I want you to take responsibility for me.

The next day, the morning light faintly broke.

Lying in bed, Ye Shu groggily opened his eyes, suddenly realizing that something in his arms was hot, warm, and... soft?

He abruptly opened his eyes wide and took a closer look.

Right in front of him was Lin Qingxue. Her eyes were tightly shut, her breathing even, and her hands were tightly hugging his waist. From time to time, she would smack her lips and let out a hehehe giggle.

"Heartless man... you can only be mine..."

And between them, Xiao Qingli was curled up. Her two little hands were tugging on each of their fingers, sleeping soundly with a trace of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth.

Bro, what?

What in the world is going on?

Ye Shu was completely dumbfounded, unable to react for quite a while.

Shouldn't he be in the Snake People City's Holy Temple, enduring the agony of spiritual fire burning his body, his soul damaged and unconscious?

He had just prepared himself to escape.

Yet how come the moment he woke up...

He had a wife, a child, and a warm bed?

What the heck is up with this heartwarming family picture?!

This must be a dream. I should sleep a little longer.

Ye Shu closed his eyes and opened them again, but the scene before him remained unchanged. Moreover, to his astonishment, he found that the spiritual fire in his body had disappeared. His meridians had been expanded by more than just a cycle, and even the acupoints that hadn't reached Foundation Establishment were now completely unblocked.

Now, he was already at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

"I can get this kind of benefit just by sleeping?"

Ye Shu muttered to himself, attempting to circulate his spiritual energy.

It was very agile, more than a notch faster than before, but the most important thing was...

"What is this thing?"

He stared at the spiritual fire in his dantian with a bewildered expression.

The originally glazed-colored Ten Thousand Beast Fire was dyed with a layer of profound cyan. In the center of the flame, a green lotus bloomed, and in the middle of the lotus pedestal stood a monster with a lion's head and a snake's tail.

Isn't this a freaking Chimera?

Did the channel get switched? This is a cultivation story!

Just as Ye Shu was looking dumbfounded and completely lost, a charmingly naive voice rang in his ears.

"You're awake?"

He turned his head and found Xiaobai standing at the head of the bed, tilting her head to meet his gaze.

"..."

"..."

The two stared at each other in silence for a moment before Ye Shu finally asked, "So... did you take advantage of me in my sleep?"

"What the heck are you talking about!"

Xiaobai was so angry she laughed.

"You big idiot, you fell unconscious after that Medusa invaded your sea of consciousness. If it weren't for me, the Heavenly Dao, turning the tide, using the fragments of the Male Mandarin Duck Sword in your body to guide Xiao Qingli to find Lin Qingxue, you would have long been finely minced into meat paste by Mu Yunxi and the others."

"I won't say anymore. See for yourself."

Saying this, she tapped a finger on her forehead, and then tapped it on his.

A wisp of golden light flashed, and Ye Shu's mind was suddenly filled with many memories. There was a scene of Xiao Qingli, bathed in fire, carrying him through the Holy City, and also a scene of Lin Qingxue urging the lotus pedestal to flee for their lives.

"So that's how it is..."

Ye Shu slowly closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

"A thread of good karma bears good fruit; sparing a life that day brought salvation anew."

"Do not say the heavens lack favor; past kindness is never betrayed by the heavens."

Seeing him suddenly start reciting poetry, Xiaobai wrinkled her little nose and said in dissatisfaction, "Hey, hey, hey, why are you reciting poetry again? I hate posers like you the most."

She definitely wasn't scolding him just because she couldn't understand it.

Hearing this, Ye Shu gently rubbed her little head and smiled. "I was just expressing my feelings. I was thinking, if I had killed Lin Qingxue back then just like I killed Feng Mengli, or if I hadn't saved Xiao Qingli."

"Would there be no one to save me now?"

Xiaobai froze for a moment, then tilted her head and thought about it. It seemed that was indeed the case.

One could only say that good and evil will eventually have their karmic returns.

It's not that there's no retribution, just that the time hasn't arrived yet.

At this moment, Lin Qingxue, who was lying opposite Ye Shu, suddenly let out a soft moan. She groggily opened her eyes, just in time to meet the gaze of Ye Shu, who had turned his head.

Lin Qingxue: "?"

Her eyes slowly widened, and then she fiercely grabbed her clothes tightly, kicking her legs frantically as she shrank back. As a result, she shrank back too violently, and with a waaah, she fell right off the bed.

"Ouch!"

Lin Qingxue climbed back onto the bed, bearing her teeth in pain, but the look in her eyes toward Ye Shu remained alert.

"You, you, you! Why are you in my bed?"

Ye Shu: "..."

"Didn't you move me onto the bed?"

Hearing this, Lin Qingxue blanked out for a moment, and her eyes suddenly cleared up as the memories of yesterday flooded back like a tide.

She had originally planned to move the heartless man off the bed.

But seeing him frowning and calling out don't go, she was somehow possessed by a burst of maternal instinct and ended up holding him to sleep for the entire night.

Thinking of this, Lin Qingxue's face suddenly turned a little red.

"Even... even so, I am a girl! You sleeping in my bed is your fault."

Ye Shu: "..."

Sure enough, women are unreasonable creatures.

For a moment, he actually didn't know what to say.

On the other side, Lin Qingxue also stood frozen in place. She thought she would have a lot of things she wanted to say to this heartless man, but when the time actually came, she couldn't utter a single word.

The two sat on the bed, staring at each other wide-eyed. The atmosphere was awkward to the extreme.

"Um... thank you for saving me."

Ye Shu was the first to break the silence.

Lin Qingxue froze for a second, her face turning even redder.

"I didn't want to save you at all! I just happened to see you when I was passing by, so I conveniently picked you up. I definitely didn't run all the way here from the Qingxuan Sect specifically for you. It was just on the way. Even if it were a dog, I would have saved it."

"..."

This left Ye Shu completely speechless.

So in Lin Qingxue's eyes, he would forever be just like a stray dog on the side of the road.

The atmosphere that had finally been brewing dissipated into thin air.

The two fell silent again.

Just as Ye Shu was staring at the ceiling, counting exactly how many stains were on it, he suddenly heard a low sobbing sound. Looking down, he saw that Lin Qingxue, for some unknown reason, had her head down, dropping large pearl-like tears. This immediately bewildered him again.

"Wait, what are you crying for?"

"I feel wronged." Lin Qingxue turned her face away to avoid looking at him. "You bastard, you bully me all day long. I gave you spirit stones as a dowry, and I accompanied you as a sparring partner. But in the end, when you left, you bastard even threatened me with a recording stone. You never trusted me at all..."

Hearing this, Ye Shu was stunned for a moment.

Then, he tilted his head and said:

"Do you think there's a possibility, I mean, is there a possibility that I actually only had one recording stone in my pocket at the time, and after I gave it to you, I didn't have any more on me?"

"Actually, I had no way to threaten you at all."

"?"

Lin Qingxue was stunned. The emotions she had finally managed to brew came to a sudden halt, her tears still hanging on her face, forgetting to fall.

Looking at Ye Shu's innocent expression.

She suddenly got angry, putting her hands on her hips, and said in bashful annoyance, "I thought you were threatening me, but it turns out you weren't threatening me. Doesn't that mean you were still threatening me?!"

"Moreover, in order to save you, I stuffed you under the blanket and pressed myself on top of you. Now we've slept together, and my innocence has been ruined by you!"

What is the meaning of this?

Ye Shu was completely dumbfounded. Even if he were deliberately trying to pick a fight, he could never have come up with something like that to say. "Then what exactly do you want?"

"Then of course... of course..."

Lin Qingxue lowered her head. Her expression suddenly turned coy, and she whispered,

"You have to take responsibility for me..."