Chapter 97 | The Fifth Woman

The courtyard beyond the shutters lay black when Xu woke.

The room he had used for the night was still. No footsteps crossed the corridor. No lamp burned nearby. Only the faint cold before dawn pressed against the walls.

By morning, he was seated cross-legged with sunlight warming the floorboards beneath his knees. He drew in the ordinary qi hanging thinly through Azure City and ran it through the Basic Breathing Method.

The cycle moved as it always had with Base Amplification at x2. Faster than it should have for an ordinary cultivator, familiar enough that he no longer had to chase each turn of qi with conscious effort.

He finished the cycle and stopped.

QC9 hadn’t moved.

That was fine.

He hadn’t cultivated to break through.

He wanted the feel of the pace in his body.

By late night, Golden Crescent had emptied.

The front shutters had been secured for the night. Lamps had gone dark in succession while the last clerk finished his work, bowed to Su, and left through the side entrance. Somewhere outside, a night guard exchanged a low word with his partner before their footsteps separated along the branch walls.

Xu waited near the front hall until Su came down from the upper corridor. She had changed nothing for him. The same late-work robe covered her body, neat at the collar and tied properly at the waist. She had pinned her honey-brown hair back for work, with no loose strand allowed near the accounts. The keys at her side gave a small click as she reached the bottom stair.

Her gold eyes moved over him and stayed there for a heartbeat.

Then Su lifted her chin toward the stairs. "Come on. Before I remember another thing that needs doing."

Xu followed her up. "That would be tragic."

"For you, maybe." She glanced back over her shoulder. "I’ve seen how you look when someone puts a ledger near you."

Xu glanced toward the workroom ahead. "Usually because something heavy is about to become my problem."

A quiet laugh escaped her. "Mm. There. Much better. I was worried last night had made you solemn."

They passed the workroom without slowing. That mattered more than another argument could have.

She took him farther along the upper corridor to a wooden door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. Xu followed. A plain bed stood against the north wall. A narrow chest and washstand occupied the west side, and a shuttered window faced the merchant lane to the east. An oil lamp burned low beside the basin.

Su shut the door. The bolt slid home with a wooden click, and her fingers stayed on it for a moment.

Xu remained near the center of the room, sword at his left hip. No table separated them here. No workbox. No clerks waiting for a decision downstairs.

Su turned. "Well?"

Xu held her gaze. "You asked me to come."

"I did." She walked past him toward the shuttered window, then stopped before reaching it. "And you came exactly when I said. That’s almost suspiciously obedient."

Xu watched the line of her back beneath the robe. "Enjoy it while it lasts."

Su looked at him again. Her lips twitched faintly, but her usual answer took longer to arrive.

Her gaze dipped to his sword, climbed back to his face, then held.

"Last night," she said, "you made everything sound very clean."

"It wasn’t complicated."

"Of course you’d say that." She gave a soft, breathy laugh. "You don’t have a merchant’s disease. We see 10 ways a promise can rot before breakfast."

"You still asked me here."

The amusement left her eyes. Silence stretched between them. Su folded her arms, then unfolded them a breath later. "You really are going to make me do this without giving me a price to argue over, aren’t you?"

Xu walked closer and stopped just outside touching distance, close enough that the room felt smaller.

Su’s breathing caught so lightly another man might have missed it. Her eyes stayed on his. At this distance, Sovereign Allure carried in the warmth of his presence, and the older thread of Progenitor’s Mark stirred beneath the looks and touches already shared between them.

"If you need a bargain, you chose the wrong man."

"Hah." Her mouth curved without much humor. "That line would put merchants out of work."

Xu’s mouth twitched. "Good thing I’m not buying your branch."

Su’s brows rose. "You’d overpay."

"For the branch? Probably." Xu let the pause sit.

Su held his gaze. A clipped breath escaped her, almost a laugh. "You really make this difficult." The irritation in her voice never reached her eyes.

She stepped forward, and the keys at her waist clicked again.

"I spent all day finding reasons this was a bad investment," she said.

Xu’s eyes dropped briefly to her mouth. "And?"

"Most of them were excellent." Su tried for the old dry smile and barely found it.

"You’re dodging."

"I know." Her voice thinned on the last word. She swallowed, looked aside, then back. "Damn it. I know."

Xu had never seen Su Meilin look so irritated with her own caution.

Then she reached for him.

Her hand skipped the polite places she might have used on a guest. She fisted the robe over his chest, pulled him down, and kissed him.

Xu let her choose that much.

Then his hand caught her waist.

Su gave a startled "Mmh!" against his mouth as he pulled her flush to him.

He kissed her harder than he had across the worktable. No furniture forced the angle now. His other hand slid into her hair at the nape, holding her where he wanted while he opened her mouth with his.

Her breath broke.

"Nnh..."

Su’s fingers tightened in his robe. She rose onto the balls of her feet, meeting the kiss instead of yielding ground.

Xu turned her with him and walked her backward through the open floor.

She bumped lightly against the bedpost.

"Hah... wait, that’s..."

He stopped and met her eyes.

Su’s cheeks had warmed. Her lips were wet. She drew a breath, then another, and her gold eyes hardened with embarrassment at being caught breathless. "Don’t look so pleased with yourself."

"You pulled me in."

"A terrible lapse in judgment."

Xu kissed her again before she could rebuild the wall.

Her next sound dissolved into his mouth.

"Mmmh..."

His palm slid down from her waist and settled over her hip. Su shivered when his fingers dug into the soft weight there. Under the robe, her body was exactly as generous as the lines of cloth had promised: narrow waist, wide hips, thick thighs, a mature softness that yielded under his grip without losing strength.

He broke the kiss and moved to her throat.

Su’s head tipped back against the post.

"Ah... Xu..."

His teeth grazed below her ear.

"Ngh...!"

The measured merchant cadence was already cracking.

Xu’s hand found the tie of her robe. He loosened it slowly, watching her face as the fabric slackened. Su glanced down at his fingers. "You’re taking your time now?"

"You sound impatient."

"I sound observant."

"No."

Her lips parted.

Xu pulled the robe open.

Su’s answer vanished.

He kissed her again, deep and unhurried, while his hands slid the outer layer from her shoulders. She helped him shrug it down her arms. The keys and seal remained caught with the folded cloth. Su gathered them without looking away from him and set the bundle on the west chest.

Xu unfastened his sword belt next. The sheathed weapon went beside it, separate from her things.

When he turned back, Su was watching him.

Her gaze ran over his chest after he loosened his own robe.

This time she didn’t pretend it was accidental.

"Come here," Xu said.

Su’s breath left her in a small rush.

She obeyed.

He stripped away the remaining distance between their clothes piece by piece, never hurrying enough to let her hide inside the act of undressing. Each time cloth fell away, he touched what it uncovered.

His mouth found the upper swell of a breast while his hand filled with the other.

Su gasped.

"Ah...!"

Her breasts were heavy and soft in his palms, far fuller than the robe had shown. Xu bent lower, closed his mouth around a nipple, and sucked.

"Nnh... Tianlong..."

The name came rough and low.

He sucked harder.

"Mmh... ah..."

His tongue traced around the hardened nipple. His fingers pinched the other lightly, then rolled it between thumb and forefinger.

Su’s knees shifted closer together.

Xu felt it.

He lifted his head. "Already?"

Her eyes narrowed, but her voice betrayed her. "You... huff... you could be less smug."

"Could be."

"Hah. Very modest."

His hand settled along her jaw, and he kissed her until her reply dissolved into a helpless hum.

"Mmm..."

Then he lifted her.

Su made a sharp sound, hands flying to his shoulders. "Ah!"

Xu carried her the short distance to the north bed and laid her diagonally across it. Her hair loosened against the bedding. The lamp painted warm gold along her pale skin and the deep curves of her body.

He stood over her for a moment.

Su shifted under his gaze, a knee drawing up.

"If you’re going to stare," she murmured, "at least make it worth the embarrassment."

Xu climbed onto the bed. "Gladly."

He kissed her mouth, then her jaw, throat, collarbone. His palms worked over her breasts until her breathing turned uneven again. When he lowered his mouth to them, he didn’t rush past the softness to chase something else.

He sucked a nipple until it stood hard against his tongue, moved to the other, then returned with slow licks that made Su’s fingers curl into the bedding.

"Mmh..."

Slurp.

"Ah... that’s..."

His tongue dragged around the darkened peak.

"Nngh..."

Slurp.

Su arched, pushing more of herself toward his mouth.

Xu’s hand moved down her belly.

Her thighs opened before he reached them.

A beat later, she pressed her lips together and looked up at him.

"Don’t say anything."

Xu looked up from her breast.

"I didn’t."

"Your face did."

He smiled against her skin.

Su exhaled something between a laugh and a groan. "Hh... gods."

His fingers slid between her thighs.

Wetness coated them immediately.

Su jerked.

"Ah!"

Xu drew his hand back just enough to see the shine across his fingertips, then pressed into her again.

Her pussy was already soaked, the folds soft and flushed pink against the creamy white of her inner thighs.

"Your pussy’s gorgeous," Xu said. "That soft pink is beautiful against your skin. You’re wet enough to shine."

Su’s face burned hot enough to show even in the low lamp. "You can’t just... say that while looking at me."

"I just did."

"Ngh... shameless."

His thumb found her clit.

Su’s complaint snapped apart.

"A-ah!"

He worked her slowly at first. 2 fingers spread the slick heat while his thumb rubbed small circles over the swollen nub. Her hips jerked after his touch, then tried to hold still.

A finger slipped inside her.

Her walls closed tight around it.

"Mmh...!"

Another finger followed when her body gave enough.

"Hah... Tianlong..."

He curled them.

Su’s thighs tightened around his wrist.

"Ah, fuck... there..."

Her hand clamped around his forearm, fingers digging in while her hips lifted into his touch.

Xu pressed his mouth to her inner thigh.

Then lower.

Su went still for a breath.

"You..."

His tongue touched her.

"Ahhh...!"

Xu licked through the wet slit from below to above.

Slurp.

Su’s heels dug into the mattress.

"Nnh... again..."

He did.

Slowly.

Slurp... slurp.

Her hips lifted.

"Mmh... yes..."

Xu held her thighs apart and buried his mouth against her. Her taste spread across his tongue, warm and slick. He sucked her clit between his lips, released it, then flattened his tongue and licked again while his fingers kept a deep, steady rhythm inside her.

Slurp.

"Ah... ah...!"

Her body began to lose the careful restraint she had carried downstairs.

"Ngh... don’t stop..."

Xu didn’t.

His fingers curled harder at the same moment his lips closed around her clit.

Su’s back lifted off the bed.

"Tianlong... mmh... I..."

The words failed.

Her thighs clamped around his shoulders.

"Ah! Ah... ngh...!"

Xu drove his fingers into the same place again.

Her pussy spasmed around them.

"A-ahhh...!"

A wet pulse spilled over his hand as the first orgasm hit her before he’d entered her at all.

Su trembled through it, breath coming in broken pieces.

"Mmh... hah... hah..."

He stayed between her thighs, licking through the last contractions until they softened.

When Xu raised his head, Su had thrown her forearm over her eyes.

"That," she said hoarsely, "was unfair."

"You invited me."

She lowered her arm enough to glare at him. "I’m beginning to regret how much freedom that sentence gives you."

"Too late."

A tired laugh escaped her. "Mm... insufferably confident."

Xu rose onto his knees.

Su’s eyes dropped.

Her lips parted. Nothing came out.

His Progenitor’s Endowment had long since settled into its established form. When he rose, Su’s stare fixed on the full length in front of her and stayed there.

"That’s..."

She stopped.

Xu waited.

Su wet her lips. "No. I’m keeping that reaction to myself."

"You already are."

"Hah... that’s unfair."

Her hand reached out.

She wrapped her fingers around him.

The grip didn’t close completely.

Su looked at her hand, then at him, and the calculation on her face was painfully literal.

"You’re serious."

"About what?"

"You know exactly what."

Xu caught a fistful of her loosened hair and guided her closer.

Her eyes flicked up to his. Then she bent and opened her mouth around the head.

"Mmh..."

Heat closed around him.

Xu’s jaw tightened.

She took more with a slow downward movement, her hand working the base where her mouth couldn’t reach.

Slurp.

"Good," Xu said.

Su took him deeper.

"Mmf..."

Xu’s grip in her hair firmed.

She tried another inch.

Ghk!

Her throat rejected it for a heartbeat. She pulled back, coughed through her nose, and shot him a glare through wet lashes. "Hh... don’t you dare laugh."

"I wasn’t."

Her eyes narrowed. Before he could add anything, her mouth closed around him again.

Slurp... gulk.

"Nngh..."

She pulled back just far enough to swallow the saliva gathered in her mouth.

Gulp.

Xu exhaled through his nose. Pleasure climbed hard through his lower belly, sharp enough that he had to control his hips.

Her eyes sharpened at the change in his breathing. A small, wicked satisfaction returned to her expression around his cock.

Then Xu’s hand at her hair tightened.

He set the pace.

Her mouth followed.

Slurp. Slurp.

"Mmf... ngh..."

He pushed deeper until the head pressed into the back of her mouth.

Ggk!

Her fingers dug into his thigh.

He kept her there for a brief beat, then loosened his hold and let her pull back.

Su sucked in air.

"Hah... gods..."

A thin thread of saliva stretched from her lips to him before breaking.

Xu brushed his thumb along her heated cheek.

"Enough."

Her brows drew together. "I can keep going."

"You can."

He wanted his first release somewhere else.

Xu drew her up by the waist and kissed her. Her breath roughened at the mingled taste, but she didn’t turn away.

"Mmh..."

He pulled her off the bed.

Su’s legs were steady when they touched the floor, though the first orgasm had left a faint tremor in them.

Xu stood immediately south of the bed and brought her against him.

Her back brushed the southeast post.

Su looked from his face to the length between them. The last of her dry humor came out thin. "You know, there are easier ways to ruin a woman’s sleep."

Xu’s hands settled under her thighs. "Wrap your legs around me."

The last trace of humor left her face. Her pupils widened, and then she obeyed.

Xu caught her beneath the thighs and lifted. Su locked her legs around his hips, arms sliding over his shoulders. Her breasts flattened against his chest, soft and hot.

"Nnh..."

His cock pressed between her slick folds. Su sucked in a breath.

"Tianlong."

Xu held still.

Her eyes dropped between them, then rose again. The words came out quieter than her bargaining voice ever did. "This is my first time."

Xu’s grip shifted under her thighs, steadier. "Then I’ll go slow."

Su breathed out through her nose. "At the start."

He pushed the head in.

Her body locked around the intrusion.

"A-ah...!"

Pain flashed across her face. Her legs tightened around his hips, and Xu stopped at the entrance instead of forcing more depth.

The heat around him was fierce. Her pussy gripped the first inch hard, wet enough to take him but tense with the unfamiliar stretch.

Su’s forehead dropped to his shoulder. "Hah... that’s... bigger inside than it looked. That’s ridiculous."

Xu rubbed a hand along the back of her thigh, keeping her supported.

She breathed through the sting, then lifted her head. "Keep going. Slowly."

He moved another little distance into her.

"Mmh... ah..."

Her nails pressed into his shoulder.

He waited until the tension eased around him, then advanced again.

"Nnh... Tianlong..."

Her voice had lost almost all of its polish.

Xu kissed her.

The next push carried him deeper.

Su moaned into his mouth.

"Mmmh...!"

Her back met the bedpost lightly as he adjusted the angle, still holding most of her weight in his hands.

He drew out a little, then sank back in.

Wet heat clung to every inch.

Squelch.

Su’s eyes squeezed shut.

"Ah...!"

Again.

Squelch.

"Ngh... that’s... ah..."

Her pussy gradually stopped fighting his size and began to take him. The tightness changed from resistance to a deliberate squeeze every time he pulled back.

Xu felt it and smiled against her mouth.

"There. That’s better."

Su opened her eyes, breathless. "Don’t sound so satisfied."

He drove deeper.

"A-ahhh!"

Her legs cinched around his hips.

"You were saying?"

"Nothing. Absolutely... ngh... nothing."

A low laugh left Xu before his mouth covered hers again.

Then he began to move for real.

His hips struck up into her while his hands held her open beneath the thighs.

Clap.

Su gasped.

Clap. Squelch.

"Ah... mmh...!"

The bedpost gave her shoulders something solid to brace against, but Xu carried her weight and controlled every thrust.

Clap. Clap.

Her breasts bounced against his chest. Her ass shifted in his hands with each impact.

"Nnh... harder..."

Xu obliged.

Clap!

"Ah!"

His next thrust reached the deepest place that standing angle would give him.

Su’s mouth fell open.

"Tianlong... there... there...!"

Xu pulled out halfway and slammed back to the same depth.

Squelch!

Her pussy clenched around him so hard the pressure ran like a fist down his shaft.

"Fuck," Xu breathed. "You squeeze beautifully."

Su’s face flushed darker. "Don’t... ngh... praise me while you’re doing that..."

"Why?"

Her grip on his shoulder tightened. "Because I can’t think."

He thrust again.

"A-ah!"

"That’s the point."

The rhythm built.

Clap. Squelch. Clap.

"Mmh... ah... Tianlong..."

Xu could feel how wet she’d become. Each withdrawal dragged a sheen along him; each return sank easier, deeper, until his cock reached her innermost limit, the blunt tip pressing so womb-deep it seemed to kiss the mouth of her womb.

Su jerked in his arms.

"Ahhh...!"

Her nails dug into the back of his shoulder.

Xu struck that same womb-deep point again.

"Ngh... fuck...!"

A sudden wet squirt spilled between them and ran down his thighs.

Su shook hard.

"Tianlong... ngh...!"

Her pussy crushed around him in rapid pulses.

The 2nd orgasm tore through her while he kept her pinned between his body and the post, legs locked around his waist.

"Mmh... ahh... ah...!"

Xu’s own control snapped a heartbeat later.

He buried himself fully inside her.

"Su."

"Nnh...!"

Spurt. Spurt.

His first release flooded her pussy in heavy, finite pulses, semen spreading through the heat he’d just driven against her womb-deep limit. Su trembled against him, still contracting, her mouth pressed to the side of his neck as she tried to breathe.

For a suspended instant, neither of them moved.

Then cold blue light appeared inside Xu’s awareness.

[Ding!]

[Genesis Harem 5 Activated]

[Name: Su Meilin]

[Trait: Gilded Fortune Essence]

[Base Amplification: x5]

[Skill Book Acquired: Golden Touch (Low)]

[Bonus: 20 Fortune Essence]

[Asset Upgrade Acquired: Auction House Deed Upgrade]

The 5th bond locked into place, stronger and more definite than the older pull of Progenitor’s Mark. It filled the last natural place available to him.

Lin’s existing personal +1 rose with the new base to x6. Qing’er, Feng, Ruoxue, and Su settled at x5. The deed reward dropped into the first open System Inventory slot.

A hard pulse ran through the new bond as the Genesis Activation Burst resolved.

Then another chime followed.

[Ding!]

[New Active Genesis Harem Threshold Achieved]

[New Effects Unlocked]

[Progenitor’s Decree - The host gains conscious authority over whether his seed can fertilize.]

[Genesis Vitality Transfusion - Sustained intimacy can restore ordinary physical fatigue/minor bodily damage and enable Genesis conversion of the established intimate physical media into cultivation-compatible qi.]

Xu understood the functions as they arrived.

He invoked neither.

Su shifted in his arms.

"Tianlong...?"

Xu looked at her.

Her hair had mostly fallen loose. Her face was flushed, lips swollen from kissing, eyes still hazy from the orgasm she’d barely finished. Su watched his face, still flushed and breathing hard.

He kissed her.

Su melted into it with a low sound.

"Mmh..."

He carried her back onto the bed without breaking contact until the movement forced him to. His semen mixed with her wetness and ran between them as he lowered her onto the center of the mattress.

Her legs opened again despite their tremor.

Xu knelt between them.

Su looked down at him, then at herself. A slow breath left her. "You look far too awake."

"Wide awake."

"Naturally." She laughed weakly. "I chose a monster."

Xu gripped her thighs and spread them wider.

Her laugh turned into a gasp.

"Ah..."

"You chose me."

Su’s eyes held his.

Then she reached up, hooked a hand behind his neck, and pulled him down for another kiss.

"Then get closer," she whispered against his mouth.

Xu entered her again.

"Nnh...!"

Her body was looser than before but still tight enough to drag hard around him. The first release made the slide obscene and easy.

Squelch.

Su shuddered.

"Mmh... gods..."

Xu planted a hand beside her head and drove into her from above.

Clap.

"Ah!"

Again.

Clap. Squelch.

"Ngh... Tianlong..."

Her breasts rolled with each thrust, large and soft, nipples still dark from his mouth. Xu filled his palm with the heavy curve of her breast while he moved.

Su arched into the touch.

"Mmh..."

His hand rose and came down across the heavy curve of her breast.

Slap!

Su cried out.

"Ahhh!"

The breast bounced under his palm. Her pussy clenched around him in answer.

Xu didn’t strike again. He squeezed instead, thumb rubbing over the hard nipple while his hips maintained the rhythm.

Clap. Clap. Squelch.

"Nnh... ah... ah..."

"Look at me."

Su opened her eyes. Her brows drew together in a failing attempt at sternness. "You give orders in bed too, I see."

Xu thrust deep enough to steal the rest.

"A-ah...!"

"Keep looking."

She did.

The next strokes came slower and deeper. Xu watched every change in her face as the head of his cock drove into the womb-deep end of her pussy again.

"Mmh... Tianlong... deep..."

"I can feel it."

He pressed in until her thighs shook around his hips, the blunt head kissing that deepest point.

Su’s breath stopped.

"Ah...!"

He withdrew, then drove back to the same place.

Squelch!

A small squirt wet his lower belly.

Su gasped. The spasm rolled through her without carrying her over and left her panting.

"Hah... that’s cruel."

"You’re still pulling me back in."

Her pussy answered the accusation with another strong contraction.

Su shut her eyes in mortification. "Don’t... say it."

Xu leaned to her ear. "You’re gripping my cock hard enough to answer for you."

"Ngh..."

He kissed her before she found another defense.

The pace sharpened again.

Clap. Squelch. Clap.

"Mmh... ah..."

Su’s hands moved over his back, clinging, scratching lightly when the pressure climbed. Her legs stayed around his waist until the trembling became too much and her left leg slipped lower.

Xu caught it behind the knee, keeping her open.

He could feel his 2nd release building. Su’s eyes opened as his breathing changed.

"Again...?"

"Yes."

"Hah... you’re impossible."

Xu buried himself deep.

"Nnh...!"

Sprutt. Spurt.

His 2nd ejaculation pulsed inside her, thick and hot, adding to the semen already filling her pussy and coating her deepest wombward heat. He stayed still through the last finite pulse, jaw tight with pleasure.

Su lay beneath him with her chest heaving and her gaze fixed on his face.

"You really... don’t stop."

Xu pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Not from that."

The Tireless Genesis Engine kept his muscles fresh. Unbroken Sovereignty left no dead interval after release. A warm replenishing pulse from Endless Genesis Essence restored what his body had spent, finite and physical, without touching his qi.

Su’s limbs had gone heavy, yet she still reached for him when he pulled back. Xu eased off and kissed her slowly until her breathing settled from ragged to merely unsteady.

"Mmh..."

His mouth moved to her breast again, tongue dragging over the nipple he’d reddened earlier.

"Ah... gentle..."

Xu eased the pressure.

Su released a grateful breath.

"Mm... better."

Then his hand slid down her side and over the enormous curve of her ass.

Her eyes opened suspiciously. "What are you thinking?"

"Turn over."

Su stared at him.

A tiny smile pulled at her swollen lips. "There he is."

"Su."

"I’m moving."

She rolled onto her stomach with more care than elegance. Her body had gone soft with fatigue, and the motion drew a low groan from her.

"Nnh... gods..."

Xu helped position her across the mattress, chest and forearms down, knees beneath her. Her hips rose under his hands.

The view caught him for a heartbeat.

Her ass was broad, round, and soft, pale skin warmed gold by the lamp. Her pussy showed between her spread thighs, swollen and glossy, its pink folds wet with her own arousal and streaked white with his semen.

Xu spread her slightly with a hand.

Su buried part of her face in her forearm.

"You’re absolutely staring."

"Yes."

"No shame at all."

"None."

His palm landed against her right ass cheek.

Slap!

Su jolted.

"Ah!"

The soft flesh rippled under the impact.

Xu kneaded the spot afterward, fingers sinking deep.

"Ngh... you could warn me."

"You’d tense."

"I tensed anyway."

"Not soon enough."

She sucked a breath through her teeth. The look she gave him could have blistered a clerk. Then it broke into a laugh. "Hh... you’re enjoying this."

Xu rubbed the thick head along her soaked folds.

Su’s laugh disappeared.

"Mmh..."

He entered from behind.

Squelch.

"A-ah...!"

The angle went deep immediately.

Su’s forearms tightened against the bedding.

Xu gripped her hips and drew her back onto him.

Clap.

"Ngh!"

He pulled out and thrust again.

Clap. Squelch.

"Ah... ah...!"

Her ass shook with every impact. Her breasts moved heavily against the mattress beneath her, compressed and dragged by the motion.

Xu settled into a hard, controlled rhythm.

Clap. Clap. Squelch.

"Mmh... Tianlong..."

Su’s voice was muffled against her arm.

"Head up."

She obeyed, hair falling across her cheek.

"Hah... demanding..."

"You can still speak."

"Barely."

Xu drove deeper.

"Ahhh...!"

Her arms nearly gave.

He tightened his hold and kept her hips raised.

The swollen heat around his cock clenched again and again, each squeeze stronger as her body approached its limit.

"Nnh... Tianlong... I’m close... I can’t hold it..."

"Then stop holding back."

Xu slowed just enough to make each stroke count.

He drew back almost to the tip, then drove all the way back in.

Squelch.

Su’s entire body shivered.

"Ah... fuck..."

Another deep stroke.

"Mmh...!"

At that raised angle, the blunt head met the deepest place she could take.

Su cried out.

"A-ahhh!"

A hard squirt splashed onto the bedding beneath her.

Xu repeated the motion, slower, heavier.

"Ngh... Tianlong, I... I..."

Her walls seized him in a crushing pulse.

The 3rd orgasm hit with less sharpness and more force, rolling through her whole body until her knees threatened to slide apart.

"Ahhh... mmh... ah...!"

Xu held her hips up while she shook.

He kept moving through the contractions.

Clap. Squelch. Clap.

"Nnh... so deep..."

"Again."

"Hah... you..."

His next thrust erased the sentence.

"Ah!"

Xu’s pleasure had been building beneath the control for too long. Her pulsing grip finally tore it loose.

He drove fully inside her and held her there.

"Su."

Her answer was a broken moan.

"Mmh...!"

Sprutt. Spurt. Spurt.

The 3rd and final ejaculation filled her in heavy pulses, more semen flooding the already soaked depth of her pussy until even the wombward end felt packed with heat.

Xu’s fingers dug into her hips. Pleasure rolled through him hard enough to make his breath catch, even if his body didn’t tire afterward.

Su sagged under his hands.

"Hah... hah..."

He waited until the last pulse ended before pulling back slowly.

Squelch.

Semen followed his cock out in a thick spill, leaking from her swollen pussy, slipping over her inner thighs, and dripping onto the already soiled bedding.

Su looked back over her shoulder. Her lips parted at the sight.

"...gods."

Xu almost laughed.

She pointed weakly at him without lifting her head. "Don’t."

He caught her hand and kissed her fingers instead.

That silenced her more effectively.

Su settled onto her left side near the north end of the bed, head toward the northwest. Xu drew a loose sheet over her hips after the visible mess had already marked the linen beneath her. Her breathing was slow now, the kind that came from a body finally admitting it had reached its limit.

"Tianlong."

Xu looked down at her.

Her eyes were heavy-lidded.

"The branch is still mine tomorrow."

Xu brushed loose hair from her cheek. "Yes."

A faint smile appeared.

"Good."

Her fingers caught his wrist before he pulled away.

"And..."

She hesitated.

Xu waited.

Su’s gaze lowered to the sheet between them, then returned to his face with visible irritation at herself. "Stay until I fall asleep."

"All right."

She released him.

It didn’t take long.

Xu remained beside the bed until her breathing deepened. Then he took the room cloth from the washstand and wiped his hands. He pulled on his lower inner trousers and left his upper body bare.

His sword remained sheathed on the west chest beside his folded clothes, separate from Su’s robe, keys, and seal.

The oil lamp had burned lower.

Midnight had passed. Outside, Azure City had gone almost completely quiet.

He moved to the open floor south of the bed and sat cross-legged facing north.

Su didn’t stir.

Xu closed his eyes.

He settled into the Basic Breathing Method.

The thin ambient qi of Azure City answered.

His eyes opened again almost immediately.

The first draw had come too quickly.

Nothing felt wrong. The process was simply faster.

Xu closed his eyes and continued.

The familiar path unfolded through his meridians, each step familiar from that morning. Nothing had changed about the method. The city’s qi hadn’t suddenly thickened. His realm hadn’t moved beyond QC9.

But the waiting between familiar points had collapsed.

With Base Amplification at x5, the ordinary process pulled ahead of the morning cycle so plainly that there was no need to count breaths.

Qi entered, circulated, settled.

Again.

The cycle finished while his body still expected to be somewhere near the middle of it.

Xu opened his eyes.

Behind him, Su slept beneath the loose sheet. On the west chest, his sword remained where he’d left it. The room was otherwise still.