Volume 3, Chapter 5 – Dreamscape

What kind of lewd dream is this again?

Bai Xiang frowned and leaned her head back, thinking how this girl really was incorrigible.

With Yao Qingyuan executed and the Blood Sea turmoil temporarily quelled, of course the first thing she did was free up her mind to check Bai Zhuqing’s inner body-scape.

Bai Zhuqing herself possessed the latent talent of “demonic power manifesting,” and if she had followed the Sword Dao path, her cultivation speed would have been several times that of her peers.

But she’d had rotten luck. As a child, she’d been chosen as a target by the Prince of Nanling’s Manor and had a “evolutionary serum” extracted from Bai Nianchan’s bone marrow implanted in her body. On top of her original talent, she then awakened “atavistic demonic power,” so that when she Entered the Dao, the demonic power seized her mind and forcibly kept her in a “Return to the Innate” state.

If Bai Xiang hadn’t risked everything to save her back then, she would’ve definitely dropped dead on the spot.

At the time, Bai Xiang had thought it was a blessing in disguise—she’d forcibly altered Zhuqing’s heart-flow route, and by sheer accident Zhuqing stumbled onto the path of qi. She never expected that the hidden conflict between the twin talents still hadn’t been resolved.

It wasn’t until Zhuqing had formally “confessed” to her on the street, and she herself had accepted her in that subtle, roundabout way, that the hidden danger finally exploded.

Bai Xiang had refined the remnant soul of the Zhengwo Dao demon, “Uncle Dust,” and from it learned part of his memories. They emphasized repeatedly that the “evolutionary serum” would produce extremely intense side effects based on the recipient’s emotional fluctuations—at best, meridians torn to shreds; at worst, the body exploding and dying.

So she grabbed Lian Feng as a test subject, then forcibly helped Bai Zhuqing smooth out her heart meridians. Only after confirming Zhuqing would be fine for the time being did she dare go into battle.

And in this way, her “little sister” really had turned the calamity into a blessing.

Bai Nianchan’s remnant soul had been shattered by her, and all the dispersed energy had been absorbed by Bai Zhuqing, greatly strengthening Zhuqing’s spirit and soul.

On top of that, the rampaging qi-force had crashed around inside her body, forcibly widening her heart meridians.

Most crucial of all—within her inner body-scape, her heart-aspect seed had actually absorbed two mysterious, conflicting talent powers at once, leaping from the Entering-the-Dao phase straight into Refining Qi. Her overall strength had skyrocketed.

The only difference was that, unlike Bai Xiang’s “nothing she could not cut,” the qi-sha Zhuqing refined could be both hard and soft: hard, it could be used for chops and cleaving strikes; soft, it could coil and bind for control.

Her control, in particular, was frighteningly precise—a trait that belonged to her alone.

Her strength definitely couldn’t compare to Bai Xiang’s when she’d first stepped into Condensing the Aspect, but against an ordinary Condensing-the-Aspect Sword Dao cultivator, she was already terrifying.

Once she was fully proficient, she should at least be able to pin down a Purple Blood Condensing-the-Aspect.

And once she forged her own life-bound treasure sword, blowing apart a Purple Blood might not be impossible.

That kind of realm-jumping… in another novel, she’d basically be the protagonist.

In a split second, ten thousand thoughts flashed through Bai Xiang’s mind. When she came back to herself, she saw Bai Zhuqing hanging off her neck, big dark eyes staring up at her pitifully.

She had that episode back then. The responsibility’s on me…

Bai Xiang’s brows tightened ever so slightly.

In her confession, Bai Zhuqing had said that her earlier coveting of “Bai Xiang” hadn’t been true affection. Only after “Bai Xiang” Entered the Dao—meaning the Bai Xiang from Earth crossed over, descended, and fused with the remnant soul—had her feelings truly been stirred.

That wasn’t a lie. The “evolutionary serum” could testify to it.

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Bai Zhuqing was doubtlessly an extremely special recipient. She hadn’t been too affected by the “evolutionary serum,” and those side effects triggered by violent emotional swings had simply never manifested in her all these years.

So why had they flared up that day, of all days?

Naturally, because she’d fallen for her.

Her feelings toward her original “older sister” had not been love, but toward me … she’d fallen in love for real.

The most ironic part was, she went around all day calling her “Gugu, Gugu,” treating her as Bai Nianchan reborn—but in the end, it was she herself who was Bai Nianchan’s continuation, in a certain sense.

Bai Xiang wasn’t Bai Xiang. Bai Zhuqing wasn’t Bai Zhuqing.

Didn’t that line up perfectly with that Nuo-ground Buddhism saying, “thought yet not thought, self yet not self”?

What a karmic mess.

She sighed inwardly, but on the surface Bai Xiang kept her face cool and pretty as she looked at her “little sister” and said, “Didn’t I warn you? You’ve barely finished recuperating. Don’t stay up late looking at that stuff.”

“Mm?” Bai Zhuqing grew alert. Her big eyes trembled with vivid life. “Is Gugu worrying about me—?”

“I just don’t want my efforts wasted.” Bai Xiang turned her head away from her.

“I went through all that trouble to drag you back from the brink. Don’t go courting death and dropping dead again.”

“Then if I did drop dead, would Gugu be sad?”

She’s getting more and more outrageous!

Bai Xiang decided it was time to teach her a lesson. She went up to the fifth floor—their shared bedroom—and tossed Bai Zhuqing onto the bed in one go, then grabbed her pair of small feet in white stockings and unleashed the Vibration Art.

Neither of them had a mortal’s constitution anymore, and they walked the wooden floorboards with only stockings over their legs.

The difference was that Bai Xiang only wore sheer black pantyhose, whereas Bai Zhuqing had tried all kinds of socks and had a special fondness for white ones.

“It tickles! It tickles!”

“Gugu… don’t vibrate anymore… I’m gonna go crazy!!”

At first, Bai Zhuqing’s face flushed bright red as she stubbornly tried to endure, but as Bai Xiang gradually increased the force, she simply couldn’t resist anymore. One hand clamped over her mouth as she laughed, the other clutching the sheets as she writhed and struggled on the bed, tangling the blankets into a complete mess.

Only when Bai Xiang had vibrated her until she was slick with fragrant sweat and could barely string words together did she finally spare her, demanding, “Will you dare stay up late again?”

“Mm…” Bai Zhuqing had a lock of hair caught between her lips, her little face looking rather alluring.

“I… I just wanted to help Gugu a bit more…”

“And… Gugu bullies people…”

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“You promised to let me touch your feet… and you still haven’t kept your word!”

You sure remember that clearly.

Bai Xiang bared her teeth in a grin but gave no verbal reply. Instead, she simply loosened the sash at her waist and let her dark, mysterious robe dress slip from her body.

Huh?

Bai Zhuqing was instantly stunned silly.

What is Gugu trying to do——

These days, Bai Xiang had always been wearing this same dark robe dress.

The robe’s black was deep, while her pantyhose were a slightly lighter shade. The contrast only kept feeding the thoughts in Bai Zhuqing’s heart.

Heaven knows… how many times she’d stared at Bai Xiang’s black-stockinged feet pacing back and forth until they disappeared up the stairs!

“Obviously, I’m going to rest.”

Wearing only her close-fitting undergarments, Bai Xiang calmly pulled her own pillow away under her “little sister’s” stunned gaze and set it securely down at the foot of the bed.

Then she actually lay down.

Head pointing toward the foot of the bed.

Feet pointing toward the head.

Her pair of black-silk, slender feet, pressed together and slightly crossed, pointed straight over… practically touching Zhuqing’s face.

T-this was basically some kind of invitation!

Bai Zhuqing’s breathing quickened. First she climbed up and leaned over to observe Bai Xiang’s expression at the foot of the bed, and saw that her eyes were tightly shut, her breathing steady, her posture unmoving, as if she’d really fallen asleep.

Is this Gugu acknowledging how well I did and rewarding me?

No, no… this must be a test Gugu is putting me through!

She’s definitely faking sleep. The moment I really touch them, she’ll jump up and vibrate me into oblivion again…

What a sly Gugu!

Not keeping her promise is bad enough!

She even lays traps like this for her own “little sister”!

Certain she’d seen through Bai Xiang’s thoughts, Bai Zhuqing turned away in a huff, facing the wall, the back of her head outward, forcing herself not to look at that pair of black-silk feet.

The girl really had been up far too late. She’d only meant to strike a pose to spite Bai Xiang, but the moment her head hit the pillow, her eyelids started fighting each other. In no time, her breathing evened out, and she actually fell asleep just like that.

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Truly, never stupid when she ought to be stupid, and never smart when she ought to be smart.

Bai Xiang opened her eyes, face expressionless.

What else do you want me to do?

Repeat that invitation to let you touch my feet all over again?

I only managed to say that because the mood was perfectly primed at the time. Asking her to say it now… there was no way the words were coming out.

I gave you the chance, anyway.

If you couldn’t seize it, that’s hardly me bullying you.

She was just about to draw her feet back and get out of bed when—suddenly—Bai Xiang felt both her legs pulled into someone’s arms. Her soles in particular seemed to be planted right on someone’s face, and as they rubbed against it she could clearly feel the contour of a nose bridge.

She pushed herself halfway up and looked back, only to discover, to her astonishment, that Bai Zhuqing still hadn’t woken up at all. She was purely hugging Bai Xiang’s feet in her sleep, caught in some bizarre dream, arms clinging tighter and tighter, hands roaming even as she wore a silly smile.

“Mm…!”

A soft sound slipped from Bai Xiang’s lips, and she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.

In her dreams, Bai Zhuqing feared nothing. Naturally, there was no restraint in the strength of her hands either.

Touching, scratching, pressing, kneading… she even rubbed her cheek directly along them. Every kind of move she could come up with took a turn on those black-silk feet.

“…” Bai Xiang’s face flushed faintly red, and she finally started to feel a touch of regret.

If she pulled away now, she’d just wake Zhuqing up…

But if she let this keep going…

No rush.

First… calm the mind and steady the breath, mm—!?

That soft, wet sensation shattered her gathered Zen heart on the spot.

Bai Xiang’s face went red, then dark, then red again. In the end, she could only sigh softly, pull a Buddhist scripture out from under her pillow, and start reading to suppress her emotions.

Just think of it as honoring my promise…

She doesn’t know anyway.

From now on.

From now on, we’ll just act like this never happened…

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……

When she woke up, Bai Zhuqing stretched hard with a luxurious yawn.

She’d had an unbelievably wonderful dream.

In the dream, her cultivation had surpassed Bai Xiang’s. Not only had she helped the Bai family eradicate all their enemies, she’d kicked that damned emperor right off his dragon throne. The final image was of herself sitting on that throne, Bai Xiang in a gorgeous palace dress nestled in her arms, Bai Xiang feeding her grapes with her toes.

So satisfying.

Too bad it was just a dream.

Where’s Sis?

She glanced at the time. It was already close to two in the afternoon.

Bai Zhuqing didn’t even bother with bathing and changing anymore. She thumped down the stairs, and at a glance saw Bai Xiang sitting where she herself had been before, once again dressed in that “Flowing Water and Drifting Clouds” turquoise robe dress.

She seemed to have bathed; her head of white hair hung damp over her shoulders. Her eyes were fixed on the computer screen, and that pair of black-silk feet that haunted people’s dreams were now wrapped in tall boots. Her whole outfit was extremely proper and formal.

Is she going to meet outsiders?

Bai Zhuqing froze, suddenly realizing how beautiful this scene was.

Half of Bai Xiang’s body sat in shadow and dust, yet a few strands of sunlight pierced through the gap in the curtains, lighting up the portion of her face that was visible.

In that instant, it was as if she were sitting within an “aura of light and dust.” That stern, lofty, otherworldly air of hers had been softened quite a bit. Her expression looked quiet and gentle, like a soft painting standing there in front of her.

Bai Zhuqing stared, utterly entranced. She couldn’t bear to make a sound and shatter the moment, so she simply stood there, hardly daring to breathe.

“Liangzhou University has someone named Han Yuanfeng bringing a group of students over to visit.”

Bai Xiang lifted her eyes to look at her as she spoke.

“You should hurry up and wash your face and get ready. You’re coming down to receive guests with me.”

“O… okay!”

Bai Zhuqing agreed and trudged woodenly back upstairs.

She vaguely felt that Bai Xiang seemed a little different somehow.

But what exactly was different? She couldn’t say.

She just chalked it up to dream and reality overlapping for a while, until you couldn’t tell which one was the dream anymore.