In the dream, it was still misty.
Bai Shuangshuang had just opened her eyes when a ghostly white flame was already dancing before her.
Mo Zhuozhuo stepped out of the mist and reached out to grab her by the neck.
No flirtation, no pet name “baby,” not even her usual languid demeanor.
A thin layer of anger hung on her face.
“Who gave you the nerve to threaten me?!”
Bai Shuangshuang’s neck tightened under the grip, but she didn’t panic.
She even wanted to laugh.
In dreams before, it was always Mo Zhuozhuo watching her with a smile; now it was her turn to watch the other woman turn from anger to shame.
“So what?”
Bai Shuangshuang forced out a sentence, word by word.
“Just collecting some interest—is that too much?”
Those were the other woman’s own words, and saying them felt good.
After being bullied by this crazy woman for so long, she finally got a little payback today.
She stared fixedly at the face full of anger before her, thinking for the first time that this strange woman who looked exactly like her was actually pleasing to the eye.
After a moment, the anger on Mo Zhuozhuo’s face suddenly vanished, replaced by that familiar, enchanting smile.
Bai Shuangshuang’s heart skipped a beat.
‘It’s over.’
“Baby~”
Mo Zhuozhuo let go, leaned close to her ear, lips brushing her earlobe, her voice soft and seductive.
Bai Shuangshuang’s pupils constricted.
“You didn’t really think… that you made a profit without any cost, did you?”
“Think carefully—at that last moment when the Heavenly Tribulation struck, didn’t you promise something?”
Mo Zhuozhuo stepped back two paces, sizing her up with a leisurely gaze, like she was looking at a newly acquired trophy.
“Did you really think only I had to pay a price?”
Bai Shuangshuang’s heart sank.
She remembered.
At that moment, with her soul damaged and consciousness fuzzy, with the Heavenly Tribulation hanging overhead, Mo Zhuozhuo had asked to attach to her soul in order to descend into the world.
She agreed because it seemed risk-free—it wasn’t some sacrificial deal.
She thought she was the one using Mo Zhuozhuo.
A ghostly white flame burst from Mo Zhuozhuo’s palm, clearly reflected in Bai Shuangshuang’s eyes.
The flame wasn’t hot, but it made her whole body go weak, as if something had been ignited deep in her bones.
Bai Shuangshuang felt her body slip out of control.
Her legs grew weak, her heart raced, and an irresistible urge pulled her toward Mo Zhuozhuo.
“Baby, your soul—”
Mo Zhuozhuo tilted her head, unable to suppress her smile.
She blinked.
“Has already been branded by me~”
“Come here~”
Bai Shuangshuang pounced forward, half-kneeling, half-crawling before her, her body no longer her own.
She lowered her head and saw Mo Zhuozhuo’s bare feet.
The tops of her feet were white as jade, not a speck of dust; her ankles were slender and delicate, her five toes slightly curled, nails with a faint pink, as if dyed with petals.
Mo Zhuozhuo lifted her foot, the instep supporting her chin.
The cool touch against her skin felt like a piece of cool jade gently pressed.
Bai Shuangshuang’s breath caught.
She wanted to refuse, wanted to retreat, but her body stayed still as if under a paralysis spell.
Shame washed over her like a tide; she bit her lip, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
Mo Zhuozhuo bent down, reached out to pinch her chin, forcing her to lift her head.
Those deep eyes stared at her from close up, reflecting Bai Shuangshuang’s face blushing with shame.
“Good girl~ baby”
Mo Zhuozhuo’s thumb brushed her lips, her fingertips lingering on her earlobe.
Bai Shuangshuang’s mind went blank.
The dream was silent, so silent she could hear her own heartbeat, thump thump thump, as if it might leap out of her chest.
Mo Zhuozhuo’s fingertips brushed her cheek, warm and tender, as if they were lovers bound to the bone.
“You are my possession now~”
Bai Shuangshuang’s whole body burned.
“I will—”
Mo Zhuozhuo’s breath mingled with Bai Shuangshuang’s.
“Devour you bit by bit. This time you can’t refuse me anymore~”
She reached out and pulled Bai Shuangshuang into her embrace, one arm around her waist, the other stroking the top of her head.
Her fingers threaded through her hair, caressing her scalp gently, stroke after stroke.
Bai Shuangshuang’s body had been stiff, but the moment that hand touched her scalp, she uncontrollably went limp.
She could hear Mo Zhuozhuo’s heartbeat through the thin clothes, steady and strong, like a beat guiding her.
Mo Zhuozhuo’s lips parted and closed gently, as if silently counting down something to her.
Bai Shuangshuang’s consciousness began to fade.
Mo Zhuozhuo’s hand kept stroking her scalp, the touch so gentle, too gentle for this crazy woman.
Until Mo Zhuozhuo’s lips formed another shape.
“Give me your entire soul, baby~”
Bai Shuangshuang wanted to struggle, but her body wouldn’t obey.
Her soul felt like it was being pulled out of her body, bit by bit from her limbs to the top of her head.
‘Soul… feels so good.’
‘Then… should I hand it over?’
Bai Shuangshuang’s eyelids completely closed.
But just as her soul was about to leave her body, a beam of moonlight descended from the sky.
A white light with a faint silver radiance tore through the darkness of this space, as if someone had chiseled a hole in the dome of the dream.
The light shone on Bai Shuangshuang, not harsh, not hot, and forcefully pressed her about-to-fly soul back into her body.
Bai Shuangshuang’s eyes snapped open.
She could feel that light coating her soul with a thin, soft, but indestructible film.
Mo Zhuozhuo’s expression changed.
The hand that had just been controlling Bai Shuangshuang’s soul seemed to be repelled by something, its fingertips trembling.
“What is this?”
She abruptly looked up, her gaze passing over Bai Shuangshuang toward the source of the light.
On that dark dome, moonlight continued to pour down, as if something outside was standing there, coldly watching her.
Mo Zhuozhuo’s pupils reflected the light, her face alternating between ashen and white.
She wanted to reach out again to grab Bai Shuangshuang, but as soon as her fingertips touched the moonlight, she withdrew as if burned.
“What is this—!”
Mo Zhuozhuo bit her lip, her face extremely ugly.
She opened her mouth to say something, but her fingertips were already turning transparent.
Time was up.
Her figure once again dissolved into countless tiny specks of light, vanishing into the mist.
The moonlight remained.
Jingnan Prince Manor
Bai Shuangshuang lay on the bed in the manor, the bedding soft, the pillow warm.
Zhao Qingyue sat by the bed, holding Bai Shuangshuang’s hand, her eyes red, her nose also red, as if she had just been crying.
Qiu Yue stood at the foot of the bed, hands clasped in front of her, her expression complex.
There was worry, but more curiosity and awe.
Her mind was still on that astonishing spectacle of condensing the Dao Seed.
‘I probably… will never forget this in my lifetime.’
Her gaze lingered on Bai Shuangshuang’s face for a while, then moved away, then back again, back and forth…
Now she already knew that she had previously mistaken the person.
So, she had actually been in front of the Commandery Princess…
Qiu Yue’s face turned red again.
Bai Shuangshuang’s hand twitched slightly.
That piece of Crescent Moon White Jade lay quietly in her palm.
As if nothing had happened.
And as if everything had just begun.