The moment Bai Xiaoxiao realized this flare-up of the Gu Poison was completely beyond suppression, she knew something was wrong. Something in this cave had to be at play—it hadn’t merely advanced the timing of her poison; it had also amplified the desires the poison stirred within her.
But knowing it in her heart was one thing. Her reason was like sinking into a swamp—the harder she struggled, the deeper she sank.
Gradually, Bai Xiaoxiao’s vision blurred, her eyes misted over until she could no longer see the outside world. Even her ears heard nothing but her own ragged breathing.
Through the haze of her consciousness, only one thought remained. She sank her awareness into her Sea of Consciousness and drifted unsteadily toward the Soul Fragment where Shen Zhiyue resided.
She caught the familiar scent, gazing at it with almost greedy eyes, her gaze clinging nakedly to that fragment of a soul, making no effort to hide the desire in her eyes.
But looking alone wasn’t enough. Bai Xiaoxiao felt an emptiness in her chest, so she eagerly pressed closer—until she’d pulled the soul-fragment figure tightly into her arms, and only then did the hollow place in her heart feel a little fuller.
Because of the rising desire, all of Bai Xiaoxiao’s senses had grown sluggish. It took her a while to realize that the person in her arms seemed to be pushing at her.
She dazedly released her hold, following the force, and saw the little figure apparently speaking. But she could only see the lips moving—she couldn’t hear a word.
“What are you saying? Mm… I can’t hear…”
Those slightly parted red lips were, to her, a pure temptation.
So Bai Xiaoxiao chose to follow her heart. She pulled the figure close again and kissed those soft lips.
The instant their lips met, a pleasure amplified severalfold shot straight to the soul. Bai Xiaoxiao let out a comfortable sigh from deep within. Feeling the person in her arms tremble slightly, she kissed her even more gently, one hand stroking her back to soothe her.
But Divine Soul Dual Cultivation was entirely different from their usual intimacies. What Bai Xiaoxiao saw as comforting caresses were, to Shen Zhiyue, yet another layer of stimulation.
Had this been any other time, Shen Zhiyue wouldn’t have reacted so strongly even when aroused. But the sensation of her soul being touched was far too intense—even a single kiss was hard to bear.
Bai Xiaoxiao didn’t know this was the effect of Divine Soul Dual Cultivation. Her dulled senses kept her from noticing; all she knew was that she wanted to give Shen Zhiyue pleasure.
So the initially gentle kisses gradually changed, falling thick and fast like raindrops. The affection swelling in her heart could no longer be suppressed, and in the gaps between kisses, she breathed out a name heavy with feeling.
“A-Yue… A-Yue…”
The passionate cries reached Shen Zhiyue’s ears one by one. Listening to her voice, she could no longer hold back the pleasure she’d been suppressing within her body, and a few soft moans slipped through her parted lips.
She’d been prepared ever since she placed a thread of her Divided Soul into Bai Xiaoxiao’s Sea of Consciousness. When both of them had their Gu Poison flare up, the only way to relieve it was through Divine Soul Dual Cultivation.
But knowing that was one thing. Now that it was actually happening, the overwhelming stimulation sent faint panic through Shen Zhiyue.
What’s more, even she hadn’t expected that the first cave Bai Xiaoxiao was randomly teleported to would be this one.
The Flowing Light Spirit Cave Secret Realm had a great many caves. Being teleported here could actually be called good luck.
Unfortunately, with Bai Xiaoxiao afflicted by the Gu Poison, that good luck didn’t seem so good after all.
And Shen Zhiyue was only a Soul Fragment. It wasn’t convenient for her to leave Bai Xiaoxiao’s Sea of Consciousness. This secret realm restricted those at Golden Core stage; if she appeared—even as a mere Soul Fragment—the secret realm would destabilize and collapse.
She could only see through Bai Xiaoxiao’s perspective, which meant she couldn’t see everything and therefore hadn’t noticed the details—until Bai Xiaoxiao began acting strangely, and she realized that the water in the pool was actually Entangling Silk Spring.
Entangling Silk Spring was commonly used in Dao Companion Union ceremonies. Drinking it allowed both parties’ spiritual platforms to resonate and their hearts to connect. Though it wasn’t an aphrodisiac, it could amplify the feelings within one’s heart.
Essentially, it was a little enhancer used by Dao Companions during Dual Cultivation.
Bai Xiaoxiao had been teleported straight into that pool and soaked from head to toe. Though she’d used the Water Control Art to strip the water away after reaching shore, its effects had already taken hold.
Shen Zhiyue had wanted to warn her to keep her spiritual platform clear, but Bai Xiaoxiao sank into it too quickly. At that very moment, the Gu Poison was triggered ahead of schedule, and the situation spiraled completely out of control.
The gap between their soul strengths was vast. If Shen Zhiyue hadn’t wanted to Dual Cultivate then, there were ways for her to stop it.
But Bai Xiaoxiao’s murmurs reached her ears one after another, each syllable striking the softest place in her heart. A moment’s hesitation was all it took—she missed her chance and was dragged along, bit by bit, until she too lost her reason.
Bai Xiaoxiao’s kisses were eager, her movements growing impatient. Because something had inexplicably triggered her Gu Poison early and amplified those unspeakable thoughts in her heart, she desperately needed an outlet for the desires within her—and all of those desires came from the person before her.
She’d never believed in love at first sight before. Not until she’d transmigrated into this book and met Shen Zhiyue.
Even though their first meeting left her body aching from the beating, it couldn’t mask the frantic pounding of her heart at the sight of that figure. There was fear—but far more, there was a racing heart.
Most love at first sight rarely lasted. But her feelings for Shen Zhiyue hadn’t faded over time. Instead, they’d grown stronger with every entanglement, every time she woke to see the other woman as her first sight, every moment of being favored by her.
For the first time, Bai Xiaoxiao felt the urge to change the Original Novel’s plot.
The spirit she’d lost when years of hard work turned to nothing had been slowly recovered through her time with Shen Zhiyue, until a vague wish began to take shape in her heart.
She wanted to change things.
Not to survive.
She just wanted…
She wanted Shen Zhiyue to love her.
If she succeeded in seizing the Female Lead’s opportunity in this secret realm, wouldn’t that prove the plot concerning Shen Zhiyue could be changed too? That Shen Zhiyue didn’t have to be the Shizun who doted on Rong Qingqing alone and obeyed her every whim, as she was in the book?
Seen that way, she was actually pretty despicable.
Bai Xiaoxiao kissed the person in her arms with abandon, her slender fingers tracing every sensitive spot on Shen Zhiyue, feeling her trembling body.
They’d done this so many times that Bai Xiaoxiao knew each of Shen Zhiyue’s sensitive points by heart.
She desperately wanted to hear Shen Zhiyue’s voice, so her movements grew more urgent than ever.
But the stimulation of souls intertwining was too much. Not only could the person in her arms barely endure it—Bai Xiaoxiao also felt her own Sea of Consciousness churning.
The normally calm Sea of Consciousness was like a sea caught in a violent storm, surging wildly, making it impossible to compose herself and impossible to stop.
The feeling of possessing the one she loved was far too wonderful. For a single instant, Bai Xiaoxiao even wanted to knead Shen Zhiyue into her own body, so the two of them could be together forever.
But looking at the face before her, already lost in rapture, she only nuzzled the tip of her nose and abandoned that terrifying thought.
Shen Zhiyue seemed unable to bear it any longer and let out a whimper.
Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes darkened further. She leaned in to kiss her and whispered by her ear, “A-Yue… does it feel good?”
There was no reply.
But Bai Xiaoxiao didn’t mind. She kept talking on her own. “Why won’t you talk? Am I making you feel good?”
“Can I call you A-Yue? I don’t like calling you Your Eminence—it makes you feel so far away from me.”
“A-Yue, I… I like you. So much, so incredibly much. Can you… like me just a little, too? Just a tiny bit is enough. I’m a little snake, really small, so even a tiny bit of affection would fill me right up.”
“Please… please love me…”
Shameful, pleading, bewildered words—every single one drilled straight into Shen Zhiyue’s ears.
She was already barely conscious, as if caught in a wild storm, with only Bai Xiaoxiao as her sole anchor.
But that sole anchor, while continuously giving her more stimulation, was also muttering pitiful nonsense, begging for her love.
It was… utterly outrageous!
Forced to listen, Shen Zhiyue turned her face away to dodge the dense kisses and forced out a few words through clenched teeth.
“You… you wretched creature! Stop… don’t… don’t keep… going…”
Bai Xiaoxiao’s words faltered. She strained to listen to Shen Zhiyue, but her foggy brain couldn’t fully process the sentence—it only caught the words “keep going.”
So she closed her mouth, stopped her rambling, and did exactly as Shen Zhiyue asked.
She continued.
With the focused look of someone carrying out an extremely important task.
The scolding hadn’t earned a pause. Instead, Shen Zhiyue, endlessly stimulated, felt like she was going mad. But her Soul Fragment had already gone as soft as melted water in Bai Xiaoxiao’s hands, without the strength to resist. She could only let the other woman have her way.
Until a violent tremor shook the Sea of Consciousness, and everything returned to stillness.
The two divine souls gradually coalesced into one, impossible to tell apart—as if there was a piece of her in Bai Xiaoxiao, and a piece of Bai Xiaoxiao in her.
Not satisfied yet, Bai Xiaoxiao leaned in again, kissing the soul fragment that had gone impossibly soft in her arms, fondling her restlessly—until the half-awake Soul Fragment slapped her.
Only then did she stop.
She hugged the soul fragment tightly, rubbing against her contentedly, as if afraid the other woman would run away.
“A-Yue… my A-Yue…”
The low murmur echoed through the Sea of Consciousness, drifting on and on, far into the distance.
Back in her Main Body, Shen Zhiyue’s eyes snapped open. Her cheeks were still flushed, her body trembling slightly from the intense stimulation, and certain places still carried a shameful, lingering foreignness.
She closed her eyes and sat still for a long while before the heat inside her finally settled.
When she opened her eyes again, the gaze that usually seemed frozen over held no calm whatsoever. A strange feeling rose from the depths of her heart—something that had surfaced when she recalled Bai Xiaoxiao’s blunt confessions.
Unfamiliar. And inexplicably frightening.
Shen Zhiyue didn’t know what emotion it was. She raised a hand and pressed it over her heart, focusing carefully, but still couldn’t identify it. She only knew that when she heard Bai Xiaoxiao’s words…
She didn’t feel repulsed.
Telling her to shut up was mostly embarrassment and annoyance. But deep down, she’d wanted to hear more.
She was just a little snake. Even an Ancient Spirit Beast, she was still a little snake.
Yet it was precisely this little snake that had made her heart—
Unsettled.
After the Gu Poison was suppressed again, Bai Xiaoxiao woke up not long after.
The moment her consciousness returned, she remembered what she’d done, and her mind exploded with a deafening buzz. She glanced at Shen Zhiyue, who sat with her eyes closed in rest, then fled the Sea of Consciousness in panic.
When she opened her eyes, for some reason she was sitting in a meditation pose. Other than that, everything around her was exactly the same as before she’d sunk into the Sea of Consciousness.
