The mountain air stung with winter's blade.
Deep within the frozen reaches of Huilan Ridge, ash and smoke still curled like phantoms from the wreckage below. The bandit camp had been reduced to shattered timber and scorched corpses—Lin Tian's fury had seen to that. Yet of the one he truly sought—their leader—there was no sign.
Unbeknownst to him, far above the burned valley, hidden within a snow-choked cliff cave, a different fate unfolded.
A more dangerous one.
---
Gu Changge moved like shadow made flesh.
His black robes fluttered beneath the swirling snow as he stepped through the warded veil, talisman in hand. The air inside the cave pulsed with residual qi—violent, unstable, trembling on the edge of collapse.
Blood trailed inward. Rich, feminine, barely clotted.
"Found you," he murmured.
Against the far wall, slumped in ruined armor and torn silk, was a woman who did not belong in this world of thieves.
Even bloodied and disheveled, she sat like a sovereign dethroned—back straight, chin high, eyes still burning with refusal. Her long silver hair, streaked crimson, curled across her shoulder like mist over moonlight.
Shui Yuerou.
Her gaze narrowed when she saw him. "Another dog come to finish me?"
Her voice—hoarse, but proud. Every syllable regal. Defiant.
"No," Gu Changge said smoothly, removing his mask. "I came to offer salvation."
---
She froze.
His face was too calm. His aura—not bandit, not righteous cultivator. Something far colder, sharper. Yet alluring. A serpent carved of jade and night.
"I'm not so easily bought."
"Nor am I selling."
He knelt near her, unfurling a silk-wrapped bottle. The scent of the wine within was ancient and potent—like moonlight distilled through centuries of frost. From his storage ring, a soft-glowing pill followed.
Yuerou's breath hitched.
"Spirit Conflux Pill... You walk with treasures as if they were pebbles."
"A gift," he said. "Drink. Or die."
A mocking offer. But not untrue.
She spat blood to the side. "I won't owe a man."
"But you'll owe a stranger." He smiled slightly. "Your meridians are torn. Qi rampaging. That's no ordinary injury—it's the Jade Sovereign Body retaliating against trauma. I suspect… a Golden Core struck your heart?"
She didn't reply, but her eyes flickered.
He continued softly, watching her closely. "You were betrayed. By someone who feared you."
She looked away.
He could see the cracks now. Pride held her together—but it was breaking. Her cultivation teetered at a cliff's edge. She would die here if untouched.
"Drink. Let me help you control your qi. The Jade Sovereign Body is not something that heals with rest alone."
"Why?" she demanded. "What do you want in return?"
Gu Changge leaned closer. His voice lowered like silk slipping across skin.
"Only what you choose to give."
---
Minutes later, the cave pulsed with rising heat.
Yuerou had taken the pill. Drunk the wine. Her cheeks glowed. Her qi surged. But it had not stabilized. It surged wildly.
Her robes fell aside as she staggered, breathing hard. Her pale skin flushed from neck to navel. The jade sigil etched into her abdomen—symbol of her physique—glowed deep crimson.
Gu Changge stepped forward, eyes half-lidded. "Your body rejects the healing. The only path forward is dual harmonization. Your Yin… must be guided."
She stared. "You dare…"
"I'm offering salvation," he said again. "Not force."
"But I'm not some fragile flower to lie beneath a man."
"You wouldn't," he said, undressing calmly. "You'd ride me like a queen demanding tribute. And I'd let you."
Her breath hitched again.
Then she laughed—a sharp, bitter sound. "You're mad."
"Then meet madness with sovereignty."
She looked at him, eyes still narrowed.
And then—
She stepped forward, seized him by the collar, and kissed him.
---
Their bodies crashed like tides and thunder.
Shui Yuerou burned with elegance even in pain. Each movement was sharp, deliberate, sovereign. But her injuries made her falter—and each time she did, Gu Changge's hands found her with a calm, unflinching strength.
No charm. No enchantment. Only precision. Knowledge. Patience.
She arched as his qi slid into her meridians like silk threads weaving broken jade. Her moans turned from pain to confusion… then surrender. Her mist-like qi began to wrap around his own in twin spirals of moonlight and night.
Her Jade Sovereign Body, usually immune to influence, trembled. Not because he controlled it.
Because she chose to open it.
And in that moment—
---
Breakthrough.
Her qi flared, silver and red and violet, bursting with ice-laced flames. Her veins glowed. Her cultivation surged into Late Golden Core Realm, her body healing in harmony with pleasure and pride restored.
Simultaneously, Gu Changge's own foundation deepened—his core solidifying like black marble, his soul encased in a soft-glowing veil of charm-infused yin. His eyes gleamed with new brilliance.
> Ding! Villain Value +4000!
> New Trait Unlocked: Soul-Flame Cloak — Increases resistance to mental and soul attacks.
> Reward: Spirit Veil Pendant (Rare Soul Artifact) added to Inventory.
---
Shui Yuerou collapsed into his chest. Breathing hard. Silent.
He stroked her sweat-misted back once, then rose. His hand flicked, creating a seven-layered concealment formation over the cave, woven with spiritual illusion and displacement fog.
Her trail: erased.
He dressed her gently, summoned a cloak of his own, and lifted her with ease.
"W-Where are you taking me?" she whispered.
"To safety," he replied, voice low. "To somewhere you won't be hunted like a dog."
"Why…?" Her voice trembled, and not from weakness.
Gu Changge met her eyes.
"You were once a general, weren't you?"
She blinked.
"I saw it in your stance. Your gaze. Someone framed you—claimed you practiced demonic arts. The Empress feared you."
Yuerou's throat bobbed. Her hands gripped his robe tightly.
"And now," he whispered, "you'll have vengeance."
---
Elsewhere, minutes later…
Lin Tian dashed through snow and mist, panting, his robes torn and boots red with soot. His tracking talisman burned out in his hand.
"Damn it!" he shouted.
Only faint bloodstains remained in the snow. No qi, no footsteps. Not even heat.
"Where is she?!"
His heart beat erratically. The bandit leader… the one his ring grandpa told him had a rare jade body, an opportunity… gone.
"I was close," he muttered. "Too close. Someone interfered."
His eyes narrowed. A trace of killing intent spilled from his trembling fingers.
"Who was it?"
But snow only fell silently.
---
Far away, in a quiet inn atop White Magnolia Pass…
Shui Yuerou slept deeply, her breathing even, wrapped in fine robes.
Gu Changge sat near the window, drinking tea by moonlight.
She had not thanked him. She had not cursed him.
But in her sleep, she had whispered something once.
"…my Emperor…"
He smiled slightly.
"Not yet," he murmured. "But soon."