Chapter 39: Constitution

A few moments later, Qing was inside the same room where he had left Yue to rest. He sat on the seat designated for him directly in front of Yue’s bed, while Yue remained seated on the bed with her head slightly lowered and a faint blush covering her cheeks.

Qing looked at her unusual expression for a moment before a thought surfaced in his mind, ’Hmm? Does she remember that incident in the prison realm?’ He immediately remembered the kiss she had given him back then, and his expression became slightly awkward as he quickly shook his head to dismiss those indecent thoughts.

Han was waiting outside again, as Yue had specifically requested that he leave them alone for a while, so Qing decided to wait for her to speak first.

"Senior Yue, why did you want to see me?" Qing finally broke the silence. Yue turned toward him, but her lips twitched slightly as if she was struggling to say something, and after a brief hesitation, she simply raised her hand and snapped her fingers once.

SNAP!

The moment the sound echoed through the room, a small dome of Spiritual Energy instantly spread outward and covered the entire sect building. Qing frowned as he immediately recognized the Technique and carefully examined the barrier surrounding them, ’A sound barrier, she wants to talk about something important.’

He nodded slightly in understanding, but just as he was about to look back toward Yue, he suddenly felt the world turn upside down around him. His expression changed instantly as he found himself lying on the bed, with Yue already above him, her slender legs locking his movements while both of her hands restrained his wrists, ’Huh?!’

Qing’s eyes widened in confusion as he turned toward her face, and another thought immediately flashed through his mind, ’Did the Bewitching Technique not disappear? Master shouldn’t be able to control her from a realm like that—!’

Before he could finish the thought, however, Qing noticed the tears streaming down Yue’s cheeks. His confusion deepened as he stared at her trembling expression, ’What? Why is she crying?’ He didn’t need to wait long for an answer because Yue’s soft and weak voice soon reached his ears.

"T-Take responsibility for what you did..." Qing became even more confused by her words, but instead of interrupting her, he remained silent and waited for her to explain. Yue’s expression slowly twisted with pain as the emotions she had been holding back finally began to surface.

"Y-You physically touched me while we were both using Spiritual Energy... y-you even made my soul recognize you! A-And now that it has, my Heavenly Bond Constitution will always make me incompatible with anyone else!" Her voice grew louder as tears continued falling from her eyes, and after releasing Qing’s hands, she immediately began wiping them away with the back of her sleeves.

Understanding finally began to dawn on Qing as he watched her, ’...Damn, I am screwed, aren’t I?’ He had heard of the Heavenly Bond Constitution before, but he had never expected to encounter someone who possessed it, much less awaken it himself through such an unexpected situation.

The problem was far more serious than a simple bond between two cultivators, because once the Constitution recognized a compatible soul, it would permanently establish that person as its only partner.

Qing’s expression became serious as he recalled the knowledge contained within the scriptures he had read in his previous life. ’The Heavenly Bond Constitution awakens when physical contact occurs while both individuals are circulating Spiritual Energy, allowing their souls to come into contact and determine whether they are compatible.’

His thoughts continued as he reconstructed the information he remembered, ’If the souls are compatible, the Constitution recognizes the other person as its sole Bonded Partner and permanently rejects intimate Spiritual Energy from anyone else.’ That meant ordinary physical contact wouldn’t be dangerous, but attempting to establish an intimate cultivation connection with another man would cause Yue’s Constitution to violently reject the foreign Spiritual Energy.

’If someone tries to force Dual Cultivation with her, the Constitution will treat that person’s Spiritual Energy as an incompatible intrusion and unleash a backlash powerful enough to kill both of them.’

"Sniff... sniff... sob..." Yue continued wiping away her tears for several minutes while Qing remained completely silent. He knew this wasn’t the moment to say anything because she was still overwhelmed by the situation, and speaking too soon might only make things worse.

Instead, he waited patiently while she gradually calmed herself, his expression becoming increasingly complicated as he thought about the consequences. He could understand why she was frightened, because her Constitution had effectively taken away the freedom to choose another partner without giving her any opportunity to prevent it.

At the same time, Qing knew that simply telling her to avoid all men would not solve anything, because she still had her own life and her own desires, and the Constitution itself had already recognized him as its compatible partner.

’Even if I tell her to simply stay away from me and never get involved with another man, that wouldn’t solve the problem.’ Qing’s gaze lowered slightly as he thought about it. ’First, she is still a person who has the right to decide how she wants to live her life, and I have no right to demand that she abandon any chance of having a relationship simply because this Constitution choose me.’ He paused as another thought surfaced in his mind.

’And second... the Constitution itself is the real problem. It has already recognized me as its compatible partner, so completely avoiding me won’t remove the restrictions it has placed on her.’ Qing slowly clenched his hand as he realized that his actions had played a part in creating this situation.

If he had been stronger, he would never have needed to rely on that Formation in the first place. If he hadn’t used it, he wouldn’t have ended up inside the prison realm in front of his Master, and if that hadn’t happened, he and Yue would never have found themselves in that situation.

Qing’s expression became irritated as he traced the chain of events back to that moment, ’Damn it... it’s all my fault, isn’t it?’ He knew the Constitution itself wasn’t something he had intentionally triggered, and Yue had been the one who kissed him, but that didn’t completely absolve him of responsibility.

He had still participated in the physical and Spiritual Energy contact that caused her dormant Constitution to awaken, and abandoning her now simply because the consequences were inconvenient was not something he could accept.

Yue’s crying finally began to subside, and she looked at Qing’s irritated expression as if she could tell that he was blaming himself. "Y-You seem to know what this Constitution is and what it does, so I won’t explain anything..." Her voice remained unsteady as she clenched the robe around her chest, tears still slipping down her cheeks.

"All I can say is that you need to take responsibility for what happened. If you decide to leave me alone, this Constitution will eventually shorten my lifespan, and I will die a miserable death!" Qing stared at her silently as her words settled into his mind, understanding that she wasn’t simply asking him to become her husband because the Constitution had chosen him.

She was asking him not to abandon her after his soul had become the only one capable of safely forming that kind of intimate bond with her.

Qing’s thoughts immediately turned toward Alice, the only person he had ever loved outside of his parents, both in his previous life and in this one. He still needed to save her from the circumstances surrounding her, and that was something he could never set aside, no matter what happened now.

Yet at the same time, he couldn’t simply look at Yue and say, ’It isn’t my responsibility because you were the one who kissed me.’ He wasn’t some cold-hearted villain who would abandon someone because their problem was inconvenient, nor was he some selfless savior who could pretend that complicated matters had simple solutions.

He knew he had played a part in this situation, and even more importantly, he understood that the Constitution had recognized his soul, not Qing Lan’s body.

The realization made Qing’s expression become even more complicated.

His body had belonged to Qing Lan at that time, but the person whose soul had resonated with Yue was still himself as Neolan, meaning that even changing his physical appearance or cultivation state would never change the bond established by the Constitution.

Qing slowly exhaled as he realized there was no way to escape the responsibility simply by separating himself from Yue, ’Sigh... here goes nothing.’

"Senior Yue, I am not going to butter you up by saying, ’Alright, I will take responsibility,’ nor am I going to say, ’It’s not my responsibility to begin with because the Constitution is your problem.’" Qing’s voice remained calm as he looked directly at her. He paused for a moment before continuing,

"What I can say is that I need to take responsibility for what I have done. After all... most of what happened was my fault."

Yue stared at him in silence for a long moment, her eyes slowly filling with tears once again. However, these tears were different from the ones before, and the tension in her expression gradually disappeared as she lowered her head.

Her lips trembled slightly before she finally whispered the only words she could manage to say, "T-Thank you... Thank you, Qing."