Chapter 11: Dissipating Heat  

For a brief moment, Qin Miaoyan thought Li Fuguang had castrated himself.  

Only when she grabbed his arm and hauled him out of the water did she see that he was still wearing a pair of shorts, the fabric clinging tightly to his body—everything was still intact, standing tall and proud.  

The blood that had dyed half the pool red didn’t come from his manhood but from his legs.  

The inner sides of his thighs were covered in irregular wounds.  

Qin Miaoyan exhaled in relief, but her brows furrowed deeply. Though she was unrestrained and indulgent in pleasure, she had no particular kinks.  

The gruesome wounds didn’t excite her—especially since the blood had already soaked the water around Li Fuguang and was still spreading.  

And at a glance, the injuries on his inner thighs weren’t just limited to those few.  

The skin near his inner thighs bore layers of fresh wounds over old scars. These areas, usually delicate, were now marred with lesions, barely any healthy flesh left.  

Normally, his movements and posture concealed them, but now, with only a pair of barely hanging shorts, all his hidden injuries were exposed.  

Qin Miaoyan took a deep breath and stared into his eyes. “What the hell are you doing? Self-harm?”  

Li Fuguang was dazed from the seventeen lashes of the Spirit Deer Whip. The boiling heat in his blood didn’t just spread through his body—it felt like it was about to burst from his skull, seeping out through his nose and mouth.  

Dragged out of the water by Qin Miaoyan, his body was limp, unable to support itself. He soon collapsed at her feet, half-submerged again.  

His lips parted, but he looked like a fish stranded too long on shore, gasping for life.  

“I was… dissipating internal heat.”  

Li Fuguang looked up at her, his eyes hazy with mist, his long hair tangled messily over his body.  

His nose and eyes were flushed red, the color spreading from the corners of his eyes to his ears like a brilliant sunset. Steam seemed to rise from his high nose bridge. Though he had a dignified and righteous appearance, the confusion and unspent desire in his eyes made him seem more demonic than the half-snake creature Qin Miaoyan kept.  

“Your Majesty…” His lips parted, his red tongue pressing against his teeth. “I’m so hot… I can’t cool down.”  

Since his teens, he had often suffered from internal heat. At first, the methods his father taught him were enough to dissipate it.  

But over time, they stopped working.  

His father then suggested diverting his attention with other things.  

Like pain.  

Of course, his father’s intention was for him to focus on rigorous cultivation, which would naturally dilute his desires.  

But Li Fuguang was born with an exceptionally pure Wood Spiritual Root, his vitality far surpassing ordinary people. His biological urges flourished like towering summer trees.  

Neither exhaustion nor hardship could suppress them. His parents, believing he was still a child and with no suitable partners in the Secret Realm, never taught him anything about relations between men and women.  

Assuming he was just overly energetic, they only found ways for him to expend his vigor.  

So Li Fuguang did as his father said—using the Mind-clearing Technique to suppress his urges. When that failed, he discovered by chance that pain could divert his attention and “dissipate the heat.”  

The hidden scars on his legs, line after line, were proof of his restless years, marks of his own attempts to cool the fire within.

He grabbed Qin Miaoyan’s ankle, his half-hanging undergarment clinging to him like garlic skin, still unable to cover his robust and vigorous body.

The veins on the back of his hand bulged from excessive strain, winding up to his neck and temples, throbbing visibly.

His palm slid from Qin Miaoyan’s bare ankle to her calf, the heat exceeding normal human body temperature like a pair of red-hot tongs clamping down on her.

“Your Eminence, help me!”

His eyes were filled with pleading, yet his hand stopped at her calf, going no further.

He was burning up, feeling like an exploded kettle, his vision blurred by steam, even the pain dulled.

He desperately needed an outlet but didn’t even know how to soothe himself.

He thought Your Eminence must know what to do in such a situation, so he clung to Qin Miaoyan, turning in the pool and slowly crawling to her feet.

The delicate skin under his touch only made him hotter, more unbearable, yet he couldn’t let go. He pressed his face against it, first using the smooth top of her foot to cool himself—a futile effort.

“Save me, I’m dying of pain…” Li Fuguang arched his back like a beast ready to pounce. If he had fur, it would surely be standing on end now.

Qin Miaoyan watched his wet, bloodied crawling form but only wanted to retreat.

She didn’t like getting dirty.

Li Fuguang wouldn’t let her pull away. He crawled onto the bank, huddling at her feet, intermittently begging for her help.

“Your Eminence, help me, what should I do… it’s so hot…”

Qin Miaoyan looked down at him with complex emotions, mostly finding it absurd.

Even if he was young, in the mortal world, he was nearly a grown man. Those slightly more mature might have taken a few maids as concubines, even if unmarried.

What kind of parents could raise Li Fuguang into such a clueless, reckless fool?

“Who taught you to cool down like this?”

Seeing his pain-reddened eyes, his arched back, and the sharp angle of his clenched jaw like a blade against his neck, Qin Miaoyan’s voice carried a hint of anger.

“Who taught you to bleed yourself to deal with this damned internal heat?!”

Li Fuguang clung to Qin Miaoyan’s calf, his face pressed tightly against her skin, his voice gritted out between teeth. “My father…”

“My father said it’s because my Spirit Root… is impure.”

Qin Miaoyan nearly laughed in frustration. “So your father isn’t a fish—just an idiot.”

Frowning, she bent down and yanked Li Fuguang up. Despite his towering frame, crouched like a lurking beast, she lifted him as easily as a puppy.

A Cleansing spell later, the blood and moisture vanished. Supporting his arm, Qin Miaoyan guided him toward the house.

She had planned to relive some “old dreams” today, but the pool of blood and his wounds had killed the mood.

Uncontrollably, she thought of her own past.

How many times had she hurt herself to stay awake, taken countless detours in her cultivation, teetered on the brink of death?

Who had saved her?

No one.

Was Qin Miaoyan feeling pity for Li Fuguang?

No, not at all.

She felt that engaging in intimacy with someone who understood nothing was no different from mating with livestock.  

She could take advantage of others, coerce, tempt, guide, or even force them.  

But she had no interest in satisfying her own desires with a fool who resorted to self-harm to “cool down” and suppress human instincts.  

She helped Li Fuguang back to the room and laid him on the bed. Her hands swiftly formed seals, pressing a Mind-Awakening Array into the Spirit Platform between his brows.  

Li Fuguang convulsed once, feeling the heat in his body rapidly dissipate. He obediently stretched out his limbs and fell unconscious.  

Qin Miaoyan left him lying on the bed, moved his legs aside, and examined his injuries.  

Tsk.  

It was a gruesome sight. The wounds didn’t look like they were made by a blade—more like… some blunt object.  

Qin Miaoyan recalled the relief carvings near the bathing pool.  

Frowning, she inspected Li Fuguang’s injuries and was almost certain they were caused by the blunt edges of those carvings. Even she found the sight unsettling and couldn’t help but sigh.  

This foolish boy had actually hurt himself so viciously.  

Qin Miaoyan stood up, formed seals with her hands near the desk in the room, and for the first time, opened her private treasury.  

This was a Mustard Seed Space, containing countless treasures, nearly all the rarest artifacts in the current Cultivation World.  

She walked to a shelf and retrieved a small jar of ointment.  

Returning to the bedside, she pressed down on Li Fuguang’s legs and applied the medicine to his wounds.  

As she smeared it on, she muttered, “You little troublemaker, you’re lucky. I’ve barely used this stuff myself…”  

Qin Miaoyan’s fingertips glided slowly over Li Fuguang’s wounds. This healing ointment was made from Merfolk Oil, refined from the bodies of merfolk.  

The process was utterly depraved—it required roasting live merfolk with spiritual fire, much like roasting a duck. To protect themselves, the merfolk would expel all the moisture and even blood from their bodies, forming a layer of white grease on their skin.  

That was the Merfolk Oil.  

Though it wasn’t as miraculous as reviving the dead or regenerating flesh and bone, it could rapidly heal any wound once applied.  

Even injuries tainted by demonic or monstrous energy were no exception.  

A single jar like this required roasting hundreds of merfolk to produce. Qin Miaoyan kept a whole pond of merfolk, but she didn’t use them for refining oil—she kept them for amusement.  

This Merfolk Oil had been seized from the former Valley Master of Nether Valley, her old master. That old villain had a penchant for cruel and inhumane evil arts and methods.  

After killing the old scoundrel, Qin Miaoyan had rarely been injured since, so she never needed the Merfolk Oil.  

Who knew she’d end up using it today?  

The ointment truly had the power to turn decay into wonder. Combined with Qin Miaoyan’s Spirit Power, the wounds healed at a visible rate.  

Not only that, but she also applied some to his old scars. Under the catalysis of her Spirit Power, the scars gradually peeled away, revealing skin as flawless as new.  

In fact, it became even more delicate and fair than the surrounding skin.  

Qin Miaoyan put away the ointment, lowered Li Fuguang’s legs, and flicked his forehead with her finger.  

He was completely unconscious, oblivious to everything. Looking at his healed wounds, Qin Miaoyan smiled faintly.  

She had long noticed that Li Fuguang’s sense of propriety between men and women was inconsistent—for example, he would avert his eyes when he saw her bathing, yet he had no qualms about exposing his own body in front of her.  

She also knew he was naive, raised without understanding human affairs, lacking manners, and showing no reverence for his elders.

But Qin Miaoyan never expected that he knew absolutely nothing about relations between men and women.  

In that regard, he was as naive as a child.  

Using pain and blood to cool himself down—she didn’t doubt for a second that if it weren’t for the fact that he needed that thing to pee, and he didn’t know how he’d manage without it, he might have actually cut it off.  

In this world, there could actually be someone like… She didn’t even know how to describe him. Calling him stupid wouldn’t even be accurate.  

Now that she thought about it, he knew to close his eyes when he saw her bathing, yet he didn’t shy away from exposing his own body in front of her. Had his parents only taught him not to look at a woman’s body?  

How strange.  

She had gone out and come back with a piece of unpolished jade wrapped in rough stone.  

His Spirit Root was pure, his nature simple, even his thoughts were utterly untainted.  

Qin Miaoyan sat cross-legged on the bed, arms folded as she gazed at the unconscious Li Fuguang.  

She had to admit, though she had been disappointed earlier when she didn’t get to have her way, now that she saw him sleeping so peacefully, she began to consider other new ideas.  

If Li Fuguang’s parents hadn’t taught him, then she would personally give the foolish boy a lesson.  

Once he knew everything, understood everything, she wanted to see what choice he would make then.  

Would he still cling to his principles and resist temptation?  

Qin Miaoyan’s mind raced with all sorts of methods.  

The simplest would be to take him to see the “fish” she kept.  

Those merfolk—their beastly instincts hadn’t completely faded. With just a little push, she could make Li Fuguang witness a pool of utterly depraved mating rituals.  

She remembered well—among the fish she raised, there were several pairs of merfolk lovers who had even spawned a few little fishlings.