Aren't You Afraid I'll Die With You?

Three days later, Saintess Hall, bedchamber.

Morning light spilled through the window lattice onto the bed, illuminating Bibi Dong's face—still pale, yet now restored to clarity.

"Awake?"

In the depths of her mind, the voice of Nan Feng rang out, carrying a lingering heat of irritation. "You woman, do you have any idea that we almost truly perished together? Was that trivial matter worth risking your life over?"

Bibi Dong's expression darkened, and she retorted coldly, "That was your own doing! Who told you to seize my body?"

"And furthermore..." A flicker of wariness crossed Bibi Dong's eyes. "Before, whenever I switched to the Soul-Eater Spider Emperor, I could reclaim control. Why didn't it work this time? Did you lie to me?"

"Nonsense!" Nan Feng sounded annoyed.

"Those previous times, it was because The Emperor chose not to fight you! I didn't want to contend with you! Did you really think that with your meager spiritual power, you could suppress the soul of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast like me?"

"We are grasshoppers tied to the same rope now; one of us must yield. Previously, I was the one yielding, but you cannot take my concession as capital for your own reckless behavior!"

Hearing this naked "showdown," the fury in Bibi Dong's heart intensified, and her hostility toward Nan Feng climbed back to its peak.

"So it is... you were calculating against me from the very beginning."

Bibi Dong gritted her teeth. "Had I known, I never should have accepted your sacrifice! Even if it took another ten years, I could have slaughtered you, you beast, with my own hands!"

She truly regretted it now.

She had originally thought it was a win-win transaction, but it turned out to be inviting a wolf into the house. This fellow not only seized her body but also attempted to interfere with her will, even using such reasons to disgust her.

This feeling of being constrained and losing control was, to someone with such a strong desire for dominance, even more unbearable than death.

"Regret? It's too late!"

Nan Feng's voice turned cold as well. "We are grasshoppers on the same rope now. You may not want to live, but I certainly don't want to die!"

"I sacrificed my hundred-thousand-year cultivation and my very life to you for the sake of becoming a god, for the sake of transcendence—not to play some game of 'filial piety' and suicide with you here!"

"I care about your survival more than you do yourself!"

"You want to kill Qian Xunji, you want to hunt soul beasts, you even want to destroy the world—I have no objections, I can even help you hand over the blade. But on the issue of our bottom-line safety, I will not yield a single step!"

"Only by utilizing that little girl well and making her your amulet will your subsequent revenge plan have any margin for error! Otherwise, if you slip up, that mad old man Qian Daoliu will absolutely tear you apart!"

"I said, I don't need it!" Bibi Dong said coldly.

"Heh, how laughable."

Nan Feng was so angry he laughed. "Don't need it? Bibi Dong, you can lie to others, but don't lie to yourself."

"Do you really just not want to use her?"

"You simply dare not face her! You know she is innocent, and you know she flows with half your blood. But you cannot accept the other half of that filthy bloodline belonging to Qian Xunji, nor can you accept her nauseating Angel aura!"

"That is why you reject her, why you neglect her, why you keep your distance—because you are afraid! You are afraid that if you truly draw near, you will be unable to control yourself from killing her, or... unable to control yourself from falling in love with her!"

"SHUT UP!!" Bibi Dong roared within the Sea of Consciousness, her soul trembling.

"What? Did I hit the mark?"

Nan Feng showed no intention of stopping. "You reject my proposal simply because you want to cut her out of this. That way, even if she finds out later that you killed Qian Xunji, she can hate you without any psychological burden, or even righteously kill you to avenge her father, right?"

"You want to atone for your sins in this way? To fulfill your own ridiculous pride?"

"But if she becomes your amulet, the key to preserving your life, then when Qian Xunji dies in the future, she becomes an indirect accomplice! You are afraid of dragging her into the water, you are afraid of making her bear this sin, aren't you?!"

"I told you to SHUT UP!!!"

Bibi Dong completely broke down. Being poked in her most secret thoughts, that mix of shame and anger made her want to detonate all her soul power immediately and drag this bastard down to hell with her.

"Want to self-destruct? Save it."

Nan Feng didn't give her the chance. "I said, your life no longer belongs to you alone."

"You can die if you want, but wait until you've sent me to the God Realm; then you can die however the hell you want."

"But before that..."

"Regarding Qian Renxue, there is no room for negotiation!"

"If you don't want to act, I will! If you don't want to touch her, I will!"

"Coincidentally, this intermittent schizophrenia of ours is the best evidence of 'cultivation deviation' in the eyes of Qian Daoliu."

"Even if you stab Qian Xunji right in front of him, as long as I control the body to play the fool and claim I don't know him, Qian Daoliu will likely hold his nose and accept it just so his granddaughter has a mother!"

"You..." Bibi Dong's chest heaved violently with rage, her teeth nearly shattering. "Shameless!"

"Thank you for the compliment!" Nan Feng sneered.

"Let me tell you the truth! The day you charged into the lair, The Emperor was already at the end of my rope!"

"If you had made your move then, I fear I wouldn't have even had the chance to self-destruct and take you with me."

"But unfortunately, your stupidity and greed gave The Emperor an opening!"

"Shameless? If I didn't have this shameless ability, how could I have survived until today?"

"Bastard! Aren't you afraid I'll drag you down with me!?" Bibi Dong said coldly.

"Mutual destruction?" Nan Feng gave a disdainful laugh.

"Nonsense! Of course I'm afraid! Only an idiot wouldn't be!"

"..."

Just as the two were at daggers drawn in the spiritual world, neither willing to yield.

"Creak--"

The door was gently pushed open.

A small, golden head peeked in cautiously.

It was none other than Qian Renxue.

She held a bowl of steaming medicinal porridge, her little face filled with worry and trepidation.

Seeing Bibi Dong had already opened her eyes, her eyes lit up instantly.

"Mo... Mommy, are you awake?"

Qian Renxue walked in on tiptoe, "Grandpa said you need to rest... I, I made you some porridge..."

Seeing this, Bibi Dong's body stiffened instinctively, and a chill surged into her eyes—it was an instinctive repulsion.

However, before she could scold her or drive her away.

A familiar wave of dizziness struck again!

"You dare?!" Bibi Dong was shocked.

"The Emperor has already staked my life on you, do you think I dare?" Nan Feng said eerily.

"Relax, don't fight me for control, or you'll be coughing up blood again."

The next second, the chill in Bibi Dong's eyes vanished instantly.

Replacing it was a look of gentleness and confusion.

"Little sister, who are you?"

Nan Feng controlled Bibi Dong's body, his eyes revealing a hint of perfectly measured confusion and innocence.

That gaze was as clean as a newborn baby's, completely devoid of the usual gloom and coldness.

Qian Renxue's hand holding the medicine bowl trembled slightly, her heart filled with both bitterness and wild joy.

The bitterness came from the fact that Mommy had truly forgotten her.

The joy came from the thought that if she didn't remember the past, did that mean... Mommy would also forget her hatred?

"Mommy..."

Qian Renxue set down the bowl, gathered her courage, and leaned toward the bedside, her voice choked with emotion, "It's me, Xue'er... I'm your daughter."

"Daughter?"

"Bibi Dong" tilted her head slightly, as if struggling to grasp the meaning of the word, then frowned and rubbed her temples in pain, "I don't remember... Do I have a daughter?"

"You do! You do!"

Qian Renxue desperately wanted to prove her existence. She reached out with her small hands, wanting to support Bibi Dong, yet afraid of being ruthlessly shoved away as before.

But this time, it didn't happen.

Bibi Dong only looked at her weakly, allowing those tender little hands to support her arm.

"You were too anxious in your cultivation and accidentally suffered a qi deviation that hurt your mind."

As she spoke, Qian Renxue carefully helped Bibi Dong lean against the headboard, then picked up the bowl, scooped a spoonful of porridge, blew on it gently, and brought it to Bibi Dong's lips.

"Here, Mommy, have some porridge."

Nan Feng naturally went along with it, opening his mouth to not only drink the porridge but even offer a warm smile.

"Thank you... Xue'er."

That "thank you," paired with that gentle smile, instantly shattered all of Qian Renxue's defenses.

Her eyes turned red, tears swirling within them, yet she stubbornly refused to let them fall, fearing she might ruin this hard-won warmth.

Meanwhile, outside the door.

Qian Daoliu stood silently in the shadows, his vast and precise spiritual power covering the entire room, capturing every subtle emotional fluctuation within.

If this were an act by Bibi Dong, given her bone-deep hatred for Xue'er, she could never have tolerated such intimacy, let alone displayed such pure confusion.

It seems the backlash of the Twin Martial Souls has truly damaged her core memories.