Before Xue Yunxue's body could truly touch the ground, Lin Yuan caught her.
The girl fell lightly into his arms—too light. As if all remaining strength had already vanished. Yunxue's black hair spilled loose, its ends soaked with blood that slowly dripped onto Lin Yuan's sleeve.
The wound on her chest still hadn't stopped bleeding.
For a moment… the world fell silent.
Lin Yuan's blue eyes trembled faintly.
Was she… really dead?
Wasn't this supposed to be what he wanted?
If Xue Yunxue died, the soul bond binding them would disappear as well. He would be free again. No more disturbances. No more emotions disrupting his cultivation. He had spent nearly his entire life pursuing strength—attachments like soul bonds were nothing but obstacles on the path of cultivation.
And yet—
what rose within him was not relief.
It was fear.
An unfamiliar feeling pressed heavily against his chest, sharp and suffocating—something he had never experienced in his entire life.
"Yunxue… wake up."
His voice was low, almost breaking.
His blood-stained hand gently tapped her cheek. Her face was pale and lifeless, her lips drained of color, her eyelashes motionless without the slightest tremor.
Her body hung limply.
Empty.
As if her soul had truly left.
Lin Yuan's breathing tightened. He quickly checked her pulse.
Nothing.
He pressed against her chest, trying to feel a heartbeat—
empty.
Silent.
Not a single beat.
Lin Yuan's face turned pale.
He slowly lowered her body onto the ground, as though even the slightest rough movement might shatter something already fragile. His hands trembled faintly as his gaze fell upon the bright crimson blood bead resting in his palm.
The bead pulsed softly.
Warm.
Alive.
In cruel contrast to the girl lying before him.
His chest felt tight.
A dull, unfamiliar pain spread through his heart—the cold, ruthless heart of a merciless merman.
But he had no time.
A low roar sounded behind him.
Lu Xiao.
The vampire was still struggling violently. The Gu poison had reached its peak. Predator energy exploded uncontrollably from his body. Those gray eyes were filled with madness, fangs fully exposed, thirsting for blood and destruction.
For a dying vampire, blood was the greatest nourishment against agony.
Lin Yuan clenched his jaw.
He stood.
In the next instant, his figure vanished and reappeared directly before Lu Xiao.
His mental energy erupted outward, crushing the surrounding space like ocean waves smashing against cliffs.
"Calm down…!"
His hands formed ancient seals in the air—patterns of blue light appeared one after another. A hereditary technique taught by his father, a special art meant to calm vampires when their bloodthirsty instincts spiraled out of control.
Ancient symbols rotated around Lu Xiao's body.
The resistance was fierce.
But slowly… the vampire's violent movements weakened.
The roar faded into heavy breathing.
Then—
Lu Xiao's body slumped unconscious.
Without wasting a second, Lin Yuan opened his jaw and fed the blood bead into his mouth, ensuring the core energy was completely swallowed.
Several seconds passed.
Only after confirming the bead had begun reacting did Lin Yuan turn around.
His steps back toward Xue Yunxue felt far heavier than before.
The girl still lay on the ground.
Silent.
Unmoving.
As if the world itself had abandoned her.
Lin Yuan knelt beside her, his hand touching her cheek once more.
Cold.
"Yunxue… wake up…"
His voice was almost a whisper swallowed by the wind.
"You can stab me a hundred times… if you just wake up."
No response.
Only silence.
His chest tightened, and for the first time, he refused to accept the reality before him.
"No… you will not die."
His tone hardened, almost like a command directed at fate itself.
He lifted Yunxue into his arms. Her head fell weakly against his shoulder, her hair brushing over his blood-soaked arm.
Without hesitation—
the space around them distorted.
Water energy spiraled outward, forming a teleportation circle.
In an instant, Lin Yuan disappeared, carrying the girl's cold body toward the largest hospital in the city—leaving behind the unconscious Lu Xiao. The vampire would awaken soon enough; there was no need to worry about him.
And for the first time—
Xue Yunxue's body was rushed through the hospital's white corridor, the wheels of the stretcher creaking softly through the early-morning silence. Sterile ceiling lights reflected pale brilliance across her blood-stained face, making her look like someone who had already lost all traces of life.
The steel doors of the ICU opened.
Then—
closed again with a heavy sound.
Click.
Outside the doors, Lin Yuan stopped walking.
He did not enter.
He simply stood there.
Silent.
The merman appeared as calm as ever—back straight, expression cold and unreadable. Yet anyone sensitive to energy could feel something different.
The air around him felt heavy.
Dark.
A chilling aura flowed from his body like the crushing pressure of the deep sea. Other beastmen in the corridor instinctively moved away. Even the nurses lowered their heads and hurried past, their hearts pounding uneasily beneath the nearly uncontrollable pressure of his power.
His eyes trembled slightly.
Lin Yuan's thoughts returned again and again to a single scene—
that claw.
that blood.
the determined gaze of the girl as she stabbed herself without hesitation.
Foolish.
Utterly foolish.
However, the more he tried to curse her, the stronger the suffocating pressure tightening around his chest became.
Inside the ICU—
the atmosphere was far quieter.
The monitoring machines hummed softly, their screens displaying flat lines devoid of any sign of life. A middle-aged female doctor stood beside the bed, staring at the monitoring results with deeply furrowed brows.
No heartbeat.No neural activity.No vital signs.
Medically speaking—the patient was already dead. There was no hope of survival.
She let out a long sigh, her face showing both exhaustion and confusion. The wound in the girl's chest should have made survival impossible.
Slowly, she picked up a white sheet.
"What a pity…" she murmured softly.
She lifted the cloth, about to cover Xue Yunxue's face.
But—
before the fabric touched her skin—
"Doctor, I'm not dead. Please don't treat me like a corpse."
A pair of eyes opened.
The doctor froze.
It felt as if the world itself had stopped moving.
The next second—
"AH!"
She staggered backward and fell onto the floor, her face pale as paper.
Xue Yunxue blinked a few times, then gave an awkward smile.
"Ah… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
She slowly sat up and crossed her legs politely on the ICU bed, as if she had just woken from an afternoon nap rather than death itself.
The doctor was still trembling.
"Y–you… how… how are you alive? The monitor showed you were dead! Your heart stopped!"
Xue Yunxue scratched her cheek shyly.
"Technically… I did look dead."
She leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice as though sharing an important secret.
"I was just pretending."
The doctor stared at her as if she were witnessing something supernatural.
Without waiting for further questions, Xue Yunxue took out a high-quality crystal core from her storage space. The crystal shimmered softly, radiating pure energy that made even the air in the room feel warm.
She handed it over casually.
"In exchange… please tell the man outside that my condition is still critical."
The female doctor looked down at the crystal in her hand.
A patient who had been medically declared dead was now sitting alive before her, calmly bribing her with an object of extraordinary value.
She swallowed.
"…Alright."
Of course, she wouldn't refuse such a precious crystal core. Its price was nothing more than a small lie.
———
'Sister Xue… you're truly amazing. Your plan successfully fooled that merman,' Moa's voice echoed gently within Xue Yunxue's consciousness, like a whispering breeze only she could hear.
A faint smile curled at the corner of the girl's lips—calm, satisfied, almost cruel.
'Of course,' she replied inwardly, her tone light yet filled with cold certainty. 'I wouldn't die that easily.'
The previous night, Xue Yunxue had learned from the ancient book that the red crystal core taken from the parasitic plant she had obtained from the illegal laboratory could be refined into a heart-blood core for a plant-element human.
This blood core was extremely valuable because it could enhance her spiritual power, so she attempted to extract it.
It took quite some time before the core was successfully refined and formed an additional blood core within her heart. The extraction process finished precisely when Lu Xiao transformed into a feral predator.
At that moment, she finally possessed two heart-blood cores.
And naturally, the one she gave to Lu Xiao—the antidote to the Gu poison—was her original blood core. The blood core created from the plant crystal was the one now residing in her heart.
Technically, Xue Yunxue had long known that Lin Yuan had been secretly watching her. She wanted to test the true purpose of the merman.
So she devised a plan to deceive him—by pretending to surrender her heart-blood core, with Lin Yuan himself becoming the executioner.
To fool him, she created a potion that made her body emit false death signals while she remained fully conscious.
Originally, she intended to carry out the plan several days later. Unfortunately, when Lu Xiao lost control and began transforming into a predatory vampire, she was forced to accelerate her scheme.
She also realized that Lin Yuan had been observing her from afar at that moment.
Xue Yunxue could have easily removed the heart core herself with a knife, but to avenge herself on the merman, she wanted Lin Yuan to carry guilt for the rest of his life.
So she deliberately made him extract the heart-blood core with his own hands. The moment he believed his actions had caused her death, instinct alone would ensure that overwhelming guilt rooted itself deeply within him.
She had to teach her beast husband a lesson.
That man had forced her into the illegal laboratory and nearly caused both her and Luo Shixin to die there.
So she decided to punish him with lifelong guilt.
And of course, the instant her blood core was removed and her heart torn apart, she immediately circulated healing energy through her blood vessels. Healing her injured heart was easy—but she intentionally left her outer flesh wounded and bleeding, creating the illusion that her heart had truly been pierced.
Xue Yunxue suddenly felt very hungry. She took several foods from her storage space—preserved roasted meat and savory spicy jerky. All this acting had made her stomach growl loudly.
'Sister Xue, how did you come up with such a clever idea?' Moa asked.
Xue Yunxue smiled mischievously.
'I did something similar once in my original world—to teach a lesson to a boy who always bullied me,' she said.
Her thoughts drifted far away… back to her old world, to the aging orphanage building that always smelled of cheap soap and damp wood. It was there she learned something no one had ever directly taught her—
how to understand the human heart.
She had been ten years old then. There was a boy named Mo Chen, two years older than her, whom she called Fourth Brother.
Stubborn. Hot-tempered. Always fighting. Even the caretakers had given up trying to discipline him. He often bothered Yunxue—pulling her hair, hiding her belongings, or deliberately causing trouble just to see her reaction.
One day—an accident happened.
Mo Chen accidentally damaged their teacher's bicycle. The front wheel was badly bent, the paint scratched. The boy's face turned pale when he realized what he had done.
He tried to hide it.
But Xue Yunxue had seen everything—and she didn't report him.
When the teacher discovered the broken bicycle and erupted in anger, all the children were gathered together. The security cameras would be checked. The culprit would be found.
Mo Chen stood silently in the corner.
Shaking.
Too stubborn to confess.
And at that moment—Xue Yunxue stepped forward.
"I did it."
She still remembered the shocked looks from everyone, and Mo Chen's utterly stunned eyes.
She still remembered the wooden stick striking her legs.
Twenty blows landed on her small calves. Red welts split across her skin.
The pain was real—burning down to the bone. Her knees nearly gave out beneath her.
But she didn't cry.
She only lowered her head and accepted it.
Mo Chen treated her wounds afterward with tears streaming down his face, apologizing over and over with complete sincerity.
That day, something changed.
The boy who had once been rough… never bullied her again. His gaze changed whenever he looked at Yunxue—a mixture of guilt, respect, and protectiveness that even he didn't fully understand.
From then on, the stubborn boy always stood by her side. Though he still spoke harshly at times, guilt made him treat Xue Yunxue far more gently.
This man reminded her of Mo Chen.
Both of them were equally stubborn and impossible to control.
-----
Xue Yunxue lay quietly on the hospital bed, her body barely moving at all. The half-drawn white curtains allowed pale afternoon light to fall softly across her face, making her skin appear so thin—almost translucent—like porcelain that would shatter at the slightest crack.
Her lips were pale. She deliberately slowed her breathing until it was nearly imperceptible.
She was pretending to sleep.
Familiar footsteps approached.
Slow.Hesitant.Heavy.
The door opened with a faint sound, then closed again. The cold aura she recognized entered the room even before any voice followed.
Lin Yuan.
Xue Yunxue suppressed every bodily reflex. Even the rhythm of her heart was restrained as deeply as possible to remain perfectly steady. The slightest carelessness might alert the merman.
Several seconds passed in silence.
As if Lin Yuan were simply standing there… watching her.
Then the chair beside the bed shifted softly.
"Yunxue…"
His voice was low. Not as calm as usual.
Something inside it sounded fractured.
Lin Yuan's cold fingers gently touched her cheek. The gesture was incredibly careful, as though he feared she might break if touched too firmly.
"I'm sorry…"
The words escaped like a whisper forced out from deep within his chest.
Xue Yunxue had to exert absolute control to keep her eyelids from trembling.
"I… never truly wanted to take your heart-blood," Lin Yuan continued quietly. "I had no choice."
His tone dimmed, stripped of the firmness he normally carried.
"It was all to save Lu Xiao… after all, he carries the last bloodline of the Sea Fairy."
His hand remained on her cheek, his thumb moving faintly, as if confirming that she was still warm.
Inside her consciousness, Moa watched everything with wide eyes.
The usually arrogant merman… looked genuinely fragile.
"If he knew I hurt you to save him…" Lin Yuan's voice paused, his breathing heavy. "…he would surely hate me."
Silence filled the room.
Only the steady beeping of medical machines remained.
"So wake up soon," he whispered again, even softer. "Don't make him worry… don't make me…"
The sentence trailed off.
Unfinished.
And because of that, it felt even heavier.
Moa shivered within Xue Yunxue's mind.
'Sister Xue… he really regrets it,' she whispered softly. 'If he finds out this was all your plan… he might actually cough blood from anger.'
The image alone almost made Moa shudder.
Lin Yuan's fingers slowly left her cheek, as though he feared lingering too long when she gave no response.
That was when Xue Yunxue finally relented.
Her eyelids moved slightly.
Her lashes trembled before slowly opening, revealing a gaze that appeared blurred and weak.
"Yuan…"
Her voice was hoarse, almost breaking—so faint it nearly dissolved into the air, utterly convincing.
But to Lin Yuan—
it was like lightning splitting the sky.
His body froze.
For a fraction of a second, the man whose eyes were always cold widened them, a flash of undisguised joy appearing before his expression regained control.
"Yunxue…?"
He leaned closer slightly, as if afraid the voice had been an illusion.
His blue eyes trembled faintly.
For the first time since entering the room… his breathing sounded relieved.
———
Xue Yunxue decided to test whether her method could truly tame this arrogant man.
"Could you… get me a glass of water?" she asked, looking at Lin Yuan with the weakest gaze she could muster.
She expected him to call a nurse.
But he didn't.
The man paused briefly, then turned without a word. He picked up a glass from the small table beside the bed and poured water into it.
His movements were stiff.
As though he wasn't used to doing such things.
He handed the glass to her.
Xue Yunxue glanced at it briefly… then said innocently,
"No… this water is too cold."
Lin Yuan's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.
"I want warm water."
Silence.
Several seconds passed.
If this were the usual Lin Yuan, he might have already walked away without another glance.
But this time—
he simply took a quiet breath, took the glass back, and left the room briefly.
Not long after, he returned.
A glass of warm water was in his hand.
He handed it to her without comment.
Xue Yunxue accepted it slowly, pretending her hands trembled, yet behind her pale expression her eyes carefully observed every detail of the man before her.
And inwardly—she almost laughed in triumph.
The arrogant merman.
The one who normally wouldn't even take a single step for others.
Now… she could make him fetch water twice.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
She slowly drank the warm water, letting the heat flow down her throat, then secretly glanced at Lin Yuan again.
That very night, despite having just "returned from death," Xue Yunxue insisted on going home.
She stood at the hospital entrance, her face pale yet her stubborn gaze leaving no room for argument.
"Staying away too long will make Luo Shixin and Yun Wu suspicious," she said softly but firmly. "And… I need to check on Lu Xiao."
Lin Yuan clearly disagreed.
His gaze hardened. "Your body isn't stable yet."
"I'm not that weak."
The short reply cut off all arguments.
For several seconds they stared at each other. The air between them grew tense—not from anger, but because Lin Yuan realized something that unsettled his pride.
He… could not refuse this girl.
The merman, cold as stone until now, finally let out a long breath.
"Fine."
His tone sounded resigned.
Xue Yunxue even told him to go shower and change out of the blood-stained clothes before leaving. Strangely, Lin Yuan actually obeyed without much protest.
As if something inside him had softened since the hospital incident.
The house was filled with the aroma of warm cooking when they returned.
The dining room lights shone brightly, creating a sharp contrast to the long, blood-soaked night they had just endured.
Xue Yunxue had already bathed and changed into clean clothes at the hospital; she didn't want the scent of blood to make her other husbands suspicious. Her hair was still slightly damp as she sat calmly at the dining table, looking like an ordinary girl returning from an exhausting day—not someone who had been declared dead just hours ago.
Yet her eyes remained sharp, calculating.
She surveyed the room.
Lu Xiao was nowhere to be seen.
Her brows furrowed slightly.
"Where is Lu Xiao?"
The dining table instantly fell silent.
Lin Yuan, who had just been standing near the stairs, answered without hesitation,
"I'll go find him."
His tone was quick. Almost too quick.
His figure vanished in an instant, leaving only faint ripples of energy in the air.
Xue Yunxue merely narrowed her eyes slightly.
More like going to pick him up, not find him, she thought inwardly.
------
At the dining table, Luo Shixin stood near the kitchen wearing a simple apron — a sight that felt almost absurd for a legendary general.
Several dishes were neatly arranged on the table: fried meat, warm soup, and stir-fried vegetables.
He had learned to cook simply by watching Xue Yunxue before.
And the result… was not bad at all.
Xue Yunxue picked up a piece of fried meat with her chopsticks and took a slow bite.
Crispy.
The seasoning had soaked in deeply enough.
"Your skills have improved a lot," she said honestly.
Luo Shixin smiled gently.
His handsome face, usually stern, now looked warm, his gaze resting on Xue Yunxue with attention he barely tried to hide.
It wasn't just pride from being praised.
It was more like… satisfaction that the person he cared about was finally enjoying the results of his effort.
On the other side of the table, Yun Wu quietly observed the interaction while continuing to eat.
One of his brows lifted slightly.
Since when had this cold general shown such obvious interest?
He hadn't even finished processing the thought when—
"Do you think my cooking tastes good?"
Luo Shixin's voice sounded casual.
Xue Yunxue nodded lightly, still chewing.
"In that case," he continued without changing expression, "I suppose, as repayment, little Xue'er should stay in my room tonight."
—Silence.
INSTANTLY.
Xue Yunxue choked violently.
She burst into coughing, her face turning red as the meat nearly lodged in her throat.
Yun Wu, who had just bitten into a piece of meat, froze, then plak! — the piece fell straight back onto his plate. His face perfectly captured pure shock.
Yet Luo Shixin remained calm, as if he had just said something completely reasonable for the lawful partner of Xue Yunxue.
He even naturally pushed a glass of water toward her.
"You should eat more slowly," he said gently.
Xue Yunxue quickly drank the water, still coughing lightly, her eyes narrowing sharply at the man.
This man was truly aggressive.
Behind his calm expression, Luo Shixin met her gaze without avoidance.
The dining room door opened softly.
"What's going on here?"
Lin Yuan's voice sounded flat, but the cold aura entering with him instantly changed the atmosphere. He stood at the doorway, blue hair slightly disheveled by the night wind, while Lu Xiao's half-unconscious body hung over his shoulder.
He had just returned — and immediately sensed the tension thick enough to touch.
His blue eyes swept across the dining table.
Xue Yunxue still held a glass of water.
Yun Wu froze with chopsticks suspended midair.
And Luo Shixin… sat calmly as if nothing had happened.
"Nothing," Luo Shixin replied calmly, without the slightest hint of guilt. "I merely invited little Xue'er to come to my room tonight."
The sentence dropped like a stone into already tense water.
Lin Yuan's brows instantly furrowed.
He remained silent for several seconds.
Logically… he had no right to forbid it. After Xue Yunxue's heart-blood core had been used to save Lu Xiao, the balance of their relationship had changed. He was no longer in a position to dictate her choices. And of course, she had every right to share intimacy with her other husband.
However—
An uncomfortable feeling suddenly appeared in his chest.
Sharp. Irritating.
Xue Yunxue had just returned from the brink of death… and this man was already talking about sleeping together?
Without saying anything, Lin Yuan walked inside and tossed Lu Xiao onto the sofa.
The vampire's body landed with a heavy thud.
"Ugh…" Lu Xiao groaned faintly.
Lin Yuan raised his hand. A thin stream of water energy swirled at his fingertips before the ancient seal binding Lu Xiao shattered slowly like cracking glass. The vampire aura that had been locked away began flowing again.
Lu Xiao's eyelids twitched.
He began to regain consciousness.
Lin Yuan stood upright in the middle of the room, his voice cold yet carrying unmistakable pressure.
"Tonight, Yunxue will not go to anyone's room."
The tone was not a request.
It was a decision.
"She needs proper rest."
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
Luo Shixin leaned back in his chair, staring at Lin Yuan without fear, calm eyes radiating hostility, while Yun Wu quietly held his breath, feeling as if he were witnessing a storm slowly forming.
Since when did this fish man also take interest in Xue Yunxue?
Then Lin Yuan turned his head.
His gaze landed directly on Lu Xiao, who had just opened his eyes.
And for the first time since entering the room, his voice became slightly sharper.
"That includes you."
Lu Xiao blinked slowly, his consciousness not fully restored, yet his predator instincts immediately sensed the pressure behind those words.
"You are not allowed to sneak into Xue Yunxue's room tonight."
The corner of Xue Yunxue's lips lifted slightly.
This merman's attitude had truly changed!
She sat calmly among the dangerous men, sipping her water as if none of the tension around her had anything to do with her at all.
Author's Note:
Sorry for the late chapter update. I had to revise this chapter many times and decide which storyline would be best to continue the story. Don't worry — I'll be writing more chapters this weekend, so please look forward to it.
Good Night!!