“Distinguish? Who are you trying to distinguish from whom?”

After hearing her words, Yin Changli directly withdrew from Luo Yunxiu’s spiritual platform, his tone carrying a hint of suppressed anger. “Even I can’t distinguish between them, so what will you use to distinguish?”

As his true form appeared, pressure swept over them. Xiang Haikui turned to look at him, intending to say “Then there’s no need to distinguish—I’ll just consider him dead,” but upon seeing his gaze upon her, she was momentarily stunned.

“I don’t want to explain anything. Before, I was the one unwilling to reclaim these memories, precisely because I feared being caught in this dilemma, where no matter what I do, it’s wrong.” Yin Changli calmed his breathing, averted his gaze, and sat down beside her.

His long hair spread across the floor, but he couldn’t be bothered to arrange it as he stared silently at his boots.

“Besides, I know you’re provoking me to make me more rational, to prevent me from being influenced by those ten years of memories and doing something stupid. I understand.”

Yin Changli already knew that in certain aspects, her perception was frighteningly clear.

The clearer her perception, the more deeply he had hurt her before.

Xiang Haikui remained silent.

The two remained in a silent standoff for a long while.

“How about this as a compromise? I won’t stay in the Twelve Palaces; I’ll go to the Inner City to enhance my cultivation.” Yin Changli conceded first, taking out a talisman and handing it to her. “If you need anything, crush this talisman, and I’ll appear immediately.”

“Very well.” She extended two fingers like chopsticks, carefully gripping the edge of the talisman, afraid of touching his hand.

Yin Changli tensed his lips, suddenly reluctant to let go.

Luo Yunxiu, collapsed on the floor, let out a moan.

“Aren’t you leaving?” Xiang Haikui reminded him.

“I didn’t forcibly control her,” said Yin Changli.

Xiang Haikui understood—the transaction was complete.

But Yin Changli still stood up. His mood was extremely poor, and he didn’t want to waste words with outsiders.

“Remember.” Yin Changli pointed at the talisman in her hand.

Xiang Haikui nodded and put the talisman away.

By the time Luo Yunxiu regained consciousness and got up from the floor, Yin Changli had disappeared.

“He left?” She sent out her divine sense to investigate. “Didn’t he say he wanted to borrow me for several days?”

“What benefits did he offer you, Sister, that you’d lend him your physical body?” Xiang Haikui truly admired her.

Luo Yunxiu sat where Yin Changli had been sitting and blinked. “People die for wealth, birds die for food. In short, it was a price that left me very satisfied.”

Xiang Haikui: …

So direct.

Luo Yunxiu tidied her slightly disheveled hair bun, then suddenly frowned. After a moment of silence, she unlocked the privacy barrier, pushed open the window to let in air, and smiled again. “I can’t stand stuffiness and can’t bear to stay in enclosed spaces. Let’s communicate by transmission.”

Xiang Haikui smiled. “Alright.”

Seeing her somewhat forced smile, Luo Yunxiu sighed. “Originally, I thought you, girl, had encountered tremendous luck, actually becoming entangled with Di Jun during his reincarnation. It turns out, Di Jun was using you as bait to lure Senior Yin…”

Xiang Haikui wasn’t sure how much she knew, so she didn’t respond. Her interest in chatting had waned, and she continued gazing out the window.

She happened to notice someone in a distant crowd surrounded by many “fireflies.”

She remembered to ask: “Sister Luo, what are those insects?”

Earlier, when she was chatting with Lu Xiqiao at the base, these insects had flown overhead. Several had come down and circled her for a long time; she had to wave them away persistently.

“They only surrounded me, not my fruit spirit friend. Do they perhaps like the scent of mortals?”

Luo Yunxiu was startled. “You say these insects circled you?”

Xiang Haikui: “Yes.”

Luo Yunxiu reached her hand out the window and made a grabbing motion. After a moment, numerous small insects flew in.

After releasing them into the room, several indeed began circling Xiang Haikui.

“Yes, yes, just like that,” said Xiang Haikui.

Luo Yunxiu frowned, reactivating the privacy barrier with a grave expression. “Did you ask Senior Yin about this earlier, which angered him away?”

Xiang Haikui:?

Luo Yunxiu lowered her voice: “Have you and Di Jun had any intimate physical contact recently?”

Xiang Haikui was surprised. “Are these insects related to Di Jun?”

After asking, she suddenly shuddered. “Sister Luo, am I… pregnant? That’s impossible…”

Hadn’t the boss been certain that there was a reproductive barrier between the Mountain Sea Race and humans?

Luo Yunxiu placed her hand over Xiang Haikui’s dantian. “Don’t resist.”

Far from resisting, Xiang Haikui hardly dared breathe.

After what felt like about fifteen minutes, Luo Yunxiu withdrew her hand. Both women had a light sheen of sweat at their temples.

Xiang Haikui anxiously asked: “How is it?”

Luo Yunxiu shook her head. “You’re not pregnant.”

Xiang Haikui clutched her chest. “That scared me to death.”

“But there’s a tendency toward pregnancy.”

“Either I’m pregnant or I’m not—how can there be a ‘tendency’?” Xiang Haikui didn’t understand, her heart rising in suspense again.

“You think you’re still an ordinary mortal? You’re at the peak of the eighth level, little sister.” Luo Yunxiu touched her abdomen. “If not Di Jun, then it must be Senior Yin. With his unfathomably deep cultivation, conceiving offspring is quite difficult…”

Xiang Haikui understood after her explanation.

They were no longer like ordinary people, where conception could occur within two or three days after a single encounter.

The man’s and woman’s essence and energy needed to merge thread by thread. This process was extremely arduous and slow. If even a single thread failed to merge, pregnancy would not occur.

The entire process was somewhat like refining a supreme immortal pill, with only a ten percent chance of success.

The essence and energy between the Mountain Sea Race and humans were mutually repulsive, without even a chance to attempt fusion.

After leaving the tree hollow that day, still concerned, she had asked Han Qi while he was brainwashing her.

Han Qi had also been certain that there was no mixed blood between the Mountain Sea Race and humans.

But now, her essence and Yin Changli’s yang energy were beginning to attempt fusion.

Xiang Haikui was terrified. Although the chances of successful fusion were extremely small, there was still a chance, a risk.

But why?

Was it because she cultivated Tian Kuang, making her half-demonic?

Or was it because she was a foreigner? Perhaps the Mountain Sea Race had reproductive barriers with local humans, but not with foreign humans?

No wonder she couldn’t advance to the ninth level.

She had felt that yang energy nourishing her meridians before—when had it stopped?

Han Qi had left some wiggle room, saying he couldn’t rule out that Yin Changli had a method to promote fusion, given how “learned” he was, always helping others solve problems and selling favors in all directions.

Xiang Haikui thought that, given how much Yin Changli had rejected her at that time, it wasn’t possible.

Moreover, Han Qi had confirmed indirectly that if Yin Changli had done this, he wouldn’t possibly have parted ways with her.

The Torch Dragon clan’s method of passing on offspring was rather unique. Once they successfully fused to create offspring, the offspring would develop in the mother’s body but absorb the father’s essence.

The mother wouldn’t experience any depletion throughout the pregnancy; instead, her protective true energy would continuously strengthen, all extracted from the father.

The father, in contrast, became the one needing protection.

Furthermore, the precision targeting occurred at a distance, never harming the wrong person, so there was no possibility of being cuckolded.

That’s why dragons could have nine sons, each different, yet Torch Dragons remained very rare.

Beyond normal reproduction, male Torch Dragons rarely engaged in casual affairs—it was life-threatening.

Xiang Haikui abruptly stood up, her gaze fierce, fists clenched, teeth gritted.

“Little Sister Kui?” Luo Yunxiu was startled by her.

“I’m going back.” With her jaw clenched so tightly that her cheeks turned white, Xiang Haikui picked up her sword case and walked out.

…

Just as Jing Ran finished meditation and was about to rest, Xiang Haikui returned.

Without a word, she stepped forward, unsheathed Tian Kuang, tossed it on the couch, then walked to his bedside and sat down.

Jing Ran frowned but didn’t drive her away. “You look terrible. Who bullied you?”

Xiang Haikui lowered her eyes. “Senior, I have a question. Don’t think—answer immediately.”

Jing Ran: “Alright.”

Xiang Haikui: “What is my name?”

“Xiang…” Jing Ran almost called out “Miss Xiang” but caught himself after a pause. “Xiang Haikui.”

Seeing her close her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, he calmly explained: “A name is merely an identifier, just as you don’t know my true name.”

Xiang Haikui kept her eyes tightly shut.

“Are you angry just because I couldn’t immediately recall your name?” Jing Ran took her hand, discovering it was as cold as ice.

“Shouldn’t I be angry? Even if you raised a dog, you’d remember its name!” Xiang Haikui violently flung her arm, throwing off his grip.

The force was too strong—the back of her hand struck his shoulder, and because it carried sword energy, it triggered his protective golden light.

“Don’t—” Jing Ran was startled and retracted it extremely quickly, but still managed to send her flying in an instant.

He flashed forward, catching her before she could fall to her knees. He sealed several of her acupoints, both angry and bewildered. “You’re truly reckless and impulsive. Haven’t you witnessed the power of my protective golden light after slaying enemies all day? Do you still think it’s like before when you kicked me?”

Words were useless—she coughed up a mouthful of blood, nearly falling unconscious.

Like a drowning person grasping a piece of driftwood, she gripped his neck with both hands, her feet almost leaving the ground, her entire body hanging from him.

The sword energy of a sword cultivator was intense, again nearly triggering his protective golden light. This time, he suppressed it even faster.

Xiang Haikui was equally quick. In the brief moment, he suppressed his protective light, truly just the briefest instant—Tian Kuang flew from its case on the couch behind her.

At this point, Xiang Haikui was hugging Jing Ran from the front, with Tian Kuang behind her.

Jing Ran thought Tian Kuang was flying to protect its master, since Xiang Haikui had been injured by his golden light and could barely support herself.

But his reaction was just a tiny bit too slow—Tian Kuang directly pierced through Xiang Haikui’s back, into his chest, impaling his body!

One sword, Tian Kuang, had skewered them both with a single strike!

After penetrating, Xiang Haikui allowed her true energy to flow outward while Jing Ran’s protective golden light actively protected the wound.

Jing Ran’s pain sensation was relatively dull. At first, he felt more disbelief than anything else. Looking down, he couldn’t see the sword that had pierced through his chest; he could only see her slightly upturned face.

She was rapidly transforming into her demonic form—her eyes blood-red, blood also hanging from the corners of her mouth as she slowly curved them into an eerie, cold smile.

“Don’t move, you lunatic! You’ve gone mad with cultivation!”

Seeing her try to break free, Jing Ran restrained her. As his energy surged, blood also welled up in his mouth.

This sword strike would at most injure him, but it could cost her her life. He channeled his true energy to help seal her wounds before he could remove the sword.

“Frustrating, isn’t it? Now we’re skewered together like tanghulu, and you surely want to strike me dead, don’t you?” Xiang Haikui didn’t resist, allowing him to heal her. “But you can’t let me die or be seriously injured. Otherwise, the two strands of essence in my body would stop fusing. And after failure, what would you use against Yin Changli…”

Who else could have interfered? It could only be him.

“It was the candy you gave me on the way to Other Shore City, wasn’t it?” Xiang Haikui had always been vigilant, using sword energy to sense all food before eating it.

Only with that lollipop had she not been cautious.

She would swear to heaven and earth that she hadn’t been cautious at all!

She was used to picking out sugar from broken glass, never imagining that one day the sugar she consumed would turn into a knife!

“Then you had me follow you into the Soul Nurturing Hall—that was also to use the soul-nurturing water to promote the fusion of the two essences within me, right?”

By the end of her questioning, Xiang Haikui’s voice had become extremely miserable. “So this is what you meant by a weapon related to me!?”

“Who told you this?” Blood continued to seep from the corner of Jing Ran’s mouth, staining the shoulder of her blue gauze dress pomegranate red.

With a grim face, he controlled her while continuing to heal her wounds, completely disregarding himself as he gritted his teeth. “I said you wouldn’t feel any pain. If the fusion succeeds, I would extract it while you remained completely unaware!”

To use it as a curse conduit, connecting to Yin Changli’s spirit realm to discover the whereabouts of divine artifacts!

“You think I wouldn’t feel pain?!” Xiang Haikui was furious, slapping him across the face. In her demonic form, her nails were sharp, instantly leaving several bloody scratches on his face.

“You… are courting death!” The pain slowly hit him, and Jing Ran trembled. Seeing that the vitality he had exchanged for surviving a tribulation was at risk of being extinguished, anger rose in his heart.

His spiritual energy was collapsing, while Xiang Haikui’s madness soared higher and higher after stabbing the great Di Jun with her sword.

Tian Kuang directly broke through the eighth level, and with his killing intent, it surged to the ninth level with a boom!

For a moment, he was constrained by Tian Kuang. “You think this little ability of yours can hurt me? Keep dreaming!”

Just as he was about to use his mental power to crush her consciousness, their eyes met, and Jing Ran was momentarily stunned.

If the look in her eyes when she had rushed to embrace him before leaving Earth had made a deep impression on him…

Then this desperate gaze now was like Tian Kuang itself, striking directly at his heart.

The weight of despair corresponded to the depth of hope that had once existed.

Previously, Jing Ran hadn’t understood how deep her affection ran, but now, through her despair, he finally grasped it.

For her, he had likely been a streetlamp illuminating her path for a very long time.

No, an entire row of streetlamps.

So much so that now, looking into the depths of her eyes, he seemed to see a muddy path stretching endlessly, the streetlamps gradually extinguishing, the muddy path swallowed by darkness.

Xiang Haikui took advantage of his distraction, gritted her teeth tightly, channeled her madness back into her body, reached behind to pull out Tian Kuang, grabbed his shoulder, and stabbed him again!

“Senior, remember clearly—I am not anyone’s weakness! You may not remember my name, but you must remember my sword!”

Their blood mingled, spreading across the floor. Jing Ran firmly grabbed her bloody hand, clutching the sword hilt, gritting his teeth. “Pull back! You’ve gone mad with cultivation!”

“Mad with cultivation? I’m more clear-headed than I’ve ever been!” After her transformation, Xiang Haikui felt no pain. Unable to break free from his grip, she twisted the sword hilt, making Tian Kuang stir in his abdomen.

She smiled coldly.

“You’re inadequate—stabbed twice by me, nearly half-dead, yet the madness you give me barely equals what I get from sleeping with Yin Changli once.”

“You’re truly worthless!”

“Utterly useless!”

After stabbing and taunting him, her ninth-level progress bar soared!

She had reached the pinnacle.

“Tian Kuang, do you understand now? This is the path you and I should walk!”