Chapter 15

The Daoist Ji Yuan was a strange and notorious figure in the martial world. He acted however he pleased and came across as mad. The righteous sects had no interest in associating with him, and the dark ones feared being stabbed in the back. He drifted outside both good and evil. Even though he was skilled in medicine, no one dared to ask for his help.

Bu Nian and his men arrived at a crumbling temple deep in the mountains of Qingzhou. They knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered. Song Qiao lost his patience and was about to push the door open when Bu Nian stopped him.

“Be careful. That mad old Daoist is cunning. The Emperor sent the prefect of Qingzhou to get medicine from him, and the man was trapped here for three days. He even lost part of his little finger.”

Song Qiao’s expression changed slightly. When he pushed the door again, he did it with much more caution.

Overgrown weeds surrounded the temple, and moss covered the stone steps. It looked as if no one had been here in ages. When the door finally opened, the view inside matched the outside. Desolate and worn down.

Could someone really be living in a place like this?

Lian Ai tugged at Bu Nian’s sleeve. “General, may I wait outside?”

Bu Nian looked around. “That Old Daoist hurt the prefect. He probably fled in the night. This place is likely empty. You can come in.”

Since he had said so, Lian Ai did not protest and followed him into the temple.

The inside was even worse than the outside, filled with a stale smell of mold and herbs that made one nauseous.

Song Qiao led the men to search the rooms. Bu Nian stood before the statue of the Grand Supreme Elderly Lord in the main hall. He stepped forward and brushed his finger across the offering table. Only a thin layer of dust remained.

Lian Ai followed him and saw it too. He let out a soft “huh.” “This table doesn’t look like it’s been unused for long. Did the Daoist just leave a day or two ago?”

Bu Nian rubbed his fingertips together, his expression suddenly tightening. He turned to call for Song Qiao, but it was too late. The floor beneath him gave way, and he fell straight through. Lian Ai, who had been standing close to him, was dragged down as well.

Bu Nian reacted quickly. In midair, he adjusted his posture, caught Lian Ai around the waist, and gathered inner strength in his feet. The next moment, they both landed steadily on the ground. At the same time their feet touched the bottom, the trapdoor above them closed shut.

Everything around them was pitch black and silent. Lian Ai lay in Bu Nian’s arms, hearing nothing but their breathing and heartbeats.

“General?” Lian Ai gripped the edge of his robe uneasily.

“What did you touch just now?”

Lian Ai must have triggered a mechanism by accident. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have fallen so suddenly.

“I thought the incense burner looked strange, so I gave it a tug…” His voice grew softer with every word, clearly aware he had caused trouble.

Once Bu Nian’s eyes adjusted to the dark, he pulled Lian Ai and walked toward a concealed door. “That Daoist Ji Yuan probably never left the temple. He must have been hiding underground to avoid suspicion.”

They walked down the hidden passage for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. They did not encounter any more traps, but there was still no sign of the Daoist.

Just as Lian Ai was starting to think the path had no end, a faint light appeared ahead. Their pace quickened without them realizing it.

They passed through another door and arrived at the source of the light, a round chamber the color of packed earth, shaped like a kiln. The entrance was blocked by an iron cage. Iron bars stood on both sides, above, and in front, sealing off all exits.

At the center of the chamber stood a massive alchemy furnace. Lamps burned in each corner, casting a dim glow across the room.

“Get back!” Bu Nian had barely said the first word when the sound of a mechanism clicked behind them. By the time he finished speaking, their retreat had already been sealed.

They were now completely trapped, like fish in a barrel.

“General, look!” Lian Ai shouted in alarm. On the far side, another hidden door opened. A thin, hunched old man stepped out and began walking toward them.

Bu Nian had been feeling around the stone door for a way to open it. When he heard Lian Ai’s startled voice, he turned. The moment he saw the old man, his gaze sharpened.

“Old Daoist Ji Yuan?”

The old man let out a raspy laugh. As he came closer, they noticed his eyes were clouded white. He was blind.

He carried a massive hump on his back, and his height barely reached Bu Nian’s waist.

“The old Emperor sent someone for medicine again? With that body of his, what’s there left to fix? He must have a death wish.” His tone was full of contempt. “Sending back the prefect of Qingzhou in pieces wasn’t enough. Now he sends a general for me to break. Let me guess… your surname is Bu?”

Bu Nian stood behind the iron bars and answered, “It is.”

“I knew it. He thinks just because he chose an official with ties to the martial world, I’d listen?” The Daoist turned his gaze to Lian Ai. “And you? No martial skill. You smell faintly of perfume. Who are you?”

Though his eyes were blind, they seemed to land directly on Lian Ai’s face. It was as if he could see him clearly.

Lian Ai shifted his eyes away, unable to meet the stare. “I’m the general’s bedslave.”

Old Daoist Ji Yuan was stunned for a moment upon hearing that. But then he threw his head back and burst into laughter.

“A crooked top beam makes a crooked lower beam. The Emperor sends a general to beg for an aphrodisiac, and the general brings his bedwarmer right into the old Daoist’s trap. Brilliant. Just brilliant.”

He slapped his thigh madly as he laughed, revealing a mouth full of rotting black teeth. It was a sight hard to stomach.

Lian Ai shrank back, chilled to the bone, and instinctively moved behind Bu Nian.

Bu Nian said, “Before I left, His Majesty gifted me one hundred taels of gold. If the Daoist is willing to hand over the medicine and let us leave, all one hundred will be yours.”

Lian Ai was stunned. For a common household, even two taels of silver could cover a year’s expenses. And now the Emperor was offering a hundred taels of gold for some miraculous drug just to keep himself hard?

No wonder the general was so furious. His Majesty was utterly absurd.

“Oh my, how generous of him.” The old Daoist twitched his nose like he was sniffing something in the air. “To be honest, I am quite tempted.”

Lian Ai’s heart eased a little. He thought the deal was accepted, that they would be given the medicine and allowed to leave. But what came next froze both of them in place.

The Daoist turned to Bu Nian, a wicked gleam flashing through his eyes.

“It’s been a long time since I came across such fine ingredients for pill-making. It would be a shame not to squeeze a little more out of you. A real waste.”

Lian Ai felt a chill run down his spine the moment he heard those words. His back bristled with cold sweat, and he couldn’t help asking, “Daoist, what do you mean by that?”

The Daoist Ji Yuan ignored him and turned toward the alchemy furnace. When he reached it, he pulled out a handful of herbs from his robe and tossed them carelessly into the embers beneath the ashes.

Moments later, the herbs caught fire from the sparks and began to burn slowly.

The Daoist rubbed his hands together, his face full of excitement. “The aphrodisiac the Emperor wants, I don’t have it right now. But I can make it for you. Of course, to refine a pill, you need the right materials. Especially for the Emperor. The ingredients must be of the highest quality.”

Bu Nian’s expression had already gone cold after that suggestive remark earlier. Now, seeing the old man add something into the furnace, his face turned even darker.

“I wonder which part of my body the Daoist plans to use as an ingredient?” He was silently gathering his inner energy, ready to strike the moment the old man got close.

But to his surprise, Ji Yuan didn’t come any closer. Instead, he turned and walked back the way he came, just about to disappear into the hidden passage.

“For a virility pill, of course I’ll need a man’s essence.” He grinned, his face wrinkling somewhere between comical and grotesque. Lian Ai instantly felt a sense of dread. Just as he was about to speak again, their eyes met. The malicious gleam in the Daoist’s blind gaze struck him so hard he couldn’t help but tremble.

With a gentle tone, Ji Yuan said, “Do a good job of milking him. Once it’s full, I’ll come back.”

A sickly sweet smell began to spread in the chamber. Lian Ai knew it was coming from the furnace.

The Daoist’s words were both sinister and absurd, leaving him unsure whether this was meant to humiliate Bu Nian or if the old man truly intended to extract his seed for alchemy.

With every breath he took, a strange heat began to rise in his chest. He tugged open his collar. Out of the corner of his eye, he happened to catch sight of Bu Nian gripping the iron bars, his veins bulging, and fury carved deep across his face.

Trapped in a cage like a beast, and now possibly forced to rut like one, this was not just humiliation. For Bu Nian, it was a grudge carved into his bones.

He had earned his fame young, rising swiftly to power. Aside from the Emperor, everyone on the imperial court treated him with deference. He didn’t even bother showing respect to lords and princesses. And now, he had fallen into the hands of a deranged old Daoist.

The more he thought about it, the more enraged he became. He turned toward the door the old Daoist had vanished through and let out a furious roar.

“Ji Yuan!”

Lian Ai hadn’t been prepared. That inner-force-laced roar sent a sharp ringing through his ears. He dropped to his knees on the spot, clutching his chest in discomfort as the taste of blood rose to his tongue.

“General!” he cried out in alarm.

Bu Nian’s reckless surge of internal energy caused the drug to take full effect in an instant. Within a few breaths, the aphrodisiac had completely activated. His breathing grew rough, and his body slowly collapsed to the ground. His forehead pressed against the cold iron bars, yet it did nothing to cool the burning heat inside him.

Lian Ai had already pulled his clothes half off, the fabric hanging in tatters. He wasn’t unfamiliar with aphrodisiacs, but nothing this intense had ever hit him before.

With such potency, sheer willpower would never be enough to resist it.

His hazy eyes opened slightly. He reached out, fingertips trembling, almost brushing Bu Nian’s skin. But just before he could touch him, Bu Nian sensed it and gritted out, “Don’t touch me.”

Startled by his tone, Lian Ai flinched. His fingers tensed and curled back, their pale tips tinged pink like tender peony buds.

The heat surged through his body like a wildfire, devouring every corner of his mind. His grip on reason loosened. One hand rubbed his nipples, tugging and twisting, while the other slid down to grasp his stiffened cock and began to stroke.

But he had been trained to endure, his body wired to resist release. No matter how long he touched himself, it brought no satisfaction. Frustration welled up in his chest, and he let out a soft, weeping moan.

That sound, delicate and teasing like feathers brushing against a man’s heart, was enough to undo the self-control of any listener, let alone someone already gripped by the drug’s full effect.

Bu Nian clenched his jaw, sweat breaking out across his temples. He could shut his eyes, but he couldn’t block out the string of whimpers that slipped into his ears.

Lian Ai’s robes had fallen loose, fabric gathered at his elbows. His face was flushed, his hairpin long gone, and his ink-black hair spilled down his back like a veil.

Tiny beads of sweat clung to the pale slope of his collarbone, glistening like morning dew. His flushed, stiff nipples peeked out like flower stamens kissed by that dew, inviting indulgence.

“General…” He didn’t know what else to do. He could only murmur Bu Nian’s name softly, hoping to be spared.

That soft plea was the final crack. Something snapped inside Bu Nian, and his eyes flew open, burning red.

Even in his dazed state, being locked under a gaze like that was terrifying. Lian Ai instinctively shrank back, trying to crawl away, but it was already too late.

Bu Nian grabbed his ankle and dragged him close. He yanked down the loose undergarments and pushed his body between Lian Ai’s thighs.

Even though his body yearned to be entered, Lian Ai’s mind still recoiled in fear, remembering all too clearly the pain that came with it.

“Tighten your legs,” Bu Nian growled.

He didn’t go in. Instead, he pressed Lian Ai’s thighs together, forcing his aching cock between them.

He panted heavily as he thrust between the tender flesh of Lian Ai’s thighs. His thick cock rubbed along the soft skin near the base, occasionally bumping into Lian Ai’s balls and twitching shaft. The sensation was unbearable, a mix of aching pleasure and torment that made his body tremble.