The greatest difficulty of spiritual sense dual cultivation lay in entering the other’s sea of consciousness. That was one’s mental domain, the deepest part of the heart, like a locked chamber absolutely never open to outsiders.
To enter without harming the other was extremely difficult. To trespass recklessly meant annihilation of both body and spirit. Two had entered before—one was the sword demon’s demonic qi, but that was premised on harming Mo Xuanli, and demonic qi itself was a power, easier to intrude.
The second was Si Chun, when Mo Xuanli entered the heart-demon trial, using the powerful emotional net magic of the love demon Ruiyao to forcefully slip through the sea of consciousness and deliver him into the heart-demon illusion. But that wasn’t really staying in Mo Xuanli’s sea of consciousness—only entering the illusion directly.
Now it was Gu Baiqing’s turn. He had to enter Mo Xuanli’s sea of consciousness with a complete spiritual form, without harming him. It was like trying a surgical transplant match—but most matches produced rejection.
Mo Xuanli might instinctively attack him, an unconscious reaction, not something will could control. And once attacked, inevitably one of them would suffer damage to the spiritual sense, harmful to both.
That was why cultivators generally never intruded into another’s sea of consciousness, unless they had overwhelming strength to suppress.
Even if they entered, they couldn’t remain there—much less invite themselves to cultivate together within another’s territory.
It was like an uninvited guest insisting on staying overnight in your home, thick-skinned enough to treat it as their own house, even using your spiritual energy at will—utterly unreasonable.
The danger was self-evident. No wonder this was the Rufeng Sect’s secret method—if such a way were spread, who knew how many people would be killed.
Of course, compared to actual dual cultivation, Gu Baiqing would much rather take this risk a hundred times over.
The instant his spiritual sense entered, it felt as though he had stepped into a long, empty corridor.
There was nothing in the corridor at all—desolate, ruined, devoid of any vitality. A faintly chilling wind blew through, enough to make one’s skin crawl.
So this corridor was supposed to be full of dangers blocking his way into Mo Xuanli’s sea of consciousness?
Uneasy, Gu Baiqing braced himself, muttering to himself, “Mo Xuanli, I’m here to help you. If you understand, then let me pass—don’t make trouble.”
Only his own voice echoed in the emptiness. The hollow vastness of it made his heart feel restless.
As he walked on, grumbling inwardly, he suddenly spotted a figure up ahead—looked like a child squatting on the floor, drawing.
Fight if you want to fight, but what’s with this horror-movie suspense twist? What kind of ghost-film theater did I just walk into?
Gu Baiqing was speechless. He walked up, and saw that on the ground was a crude sketch, as if scratched out with stones on the floor—just circles and lines forming two stick figures holding hands, with three or four tufts of hair on each head.
The horror-movie atmosphere vanished instantly.
“Kid…”
As soon as he spoke, the child turned his head. Black, glossy eyes, skin like white porcelain, delicate lips, a small nose with a barely visible mole upon the bridge—like an exquisitely crafted doll.
A face full of innocence, lively and pure.
Gu Baiqing froze. He had seen this child before… it was Mo Xuanli at six years old. Back during the trial in the Demon-Refining Tower, because of Three Bean’s appearance, when the illusion attacked, this memory had been released from Mo Xuanli’s mind.
Though it had only flashed by in an instant, he had never seen such a beautiful little boy—unforgettable at a glance.
“Xuanli?” Gu Baiqing said hoarsely.
The Little Xuanli, hearing Gu Baiqing call him, instantly curved his lips into a radiant smile. In those eyes, it was as though someone had crushed the stars in the heavens into fragments and secretly scattered them within.
The illusion back then had only been a brief encounter. Later, when Mo Xuanli had been struck and turned into a child in spirit, they had interacted, but it hadn’t felt as striking as this.
Now the real Little Xuanli stood before him, interacting with him—Gu Baiqing’s heart could barely take it.
Because Little Xuanli was simply… too cute!
Gu Baiqing had never before thought boys could be cute, but in this moment he felt the child before him was so adorable it melted him completely. Especially those big black eyes, blinking and brimming with laughter—so cute it felt like they could steal one’s very soul.
While Gu Baiqing was still dazed, Little Xuanli suddenly reached out and grabbed his hand. The small hand was cold, and Gu Baiqing instinctively tightened his grip, wanting to warm it.
Then Little Xuanli tugged lightly. The force was negligible to Gu Baiqing, but he still cooperated and squatted down—only to be pulled into a tight hug. Thin little arms circled his neck, and clear laughter rang out, bright and happy.
Gu Baiqing instantly found himself unable to move. It wasn’t that Little Xuanli had cast a spell—it was simply that he couldn’t help hugging him back. Soft, fragrant, so impossibly cute.
D*mn it—was this place playing against the rules? The obstacle here wasn’t to fight, but to kill him with cuteness?
It felt like a thousand arrows had struck Gu Baiqing’s heart.
This must have been the Mo Xuanli from before he went through storms and trials. After all, a smile this bright and innocent was completely different from the Xuanli he’d spent time with in recent days.
This Little Xuanli resembled more the child he’d seen in the illusion, hugging Three Bean under the sun—rather than the fleeing, distrustful Mo Xuanli who hid from everyone.
“Play with me, okay?” Little Xuanli let go of him, tilting his head. His crisp voice carried anticipation and shyness.
When a child likes someone, it shows plainly—eyes always curved, dark pupils reflecting that person clearly and completely.
Gu Baiqing really wanted to say yes, but with sheer willpower he held out. Cuteness was dangerous.
“Little Xuanli, I need to go to your sea of consciousness to help you. I can’t play with you, I’m sorry.” As soon as he spoke, Little Xuanli’s face fell, and in that instant Gu Baiqing felt as though he had committed some terrible crime.
After all, this Little Xuanli that appeared here must also be a part of Mo Xuanli’s own consciousness.
Gu Baiqing still wanted to pass in as peaceful a way as possible, though he knew it was unlikely.
He sighed. “Xuanli, I have to save you. Let me through, okay?”
He had braced himself—expecting Little Xuanli to suddenly change, maybe attack, maybe vanish, or something else. But instead, the child obediently nodded: “Okay.”
Gu Baiqing was stunned. Before he could react, the child grabbed his hand and started running cheerfully.
“You want to go? Then I’ll take you.”
Wait—what? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go!
Just as he was puzzling over it, the surroundings changed. The once dark, desolate corridor suddenly grew bright. As they ran, blue flowers bloomed and spread in their wake, transforming the grey passage into a flower-wrapped corridor. Dreamlike, fantastical—Gu Baiqing felt like he’d gone from a horror flick straight into a fairy tale, unable to wrap his head around it.
This… this didn’t feel like an ambush at all.
Weren’t the paths to the sea of consciousness supposed to be riddled with peril?
Not far ahead, a light appeared, as if leading into another place. Gu Baiqing was utterly baffled as Little Xuanli pulled him right up to it.
The child stopped, looked up at him with shining anticipation, and said, “We’re here. I brought you.”
Gu Baiqing stared dumbfounded at the glow, realizing the child meant for him to step through.
“This is it?” Gu Baiqing didn’t want to doubt a child—but how could he not? Wasn’t this supposed to be extremely dangerous? And now you just lead me right in? Isn’t that a little too careless about letting someone into your sea of consciousness? Would it even be safe anymore?
Little Xuanli saw that Gu Baiqing didn’t praise him, and felt a bit sad. He pointed inside and said: “It’s right here. Why aren’t you happy? Did I do something wrong?”
Hearing the faint sadness in Little Xuanli’s voice, Gu Baiqing instinctively reached out and rubbed his head.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. This is exactly where I needed to come.” Gu Baiqing coaxed the child with a heavy heart.
Little Xuanli immediately lifted his face and smiled again. “Then go on. But you have to play with me later, okay?”
What else could Gu Baiqing say? He could only step into the light under Little Xuanli’s expectant gaze. Forget it—he didn’t really know what he was supposed to do anyway, so he might as well follow along.
He had thought it wouldn’t be this easy, but the moment he stepped in, he was suspended in midair. All around stretched a vast expanse—winds howling, clouds surging, lightning and thunder tearing the sky, while below raged the stormy, crashing waves of the sea of consciousness.
It really was… a sea of consciousness. How had he entered so easily?
No time to think about that now.
The whole place was like some apocalyptic wasteland, and the force driving it all was uncontrolled spiritual power—power that couldn’t be absorbed, rampaging through Mo Xuanli’s sea of consciousness, wreaking havoc until it destroyed this world and forced a way out.
Gu Baiqing didn’t have the leisure to examine things closely, because not far away he saw Mo Xuanli’s body floating in midair.
The real Mo Xuanli’s spiritual consciousness. His form was in as pitiful a state as his physical body outside, even more so—ruthless wind blades and scorching flames ceaselessly attacked him.
Gu Baiqing’s breath caught. He rushed over, cast a protective shield around Mo Xuanli with his own spiritual power, then reached out. This time, it was easy—he drew away the leftover spiritual force in Mo Xuanli’s body, just enough to wake him.
When Mo Xuanli slowly came to, he was dazed and bewildered.
Gu Baiqing helped him sit up. Only then did Mo Xuanli startle and say: “Master?”
Gu Baiqing spoke quickly: “We’re inside your sea of consciousness right now. Can you feel it? Your body is filled with too much spiritual energy that you can’t absorb. It’s dangerous. I came to help you.”
But Mo Xuanli only stared at him blankly, unresponsive.
The environment around them continued to worsen. Anxious, Gu Baiqing suddenly pressed both hands against Mo Xuanli’s cheeks. “Clear your head—did you understand what I just said?”
“Master… are you angry?” Mo Xuanli suddenly asked with worry, clutching Gu Baiqing’s wrist.
“Huh?” Gu Baiqing was thrown off.
“I didn’t mean to deceive you or disobey your orders. I was just worried about you, I didn’t want you to take risks. Please don’t be mad at me, alright?”
Only then did Gu Baiqing realize—Mo Xuanli’s memory was still stuck at the moment they split up, and he was apologizing for that.
At a time like this, and he still had the mind to worry about that? Gu Baiqing really felt Mo Xuanli didn’t know how to prioritize.
“I am angry. Very angry. If you don’t cooperate properly and pull through this ordeal, then I won’t forgive you.” Gu Baiqing said helplessly.
Mo Xuanli instantly panicked. “I’ll cooperate, I’ll do whatever you say, Master. Tell me what I should do.”
That’s better.
Gu Baiqing exhaled in relief. “Dual… pfft… spiritual dual cultivation.”
Mo Xuanli froze. His complexion, which had just returned to normal, suddenly flushed bright red, as if blood were about to drip from his skin.
“M-Master, you… we… that… here?”
Gu Baiqing had already felt guilty for nearly saying the wrong thing. Hearing Mo Xuanli stammer like that, he looked up—and was dumbfounded. With just that expression, anyone could guess what he was imagining. At a time like this, his imagination was sharp as a blade—and of all things, he thought of that? Did he forget they were master and disciple?
“Xie Qingrong gave me a secret method of the Rufeng Sect. If I immerse myself in your sea of consciousness and we cultivate the spirit-control technique together, I can help you gradually absorb the excess energy. If there’s a surge, I can absorb it for you. That means we’ll need to cultivate inside your sea of consciousness for a while.”
Mo Xuanli blinked, mortified. He didn’t dare meet his master’s eyes. Just now he had thought his master wanted to… in his sea of consciousness… In his heart he had even thought: Master finally found a proper excuse to make a move on me?
He really shouldn’t have thought that. At such a critical time, how could Master possibly think like that? Of course saving him came first. But then again… if this method worked, wouldn’t dual cultivation be an even better solution?
All kinds of thoughts flashed through Mo Xuanli’s mind. For some reason, he felt a vague sense of loss. This Rufeng Sect sure had a lot of tricks…
Gu Baiqing remained aloof and cold, with an air of purity and restraint. “Can we do this?”
Mo Xuanli quickly nodded, then nervously asked: “It won’t harm Master, will it?”
“It won’t.” In truth, Mo Xuanli would be absorbing energy, while he would be expending it. In the outside world, it would just look like the two of them holding hands. His spiritual energy would deplete faster than it replenished, but luckily he had stored up plenty earlier with Little Xuanli.
“Come on, let’s hurry. We need to go deeper into your sea of consciousness.” Gu Baiqing pulled Mo Xuanli along.
But suddenly, Mo Xuanli lunged forward and hugged him tightly, even pressing Gu Baiqing’s head down onto his shoulder, as if burying him in an embrace.
Gu Baiqing froze, mind flashing with signals until it almost short-circuited.
He couldn’t be trying to throw him out, right? No… these were spiritual bodies, and Mo Xuanli’s space domain wasn’t nearly strong enough for that.
So why hug him? Excitement? Fear? Or…
Gu Baiqing felt extremely uncomfortable. He wasn’t Little Xuanli—how could he just hug him out of nowhere! Pushing against Mo Xuanli, he said stiffly, “What are you doing?” Best give me a reasonable excuse—no, an explanation!
Mo Xuanli’s embrace seemed to tremble for an instant, but he didn’t let go. His voice quavered: “Master… don’t look… at my sea of consciousness, alright?”
As he spoke, he lowered his head.
In the surging waves of his sea of consciousness, countless images born of his thoughts and memories were in chaos. To an outsider they might not mean much, but Mo Xuanli felt guilty at the sight of them. There were so many images of his master—seeing those might only embarrass him, but if Master knew he was in his heart, maybe he would even be pleased, maybe he would understand what Mo Xuanli felt. But mixed among them were also many ugly truths of his own origins, the shame of his past, the things he had suffered—things he couldn’t bear for Master to see.
Before he found a way to resolve those secrets, he could not let Master see them. He didn’t want to see the look of disappointment in his master’s eyes, didn’t want to see that troubled expression—and if it were disgust, then…
Looking at Xie Qingrong and Luo Yi’s matter this time—Xie Qingrong in such agony, to the point of having to kill Luo Yi with his own hand—he became even more determined. Unless his bloodline changed, he would never let Master know.
Master said they would cultivate here; that meant he would see everything. So he could only beg Master not to look—not even a glance.
But such a willful request, would Master…
Gu Baiqing suddenly reached out and patted Mo Xuanli’s tense back. “I’ll close my eyes. You can cast a spell to veil them. This is your sea of consciousness, you should be able to do that, right? If you block my sight, then I won’t see.”
Mo Xuanli froze, hardly daring to believe it, and eased just a little. Sure enough, before him Master’s eyes were closed, his refined face calm and natural.
“Don’t worry. When I first entered, I only saw you lying over there. I was anxious to save you, I didn’t look down below.” Gu Baiqing spoke with quiet reassurance.
Mo Xuanli’s pupils quivered. A sudden sourness welled up, stinging his eyes.
“Master… why are you so good to me?”
Gu Baiqing instinctively disliked such words. He explained, “As your master, I simply don’t pry into others’ privacy. A sea of consciousness holds fragments of memory. I was careless just now; I should have been prepared in advance.”
Mo Xuanli’s heart trembled. Deeply moved, he clutched his master’s arm tighter. “Master… I have some secrets. I will tell you all of them one day. But for now…”
“Mhm, I’ll wait.” Gu Baiqing didn’t say anything extra. In fact, he remembered too—this sea of consciousness must contain the secret of his half-immortal, half-demonic bloodline. Not wanting anyone to see it was natural. “Alright, let’s not waste time. Hurry and go down.”
Gu Baiqing urged him on. They couldn’t just keep holding each other like this—it was far too improper.
Don’t think that just because these weren’t physical bodies it didn’t count as intimacy. What if holding on like this created an ambiguous atmosphere? Absolutely not.
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