Chapter 364: Kisses of Poison

Another day, another step along the path of cultivation.

Despite everything that lay behind them, and everything that lay ahead, Zae Zin Nim was enjoying herself surprisingly thoroughly. This was a blissful life and the only way it could be better was if she didn’t have her father and other threats hanging over her. That threat might eventually end their happiness... if not directly, it could interfere due to the obstacles in her path.

There was still a great deal of cultivation to do, even though she suspected that she would reach a blockage at 20%. She heard that was the first major bottleneck on the road to Sky Soul and it certainly felt true, yet she pushed on, circulating her qi as long as she could bear.

Smaller breakthroughs fueled her. Through a series of embarrassing but effective and even satisfying exercises with Omilaena, Zae Zin Nim had finally raised the Pure Yin Shroud to Garnet rank. The jumps with chakra arts weren’t as large as with cultivation, but it was still a significant amount of strength added to her spirit.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t say the same for her Physique. She was stuck at E rank - not because she was incapable of taking the next step, for once, but because every time she neared, it felt wrong. As much as she wanted to join her spouses at D rank, she felt she needed to wait until she had more information about the Blackblood Physique.

Strangely, her mana development was actually the most interesting to her at the moment. She had managed to raise her Coldfire Corona to Level 90, whereupon advancement went from challenging to apparently impossible. The struggle actually felt as difficult and potentially complex as cultivation, and there was so much power just beyond her reach...

It was possible that the 999 barrier in her soul, which was pressing in some ways, blocked her. But given her total Power, she didn’t want to make that assumption, which might be just an excuse.

Once she finished her cultivation, Zae Zin Nim rose to her feet, determined to find a way through so she could support her spouses. She went to find Kai, which was slightly tricky because Darkmist Island obscured qi even within it. At least that was a reassurance that they wouldn’t be easily found by her father’s cultivators.

Zae Zin Nim found him standing on his hands, his mana coursing powerfully through him. She waited until he flipped back to his feet and seemed to be done before she approached with a smile.

"Hello, husband. How goes your training?"

"It’s fine." Kai wiped his hands off on his pants but examined her curiously. "You’re only that formal when you’re thinking about something... what is it?"

"Oh... truthfully, I did have a request." Zae Zin Nim stepped closer and touched his chest lightly. "I would like to try... dual cultivation with mana. I do not mean that as a euphemism. Surely if we develop more advanced techniques, it can help me progress."

"In theory, but I’m afraid I don’t know anything specific beyond just giving you my mana."

"Still, I would like to try. We need to pursue every avenue for success." She tugged at his pants, more confident than she had once been... until she saw the blue lipstick.

.

..

.

Omilaena hadn’t realized just how much she wanted to kiss a woman unconscious until she did it. Oh, she’d killed both men and women with kisses and felt their life leave them, but it was entirely different to have Zin Nim go limp in her arms. The other woman didn’t struggle against the poison at all, calmly accepting it in the moments before she was overwhelmed.

It struck Omilaena as a quaint level of trust... except she was the one giving other people immunity to her core poison for the first time in her life.

"She seemed to take that well," Kai said from beside her. "You want me to carry her?"

"Nah, I can do it." Omilaena planted a second, less poisonous, kiss on Zae Zin Nim’s forehead as she carried her back toward the bedroom. "But if you took the starter so well, you might be ready for your first real dose."

"Is that one going to involve needles?"

"Why do that when there are other ways that are so much more fun?"

They reached the bedroom and Omilaena tucked Zin Nim in to one corner of the bed, which left plenty of space for them to have fun. She’d been summoning her core poison ever since the idea was introduced, trying to make it less lethal, so she wasn’t worried about unintended consequences. Instead she flopped back onto the bed and spread her legs.

"I can emit my core poison anywhere on my body," she explained, "but especially intensely from soft tissues. You know, the fun ones. And fortunately, penises are also reasonably good at absorbing them, at least compared to armored skin."

"We’re really gaining immunity by having sex?" Kai asked as he pulled off his clothes.

"Oh, this probably isn’t going to be real sex, not unless Behemoth’s Heart has advanced much further past me than I thought. You could probably shrug off a core poison from someone weaker, but with me it’s going to take a few rounds."

He frowned slightly, but cooperated... two thrusts later and his body slumped unconscious on top of her.

Omilaena laughed to herself, reflecting that this was the first time that Kai had fallen asleep leaving her unsatisfied. Not that she was really aiming for sexual satisfaction here, she just found the whole idea kinky.

Of course, that also meant she was lying underneath many pounds of barbarian muscle. He was a lot of dead weight pressing down on her, completely still except for his heart pounding wildly as his monstrous abilities tried to absorb or resist her poison.

She could sort of understand how Zin Nim enjoyed this: it was like a big muscle blanket. Based on his powerful heartbeat, she was completely confident that he wouldn’t be harmed... but she wasn’t sure how this would feel to him. Probably frustrating, so she contemplated whether she could work that into a "blue balls" joke while he snored atop her.

Zin Nim stirred awake and blinked at them for a while, then she - shocker - frowned.

"Did Kai also fall unconscious with his starter dose?"

"Not like you, but don’t worry about that," Omilaena said, waving a hand from under his body. "Help me out here, I’m stuck."

"Can’t you do it yourself?" Zae Zin Nim asked. "You’re the one with all the Physique."

"Oh please, I’m just a poor frail scientist girl trapped under the giant barbarian. I need your Pure Yin Shroud to set me free."

Zin Nim rolled her eyes, but she did move closer and help roll Kai onto his back. He flopped over the bed like a landslide before lying still and sleeping peacefully.

"When can I try another dose?" Zin Nim asked.

"Why not now?" Omilaena was on her in a second, pushing her back so she lay across Kai’s chest. She caught the other woman’s lips with her own and slithered a hand into her robes, pushing lower. It would be amazing to fuck Zin Nim on top of Kai... but her fingers were probably too toxic, especially there.

"Why did you stop?" Zin Nim’s breaths were coming faster now as she stared up at her. "I can take it. I want to."

"I think this might not be the right method for you," Omilaena said, and found a smile on her face. "But if you want to keep up with Kai’s immunity, I have another idea..."

.

..

.

Kai emerged from sleep with Behemoth’s Heart throbbing within his ribs. His body still felt a bit sluggish and all his memories were strangely muddled. For the first time after taking a poison, he didn’t think he’d managed to gain immunity, just push through the effects. Apparently Omilaena had been right in her confidence, because he’d gone right down.

She was lying back in bed with a smug expression on her face, clearly enjoying it. Zae Zin Nim lay against her chest, face slack in sleep, so they must have had sex after he went unconscious. Well, it was good that someone satisfied Omilaena, since he definitely hadn’t.

"You didn’t take too long," she said, "but I’m proud it took you out for a few hours."

"That’s definitely intense stuff." Kai tried to sit up and found all his muscles strangely heavy, not properly responding to him. "How many doses do you think it’s going to take to gain immunity?"

"No idea, but it should be a gradual process."

"I don’t mind. I think it actually felt good, while I could feel anything."

Omilaena grinned in response, but Zae Zin Nim flushed and shifted. He had thought she was asleep... no, her eyelids were just drooping. When she moved her head, he saw that her face was slack in a way he’d never seen before. For a moment he was worried something was wrong with her - then he saw the faint blue tinge around her mouth and understood.

"I wun..." Zae Zin Nim cut off when her mouth slurred the words. Omilaena just grinned broader while Kai shook his head.

"You’re even bolder than I am," Kai said, "straight drinking the poison."

Zae Zin Nim hid her face in a pillow and let out a muffled "Dun make fun uh me!"

He reached over to stroke her back while he looked toward Omilaena. "I’m guessing that we shouldn’t take a second dose too soon?"

"Definitely not," Omilaena said, then smirked. "Fun as it would be to spend a whole week in bed building up immunity, I don’t think that would be very effective. So this is one more thing to work into all your training... but I’ll say this, it should get more fun from here."