She was actually hit so hard that her vision repeatedly went black. If not for her dragon scales, probably half the bones in her body would have shattered.

Her neck tightened as Shao Yi gripped it. The wounds she had clawed into him earlier had somehow already healed. A trace of a smile hung on his face, but his phoenix eyes, dark as the night sky, contained a hint of cutting chill as he slowly murmured: “I originally didn’t want to discipline and torment you, but you’re far too willful. All your cleverness and quick wit are used for selfish recklessness. I truly cannot stand such willfulness.”

Xuan Yi seemed not to hear him at all. She suddenly blew out a breath, and a massive ice dragon roared forth, coiling around his body in one motion. Her right hand pulled, and the moisture in the wind was drawn by her like a gauze curtain, transforming into an invisible ice wall. The ice dragon hurled him viciously behind the wall, then she brought both hands together as if closing a box, trapping him inside a Zhuyin snow ice box.

The ice dragon wound and circled within the box, his black-clad figure yanked eastward one moment, then westward the next, spinning in dizzying circles. The sensation must be quite something, right? Let him experience it too.

Suddenly a cold light flashed. Shao Yi, wielding that feather-like long blade, landed lightly on the ground. In the blink of an eye, the ice dragon had been cut into fragments, clattering down as ice particles scattered across the ground.

He slowly walked to the ice wall, raised his hand to touch it, and said with a smile: “Your technique skills are quite good. Why not use a killing move?”

Xuan Yi exhaled and dusted off the broken stones from her body. The Zhuyin Clan’s combat style was bold and sweeping—every move a killing strike. Setting aside the matter of not wanting to reveal her true abilities to him, even for her own sake she couldn’t strike too harshly. She really didn’t want to be hurt into unconsciousness.

“Not running anymore?” she asked in return.

Shao Yi flicked the feather blade leisurely: “It’s good that you’re not running.”

The long blade slashed down across the ice wall, which trembled violently for an instant and suddenly showed countless cracks. Xuan Yi breathed out another breath, and the cracks slowly closed up. Shao Yi’s fingertip flicked, and the long blade transformed into a cold light that instantly hacked viciously at the ice wall countless times. Xuan Yi’s brows furrowed. With a thunderous boom, the ice wall was ultimately shattered by him. Her neck was once again gripped by a scalding hand, and her back crashed heavily into the bluestone.

Shattered stones flew in all directions. The long blade transformed into golden light and disappeared into his palm. Shao Yi bent down, pressing his forehead against hers, and laughed softly: “Too bad—knowing technique alone is far from enough.”

As soon as the words fell, the shattered ice dragon and ice wall on the ground suddenly transformed into drifting, swirling heavy snow. Shao Yi only felt his body stiffen as he was rapidly frozen solid from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. In his entire body, only his eyelids and lips could still move.

Ah, finally caught in the trap.

Xuan Yi slowly emerged from under his armpit, tilting her head to look at his face as she rubbed together a ball of white snow and tossed it back and forth in her hand. Not easy—he ran fast, and the white snow had difficulty freezing him. She also couldn’t use powerful techniques to injure him, but if he kept ramming her like this, she would eventually suffer internal injuries.

“Senior Brother Shao Yi,” she began in a soft, gentle voice, “you hold my life in your hands and care so much about my cultivation. What exactly is it all for?”

Shao Yi didn’t look alarmed in the slightest. Instead, he smiled like spring flowers blooming: “Guess.”

The cold Zhuyin snow pressed against his lips. The little mudfish before him bit by bit stuffed the snowball into his mouth, unhurried and composed. His brows knitted together. Suddenly he opened his mouth and bit down on her fingertip just as she was about to withdraw it, licking it once.

“…The taste is quite good,” Shao Yi said, narrowing his eyes.

Xuan Yi wiped her finger with the snow, then casually stuffed the snowball back into his mouth and leaned against the bluestone. Because he had rammed her repeatedly just now, the bluestone was full of pits and bumps—not comfortable at all. Sighing, she stood up. With a crook of her finger, the frozen Shao Yi floated along behind her.

She didn’t speak, and neither did he. He squinted as he watched her silvery-white back. The general’s armor on her had no martial bearing whatsoever. Her waist was slender as a grip, and as she floated and danced gracefully, she looked more like a butterfly. Shao Yi suddenly remembered the childish words she had spoken years ago, saying that all the warblers and swallows around him were mediocre and vulgar. But looking at her now, it seemed those weren’t really childish words after all.

As radiant and charming as she was, and knowing propriety, perceptive, and brilliantly clever—she was truly delightful. However, she also loved putting on princess airs, being selfish, mean-spirited, and deceitful. These vices made one want to tear her to pieces. Yet among all these hateful and lovable qualities, there emerged a thread of romantic obsession—her entanglement with Fucang for over twenty thousand years. If only she were heartless and unfeeling, how much better that would be.

The sense of regret in Shao Yi’s heart grew deeper and deeper. Such a pity, too much of a pity—that she had to turn out this way.

Xuan Yi flew around the mountain hollow for half a day and finally found an enormous bodhi tree. The grass beneath the tree was bright green, and the shade was especially large. Conducting an interrogation in such a pleasant place would surely put one in good spirits.

She flicked her fingertip, and Shao Yi, frozen solid through and through, tumbled down beneath the bodhi tree. She moved closer to sit beside him, lowering her head to look at him with a beaming smile. His long hair was spread across the grass, the jewel on his forehead swaying, and he also looked back at her with a beaming smile, appearing completely fearless.

Xuan Yi let out a long, ethereal sigh: “I originally wanted to knock out your teeth and skin you, but that would definitely be very painful.”

Shao Yi said gently: “I can endure it. Don’t be afraid.”

Xuan Yi smiled at him amicably: “Now I have another good idea. I wonder if you’ll like it.”

She blew a breath toward his face, her breath fragrant as orchids. Shao Yi’s brow had just arched when he suddenly felt his entire body plunge into an icy abyss. Bone-piercing cold spread in waves, layer upon layer. He was frozen until his face instantly turned blue, his teeth chattering loudly.

“After a thousand-year dream comes the realm of no law and no form, where bewitching illusions no longer have any effect,” Xuan Yi said slowly, leaning against the bodhi tree. “However, mine is not an illusion—it’s truly inflicted upon the five senses. It won’t take your life, and it won’t cause injury. Since you won’t be injured, I can rest easy.”

Shao Yi only felt an extreme cold penetrating to his bones, his internal organs almost frozen into ice. This bone-piercing cold tormented him for a long while, then suddenly it was as if a small hand flicked across his heart. His entire body began to go numb, inch by inch from fingertips to the tips of his hair, numbing him until his vision repeatedly went black. After enduring for who knows how long, this maddening numbness suddenly transformed into threads of sweetness. At first it was like lightly tasting sugar water, but gradually it became like layers of sickeningly sweet honey being poured over him. Finally, it was so sweet that his face turned green—he had never known that the taste of sweetness could be such torture.

Seeing his breathing gradually grow heavier, Xuan Yi asked: “Senior Brother Shao Yi, do you want to talk now?”

Shao Yi went from extreme sweetness to heart-breaking saltiness, from hair-raising spiciness to almost tear-inducing bitterness, experiencing each one in turn. He looked up at her translucent, lustrous cheeks with labored breathing—a radiant goddess, a vicious demoness. The smile on his face grew more concentrated, his voice somewhat hoarse: “Bring on more.”

Very well.

Sourness—a hint of sourness rising from the heart, whether it was the sourness among the five tastes or the sourness among the five senses, it spread through his meridians to pervade all four limbs and every bone. A layer of sweat slowly appeared on Shao Yi’s forehead, his eyes fixed intently on her.

She had never seen this kind of gaze from him before. It seemed both murderous and like an incomparably deep forbearance. It wasn’t a gaze that made her comfortable, but seeing that he no longer wore that detestable smile on his face as before, she felt truly pleased.

That sourness that had twisted all his internal organs and muscles into knots suddenly changed, transforming again into sickening sweetness. Shao Yi finally couldn’t help but let out a low groan. The sweetness had already come once, yet she was bringing it a second time—she was practically driving him mad.

He closed his eyes as sweat flowed down his forehead. His heart suddenly felt as if it were lightly brushed by the softest feather. In an instant, thread by thread, a tingling itch crawled over his entire body—an intense, heart-scratching, lung-clawing itch.

Shao Yi suddenly drew in a sharp breath, as if he had lost a battle. He clenched his teeth tightly, his brows knitted. A flash of golden light suddenly swept across his chest, and the white snow freezing his body instantly melted away completely.

He abruptly sat up and seized Xuan Yi’s shoulders. Her face still showed bewilderment as he yanked her violently. Her body crashed into his, and they rolled several times across the grass. Then her neck tightened as he gripped it forcefully with one hand, as if he wanted to crush her, while his other hand pressed down on both her wrists. His heavy breathing blasted across her face.

He revealed a strange smile never seen before, his tone feminine and sinister: “You vicious little mudfish, should I smash you to half-dead, or should I strip you completely naked?”