Outside the Dream, Some Time Earlier
Xiao Qingxuan stared at the scene conjured by the deep violet floral mist, deep in thought.
“A-Qing’s Xun Wind Art… how could she cast it at this point in time?”
Searching for a suitable Sword Nurturing Spring on Azure Sky Peak was something that happened in the spring of the third year after they met.
At that time, Ye Luqing had just broken through to the Early Golden Core Stage and hadn’t yet stabilized her realm. She had only mastered some Profound-Tier Low-Grade Formation Spells. She shouldn’t have learned the Xun Wind Art, a Profound-Tier Mid-Grade technique.
Could it be that after being pulled into the dream, A-Qing’s real body could also influence the memory construct?
This hadn’t happened during the first memory reshaping…
She sighed, increasing the infusion of True Qi to force the dream back to the path of her memories.
Then, she witnessed Ye Luqing’s second slip and her failed attempt to use the Xun Wind Art to recover.
Watching her dream-self administer “mouth-to-mouth resuscitation” to Ye Luqing, the Xiao Qingxuan outside the dream pursed her lips, practically salivating.
Her daily interactions with Ye Luqing rarely involved such bold actions. At most, it was holding hands or cuddling while chatting.
Boundary-pushing interactions like this only occurred under certain accidental circumstances.
It was precisely because they were rare that they were so precious.
She wanted the amnesiac A-Qing to know that they were the kind of relationship where such things happened. That she was the only one with whom these things happened.
According to the fine traditions of their Heavenly Sword Peak, the feelings between her and A-Qing had actually long since reached a point where they could do such things—and even more.
But she cherished A-Qing immensely. She didn’t want to do those things if the other party was unwilling or hadn’t initiated it.
Compared to the prevalent trend among the peak’s junior sisters of Dual Cultivation to train their Grand Yin True Qi, she cherished her relationship with Ye Luqing far more.
Xiao Qingxuan pulled her thoughts back and projected her consciousness into the second dream.
It was the winter of the third year, when she was preparing to charge into the Nascent Soul Stage.
At that time, her cultivation was still shallow. She hadn’t yet condensed enough Grand Yin Essence and needed to temper her Lifebound Spirit Sword in Heavenly Sword Peak’s Cold Pool, absorbing its “Cold Pool Spiritual Energy” as a substitute.
To increase the absorption speed and efficiency, Ye Luqing had used vast amounts of True Qi in that bone-chilling, freezing environment to set up the “Grand Spirit Gathering Array,” at times even forgetting to protect herself.
Xiao Qingxuan watched the dreaming Ye Luqing with a pang of heartache. Seeing that expression of forced strength—clearly so cold, yet pretending nothing was wrong—pierced straight into her heart.
But in the very next moment, the “Ye Luqing” in the dream directly slipped her hands into Xiao Qingxuan’s robes to warm them.
Xiao Qingxuan: ?
She tilted her head slightly. The first reaction that popped into her mind was actually:
So envious of the “Xiao Qingxuan” in the dream!
Being touched by A-Qing’s icy, jade-like little hands must be thrilling and comfortable…
But soon, her rational mind snapped back, instantly sensing something was wrong.
According to her memory’s course of events, after setting up the Grand Spirit Gathering Array, Ye Luqing had stayed by her side. It was her own face that had warmed A-Qing’s hands.
Why would A-Qing suddenly thrust her hands into her robes?
Problems occurring in two consecutive dreams gave Xiao Qingxuan a sense of losing control.
“This won’t do… I need to go inside the dream and see for myself…”
Thinking this, Xiao Qingxuan immediately formed a hand seal to activate the Dream-Building Lotus, causing its fragrance to spread further.
As the holder of the Dream-Building Lotus, she could remain lucid even upon entering the dream.
However, just as the lotus’s fragrance was about to enter her nostrils, an unprecedented sense of crisis enveloped her body.
It was an indescribable warning, a feeling Xiao Qingxuan knew all too well.
Whenever she had been in dire straits before, it was precisely this sixth sense that had helped her escape danger time and again, like a guiding destiny.
Discovering hidden blessed lands left by ancient experts, choosing between the doors of life and death in Secret Realms, sudden enlightenment leading to breakthroughs mid-battle—she always turned misfortune into fortune.
She had thus consulted numerous ancient texts and scriptures, and even asked her Shizun, Feng Linyi. The result was clear: she was blessed by great luck, a bearer of Heavenly Destiny.
Normally, one had to reach the Spirit Transformation Stage within the Upper Four Realms to comprehend the mysteries of Heavenly Destiny Luck, and even begin manipulating it for oneself.
Currently, Xiao Qingxuan couldn’t manipulate luck. But according to her Shizun, the sheer magnitude of luck upon her far exceeded that of ordinary great cultivators at the Spirit Transformation or Void Comprehension Stage.
And those at the Dao Integration or Tribulation Transcendence Stage, having begun to grasp the Heavenly Dao, had already become part of “Destiny” itself, making it difficult to compare the “magnitude” of their luck with hers.
The fact that it was difficult to compare spoke volumes.
Thus, Xiao Qingxuan’s luck, with a bit of rounding, could be considered comparable to that of a Dao Integration Stage expert.
At this thought, Xiao Qingxuan waved her hand, snuffing out the Dream-Building Lotus’s fragrance completely.
Although she didn’t know what the specific danger was, this was her luck giving her a warning.
This intuition had helped her avoid disaster hundreds of times. There was no reason for her not to believe it now.
She sighed, then injected an even greater amount of True Qi into the Dream-Building Lotus to slow down the dream’s construction.
The slower the dream was constructed, the better she could control the details, ensuring it ran exactly according to her memories and preventing any unforeseen variables. More importantly, she herself wouldn’t be in danger in the outside world.
The trade-off was that within the same amount of time, instead of shaping a year’s worth of memories, she could now only shape half a year’s worth.
In other words, a dream that originally took three hours to construct would now take six.
But even if the time doubled, it would be worth it for safety’s sake.
A while later, Xiao Qingxuan placed the adjusted Dream-Building Lotus back onto her palm.
After doing all this, she looked outside the little house. The sky was already dark.
Within the small courtyard, a faint blue glow circulated—it was the array engraved by Ye Luqing.
To Xiao Qingxuan, A-Qing’s arrays would always be on her side, providing absolute support and assistance.
If she were ever betrayed by Ye Luqing’s arrays, then there was nothing left in this world worth believing in.
Just then, a voice brimming with energy abruptly came from outside the courtyard.
“Senior Sister Ye, I’m coming in~”
Moments later, a lively, adorable pink furball bounced her way right up to the door of Ye Luqing’s main bedroom.
But before she could enter, she was met with the sight of Xiao Qingxuan, whose eyes shimmered with a dangerous purple light.
“Senior Sister Ye…”
Ying Qianqian’s voice seemed to be strangled in her throat. The mere gaze of those murderous eyes made her feel as though all the blood in her body had turned cold.
That’s right, murderous intent.
This killing intent wasn’t born from Xiao Qingxuan’s hostility towards Ying Qianqian, the cheating cat. It stemmed from the warning of her Heavenly Destiny Luck.
Moments ago, her intuition had warned her that leaving her soul and entering the dream would be dangerous. And right then, Ying Qianqian arrived.
Xiao Qingxuan found it hard not to believe that this so-called “danger” was connected to Ying Qianqian.
On the other side, Ying Qianqian also made a decisive choice in an instant.
Gritting her teeth, even knowing she was outmatched, two arrays flickered into existence in her palms.
“Let go of Senior Sister Ye!”
Under the dim light, she hadn’t immediately recognized who was holding Ye Luqing.
But whoever it was, they couldn’t harm her Senior Sister Ye.
