"So, that unassuming stone artifact of yours is actually a pocket dimension?" Luo Zhen exhaled, the breath leaving his lungs in a long, shuddering rush. "That is... incredibly convenient."
The tension that had coiled tight around his spine finally began to unravel. For the last few hours, he had been a hunted animal, his nerves frayed by the relentless pursuit of Daoist Qingyang. But here, inside this hidden space, the air was still. The murderous intent of the outside world couldn't reach him. He was safe.
Luo Zhen took a moment to survey his surroundings. The dimensional space wasn't vast—perhaps a few hundred square meters at most—but it was a masterclass in efficient luxury. It contained everything a cultivator might need for centuries of isolation: a tea set carved from spirit wood, prayer mats woven for deep meditation, and, dominating the center of the room, a large bed piled high with soft, fragrant linens.
Sitting on that bed was Bai Susu.
She sat with the poise of an empress, her posture effortless yet elegant. The hem of her robe had ridden up slightly, revealing a pair of long, porcelain-white legs that seemed to glow in the ambient light of the dimension.
"I am absolutely dead on my feet," Luo Zhen groaned. He stretched, his joints popping satisfyingly, and walked straight toward the bed. He didn't ask for permission; he simply collapsed onto the mattress.
Instantly, he was enveloped. It wasn't just the softness of the down quilt; it was the scent. A fragrance unique to Bai Susu—like crushed jasmine and winter snow—filled his senses. His body, heavy with exhaustion, sank into the bedding as if it were quicksand.
"T-that," Bai Susu stammered, her voice losing its usual regal composure, "is my bed."
A flush of color rose to her pale cheeks, contrasting sharply with her snowy skin.
"Yours, mine, what does it matter right now?" Luo Zhen mumbled, kicking off his boots. He rolled over, pulling the silk quilt up to his chin. "Just let me sleep. The world can wait."
He didn't wait for an answer. Within seconds, the rhythm of his breathing slowed, and he drifted into a deep, dreamless slumber.
Bai Susu sat there for a moment, pressing her lips together. She looked at the man occupying her sanctuary, a complicated expression flickering in her eyes. She didn't push him away.
Time in the pocket dimension was fluid, unmarked by the rising or setting of the sun. When Luo Zhen finally floated back to consciousness, the first thing he registered was that lingering, intoxicating scent of jasmine.
He blinked his eyes open. The room was quiet. Bai Susu had moved to a prayer mat on the floor, her legs folded in the lotus position, her hands resting on her knees in deep cultivation. The air around her shimmered slightly, distorted by the sheer density of her spiritual energy.
"You're awake," she said softly.
Before he could even sit up, she had transitioned from her meditative trance to a hostess. She poured a cup of steaming tea and brought it to the bedside, her movements fluid and graceful.
Luo Zhen sat up, accepting the cup. He took a sip, letting the warmth spread through his chest. "Jasmine tea," he noted, looking at her over the rim of the cup. "It suits you. Elegant, but with a lingering presence."
He drained the cup in three large gulps, his demeanor shifting from drowsy to serious. "The rumors outside say the Silver Flood Dragon Emperor led a coalition of powerhouses to besiege you. Looking at you now... how are you really holding up?"
Luo Zhen's eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned her. He didn't need a medical diagnosis; his senses told him that her aura was profound, like an ocean. There were no signs of lingering trauma, only a slight, rhythmic instability in her energy field.
"I am well," Bai Susu said, sitting on the edge of the bed. She tucked a loose strand of raven hair behind her ear. "I sustained injuries, yes, but they have fully healed. In fact, the battle with the Silver Flood Dragon Emperor proved to be... fortuitous."
"Fortuitous?" Luo Zhen raised an eyebrow. "Getting hunted down is usually considered bad luck."
"Crisis often breeds opportunity," she explained, her eyes shining with a strange light. "Pushed to the brink of death, my body reacted instinctively. I managed to activate a deeper layer of the Crystal Ant bloodline dormant within me. The concentration of ancestral blood in my veins is now significant."
She paused, a hint of pride coloring her voice. "More importantly, I have triggered Atavism. From this point forward, every time I break through a cultivation realm, I will unlock even more of the Crystal Ant's primordial power."
"That is terrifyingly impressive," Luo Zhen admitted, and he meant it.
In the lore of this world, the Crystal Ant was not an insect to be stepped on. It was an Immemorial Ferocious Beast. Legends spoke of fully mature Crystal Ants tearing through the heavens and fighting True Immortals to a standstill. If Bai Susu was reverting to that ancestral state, her potential was limitless.
"But," Luo Zhen pointed a finger at her, "your aura is fluctuating. It's subtle, but it's there."
"That is the precursor to my breakthrough," she said. "Because the bloodline activation was so potent, my ascension to the next realm has accelerated. I'm on the verge of leveling up."
"Then congratulations are in order."
Bai Susu smiled, but then her gaze turned intent. She looked at Luo Zhen, her eyes searching his face. "That is enough about me. Let us talk about you."
"Me?"
"I remember when I first captured you and brought you to the ant nest," she began. Her voice faltered slightly, and the blush returned to her cheeks, fiercer this time. "Um... back when we..."
She cleared her throat, regaining her composure. She was an Empress, after all; she wouldn't be reduced to a stuttering girl. "After that incident, you were merely at the early stage of the Demon Core Realm. Only a short time has passed since then. Yet, here you are, sitting before me at the mid-stage of the Demon King Realm."
She shook her head in disbelief. "That speed of progression defies logic. You aren't a cultivator; you're a monster."
Luo Zhen threw his head back and laughed, a sound of genuine delight.
"You're right," he grinned. "I am a monster. But isn't that fitting? You possess the bloodline of the Immemorial Crystal Ant. If I were merely mediocre, how could I ever hope to be worthy of... you?"
The implication hung in the air, heavy and sweet. Bai Susu's face turned a shade of crimson that extended all the way to her delicate ears.
"—I am not talking to you anymore!" she exclaimed, feigning annoyance as she stood up and retreated to the table on the far side of the room.
"Heh." Luo Zhen watched her retreat, admiring the silhouette she cut against the soft light.
Once he was sure she wasn't looking, his expression turned contemplative. He summoned his internal interface.
"System," he thought, his mental voice grave. "I have discovered a critical malfunction in my programming."
The System's mechanical voice spiked with anxiety. "What malfunction? Is it a cultivation deviation? A curse?"
"No," Luo Zhen replied. "I have realized that I am a hypocrite. A Keyboard Warrior of the highest order."
"...Excuse me?"
"Think about it," Luo Zhen continued, staring at the ceiling. "When I'm alone, I rationalize everything. I philosophize about Dao, about strategy, about the nature of love. I sound like a scholar. But the moment reality hits—the moment I see Bai Susu—all that intellectual posturing evaporates. My profound realizations? Gone. My strategic discipline? Non-existent."
He sighed, a long, tragic exhalation. "Deep thoughts and high morals stand no chance against a pair of beautiful legs. Am I just a lecher? Is that all I am? I've seen beautiful women before. I have discipline. Yet, around her, I turn into a bumbling bear."
The System was silent for a moment before responding. "Host, are you familiar with the ancient idiom: 'Nan Ren Ben Se'?"
"'Men have true colors'?" Luo Zhen frowned. "I've heard it. It means a man shows his true heroic nature in times of crisis, right?"
"Incorrect interpretation," the System corrected flatly. "It is literal. Men. True. Color. As in, it is the true nature of men to be 'colored'—to be lustful. It is not a bug, Host. It is a feature. You are merely operating within factory settings."
Luo Zhen stared blankly at the air. "...Thanks. That's very helpful."
For the next several days, the pocket dimension became a domestic bubble detached from the war raging outside.
According to Bai Susu's surveillance, the Silver Flood Dragon Clan had activated their Great Clan Protection Formation, trapping Daoist Qingyang inside. It was a stalemate of titanic proportions—a siege that would likely grind on for weeks, perhaps months.
Inside the dimension, life fell into a rhythm. Luo Zhen slept on the floor; Bai Susu took the bed. They were respectful, maintaining a polite distance.
Yet, the air grew heavier with each passing day.
When two people who share a history are confined to a single room, space begins to contract. Every glance holds weight. Every accidental brush of a sleeve sends electricity through the air. The ambiguity of their relationship—captor and captive, lovers and allies—began to blur into something domestic and undeniable.
Five days into their confinement, Luo Zhen broke the tension. He scratched the back of his head, approaching her awkwardly.
"Susu, you mentioned you need to undergo a Lightning Tribulation to break through, right? Do you... Do you want help with that?"
Bai Susu looked up, confused. "Help? How?"
"You know," Luo Zhen said, summoning every ounce of his shamelessness. "Like back in the ant nest. You said my bloodline helped you then. I'm a Tier 1 Saint Beast now. My... assistance... would be even more potent. I promise to be very cooperative."
Bai Susu's face burned. She lowered her head, twisting the fabric of her sleeve between her fingers.
"Last time... that happened because there was no choice," she whispered. "But now, my bloodline is strong enough to withstand the lightning on my own. I don't need... that kind of help."
"Ah. A pity," Luo Zhen sighed, sounding genuinely heartbroken.
He shook off the rejection quickly, his mind pivoting to business. "Actually, while we are talking about bloodlines... do you know of the Taixuan Demon Mantis?"
Bai Susu's demeanor shifted instantly from shy maiden to knowledgeable cultivator. "Of course. They are Immemorial Ferocious Beasts, on par with the Crystal Ants. Brutal creatures. An adult Demon Mantis can slice through the defenses of a True Immortal. Why?"
Luo Zhen explained the incident in the Corpse Cave, describing the pair of mantises he had swallowed for safekeeping.
Bai Susu's eyes widened. "The rumors were true. Daoist Qingyang really did obtain a demonic inheritance from the True Demon Realm. Those mantises are rare even there."
"They're currently living in my stomach," Luo Zhen said, grimacing. "And they are not happy about it. What should I do?"
"Release them," Bai Susu commanded. "I will handle it."
Luo Zhen hesitated. "These things are vicious. They've been fed by a maniac for centuries."
"Just do it."
Luo Zhen opened his mouth, exhaling a swirling sphere of dark red fire. Inside the magical containment field, the buzzing was deafening. Two blood-red shadows slammed against the fire walls, desperate to escape.
"I smell it," Bai Susu murmured, her eyes narrowing. "Faint, but undeniable. The scent of the Taixuan."
Luo Zhen dissolved the fire barrier.
With a shriek that pierced the eardrums, the two red streaks shot out, banking hard in the air to dive-bomb Luo Zhen. Their killing intent was absolute.
Bai Susu didn't even stand up. Her eyes flashed, two beams of crystalline light shooting from her pupils.
Thwack.
The beams hit the mantises mid-air, pinning them against the invisible fabric of space. The insects screeched, their bladed limbs thrashing uselessly. Bai Susu flicked her wrist, and thousands of microscopic, crystalline threads erupted from her fingertips. They swarmed the mantises, burrowing into their exoskeletons.
The struggling stopped. The mantises went limp, dropping to the floor with a wet thud. They twitched drunkenly, their connection to their demonic energy severed.
"I've sealed their meridians," Bai Susu said calmly. "They are harmless now."
"Impressive," Luo Zhen whistled. "Now, why didn't you let me kill them? My policy is usually 'scorched earth.' Leaving enemies alive keeps me up at night."
"Because of potential," Bai Susu smiled. "I analyzed them. Their bloodline is thin—perhaps one ten-billionth of a pure Taixuan Demon Mantis—but that is still incredibly valuable."
Luo Zhen balked. "One ten-billionth? That's practically homeopathic. How can they be this strong with such diluted blood?"
"You underestimate the Ancients," Bai Susu lectured. "A pure-blooded Taixuan is born with the power of a Saint. In our world—a lower plane compared to the Spirit Realm—even a drop of that blood creates a king. If we cultivate them properly, or rather, their offspring, we could raise a terrifying weapon."
"Their offspring?"
"The female is pregnant," Bai Susu pointed out. "And she is starving. I have pills that can accelerate the birth and purify the bloodline of the hatchlings. We can create a new generation that answers only to you."
Luo Zhen's eyes lit up. A personal army of Demon Mantises? That was worth the trouble.
"Do it," he said.
Bai Susu began the process immediately. For the next five days, she fed the female mantis a steady diet of high-grade Spirit-Feeding Pills. The creature gorged itself, its abdomen swelling, its aggression rising.
On the fifth day, the female mantis began to spin in frantic circles, chirping a high-pitched, desperate sound.
"She is ready to lay her eggs," Bai Susu observed clinically. "But she is in a frenzy of hunger. Giving birth requires massive energy. If she doesn't eat now, the hatchlings will be weak. Should we feed her some spirit meat?"
"No," Luo Zhen said, his voice dropping an octave. The playfulness was gone, replaced by the cold pragmatism of a survivor.
"Those two adults are loyal to Daoist Qingyang. No matter what we do, they will eventually try to kill me. They are liabilities."
He looked at the two insects—the frantic female and the sluggish male.
"In nature, the female mantis requires a specific sacrifice to ensure the strength of her brood, does she not?"
Bai Susu looked at him, understanding dawning in her eyes. "She does."
"Let nature take its course," Luo Zhen ordered. "Let the mother eat the father. It solves the hunger problem, and it removes one of my enemies."
"As you wish."
Bai Susu raised her hand and drew a circle of light in the air, creating a small, inescapable arena. She tossed both mantises inside.
Cut off from the outside world, starving and driven by biological imperative, the female mantis turned her faceted eyes toward her mate. The male didn't even have time to scream.