44: Chapter 44 A Pleasant Cooperation, My Destiny's Backup

Cracks spread like a spiderweb, the clicking sounds merging into a chorus of snaps, as if the entire Kunlun Ruins were chewing on bones.

The space overhead began to twist, and black Void Realm fissures clung to the ice like centipedes, exhaling deadly gale winds.

"Go."

Shen Xiao let out a low shout, his right hand gripping Xia Lengbai's wrist like an iron pincer, dragging her as he sprinted toward the weak point in space to the northwest that he remembered.

The ice beneath their feet was no longer solid; every step felt like treading on cotton, with the constant risk of falling into the endless Void Realm.

Xia Lengbai stumbled as he dragged her, her skirt sweeping across the ice and kicking up a spray of ice crystals.

She did not resist, but her pace slowed inexplicably.

It appeared as though she had tripped on loose stones, but in reality, her fingertips lightly tapped the ground, and a thin layer of ice silently sealed Shen Xiao's footing, increasing the friction.

She was testing him.

Testing how far this man, who had just bound himself to her with Symbiotic Shackles, could drag her while heavily injured.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shen Xiao caught sight of the ice layer thickening suddenly beneath his feet, and a cold sneer tugged at the corner of his mouth.

While running, he pressed his thumb hard into her wrist, his nail digging into her pulse point, and the energy of the Guiyuan Dao Seed that had not yet settled in his body surged backward through the contact point.

"Urgh!"

Xia Lengbai let out a muffled groan, her face instantly turning pale.

The sensation wasn't like having blood drawn; it felt more like someone was stirring her Dantian with a spoon, making even her Divine Soul tremble.

The frost gathering at her fingertips instantly dissipated, and she had no choice but to keep up with Shen Xiao's pace.

"Want to test my limits?" Shen Xiao didn't even turn his head, his voice somewhat fractured by the gale winds. "You'd better not wreck yourself before I die, otherwise both of us will end up as dust within the spatial fragments."

Ahead, a blinding white light tore through the dim spatial barrier. It was the exit.

Shen Xiao did not slow down in the slightest; instead, leveraging his momentum, he pulled Xia Lengbai in front of him, using his own back to crash into that spatial rift.

With a ripping sound, like fabric being torn apart by force, the two figures flashed and disappeared from the collapsing Kunlun Ruins.

Cold winds howled, swirling snow particles that stung their faces.

This was a desolate ice field, and the surroundings were so silent that only the sound of the wind could be heard.

In the distance, several ice mountains stood like giant inverted swords, silently looming under the gray-white sky.

Shen Xiao dragged Xia Lengbai into a sheltered ice cave and casually set up a few simple isolation Formations.

Outside the cave, the wind sounded like ghosts wailing, but inside, it was quiet enough to hear each other's slightly hurried breathing.

He sat down against an ice boulder and tore off a piece of his sleeve to hastily bandage the wound on his back that had been split open by the Lightning Tribulation.

Fresh blood seeped into the fabric, quickly freezing into dark red ice crystals.

Xia Lengbai stood opposite him, her fingertips still lingering with the residual pain from having her energy extracted just moments ago.

She didn't speak, just watched him quietly; the emotions in those eyes were like an undercurrent beneath the ice, complex and difficult to decipher.

"The Heavenly Dao has sent Lin Yun to the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons." Shen Xiao was the first to break the silence. He fished out a Medicinal Pill for recovering spiritual power from his robes, tossed it into his mouth, and crunched loudly. "That is the critical juncture in the original story where he achieves his Nascent Soul Breakthrough. With the heart of the demon emperor and the Luck compensated by the Heavenly Dao, by the time he comes out, the two of us will be lambs waiting to be slaughtered."

Xia Lengbai's eyelashes trembled slightly, her voice cold and clear: "So what?"

"So, rather than waiting for death, we should take the initiative." Shen Xiao swallowed the Medicinal Pill and looked up at her, his gaze sharp as a knife. "We are going to the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons. Before Lin Yun can fuse with the heart of the demon emperor, you will seize that Opportunity."

Xia Lengbai acted as if she had heard a joke, a faint arc curling at the corner of her mouth, though there was no humor in her eyes: "Let me go and rob the Child of Destiny? Brother Shen, you are trying to use me as cannon fodder to draw fire for you."

"Cannon fodder?" Shen Xiao scoffed, stood up, and walked toward her step by step.

The distance between them was extremely close, close enough to see their own reflections in each other's pupils.

Shen Xiao extended his hand, and a golden halo of light condensed at his fingertips; these were the memory fragments he had plundered from Nangong Li.

"After you watch this, decide whether you want to be cannon fodder."

Before he finished speaking, he flicked his finger, and the halo sank into the center of Xia Lengbai's brow.

The images unfolded within her Sea of Consciousness.

It was the Pill Refining Room of the Nangong Family, the furnace fires blazing, but not for Alchemy; they were for refining people.

Nangong Li's clansmen were shoved into the furnace one by one, their flesh and blood turning into medicinal liquid, their Divine Souls becoming the medicinal primer, all to nurture that so-called "Child of Destiny" as he broke through his Bottleneck.

And at the end of the scene, Nangong Li knelt on the ground, watching her entire Family turn to ash, while the Heavenly Dao merely descended with a cold sentence: "Sacrifice is glorious."

Xia Lengbai's body stiffened abruptly, her pupils contracting sharply.

She thought of her own Family.

She thought of the elders who had disappeared inexplicably, and she thought of her father's vague, dying words: "Stop cultivating; it is all a debt."

So it wasn't an illness; it was a sign before being harvested by the Heavenly Dao.

The temperature inside the ice cave plummeted, and the cold aura emanating from her body caused a thick layer of white frost to form on the rock walls.

"Do you see now?" Shen Xiao's voice sounded in her ear, carrying a hint of seduction. "In the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, Lin Yun is the Gu King, and we are all just nourishment. Whether you help him or help me, the ending is to be devoured completely. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Xia Lengbai interrupted him, her voice hoarse.

"Unless we kill the Gu King and overturn the chessboard." Shen Xiao stared into her eyes. "You replace him and become the new variable. I will cover for you, and we will split the Luck of this world."

Xia Lengbai was silent for a long time.

She lowered her head and looked at her palms, where the phantom pain of her Family's destruction seemed to still linger.

After a long while, she looked up, the hesitation in her eyes replaced by a sense of determination.

"I can cooperate with you," she said slowly, her fingertips tracing the air and leaving a trail of ice. "But I have one condition."

"Speak."

"I want the method you use to shield yourself from the Heavenly Dao's investigation." Xia Lengbai's gaze was burning, as if she wanted to see through his Soul. "You have been able to seize the initiative repeatedly, even acting under the very eyes of the Heavenly Dao; you must possess such a secret technique. Give it to me, to ensure that my actions in the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons will not be predicted in advance."

She was testing him. Testing the details of his System.

Shen Xiao felt a slight chill in his heart, but his face remained calm.

Of course, he couldn't give her the System; giving it away would be equivalent to handing his life over to her.

"I don't have a method to shield against the Heavenly Dao." Shen Xiao spread his hands, his tone frank. "But I do have a way to deceive the Heavenly Dao."

Xia Lengbai frowned slightly.

"I will use the Symbiotic Shackles as bait." Shen Xiao pointed to himself. "When we act in the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons, I will disguise all the action auras as my own. If the Heavenly Dao investigates, it will find me. You will hide in the shadows and strike during the chaos."

Xia Lengbai was stunned.

She had thought of countless possibilities, but she had never expected him to propose using himself as the bait.

This meant he would have to endure all of the Heavenly Dao's targeting and backlash alone.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I cannot kill you right now, and you cannot kill me either." Shen Xiao turned and walked toward the cave entrance, waving his hand with his back to her. "Rather than guarding against each other, it is better to entrust our backs to one another. Of course, words alone are not proof."

He stopped, turned his head, and half of his face was hidden in the shadows: "Swear a Divine Soul oath: before Lin Yun dies, we will never betray this alliance."

The wind outside the cave suddenly grew louder, causing the ice crystals to hum.

Xia Lengbai looked at his back, silent for a moment, then traced an ancient rune on her chest with her fingertips.

A pale blue light pattern lit up deep within her Soul, then faded away.

"The oath is made."

Her voice was calm, yet carried a strange weight.

Shen Xiao turned around and looked at her.

Xia Lengbai also looked at him; those eyes, originally filled with a morbid possessiveness, now held a trace of elusive inquiry.

She walked over slowly, extending her cold fingers to gently stroke the unhealed Lightning Tribulation scar on his neck.

Her fingertips grazed his skin, bringing a slight stinging sensation.

"Brother Shen, this is what you chose yourself." She said in a low voice, the corners of her lips curling slightly upward, while her eyes remained a bottomless pool of cold water. "If you become the bait and are bitten to death by the Heavenly Dao, I will not collect your corpse."

Shen Xiao let her fingertips linger at his Adam's apple, not retreating even an inch.

"Rest assured, my life is tough."

Xia Lengbai withdrew her hand and turned to walk toward the depths of the ice cave, her skirt sweeping across the ground without leaving a single trace.

She stopped in the corner furthest from him and slowly closed her eyes to regulate her breathing, but the fingers resting on her knees unconsciously rubbed an ice crystal that had just formed until she ground it into powder.

The wind and snow outside the cave seemed to have lessened, but both of them knew that the real storm was still waiting at the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons.

Shen Xiao leaned against the ice wall and, before closing his eyes, took one last look at Xia Lengbai. Her breathing was steady, yet she resembled a snow leopard ready to pounce at any moment, so quiet it was unnerving.