The matter of helping Princess Qianqian fully fuse the Prison Emperor’s Divine Sword ultimately remained unresolved.

When the tiger girl erupted, it was no minor thing.

Yue Yang had no choice but to beat a strategic retreat and suspend plans indefinitely.

If not for that uncontrollable impulse of his at the height of the moment — biting Qianqian and actually hurting her — things might have gone somewhat better.

Of course, that momentary lapse had its uses too. Without quite realizing it, it had broken through the charged tension between them. After chasing Yue Yang around with her sword and fully venting her fury, Princess Qianqian had — strangely — cleared away the awkwardness that had been sitting at the bottom of her heart, along with the proud resistance she’d initially felt toward accepting his help. Even though she proclaimed afterward, multiple times, that she would absolutely not forgive him easily, everyone could see that the tiger girl was no longer actually angry.

That temper of hers was like a summer squall.

Fast to arrive, fast to pass.

Xiao Nu, as a reliable source of gossip, shared the information that the very same Princess Qianqian who had been chasing Yue Yang around with a drawn sword last night had this morning gone into the kitchen and personally prepared him an exquisitely beautiful breakfast.

Everyone quietly found this extremely funny.

They all understood, of course, that Princess Qianqian cared deeply about the image she projected in front of Yue Yang. Otherwise she’d never have voluntarily cooked anything — a peace offering to walk back the ferocious violent-mother-tiger impression she’d made the previous evening. Learning to cook had cost the princess no small amount of suffering back when she’d first taken it up, since domestic arts were not her natural territory. It was only with careful guidance from Fourth Sister and various other seniors that she’d managed to improve. Without that, her personal image might have stayed permanently fixed at “feisty proud princess” and nothing more.

“I don’t think it’ll take much longer before things are settled.” Yue Yu was more than happy to see this positive development, her face bright with quiet delight.

“That idiot — why not just push forward? Sometimes being too gentle wastes time.” Fengxian spread her hands in exasperation, implying that making such hard work out of something so simple was a genuine squandering of effort. The Empress’s opinion received no agreement from the group. Pushing might work on others, but with Princess Qianqian it would probably backfire badly — and more likely leave the tiger girl with lasting emotional complications. Better to let it arrive naturally.

The Southern Wilderness Demon King smiled without comment.

“Actually, I think he does rather well at it.” Luohua felt Yue Yang had genuine strengths worth acknowledging. “When he first made his move on Wuhen, it was impressively efficient, in a way nobody had anticipated. Think about it — Wuhen is so quiet and reserved by nature, so entirely passive in temperament, that if she hadn’t been first, there’s no telling how long it might have taken.”

“Please don’t let Wuhen-jie hear that.” Inan made an adorable shushing gesture.

“Speaking of which, our little Inan here was the bravest of all.” Luohua couldn’t resist teasing Inan about the time she’d proactively proposed to Yue Yang.

“I said never to bring that up again.” Inan hid her brilliant red face behind both hands. Young as she was, when it came to matters of the heart she’d demonstrated more courage than most, which regularly made others feel a little embarrassed by comparison.

“What are you all talking about?” Princess Qianqian arrived.

Her sharpened Six Senses gave her a feeling that everyone had been discussing her.

Mildly embarrassed internally, she smoothed it over quickly. She was his properly acknowledged fiancée — this was a threshold she simply had to cross.

Before Yue Yu could step in to change the subject, Princess Qianqian abruptly produced several sheets of design drawings and handed them around. “I spent a lot of time thinking last night and finally worked out a good solution. Everyone take a look and tell me what you think.”

Fengxian accepted one and immediately exclaimed in admiration: “The Prison Emperor’s Divine Sword still carries residual energy from the Prison Emperor himself. Erasing it completely would be disrespectful to your predecessor, but without erasing it, true fusion with the sword is impossible. Reshaping it into a Prison Emperor Sword Sheath — that’s a brilliant solution. Two birds with one stone.”

Princess Qianqian’s idea was this: take the residual Prison Emperor energy within the Divine Sword, combine it with Yue Yang’s chaos energy, and forge the result into a sword sheath — preserving the original’s essence while removing the obstacle to fusion.

Everyone responded with immediate enthusiastic approval.

Luohua was looking over the several sheath designs Princess Qianqian had sketched when a sudden spark of inspiration struck. “If the chaos energy can be produced without limit, how about we also rework the Moon Battle Armors — reshape them into something more suited to each person? For example, for non-combat members like Xiao Nu and Baobei, the design could be converted into beautiful everyday clothing rather than battle armor.”

Inan clapped her hands together in agreement. “Yes, yes! But I want both versions — how about each of us gets one battle armor set and one everyday set?”

The Southern Wilderness Demon King offered a suggestion: “How about we call the everyday version the Star Diamond Sky Robe? Mother established Star Diamond Castle outside — we could use that name as a tribute, and it would pair nicely with the Moon Battle Armor as a set.”

Fengxian produced a vision worthy of the Divine Punishment Empress: “That still isn’t quite enough. I think this Star Diamond Sky Robe absolutely needs to include a dedicated lingerie set — specifically a very alluring one, something that would make that little scoundrel’s eyes glaze over and bring out his wolfish side the moment he saw it. Come on, let’s all design it together — what style of lingerie would be most devastating, most irresistible when worn? You’re asking about him? He would absolutely love it. Look at the clothes he designed for Xia Yi and Xiao Nu — put them on and you could practically pull someone’s eyes right out of their head. The Moon Battle Armor itself could also be made a bit more alluring — it’s not like any of you actually fight in it very often, and wearing it really is primarily for his benefit anyway.”

Xiao Nu’s face lit up with delight. “I’ll get the pens — we can all design together.”

“Hey, hey — you’ve completely derailed things!”

Princess Qianqian was breaking into a cold sweat.

She’d come to get everyone’s input on the sword sheath design. How had this turned into a clothing discussion?

She borrowed Yue Yang’s favorite expression to voice her objection, but Luohua and the others were already deep in the enthusiasm of designing new outfits and had no interest in looking at any sword sheath diagrams.

Left with no other option, Princess Qianqian pulled aside Yue Yu, always the softest-hearted.

Yue Yu had assumed she’d be giving minor input and leaving. Discovering that Princess Qianqian intended to pull her into the entire process produced an immediate cry of alarm: “Me? Absolutely not!”

She understood perfectly well that the process of creating the Prison Emperor Sword Sheath would require Yue Yang and Princess Qianqian to engage in coupled cultivation, and in the course of coupled cultivation between two people with feelings for each other, warmth naturally deepened and passion ignited — there would inevitably be intimate contact unsuitable for observers. Being made to stand and watch the whole thing was simply impossible.

“Yue Yu-jie, if you’re not there, I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold myself together.” Princess Qianqian wore an expression of rare vulnerability, a faint blush touching her cheeks. “With you there on the side, it’s easier to keep an eye on him. He’ll behave much better with you present and won’t push his luck.”

“That really won’t work.” Yue Yu understood exactly what Princess Qianqian meant, but what was she supposed to do — just stand there watching her own brother?

“Once the sheath is made, you can leave right away.” Princess Qianqian offered her a small out.

“No!” Yue Yu shook her head furiously.

Dragged by force to the research room, Yue Yu made one desperate counter-proposal: “How about I stand just outside the door? I’ll only come in if something is actually needed. I’ll stay at the door the whole time — I promise I won’t leave…”

She trailed off. “Where’s Third?”

Princess Qianqian opened the door a crack. Yue Yang was sitting quietly inside, seemingly lost in deep contemplation over some difficult problem.

Yue Yu saw him.

And felt something warm move through her.

This foolish little brother of hers — he went through life looking cheerful and irresponsible on the surface, like a big child who always needed looking after. But in reality, the hardest, most exhausting, most difficult things in their lives — he always quietly kept those for himself to handle. He was far gentler, far more considerate of others, than anyone gave him credit for.

“What’s wrong?” Yue Yu forgot her plan to stand watch at the door. She even forgot Princess Qianqian was standing right there watching. She slipped silently into the room, sat down in front of him, and gently wrapped both her slender hands around his larger ones. Heart-Link threads connected soundlessly, reaching all the way to the depths of each other. Her eyes found his and held them, warm with concern. “Working yourself into a corner alone again? Don’t you still have all of us?”

“……” Princess Qianqian quietly sighed. Only this Yue Yu could soothe him like this. Even she herself, or Xue Wuxia, couldn’t have done what Yue Yu just did so naturally.

When she too sat down and extended her own Heart-Link thread.

She discovered that Yue Yang’s inner world was saturated with sword energy.

It was a world of swords. Millions upon millions of different blades wheeled and danced throughout that world, and at its center, Yue Yang’s consciousness was laboring in profound contemplation of the sword path. When Princess Qianqian caught up with Yue Yu and extended her own Heart-Link thread to touch Yue Yang’s consciousness, her entire being jolted — a supreme sword path beyond imagining shook her soul to its very foundation.

She stayed in that world of swords for a time she couldn’t measure.

Princess Qianqian — riding alongside Yue Yang’s comprehension — seemed suddenly to perceive an infinite, boundless supreme sword path, and the energy building inside her was something she couldn’t hold back.

Her Six Senses Gift and her Sacred Force Domain emerged naturally. The Prison Emperor’s Divine Sword rose from her shoulders, radiating ten thousand feet of radiance.

Every ray of light that radiated from it automatically became a sword in the world of blades.

No two alike.

Yue Yu’s consciousness had not yet separated from the world of swords. In her mind and body acting as one, she extended her palm and pressed it gently to the center of Yue Yang’s back, channeling the gentlest possible water energy into him. Unlike Princess Qianqian, she was not a combat-system practitioner, and her primary weapon and specialty was not the sword — the sword path’s effect on her was far less overwhelming than what Qianqian was experiencing. In her heart, a natural impulse toward Yue Yang arose, offering quiet support and assistance, exactly as she had done countless times across countless experiments until it had become second nature.

The Black Returning Burial, White Frost Bloom, Scarlet Heaven Tempering, and Orange Vast Radiance — all four swords emerged from Yue Yang’s body simultaneously.

Pointing to the four cardinal directions.

And at the center, a fifth sword began to take shape.

Its color was like streaming gold, like the radiance of the sun at first rising, like the birth of all things new, like a celestial dragon descending from the ninth heaven trailing ten thousand lengths of auspicious light. This sword was the Yellow Dragon Abyss — the fifth sword Yue Yang had been striving to comprehend for so long without success.

“Ha!” Princess Qianqian reached forward and gripped the Prison Emperor’s Divine Sword, swinging it like a shadow, directing it toward the center point between the four swords where the Yellow Dragon Abyss was straining to be born.

This thrust aimed directly at Yue Yang’s consciousness.

Within the world of swords, where Yue Yang’s awareness was laboring in desperate comprehension, he felt Princess Qianqian coming at him with sword drawn, crashing directly into him — while behind him, Yue Yu became water, seeking to merge and become one with him as well. In that extraordinary moment of shared consciousness, something between understanding and non-understanding unfolded in him, and vast energy seemed to suddenly transcend his original conception, expanding outward without limit in every direction, then — at the instant it reached its absolute peak — reconverging at breathtaking speed, condensing into a yellow dragon that spiraled down from the crown of his head, passing through him without resistance, emerging through his back, threading through Yue Yu’s body, circling around her form, spiraling up his legs, entering his core, and erupting back out through his chest.

The moment the yellow dragon broke through Yue Yang’s chest, it swallowed the Prison Emperor’s Divine Sword from Princess Qianqian’s grasp — and with the speed of thunder before ears could follow, passed through her body as well.

Then returned to the crown of Yue Yang’s head and sank back into him.

Merging with him completely.

Without another sound.

As though the yellow dragon had never appeared at all.

In the world of consciousness, Yue Yang and the two women were equally startled and bewildered — none of the three had remotely anticipated this turn of events.

For that matter, Yue Yang himself couldn’t fully explain it either. Because this yellow dragon, this Yellow Dragon Abyss sword — it had surpassed his current level, it was not something he could have commanded. Yue Yang suspected that at the critical moment, the Sword Spirit Imperial Lady had intervened and guided the outcome — but he wasn’t certain enough to say so, and in any case he couldn’t explain this to Princess Qianqian and Yue Yu.

“Since we’ve come this far, let’s finish everything in one breath.” Not stopping to think any further, while the feeling in his heart still lingered, Yue Yang summoned the Genesis Divine Pearl. He released a surge of the overflowing chaos energy it contained, wrapping it around the Prison Emperor’s Divine Sword — the very sword that the yellow dragon had just swallowed and passed through.

(End of Chapter)