Chapter 45: Celestial Yin Pavilion
The night was still dark.
There was a bit more time until dawn.
Another round of tea was served, but this time with pastries and butter cookies.
"So girls..."
Vivienne shifted to a slightly informal tone.
"...I see that you two share a close bond with him."
Anastasia and Leona did not deny.
One ate a cookie while the other forked a bit of pastry.
"The question I now have is... how close? How close is your bond?"
"We slept with him."
Anastasia almost choked on her cookie.
She immediately waved her hand. "Madam, we slept with him... on the same bedroll. Cuddling. Nothing more."
Vivienne ate a bit of pastry while glancing at her.
"Did he force you to?"
"I..." Anastasia looked down at her plate. "I’d rather not talk about it."
"Oh my..." Vivienne covered her mouth. "My sincerest apologies. I did not raise that boy to be a predator."
"Eh?"
Anastasia suddenly realized what her words implied.
She shook her hand repeatedly again.
"No. No. No. It’s nothing like that. I don’t wish to talk because it’s slightly embarrassing."
"We willingly slept with him, M’lady." Leona clarified.
"I see." Vivienne didn’t press further.
"Apart from sleeping, have you two engaged in any other intimate activities?"
She looked at Leona.
"Maybe a kiss?"
She turned to Anastasia.
"Or maybe he asked you to relieve him?"
Anastasia: "..."
Leona: "..."
The two girls were completely silent for a solid minute and focused on eating.
Leona finished her pastry and put the plate down.
"He hasn’t even held my hand."
Anastasia wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and after putting it down, turned to Vivienne.
"The young master never asked me about it and I believe he hasn’t done it himself either."
Vivienne slightly raised her eyebrows.
"You both slept with him. Was it not enough stimulation to want to relieve himself?"
"I believe, even if he wished to, he couldn’t do it due to a lack of safe space. Even I wasn’t able to." Leona answered with a straight face.
Anastasia looked at her for a good few seconds, then turned to Vivienne and saw she had the same expression.
Anastasia was not blushing or embarrassed, but she couldn’t help but ask, "M’lady... may I ask, why are we suddenly conversing about this?"
Vivienne did not answer.
She stood up and looked outside the window.
Fog still covered the Capital and it continued to rain.
Just a bit of orange blur could be seen in places due to the gas lamps.
Vivienne turned around and fetched a lit candle.
She sat down and placed it on the desk.
Snap!
Everything around Anastasia, Leona, and Vivienne vanished into darkness.
The candle’s illumination only helped in seeing each other.
"Have you heard of the Celestial Yin Pavilion?"
Anastasia’s eyes flickered and she unknowingly leaned forward in attention.
Leona had no change.
"Never heard of it."
Vivienne looked at Anastasia.
She leaned back and turned to Leona.
"Well... it’s almost a forgotten legend, but Celestial Yin Pavilion was said to have been an ancient cultivation sect that consisted entirely of female cultivators."
"You do know of cultivation and sects, right?"
Leona nodded. "Stories have been passed down in my family about an ancient past where gods and mortals roamed the land and skies. They wouldn’t die of starvation or old age and..."
Leona described it as much as she knew.
Anastasia nodded. "Then I’ll continue. So..."
Celestial Yin Pavilion was far too ancient to even leave traces in history.
But rumor has it that at its peak, it controlled the entire cultivation world.
This was all possible due to their sacred martial arts—Yin Yang Primordial Sutra.
This was a dual cultivation art but many did not consider it as such and instead thought of it as parasitic.
The reason was fairly simple.
Only the female cultivator could perform these arts while the male acted as a medium to funnel the meaning of Dao.
"I don’t know more than this."
Anastasia stopped.
Leona did not comment on it.
Whatever was being said was almost incomprehensible to her brain attuned to sword, magic, steam, and machinery.
If not for her drawing some ’meaning’ from the ’Dao’ while refining the Spirit Iron, she wouldn’t have understood whatever Anastasia meant.
The said meaning was just clues to becoming better at refinement and how she could efficiently use the forces of nature to refine a better weapon.
"You’re correct. But that’s only half the truth."
Vivienne chimed in.
"It’s indeed the case that a man couldn’t perform the arts and was used as a medium to draw the meaning of Dao, however..."
Dual cultivation was not termed dual for show.
The meaning would pass through the man first and then to the woman.
If he cultivated in the same path as the woman or a similar path, like Wind and Wind paths or Wind and Storm paths...
Then he would benefit tremendously.
However, if he had a different path, it would result in a backlash and both cultivators could die.
"Then, is it possible for same paths to dual cultivate till the end?" Leona questioned. "When I look at the sun, it’s just one. So I feel the Sun God can also only be one."
"Good question." Vivienne said. "And no, same paths cannot cultivate till the end. It is one of the downsides."
"As you mentioned the Sun, if two people are on the Sun Path, initially they can draw power from it but at the peak, only one can become the absolute authority of the Sun."
"There’s another limitation other than this."
A man contained Yang nature in his physique.
A woman contained Yin nature in her physique.
Dual cultivation was a sacred union of this Yin and Yang nature.
So to cultivate this art, one had to fulfil two criteria.
First — same path.
Second — Yin and Yang nature.
"Yin and Yang nature of the body diminishes if one is not dual cultivating. After a certain realm, a person would lose this nature and never be able to bear children."
"..." Anastasia was silent.
A little too silent.
’I never got into a relationship due to this. What’s the point if I can’t even experience the joy of motherhood.’
Her soft sigh did not escape from Vivienne or Leona.
"Are you giving up becoming a cultivator?" Leona asked.
"No. I am just wondering how amazing it would be if such a mystic art existed."
"At your current stage, you don’t need this art."
Anastasia looked at Leona.
"Why?"
"You are fertile. You just need a partner."
"..."
Vivienne tapped on the table and grabbed the two’s attention.
"Don’t you feel something is strange about all of this?"
"Yes." Leona said.
"What could it be?"
There was an immediate response.
"If paths are a big issue, how did Celestial Yin Pavilion become the overlords of the cultivation world?"
"It’s due to one treasure."
"One treasure?" Anastasia asked.
"Yes. The Celestial Yin Pavilion’s greatest treasure was a man."
"A man who possessed the Extreme Yang Soul."
"Soul?" Leona tilted her head. "Wasn’t Yang related to the nature of the body?"
"Indeed." Vivienne nodded. "It is the nature of the body, but imagine if you have a soul which is also of Yang nature."
Leona didn’t understand. There was probably some information missing somewhere and she pointed it out.
It was Anastasia who began explaining.
"I think you don’t know that a soul is directly connected to the path. A person’s path is defined by their soul and it can never be changed."
Leona finally connected some dots.
"This means, if my soul is defined to be an axe path, I cannot ever go on the path of a blacksmith?"
"Correct."
"Cruel."
"Such is life."
Anastasia sighed.
Leona finally understood most things.
She turned to Vivienne again.
"The Celestial Yin Pavilion rose because of the Extreme Yang Soul."
"The Extreme Yang Soul is same as the Yang nature of a man’s body, so this means the Dao thinks the soul doesn’t have a path.
"It is blank."
"So this man can dual cultivate with just anyone and never clash in authority at the last stages either, yes?"
Vivienne at last had a faint smile on her face.
"Correct. If you could dual cultivate and turn everyone into gods, and said gods were under one sect... what would be the consequences?
"Overlords..."
Anastasia softly whispered.
Vivienne just smiled.
"But then, how did such a powerful sect disappear?" Anastasia asked.
"The sect’s foundation was built on only one pillar." It was Leona who answered.
"The Extreme Yang Soul."
"To destroy such an overlord, everyone just had to kill one man."
"Ah... no wonder..."
Dual cultivation sure had a lot of limitations and was useless without such an Extreme Yang Soul.
Silence settled for a while.
Anastasia turned to Vivienne.
"Madam, all of this is fine. But I still don’t understand..."
"How’s this related to our previous conversation?"
"Hm, yes." Leona nodded. "I didn’t get it either."
"How is this related to M’lord not being able to relieve himself?"
...
A/N: This book has no Yuri on NovelFire. If you wish to see those, please let me know and I’ll publish it on patr*on for you.
[Reminder: This book has no Yuri or NTR. Don’t come after me again.]