We’ve made so many stones.

By myself, I make about 480 stones an hour. With Shi’s, Ai’s, and Lin’s assistance, it comes to a little above 1.5 times that. So, above 720 stones an hour.

It’s been 10 hours straight of this. Over 7200 normal spirit stones. Of which, I can condense the 7000 into seven superior spirit stones.

I can tell they are at their limit, though. We’ve been sitting around in a circle this whole time, unmoving.

Even if the life of a cultivator is mostly doing that, it still wears down on people new to the practice. However, another factor is also present.

The constant exchange of glances between us has intensified the atmosphere in the room.

With nothing else to do, our eyes naturally gravitate to the more pleasant and dynamic things. My and their scents mixing in an enclosed room, also don’t help with the situation.

By the end of the 10th hour, our cultivation efficiency has degraded significantly.

Shi’s is subtly shifting her thighs back and forth, Ai’s been staring at my chest for 10 minutes, and Lin’s heavy breathing is the loudest sound in the room.

I keep finding myself looking between their lips, eyes, and other various shifts in the movement they make. Even with all of this, none of us move. A stalemate, with each looking to see who will initiate it first.

… okay, I am doing this.

Just as I am about to stand, Lin breaks first.

Her heavy breathing stops right when she shoots to her feet, eyes locked on me. Within seconds, she took hold of both Ai’s and Shi’s hands without resistance, bringing them to a stand as well.

I feel myself gulp when all three of their eyes meet mine. I stand up to mirror them and Lin instantly takes the lead again, to my surprise.

Moving past the other two to kiss me.

Okay, time to try something.

Following the suggested actions of the scan, I pressed towards her. Our lips collided in a passionate frenzy, with a flurry of kisses and a tight embrace that left us breathless. Despite the scan running, I lose focus momentarily from the intense and passionate kissing.

Soon enough, I feel other hands groping on my body, lips running down my neck and arms.

I am yanked from Lin's hold into Shi's arms. She’s 2 meters tall, so even with me being above 6 feet tall, I need to look up at her to have her lips land against mine. I observe that Shi performs the action with much more softness and skill than Lin did.

My hand instinctively reaches to the crook of her neck as I move close to her ear to whisper in it.

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“I can’t believe how beautiful you are. From the time I first saw you, I always hoped to be with you like this…”

From how close we are to each other; I can feel the shivers roll down her back as the intense look she was giving me before doubles.

I know she’s sensitive about her looks as an older woman. Even though the healing removed any indicators of age, it seems that still remains.

Even as we hold each other, Ai has pressed herself against me from behind, moving her hands constantly over my chest and rubbing her face into my back.

I find myself swept into a whirlwind battle of labored breaths and caresses that leads me passing between them all. The moment that I have time to step away, I take it.

I hold my hands out in front of me, as they seem confused by my step back. Like before, they are like ravenous beasts, looking for prey as they move closer to re-initiate.

“Wait, wait, wait. I know we’re getting deep into this, but let’s take this over to the other room. And I know I smell from everything that has happened today, so I want to take a shower before we continue.”

This gives them a bit of pause. I can see Lin’s eyes twitch downward, possibly thinking about themselves. Which was not really my intention, especially as they smell pretty amazing.

I just want us to not be swept up in the moment. To take this without being influenced by the pheromones and pent-up lust we have had.

After saying this, they seem to come to their own conclusions and nod, calming the situation down a bit. While it differs from what we initially were talking about, this seemed like the best way to get us to a better point.

We shuffle our way down to my main living floor, where there are countless beds, seats, and areas to hang out in. Adding to that, there are numerous baths, kitchens, and other things great for a living space.

Basically, everything a person needs to live a relaxed life. It’s a bit ironic that most times these spaces normally go unused for massive amounts of time, with the people that own them cultivating for absurd amounts of time.

With that said, when there are people here, there are multiple bathrooms for people to wash in. Reinforcing the assumption that cultivators would have many people at their ‘service’. Allowing for a group to live peacefully here, in wait,

To my surprise, they go to separate bathrooms to wash, cooling off all our heads.

With the constant healing, their pheromones are getting closer to the intensity of mine. After spending all that time together, it was really getting to all of us. Taking pauses allows our genuine emotions to come to the forefront. Not colored by pure lust.

I spend more time in there, thoroughly washing down every part of my body and masking some aspects. Once I finish, I find that the others are sitting on the largest bed in the middle of this floor.

It looks like they’ve all calmed down a bit too and when I’ve come out, they all look over at me with much less perverted smiles.

Shi stands up, moving over to me. Bending over slightly, she wraps her arms around my body. A reminder of her increased size compared to mine. Contrary to last time, though, it’s a warm, rather than passionate hug. Her words brush past my ear.

“… I see why you had us do that. Things were moving fast for all of us. There are a few things we’ll need to consider going from here.”

She looks back at the others before moving even closer to whisper to me.

“But that’s something for another time. We’ve been talking and I think Ai just wants us to be together for tonight. Nothing going too far.”

That’s what I thought.

Lin and Shi are ready, as is Ai. But there are other things that come into play that Ai is still dealing with. Another reason I had us change the situation a bit.

I really do not want any of us to have regrets after this.

“It seemed that way to me too, so I just wanted to make sure we were making the right decision, especially after such an intense day.”

With a smile towards each other, we both head back over to the bed.

I speak out to clear any awkwardness.

“So… if you want, we can get some sleep now. I’m feeling up for some rest, if you guys are.”

Ai’s face brightens up, and she practically yelps out in the affirmative.

“Yeah!”

She hops backward, landing on the soft covers, before rolling around on the bed in delight. Lin is looking at her with a soft smile. Shi just climbs in beside her and opens her arms towards me.

… so, I guess the question becomes, Big Spoon or Little Spoon?