Chapter 176: Reluctantly Leaving The Ice Palace?
Chapter 176: Reluctantly Leaving The Ice Palace?
Hao Hun sat cross-legged atop a pristine jade ice bench, his breathing synchronized with the rhythmic pulse of the Ninth Circle Death Core resting between his palms. Strands of thick, dark energy spiraled from the high-level magical resource, melting into his meridians as he cultivated. Across the chamber, the heavy silken curtains of the bed remained drawn. He was waiting for the "Sleeping F-cup Busty Maiden," Su Youming, to awaken from whatever pleasant dreams her wine-induced slumber had provided.
The state of the room just an hour prior had been a disaster. Thanks to Su Mei’s versatile Gravity magic, they had managed to effortlessly hover Su Youming’s unconscious, limp body in mid-air while they hastily stripped the bed, changed the linens, and incinerated the soiled sheets with localized fire talismans.
The memory of the Half-Succubus’s departure made Hao Hun want to weep tears of blood. Su Mei had left the room fully satisfied, her hips swaying with a predatory grace, but she had literally drained his body of its very essence. The moment the door clicked shut behind her, Hao Hun had been forced to immediately trigger his Vanguard’s Second Wind ability. The sudden surge of aura-driven rejuvenation was the only thing that restored the vital essence and mana she had ruthlessly sucked dry during their excessive, skin-melting marathon. He let out a low, weary sigh. Thank the heavens
Su Mei isn't a pure-blooded Succubus, he thought, wiping a imaginary bead of sweat from his brow. Otherwise, I’d be nothing but a dried-out, hollow husk right now. A literal Mummy raisin.
A soft rustle from the bed cut his internal complaints short. Su Youming stirred beneath the heavy blankets, her eyelids fluttering open.
Instantly, panic flashed across her delicate features. Her hands bolted to her face, realizing with a jolt of horror that her sacred white veil was completely missing. Beneath the sheets, her hands frantically shifted lower, checking her body with desperate confusion. Her breath hitched. Her purity was entirely intact. There was no soreness, no lingering ache of a broken barrier.
Finding nothing biologically amiss, she cautiously sat up. Her normally flawless, cascading hair was an absolute bird’s nest, sticking out at wild angles.
Her cheeks burned with an intense, shameful crimson. It wasn't entirely her fault; the previous bed had been a bit damp from Su Mei's energetic escapades, leaving a faint, humid musk in the immediate radius. Hao Hun coughed into his fist to clear the awkward silence.
"Good morning, Youming," Hao Hun said, his voice a perfect mask of gentle concern. "You seemed to have overindulged in the spirit wine last night. You practically collapsed the moment you stepped into my room. I was terrified the Emperor would misunderstand the situation and assume I committed some shameful act with his Holy Maiden, so I simply left you to rest peacefully on the mattress... Um, as for your veil, I honestly have no idea where it went."
Su Youming bit her lower lip, a wave of secret frustration washing over her. She didn't want to be safe; she actively wished he had done something shameful to her. Her mind raced with confusion. How could a simple cup of wine knock out a cultivator of her caliber? Unless... her father had deliberately spiked the vintage to make Hao Hun helpless for her, and she had somehow drank from the wrong cup?
Click, creak—!
The heavy, unlocked door groaned open. The Emperor strode into the room, his chest puffed out and a triumphant, knowing smirk plastered across his ageless face. He was fully prepared to witness a scandalous tableau of tangled, naked limbs, ruined sheets, and the glorious foundation of an accidental pregnancy that would bind Hao Hun to his lineage forever. Instead, the old codger froze mid-step.
Hao Hun was seated across the room in a perfect cultivation posture, fully clothed. Su Youming was huddled under the blankets, equally dressed, looking entirely untouched.
However, Hao Hun had severely underestimated the old man's sheer, shameless adaptability. The Emperor’s eyes hardened, instantly shifting tactics as he leveled a stern, commanding finger at the young man.
"Hao Hun! Why is my Holy Maiden resting in your personal bed? And why does she look so deeply wronged?!"
Oh, my fucking god, Hao Hun screamed internally. I want nothing more than to hurl this high-level magic core straight into his wrinkled, hypocritical face.
"The Holy Maiden passed out at my threshold, Your Majesty," Hao Hun replied smoothly, keeping his posture formal. "As a gentleman, I merely allowed her to occupy the bed to rest. That was the extent of it."
The Emperor didn't buy the clean picture. He stepped further into the center of the room, his nostrils flaring as he took a deep, deliberate sniff of the ambient air. His eyes began to glow with a sharp, piercing light, scanning the room and locking onto the blushing Su Youming. At that moment, he proved that a Ninth Circle powerhouse possessed senses acute enough to make the greatest comic book detectives on Earth look like absolute amateurs.
He had busted the scene instantly.
"First," the Emperor rumbled, his voice echoing in the enclosed space. "I can clearly smell the lingering, unmistakable scent of raw sex in the air. Second, her sacred veil is entirely missing. Third, there are highly suspicious, damp stains visible on the floorboards over there. Lucky for you, Youming's internal yin energy remains perfectly sealed, meaning you two didn't cross any unforgivable physical boundaries. But..."
The Emperor's brilliant blue eyes locked onto Hao Hun, a suffocating pressure of raw water magic flaring around his form like a crushing tidal wave.
He spoke with a deep, menacing undertone.
"Will you take full responsibility for the dishonor of bringing a Holy Maiden into your private quarters? Or can you produce her missing veil right this instant? If you cannot produce it, the two of you must engage to be wed."
Fuck me sideways, Hao Hun cursed, his soul sweating. He had accidentally used that very veil to wipe the thick, sticky remnants of his and Su Mei’s juices off his junk before throwing it into a hidden spatial ring. There was absolutely no way to clean those specific, heavy stains out of that pristine holy fabric without raising a million questions.
"Emperor, I truly have no idea what tragic fate befell her veil," Hao Hun said aloud, lowering his head in a flawless display of mock remorse. "However, I accept the guilt of allowing her to occupy my bed, despite my lack of ill intent. If the Holy Maiden truly wishes to marry me to preserve her dignity, I will not object to the arrangement."
Su Youming’s eyes brightened instantly, a radiant joy washing over her face. But before she could speak, the Emperor seized the opportunity.
"Excellent. Then Su Youming shall replace Xia Sha as your primary, main wife this very day."
The blooming smile on Su Youming’s face suddenly faltered and froze at Hao Hun’s next words.
"If she does so, Your Majesty, she will become a widow by sunset," Hao Hun stated flatly. "I have already bound myself to a strict Heavenly Vow to wed Sect Master Xia Sha as my main wife. If I fail to uphold that primary vow, the heavenly laws will strike me dead on the spot."
Naturally, he was lying through his teeth. His actual vow to Xia Sha was merely a promise to protect her secrets. But there was a sub-zero chance in hell he was going to push the competent, powerful Xia Sha to the side for this manipulative, two-faced Holy Maiden, regardless of how jaw-dropping her F-cup assets were.
Behind his back, the Emperor’s fists tightened so hard his knuckles popped. Hao Hun couldn't see it, but he could feel the immense frustration rolling off the man. The excuse had thrown a massive wrench into his political calculations. Yet, the Emperor couldn't completely dispute it; he had distinctly felt the faint, ominous resonance of a bizarre Heavenly Curse lingering over him during his own previous interactions with Xia Sha.
Turning to his daughter, the Emperor asked heavily, "Su Youming, what is your desire then?"
Su Youming wasn't a fool, but her mind was currently heavily compromised by the backfired effects of her own Love Gu. The parasitic magic had warped her perception entirely. "Hao Hun was a perfect gentleman with me last night," she murmured softly, her eyes turning dreamy. "But... I truly love him, Sect Master. If the Holy Son feels even a fraction of the same affection for me, Youming is entirely willing to marry him as a concubine."
Hao Hun fought every single urge in his body to roll his eyes at the atrocious acting display these two royals were putting on. Still, his analytical mind quickly calculated the benefits. Becoming the Emperor’s official son-in-law would cause his political status to skyrocket across the entire Eastern region. It was too valuable an asset to pass up.
"Hao Hun, your answer?" the Emperor demanded.
And the Oscar for Best Actor goes to... me, Hao Hun thought.
"The very moment I gazed upon Su Youming's breathtaking face at the Ice Jade Spring, my heart was captured," Hao Hun declared, his eyes burning with a fabricated, intense passion. "My answer is a resounding yes."
Technically, it wasn't a complete lie. That was the exact moment she had covertly implanted him with the Love Gu. It just happened to completely fail to affect his uniquely shielded soul.
The Emperor nodded slowly, a calculating, victorious grin playing at the corners of his lips. "I cannot stand in the way of true, pure love. However, to seal this union, you must make a formal Heavenly Vow right now. Vow to protect Su Youming within the perilous depths of the upcoming Secret Realm, and bring her out alive. The moment you both step out of the portal, your wedding shall commence."
Hao Hun smirked inwardly. There it is. The real trap. The old man wanted a binding cosmic contract to force Hao Hun onto his faction's battleship. If Su Youming died, the vow would ensure Hao Hun died with her. It was a slick, ruthless move.
Too bad for the Emperor, Loki Sky was the undisputed absolute King of Duplicity and cosmic double-speak.
Hao Hun walked over to the bed, sliding onto the mattress beside the heavily blushing Holy Maiden. He wrapped his fingers around her delicate hand, squeezing gently as he raised his eyes toward the heavens, projecting his voice with absolute clarity.
"I, Hao Hun, hereby make a solemn Heavenly Vow to successfully bring out my loving wife, whom I love the most, safely with me from the Secret Realm so that we may be officially wed after we leave!"
Thump!
A heavy, invisible weight descended upon the room. Both Hao Hun and Su Youming felt the unmistakable cosmic lock-on from the high heavens—the metaphoric gaze of Mount Olympus sealing the contract.
Internally, Hao Hun was laughing so hard he could split a rib. The heavenly laws were literal, rigid, and entirely logical. For the lethal curse of the vow to trigger against him upon her death, two conditions had to be met: he had to be Hao Hun, and he had to genuinely love her as the "wife he loved the most." But he didn't possess a shred of affection for her, and his actual identity was Loki Sky. If she made it out alive, great—he gained a hot, influential concubine. If she perished inside, the cosmic tribunal wouldn't find a single shred of true love in his soul to activate the curse. Worst-case scenario, the identity of Hao Hun would simply cease to exist, leaving only Loki Sky to walk away scot-free.
The Emperor, sensing the successful binding of the vow, grinned with immense satisfaction. "Good! Good! Good! You have my absolute blessings. I shall leave immediately to help prepare the banquet for your primary wedding with Sect Master Xia Sha. Our faction's flying boats will depart directly afterward to await your return in the summer. Youming, say your tender goodbyes to young Hao Hun."
The Emperor spun on his heels, a victorious spring in his step as he exited the room. Left alone, the newly minted fiancée immediately lunged forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Hao Hun’s neck in an affectionate, desperate embrace.
The moment her face buried into his neck, Hao Hun’s nose wrinkled. He smelled it instantly. A sharp, distinct aroma of his own "Loki juice" from his intense midnight session with Su Mei had transferred onto the bedsheets, and a generous portion of it had now rubbed directly into Su Youming’s long, silky hair. It was utterly gross, yet hilariously ironic.
The Holy Maiden’s eyes practically transformed into swirling pink hearts. She gazed up at him with unadulterated adoration before pressing her lips against his in a deep, passionate kiss. After a solid minute of intense lip-locking, Hao Hun gently but firmly peeled her squirming body off his chest and practically fled the chamber to prepare for his actual wedding.
The rest of the day dissolved into a chaotic, ceremonial blur.
Just like his previous wine-sharing ceremony with Wan Meidi, the Emperor personally presided over the grand event hosted at the peak of Hao Hun’s Triple Eclipse Peak. But unlike the informal nature of the past, Xia Sha spared no traditional expense. She wore the breathtaking, elaborate red bridal dress of the high cultivation orthodox sects, her face fully concealed beneath a thick crimson veil that, by tradition, could only be removed within the privacy of the bridal chambers later that evening.
Standing before the ancestral altars, they performed the traditional three ritual bows to heaven, earth, and their peers, followed by the formal drinking of the cross-cupped spirit wine. A massive, grand feast followed, filled with countless toasts from powerful elders and visiting dignitaries. Finally, as twilight painted the sky, the celebration concluded. The massive, towering hulls of both the Bloodshed Sect and the Holy Palace Sect’s Flying Boats drifted into the sky, departing in opposite geographic directions.
The night inside the locked wedding chambers was incredibly long and intensely passionate. Stripped of her heavy robes and veil, Xia Sha was a vision of absolute elegance and raw, unbridled desire. Their bodies merged repeatedly on the silk-covered mattress, the sounds of their breathless moans and the rhythmic, wet slap of flesh filling the room until the early hours of the morning. Amidst the intense euphoria of their union, Hao Hun felt a strange, foreign warmth blooming in his chest. He realized with a jolt of internal panic that he was genuinely falling for Xia Sha—a dangerous development for a deep-cover double agent who had sworn to remain emotionally detached.
The following morning arrived far too quickly. Hao Hun stood at the grand gates of the Ice Phoenix Sect, offering his long, bittersweet goodbyes to Xia Sha and Gu Xia. Down in the courtyard, the massive, ghostly undead Love Boat was actually emitting low, wailing, mournful ghost sounds, visibly upset that its master's husband wasn't sailing back with them. It was a bizarrely hilarious sight to witness a terrifying, undead warship literally crying cosmic tears.
To ensure Gu Xia remained safe and grounded during his absence, Hao Hun summoned his trusty Ghost Charger, commanding the spectral beast to remain by her side. He stood entirely still, watching the massive silhouette of the Ghost Ship slowly shrink until it vanished completely past the icy horizon.
"Master..." a soft, melodic voice murmured from behind.
Xia Bing stepped up to his side, her pale blue eyes peering over her frost-tinted veil with a teasing, knowing glint. "Did you truly fall in love with my mother?"
Loki rubbed the back of his neck, offering a helpless, self-deprecating smile. "Sorry, Bing'er... I just couldn't help myself. I want to make her grandest dreams come true, even if she was a cold, terrible mother to you and Xia Gu in the past."
Xia Bing let out a soft, melodious giggle, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "Master, look at you being so sentimental. Come, let me escort you to your brand-new dual cultivation chamber. You haven't properly trained with me ever since your body underwent that incredible mutation into the Nether-Ice Body. Tonight, before you attend your final departure meeting with Sect Master Wuxia, you must fulfill your duty and make your very first Summons incredibly happy."
With a sudden, elegant wave of her slender hand, a powerful gale of pure ice magic erupted around them, instantly whisking their bodies away from the gates and depositing them directly onto the massive, fur-lined bed of his private bedroom.
What followed was an absolute storm of unbridled, primal passion. Xia Bing stripped away her garments, revealing her flawless, pale skin and her heavy, bouncing E-cup breasts. Driven by the resonant pull of his new Nether-Ice Body, the dual cultivation session reached unprecedented levels of intensity. Xia Bing straddled his waist with ferocious hunger, her hips slamming down repeatedly as she rode his rigid length, her back arching as loud, echoing screams of pure, unadulterated ecstasy tore from her throat. The freezing energy of his nether regions mingled with her deathly qi, creating a swirling vortex of evolutionary power that hammered into her core for hours on end.
By the early light of dawn, Hao Hun began to slowly stir awake, a distinct, icy chill lingering heavily in his nether regions. The sight that met his eyes completely stupefied his waking mind.
Xia Bing was still completely impaling herself on his thick, pulsing morning-wood, her tight womb entrance gripping his shaft in a vice-like embrace as she sat motionless atop him. Her long, snow-white hair hung down in damp, sweaty strands around her flushed face. She was trembling all over, but her hands were frantically grabbing his palm, pressing his hand flat against her heavy left breast, directly over her heart.
"Loki Sky..." she whispered, her voice cracking with an intense, overwhelming wave of raw emotion. "You absolute, dastardly bastard... You actually did it!"
Hao Hun blinked, momentarily alarmed by her wildly erratic, excited speech. He was just about to open his mouth to ask what kind of crazy cultivation medicine she had consumed so early in the morning when his palm suddenly registered a sensation that shattered his reality.
Thump... Thump...
It was incredibly soft. It was weak. It was remarkably slow, mimicking the steady, ancient rhythm of a pureblood Vampire’s pulse. But it was undeniably there.
"Bing'er, you... your heart?!" Hao Hun gasped, his eyes widening to the size of saucers.
Xia Bing let out a joyous cry, leaning down to violently, passionately smash her lips against his. She refused to let go of his hand, keeping his palm pinned firmly against the soft, warm flesh of her very slowly beating heart.
"I'm no longer a mere, Corpse Puppet, Loki!" she whispered frantically against his lips, tears of sheer disbelief welling in her eyes. "The energy from your Nether-Ice Body... it triggered a complete mutation! I have officially evolved into a high-tier Corpse Lord! I am half-alive, Loki! I love you, my silly, incredibly lucky Master!"
A feral, triumphant grin broke across Hao Hun’s face. He wrapped his powerful arms around her waist, pulling her down for another rough, deeply passionate kiss, his mind spinning with the sheer, ridiculous absurdity of his Summons Divinity's mechanics. As he held her close, a wild, wicked thought popped into his mind, causing him to look up at her with a smirk.
"Bing'er... if our dual cultivation can do this, does that mean if I successfully push you all the way into becoming a Corpse Queen, I can literally fuck you entirely back to life?"
Xia Bing froze for a fraction of a second before bursting into a bout of genuine, echoing laughter that filled the entire chamber. She shifted her hips deliberately, squeezing his embedded shaft with a wicked, teasing flex of her internal muscles.
"Loki, I pray to the gods for the day you commit an act as completely outrageous as fucking me back to life," she purred, her eyes burning with a deep, maternal hunger. "And make sure you plant our child inside me while you're at it, haha!"
Hao Hun laughed along with her, enjoying the warmth of her newly beating heart for a few more moments before realizing the time. Xue Wuxia was currently waiting for him, and he was already an hour late for their final goodbye meeting before his long journey to the Western Balder Kingdom.