The Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion did not stand up with the others.
He stood his ground, staring fixedly at Jerry for a long time. The daze of losing his mountain gate receded from his face, replaced by a slowly coalescing suspicion.
He raised his hand to weave a deduction mudra before him, three golden hexagrams spinning upon his fingertips.
"Strange." His fingers flicked the hexagrams twice. "Little wizard. You claim you came here to cooperate in defusing the bombs, and that establishing your dominance was merely to get us to listen to you. But just now, I deduced the causal threads of your actions. The first thing you blew up was my Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's mountain gate. Causally speaking, if you wished to demonstrate your might, you should have struck the Taixu Sword Sect, the strongest faction present. To establish dominance, one picks the hardest bone to gnaw; that is common sense. Yet you deliberately blew up my Heavenly Secrets Pavilion first."
The corner of Jerry's mouth twitched.
"Old man, your divination skills aren't bad."
"So there is a personal grudge involved." The Pavilion Master's hexagrams spun even faster. "You and my Heavenly Secrets Pavilion have bad blood between us."
Hearing this, the cultivators across the venue refocused their gazes upon Jerry.
Jerry looked at the Pavilion Master.
"I am that outsider. When I was completely in the dark, your Heavenly Secrets Pavilion tried to have me killed. I didn't die. Today, standing here, blowing up your mountain gate first certainly served to establish authority. But more importantly, it was pure revenge."
The Pavilion Master's face changed. He spun around abruptly, bellowing toward all the cultivators across the venue.
"Fellow Daoists! This boy harbors personal vendettas and carries murderous intent! Who knows if his talk of cooperating to defuse bombs isn't merely a stalling tactic! I have divined the heavenly secrets: this boy has ulterior motives for staying here! Do not fall for his one-sided claims! Our urgent priority is to seize him first, and then interrogate him for the method to defuse the bombs!"
Incited by the Pavilion Master's rhetoric, the atmosphere shifted once more.
Tens of thousands of spiritual auras coalesced anew, countless artifacts were summoned once more, and the murderous intent across the gorge plaza surged to its absolute peak again.
Standing in the center of the dais, enveloped in tens of thousands of murderous glares, Jerry showed not a shred of panic. He even yawned.
"Seize me?" He held his wand loosely in his hand. "You just saw a single shield of mine rebound the grand signature array of the Taixu Sword Sect. If all tens of thousands of you swarm me together, it will merely mean I have to reflect it a few more times. In the end, the ones dying will still be your own people."
The Nascent Soul titans atop the dais fell silent.
Naturally, they had seen it. Jerry's prowess had completely exceeded the comprehension of everyone present. Catching the combined strike of three thousand sword cultivators with a single shield and rebounding it intact—with that kind of power, swarming him en masse would likely result in hordes of their own cultivators dying by their own reflected strikes, while Jerry emerged completely unscathed.
The Sect Master of the Taixu Sword Sect clutched his chest, squeezing words through gritted teeth.
"Outnumbering an opponent brings no glory in victory. Even if we seize him, it would become the laughingstock of the cultivation realm."
The stout Abbot of the Great Thunder Sound Temple pressed his palms together.
"Fellow Daoist of the Sword Sect speaks truly. We are the faces of our respective sects; mobbing a lone youth would sound disgraceful if word spread."
The Hall Master of Lunar Radiance Hall spoke up, her voice as cool as moonlight.
"Then let us elect a representative to duel him one-on-one. If we win, he must obediently surrender the method to defuse the bombs and submit to our judgment. If we lose, we shall trust him this once and cooperate to defuse the explosives."
This proposal garnered the assent of the majority on the dais.
Jerry shrugged.
"Fine by me. Not like I'm busy anyway. Three quarters of an hour is plenty of time. Pick someone."
The titans atop the dais exchanged glances. The Taixu Sect Master had just been injured by the rebound and could not fight. The Great Thunder Sound Abbot was far too aged, and Buddhist arts leaned heavily toward defense. The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion Master specialized in deduction rather than direct combat. The guest delegates from foreign realms were outsiders, making it inappropriate for them to intervene.
Just as deliberations stalled, a female cultivator who had been sitting quietly in the corner of the dais, not having uttered a single word from start to finish, rose to her feet.
"I will do it."
Every gaze across the venue locked onto her.
Seeing the woman stand, Yin Luo's expression shifted slightly on the cliff terrace.
"Xuan Shuang..."
That female cultivator was Xuan Shuang. Sect Master of the Xuan Shuang Sword Sect, late Nascent Soul Great Perfection. She had been stuck at the Great Perfection bottleneck for over a century, ranking among the renowned veteran powerhouses of the Xuantian Realm. She and Yin Luo were old acquaintances, having cooperated in a secret realm a century ago, their relationship relatively familiar.
Xuan Shuang stepped down from the dais, stopping directly across from Jerry.
"Little wizard. Your 'Master' and I are old acquaintances," Xuan Shuang's tone was remarkably calm. "She is watching from the terrace. If I injure you, she will likely come looking to settle accounts with me. Therefore, I shall pull my punches. You, too, should tone down your arrogance."
"My 'Master'?" Jerry paused, glancing back toward the cliff terrace.
Yin Luo mouthed a word to him from the terrace: "Careful."
Jerry withdrew his gaze, turning back to Xuan Shuang.
"No need to pull your punches," he raised his wand. "Go all out. When I fight, I prefer finding a secluded spot. Saves bystanders from getting hurt."
His left hand rose.
His left hand held no wand—it was completely empty. Five fingers spread wide, pointing toward the stone surface of the dais beneath their feet. A surge of grey-black magic poured from his palm, spreading across the floor to form a black circle thirty feet in diameter. The instant the ring formed, the space beneath their boots distorted, and in the next heartbeat, both vanished from the dais.
It was not teleportation. It was spatial folding.
Using wandless magic, Jerry had folded himself and Xuan Shuang into an isolated spatial pocket. This pocket adhered to the surface of real space, separated from reality by a barrier of magical energy. From the outside, Jerry and Xuan Shuang still appeared to stand on the dais, but their figures were blurred, as if veiled by thin mist. In truth, both had entered a shadowy dimensional fold impervious to external divine senses and naked eyes alike.
The cultivators across the venue attempted to pierce the mist with divine sense, only to find their mental probes deflected back upon contact.
The Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion wove divination mudras, turning pale.
"...I cannot divine it. I cannot divine what is happening inside. This young wizard has sealed the battlefield into a pocket dimension we cannot interfere with."
Inside the shadowy dimension.
Jerry and Xuan Shuang stood amidst an endless grey-black void. No solid ground below, no sky above, only boundless swirling grey-black fog. This was an independent battlefield Jerry had forged from pure magic; here, his mastery over space reached its zenith.
"Intriguing," Xuan Shuang surveyed the grey-black void. "Folding out an isolated battlefield so our duel won't harm bystanders. This consideration of yours is quite unlike your 'Master.' When she fights, she never cares whether bystanders get caught in the crossfire."
"I'm not like her," Jerry raised his wand in his right hand, his left hand spreading open at his side. "She's a scoundrel. I'm much more reasonable."
"You call your own 'Master' a scoundrel."
"She calls herself a scoundrel too. It's an affectionate pet name between us."
Xuan Shuang let out a laugh. She drew her Natal Flying Sword from her storage pouch—a pristine, snow-white longsword coated in an eternal layer of permafrost. Levelling the blade before her chest, the frost spread instantly, causing the temperature within the shadowy void to plummet, turning the grey fog into countless drifting ice crystals.
"En garde."
Xuan Shuang's blade moved.
The snow-white sword-gleam carved an arc through the void, freezing the air along its trajectory into a ribbon of solid ice. The strike was blindingly fast, arriving before Jerry's face before he could even blink.
Jerry's right hand flicked his wand, casting a shield. Simultaneously, his left hand discharged a wandless Stupefy toward Xuan Shuang.
The shield blocked the sword-light. The Stunning Spell shot toward Xuan Shuang.
This was Jerry's dual-handed casting technique. Right hand wielding the wand for power, high precision, and complex high-tier incantations; left hand casting wandlessly for rapid, instant interference without the need to aim. Operating simultaneously—one attacking, one defending; one feinting, one striking—making it impossible for opponents to anticipate his true vector.
Xuan Shuang twisted her blade, the frost congealing into an ice shield to deflect the Stunner. But the moment she blocked it, Jerry's right-hand wand had already traced a second spell.
Incendio.
A fiery serpent surged from Jerry's wand tip, lunging straight for Xuan Shuang's ice shield. The fire crashed into the ice, rapidly melting it, but Xuan Shuang's sword was a step faster; slipping from behind the melting shield before it completely dissolved, her blade pointed straight at Jerry's throat.
Jerry's left hand caught the flat of Xuan Shuang's blade.
His palm, coated in a protective membrane of grey-black magic, grabbed the frost-covered Natal Sword barehanded. The freezing aura tried to freeze his flesh, but was rebuffed by his magical ward.
"Catching my sword?" Xuan Shuang arched an eyebrow. "Bold."
"Your sword is gorgeous," Jerry gripped the steel, yet his wand was leveled right at her chest. "But you forgot I have another hand."
Jerry discharged a Banishing Charm point-blank from his wand. The concussive blast struck Xuan Shuang square in the chest, throwing her backward. Yet mid-flight, her left hand wove a sword seal, causing the ambient ice crystals throughout the void to converge on Jerry, coalescing into thousands of tiny ice daggers that rained upon him from all directions.
Jerry released the blade, casting with both hands at once. His wand conjured a spinning shield, while his left hand threw up a wall of flame. The shield blocked the frontal assault, while the fire melted the blades from the flanks and rear. But there were simply too many daggers; several slipped through the seams, slicing through Jerry's grey robe, leaving minor gashes along his arms and shoulders.
Jerry hissed in pain.
"Your sect's sword arts are remarkably tenacious."
"The Xuan Shuang Sword Sect cultivates glacial sword-intent. Once a battlefield becomes a frost domain, every inch of space is my weapon," Xuan Shuang touched down, the Natal Sword returning to her hand. "Little wizard, your magic is potent, but your combat experience is lacking. You grabbed my blade trying to suppress me in close quarters, forgetting that as a sword cultivator, close combat is precisely my forte."
The duel raged for nearly a quarter of an hour.
Jerry's dual-handed casting dominated the opening exchanges. His magical system was completely alien to Xuan Shuang; every spell's activation, energy trajectory, and burst cadence differed from cultivation arts, forcing her to expend extra mental focus to anticipate and counter. Capitalizing on this, Jerry disrupted her tempo with wandless left-hand hexes while delivering precision strikes with his wand, forcing Xuan Shuang into tight spots multiple times.
Yet Xuan Shuang was, after all, a veteran powerhouse who had been steeped in Nascent Soul Great Perfection for over a century. Her combat experience vastly outstripped Jerry's. After suffering a few minor setbacks early on, she gradually decoded his dual-casting patterns. She realized that while his wandless left hand struck fast, its power was limited; all lethal strikes originated from the wand in his right hand. Thus, she adapted her tactics, no longer reacting to his left-hand feints, focusing all her attention on pinning down his right hand.
The turning point arrived in the sixteenth minute.
Jerry's wand unleashed a compressed variant of the Demonic Sun, blasting toward Xuan Shuang—his most devastating spell. Xuan Shuang did not evade; instead, she charged head-on into the fireball. Before it could detonate, her Natal Sword pierced the core of the sphere. Glacial sword-intent poured from the tip into the flame, freezing its energy matrix from the inside out. Robbed of its explosive potential upon being frozen, the fireball dissolved into harmless, drifting embers.
Jerry froze for an instant. He never expected Xuan Shuang to neutralize his Demonic Sun in such a manner.
And in that single heartbeat of hesitation, the tide turned.
Xuan Shuang's blade was already before his throat. The frost crawling along the steel snaked around his right hand before he could react. The glacial chill crept up his forearm, freezing his right arm in mid-air, rendering his wand completely immobile.
Jerry's left hand immediately fired a wandless spell, but Xuan Shuang's other hand was already waiting. Weaving a sword mudra, an icy beam of sword-intent cleanly pinned the magical conduits of his left palm.
Both hands neutralized at once.
Jerry's dual-handed casting had become his fatal flaw. With both arms immobilized, he was stripped of all casting ability.
The tip of Xuan Shuang's sword rested against Jerry's throat.
"I win," she said flatly.
Silence fell over the shadowy dimension. Jerry's frozen right hand still held his wand aloft, his sealed left hand hung by his flank, and a frost-rimed sword pressed against his throat. His grey robe was slashed in several places by ice daggers, blood seeping from his arms and shoulders.
"...A miscalculation," Jerry let out a wry chuckle. "I relied too heavily on dual casting. Once you shut down both hands, I had nowhere left to turn."
"You are young. Combat experience takes time to accumulate." Xuan Shuang lowered her blade from his throat. The frost on his right arm melted away, restoring mobility to his limbs.
Jerry flexed his numbed fingers, somewhat surprised.
"You're not going to kill me?"
"Why would I kill you?" Xuan Shuang stowed her Natal Sword into her storage pouch. "I have no desire to fight this war."
Jerry stared at her.
"You volunteered to duel me earlier... just to..."
"To isolate you somewhere no one could see, so I could talk to you privately." Xuan Shuang took two paces through the grey-black void. "Your trick of folding the battlefield into an independent space actually did me a massive favor. Now, none of the people outside can see us, and none can hear us. Perfect timing."
Jerry relaxed slightly, though his wand remained in his hand.
"Talk about what?"
"A transaction," Xuan Shuang turned around. "Little wizard. I have been stuck at the Nascent Soul Great Perfection realm for one hundred and seven years. I have less than three centuries of lifespan remaining. If I fail to break through to the Soul Formation realm before my lifespan expires, I will perish into dust. Over these one hundred and seven years, I have tried every conceivable method—spirit pills, secret realms, ancient scriptures, serendipitous encounters—all entirely useless. My bottleneck does not lie in the accumulation of spiritual energy, but at the level of the Dao. I cannot see the path forward."
She paused.
"Until I saw your magic."
Jerry raised an eyebrow.
"The spells you cast earlier—their energy system differs entirely from that of cultivators. You heed no meridians, no Five Elements, no circulation of heaven-and-earth spiritual Qi. You walk an entirely distinct Dao," an urgent edge appeared in Xuan Shuang's voice for the first time. "I have studied the cultivation Dao my entire life, and I have hit a dead end. But your Dao represents a completely uncharted path for me. If I can glean even a shred of comprehension distinct from cultivation from your magical system, perhaps... perhaps I can discover the direction to break through to the Soul Formation realm."
"So you want to learn magic from me?"
"I cannot learn your magic. Our constitutions differ; I possess no magical circuits within me," Xuan Shuang shook her head. "I do not seek to learn magic. What I want is to understand the 'Dao' underpinning your magic. Even a fleeting insight. To me, that could be the catalyst for my breakthrough."
Jerry fell silent for a moment.
"What you want, I can give. But I have conditions of my own."
"Name them."
"First, when we emerge from this duel, you must announce that you defeated me, but that you chose to trust me this once and are willing to cooperate in defusing the bombs. That way, the titans on the dais will agree to work with me. Second, once the bombs are cleared, you must cast a dissenting vote during the Alliance Summit against escalating the war."
Xuan Shuang pondered for a moment.
"The first condition, I accept. But the second..." she frowned. "If I say I won, things must align with a victor's standing. A victor offering to trust you once to defuse bombs is reasonable. But if I, as the victor, subsequently vote against the war, it will make my stance appear compromised, and the other sects will suspect collusion between us."
"Then we reverse it," Jerry amended. "When you step out, say that our duel ended in a draw. In a draw, neither side took advantage of the other, making your stance unassailable. Then, as an equal, you can propose granting me an opportunity to prove my sincerity by taking the lead in defusing the bombs. That way, it doesn't look like you lost, nor does it look like you're in league with me."
Xuan Shuang looked at Jerry, a smile touching her lips.
"That brain of yours works far better than your 'Master's.'"
"My 'Master' is fierce in a brawl, but useless when it comes to thinking," Jerry slipped his wand into his sleeve. "She admits it herself."
"Then the deal is struck," Xuan Shuang extended her hand. "As for comprehending your Dao of magic, once the bombs are dismantled and the summit concludes, you shall instruct me privately."
Jerry looked at her outstretched hand, not taking it immediately.
"There is one more matter I must clarify," he stared at Xuan Shuang. "The way I comprehend the Dao of magic might differ from what you imagine. We wizards grasp magic through extreme emotional fluctuations. Fury, terror, ecstasy, desire—these extreme emotions render magic vastly more active, making it far easier to touch the essence of magic. If you wish to glean comprehension of the Dao from me, it might require..."
He paused, as though choosing his words carefully.
"...some rather direct methods."
Xuan Shuang arched an eyebrow.
"How direct?"
"Extremely direct."
Silence hung in the shadowy void for two seconds.
Looking at this boy a head shorter than her who had played tens of thousands of cultivators for fools, Xuan Shuang suddenly laughed.
"I have lived for many years," she said. "What direct method have I not witnessed? Speak plainly; don't mince words—it doesn't suit someone trained by your 'Master.'"
"You want to know the Dao of magic?" Jerry dropped his negotiating expression, replacing it with an intensely solemn, deadpan face. "Then I must first explain the core principle behind how wizards comprehend magic."
"Speak."
"A wizard's magic is, in essence, an energy fueled by emotion. Ordinary spells rely on stable emotions and precise incantations. But the true, profound Dao of magic relies on the absolute release of emotion." Jerry paced two steps through the grey-black void with his hands behind his back, looking every bit like a Hogwarts professor on a lecture dais. "And among all emotions, one is uniquely profound. It encompasses pleasure alongside release, building through accumulation toward an explosive climax. When this emotion is released, magical activity is tenfold its normal state."
Xuan Shuang stared at him.
"What emotion?"
"Sexual release," Jerry stated with absolute conviction. "We wizards call it the 'Primal Surge.' At the peak of sexual release, a wizard's magic resonates directly with the essence of magic itself. If you wish to comprehend the Dao of magic, the swiftest method is to use your Nascent Soul to perceive the fluctuations of my magic at the exact moment I release my Primal Surge."
Yin Luo naturally could not hear their conversation inside the folded space. If she could, she would likely roll across the cliff terrace laughing herself to tears, shouting, This little bastard is making up complete bullshit!
Yet Xuan Shuang had no way of knowing. She knew nothing of the wizarding magical system; whatever Jerry said, she took at face value.
She contemplated for a moment.
"Meaning that I need to... focus my Nascent Soul entirely on sensing the magic inside you at the moment of your release."
"Correct."
"And how do I get you to 'release'?"
Jerry cleared his throat.
"Well, as for that..." He paused, a subtle shift finally cracking through his deadpan facade. "I lost our duel earlier, so I'm feeling quite pent up. We wizards have an old saying: the most powerful Primal Surge is born from the most turbulent emotions. Right now I'm frustrated and indignant—the prime state to discharge a Primal Surge. All you need to do is help me release it, and you will perceive the strongest magical resonance."
Xuan Shuang looked at him, a flicker of doubt in her eyes, but overwhelmed by a desperate willingness to try anything now that she had come this far. A bottleneck of one hundred and seven years had driven her to gamble on any possible breakthrough.
"How do I help you release it?"
Jerry unbuckled his belt.
His trousers dropped to his knees.
In the dim dimension, his cock sprang free from his waistband. Against the grey-black void, the thick shaft stood out with startling clarity. Xuan Shuang's gaze fell upon his erection, and for the first time, a pronounced ripple shattered her usually tranquil expression.
"...This is."
"This is where it needs to be released," Jerry said as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "You help me vent the pent-up Primal Surge inside. The moment I release it, you tune in with your Nascent Soul."
Xuan Shuang fell silent for several seconds. She had seen more of the world than everyone at the summit combined, yet the sheer size of what lay between this boy's legs completely defied her expectations.
"Are you certain this is how wizards comprehend magic, and not just some fabrication cooked up to take advantage of me?"
"Absolutely certain," Jerry maintained an expression devoid of guilt. "We have a dedicated course at Hogwarts titled 'The Primal Surge and Its Relationship to Advanced Magic.' Required curriculum for fifth-years."
"What is Hogwarts?"
"Our wizarding school."
"A school actually teaches this?"
"Of course. Our magical system is highly progressive," Jerry spun his lies with consummate mastery. "Do you want to try or not? Try it, and you'll perceive the Dao. Miss this chance, and you might remain stuck at this bottleneck for another century."
That final sentence struck Xuan Shuang right in her sorest spot.
She truly had been stuck for one hundred and seven years. She truly had less than three centuries of life left. She truly had exhausted every alternative. This boy's magical system was a pristine, untouched Dao. Even if there were only a one-in-ten-thousand chance, she refused to let it pass.
Xuan Shuang dropped to her knees in the grey-black void.
The hem of her Daoist robes spread across the void by her feet. Reaching out, she wrapped her hand around the base of his shaft. Her fingers were long, nails trimmed neat and short, and as she took hold, she distinctly felt the hefty weight of the thick cock in her palm.
"So heavy," she muttered.
"Heavy because there is a vast accumulation of the Primal Surge inside," Jerry continued bullshitting. "The more pent-up it is, the more potent the magical resonance upon release. You're in luck today."
Xuan Shuang's hand began pumping slowly along the shaft. Her movements were awkward and inexperienced, her pressure uneven, occasionally pausing mid-stroke to observe Jerry's reaction.
"Like this?"
"Mmh. A bit faster."
Xuan Shuang picked up the pace. Her Nascent Soul hovered within her sea of consciousness, focusing entirely on the magical fluctuations inside Jerry's body. And she genuinely did perceive something... that grey-black energy that flowed outside meridians and Five Elements grew increasingly active under her strokes. The way it circulated differed entirely from spiritual Qi, captivating her completely.
"Your energy... truly is growing active," Xuan Shuang remarked in surprise. "It does not travel through meridians, but courses through a comprehensive network throughout your body. I have never seen such an energetic layout."
"Those are magical circuits," Jerry looked down at Xuan Shuang kneeling before him. Watching this century-old Nascent Soul Great Perfection powerhouse clumsily jerking him off, the frustration of losing the duel evaporated completely. "Keep going. It's almost ready to release."
Xuan Shuang's technique improved rapidly. She was a fast learner; centuries of cultivation comprehension weren't for show. Within minutes, she grasped the rhythm, learning where to apply firm pressure and where to stroke lightly. Her thumb swirled around the coronal ridge while her remaining fingers pumped up and down the shaft, her wrist rotating in rhythm.
Pre-cum began beading at the tip.
"It's leaking," Xuan Shuang looked at the droplet of clear pre-cum crowning the head. "Is this the omen that the Primal Surge is peaking?"
"Yes. Almost there."
"Then I shall switch methods," Xuan Shuang stated abruptly. "Using my hand is not direct enough. You said I must use my Nascent Soul to sense it directly upon release. A closer proximity will yield clearer perception."
She leaned down.
She opened her mouth and took the coronal head past her lips.
Jerry never expected this old Nascent Soul monster to take the initiative like this, sucking in a sharp breath at the searing warmth. Xuan Shuang's oral cavity was hot; her tongue instinctively shrank back upon taking the swollen head inside, before tentatively licking the rim of his coronal ridge. Her technique was still clumsy, her teeth occasionally grazing the shaft, but she learned swiftly, wrapping her lips over her teeth after grazing him twice.
"Your teeth..." Jerry hissed.
"My apologies," Xuan Shuang popped the head from her mouth, wiping her lips. "I have never done this before."
"Cover your teeth with your lips; use your lips and tongue."
Xuan Shuang took him back into her mouth. Remembering the instructions, her lips tightly cushioned her teeth, her tongue pressed to the underside of the shaft. Her head bobbed back and forth; with every plunge, his tip nudged the back of her throat, and with every withdrawal, her lips scraped the coronal ridge. Her Nascent Soul observed the shifting magical currents within his body, the grey-black power churning faster and faster through his magical circuits with the bobbing of her head.
Wet squelching echoed from between them. Saliva in Xuan Shuang's mouth mingled with his pre-cum, whipped into wet, sticky squelches by her suction. Every downward slide brought a wet slurp, and every upward pull brought a popping smack.
"I feel it," Xuan Shuang pulled back, panting softly. "Under this stimulation, your magic truly resonates with its fundamental essence. I can perceive a flow of energy I have never understood before... Hidden beneath it lies an entirely novel comprehension of the 'Dao.'"
"Then don't stop," Jerry pressed a hand to Xuan Shuang's head. "It's about to release. Focus all your perception at the moment of release—that's when you'll grasp the most."
Xuan Shuang engulfed his cock once more. No hesitation remained. Channeling a century's worth of meditative focus into this single act, her mouth enveloped his tip, her tongue tracing circles beneath his shaft as her head bobbed faster and faster. Her Nascent Soul expanded in her consciousness like a net, catching every ripple of magical fluctuation surging through Jerry's frame.
Jerry's breathing turned ragged and heavy. Within his magical circuits, grey-black energy peaked at critical mass. The pent-up frustration of losing the duel transformed entirely into the violent urge to erupt.
"I'm cumming."
Xuan Shuang did not pull back. Remembering Jerry's instructions to focus entirely at the climax, she swallowed his head even deeper, expanding her Nascent Soul's perception to its absolute limit.
Jerry thrust his hips forward.
Thick cum blasted straight into Xuan Shuang's mouth. Gush after heavy gush, the sheer volume exceeding anything she could have anticipated. Her mouth was flooded in an instant; unable to swallow it all in time, warm cream spilled from the corners of her lips, dripping down her chin onto her neck. And in the instant of his release, her Nascent Soul captured an extraordinarily violent wave of magical fluctuation... within that wave lay an insight into the fundamental nature of energy she had never conceived before.
Xuan Shuang remained kneeling, her mouth packed full of warm cum, motionless for a long time. Her Nascent Soul processed the information furiously within her consciousness, digesting the insights captured from that burst of magic.
Jerry looked down at her.
"Did you grasp it?"
Xuan Shuang swallowed the mouthful of cum. She lifted her head, wiping the excess fluid from her lips and neck with the back of her hand, her expression a dizzying mix of daze and shock.
"...I perceived it," her voice wavered slightly. "The moment you released, I witnessed an entirely novel model of energy circulation. It relies neither on heaven-and-earth spiritual Qi nor on meridian pathways; its source of power is... the direct conversion of emotion and will. This insight... offers genuine illumination for my bottleneck."
She fell silent for a moment, then snapped her head up, glaring at Jerry.
"Wait. Does this 'Dao' I perceived have anything to do with you blowing your load into my mouth? Or did you simply want to take advantage of me, using the 'Dao of magic' as an excuse?"
Jerry pulled up his trousers, buckled his belt, and plastered the most innocent, magnanimous expression onto his face.
"You gained insight into the Dao, didn't you? What is there left to doubt?"
Xuan Shuang stared at his shameless face for three seconds.
"That mouth of yours," she stood up, brushing the wrinkles from her Daoist robes, "is even more monstrous than the weapon between your legs."
"Mutual benefit," Jerry shrugged. "You helped me vent my frustration, and I helped you perceive the Dao of magic. A fair trade."
Xuan Shuang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In all her centuries dominating the Xuantian Realm, this was the first time she had been taken advantage of like this by a seventeen-year-old brat—only for the brat to call it a fair trade, and for her to genuinely gain insight from it, leaving her utterly unable to summon anger.
"Enough," she smoothed her attire, regaining the poised dignity expected of a Nascent Soul Great Perfection master. "As for the duel, when we step outside, I will declare it a draw. Then I will propose giving you a chance to demonstrate your sincerity by taking the lead in defusing the bombs. That is what we agreed upon."
"Deal."
"And another thing," Xuan Shuang cast him a sidelong glance. "Comprehending the Dao of magic will continue after the bombs are cleared. I feel that single time wasn't enough to fully grasp it."
Jerry blinked.
"...You want to 'comprehend' it again?"
"I've been stuck for a hundred and seven years," Xuan Shuang's tone was deadpan, though her implication made Jerry's mouth twitch. "How could once ever be enough?"
She raised her hand, tracing a dispelling mudra at the boundary of the folded space. The barrier isolating them from the outside world began unraveling. Before the veil dropped completely, Xuan Shuang turned her head, looking at the youth who reached only her shoulder.
"Once we step out, remember to play along. Don't blow our cover."
The grey-black fog of the shadowy dimension faded, the light of the real world filtering in bit by bit. The anxious, waiting silhouettes of tens of thousands of cultivators across the venue slowly materialized before their eyes.