The Qing Emperor’s sleeping quarters.
“So, is that why you even deceived yourself?” After hearing Gong Qianxue’s explanation, Blood Ji crossed her arms, looking quite indignant.
Since being placed under house arrest in the sleeping quarters by Zhou Xuan, the more she thought about it, the more things felt off. How did Zhou Xuan find them so quickly? Why did Gong Qianxue pretend to be the main body? And what role was she playing in the main body’s escape plan?
With a bit of thought, her mental GPU began to smoke.
So, she cornered Gong Qianxue for questioning. However, the result left Blood Ji’s cheeks puffed out in frustration. They had agreed that no one would be left behind, but Gong Qianxue had turned around and sold her out.
“It was a necessary price,” Gong Qianxue said, spreading her hands helplessly. In her arms was the still-unconscious Second Nascent Soul, her small head resting against Gong Qianxue’s chest. Her snow-white hair cascaded over Gong Qianxue’s thighs like a waterfall, making her look incredibly delicate and lovely.
“So, you planned to sacrifice me, right?”
“We are all ‘Su Bai.’ There is no such thing as sacrifice. Once the main body successfully escapes and the seal on her body is undone, we will return like a flash of lightning!”
Gong Qianxue ground her teeth. “When that time comes, you and I will cut that scoundrel into a thousand pieces together!”
“Why not feed him a Yin-Transforming Pill first and then humiliate him to the extreme?” Blood Ji countered.
“Great idea! We’ll change his gender first, humiliate him thoroughly, and then proceed with the execution!”
“No, I think we should also…”
The two immediately launched into a heated discussion on how to handle the defeated Zhou Xuan, adding countless details. They looked exactly like a certain general who started popping champagne to celebrate the victory before the battle had even begun.
“By the way, can the main body actually escape?”
Suddenly, Blood Ji asked the question out of the blue.
The air suddenly turned cold. Neither of them spoke, falling into a simultaneous silence.
Was a Divine Transformation Heavenly Venerable strong?
Yes!
Extremely strong!
Especially Zhou Xuan!
Even after Gong Qianxue had burned her origin essence to perform two great secret arts, she had only managed to leave a single wound on his hand.
“She… should be able to. The main body has been planning this for a long time; she must have other backup plans. She will definitely escape successfully,” Gong Qianxue responded, though her tone was slightly hesitant, as if trying to avoid damaging their morale.
“…I hope so.”
Blood Ji let out a long, low sigh.
They didn’t know what kind of method Zhou Xuan had used on the restrictions in the Qing Emperor’s sleeping quarters, but ever since their house arrest began, the two had dropped from the global internet to a local area network, and from 5G to 1G. They couldn’t contact Su Bai at all; they could only vaguely sense that she wasn’t dead.
Out of the corner of her eye, she inadvertently glanced at Gong Qianxue’s cold, exquisite face and the proud peaks of her chest.
Blood Ji suddenly thought of something.
‘The main body—the cold, dignified master—has been taken. I—the cute, half-beast-blooded girl—have been taken. Gong Qianxue—the hardworking, ice-beauty subordinate…’
‘Hiss! Zhou Xuan is eating really freaking well!! Not even the degenerates on the adult forums would dare to fantasize like this!!’
Having recovered from the state of wanting to be a woman who depended on and surrendered to a man for pleasure, she had realized many things lately. For example…
“Mama.”
A tender, childish voice interrupted her wandering thoughts.
Blood Ji and Gong Qianxue looked down to see that the Second Nascent Soul had awakened. A pair of clear, large eyes were blinking at Gong Qianxue, filled with a bit of ignorance and confusion.
She opened her arms and acted spoiled. “Mama, huggy.”
Gong Qianxue: “…”
Blood Ji: “…”
After a quick examination, the Second Nascent Soul fainted once more. Gong Qianxue quickly reached a conclusion, pressing a hand to her forehead with a look of despair. “It’s over. The soul-confusing technique plus the burning of origin essence fried this clone’s brain.”
“Can she recover?”
“She can. She is a part of me. As long as I do not die, she will not perish. However, it will take some time.”
Blood Ji nodded, though she only half-understood. Then, shifting the topic, she asked when Su Bai had set up Gong Qianxue as this hidden card.
Gong Qianxue didn’t hide it and explained slowly.
One could only say it was an accidental success.
During the second playthrough, after Su Bai inherited the position of Sect Master, she suddenly remembered the matter of the Old Golden Core’s possession. She summoned Gong Qianxue to the Blue Sun Hall. Originally, she wanted to quietly remove the remnant soul of the Old Golden Core, but she hadn’t expected the characteristics of the Nine Spirits Demon Transformation Technique to be so treacherous and strange.
At that time, the Old Golden Core’s remnant soul had already occupied Gong Qianxue’s spiritual platform and had swallowed more than half of her soul. It was rapidly fusing with the physical body to prevent any mismatch between the soul and the flesh.
Back then, Gong Qianxue only had a sliver of her soul left. If Su Bai had forcibly expelled the Old Golden Core’s soul, Gong Qianxue would have certainly died, and her soul would have returned to the Nine Netherworlds.
However, Su Bai wasn’t comfortable leaving an Old Golden Core who had successfully possessed a body within the sect. Yet, as the sole disciple of the previous Sect Master, Gong Qianxue’s status was equivalent to a princess of the late emperor.
Su Bai had just inherited the position of Sect Master and cherished her reputation. Naturally, she couldn’t easily strike at her to avoid being stained with infamy.
After weighing the options, Su Bai used the great power of the Human Sovereign Banner to knead the Old Golden Core’s soul and Gong Qianxue’s remnant soul together. Then, she placed a wisp of her own soul in the center of the spiritual platform, using a soul-confusing technique to modify her perception. This caused the soul aggregate to believe she was “Gong Qianxue.”
By the 2.5-playthrough, Su Bai made a bet with Zhou Xuan. To increase the chips in her hand, the wisp of soul originally used for the soul-confusing technique directly replaced the soul aggregate, performing a total substitution.
As for this Second Nascent Soul, she had been conceived within this female body for nine months during the second playthrough, using Gong Qianxue’s own flesh, soul, and consciousness as a catalyst, supplemented by countless heavenly treasures.
“So, you’re not a virgin?” Blood Ji’s train of thought was exceptionally strange. She rested her chin on her hands and suddenly threw out that sentence.
Gong Qianxue’s face darkened instantly.
She flicked the girl’s smooth forehead and scolded, “The Immortal Realm is not the Huayuan Federation. And even if it were the Huayuan Federation, that thing isn’t impossible to repair artificially.”
“Oh—so she counts as your daughter?”
“A piece of flesh that fell from my body can barely be considered my daughter, but she is more like my Second Nascent Soul.”
“Wow—a mother-daughter pair. How lewd!”
Blood Ji cupped her cheeks and smiled sweetly, her eyes narrowing into crescent moons. She was explosively cute.
Gong Qianxue leaned her head on her hand helplessly, truly not knowing what to say.
“A mother-daughter pair? Is that the prerequisite for the ‘mother-daughter combo’ Blood Ji mentioned?” A deep male voice drifted in from outside the sleeping quarters, penetrating the hall and reaching the two women’s ears clearly.
The two looked up.
The newcomer was none other than Zhou Xuan. He was dressed in a gold-patterned white robe and held a profound black spear. His left hand was loosely clutching something, but his entire aura seemed somewhat unstable.
“Did the main body escape successfully?”
“You wretched thing, you didn’t catch my main body, did you!”
Blood Ji and Gong Qianxue questioned him almost in unison.
Zhou Xuan did not answer their questions. He simply opened his left hand slowly. A few strands of hair fell gently from his palm, and his thoughts couldn’t help but drift back to a short while ago.
“Do you think you can escape?!”
A large hand abruptly pierced through the barrier of the formation, suddenly appearing before the Empress and grabbing straight for Su Bai!!
Boom!!!
In an instant, white light flashed like lightning and blue light surged like a sea. Terrifying thunder descended from the sky, submerging everything in an instant!
That included Zhou Xuan.