When I woke up, the entire cultivation world was talking about my master.

As night fell, the commotion of the demons gradually subsided. Inside the tent, Chu Xianlan sat on the couch, closing her eyes and entering a meditative state.

The landscapes of the cultivators' seas of consciousness are all different; his sea of ​​consciousness was an endless, upside-down night sky.

Like a water surface, or a mirror, the boundless deep blue sky is overhead and underfoot, making it impossible to distinguish where the sky ends and the earth begins. The vast starry sky is filled all around, surrounded by five different colors of spiritual energy, each occupying its own territory.

A silvery-white full moon hung in the very center of the sea of ​​consciousness, slowly rotating.

Chu Xianlan suddenly felt that the moon in her sea of ​​consciousness shone brighter than ever before.

When I reached out to touch it, it was gently bounced away.

Chu Xianlan felt anxious and took another step forward. He refused to believe in fate; the more he was rejected, the more he wanted to break through that invisible barrier.

A sharp pain shot into his brain, and the surrounding spiritual energy became wildly chaotic. He was obsessed and focused solely on moving forward, unable to hear any other sounds. He endured the pain and pressed all his strength into his palms—and suddenly his vision became bright.

The icy spiritual energy poured into her body, and Chu Xianlan shivered. Before she could react, she was pressed down on the bed by the shoulders, her expression blank.

"Master?"

Yi Chen sat on the edge of the couch, his expression not good. He frowned and looked at him for a while before saying, "You almost suffered a qi deviation just now."

"Huh? I..."

Chu Xianlan was stunned. She raised her hand to wipe her forehead, which was covered in cold sweat.

"Chu Li, what are you doing?"

Chu Xianlan observed his expression and, seeing that her master's tone was really serious, she awkwardly said, "This disciple wants to delve into the depths of the sea of ​​consciousness to try... perhaps I can unearth memories from before the age of five."

The sea of ​​consciousness stores the cultivators' past and origins; the deeper one goes, the harder it is to access those memories.

Exploring the depths of one's consciousness when one's mind is unstable can easily lead to demonic possession.

For example, just now, Chu Xianlan almost trapped herself inside.

If Yi Chen, who was guarding nearby, hadn't noticed his condition and forcibly brought him out, he would probably have already damaged his heart meridian.

"I was wrong, Master."

Chu Xianlan knew her actions were inappropriate, so she lowered her eyebrows and resigned herself to her fate.

Yi Chen sighed softly, bent down, and gently pressed his fingertips against his disciple's brow, inserting a wisp of spiritual energy to clear his chaotic sea of ​​consciousness.

He was too close, half of his body leaning over Chu Xianlan, his light aura enveloping her, cool strands of hair falling beside her ears. Chu Xianlan lay obediently, not daring to move.

Yi Chen asked, "Why did you suddenly do this?"

Chu Xianlan whispered, "Today... I met Fellow Daoist Ji."

The family ties that had been absent for more than a decade suddenly returned. Even after learning about his origins, he still felt it was all too real. Those things seemed so distant, like someone else's story.

The appearance of Ji Fuyao and Ji Cheng'an at this moment was like a bolt from the blue.

The feeling was like being forcibly pulled from an individual into a collective.

To be honest, Chu Xianlan didn't know how to get along with those two members of the Southern Cang royal family. She couldn't immediately change her address to address them as brother and sister and respond with equal enthusiasm; nor could she be indifferent and betray Ji Fuyao's good intentions.

"Therefore, I am considering that if I can remember things from before I was five years old, perhaps I will know how to face them."

"Hmm," Yi Chen listened, "then let's not consider it for now. Put yourself first and let things take their natural course."

Chu Xianlan was slightly taken aback.

Indeed, he still had his own things to do: reshaping his spiritual root, advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, investigating the malevolent energy of half-demons, and tracing the past from a thousand years ago. Which one of them was insignificant? He had to let nature take its course.

Not to mention that Ji Fuyao didn't ask him to do anything.

Then get along as you normally would.

After figuring this out, Chu Xianlan suddenly understood.

At this moment, Yi Chen's body sank down, and he rolled over and pinned him down.

The weight of the two people caused the simple bed inside the tent to sink slightly, the candlelight dimmed a little, and the atmosphere between them changed instantly. The distance between their faces grew closer and closer, Chu Xianlan's eyelashes trembled slightly, and a hand covered his eyes.

"Close your eyes."

Chu Xianlan closed her eyes.

"Open your eyes."

Chu Xianlan opened her eyes.

Open your mouth.

"?" Although he felt confused, he did as instructed.

Yi Chen lowered his eyes and gazed at the boy lying on his back on the bed. His full lips were slightly parted, revealing a small section of bright red tongue. His dark hair was smooth and soft, scattered on the plain pillowcase. Black was black, and white was white. The black and white intertwined, creating a striking contrast.

The long eyelashes tickled my palm, a soft, fuzzy sensation that seemed to travel from my wrist to my heart.

"...You'll do anything I ask?"

Chu Xianlan didn't quite grasp the abrupt shift in topic for a moment, and blinked several times at the light filtering through her fingers.

He nodded.

After a while, the voice from above was low and deep, the words seeming to vibrate from the chest:

"Anything is fine?"

Before Chu Xianlan could answer again, the hand covering her eyes was removed, and what appeared before her was not her familiar master, but a giant white snake whose body almost filled the entire tent.

The triangular head hung no more than a foot in front of Chu Xianlan.

Its extremely narrow, deep gray vertical pupils were like bottomless, icy pools, its inorganic gaze fixed on him. Its fine, smooth, silvery-white scales gleamed with a cold light, exuding the ferocity of a cold-blooded animal that seeped into its very bones. Its serpentine body coiled and twisted, almost filling the entire space beside the bed.

The terrifying, cold-blooded monster seemed capable of easily tearing people apart or strangling them.

Chu Xianlan was taken aback.

He thought Yi Chen's violent temper had flared up.

Startled, the boy hurriedly considered a solution. After all, the malevolent energy emanating in the middle of the night would surely alert others, and things would get complicated. He stroked the giant snake's chin along its scales to soothe it.

The scales aren't hard, and they feel quite nice to the touch.

Yi Chen: "..."

The deliberately created sense of oppression was completely dismantled by these few caresses.

Yi Chen was determined to scare him and let Chu Xianlan know how dangerous it was to casually agree to a half-demon's "anything is fine" attitude. He wanted Chu Xianlan to be vigilant and discreet even when facing him, and not to nod carelessly and take everything for granted.

Little did they expect that the boy's courage seemed to have no bottom.

Not only was he not afraid, he even touched it.

"Master," he called softly, reaching out with both hands to stroke his fur, "What happened? Are you alright?"

Yi Chen: "…………"

Just then, someone walked by outside the tent laughing. Chu Xianlan was terrified and kept an eye on the outside world. Her fingers were still on the snake, and she dared not move. Only when the footsteps faded away did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"……Um!?"

But the next second, the snake's tail darted inside the hem of the clothes, the rough texture of the scales scraping against the sensitive skin, causing it to shudder. In an instant, the body was wrapped around the snake, as if a hungry beast was about to strangle its prey.

Chu Xianlan was pinned down in the bedding and unable to move. Then, his eyes slowly opened, his body stiffened, and he clearly felt the base of the slender snake tail probing, trying to burrow into a certain place.

That place... how could it be...?

Chu Xianlan let out a trembling sob, finally losing her composure and beginning to struggle violently, her face turning red and white in a rather dramatic display.