The Valley of Harmonious Rest lived up to its name.
They stumbled into it on the third day, exhausted and half dead, and found paradise waiting. The valley was small, maybe two miles across surrounded by steep mountains that kept it hidden even from above. A waterfall rushing down the high cliff and feeding multiple natural hot springs that terraced down the valley floor as thick warm mist hung in the air carrying the scent of minerals and wild flowers.
But what struck out to Longwei most was the energy.
Even with his shattered core, he could feel it. Yin and Yang in perfect balance here, flowing through the valley like breath and even the air itself seemed charged and alive, waiting to be cultivated.
"This place..." Mei's voice was in awe. "I can feel my Yin stabilizing just from just being here."
"The Yang is strong too." Longwei responded. "Lee Ping knew what he was talking about."
They found shelter in a cave near a larger hot spring maybe even the largest, with a cave that opened onto the steaming water. Someone had used this place before, there were faint traces of habitation. Old fire pits, carved shelves in the rock but with decades of being abandoned had reclaimed it.
It was perfect.
"We should rest," Mei said.
Longwei couldn't argue with that, his body was like a catalog of injuries and his core was barely holding together. He definitely needed time to heal and relax.
But more than that, they needed time to... Try... More.
And the valley's energy was a gift, cultivation here would be exponentially easier than anywhere else and If dual cultivation was going to work? Then this was the place.
"The hot spring first," he said. "Our wounds needs tending to."
Mei nodded, already moving toward the water, her movements was stiff with exhaustion. As she got to the spring's edge, she hesitated.
"Are you..." She paused. "Aren't you going to look away?"
Longwei met her eyes. "You do know we've seen each other naked, right?"
A ghost of a smile. "...Fair point."
She started undressing herself, clothes fell away revealing the body he'd touched, tasted and tried to fuck, but in the filtering lights he saw things he'd missed before, a thin scar on her back like a punishment mark. He also noticed the unnatural color of her skin, the way frost lingered on her fingertips even in the warm air.
She was equally as beautiful as broken.
Mei stepped into the hot spring and sighed, a sound of pure relief. "Oh gods... that's amazing."
Longwei followed stripping quickly while ignoring the protest of his ribs. The water was hot enough to sting and the moment he submerged, he felt something shift. The energy in the spring water felt like the were seeping into his meridians, easing his pain and begin healing.
They sat at opposite ends of the spring, the water between them standing like a border.
"Three days," Mei said after a while. "We made it."
"Barely."
"Barely counts." She leaned back against the smooth stone with her eyes closing. "I never thought I'd actually find this place, part of me always wondered if Lee made it up, a beautiful lie to give me hope."
"It's real."
"It's real," she echoed. Then quietly: "I wish he could have seen it."
Longwei let silence settle because what was there to say? The dead stayed dead, and wishes changed nothing.
But after a while he spoke again.
"Maybe he does see it, through you." He met her gaze from across the water, knowing that sounded dumb. "I mean, You survived and you're here and that's not nothing."
Fucking.. idiot, Longwei.
Mei's eyes dimmed but it was not quite tears, but it was close.
"You know something?" she said. "For someone who claims to be cold, you're surprisingly kind."
"Maybe..." He shifted in the water, moving closer. "Or maybe you bring out the good parts of me."
"Ohh... Is that what I'm doing?"
"Among other things."
The distance between them got smaller and smaller, Yin and Yang seeking balance.
Suddenly they now ended up side by side, shoulders barely touching beneath the water.
"Your ribs," Mei said suddenly. "Let me see them."
"They're fine..."
"They're not fine, I heard them grinding when you moved." Her hand found his side beneath the water, withfingers gently probing. "You're going to puncture a lung if we don't bind these properly."
She was probably right and the pain had been getting worse.
"I don't have bandages."
"We'll improvise." She rose from the water, unselfconscious in her nudity and walked up the cave with her petite ass moving like the water itself, it was beautiful. She returned moments later with strips torn from her inner robe. "Come here."
Longwei rose like a fucking good boy(Crazy), with water streaming off his body and let her work, her fingers were cold as usual as she wrapped the makeshift bandages around his torso, binding the damaged ribs. The contact was intimate despite its practicality, with her body close to his and her breath warm on his shoulder.
"You're getting better at this," he said.
"What? Treating injuries?"
"At touching me without flinching."
Her hands paused, then continued their work.
"I'm getting better at a lot of things where you're concerned," she admitted. "Trust, vulnerability... even letting someone see me weak." She tied off the bandage. "You make it feel... safe somehow."
"Safe." Longwei repeated. "No one's ever called me safe before."
"Maybe safe is the wrong word." Mei's hands remained on his chest with the palm flat over his torso. "Maybe what I mean is, you make me feel like trying won't destroy me."
Their eyes met again.
The air between them charged with something beyond the valley's natural energy... Lust and the inevitable pull of compatible cultivations and broken souls finding shelter in each other.
"We should try again," Mei said quietly. "Properly this time with no interruptions, no hunters, just us and the..."
Longwei's heart beat increased under her palm and she definitely could feel it.
"Are you ready?" he asked. "Last time..."
"Last time I panicked, I know." Her jaw set. "But I've been thinking about what you said. About energy flowing both ways, about partnership instead of parasitism." She took a breath. "I want to believe that and prove to myself that I can do this without killing someone."
"You won't kill me."
"You can't promise that."
"I can." He replied. "Besides, if it starts going wrong we'll stop like before."
Mei stared at him and then she nodded.
"Okay." She stepped back, moving toward the cave. "Let's do this properly then, the way the scripture describes."
"Let's get ready."
Inside the cave was warm from the heat in spring, with thick air filling the surroundings. Mei arranged their robes on the stone floor, creating a makeshift bed while Longwei reviewed the techniques in his mind with the positions and energy circulation patterns he'd memorized.
This time would be different, this time they had everything they needed. Compatible energies with a safe location and the foundation of trust they'd built through survival.
This time it would work.
It had to.
Mei settled onto the robes, sitting with her legs crossed and her back posture straight with her silver hair falling like a curtain around her shoulders, droplets of spring water still clinging to the strands. She was sexy and terrifying and utterly vulnerable.
Longwei sat across from her trying to mirror her position.
"We start slow," he said. "Hands first, and then build the resonance gradually. No rushing."
"No rushing," she agreed.
Their hands joined.
The connection was immediate and stronger than before, amplified by the valley's energy. His Yang reached for her Yin instinctively and this time, her Yin didn't retreat but instead It responded, flowing toward him and creating a current that ran through their joined palms.
"I feel it," Mei breathed. "It's stronger here."
"Much stronger." Longwei focused on the circulation pattern from the scripture. "Match my breathing, let the energy follow the breath."
They breathed together. IN. OUT. IN. OUT.
The current strengthened with each cycle. Yang flowing from him to her, Yin returning in a perfect loop. The exchange was balanced and mutual with neither taking more than they gave.
"It's working," Mei said with wonder in her voice. "It's actually..."
The energy spiked.
Mei's Yin surged suddenly responding to something deeper than conscious control as Ice formed on her skin, spreading from her hands up her arms. The cold was overwhelming, fighting against his Yang.
"Mei..."
"I'm trying!" Her eyes were wide in panicked. "I don't know why it's..."
"Your cultivation is starved." Longwei guessed. "It's been so long since you had Yang energy that your Yin is trying to devour everything at once."
"I can't control it..."
"Then don't." He tightened his grip on her hands. "Let it take what it needs, I'll give you everything."
"That's what killed Lee!"
"Lee Ping didn't have a choice, he couldn't control the flow." Longwei met her terrified gaze. "But I've studied the scripture and I know how to regulate so trust me, Mei. Let me help you."
She stared at him with ice crawling up her arms, her cultivation base spiraling toward that dangerous hunger.
Then she closed her eyes.
"Okay," she whispered. "Okay..."
Her Yin came at him like a flood.
Longwei gasped at the force of it, cold and vast and desperately hungry. It poured through their connection seeking his Yang, demanding it. Any normal cultivator would be drained dry in seconds.
But Longwei had nothing to drain because his core was already shattered and his reserves already depleted, all he had was that tiny spark, and it responded to her hunger not with fear but with eagerness.
And it surged to meet hers.
His energy rose from depths he didn't even know he had, being fed by the valley's, and channeled through the nascent flame in his core. He poured it into her through their joined hands, giving everything he could draw from the environment around them.
And something miraculous happened.
Her Yin stopped devouring and started receiving.
The difference was subtle but critical, Taking versus accepting. Parasitism versus partnership. The moment Mei's cultivation recognized that he was giving rather than being drained, the nature of the exchange shifted.
Balance began to form.
"Oh," Mei breathed, her eyes opened. "Oh, this is what it's supposed to feel like."
"Yes."
"I can feel you inside me. I... mean... I can feel your energy, your..." She laughed. "I guess you're healing me."
"We're healing each other."
His shattered core was responding to the influx of her Yin, using it to rebuild what Zhou Chen had destroyed. The spark was growing and feeding om their exchange, crystallizing it into something that might actually become a proper cultivation base again.
"We need to deepen the connection," Longwei said. "This is working but it's not enough, not yet."
He needed more.
Mei understood. "The next stage is Physical union."
"If you're ready."
She looked at him, looking past the techniques and desperation to the man beneath. Then leaned forward with a wicked smile.
"I'm ready."