Chapter 59: Chapter 59 - The Flawed Instruction Manual and the Unsolicited Merger

The demonic woman wasn’t entirely sure how much time had passed.

She sat straddling the pale, unconscious man. Her palms were pressed firmly flat against his chest.

She had carefully initiated the forbidden Yin-Yang Plucking technique, connecting her meridians to his to act as a metaphysical vacuum. Her goal was simple: siphon his warm Yang (life force) to save her own life.

But the process felt... weird.

Because this was her absolute first time attempting the technique, she had no practical experience to draw from. Her only point of reference was the dog-eared Demonic Sect training manual her Master had given her before sending her into the mortal realm.

According to the manual: "When you successfully connect your meridians to the Human Cauldron, you will feel a violent, overwhelming rush of Qi. The transfer is intense. You will feel dizzy, lightheaded, and breathless from the sheer volume of energy passing between you."

Currently, the woman felt a massive, rushing river of Qi roaring through her meridians. She was incredibly dizzy, her vision was swimming, and her knees felt like jelly.

’It’s working!’ she thought. Her eyes widened in awe as a flush spread across her cheeks. ’The manual was right! The euphoria of Yang-plucking is overwhelming!’

In truth, the moment she connected her meridians and attempted to forcefully extract energy from Su Bai, his Reversal Body registered a "Hostile Extraction." It instantly, violently inverted the transaction.

Instead of giving up his Yang, Su Bai’s Dantian turned into a localized black hole. It aggressively pulled her Yin Qi backward through the very channel she had just opened.

And yes.

She wasn’t experiencing euphoria. She was experiencing severe spiritual blood loss.

She was actively being drained dry.

However, this catastrophic misunderstanding created a completely accidental miracle.

The woman cultivated a highly flawed Demonic technique that relied on Extreme Demonic Yin Qi. This Qi was notoriously volatile and freezing.

Her Dantian had become incredibly imbalanced. The frostbite was slowly spreading through her meridians, threatening to shatter her core entirely. The "standard" demonic fix was to steal warm Yang energy to balance the extreme cold.

She tried to balance the equation by adding Yang.

Instead, Su Bai’s black-hole Dantian balanced her equation by aggressively subtracting the excess Yin.

The mathematical result was exactly the same. As Su Bai’s Reversal Body vacuumed the deadly, freezing Yin Qi out of her body, the frostbite in her Dantian completely vanished.

Her meridians miraculously thawed. For the first time since she began cultivating, her foundation was pure, warm, and incredibly stable.

’I feel amazing...’ the demonic woman thought, completely misinterpreting the sensation. ’My foundation is healed! I just need a little bit more...’

It was then that she finally glanced inward and noticed the actual problem.

Her Dantian wasn’t just healed... it was almost entirely empty. Her Qi wasn’t increasing. It was plummeting at a terrifying rate.

"Wait. That’s not right,’" her eyes widened in sudden, creeping horror. She tried to pull her hands away from his chest. "Wait, stop! Unplug! How do I unplug?!"

By the time she realized her Dantian was being siphoned instead of filled, she was far too weak to break the magnetic connection of the Reversal Body. Her vision went entirely black.

With a soft, pathetic groan, the demonic woman passed out. She collapsed directly onto Su Bai’s chest.

...

The next morning, pale sunlight filtered through the mouth of the cavern.

Su Bai slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he registered was a heavy, warm weight pressing down on his chest.

His corporate survival instincts flared instantly. He snapped fully awake. He prepared to summon a Qi needle, only to pause in profound confusion.

Lying on top of his naked upper body, dead to the world, was a young woman with messy dark hair.

Su Bai blinked. He looked around the cave. A dead fire. A makeshift fur bed.

He carefully lifted his head and looked down at his own body. His tattered, scorched robes were gone.

His abdomen which had been pierced by a Golden Core sword was no longer a bleeding, leaking mess of crude rags. It had been expertly cleaned, and professionally wrapped in fresh white bandages.

Su Bai closed his eyes and scanned his internals.

His eyes flew wide open.

His Dantian wasn’t just sealed. It was completely repaired. The Withered Weeds Ash had countered the leak, but something else had flooded his system with a massive wave of Qi, which violently accelerated his physical healing.

He felt incredibly lively, and his Qi reserves were brimming with energy.

He looked down at the sleeping woman drooling slightly onto his chest. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

’She healed me,’ Su Bai realized as a wave of genuine shock washed over him.

He gently held the woman by the shoulders, then carefully shifted her off his chest and laid her down on the fur bed. As he did, he used a sliver of Spiritual Sense to check her condition.

He frowned deeply. Her meridians were stable, but her Dantian was completely and utterly depleted. She didn’t have a single drop of Qi left in her system.

Su Bai immediately felt a massive, heavy twinge of guilt.

In the ruthless cultivation world, Qi was life. To completely deplete one’s own Dantian to heal a total stranger was an act of unimaginable, selfless sacrifice. It was an investment with zero guaranteed ROI.

’She must have found me bleeding in the snow, dragged me in here, bandaged me, and then exhausted her entire cultivation base just to repair my shattered Dantian,’ Su Bai concluded. He completely misinterpreted the crime scene. ’And she passed out from the sheer physical and spiritual exhaustion of saving my life.’

Su Bai let out a long, heavy sigh. He didn’t know how to properly repay a Karmic Debt of this magnitude. He couldn’t just leave her a bag of spirit stones and walk out.

He decided to wait. He sat cross-legged near the cold fire pit, silently guarding the cave until she woke up.

...

Several hours later, the demonic woman groaned softly.

Her eyelids fluttered open. She stared up at the rocky ceiling of the cave. Her brain was sluggishly trying to reboot.

She felt incredibly weak. Her limbs were heavy as lead, exactly like she had just run a marathon while holding her breath.

She instinctively checked her Dantian. Empty. Not a single drop of Qi.

The memories of the previous night came rushing back. The massive, terrifying suction, the inability to disconnect, the realization that her "Human Cauldron" was actually a bottomless abyss.

She tried to push her lethargic body into a sitting position. Her heart pounded with sheer, unadulterated terror. She had tried to pluck a monster, and the monster had eaten her cultivation instead.

It was then that a deep, calm voice echoed through the cave.

"You’re awake. How are you feeling?"

The demonic woman froze. She slowly turned her head.

Sitting by the fire pit, fully dressed in his spare robes and looking perfectly healthy, was the handsome monster. He was looking at her with a strangely intense, solemn expression.

Immediately, the demonic woman broke into a freezing cold sweat.