Late Stage of Fusion

Ye Xuan did not become angry at her words. Instead, he let out a low chuckle that seemed to tremble through the air.

His slender fingers suddenly released her reddened chin, then slipped into her waterfall-like dark hair. The pads of his fingers slowly traced down along her delicate spine, as though soothing a startled young beast.

“Foolish girl. You’re really too easily frightened. On this long road to immortality, you are the only treasure I have ever held dear in my heart. How could I bear to hand you over to someone else?”

Hearing Ye Xuan’s words, Ying’er instantly felt all her strength leave her body and collapsed into his arms.

She greedily inhaled the cool, fierce sword aura clinging to Ye Xuan, as though she were a dying person desperately clinging to a piece of driftwood.

Yet just as she was nearly drowning in this fleeting tenderness, the hand Ye Xuan had been running through her hair suddenly stopped.

In that instant, all warmth vanished from his eyes, replaced by an icy coldness that had remained unmelted for ten thousand years.

“But, Ying’er, you must remember this.”

Ye Xuan bent down and leaned close to her ear. His voice was low, like a judgment pronounced from the depths of the Netherworld.

“If you remain loyal to me, you will be the most honored woman beneath the heavens. Even if you want the stars in the sky, I will pluck them down for you.”

“But if you dare harbor even the slightest thought of betrayal—even if a single disloyal thought merely flashes through your mind…”

An unbearably cruel glint flickered in Ye Xuan’s eyes, and his tone became chillingly terrifying.

“Then, in my eyes, you will become utterly worthless—less valuable than even a blade of roadside grass.”

“I will personally strip the flesh from your body and tear out your soul, leaving you to wail in the endless flames of karmic fire for ten million years, unable to die even if you beg for death. Do you understand?”

This extreme tenderness intertwined with extreme brutality, forming a suffocating possessiveness.

Ying’er’s delicate body trembled violently. Yet rather than feeling afraid, she experienced a sick, twisted pleasure at being completely controlled and treated as his private possession.

She abruptly plunged into Ye Xuan’s embrace, wrapping both arms tightly around his waist as though she wanted to merge with his flesh and blood.

“Ying’er understands! Ying’er will never betray Master!”

She frantically rubbed herself against Ye Xuan’s chest, her voice filled with obsession and fanaticism.

“Even if Master wants to kill me, Ying’er will offer you the blade herself. As long as I have a place in Master’s heart, even if you order Ying’er to die, I won’t so much as frown!”

Feeling the girl’s feverish devotion in his arms, a trace of satisfaction flashed deep within Ye Xuan’s eyes.

In this cultivation world filled with deceit and treachery, pure trust was a luxury. Only loyalty bound by shackles could truly put his mind at ease.

“All right. Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, it’s time to take care of some proper business.”

Ye Xuan suddenly let out a wicked laugh, and a hint of seductive fire ignited in his eyes.

He lowered his head and kissed Ying’er’s flushed cheek. His voice became hurried and suggestive.

“Come. Follow your husband back, and we’ll have a good session of dual cultivation.”

Ye Xuan deliberately emphasized the words “dual cultivation.”

He lifted Ying’er’s chin, his gaze burning like fire.

“You stirred up quite a bit of heat with that hysterical side of yours just now. Don’t you think you should take responsibility and put it out?”

“Ah… Master…”

Ying’er’s pretty face instantly flushed all the way to her ears. The hysterical, murderous look she had worn moments before vanished without a trace, replaced by the bashful expression of a girl from the neighborhood.

She lowered her head, her eyes hazy, while the tips of her feet nervously rubbed against the clouds beneath them. Yet her heart was filled with anticipation.

“I’ll do whatever Master says… as long as you don’t hit me again…”

she muttered coquettishly.

“That remains to be seen.”

Ye Xuan threw his head back and laughed. With one arm, he swept Ying’er up and carried her horizontally.

Transforming into a streak of white light, he crossed layer upon layer of clouds, flying straight past the patrolling disciples of the Sword God Palace.

Those disciples only felt a blur pass before their eyes. None of them dared raise their heads to spy on the whereabouts of this young master who shook the Nine Heavens.

In less than a moment, the two of them had returned to the grand and imposing main hall of the Sword God Palace.

The doors of the main hall slammed shut behind them with a thunderous boom. The heavy bronze fastenings struck together with a muffled clang, cutting off all the commotion outside.

Within the hall, faint violet smoke rose from the incense burner. It was calming incense made from ten-thousand-year-old agarwood, capable of assisting cultivators in entering a profound and mysterious state.

Carrying Ying’er in his arms, Ye Xuan stepped across the floor paved with ten-thousand-year-old black ice and walked straight toward the spacious couch covered in soft golden phoenix feathers.

“Master… please be gentle…”

Ying’er’s face was red as she allowed Ye Xuan to set her down. Leaning close to her ear, Ye Xuan let out a cold laugh.

“That isn’t up to you.”

Another week passed.

Deep within the Sword God Palace, in the secluded grotto-heaven behind the main hall, spiritual mist surged and radiant light flowed.

For seven full days, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had scarcely stopped for even an instant as it gathered toward the hall sealed beneath layer upon layer of restrictions.

From high above, the entire area over the Sword God Palace had formed an enormous vortex of spiritual energy, resembling a river from the heavens pouring backward into the world as it continuously streamed into the hall.

If an outsider had witnessed this scene, they would have been utterly horrified.

This was no longer a simple phenomenon caused by cultivation. It was a rate of absorption bordering on the plundering of the source of heaven and earth itself.

Inside the cultivation hall, Ye Xuan sat cross-legged atop a jade platform carved from Nine Heavens Cold Jade. His robes moved without any wind, while streams of black and white aura continuously circulated around his body.

At times, the aura transformed into sword intent. At times, it took the form of dragons and serpents. At other times, it condensed into the indistinct image of an ancient dao disc, flickering in and out of existence behind him.

His aura was no longer sharp and unstable, as it had been when he first entered the Body Integration Realm. Now, it was as deep as an abyss and as weighty as a mountain.

Late-stage Body Integration!

In merely one week.

If news of this spread, it would be enough to shake the hearts of countless old monsters throughout the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.

For an ordinary cultivator to advance from the early stage of Body Integration to the late stage could take anywhere from a hundred years to a thousand. During that time, they would have to endure countless battles for survival, fortuitous encounters, sudden insights, and the accumulation of resources.

Yet Ye Xuan had relied solely on the enormous resources currently under the Sword God Palace’s control to forcefully stabilize his cultivation in a mere seven days—and then surge even further, stepping into the late stage of Body Integration.

This speed could no longer be described as merely monstrous.

It was terrifying.

Ye Xuan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. In the void, that breath transformed into a white sword ray that shot straight toward the ceiling, causing even one of the restrictions above to ripple faintly.

He opened his eyes.

Compared to before, his black eyes were even deeper and colder, as though they concealed an entire bottomless abyss. With merely a glance, the spiritual energy that had been restless moments earlier suddenly fell silent.

“I’ve finally stabilized it completely.”

Ye Xuan murmured to himself and spread open his palm.

Within it, a wisp of sword intent pure beyond compare floated silently, condensed without dispersing. It faintly possessed the rudimentary form of a law.

This was a sign that only cultivators who had truly approached the extreme limits of the Great Ascension Realm—or even begun touching the threshold of True Immortality—would gradually develop.

Now, he no longer needed to risk his life venturing into various ruins and secret realms in search of fortuitous opportunities as he had before.

Resources, inheritances, the foundation of the Sword God Palace, Ye Jiuhuang’s protection, Ying’er’s assistance, and, on top of all that, his own comprehension and methods—so heaven-defying that they were nearly unreasonable…

Taken together, these things were already enough to set him on a path to the heavens more terrifying than anyone else’s.

And even this was not his limit.

Just then, the sound of light footsteps came from behind.

Ying’er, dressed in a long yellow gauze skirt and barefoot, quietly emerged from the spirit mist.

For the past seven days, she had hardly left this place, tending to Ye Xuan’s spiritual meridians, preparing precious medicines, and maintaining the formation.

Her face was slightly paler than usual, clearly showing how much she had expended over the past few days. Yet her eyes, fixed on Ye Xuan, shone with astonishing brilliance, filled with undisguised tenderness and admiration.

She walked to Ye Xuan’s side and naturally reached out to gently take his hand.

“Husband,” she said, her voice as gentle as the breeze on a spring night. “Your cultivation has improved far too quickly. Could there be some hidden danger?”