37: Chapter 37 A Yandere Enters the Room, Forced Symbiosis

"Are you finished?"

Shen Xiao's voice was terrifyingly calm, not at all like someone who was severely injured and on the verge of death. "Since you're finished, it's my turn."

Before the words even faded, the medicinal power that should have been flowing smoothly through his Meridians suddenly stalled, then, like a wild horse breaking free from its reins, it violently reversed course!

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of scalding blood uncontrollably sprayed from Shen Xiao's mouth, splashing onto Xia Lengbai's snow-white neck, the sensation searing hot.

His aura instantly withered, his body went limp, and he nearly collapsed.

Damn this Heavenly Dao patch!

Is this what a 'low-probability fatal event' is?

Can one suffer Qi Deviation just from channeling energy to heal?

However, the moment this blood was sprayed, a strange, sweet scent mixed with Medicinal Pill and blood odor permeated the sealed stone chamber.

Shen Xiao's pupils suddenly constricted.

This wasn't his own scent!

This sweet fragrance originated from the same source as the blood dripping from Xia Lengbai's sword!

It was a type of Blood-Burning Secret Fragrance specially supplied to the Inner Sect Disciple guards of the Qingming Sect, used for tracking and locking onto targets.

Before she came, she had killed someone. She had killed the spy Special Envoy had sent to monitor him.

Xia Lengbai clearly smelled it too; she froze for a moment, then a flash of panic crossed her morbidly obsessed eyes, like a child caught red-handed doing something bad.

She subconsciously raised her other hand, wanting to wipe the blood off her neck.

"Don't move."

Shen Xiao's voice was hoarse, but carried an unquestionable command.

His gaze went past Xia Lengbai, staring fixedly at the crack in the tightly closed stone door.

Just in the moment his Meridians reversed and his mind lost focus, he saw a wisp of colorless "smoke," almost imperceptible to the naked eye, seeping in through the crack under the door.

[Warning! Warning! Heavenly Dao correction patch has materialized! High-concentration Karma toxin is invading! Estimated Divine Soul annihilation in three breaths due to 'logical erasure'!]

[Response strategy simulation in progress... Failed... Failed...]

[Only feasible solution: Find a highly active, unstable, and dual-pole hedging 'energy container' to perform 'risk hedging'!]

Damn it!

Shen Xiao cursed internally; the answer was self-evident.

The only container was this crazy woman in front of him!

Dead either way, might as well drag someone down with him and take a gamble!

Xia Lengbai felt a chill in her heart from his bone-chilling gaze, and the fear from when her memories were plundered surged again.

Her hand gripping the sword tightened involuntarily, and the sharp blade had already sliced a thin bloodstain onto Shen Xiao's neck.

"Who... who exactly are you..."

She trembled, fragments of memories crashing wildly in her mind, "You destroyed everything I had, why... why give me this kind of power! I just wanted to be a useless person, waiting to get married, then be abandoned by him, and die quietly! It was you! You ruined everything!"

Her stunningly beautiful face was now full of tears and madness, like a poppy blooming in poison.

Shen Xiao did not answer this question, which could be called late-stage Stockholm syndrome.

He abruptly raised his hand, ignoring the deepening blade on his neck, and grabbed Xia Lengbai's wrist as she held the hilt.

Her skin was cold and smooth, but he could feel the violent Qi beneath, as if it were ready to explode at any moment.

"Want to know who I am? Sure," Shen Xiao grinned, a smile that looked more ferocious than a demon to Xia Lengbai, "Then see for yourself!"

[System! Initiate final contingency plan: Symbiotic Contract!]

[Warning! This is a high-risk operation! The host will establish a permanent Divine Soul link with the target, sharing senses, sharing glory and ruin! Confirm?]

"Confirm!"

"Boom!"

A force far more domineering and tyrannical than the Qi he had guided before surged from Shen Xiao's palm into Xia Lengbai's body!

This time, he wasn't carefully building a bridge, but like a bandit, he directly seized control of the dual ice and fire Spiritual Root within her!

"Ah!"

Xia Lengbai let out a shrill scream, the long sword slipping from her hand and falling to the ground with a crisp "clang."

She felt her Meridians being forcibly torn and twisted by two red-hot iron tongs!

The colorless Karma toxin that had seeped into Shen Xiao's body, under his forceful guidance, was like a flood finding a vent, surging wildly along their connected Meridians into Xia Lengbai's body, slamming head-on into the already extremely unstable dual ice and fire Spiritual Root!

Extreme rule-based poison clashing with extreme energy conflict!

It was like a drop of water falling into a boiling cauldron of oil, instantly triggering a violent explosion!

"Urghhh!"

Xia Lengbai collapsed to the ground in pain, her whole body convulsing violently.

But in this very instant, because of the forced link of the Symbiotic Contract, her chaotic Divine Soul touched the depths of Shen Xiao's Soul without reservation for the first time.

She "saw" it.

She saw a Soul from another world, in a world called a "novel," "reading" her fate over and over again.

She saw Shen Xiao in the North Sea Ice Abyss, torn apart by the guardian beast, then finished off by Lin Yun, his unwilling gaze before death.

She saw Nangong Li fail at Alchemy for Lin Yun, abandoned as a useless person, and finally dying in regret.

She saw Bai Lian sacrifice herself in the Kunlun Ruins to open the Legacy for Lin Yun, her relieved smile as she turned to ash.

Scene after scene, case after case, they were all tragic scripts of cannon fodder being trampled under the feet of the Child of Destiny and turned into nourishment.

These cold, desperate, and repeatedly crushed fragments of painful memory were like a red-hot branding iron, searing deeply into Xia Lengbai's Divine Soul!

So...

So everything he did wasn't for plunder, but to resist!

So her so-called "mediocre life" had its end long destined: it was just a sacrifice!

The last, ridiculous reverence she held for the Heavenly Dao was, at this moment, completely crushed by this cruel "truth"!

"Ha... hahahaha..." Xia Lengbai let out a twisted, manic laugh amidst the excruciating pain, her laughter filled with endless sorrow and madness.

Not only did she not resist, but she suddenly flipped over, wrapping her arms tightly around Shen Xiao, actively releasing all the ice and fire Qi in her body, letting him mobilize and drive it!

"Kill him! Kill him! Tear this hypocritical 'Heaven' to shreds for me!"

Under the joint action of their Qi, the violent Karma toxin was finally suppressed by the intense conflict of the ice and fire Spiritual Root and forcibly solidified.

"Sss..."

Two soft sounds, and two gorgeous, eerie marks, seemingly woven from ice and flame, appeared on the left collarbones of Shen Xiao and Xia Lengbai respectively, flickering faintly with a dangerous light.

The moment the toxin was suppressed, an incredibly pure energy surged back.

Shen Xiao felt a roar inside his body; his depleted Dantian and Qi Sea were instantly filled, and his cultivation barrier shattered at the sound!

Foundation Establishment Initial Stage... Peak!

Foundation Establishment Stage!

A blessing in disguise, he had actually broken through a Realm!

However, before he could stabilize his Realm, the delicate body in his arms suddenly went limp.

Xia Lengbai had exhausted all her strength and collapsed into his arms, drained.

She raised the finger still stained with the guard's blood, gently drawing circles on Shen Xiao's solid chest, her voice weak but filled with unprecedented satisfaction and dependence.

"Now... you are the only 'truth' I have in this fake world."

"If you die," she raised her head, her yandere eyes flashing with heart-stopping possessiveness, "I will drag the entire Qingming Sect down to be buried with you."

Shen Xiao looked down at this completely broken woman in his arms; instead of feeling it was troublesome, a sense of satisfaction from utilizing her arose in his heart.

Very good, this type of protective contract was exactly what he needed right now.

He pinched her chin, forcing her to look at him, and issued his first command in an unquestionable tone: "At tomorrow's Sect meeting, in front of everyone, tell them that you and I have established a Divine Soul contract. From now on, your person and your sword belong only to me."

Just then, an old and majestic voice, as if ignoring the obstruction of the stone chamber, rang directly in both their minds.

"Shen Xiao, come to the main hall to see me."

It's the Sect Master!

Shen Xiao's gaze hardened as he looked at the crack in the stone door.

He keenly sensed a faint red light shining in from outside the door, casting an eerie shadow on the floor.

[Ding! Detected that a new 'Luck seed' has been sown by the Heavenly Dao, target locked: Inner Sect Disciple, Zhao Qian.]

Lin Yun fell, and the Heavenly Dao immediately selected the next "Lin Yun."

Truly not even bothering to act.

Shen Xiao's mouth curled into a cold sneer; he helped Xia Lengbai up, took a spare battle robe that had been stained red with blood from a previous battle from his storage ring, and threw it to her.

"Put this on."

"We are going to see the Sect Master."

What he wanted was more than just an explanation.

He wanted to establish a brand-new power and deterrence belonging to him, Shen Xiao, in front of the entire upper echelon of the Qingming Sect with the most aggressive posture!

The Kunlun Ruins should also be put on the agenda.