"Mmm... Master... Xiao Lu will help you..."
"Use me… mngh..."
"Ahhhnnn… it's so warm…"
"..."
Su Xiaobai gazed in speechless disbelief at Xiao Lu, her form curled delicately in the dawn light, her skin faintly aglow. Even in sleep, she murmured soft, drowsy promises, a sigh escaping her parted lips as if reliving the night's events.
"Mmm... Master… I'll make you feel so... so strong..." she breathed, her voice dreamy, cheeks tinged with a faint blush. "Just use me… all of me..."
"Even if it… ah… leaves me completely empty… I'll… I'll…" she murmured, clutching the air tightly, as though hugging herself. "Drain me… till I'm nothing but… your loya—"
Su Xiaobai's lips curled into a wry smile, his gaze both calm and introspective. He understood well what had happened.
Her 'Sunfire Qi,' a celestial energy rooted in her 'Burning Lotus Charm,' had intertwined with his own Stellar Essence, resonating harmoniously with his Starslayer God Arts.
Her energy calmed the roiling forces within him, softening the tempestuous edges of his power. Yet Xiao Lu, oblivious to the cost, had sacrificed weeks' worth of cultivated energy for his sake.
Even in sleep, she whispered her dedication, blissfully unaware of the toll.
"This silly woman…" he murmured, a pang of bittersweet admiration tightening his chest.
In a world dominated by power and ruthless ambition, people like Xiao Lu offered stability—a grounding force that kept him afloat.
He knew she hadn't always been this devoted; Xiao Lu was cunning, calculating, and far from naive; he'd seen it in the way she treated Fairy Lianhua without a shred of hesitation once she knew Lianhua was his enemy.
And yet, she became uncharacteristically soft and simple in his presence, her usual shrewdness fading into a quiet, almost foolish loyalty.
But was her devotion genuine, or merely another role thrust upon her by those in power?
Now wasn't the time for such questions. If he sought true freedom, he'd have to entertain the higher-ups, keep himself alive, and his strength growing.
Merely playing along would always make him their pawn.
No. He needed power—an immense, unshakable force to shatter his chains and overturn the heavens themselves.
His gaze sharpened, the determination in his eyes akin to a blade drawn under moonligh.
One day — when the time was ripe, he would devour them all.
But first, he had to protect Xiao Lu. If he lost control of his volatile bloodlines, he could drain her entirely, leaving her an empty shell.
Sighing, his gaze drifted. "I have to find a way to control these bloodlines…" he muttered. The power within him had been stable until that rebellious Azure Dragon had stirred, transforming his sea of consciousness into a battlefield.
For now, at least, all three bloodlines lay dormant.
"Haaa..."
Xiao Lu had given too much. With a thought, Su Xiaobai sent her back into his ring world to meditate and recover.
His path to defying the higher powers was still unclear, but as he looked up at the moon, a faint smile crept across his face.
Aside from saving his family, he now had another purpose—to seize control of his fate, to wrest the chains from those who held them, and, if need be, to obliterate every last one of the higher-ups.
Such thoughts could not be spoken aloud, though; in a world governed by powers unseen, even whispered ambitions could draw their gaze.
He had to complete both, yet strangely, he felt no fear. It was as if his path had become clearer, no longer clouded by the blinding haze of revenge.
For the first time, purpose illuminated his steps, guiding him forward with a resolve as steady as a mountain beneath the heavens.
"You bastards can't hear my thoughts, right?" he suddenly remembered, casting a suspicious glance at the sky.
For a heartbeat, he waited, as though daring the heavens to respond. But soon, he shook his head, chuckling softly.
'If they could hear my thoughts, then I'd just fill my mind with nonsense—or stop thinking entirely,' he resolved with a sly grin.
And with that, Su Xiaobai quieted his mind, willing his thoughts into silence. He let himself drift, slipping into the serene void of sleep, his consciousness fading like mist under the morning sun.
____
Within a shadowed realm, veiled in an endless mist that stretched beyond sight and time, Su Xiaobai found himself stuck.
"Hm?"
"Is this... my spirit sea (sea of conciousness)? How did I get here?"
Su Xiaobai was stunned. Moments ago, he was sleeping peacefully, yet now he stood in this strange, dark expanse. Was he truly within his own consciousness?
Around him, the darkness seemed alive, twisting with a inky fog. But through the haze, he noticed three colossal presences slumbering in the depths.
In one direction lay his demonic bloodline, a dark and unknown power coiled in quiet dormancy.
To his left, he recognized the divine Sky Serpent bloodline: a massive white-scaled serpent with eyes crackling with electricity, resting atop a storm so vast it seemed to span an entire continent.
The third, the Azure Dragon, ahead, a blue-scaled behemoth whose immense body stretched like an endless ocean. Each beast lay exhausted, their mighty forms still after what must have been a fierce struggle.
"Could I... tame them?"
The thought hit Su Xiaobai like a thunderbolt. Here, in his sea of consciousness, he was the sovereign.
If he could seize control over these bloodlines while they lay dormant, he could potentially harness their power.
In this realm, his will should be boundless.
He grinned, eyes gleaming with ambition.
"There was no harm in trying."
WHOOSH!
In an instant, the darkness around him was swallowed by a blinding blaze as infernal flames erupted from Su Xiaobai's body, surging forth like endless tidal waves, illuminating every corner of his consciousness.
HISSSSS!
Suddenly, a fierce roar—shook his whole conciousness—followed by the fiery glow. The Divine Sky Serpent had awoken. With a rumble, it unleashed a howling as a whirlwind spiraled into a massive tornado, tearing toward Su Xiaobai's flames.
WHIRRR!
SHHHH-CRACK!
The winds shrieked, clashing against the inferno, yet the flames only devoured them, growing fiercer with each gust.
GRRRRR!
To his right, a low, dark rumble—echoed as his demonic bloodline stirred.
SWWWISH!
A shadowed hand as massive as a mountain lunged, releasing a pulse of devouring darkness with a sinister energy.
But the flames hungrily consumed it, blazing even higher as they fed on the dark energy.
SNORT!
Then—a sharp, disdainful sound shattered the space.
The Azure Dragon, its blue-scaled body shimmering like an endless sea under moonlight, rose from its place.
BOOM!
With a thunderous speed, it lunged forward, eyes ablaze with fury. Su Xiaobai's flames flickered, and a chill ran down his spine.
He had miscalculated!
'The Azure Dragon… It doesn't truly belong here. It's not bound to my spirit sea, so my control over it is limited.'
A cold realization settled in: if he did nothing, this ancient beast would consume him entirely, obliterating his will.
"Not today," he murmured, his voice steeled with resolve, as he braced himself, summoning every ounce of his inner power.
BZZZZT!
The Azure Dragon surged forward, jaws gaping wide. Su Xiaobai clenched his fists, summoning the pressure of a thousand stars to weigh it down.
But the dragon didn't even flinch.
"What...?" His blood ran cold as he realized how badly he'd underestimated it. He took a deep breath, ready to try something desperate—
CRACK!
The Azure Dragon froze mid-lunge, motionless as if time itself had stopped.
"It… worked?" Su Xiaobai whispered, relief and disbelief flooding him. "Just that much weight?"
But something was wrong.
The dragon's eyes were still, empty, as if it was frozen completely.
"??"
Curious, Su Xiaobai slowly turned, only to find himself face-to-face with something unfathomable.
"What… in the…!"
Before him hovered a single, majestic eye, stretching as far as the universe itself—no other comparison did it justice. It possessed an intense, vertical slit that seemed to pierce straight into Su Xiaobai's soul, filling him with an instinctual, bone-deep fear.
The eye was a dark violet, and what he could see of the creature's scales shimmered in shades that defied mortal comprehension.
The Azure Dragon was reduced to an insect in its presence.
The sheer weight of its gaze made Su Xiaobai's breath catch. His spirit sea felt untouched by this being, which could only mean one thing:
It's not here… It doesn't belong to this realm at all…
A shiver raced down his spine as the realization took hold.
This being was observing him from the void—beyond the fabric of his reality.
"Ahh!" Abruptly — an throbbing pain exploded in his head as the being's gaze pierced deeper, seizing his thoughts. "G-Get… out…!"
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head. "Stop…!" The words came out in a pained gasp, as the presence only pressed harder, his vision flickering with agony.
"Aaaagh!"
_____
The next day—Thousand Beast Forest. Sunlight poured over the mountains, a golden veil upon ancient trees.
"Hah! Look at this fool, sleeping here!" a voice sneered, its owner's boot resting mockingly close to Su Xiaobai's still form.
Outside a hidden cave, Su Xiaobai lay upon the cold, jagged earth, unmoving, unfeeling, as though in a world beyond pain.
Yet the forest was watching.
And now, it had brought unwelcome visitors.