21 Everlasting Joy

Shen Yihan instinctively moved to cover himself, only to realize the next moment that this posture only deepened his embarrassment. He hurriedly pulled down the hem of his robes.

Yun Ran, seeing his disheveled appearance—eyes slightly misted, corners flushed with a faint crimson, and his entire face suffused with a feverish glow—paused for a moment. He pointedly avoided looking below Shen’s waist and asked, "Have you been struck by an aphrodisiac?"

Caught in the act, Shen Yihan knew that denying it would be nothing more than stubborn obstinacy. To be seen in such a state by a close friend left him feeling both ashamed and mortified. He turned his gaze away, unable to look at Yun Ran, and gave a faint, muffled "mm" in his throat. "…Turn around first," he managed to choke out.

As the words left his lips, they felt even more inappropriate. The two had known each other since they were youths; long before they had achieved the state of inedia, Shen Yihan and Yun Ran had eaten, slept, and cultivated together. Was there anything they hadn't done together? Back when Shen Yihan was undergoing Foundation Establishment, Yun Ran had come to the cold springs on Qin'ou Island to guard him. They had seen each other completely unclothed many times, and neither had ever thought anything of it. Yet now, he was asking Yun Ran to turn away.

Shen Yihan felt a tormenting heat rising within him, as if a Samadhi true fire were burning through his limbs and meridians. The surging heat flooded toward his head and lower abdomen, making it impossible to think clearly. His instinct was simply to hide this state from his friend.

However, this time, Yun Ran did not obey as he usually did. He paused, then stepped forward as the spatial rift behind him slowly sealed. Shen Yihan looked up at him, his vision blurring, unable to clearly make out the expression on Yun Ran's face.

"You..." He wanted to ask what Yun Ran was doing, but before the words could escape, he felt his hand gripped by his friend. Yun Ran’s cool fingertips pressed against his pulse point. Shen Yihan’s entire body stiffened, a faint, electric tingle of numbness spreading from the contact.

After checking the pulse for a moment, Yun Ran reached a conclusion. He looked down at him and said, "This is not an aphrodisiac. You have been poisoned with a parasite?"

Shen Yihan did not answer. He pulled his hand back, his voice trembling. "You... don't touch me."

"I will force the parasite out of you."

"..."

Shen Yihan’s consciousness was growing increasingly hazy. He could hear Yun Ran’s voice clearly, and he understood every word, yet when combined into a sentence, their meaning seemed to slip through his grasp. It took him a long moment to struggle to understand, and he forced himself to remain lucid. "You... go out... it’s... it’s useless..."

This time, however, Yun Ran was unyielding. Ignoring his words, he placed one hand on Shen Yihan’s shoulder and gathered a vermilion spiritual energy at his fingertips, pressing them against Shen Yihan’s brow.

Shen Yihan was accustomed to his friend’s spiritual energy, but for some reason, the moment it entered his body, the scorching flow caused him to shudder, intensifying the heat within him. As Yun Ran’s energy reached his Dantian and Purple Mansion to force the parasite out, the creature nimbly darted into Shen Yihan’s meridians.

The human body's eight extraordinary meridians and the complexities of the Great Circulation are vast; the parasite danced and dodged, playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Yun Ran’s energy. For a moment, neither could overcome the other. Caught in the middle, Shen Yihan suffered.

He felt as though he had never been in such agony in his entire life—even the pain of the lightning strikes during his minor tribulation was far more bearable than this prolonged, agonizing torture. Not to mention, he was still being roasted by the fires of lust.

Seeing that Shen’s complexion had turned deathly pale, with only a sickly, flushed red blooming like ink on rice paper, and noting that his usually bright, cunning eyes were now glazed and hollowed by tears, Yun Ran realized his body could take no more and immediately retracted his energy.

"Shen Zhuo, wake up."

In his delirium, Shen Yihan felt someone gently patting his cheek, forcing a pill into his mouth and making him swallow. His body was so hot he felt he might ignite; the touch of that hand—cool and textured with the faint calluses of a swordsman—felt incredibly soothing against his burning skin.

Shen Yihan instinctively leaned into the touch, but a final shred of clarity remained in his mind. In a flash, he remembered who possessed these calloused fingertips. He forced himself to suppress the urge to lean closer and rasped, "I said... you... you go out first..."

"And what will you do?" Yun Ran’s voice was cold and calm. "I have observed this inheritance; it was not left by our sect’s sword cultivators, but rather appears to be the tomb of a demonic cultivator. There are many suspicious aspects to this illusion, and the beings within are not truly alive. If you were to mate with one, you would lose your mind and be trapped here forever."

Hearing Yun Ran use the word "mate" with such flat, matter-of-fact indifference—as if discussing something as mundane as eating or sleeping—was exactly in character for him. Even in such a situation, to him, there was not a trace of lust or ill intent.

Shen Yihan felt a mix of irony and helplessness, which paradoxically cleared his mind a little. He endured the embarrassment and rasped, "Do not worry... I do not intend to do anything with the beings in this illusion... I... I can resolve this myself."

The words were blunt enough that Yun Ran could not possibly misunderstand. Yun Ran looked at him, remained silent for a moment, then stood up and said, "Very well." He turned and walked out the door.

The "Founding Matriarch's" illusion was incredibly realistic, nearly indistinguishable from reality.

***

Yun Ran exited the room and stood motionless before the palace door, his silhouette faintly visible through the translucent lattice window.

Shen Yihan tried to relieve himself as he had before. Yet this time, no matter how hard he tried, nothing happened. A full hour passed with no result, painfully illustrating that the harder he struggled, the more miserable he became.

After this futile exertion, the love-parasite was not only unalleviated but had become even more restless. His inner energy grew unstable, showing signs of backflowing. Shen Yihan knew things were taking a turn for the worse, but he was at his wit's end; besides continuing to forcefully suppress it with spiritual energy, he had no other options.

A trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, though he was entirely unaware of it.

Giving up on self-relief, he sat cross-legged and retrieved a regulation pill from his storage bag. Just as he was about to consume it to force down his energy, the palace door was pushed open from the outside.

Yun Ran’s expression was a coldness Shen Yihan had never seen before. He strode over in two steps, snatched the bottle of pills from Shen Yihan’s hand, and looking down at him, said coldly, "Shen Zhuo, are you trying to die?"

Shen Yihan’s throat bobbed, but he lowered his eyes, refusing to answer.

"You are forcing this parasite down with your spiritual energy. Tell me, how long can you keep that up? Have you considered that once your energy backflows and your Purple Mansion is damaged, your entire cultivation will be destroyed in an instant?"

"Then what else can I do?" Shen Yihan rasped. "I know this inheritance... might contain a way to cure this poison, but I haven't found it yet... Tell me, other than suppression... what else can I possibly do?"

Yun Ran said, "This type of love-poison cannot be cured by one person alone."

Shen Yihan froze. His friend's words made his heart race; he dared not even contemplate if Yun Ran meant what he thought he meant.

"You... what do you... mean by that?"

His chest heaved rapidly. Without realizing it, he shrank back slightly on the bed and whispered, "There are no women here to... to help me break the curse. Besides, even if there were... I have no relationship with them, how could I..."

He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing that there was, in fact, someone right in front of him with whom he had a deep connection.

Yun Ran leaned down, his long fingers cupping Shen Yihan’s face. With nowhere left to hide his gaze, Shen Yihan was forced to meet his eyes.

"I can help you, Shen Zhuo," Yun Ran said.