The golden warship of the Righteous Alliance—now newly requisitioned as the personal transport of the Azure Sword Sect—sailed smoothly through the sea of clouds, heading back toward the eastern mountains.
On the main deck, Su Mei stood at the helm, gripping the steering array with white knuckles. She was entirely alone outside.
Down in the lavish master cabin, the atmosphere was thick with the scent of burning incense and profound spiritual energy.
Yan Shuo sat cross-legged on the center of the massive, silk-draped jade bed. His pristine white robes were slightly loosened at the collar. He had his eyes closed, breathing in a slow, rhythmic cadence.
In truth, the Abyssal Star-Core inside his dantian was purring like a completely satisfied, overfed beast. Devouring the Earth-Binding Hex and the Soul-Sealing Yin Fire had been the greatest meal he had eaten in a century. His fake golden Foundation Establishment aura was perfectly stable, hiding the terrifying demonic density swelling beneath it. He was in absolute, peak condition.
But a pragmatic Demon Lord never misses an opportunity to exploit a tactical advantage. The energy he swallowed was massive, and if he wanted to rapidly break through to the Core Formation stage without spending months in solitary meditation, he needed a supreme catalyst.
Specifically, he needed his incredibly beautiful, heavily overpowered wife.
Yan Shuo let out a soft, deliberately strained exhale. He allowed a microscopic bead of sweat to form on his brow, and he slightly furrowed his eyebrows as if experiencing deep, spiritual agony.
Sitting nervously at the edge of the bed, Tantai Zhi instantly snapped to attention.
"Husband?" Tantai Zhi whispered, her golden eyes widening with frantic worry. She immediately shifted closer, hovering her hands anxiously over his shoulders, afraid to touch him and disrupt his meditation. "What is wrong? Is the chaotic energy from the array tearing your meridians? Should we cycle our Qi like we usually do? I will give you my aura!"
Yan Shuo slowly opened his eyes, giving her a weak, immensely charming smile that was entirely fabricated.
"I am afraid our usual, subtle aura cycling will not be enough this time, Zhi’er," Yan Shuo murmured softly, his voice carrying a perfect hint of fatigue. "Swallowing a continent-grade kinetic array and a supreme soul-curse was a heavy burden on my mortal meridians. The energy is too violent. If I don’t guide it perfectly, my foundation might shatter."
Tantai Zhi’s breath hitched. A look of absolute, terrifying panic flooded her face. "S-Shatter?! No! I won’t let it! What do we need to do? I have supreme-tier soothing pills! I have a thousand-year lotus root! I will transfer my entire spiritual sea—"
Yan Shuo gently reached out and caught her hands, stopping her frantic rambling.
"Pills will not help, Wife," Yan Shuo said smoothly, his thumb gently stroking her knuckles. "What I desperately need is for you to guide the energy. I need a direct, unhindered connection to your pure Yin Qi. We must align our spiritual seas perfectly... a much deeper dual cultivation."
Tantai Zhi blinked.
Her mind, which could flawlessly calculate the trajectory of a thousand flying swords in a microsecond, suddenly slammed to a complete, violently abrupt halt.
They had practiced basic dual cultivation before—meditating palm-to-palm to gently soothe his Qi. But a direct, unhindered connection of their spiritual seas? That required shedding their heavy outer defenses. It required pressing their forehead spiritual centers directly together. It was a soul-melding intimacy that left a cultivator completely, utterly exposed to their partner.
A catastrophic, brilliantly red blush exploded across her flawless porcelain face, rushing down her neck and staining her collarbones. Her golden eyes widened to the size of saucers, and her heart began to hammer against her ribs so loudly Yan Shuo could actually hear it.
"D-Deeper..." Tantai Zhi stammered, her voice completely losing its terrifying, sovereign edge, reduced to a high-pitched, breathless squeak. "You mean... Husband... we must..."
"We must shed our outer robes to remove all physical barriers," Yan Shuo explained, maintaining his entirely shameless, weak facade as he looked deeply into her eyes. "And sit close enough to press our foreheads together. I know it is a profound burden, Zhi’er. To open your soul to me so intimately..."
He let his gaze drop to the floor, executing a perfectly timed, tragic sigh.
"If you are uncomfortable, I can simply endure the pain," Yan Shuo whispered. "It might permanently cripple my cultivation, but I will manage."
"NO!"
Tantai Zhi nearly shouted, completely terrified by the word cripple. The intense, maidenly panic in her heart was instantly violently overridden by her absolute, obsessive need to protect him.
She scrambled onto the center of the bed, her face still burning as red as a setting sun. With trembling fingers, she reached up and untied the heavy, crimson sash of her outer robes, letting the majestic, blood-red silk slip off her shoulders, revealing her pristine, form-fitting white inner garments.
"I am not uncomfortable, Husband!" she insisted frantically, her golden eyes swirling with a mixture of overwhelming shyness and fierce devotion. "I... I am your wife! It is my heavenly duty to protect your meridians! P-Please, let us connect our souls!"
Yan Shuo’s lips twitched, fighting the urge to smirk. Hook, line, and sinker. He smoothly shrugged off his own heavy white outer robes, leaving him in his light silk inner garments.
"Thank you, Zhi’er," Yan Shuo whispered affectionately.
He moved closer, completely invading her personal space. He reached out and intertwined his fingers perfectly with hers. Tantai Zhi let out a soft, breathless gasp as he leaned forward, gently resting his forehead directly against hers.
The moment their spiritual centers touched, a profound, visible ripple of energy swept through the luxurious cabin. The incense smoke froze in mid-air.
Tantai Zhi closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling as she opened her spiritual sea entirely, dropping every single one of her world-ending defensive barriers to give him absolute, unquestioned access to her soul.
Yan Shuo closed his eyes as well. He activated the Heaven-Swallowing Abyssal Art, but he completely reversed the terrifying, violent vacuum.
A radiant, icy-blue aura of pure Yin Qi flowed from Tantai Zhi’s soul directly into his. As the pure, maidenly Qi entered his meridians, the incredibly dense, dark energy of his Abyssal Core rose to meet it.
It was an incredibly intimate, soul-deep connection. Tantai Zhi could feel the ancient, terrifying weight of his true foundation, but instead of being afraid, she gently wrapped her own massive ocean of ice-cold Qi around it, soothing the turbulent energy exactly as he needed.
"Perfect, Wife," Yan Shuo’s voice echoed directly into her spiritual sea, deep and guiding. "Follow my current."
Tantai Zhi let out a soft murmur of absolute bliss, leaning completely into his embrace as the two supreme foundations cycled the Qi between them. The cabin was bathed in a beautiful, pulsing light.
To Yan Shuo, it wasn’t a romantic awakening. It was pure, unadulterated efficiency. Her Yin Qi acted as the perfect catalyst, forcefully refining the massive energy he had stolen from the Righteous Alliance and violently compressing his foundation toward the Core Formation stage.
The deep spiritual cycling lasted for hours.
When the morning sun finally broke through the cabin windows, casting a warm golden light over the bed, the spiritual current naturally came to a rest.
Yan Shuo slowly opened his eyes.
He felt entirely, outrageously powerful. The raw energy was completely digested. His fake golden foundation had shattered and reformed into a flawless, perfectly spherical Golden Core, hiding the Abyssal Star-Core deep within it. He had successfully reached the Core Formation realm in a single night.
He looked at the woman sitting in front of him.
Tantai Zhi had slumped forward, exhausted from opening her soul and donating so much pure Qi, and was currently fast asleep. Her head was resting peacefully against his chest, their fingers still tightly intertwined. Her face was buried in his silk robes, a soft, incredibly contented smile gracing her lips.
Yan Shuo gently untangled his fingers from hers, a faint, pragmatic smile touching his eyes. The absolute best cultivation resource in the mortal realm, he noted internally.
He carefully laid her down on the soft pillows and adjusted the silk blankets to cover her shoulders without waking her.
He quietly slipped out of the bed, tying his white robes properly, and stepped out onto the deck of the flying ship.
The cool morning wind whipped through his hair. They were just passing the mountain borders of the Azure Sword Sect.
Su Mei was still standing at the helm. When she saw Yan Shuo step out, she immediately bowed, her fox ears drooping with exhaustion. "Lord Yan. We have arrived. Should I inform Sect Master Zhao to prepare the defensive grand arrays? The Righteous Alliance will surely send an army after us!"
Yan Shuo walked over to the wooden railing, looking down at the familiar peaks of the Azure Sword Sect.
"They won’t send an army, Miss Su," Yan Shuo said calmly, snapping his paper fan open. "Bai Chen is a coward, but he is not a fool. He knows a thousand mortal soldiers cannot scratch the Saintess. He will not waste his pawns on a direct assault."
"Then what will he do?" Su Mei asked nervously.
"He will build a cage," Yan Shuo murmured, his dark eyes locking onto the distant eastern horizon. "He has three thousand years of Alliance resources at his disposal. He will call upon ancient favors. He will hire hidden shadows, unearth forbidden arrays, and try to turn the entire Central Continent into a lethal trap designed specifically for my foundation."
Su Mei swallowed hard. "Then... we should strike him now! Before his formations are complete!"
Yan Shuo chuckled, a cold, terrifyingly arrogant sound.
"Never interrupt your enemy while he is spending his own wealth, Miss Su," Yan Shuo corrected her lightly. "Let the Faceless Scholar exhaust his treasury building his grand battlefield. We have our own preparations to make. The wealth of the Central Treasury is currently sitting in my spatial ring, and I need to forge a proper weapon."
Yan Shuo turned around, his lazy demeanor entirely replaced by the suffocating aura of an ancient warlord preparing for a continental campaign.
"Send word to Sect Master Zhao," Yan Shuo ordered. "The Azure Sword Sect is sealing its mountain gates. No one enters, no one leaves. Tell him to prepare the disciples. When my wife and I finish digesting this wealth... we are going to war."