Into The Sea

Sexual content warning.

They didn’t find a water source but stumbled upon a field of flowers nestled at the bottom of a sand dune.

Lan Wu crouched down to pick one, bringing it to her nose for a sniff, only to sneeze immediately. She quickly dropped it, but her eyes began to sting, and soon pearly tears rolled down her cheeks.

Ji Lingyue hurried over, seeing her silently shedding tears. Alarmed, she hurriedly cupped Lan Wu’s face, wiping her tears. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice laced with concern. “I promised to look for Ah Li, didn’t I?”

Lan Wu blinked at her, confused.

She opened her tear-filled eyes and, picking up the discarded flower, held it up to Ji Lingyue’s face.

Ji Lingyue looked down in confusion. In the next moment, her expression changed, and she took two steps back, covering her eyes.

“Ah…”

The flower, it seemed, had the same effect as an onion.

After all the frustration Ji Lingyue had caused her, this small act of revenge brought Lan Wu a surprising amount of satisfaction. She let out a soft laugh as Ji Lingyue looked at her, her eyes welling up with tears. Lan Wu held the flower out to her. “Want it? It’s a Shalan?” she asked.

Ji Lingyue instinctively recoiled, but then she froze, her eyes widening in surprise. “This is… Shalan?”

“Yes,” Lan Wu confirmed, lowering the flower. “It grows deep in the desert and blooms once in a hundred years. They say it’s an extremely rare healing herb, and even the Baibao Pavilion only has a few.” She paused, her expression softening. “So, do you want it?”

Ji Lingyue blinked, her gaze darting between the field of purple flowers and Lan Wu, who was still kneeling on the ground. She hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly. “I do.”

“Alright,” Lan Wu said with a small smile, gesturing towards the field. “Whoever wants it can pick it themselves.”

Ji Lingyue froze, biting her lip as she looked at Lan Wu. After a while, she slowly moved closer, sitting down beside her and muttering, “Then I don’t want it anymore.”

She lifted her head and leaned closer to Lan Wu, her eyes still red-rimmed and glistening with unshed tears. She looked so pitiful that Lan Wu couldn’t help but sigh. She reached out to touch her eyes, asking softly. “Did you unseal my spiritual core just to do this for you?”

Ji Lingyue didn’t answer, but she closed her eyes obediently. A cool, soothing sensation spread over her eyelids, easing the stinging pain. She parted her lashes slightly, stealing a glance at Lan Wu.

Lan Wu’s face was calm, seemingly no longer as angry.

Ji Lingyue hesitated, her eyelashes fluttering nervously. Finally, Ji Lingyue finally gathered her courage and called out, “Lan Wu…”

“Hmm?”

Ji Lingyue’s cheeks slowly turned red, and she lowered her head even further, stammering, “It… it hurts… down there too…”

An awkward silence fell around them. Lan Wu stared at her for a moment, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Don’t tell me… you want me to… to heal you… here?”

Ji Lingyue nervously tugged at her sleeve, a barely audible “mm-hmm” escaping her lips.

Lan Wu shook her head. “You can do it yourself.”

“Whoever causes it should be responsible for it,” Ji Lingyue retorted.

Lan Wu was taken aback, realizing that Ji Lingyue was simply throwing her own words back at her. She couldn’t help but laugh, both amused and exasperated, she looked at Ji Lingyue, who lifted her head to meet her gaze, almost defiantly.

As the silence stretched on, Ji Lingyue pursed her lips, her face darkened bit by bit. After last night’s chaos, Lan Wu had become more attuned to her emotional shifts. She knew that look, the way suspicion and doubt clouded those usually bright eyes. Lan Wu sighed, sitting up straight and patting her lap. “Fine, come here.”

As if a switch had been flipped, Ji Lingyue’s expression brightened. A small smile touched her lips as she obediently settled herself in Lan Wu’s lap.

Although the sand dune behind them blocked most of the intense sunlight, a few rays still managed to shine through. Lan Wu wrapped her arms around Ji Lingyue from behind, shielding her from the heat.

Even in the desert, Lan Wu’s skin felt cool against hers. Ji Lingyue relaxed into her embrace, her fingers tightening around Lan Wu’s hand that rested on her waist. She shifted slightly, pressing closer.

Cool fingertips slipped beneath her robes, trailing a feather-light touch down her stomach before coming to rest on the sensitive skin between her legs. Ji Lingyue couldn’t help but shiver. She felt a weight settle against her shoulder and turned her head to see the mermaid resting her chin there, her silver eyelashes drooping low, as if she were about to lazily close her eyes.

“Tell me if it hurts,” Lan Wu murmured.

Ji Lingyue nodded, obediently spreading her legs.

Soon, soft, breathy gasps escaped her lips.

Lan Wu wasn’t lying about healing her. Her touch was firm yet gentle, her fingertips channeling soothing energy as she massaged the slight swelling between Ji Lingyue’s legs, paying particular attention to her swollen nub and sensitive lips.

There was nothing remotely seductive about it.

Yet, Ji Lingyue couldn’t stop trembling, soft whimpers escaping her lips. Lan Wu felt her face flush, wondering if Ji Lingyue was doing this on purpose. In the short span of a day since their reunion, she had already been thoroughly worn down by Ji Lingyue’s unpredictable behavior.

The once serious and righteous cultivator was now more cunning than a fox spirit.

Lan Wu sighed. As she continued the massage, she felt a dampness spreading beneath her palm. She paused, about to pull her hand away, but Ji Lingyue caught her wrist, her eyes shimmering with a mixture of desire and vulnerability. “You can’t… stop halfway,” she pleaded.

Lan Wu tilted her head, suspicious. “Are you trying to trick me again?”

“No…” Ji Lingyue started to say, but then her expression shifted. She reached up towards Lan Wu’s face. Lan Wu’s eyelashes fluttered, but before she could react, something covered her eyes, blocking out the light.

At that moment, footsteps approached from behind, and a surprised voice called out, “Senior Sister!”

Lan Wu froze, afraid to move, while Ji Lingyue quickly pulled out a robe from somewhere and covered her waist thoroughly. By the time Gu Changli had scrambled down the sand dune, all he saw was his Senior Sister sitting expressionlessly in the arms of a silver-haired woman.

He blinked, confused, then turned his gaze to Lan Wu. She met his gaze directly.

Sunlight glinted off her silver hair and the hard, metallic mask that covered her face, making her inhuman eyes gleam with an unsettling intensity.

“Y-You’re a demon!” Gu Changli gasped.

“Don’t make trouble,” Ji Lingyue snapped. “She is my newly contracted demon beast.”

“Contracted demon beast?” He looked from Ji Lingyue to Lan Wu and back again, frowning in confusion. “But… But… Senior Sister, don’t you only contract spirit beasts? And… and demons can’t be trusted! Master said we should avoid getting involved with demons!”

Lan Wu’s ears twitched as she realized the “Master” he mentioned must be Qin Yu. It was no surprise that the disciples of Jinling Peak had such a biased attitude towards demons.

Especially this young man named Changli who, despite his youth, was particularly cruel and decisive toward demons, even seeming to take pleasure in tormenting them. In short, Lan Wu didn’t care for him at all.

Ji Lingyue frowned, looking somewhat impatient. “I’ve formed a beast contract with her. You don’t need to worry. Rather, are you alone? How did you find me?”

Gu Changli shook his head. “No, there are others from different sects behind me. They should be here soon. I saw Danqing in the sky and figured you must be nearby, so I ran ahead.”

Ji Lingyue fell silent for a moment, closing her eyes in frustration. “Is that so?”

It wasn’t long before the other cultivators arrived, their voices carrying on the wind. Many of them noticed the field of Shalan flowers and gasped in astonishment. Ignoring the pungent spicy scent, they eagerly jumped in and started picking them by the handful.

Using dizziness as an excuse, Ji Lingyue lay there a while longer before reluctantly straightening up. She held Lan Wu’s hand, carefully wiping it clean with a handkerchief.

Lan Wu silently let her do it. They stood with their backs to the crowd, creating a small, private space that seemed to shield them from the surrounding noise.

After a moment, Ji Lingyue looked at the now spotless hand and softly said, “Done.”

Lan Wu nodded, pulling her to stand up. Soon, members from other sects approached to speak with Ji Lingyue. Lan Wu, having nothing to do, stood aside with her arms crossed. Before long, she found herself amused by the sight of cultivators in the flower field, crying and sniffling from the flowers’ spicy effects.

Remembering Ji Lingyue’s earlier words, Lan Wu frowned. After a moment of hesitation, she walked over and bent down to pick up a Shalan flower that had fallen to the ground.

“Hey, that’s mine…” the cultivator speaking fell silent upon seeing her face, hesitated, and then awkwardly said, “Oh, it’s you. If you want it, just take it.”

Lan Wu raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Are you giving it to me because of Ji Lingyue?”

The cultivator took a step back. “Of course. You have to respect the owner when dealing with their dog. Ji Lingyue is your master; how could I dare offend you?”

Lan Wu fell silent, her gaze dropping to the flower in her hand. Suddenly, she didn’t want it anymore. She took a few steps away, pinched off the pungent stamen, and then casually handed the flower to a female disciple who was passing by. “Here, it’s for you.”

The disciple stared at her, bewildered, instinctively accepting the flower. “Why… why are you giving this to me?”

Lan Wu didn’t answer, her gaze moving past the girl’s shoulder to meet Ji Lingyue’s stunned look. She was still standing among the people she’d been talking with, but her eyes were fixed on this scene—or rather, on the flower in the disciple’s hands.

Ji Lingyue’s gaze didn’t waver until the disciple had moved out of sight. Then, she slowly turned her head, her dark eyes locking onto Lan Wu’s.

Lan Wu didn’t want to meet her gaze and turned to walk towards a secluded spot. She had only taken a few steps when she heard someone exclaim, “Senior Sister Ji?”

Lan Wu froze, instinctively turning back to see Ji Lingyue had somehow appeared beside the female disciple, holding out her hand. “Give it to me.”

The disciple hesitated, looking nervously at Ji Lingyue’s calm face, and carefully placed the flower in her hand. “Senior Sister Ji, do you want the flower? I have a few more if you’d like…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Ji Lingyue closed her hand around the flower, her grip tightening until the delicate petals crumbled into dust.

As gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd, Ji Lingyue turned to look at Lan Wu. Across the expanse of yellow sand, their eyes met, and a small, innocent smile spread across Ji Lingyue’s lips.