But the instant his fingertips brushed the jade's surface, the Twin Fish Jade Pendant suddenly erupted with dazzling multicolored light.
Nine-colored light gushed from the tiny Twin Fish Jade Pendant, instantly filling the entire room and piercing Bai Chuan's eyes so fiercely that he could not open them.
Immediately afterward, an immense pulling force surged from the Twin Fish Jade Pendant and seized his soul.
Bai Chuan felt as though an invisible hand had grabbed him, about to drag his entire being out of his body.
"Holy shit-!"
His vision went black, and his consciousness was instantly torn away.
The Dou Qi Continent, ten thousand years ago.
Inside a deep, secluded cave dwelling in the Ancient Heavenly Snake Clan's forbidden grounds, a woman in gold-trimmed red robes sat cross-legged.
The woman looked to be in her early twenties. She was stunningly beautiful, her features like a painting, yet she carried a cold arrogance that kept others a thousand miles away.
Long, silvery-white hair fell to her waist, and a crimson snake marking adorned her forehead, making her look both bewitching and fierce.
Ling Xi, empress of the Ancient Heavenly Snake Clan, one of the three great ancient pinnacle magical beast clans-a Dou Di powerhouse!
At that moment, her brows were tightly knitted and her lashes trembled faintly. Clearly, her sleep was anything but peaceful.
She was having that dream again.
In the dream, a human man lay in her arms. She could not make out his face, yet he kept putting his hands on her, taking liberties without restraint.
She wanted to resist, only to discover that she could not muster any strength.
What embarrassed and angered her even more was that her body not only failed to pull away, but actually rubbed against the man instinctively.
Ling Xi was anxious and furious, yet she could not move.
At first, she had thought spring had simply arrived and her snake instincts were acting up.
But on second thought, that was wrong.
How could I, a mighty Dou Di, possibly be yearning for a man?
And a human man at that.
The more she thought about it, the more something seemed wrong.
Until today, when she finally heard the man say a name in her dream.
Bai Chuan.
Ling Xi jolted awake, her silver hair slightly disheveled, a thin sheen of sweat beading at her temples.
She sat where she was, her crimson lips parting slightly as she unconsciously murmured that name.
"Bai Chuan..."
The moment the words left her lips, a pulling force suddenly erupted from the depths of her soul.
Ling Xi's expression changed, and she abruptly pressed a hand to her chest.
The force had come without warning, yet it was so terrifyingly immense that even with her Dou Di cultivation, she could not muster the slightest resistance.
"What-"
Her vision blurred, and her consciousness was forcibly torn from the cave dwelling.
When she opened her eyes again, Ling Xi found herself somewhere unfamiliar.
A man lay beside her.
Ling Xi looked down. The man's eyes were closed, his face handsome, with a high nose bridge and clearly defined lips. He was a good-looking man.
But that build really does look familiar.
She scrutinized him, and her pupils contracted slightly.
Isn't this the human man who keeps taking liberties with me in my dreams?
The only difference was that this time, she could finally see his face clearly.
His looks... aren't bad, at least. He certainly looks presentable...
Ling Xi instinctively raised her hand, intending to slap him.
But the moment she lifted her hand, she realized something was wrong.
The Dou Qi inside her was as still as stagnant water. She could not summon even a trace of it.
She, a mighty Dou Di, was now no different from an ordinary person.
Ling Xi's expression darkened, and she bit her lip.
She tried several more times, but still could not use her Dou Qi.
After a moment of silence, she withdrew her hand and sat down beside the multicolored stream, her expression cold.
Far away from that man.
She sat with her arms folded, silver hair draped in front of her, her phoenix eyes fixed on Bai Chuan's sleeping face as she gritted her teeth.
"Despicable human. Once I regain my strength, I will tear you into ten thousand pieces."
Yet no sooner had she spoken than her gaze drifted uncontrollably toward Bai Chuan's face again.
He really is... quite handsome.
Ling Xi abruptly turned her head away, the tips of her ears reddening slightly, and gave a sullen huff.
Then she simply sat there without moving, staring at the stream and sulking.
Waiting for this human to wake up on his own.
She was going to demand a clear explanation of what exactly was going on.
Why did he bring me here? And that dream...
Forget it! I can't ask. As empress, I can't bear that kind of snake disgrace!
Returning to Bai Chuan, his vision had suddenly gone black, and that pulling force had dragged his consciousness into a dizzying daze.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw a deep, dense forest, its ancient trees towering into the sky and blotting out the sun.
The air was filled with the crisp fragrance of vegetation, and he could hear the burbling of a stream.
He propped himself up and looked down, finding that he was lying beside a stream.
The stream was only about ten feet wide, yet it shimmered with nine-colored light, its rippling surface like a carpet of crushed diamonds, so beautiful it seemed unreal.
Bai Chuan froze for a moment, his gaze following the stream ahead.
Then his entire body went rigid.
Across the stream, a silver-haired woman in red sat with her arms folded, her phoenix eyes fixed on him with seething resentment.
The woman was stunningly beautiful, her brows like distant blue-black mountains and her lips like crimson cherries. A crimson snake marking adorned her forehead, making her look both bewitching and fierce.
Bai Chuan recognized her at a glance.
Isn't this the woman from my dreams, whose face I couldn't see but whose assets were so impressive?
Although he had never seen her clearly in his dreams, the moment he caught sight of that ferociously ample pair, Bai Chuan had a gut feeling-It's her! It's definitely her!
Now, he could finally see her face clearly.
She was beautiful, like an immortal maiden in a painting.
Yet that exquisite face was currently radiating undisguised, fierce killing intent.
Her gaze was like poisoned blades of ice, gouging at him cut after cut.
She looked as though she wanted nothing more than to swallow him alive and skin him.
Bai Chuan instantly felt a chill in his crotch, and the hairs on his back stood on end, as though he would lose something important if he kept looking.
Just then, the woman spoke.
"Have you looked enough?"
Her voice was icy, its final note lifting slightly, carrying the oppressive weight of someone long accustomed to standing above others.
Bai Chuan shuddered in fright and hurriedly scrambled to his feet, lowering his head and eyes, not daring to look again.
He quickly surveyed his surroundings and found that they looked no different from an ordinary remote mountain forest.
Ancient trees, vines, moss-apart from the conspicuous nine-colored stream at his feet, everything was normal.
Bai Chuan steadied himself and forced himself to speak.
"Um... fairy, may I ask why you brought me here?"
Ling Xi's previously icy expression stiffened slightly, and a strange look flashed through her phoenix eyes.
"What did you say?"
She narrowed her eyes slightly, her tone carrying a measure of disbelief.
"Weren't you the one who brought me here?"
At that, Bai Chuan was completely dumbfounded.
"Me? I brought you here?"
He pointed at his own nose, his face blank with confusion.
"Fairy, please don't joke with me. I'm just an ordinary person at the Eighth Stage of Dou Qi. I'm not even a Dou Zhe. How could I possibly have the means to do something like that?"
Ling Xi's brows knitted even tighter.
"Dou Qi?"
She repeated the term, her tone distinctly unfamiliar.
"What cultivation realm is Dou Qi? Has the Dou Qi Continent developed another new realm?"
Bai Chuan's face darkened with exasperation.
Dou Qi is the most basic introductory realm on the Dou Qi Continent. Even a three-year-old knows that, yet she's never heard of it?
He felt offended, but had no idea how to argue back...
"Fairy, Dou Qi is the realm before Dou Zhe. Once you condense a Dou Qi Vortex, you become a Dou Zhe. You didn't know that?"
Before you continue