First Time Cultivating

"You're finally here."

Standing at the door, Jiang Feng stared at the head of Ling popping out from the wrapped blankets, wondering if she was a worm before reincarnation.

"Did you bring any food?" Ling asked.

"Some noodles. They're from one of the relatively popular restaurants nearby." Jiang Feng replied as he held up the bag on his hand.

"Wait outside first, I'll take them out for you."

"Okay."

Heading towards the kitchen, Jiang Feng grabbed two bowls as he poured out the contents in the bad into it. Once that was done, he brought them to the table where Ling had already been seated, still wrapped in the blankets.

"Aren't you going to put them aside before you eat?" Jiang Feng asked as he dug into his meal.

"No need to do that. I'm fine just like this."

Saying so, the fork suddenly started twirling the noodles on its own and brought it to Ling. Without taking a look at it, she opened her mouth as the fork sent her meal in before twirling the noodles around it again.

'What a unique way of using cultivation techniques.' Jiang Feng commented inwardly as he stared at Ling's phone hovering next to the bowl.

The meal proceeded to finish in silence, with Jiang Feng volunteering to do the dishes on his own since Ling looked too lazy to even move.

Carrying herself to the couch with the help of 'Spiritual Energy Manipulation', Ling laid on her front as she stared at the back of Jiang Feng, her thoughts on another matter.

After a while of silent thinking, her eyes closed as she turned away from Jiang Feng.

"I'm done. What do you want to do now?"

Wiping his hands dry, Jiang Feng sat next to Ling and asked. Ling noticed this and sat up close to him, staring him in the eyes as she responded.

"Have you try increasing your cultivation base yet?"

"Hmm? No, I've only learnt how to sense and control the spiritual energy inside me."

"Then face your back towards me."

"Eh?"

"Just do it."

Despite feeling perplexed, Jiang Feng obeyed her commands and faced her with his back. It was then a pair of soft hands landed on his skin, sending chills throughout his body from where the foreign feeling originated.

 "Close your eyes and feel the changes of your spiritual energy."

Just as he was about to question her about it, Ling cut him off and commanded.

Putting his trust in her once again, Jiang Feng swallowed his questions and did as she said.

A few seconds passed with no change noteworthy of mentioning, but something soon occurred as a sense of warmth spread from his back and infiltrated his body. The warmth then seeped into the veins as it coursed along it with his own spiritual energy.

A reaction was immediately triggered as the flow of spiritual energy halted and began destabilizing. As if detecting the presence of an intruder, it began gathering around the foreign energy, attempting to disperse it.

"Control your spiritual energy." Ling said, obviously noticing the changes.

Seizing control, Jiang Feng calmed down his flow of spiritual energy and started cycling it again.

The foreign energy was no longer obstructed as it flowed along the veins, slowly merging with Jiang Feng's own spiritual energy, enhancing it to a purer and higher quality than before. His veins also experienced growth as they widened, improving the flow of spiritual energy.

The two continued to do so for the following hour, with the foreign energy slowly lessening as Jiang Feng's spiritual energy improving more than 3 times.

It soon stopped as Jiang Feng entered a trance state, being only able to focus on the flow of spiritual energy within him.

Ling also removed her hands from his back as a light smile appeared on her face. Her eyes continued to stare at him while she laid on his lap, wanting to be next to Jiang Feng as soon as he emerged from his trance state.

…

5 hours soon passed in the blink of an eye.

Exiting his trance state, a refreshing feeling washed over Jiang Feng as he felt more vigorous than he was before.

He then noticed Ling who had fallen asleep on his lap, her hair being messy as it covered her looks. A sense of familiarity rose in him as he smiled, brushing her hair to the sides and caressed her face.

'How strange. It feels like I've done this a thousand, maybe a million times.'

While he admired her beauty in serenity, a weird thought arose in his head as he thought about it. But before he could think deep about it, Ling's brows furrowed slightly as her eyes fluttered, revealing a pair of pupils glistening like the summer sea.

"It seems the light was prickling your eyes." Jiang Feng whispered softly as his hands moved to shield her eyes from the sunrays.

"How did it feel? Your first time cultivating, I mean." Ling inquired as she let her eyes fall shut once again.

Pondering seriously about Ling's question, Jiang Feng tried to shape his answer into words.

"Well, refreshing I guess. Now that I've stopped actively cultivating, the flow of spiritual energy slowed down, as if coming to a standstill compared to when I'm guiding it on my own accord."

"That's a normal thing. Cultivating takes a lot of time and it only goes on longer as your cultivation base increases. It may even take you centuries to reach my level."

"Seriously? It's that long?"

"If it was as easy as you thought, the whole world will be filled with immortal cultivators already."

Feeling speechless to Ling's reply, Jiang Feng could only let out a quiet sigh as he continued to gaze at her beauty.

"It's been a long time since we last did this, isn't it?" Ling muttered.

"Hmm?" Jiang Feng inquired, catching her murmurs.

"Nothing."

Her lips rose as they formed a crescent, pulling Jiang Feng deeper into her allure.

"Hey, when are you going to introduce me to your parents?"

Sitting up all of sudden, Ling stared at Jiang Feng's face and asked with all-seriousness. Jiang Feng was stunned by the turns of event but he proceeded to conjure a reply.

"Well, it's only been two days. We'll have to wait for at least two weeks or so."

Ling's smile widened mischievously. "Fine. But until then, you have to come here every day and cultivate with me. No excuses."

Jiang Feng sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Alright, alright."

Satisfied, Ling hummed in approval before flopping back onto his lap, claiming her spot once more.

Jiang Feng chuckled softly, shaking his head as he resumed his cultivation.