Fate does not change course, but it does stack the odds.

The back mountain of the Qingxuan Sect was shrouded in mist.

A petite and adorable red-haired girl sat cross-legged on the ground. Countless Great Dao rules circled her body like ribbons of golden light. As a pale gray soul Dao rule sank into Medusa's body, an incredibly pure and massive soul force quietly flowed deep into Medusa's sea of consciousness.

In a corner of Medusa's sea of consciousness, a fiery red figure slowly opened her eyes.

"Am I... awake?"

Danxia blinked, somewhat bewildered.

Ever since her last battle with Medusa, although she had heavily injured the other party and forced her into a deep slumber, she had also lost the ability to kill her. Thus, for the sake of Shu'er's safety, she had split her own soul into two parts. One part remained in the ring, while the other was used to suppress Medusa's soul force, preventing her from doing anything to harm Shu'er.

She had originally been prepared to sleep for a very long time.

Yet... she had woken up so quickly.

"It must be Shu'er," Danxia murmured to herself, a wave of emotion welling up in her beautiful eyes.

During her slumber, even though she could not communicate with the outside world, she could vaguely sense that Ye Shu had been constantly transferring spiritual energy into the ring.

Day after day, without ever stopping.

"Silly child."

She sighed, unable to suppress the urgent desire in her heart to see Shu'er, and drifted out of the sea of consciousness.

In the distance was Ye Shu, sitting cross-legged.

Below her was Medusa, cultivating with her eyes closed.

Ye Shu held a sword hilt with one hand. His brows were tightly furrowed, his jaw clenched, and sweat rained down like a waterfall. Steam rolled off his entire body as pinkish-purple flames danced across him. The skin beneath the flames was bright red, and his veins bulged as if they might burst at any moment, making him look incredibly terrifying.

The newly awakened Danxia was so frightened that she was entirely at a loss.

"What's wrong with Shu'er?"

"Was he hit by a lust poison?"

"What on earth happened?"

Having just woken up, she had no idea about the cause and effect, and could only make wild guesses based on the available information.

However, one thing was certain.

Shu'er was in a lot of pain right now.

And in great danger!

"If he's poisoned by lust, the storybooks all say that if he doesn't vent it in time, he'll likely explode and die," Danxia muttered softly.

She might have never experienced it, but she knew how these things worked.

The storybooks she used to read always went like this: the female lead would be poisoned with a lust-inducing drug by the big villain, and if she didn't find a man to mate with in time, she would bleed from her seven orifices and die.

Then the male lead would appear, save the female lead, and the two would live happily ever after...

"But we are master and disciple..."

Danxia's pretty face flushed red with shyness.

This kind of thing was absolutely forbidden!

It was taboo!

Despite her thoughts, Danxia's gaze involuntarily drifted toward Ye Shu, landing on his flushed yet still handsome face, and continued to slowly move downward, retracting as if electrocuted when it touched his lower body.

T-too terrifying.

Even though she had seen it before in the Ye family's basement, she still felt a wave of dizziness whenever she thought about it.

Danxia's face was so red it looked like it could drip blood.

But Shu'er was already in that state.

If he didn't vent it out, sooner or later he would explode and die, his body perishing and his Dao vanishing.

That was what all the storybooks said.

Danxia bit her lip tightly, her fingers constantly twisting the hem of her clothes, a fierce battle raging in her heart.

Looking at the agonizing Ye Shu.

Looking at his ever-rising lust.

In the end, rationalization gained the upper hand.

"Since the heavens allowed me to wake up at this moment, it definitely can't be without reason. It must be hinting at something. This is all fate."

Danxia took a deep breath, forcibly convincing herself.

Anyway, in the storybooks, a master sacrificing herself to save her disciple was also considered very noble.

But the problem right now was...

Danxia looked at her own illusory hands.

As a spirit body, there was absolutely no possibility for her to help Shu'er resolve this!

The phrase "willing but powerless" was incredibly fitting.

"What do I do? What do I do?"

"Is there really no way?"

Seeing the fires of lust on Ye Shu's body rising ever higher, Danxia pulled at her hair, pacing around in a panic.

Suddenly, her gaze swept across a figure.

Medusa.

Sitting with her eyes closed, sensing the surrounding Great Dao rules, completely defenseless.

In just an instant, Danxia made up her mind.

"For Shu'er, sacrificing a little is nothing."

"I will bear the infamy."

With that said, her soul body transformed into a wisp of green smoke and entered the center of Medusa's brows.

The next second.

The still-cultivating Medusa suddenly opened her eyes.

"?"

"W-what's wrong with me?"

Just a moment ago, she was comprehending the laws of heaven and earth, but suddenly she was forcibly interrupted and pulled out of her state of enlightenment. Before she could even react, her body suddenly stood up on its own and then walked toward Ye Shu, who was sitting cross-legged in the distance.

"Why can't I control my own body!"

Medusa's eyes widened.

She felt that her connection to her body had been temporarily severed by someone, rendering her completely unable to control it.

She could only watch helplessly as she walked out of the formation.

Step by step, walking toward Ye Shu.

"A-are you kidding me!"

"Stop!"

"Hurry up and stop!"

Medusa roared urgently. The Ye Shu in front of her was like a bomb that could explode at any moment; any slight external stimulation would trigger it.

And she was the only female creature around.

"Don't go over there!"

"Stop walking!"

She screamed frantically in her heart, but her body completely refused to listen, walking step by step toward Ye Shu until she finally stopped in front of him.

Meanwhile.

The cross-legged Ye Shu was also doing his utmost to suppress the fires of lust. Even though his body was about to explode, he didn't relax in the slightest, to the point that he didn't even notice a stunningly beautiful woman standing right in front of him.

"As long as... as long as I hold on a little longer..."

"Just a little bit more!"

Ye Shu roared frantically in his heart.

The lustful fire in his body had already been completely forced into a corner, just waiting for the Ten Thousand Beast Green Lotus Flame to swarm forward and devour it.

As long as he endured this wave of lustful fire, he would successfully pass the three trials and refine the Qingxuan Sword.

Currently, Xiaobai's fate was unknown.

His master was still unconscious.

Medusa was still cultivating.

No one would come to disturb him; he couldn't even imagine how he could possibly lose this time.

"It's not like someone is going to come and force themselves on me, right?"

Just as Ye Shu's words fell, a pair of delicate jade hands caressed his face—warm, smooth, like a snake.

"?!"

He abruptly opened his eyes, staring wide.

What met his eyes was Medusa's breathtakingly beautiful face, her red hair cascading like a waterfall, her golden eyes shining like light. She was biting her lip, looking completely unwilling, as if she were being forced.

"Why are you?!"

Before Ye Shu could react, Medusa had already leaned down and kissed his lips. At the same time, her jade hands slipped into his collar, awkwardly caressing him up and down, attempting to untie his sash.

Boom—

Ye Shu's mind instantly went blank.

At the same time, the lustful fire he had desperately suppressed erupted with a bang, overwhelming everything, ten times fiercer than before. In an instant, it enveloped the two of them together, burning away their clothes.

Sky thunder hooked the earth fire; things spiraled entirely out of control.