Chapter 336 - 335: Only 9 People

Jiang Qiu had gotten the information he needed, and the enthusiastic Elder had also logged off. With time on his hands, he grabbed Snow’s two snow-white wrists and yanked her out of the water as if lifting a piglet.

SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH.

Water splashed everywhere, and after a bit of a struggle, things finally quieted down.

"Our souls have already partially fused, so why can’t you be a little more peaceful like me? Why do you have to make such a fuss every time we take a bath?"

With a stern face, Jiang Qiu watched as Snow interlaced her fingers below her abdomen. Her arms slightly compressed her chest, and with the sparse Dragon Scales, she looked like a nearly peeled egg that had been gently squeezed.

She pouted slightly, her lively Dragon Eyes darting about to inspect her arms, chest, and scales. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see her own feet. Her pristine, jade-like toes hovered over the Jade floor, dripping with water.

At first glance, her eyes held a hint of pitiful charm. Her disheveled black hair was strewn wantonly over her shoulders and back, making her skin appear even whiter and more delicate.

She was like a pure and innocent Little Dragon Maiden caught by her father on her first trip out to play in the sea. Even without seeing her face, you could tell she felt deeply wronged.

"But I really want to..." Snow murmured, the words barely audible, as if squeezed between her delicate lips and pearly teeth. "Senior Brother, can’t you just satisfy me?"

"What’s there to be satisfied about?" Jiang Qiu let out a deep breath, hands on his hips. "You never did this when we first met. Now you don’t even have a physical body of your own, yet you keep testing me. It makes me really uncomfortable, you know?"

"Understood."

Nodding, Snow offered no rebuttal. "I won’t pinch there anymore."

"..." Jiang Qiu’s mouth twitched. "Stop sneaking glances. It’s already gone down."

"So amazing."

Snow’s eyes lit up instantly, like a little girl who had found a new toy. Jiang Qiu wasn’t particularly repulsed by this; it was like facing a female version of himself, so he displayed it without any inhibitions.

’What truly made Jiang Qiu uncomfortable was not understanding why Snow had these urges, while he did not.’

’If both of them felt it, he could have just written it off as a side effect of their fusion. But as it was, only Snow had this side effect of being so reliant on his body. He didn’t, and he had no idea why.’

’She insisted on exploring every time they bathed. How was he supposed to endure this?’

’It must be because you don’t have a body. Once we enter the Great Secret Realm, I’ll figure out a way to get you a new one, and things will return to normal,’ Jiang Qiu thought, feeling it was a strong possibility. "Then you can explore your own body all you want."

"Okay!"

Snow replied cheerfully, then spread her arms and threw herself forward, hugging Jiang Qiu’s right arm. Her chest bounced twice before being pressed down by her own arm.

At that moment, Jiang Qiu’s soul trembled. It seemed he had stumbled upon her true feelings—that her desire to explore stemmed from her very lack of a body.

’After all, they were two souls in one body, and Jiang Qiu had always been the one in control. Snow had no agency at all, not even enough to fully familiarize herself with this body. Her "home" no longer felt like home.’

’From the bottom of her heart, she simply wanted to understand her "home."’

’It was a pure, unadulterated instinct. As such, Jiang Qiu couldn’t receive any feedback from it on a soul level, which was why he hadn’t realized it.’

’Sigh, perhaps this is the drawback of our great fusion not completely merging our souls,’ Jiang Qiu lamented internally, reaching out to rub her head. ’She exists only as a Soul Body. She must feel insecure, afraid of being abandoned...’

He carried her back into the water. This time, he held her by the wrists and pulled her into his embrace, pressing her close until there was barely a gap between their skin. A long-lost sense of contentment washed over her.

She stopped making a fuss. Closing her eyes, she soaked quietly, enjoying the nourishment from the pool’s water.

As befitting a grand hotel that cost one Yin Yang Coin a night, the water in this pool was quite valuable. Its effects on cultivation—calming the mind and nourishing the soul—were far superior to the bath at Elder Bell Fish’s Hundred Ghosts Sect.

They bathed, slept in each other’s arms, and browsed the Yin Net. The cycle repeated day after day.

「Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.」

Monarch Netherworld finally sent out the call to assemble!

"We are about to open the entrance to the Dragon Spirit Great Secret Realm above the Capital City! All cultivators may enter by presenting the digital tokens issued by Our Netherworld Dynasty!"

The mighty voice was like a clap of thunder on a clear day, traveling from a great distance in an instant. It swept over the land like a rolling storm, and in that moment, everyone sensed that an untouchably powerful existence had spoken.

A Harmonization Realm expert, one of the ranked on the Yin Yang Celestial Pride List, the Monarch of the Netherworld Dynasty, and the master of the entire Capital City.

That peerless Yin Yang Celestial Pride, Netherworld.

"Snow, take my hand and get ready," Jiang Qiu said, adjusting his tunic and taking her soft, delicate hand. "They say the entry points inside the Great Secret Realm are random. I’m not sure if our close connection will keep us from being separated, so it’s best to be cautious."

’The memory of entering the Northern Boundary was still vivid. He had woken up in a field of snow with almost no means of survival. If Xiong hadn’t found him, he would have frozen to death at the very beginning.’

’Back then, the ten great geniuses had been scattered all over, nowhere near each other. It was clear that the Secret Realm’s teleportation involved a degree of randomness.’

’Even if that wasn’t true for all Secret Realms, this one was rumored to be connected to a True Dragon. It was better to be safe than sorry. A Great Secret Realm like this couldn’t possibly be the same as a regular one.’

’Besides, with over a hundred thousand local cultivators all appearing in the same area, it would be incredibly crowded. Getting separated would be a pain.’

"Mm."

Snow practically climbed up Jiang Qiu’s arm, her entire Dragon Maiden form pressing against him, mask to mask. The posture was incredibly intimate; thankfully, the masks concealed their expressions, making the moment feel less charged.

"As the one opening this Dragon Spirit Great Secret Realm, We can inform you all that, including Ourselves, there will be nine great masters of the Harmonization Realm entering. There will also be five thousand and twenty-one Fusion Realm experts, over thirty thousand at the Dao Entry Realm, and the rest are mostly of the Peeping Dao Realm and Dharma Realm. In total, there are two hundred and ten thousand cultivators, of which one hundred and eighty thousand are native to the Yin Yang Great Realm."

Before the Great Secret Realm even opened, Netherworld gave a brief overview of the participants. The moment he finished speaking, the Yin Net exploded with discussion.

"Nine Harmonization Realm masters?! HOLY SHIT, that lineup is invincible! That’s enough power to conquer any Dynasty in our Great Realm!"

"Damn it, I’ve only ever heard about Fusion Realm experts in rumors, and now more than five thousand of them are showing up at once. This is insane. So many old powerhouses have come out of seclusion."

"Well, this Great Secret Realm is connected to a True Dragon. If someone can really obtain an inheritance from it, that’s a chance to achieve Transcendence from the Great Realm. Who wouldn’t want to take that chance?"

"With a lineup like this, I have no idea what the cultivators below the Dao Entry Realm are even supposed to do. Especially the ones from backwater places—what kind of real action have they ever seen? They might as well have just bought a ticket to watch the big shots compete."

"A single Harmonization Realm master could crush all the others. They’re all just cannon fodder. Two hundred and ten thousand cultivators? Nah, I only see nine people."