Rustle.
The rustle of book pages being turned echoed softly in the living room—a living room that was currently quite crowded, with Lyra sprawled on her back across a couch, her purple hair streaked with pink cascading carelessly around her as she read a book held above her, the occasional sound of turning pages punctuating the quiet.
Tiiinnngg.
A soft harp note followed, drawing attention to its source—a beautiful and gentle-looking Kiara, seated gracefully on a loveseat with a small harp resting in her lap. Her dainty fingers moved slowly, occasionally plucking at the strings to produce a slow, delicate melody.
The notes drifted lazily through the room, weaving past Lyra’s quiet reading, floating softly through the air… before settling near a distant couch that was currently occupied.
On this adjacent couch, Mikael was lying on his back in a relaxed position, his eyes half-lidded, giving the impression that he was halfway between sleep and wakefulness.
Resting atop him was Amelia, comfortably sprawled over his body, her head nestled just beneath his collarbone as she quietly listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. One arm was draped loosely across his torso, her fingers tracing small, instinctive circles, while her silky black hair was spread across him like a dark ‘curtain’.
All in all, it seemed to be a scene of quiet relaxation—the daily life of a group of people who trusted one another and were simply, leisurely passing time together after an exhausting but exhilarating session of sex.
Snuggle.
Amelia shifted slightly, snuggling deeper into Mikael’s embrace, prompting him to lazily move an arm and begin gently caressing her long, silky black hair.
“Mmm…”
A small, content moan escaped Amelia’s lips as she closed her eyes and allowed her beloved to play with her hair.
In this way, amidst the quiet sound of their respective breathing, Lyra turning pages, and Kiara’s soft and gentle melody, time quietly passed and it seemed nothing would change until, after an unknown span of time, Mikael’s slow and lazy voice resounded,
“Says girls… what do you say that we… do some kind of activities or something?”
“What do you mean, darling~?” Instantly, Kiara stopped playing her harp, raising her head to look at her darling~, her obsessed dark blue eyes fixed on his form.
Feeling the intense gaze locked on him, Mikael lazily inwardly sighed, ‘Not this morning… please, I am too tired to deal with this shit. Yesterday they really drained me dry, if I didn’t have my second physical transformation caused by my progress in the Ninefold Physique Method, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to endure a “battle” of one against three considering we are in the same cultivation realm…’
As he had this thought, Mikael felt a wave of exhaustion and laziness hit him, but having raised an idea, he needed to finish it, so after a second or two where he gathered his thoughts, he spoke, “I don’t really have a precise idea, but I thought why not do something together instead of lying around like tired potatoes on couches, but at the same time… I don’t really mind resting on a couch like that, now that I think about it…”
The last part of his message was said in a far lower tone of voice, low enough that even with the girls’ superhuman hearing, only Amelia—who was just beside him—heard him, and as if how she snuggled closer to him was an indicator, it was clear that she was of the same opinion as him…
‘Sadly’ Lyra, in a relatively uncharacteristic display of liveliness, suddenly rose to her feet while closing her book with a snap, “Good idea!” She took a mini pause, sending her book into her Storage Ring before continuing, “I think I saw some kind of ‘cultivation card game’ somewhere in the Cultivator Manor recently. If you’re up for it, we could play a round?”
At that moment, Mikael truly understood the meaning of shooting yourself in the foot, but seeing Lyra’s enthusiasm and knowing he was the one who had proposed it, he could only contain his ‘tears’ and let out a, “Yeah.”
Kiara seemed intrigued, while Amelia’s closed eyes opened, and she threw him a reproachful glance to which he could only shrug his shoulders with an expression that said, “I am innocent!”
Seeing their ‘acceptance’, Lyra was about to leave the living room to go search for this ‘cultivation card game’ when Mikael suddenly had an idea and spoke, “Lyra.”
The purple-haired beauty stopped in her tracks, turning to look at him with an inquisitive expression.
“Why don’t we invite Senior Sister Lian’er to come play this card game with us? I think it would be a nice idea, especially considering how she became your friend over the past few months, no?”
Instantly, Lyra’s visage lit up, it was clear she found his idea brilliant. “Good idea! I’ll go look for her!” she exclaimed, and without waiting for an answer, she ‘teleported’ out of the room, vanishing at insane speed toward the teleportation formation leading to Sword Heart Peak, which was integrated into the Cultivation Manor.
Mikael let out a tired sigh. “I don’t know what she has this morning but… she’s far too lively.”
Amelia’s head remained on his chest, but the small, almost imperceptible lazy nod made it clear to any observant eye that she shared her beloved’s opinion.
As for Kiara… she continued to play her harp while observing her darling with a somewhat disturbing smile.
All in all, it could be said to be a normal morning—yeah, a totally normal morning.
Step step step.
An unknown span of time later, two pairs of approaching footsteps echoed, accompanied by the conversing voices of both Lyra and Lian’er.
It didn’t take long for the two beauties to cross the living room threshold, their graceful forms clad in the black and silver Taoist robes that signaled their status as Core Disciples of the Wandering Sword Sect, giving them a distinctly ‘ethereal’ air.
Hua Lianyu took in the scene before a mischievous, playful smile bloomed across her visage as she waved cheerfully, “Hello~ my adorable Junior Brother and Junior Sisters, your favorite big sister has arrived!”
“Hmm.”
The answer she received was a nod from Kiara, while Amelia and Mikael remained in their current positions, offering only a soft humming sound as a ‘welcome’.
“What is it, are you tired?” Without waiting for an answer, she crossed the distance separating her from the couch where Mikael and Amelia were sprawled out, then leaned forward, her silky brown hair falling around her visage like a curtain as her hazel eyes—full of playful charm—gazed down at them.
“You really do seem tired…” she rubbed her chin thoughtfully before suddenly ‘understanding’, “I see! It’s because Mikael just came back from a long time outside the Sect and was tired, and then his fatigue rubbed off on Junior Sister Amelia, am I right?” she proudly exclaimed while raising her chin, clearly believing she had ‘solved the case’.
A lazy, half-open emerald eye witnessed the scene, and despite himself, Mikael couldn’t help but show a faint, amused smile. “Amazing! You found out. You really are the smartest Senior Sister!”
“Hehe, I know… thank you, Junior Brother,” beamed Hua Lianyu.
Mikael inwardly shook his head in amusement, ‘Lian’er and her obsession with being a “big sister” is really something—it’s like if she doesn’t talk about it at least once per sentence, she’ll die or something…’
Rustle.
With a faint rustle and a theatrical groan of effort, Mikael shifted into a sitting position, and Amelia followed suit with the same slow, languid grace, until her head came to rest against his shoulder, her tired eyes quietly settling on Lian’er, who stood a few steps away, still watching them.
Lian’er’s lips parted, clearly about to speak once again, but Lyra—who had been silently observing her Senior Sister giving herself in spectacle—chose that moment to intervene, “Lian’er, can we focus on the original reason you’re here instead of getting sidetracked?”
“The reason?” Lian’er tilted her head before raising a finger to her lips, “Ohhh! The card game!”
Fump.
Lyra, who had been standing at the entrance while quietly watching her Senior Sister with mild amusement, moved to sit on one of the couches before retrieving something from her Storage Ring. “Lian’er.”
The beauty’s head turned toward her as Lyra gently tapped the space beside her, “Come sit, I think you’re overwhelming Amelia and Mikael with your… liveliness.”
Lian’er pouted at her words but didn’t retort, instead obediently taking a seat just beside Lyra.
Once Hua Lianyu was seated, everyone’s attention naturally shifted to the small box in Lyra’s hand—a compact container of deep black with subtle hints of gold, bearing the image of a bleeding heart and the title: Heart Demon Hunt.
Clink.
“This is the ‘Cultivation Card Game’ I was talking about… but what exactly is it? I can’t say I really know—I admit I’m a bit curious.” As Lyra spoke, she opened the box, revealing its contents: a deck of cards marked with the same bleeding heart emblem, along with what appeared to be a set of rule instructions.
She took a brief moment to read through them before speaking again, “Okay, I understand—the rules are really simple. It’s a kind of truth and dare, so to say!”
In Mikael and Kiara’s eyes, a light of understanding appeared, while Amelia blinked slowly in confusion, a confusion clearly shared by Lian’er as she tilted her head in curiosity.
Seeing this, Lyra asked incredulously, “Amelia, Lian’er, you don’t know what a Truth or Dare is, do you?”
“No.”
“No.”
Lyra was surprised—after all, from what she had heard, Truth or Dare was supposed to be a really popular game among young adults, so normally everyone should have known about it, right? The socially inept Lyra, whose knowledge about these kinds of things came either from the internet or from books, found herself confused… but after a moment, she ‘understood’.
‘Maybe it wasn’t this game that was popular but actually another? But I remember reading something on the Internet saying that Truth or Dare games were really popular with young adults… but maybe I saw wrong and it was actually another game?’
“Eh, Lyra?” the inquisitive voice of Lian’er reached her ears, pulling her out of her confused musing.
Lyra’s mouth opened to speak, but at that moment, her attention was caught by Lian’er’s Taoist robes—and instantly, she understood, this time for real, ‘I see! It’s because it’s a different world with a different culture that this game doesn’t exist here…’
‘As for Amelia, maybe she just doesn’t know. From what was said on the Internet, it was something that happened at “parties,” and not the kind frequented by nobles—so with her status, maybe she never attended those kinds of things!’
Cough.
Lyra coughed once to mask her shame at having been ‘so stupid,’ then spoke, “Sorry about that, I was lost in my thoughts…” She paused, cheeks flushing slightly, before continuing,
“Nevermind, even if you don’t know what a Truth or Dare is, you’ll be able to understand easily as I explain the rules. This Heart Demon Hunt is a card game meant to be played with 2 to 8 participants—if the number is lower or higher, it’s not realistically playable.”
“The people that would play…” she gestured toward herself and the four others, “which in our case would be 5, need to sit in a circle with this deck of cards here.” She raised the deck bearing the emblem of a bleeding heart.
“Placed directly at the center, what will happen afterward is that each player will draw a card and then read it aloud—these cards fall into three categories, with the first being Trial of the Heart, which is essentially a ‘Truth’, something like: say a truth about food, or who is the person you love the most.”
Hearing the part about truth, Kiara’s eyes lit up with glee as her thoughts instantly swirled, ‘With this I can ask questions to my darling~ and learn more about him! What is this game? It is paradise!? Of course I already know basic things about Mikael—like the precise time frame during which he allows himself to sleep after sex, which is usually 7 hours, 12 minutes, and 14 seconds on average.’
‘Or how his lips slightly twitch before he wakes up, or the subtle difference in his sigh when he’s tired versus when he is annoyed… basic knowledge, but learning more about darling is NEVER a bad idea!’ It was on these thoughts that Kiara, with shining dark blue eyes, listened to what Lyra was saying with rapt attention.
“The second type is Path of Madness, which is a Dare like: do something embarrassing, or jump in place, or something of the sort. The third is the Karmic Backslash, which, when you draw it, makes you receive a ‘backslash’ that can range from ‘failing a heavenly tribulation’ to ‘developing a heart demon’—but what it essentially means is that when you get a Karmic Backslash, you skip a round.”
“Up to here, was I clear?” inquired Lyra.
💬Got Thoughts? I read every comment, and your words genuinely shape Mikael’s path.
———
A/N:
This chapter was different from other as it can be said to be a 100% slice of life one where nothing much happen from the plot pov but from a slice of life pov a lot of things happen with Mikael and the girls + Lian’er interaction once again after a long separation in a rather wholesome scene.
We also saw them interact around the Heart Demon Hunt which is a card game which I admit is somewhat weird and out of the blue for a cultivation world but I thought why not?
After all form a logical point of view, these kind of card/board games never happen in cultivation novel but they should exist, probably, so I introduced them in my novel for this slice of life scene I don’t know how it came back?
———
⭐ A single rating or follow helps more than you’d expect.
Glad you’re walking this path with me.