My Arch-Nemesis is the R-Rated Male Lead - Chapter 3

Zhou Li’s Adam’s apple bobbed almost subconsciously.

[He’s even more lewd when he moves; he really is a seductive, fiery man.]

Zhou Li thought, fiery man? When has he ever been fiery with anyone?

Zhou Li didn’t understand what she was thinking, and she truly had two faces. Her heart is so filthy, yet her expression is so calm.

He said directly, “You’ve come to ask about the sword, too?”

“My father sent me to bring you pastries,” Lu Rong said irritably. “Ha, petty-minded!”

[Late at night and not even dressed properly—he must’ve had another erotic dream.]

“It’s almost the second watch, and you’re bringing pastries?” He looked at the food box she carried, his eyes free of suspicion. After years with Lu Rong, he knew she was all talk.

“No? I prefer to act at night.” Lu Rong tilted her chin up at him defiantly. “Is it any of your business?”

Zhou Li raised a finger, and all of Lu Rong’s voice vanished.

“Mm!” Lu Rong realized he had muted her. “Mm-mm!” Bastard!

Zhou Li crossed his arms, his cold, ink-dark eyes half lowered. “Don’t want to get involved,” he said softly.

Lu Rong bit her lip angrily, glaring at him with watery eyes that held no real fierceness—more like a puppy trying desperately to act tough.

Zhou Li stared back at her in silence, her muttered thoughts echoing again in his mind.

[Zhou Li’s mouth is just begging for a beating. If I could take him, I’d pounce on him and bite his mouth to pieces.]

Lu Rong thought bitterly, and the moment the thought ended, a wave of heat surged through her body. Her dantian, unchanged for so long, suddenly roiled with spiritual energy like a crashing tide, the qi compressed and racing wildly through her meridians.

Her long-dormant body couldn’t bear it. Pain spread through every inch of her flesh, cold sweat slipped down her jaw, and as her body swayed, she fell into a broad embrace.

“You’re about to break through.”

Zhou Li took her straight back to the Wuhui Tower, set her on the bed, and guarded her side, guiding the chaotic spiritual energy within her and gathering it into her dantian.

“Calm your mind, let your qi flow like rivers, lock your intent on the gate.”

His voice was steady and unhurried, soothing her panic.

Lu Rong quickly quieted her heart, following his spiritual guidance and directing all her qi into her dantian.

The room filled with qi like morning mist, their breaths carrying a chill like ice shards. Zhou Li absorbed the excess himself, while the rest condensed within Lu Rong’s core.

She opened her eyes, noticing faint changes in the world around her, and the warmth in her dantian flushed her strikingly beautiful face.

Her long lashes fluttered as she looked at Zhou Li, withdrawing his hand.

“You’re still a little short today. You’ll break through within three days. Stay with Shizun for the next few days,” he said matter-of-factly.

Lu Rong let out an “Oh.” Having just been saved by Zhou Li, she didn’t dare talk back and looked obedient. “But why did I suddenly break through?”

Zhou Li turned his head toward her and said casually, “It’s normal. Once you comprehend it, you break through.”

A sudden clap of thunder rumbled across the horizon, startling Lu Rong into curling up. “Was it meant to strike me?”

“No.” Zhou Li remained perfectly calm. “I achieved enlightenment.”

The ground trembled. Runes surfaced around Zhou Li, and as light flickered around him, Lu Rong felt as though he had been washed clean. His already immaculate face now carried a faint, immortal glow.

Damn it, he really did achieve enlightenment! He’s the only one who can break through anytime, anywhere!

Zhou Li exhaled and lifted Lu Rong up.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing?” Lu Rong asked, her legs kicking anxiously.

“Taking you back,” Zhou Li said in a level tone.

Lu Rong hadn’t forgotten her mission. “My painting! Give me back my painting!”

But in the next second, Zhou Li dropped her off at the door of her Zhuiyu Pavilion room with a curt, “Burned.”

Then he vanished again.

Lu Rong wanted to kill him all over again. “Zhou Li, you’re done! I’m going to draw a hundred nude pictures of you! From every angle!”

The moment she shouted this, a sharp crack split the sky. Ten bolts of lightning fell straight toward the brightly lit Wuhui Tower.

She clapped a hand over her mouth in fright, her face going pale.

If Zhou Li had brought her back even a little later, would she have been blasted to death by those rainbow-colored lightning bolts?

Patting her chest, she then noticed that many people had gathered in mid-air. They were all there to protect Zhou Li during his breakthrough.

Although Zhou Li didn’t really need it, the Xuan Yang Sect treated him like a prized treasure and protected him every time he broke through.

Lu Rong curled her lips. Since he had just helped her, it felt wrong to stand by and do nothing. Awkwardly, she flew over, intending to join the others in protecting him.

“Lu Rong, why are you here?” Qiu Ling’s voice made her stiffen with embarrassment.

Especially when everyone else turned to stare.

Everyone in the Xuanyang Sect knew she hated Zhou Li the most—she never showed up to protect him.

“I—I…” Lu Rong said, flustered and irritated. “Of course I’m here to watch him make a fool of himself!”

With a huff, she turned and walked off awkwardly.

Anyway, someone as powerful as him wouldn’t die.

Only when dawn arrived did the thunder finally fade. The Wuhui Tower had been reduced to rubble, but Zhou Li restored it to its original form with a simple wave of his hand.

Everyone knew he wasn’t far from ascension now.

Lu Rong knew this, but she didn’t care anymore. Since the painting was burned, it meant she’d have to grind for five days to repaint a half-nude life-size portrait—and another explicit one.

At this point, even if everyone in the Xuan Yang Sect ascended, she wouldn’t care. All she wanted was Zhou Li dead.

That enlightened brother was downright wicked, not even sparing a single painting!

Fuming, she grabbed her brush, squatted down, and unfurled the two-meter-long scroll. She’d probably pushed herself too hard staying up all night.

Her mind buzzed, and that familiar electronic voice rang out again.

[The current world is an 18+ restricted-content novel world. Zhou Li is the male protagonist. You can use him to break through your cultivation bottleneck…]

Lu Rong heard it clearly this time.

Her heart thumped with excitement. Could it be a system? A system that gave cheats?

Her ears practically stood straight with excitement, eager to hear the explosive gossip about Zhou Li, the male lead of this restricted novel.

[Bottleneck… bottleneck… bott— drip, system malfunction, repairing.]

Lu Rong: “…” Fine. This idiotic system could stay broken.

Still, she remembered the line before the system crashed.

Zhou Li is the male lead of a restricted novel.

So the tribulation he mentioned to his father—was this tribulation?

Was there anything in the world more exhilarating than your mortal enemy being the male lead of an 18+ novel?

Especially when that same mortal enemy strutted around pretending to be ascetic and pure, yet was secretly destined to get slept with?

None! Absolutely none!

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha—hic!

“The heavens spare no sharp-tongued man! Not even the emotionless, desireless Zhou Li!” Lu Rong was laughing so hard she could’ve rolled on the floor. “Doesn’t that mean he’s about to run into his female lead, then try all kinds of plays—and from now on, his daily routine will just be him on the road to doing it?”

“Hehehe, then I’ll find a chance to send him a few erotic books so he won’t embarrass himself on his first night.”

Lu Rong was laughing so hard she was about to make herself sick. Worried, Xue’er pushed the door open. “Rongrong, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing, go to sleep—hahaha.” Lu Rong clutched her stomach, still laughing. She might hate Zhou Li, but she wouldn’t casually reveal something like this.

Xue’er figured her mistress had gone crazy from drawing again. She didn’t dwell on it and went back to sleep.

Lu Rong was truly laughing so hard she could wake up from her dreams, but as she kept laughing, she suddenly remembered the second half of the sentence.

Could she use him to break through her cultivation bottleneck?

She recalled that when she had nearly broken through before, the thought in her mind had been to bite Zhou Li’s mouth to pieces.

Could it be?

Lu Rong shot upright as if she’d uncovered some earth-shattering secret. “Could it be… that fantasizing about him can increase my cultivation?”

She touched her chin. “But back then I really wanted to bite his mouth to pieces, not kiss it.”

Lu Rong felt a little uncertain. It seemed she would need to find time tomorrow to confirm whether her guess was correct.

If it really was, then wouldn’t Zhou Li be a naturally born Hehuan Sect* Saint Body?

(TL’s note: 合欢宗 (Héhuān Zōng)—Harmonious Union Sect, this sect is almost always associated with dual cultivation or seductive arts)

Tsk, geniuses truly are talented in every field.

***

Despite the warm spring sunshine, frost and snow filled the Wuhui Ravine, shrouded beneath a powerful barrier.

Even the seven-story Wuhui Tower was frozen solid, an ice-cracked longsword lying across its entrance, its killing intent razor-sharp. Anyone who dared trespass would become a soul beneath its blade.

Inside, Zhou Li was engulfed by vast, unrestrained spiritual energy, as though a cage had locked him in.

His face was visibly pale, and from beneath the robe spread across the floor stretched a long, thin, black tail, nearly invisible in the darkness.

He had entered a meditative state, ten thousand swords hanging high in his sea of consciousness.

“You are a demon.” Countless voices circled his ears, like Buddhist chants weighing down on his mind.

Zhou Li stood in the vastness without sorrow or joy, as small as a mayfly.

“Once your identity is exposed, they will all cast you aside. Everything you have now is stolen.”

Zhou Li waved his hand, a powerful killing intent shooting toward the ten thousand swords.

His eyes were icy cold, devoid of human warmth. “This venerable one does not care.”

The ten thousand swords seemed enraged, and all surged toward him.

“Cold-blooded, arrogant, conceited.” As the six words fell, sword qi pressed down.

Zhou Li did not move an inch; all the sword qi that struck him instantly froze into a misty rain that wrapped around him.

Zhou Li was not afraid of the illusion in his sea of consciousness and reached out, intending to shatter it.

He felt a pair of soft hands wrap around his waist, a warm body pressing against his back, delicate and boneless, like a beautiful vine. Slender fingers traced up from his waist and brushed against his chest.

Zhou Li knew he had begun having those strange dreams again.

He hadn’t meant to move, but he couldn’t control himself. He caught the indistinct hand and brought it to his lips, kissing its fingertips.

The soft hand slid down from his lips to his Adam’s apple, its delicate fingertips gently caressing the raised point.

The woman pressed to his back shifted to his front and lifted her face to kiss his neck.

The lingering, passionate kiss carried a heat that could melt reason.

He held her in his arms, expertly pulling open her belt, his hand brushing her slender waist.

He wanted to look down to see who she was, but everything remained blurry, shrouded in thick fog as before.

He instinctively reached out and cupped her chin, lifting her face.

A blurry face.

Her fingertips touched his lips as if in mild displeasure.

Zhou Li lowered his gaze to the fingertips resting against his lips, his heart stirring slightly.

The fingertips pressed to his lips seemed to reveal themselves at last.

Those slender fingertips, like orchid petals, gleamed with a rosy translucence, carrying an alluring hue.