Book 9 - Interlude 1 - ♥♥♥ - Cherishing the Depths |
Eventually, he said to her, “So how was it? The Burning Steps was the first true contest you were a part of since you joined our family. Was joining Clan Hart everything you imagined it would be?”
Nessa smiled, clinging onto him even more tightly with her snake tail. “So much better. I thought Faye was overselling, but it turns out she was underselling.”
Jake chuckled at that. “She’s a powerful wingwoman and matchmaker. Though I hear you may have her beat in the latter.”
“I do have a bit of a knack for it thanks to my eyes. As for the overall contest, I wish my impact was nearly as high as others, but I have some tough competition. Sati was the dark horse this time.”
Jake grinned and squeezed her hand. “It’s difficult to compete with destiny and fate like that, and with Champions to boot. Though Tanda said Calix might have gotten away if not for you, and the overall battle on the wind continent was close. You brought him to justice and helped us win, and that’s a big deal.”
“It was a joint effort, but you’re right. If I weren’t present there, he may have escaped and somehow joined the enemy in truth, taking some of his secrets along with him. When enemies can read the future, it gets even more complicated to know how they may have acted.”
Jake ran his fingers through Nessa’s short hair, scratching her scalp with one hand, and running his hand over her snake tail wrapped around him. “Our alliance members were about as successful as they could possibly be. Love and Justice the guild, and the clan alliances you formed as you built it have truly fed into Hearthtribe’s success. To me, it seems like you’ve exceeded your goals and certainly my expectations.”
Cultivators were definitely strong, but they were also insular. Her ability to rally them to fight alongside Hearthtribe had been a big help. It was true that they only made up a small percentage of their overall fighting force, but they made a big impact with their unique talents and mobility.
Jake felt Nessa’s heart flutter, a warm surge of joy pulsing through their bond as she basked in his silent admiration.
Jake trailed a hand down her back, tracing the subtle curve of her spine. “Just reminding you that I see everything you do. You’ve gone above and beyond and proven your worth. I think it’s important to say it out loud, even if you already feel and know it to be true, thanks to our bond. I see you and the things you do.”
She didn't stop her work, her magic still gracefully drawing the stream of energy over from the river god, but she turned her head to capture his lips in a slow, lingering kiss.
“Thank you,” she breathed against his mouth. “I’m just... really glad you and the girls are my life now. I’m never alone anymore. My worries are the family’s worries, and our victories are my victories. Together, we truly achieve much. More than I had ever imagined.”
Jake let his hands slide to her hips, his thumbs brushing the smooth, cool scales of her serpent half. “How about I shoulder a little more of the burden right now?” he suggested, his voice dropping an octave. “Let me help you refine this. We might not get through all of it in one sitting, but if we focus on it together, we can clear everything but the core current.”
Nessa paused, her eyes fluttering as she caught the subtle shift in his tone. She tilted her head, a playful frown touching her lips. “You’re already helping a lot. And honestly, just sitting here like this is really comfy. What exactly did you have in mind?”
Jake didn't answer with words. He let his Hearthian bond flare, flooding her senses with a wave of raw, unfiltered desire. He let her feel exactly how much he wanted her–not just the comfort of her company, but the intoxicating, fiery intimacy of their souls and bodies intertwining through dual cultivation.
Nessa gasped softly, her breath hitching as the sheer weight of his need washed over her. Her powerful tail coiled tighter around his waist, drawing him flush against her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. A wicked, beautiful grin spread across her face.
“Well,” she purred, her eyes darkening with a matching hunger. “It's a good thing I was hoping for exactly that.”
With a flick of her wrist, she retrieved a small, glowing vial from her spatial storage and drank it down in one smooth motion.
Jake raised an eyebrow, a grin tugging at his lips as he realized she didn’t seem to be sharing at all what was in it. “What was that?”
“I’ll tell you later,” she whispered, tossing the empty vial aside and pulling his lips down to hers.
Knowing the kinds of things Fhesiah made, that was probably a mystery better left unsolved for now. However, he could only look on with chagrin as she handed him a pill for himself to take as the kiss continued. It was a refined pearl from a giant, benthic clam in the abyssal trenches in the Mystic Expanse, with Aether energy from Aetheris mixed in to elevate it into an even higher energy.
Jake paused to take it, the energy starting to radiate through his body as Nessa ground her hips against him, teasing him before their kiss resumed, their hearths connecting as their passion for each other rose.
After just a few seconds, energy started to cycle through his body with a crushing weight. It was an energy of the Abyssal Trench, a grounding force of the deepest ocean. It was highly compatible with Nessa’s Lake and might have been perfect as a cultivation material just for her. However, she was looking to shift away from this, so instead, it became a tempering agent to improve their bond, as well as elevate this river god water. Thankfully, they had a whole lot of these refined pearls, and Nessa had a whole lot of water to go along with them.
The energy flowed through his chakras, and eventually some of it began to arrive in his Void Furnace. Within, impurities were burned away, leaving the energy purer and increasing their ability to absorb it. It would create actual essence, something relatively close to aspected Source Energy–something that could allow them to take in the truths of the universe or bring their bodies or spirits closer to the Dao, the heavens themselves.
This was part of the essence crystallization process. When they did the deed in truth, each side of the equation, Jake and Nessa, Yang and Yin, would modify or transform the energy as it tempered them. In this case, Jake was taking in Yin energy, as Nessa was already taking in the Yang-aspected river god water, but each would be transformed.
When they transferred the refined energy to each other, the two shifted energies within them would mix, flow through their bodies, and be modified by their chakras a second time, and in truth, it didn’t even require sex. They could easily transmit the energy through their hands, or, thanks to Jake’s hearth, that way instead.
It just sped it up, increased effectiveness, and was way more intimate and enjoyable. The special, more intimate connection did produce some kind of unique energy type in their chakras, and this simply wouldn’t mix in and elevate the energy without it.
And Jake’s Void Furnace, his Manipura Chakra, was where this energy sat for a while as it was cooked and crystallized into essence. Once Jake had the essence, he combined that essence with a small amount of his hearthflame and let it flow from hearth to hearth. His Void-Divine hearthflames somehow allowed this, nearly no matter what energy they were using.
While it traveled, it bathed their connection in this superior energy, and it would be much like when Jake cultivated with Sati. Both of them would be bathed in the truths of the universe, and their bond would be strengthened at the same time.
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Thankfully, Jake could do it relatively on autopilot and didn’t really have to think about it aside from experiencing the unique sensations, and he could just focus on his lover in front of him.
Jake allowed his clothes to disappear into his Storage Ring, revealing his hardness–he was more than ready to show his cherishing justicar how much he wanted her. He pulled her into his lap, and she wrapped her legs around his back as her tail wrapped around his waist like a heavy, protective belt.
He kissed her fiercely, their tongues intertwining as she ground against his hard length. Fondling her firm breasts, he played with her sensitive nipples.
Nessa moaned. “Yesss… I couldn’t wait to show you my gratitude for helping me with my path. To help us all transcend to new heights…”
Jake’s body was already starting to feel the crushing weight from the abyssal pearl pill releasing its energy, rising in a true crescendo. Nessa was also starting to look a little queasy as the river god's water invaded her dantian and her body.
Her bloodline wasn’t fighting the energy too much, but the Yang energy still wreaked havoc across her flesh. Likely the odd vial she drank was related to this in some way. Otherwise, her body would get rather angry at the energy and move to fight it, making it even worse without Jake’s help.
Instead, her lake was getting filled with the energy rapidly, and then she was sending it through her meridians to temper her Yin-aspected body and transform it ever so slightly in the process.
Nessa reached down and gave his cock a few tugs with her soft hands, feeling it throbbing and ready. She smiled. “Yes… it’s ready to come home where you belong.” Nessa angled it toward her entrance, lifting herself up and aligning him properly, before she sank herself onto it.
Nessa groaned as his tip entered her pussy, Jake pressing his girth into her tight entrance. And Jake groaned as the strange ‘woosh’ of energy sought an outlet through their connection. The river god’s energy surged inside him, and the crushing depths rushed into Nessa, the two pressures attempting to equalize within them. The energies clashed slightly as their bodies took hold of them, causing a bit of pain as this occurred.
But that physical strain quickly faded, eclipsed by their surging emotions and the pleasure shared between them as their hearths connected and transmitted their sensations.
Jake could feel the quiet satisfaction, the love, and the respect Nessa had for him through their bond. Those feelings mirrored the sudden, slitted intensity of her gaze and the incredibly tight grip her insides had on him.
“Keep your eyes on me,” Nessa whispered, her breath brushing his jaw with a distinct minty coolness. Her innate Gaze usually forced her to witness the jagged, chaotic truths of the world, making her wary of sins and flaws. But as she stared down at Jake, silver-blue light pooling in her pupils, the chaotic pressure of the river water receded.
“Your soul is so steady, Jake,” she breathed, her hips snapping down to take the full length of him. “I look at your hearth, and I just see absolute safety and love. I see my heroic husband I always dreamed of.”
Their hearths both burned brighter as they made their connection, the two feeling true bliss. It felt like they were both home, like they were precisely where they belonged–together.
Her long snake tail coiled securely around his thighs, serving as a physical anchor against the turbulent, dual-natured energy trying to rip their focus apart. The river god's corruption flared abruptly. A spike of icy, heavy venom shot through her meridians. Nessa gasped, her fingernails biting into the musculature of his shoulders, but she refused to break the tempo.
“The current is heavy,” she hissed through gritted teeth, veins of silver-blue frostfire flashing beneath her pale skin. “It wants to pull me under. Don't let go of my soul, Jake. Be my anchor.”
“Always,” Jake murmured, pushing upward to drive his hips with a relentless, grounding force.
He allowed his Void-Divine Hearth to flare open, acting as a sinkhole for the agonizing dross that poisoned her Qi. The heat in his blood rushed to meet the freezing corruption, boiling the agony away into pure, usable power.
Nessa let out a ragged, uninhibited moan as the pain evaporated, replaced by a searing, frictionless heat. The serpentine tip of her tail uncoiled slightly to press flat against the center of Jake's chest, right where his Hearth burned brightest, seeking the center of her sanctuary.
“You make me so certain,” Nessa gasped, the words carrying the steady, undeniable spiritual resonance of her Justicar path. She hammered her hips against him in a frantic, demanding rhythm. “My sanctuary. My king. Everything I am is yours.”
The energetic loop between them hit a fever pitch. Like an infinity symbol, a mixture of all energies flowed back and forth between them. The special divinity contained within this energy caused a significant reaction, waves of essence flowing through Jake’s body and spirit as his void furnace did its work. While it should have been incredibly cold, the intensity of the spirit caused pulses of pleasure to ripple through his body.
With her hands around Jake’s neck combined with her legs locked behind his back, Nessa had plenty of leverage to rock her hips up and down along Jake’s length. He held her ass with one hand and tweaked her nipple with the other, his hips moving in time with her actions as they sought pleasure and strength together.
“Mmm…yesss…you feel so good, my hero.”
Her pussy gripped his cock tightly, pulsing and sending pleasure radiating through Jake’s entire body. This special divinity traveling through them was euphoric, and the feeling of Sanctuary Jake often got from Nessa’s lake and insides only increased. His hips moved faster as his lust rose.
Jake plunged his cock deep into her pussy fiercely, bottoming out with every thrust. Her pussy rippled and tightened all along his length as she rose and fell on his cock.
Nessa moaned. “Oh god! Yes! Fuck me harder, mmm!”
His cock throbbed with need as her pussy tightened, pulsing rhythmically and trying to milk him of his seed. Silver-blue frostfire spilled into the physical space, crystallizing the sweat on their skin into a delicate, crackling sheen of frost. Jake's void cells gorged on the raw, refined energy, his own climax building rapidly under the intense, squeezing pressure of her frantic inner walls.
Nessa's eyes blew wide, the glow in her pupils blinding as her body locked up.
“Fill me,” she commanded, her voice ringing with conviction. “Make me whole.”
Starting from his spine, pleasure radiated throughout his body as he filled his cherishing wife, her pussy convulsing from reaching her own climax.
Rope after rope of cum shot inside, but Jake didn’t even slow as he fucked her through both their orgasms. Energy roiled through both their bodies, cycling erratically and sending vibrations of pure pleasure through them both. He barely had the wherewithal to notice that the stream from the small pond had increased, more of the river god's water being purified.
Nessa’s pussy tightened even further, as if it was constricting him with the depths themselves, yet with her delicate softness. He continued to pound her as she moaned, her pussy pulsing and tightening. She matched his thrusts with a dazed expression, her eyes lidded and her mouth open.
Her tail and hands roamed his body lovingly as the two sought each other’s pleasure, the two wanting to bring each other to higher peaks. The two became stronger as their bodies worked through the energies, but somehow this elevated their pleasure on top of that.
Eventually, they were forced to slow their efforts–Jake’s pill had run out, and he had to take another. She turned around in his embrace, facing away from him as he continued to bottom out in her pussy. Nessa had no difficulty using his standing body for leverage, using her hips and her tail to fuck herself into his length. Seeing her pussy spread from behind and her lightly muscled back arched, he enjoyed the view as his hips continued to move.
Jake held onto her breasts from behind and tweaked her nipples as he fucked her pussy faster. Flesh met flesh rapidly as his thighs met her fit, rounded ass.
Nessa moaned, “Mmm! Yes, so good! Oh god, I’m going to cum again, fuck!”
The waves of pleasure radiating from Nessa were euphoric, as they seemed to have combined with the spiritual energy. Jake’s entire body thrummed with lingering sensations, and Jake quickly found himself filling his wife with his seed again. It was like a never-ending feedback loop, where Jake’s climax caused Nessa’s own, causing him to rise quickly towards his next peak.
Time seemed to lose all meaning as they continued seeking their pleasure, their bond growing in intensity. The spirituality coated their connection, much of it ending up in Nessa’s Frostfire Cauldron, the Demonic Runes increasing in strength.
The two rutted for hours, until both of them felt a wave of dizziness. The effects reminded Jake of when he wasn’t focused during meditation with Sati. It seemed their spirits were becoming weary; they couldn’t continue this effort at this pace forever.
Jake’s eyes widened at just how much of the pond was missing now, however. The pool was well under half when he originally thought it would have taken them months to refine it using the other method.
That didn’t mean they stopped, however. The two moved over to the bedroom, continuing their lovemaking on the bed. The steady stream slowed to a trickle, and the energies roiling through their bodies became much less turbulent and more of a light, pleasant sensation than euphoric.
A more sensual effort was just as fulfilling in its own right, the two’s minds and souls melding as they continued. The two were not ready to quit, and they continued into the night.