!” she said.

Sun Fuyu’s smile became one of relief as the children laid down one-by-one. He rose and stood quietly at the door as Wen Zhihao patted each child on the head and wished them sweet dreams.

Sun Fuyu’s gaze caught Wen-ge’s.

Badump, badump.

Sun Fuyu retreated to their bedroom first. He sat down at the edge of the bed, frowning slightly as he realised he didn’t know how they were going to do this. Would they sit in bed? Would they sit on the floor, facing each other, on the floor cushions? Would Sun Fuyu sit in Wen-ge’s lap?

Light footsteps. The soft bfff as the door was closed.

“It’s more comfortable to lie down, don’t you think?” Wen Zhihao said as he took off his outer robes. He didn’t know how long it would take to complete a session of dual cultivation: it was easier to lie down than sit up.

Sun Fuyu nodded like a chicken pecking rice. He also quickly stripped off his outer garments and changed them for sleepwear.

Wen Zhihao laid down first, then Sun Fuyu. They faced each other in bed, legs naturally tangling up with each other.

Seeing that Sun Fuyu was dressed, most of Wen Zhihao’s stress went away. So they were on the same page about what dual cultivation meant.

“Um…” Sun Fuyu reached out first.

“En.” Wen Zhihao’s hands met him in the middle.

“Wen-ge can start—”

“No, Xiao Yu can start.” Since Xiao Yu was clearly the more skilled one at cultivation, it was best for him to go first so that Wen Zhihao could then copy.

Sun Fuyu’s eyelashes lowered slightly. Wen-ge wants me to go first, he thought, warm and affectionate.

His breath slowly aligned with Wen-ge, and then as he breathed out, he gently pressed some of his own qi through Wen-ge’s hands.

The qi was like a cool breeze across Wen Zhihao’s palm, filling up the spaces left by his exhaled breath. In the inhale, Sun Fuyu’s qi mixed in with the ambient air and moved through his meridians and into his dantian3. On the exhale, Wen Zhihao passed some of his energy out of his hands and into Sun Fuyu’s.

Sun Fuyu’s eyes began to droop as Wen-ge’s qi suffused into him.

Breathe in, exhale, breathe in, exhale. Strands of qi twisted together. If either of them had their eyes opened, they might have caught flashes of a red string forming.

But by then, their breaths had deepened as Sun Fuyu fell asleep with Wen Zhihao. All the while, their breaths and qi flow remained aligned.

Passing ambient qi and internal qi through one-self and the Dao Companion aids not only one's cultivation but also establishes a deep, spiritual connection…

 

 

In an office in the Inner Sect Library, well lit by glowing flowers, the Inner Sect’s Librarian was checking through the records produced by the Request Artifact when she saw that some basic dual cultivation jade slips had been checked out—ones that hadn’t been checked out before since the same ones existed in the Outer Sect Library.

Her thoughts connected to that of the Request Artifact. Curious, this cultivator did not look up sexual dual cultivation? The content of those manuals is quite basic and should have been learned during the outer sect classes.

The Request Artifact responded with a magical shrug ╮(︶▽︶)╭ He asked for easy-to-understand manuals, not sexual dual cultivation manuals.

Is that so. Well, it wasn’t her place to question the borrowing habits of the disciples.

The Librarian continued to check the records: a larger number of manuals across multiple areas have been borrowed compared to the previous week.

86. Dual Cultivation

Lin Yijun was walking through the Sect pathways when he sensed Wen Zhihao’s aura. He turned his head and spotted Disciple Wen and Disciple Sun over the low plants and bushes, walking down a different pathway.

Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu were holding hands. Sun Fuyu was slightly ahead, tugging Wen Zhihao along. Matching pendants hung from their waist.

Lin Yijun’s upper lip curled slightly. Look at them! Even if they haven’t dual cultivated, they’re clearly Dao Companions!

Unfortunately, Zhou Sheng wasn’t there for him to retort to, and he didn’t know when Zhou Sheng would come back.

Lin Yijun’s eyes grew a little colder as he hurried to the Elders’ Receiving Hall for a meeting.

 

 

The Inner Sect Library was grand: solid pillars, sweeping roofs and surrounded by white stone pavement. Inside, ceiling-high shelves covered all the walls, laden with jade slips, old paper and bamboo scrolls, stone tablets...

The librarian was a wrinkled white-haired woman in flowing pale yellow robes who greeted them as they entered. She explained how to use the Request Artifact, a smooth round ball placed on the podium at the centre of the first hall and left them alone.

As directed, Wen Zhihao touched the surface of the ball and asked it: Respectfully requesting easy-to-understand manuals on dual cultivation.

A moment later, a feeling of ‘light’ touched his mind, and Wen Zhihao knew where to find the manuals in the library complex.

Sun Fuyu followed him closely up the stairs to another, smaller room.

“Here they are,” Wen Zhihao said, sweeping his hand to the shelf with some neatly laid out ivory-coloured jade slips. “Is there any that Xiao Yu wants to borrow in particular?”

Sun Fuyu shook his head. “Whichever ones that Wen-ge wants!”

“Alright.” Wen Zhihao lightly touched some of the jade slips and skimmed over their introductions and picked a couple to borrow.

Luckily, the borrowing process was automatic, using the Request Artifact.

They headed back to their quarters to read the manuals. Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu leaned comfortably against pillows and cushions.

Wen Zhihao took one jade slip that he liked the look of best to start with.

It wasn’t that Wen Zhihao didn’t know what dual cultivation was, or what it could be. However, he had read a webnovel where a character thought dual cultivation meant the adult yellow book1 kind, only for it to turn out to be completely suitable for young audiences and had therefore stressed out about nothing and embarrassed himself in the process.

And perhaps even more importantly, Wen Zhihao was wary of crossing that line before the ‘mortal’-style wedding. He had a feeling that Aunty Liu would know.

Immortals...cultivation...internal self...blah blah blah...the discovery of dual cultivation. Wen Zhihao skimmed over the introduction and only slowed down when the words he wanted to see appeared.

The discovery of dual cultivation revolutionised the world as the processes of cultivating the Dao could now be shared with another. By dual cultivating, two originally disparate immortals would become Dao Companions, as witnessed by the Heavens. Dual cultivation, in its most fundamental form, is the union of two energies...

...Woops, Wen Zhihao had forgotten that Dao Companions were Dao companions because they cultivated the Dao together. Was that why Sun Fuyu was still a little unconfident about their ‘Dao Companions’ status?

Wen Zhihao moved on to read the detailed methods section, his mind slowly glazing over as it became more complicated.

Sun Fuyu already knew about dual cultivation: it was cultivating together! It was holding hands while meditating and exchanging qi at the same time. Exchanging qi was very intimate, and the thought of doing that with Wen-ge made Sun Fuyu’s cheeks heat up and his heart beat faster. Wen-ge was stronger than him, and Sun Fuyu had quietly basked in Wen-ge’s qi before, But for Wen-ge to accept Sun Fuyu’s internal qi...

Sun Fuyu sneakily looked at Wen-ge. Wen Zhihao’s eyes were closed as his consciousness explored the jade slip manual. He reached out and pressed in some strands of Wen-ge’s hair that were falling out of the hairstyle.

Wen-ge was concentrating, so Sun Fuyu picked a jade slip to read too. Perhaps it had more information that he didn’t know. However, despite his best efforts, he couldn’t concentrate, not when Wen-ge was right next to him.

Wen Zhihao’s mind automatically retreated from the jade slip as his concentration failed. There was more than half of the manual to go, but he already got the gist. Luckily, it wouldn’t require elopement before marriage and Aunty Liu wouldn’t kill him. Passing a bit of qi back and forth sounded simple enough, though Wen Zhihao would need to read up how to cultivate again.

He turned to Sun Fuyu. Sun Fuyu immediately opened his eyes and gave him a questioning look.

“Xiao Yu…” Wen Zhihao’s voice came out low and a little hoarse from dryness. He cleared his throat. “Do you want to dual cultivate? We are Dao Companions, after all. Otherwise, we can wait until after the wedding.”

Sun Fuyu straightened. His cheeks were red, but his bright gaze was as steady as he could make it. “Yes,” he said seriously. He didn’t know what wedding Wen-ge was talking about (was one of the mortal staff getting married?), but he ignored that in favour of the important point.

“Tonight? We have to pick up the kids first.”

Sun Fuyu’s stomach sank in disappointment, but he understood responsibility. “Okay.”

Wen Zhihao reached out and pinched Sun Fuyu’s cheek. “Don’t be so sad, we have all the time in the world together.”

Sun Fuyu liked the feeling of being coaxed. His response this time was warmer. “Okay.”

 

 

The two of them went to pick up the young ones from school and took them to the cat garden.

“Little baobei2 kitty, kitty, look!” Ruan Lanxi tugged the fur of one of the medium-sized cats.

The cat internally rolled her eyes but followed along as Ruan Lanxi ‘pulled’ her towards Wen Zhihao.

“Look, kitty, Uncle has tiny kitties!”

The cat reached out and pawed at the jade pendant hanging from Wen Zhihao’s waist. “Meow!” she said interestedly. The object had a lot of qi!

Wen Zhihao patted the cat on the head and then patted Ruan Lanxi on the head. He laughed as the cat continued to play with the jade pendant. “You like it? Sun Fuyu gave it to me. The engraving of cats is truly wonderful.”

“Meow!” Cats are superior, of course! the cat agreed.

The cats that were already surrounding Wen Zhihao came even closer to see, and they all agreed that having the likeness of cats on that jade treasure was a truly intelligent choice. One cat rubbed his side against Sun Fuyu to show his appreciation.

Sun Fuyu’s rabbiting heartbeat slowed down as he petted the demonic cat in return.

Although it was now autumn, the weather was still warm enough to take their afternoon naps outside with the cats.

“Not sleeping?” Wen Zhihao asked as he laid down against a large cat, with Xiao Bai tucked in on his other side.

Sun Fuyu shook his head. “Protecting you and the others.”

Wen Zhihao smiled fondly. Once he closed his eyes, his mind turned to dual cultivation. The manual said that dual cultivation was exchanging qi, but what if there was some secret dual cultivation that was like that? Wen Zhihao thought that his thoughts would stop him from falling asleep, but he soon quickly fell asleep.

Sun Fuyu’s nervousness only increased when he realised that Wen-ge had fallen asleep. He hugged a large fluffy demonic beast in his arms. What if Sun Fuyu messed up tonight? What if Wen-ge didn’t like his qi? What if, what if...Maybe it was better to delay dual cultivation until Sun Fuyu became stronger.

Sun Fuyu buried the side of his face into cat fluff, his eyes peering through the cat fur to watch over Wen Zhihao. His heart yearned. Wen-ge… He wanted to hug Wen-ge, but for now, this cat would have to do.

 

 

The sun slowly descended in the sky. The blue sky slowly warmed to reds and oranges before darkening to deep blue.

Sun Fuyu helped some of the children with their homework while Wen Zhihao helped others with their bath. The children seemed less tired today, wanting to stay up and have Sun Fuyu recount to them another story about one of his missions.

Sun Fuyu gave them a strained smile, glancing at Wen Zhihao.

“Aiyo, if you all go to sleep early, then you can wake up early and train just like Little Uncle,” Wen Zhihao coaxed them. “Isn’t it better to experience those missions yourself? If you become good enough, you can accompany your Little Uncle.”

Ruan Lanxi’s eyes became determined. “Okay!” she said seriously. Despite being the one who had called loudest for a story, she was the first to scramble into bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. “Xixi is going to sleep!” she said.

Sun Fuyu’s smile became one of relief as the children laid down one-by-one. He rose and stood quietly at the door as Wen Zhihao patted each child on the head and wished them sweet dreams.

Sun Fuyu’s gaze caught Wen-ge’s.

Badump, badump.

Sun Fuyu retreated to their bedroom first. He sat down at the edge of the bed, frowning slightly as he realised he didn’t know how they were going to do this. Would they sit in bed? Would they sit on the floor, facing each other, on the floor cushions? Would Sun Fuyu sit in Wen-ge’s lap?

Light footsteps. The soft bfff as the door was closed.

“It’s more comfortable to lie down, don’t you think?” Wen Zhihao said as he took off his outer robes. He didn’t know how long it would take to complete a session of dual cultivation: it was easier to lie down than sit up.

Sun Fuyu nodded like a chicken pecking rice. He also quickly stripped off his outer garments and changed them for sleepwear.

Wen Zhihao laid down first, then Sun Fuyu. They faced each other in bed, legs naturally tangling up with each other.

Seeing that Sun Fuyu was dressed, most of Wen Zhihao’s stress went away. So they were on the same page about what dual cultivation meant.

“Um…” Sun Fuyu reached out first.

“En.” Wen Zhihao’s hands met him in the middle.

“Wen-ge can start—”

“No, Xiao Yu can start.” Since Xiao Yu was clearly the more skilled one at cultivation, it was best for him to go first so that Wen Zhihao could then copy.

Sun Fuyu’s eyelashes lowered slightly. Wen-ge wants me to go first, he thought, warm and affectionate.

His breath slowly aligned with Wen-ge, and then as he breathed out, he gently pressed some of his own qi through Wen-ge’s hands.

The qi was like a cool breeze across Wen Zhihao’s palm, filling up the spaces left by his exhaled breath. In the inhale, Sun Fuyu’s qi mixed in with the ambient air and moved through his meridians and into his dantian3. On the exhale, Wen Zhihao passed some of his energy out of his hands and into Sun Fuyu’s.

Sun Fuyu’s eyes began to droop as Wen-ge’s qi suffused into him.

Breathe in, exhale, breathe in, exhale. Strands of qi twisted together. If either of them had their eyes opened, they might have caught flashes of a red string forming.

But by then, their breaths had deepened as Sun Fuyu fell asleep with Wen Zhihao. All the while, their breaths and qi flow remained aligned.

Passing ambient qi and internal qi through one-self and the Dao Companion aids not only one's cultivation but also establishes a deep, spiritual connection…

 

 

In an office in the Inner Sect Library, well lit by glowing flowers, the Inner Sect’s Librarian was checking through the records produced by the Request Artifact when she saw that some basic dual cultivation jade slips had been checked out—ones that hadn’t been checked out before since the same ones existed in the Outer Sect Library.

Her thoughts connected to that of the Request Artifact. Curious, this cultivator did not look up sexual dual cultivation? The content of those manuals is quite basic and should have been learned during the outer sect classes.

The Request Artifact responded with a magical shrug ╮(︶▽︶)╭ He asked for easy-to-understand manuals, not sexual dual cultivation manuals.

Is that so. Well, it wasn’t her place to question the borrowing habits of the disciples.

The Librarian continued to check the records: a larger number of manuals across multiple areas have been borrowed compared to the previous week.