Inside the sleeping palace.

Xiao Mo looked into the woman’s eyes—those peach-blossom eyes so bewitching it was almost excessive—and for a moment, he couldn’t tell whether what she had just said was true.

But faintly, in his heart, a feeling rose: if even what she said was false, then everything in this world was false.

“Does Your Majesty still have anything you wish to ask?”

The tender corner of Bai Ruxue’s lips curved into a gentle smile as she asked Xiao Mo softly.

“For now, there isn’t anything I want to ask the lady.”

Xiao Mo shook his head.

He truly had nothing he wanted to ask right now.

Since she would not harm him, and would not do anything that endangered Great Zhou, then there was room to maneuver in most matters.

And she was not of the Yan family, so she would not be watching him endlessly.

She had even originally intended to help him reclaim the greater authority...

Of course, the premise was that everything she said was the truth.

So he could not completely believe her. At the very least, he would keep three parts’ worth of vigilance.

“This consort has hidden things from Your Majesty—indeed, that is this consort’s fault. ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ Not to mention that the thing this consort entered the palace to take... originally belongs to Your Majesty. These days, in this consort’s heart, it is hard not to feel uneasy.”

Bai Ruxue spoke slowly.

“Once this consort obtains that thing, this consort can guarantee—this consort will compensate Your Majesty a thousandfold, a hundredfold.”

“Additionally, this consort has observed that Your Majesty is cultivating. This consort heard from National Preceptor Jiang that Your Majesty has already reached the perfected completion of the Qi Refining Realm.”

“Even though for an emperor in these times to enter foundation establishment can be called difficult beyond difficult, if Your Majesty is willing to believe this consort, this consort can give Your Majesty a hand.”

“The lady wants to help my cultivation?” Xiao Mo asked.

“Yes.”

Bai Ruxue nodded. With a sweep of her fragrant sleeve, she laid down a spell formation that isolated them from the outside world.

Then Bai Ruxue took off her embroidered shoes and slipped off her socks, revealing a pair of small feet as clear and flawless as jade. She knelt on the bed.

Her round, full hips rested on her feet. A thin sleeping dress clung close to her graceful figure.

Her hair ornaments had already been removed, and her long, black hair—like a waterfall—fell all the way to her waist.

Under the red candlelight, the woman was like a snow lotus on Tianshan—pure and sacred—yet also like an epiphyllum flower, beautiful enough to make one’s heart seize.

“Your Majesty, please.”

Bai Ruxue extended her pale wrist and gently patted the bed in front of her.

Xiao Mo frowned. After hesitating for a while, he also removed his shoes, climbed onto the bed, and sat facing Bai Ruxue.

“Next, please open your mind and spirit, Your Majesty. This consort will circulate a cultivation method. This method is called the Moonlight Art. This consort will draw in the essence of the moon and transform it into spiritual power for Your Majesty. During this time, Your Majesty need do nothing—just relax.”

As her words fell, Bai Ruxue slowly closed her eyes.

Xiao Mo also closed his eyes.

Bai Ruxue’s soft, boneless slender hands clasped Xiao Mo’s broad palm.

Xiao Mo felt a stream of pure spiritual power enter his body.

Bai Ruxue’s spiritual power intermingled and blended with Xiao Mo’s own, carrying all the impurities within Xiao Mo’s spiritual power out with it.

After those impurities were drawn out, Xiao Mo felt as if the spiritual channels and spiritual apertures within his body had suddenly been emptied.

It was like a wooden barrel filled with water, except the barrel held all kinds of mud and stones.

And what Bai Ruxue was doing was removing every stone and all that mud from his barrel—filtering the water again and again.

As Xiao Mo’s spiritual power was refined, the sensation was extraordinarily comfortable.

Gradually, Xiao Mo’s consciousness grew heavier and heavier, his head nodding as drowsiness washed over him.

In the end, Xiao Mo’s mind sank, and he fell forward.

Bai Ruxue opened her eyes as well. As she leaned forward, she reached out and gathered him into her arms.

Looking at the sleeping figure in her embrace, the love in Bai Ruxue’s peach-blossom eyes looked as though it might spill over.

“Don’t worry, husband. This consort will handle everything as quickly as possible. This consort won’t make husband wait too long.”

Bai Ruxue gently placed Xiao Mo on the bed, covered him with the red quilt, then slipped softly beneath it herself, lying on her side beside him.

Pressing against her beloved’s chest, Bai Ruxue quietly listened to his vigorous, powerful heartbeat.

As if it were the most beautiful sound the woman had ever heard in this lifetime.

“Husband... in this life... this consort will never let anyone, or anything, tear us apart again...”

......

Early the next morning.

Warm sunlight fell on Xiao Mo’s cheek.

Xiao Mo opened his eyes. Seeing the unfamiliar bed curtains around him, his heart tightened first—then he remembered this was Bai Ruxue’s room, and only then did he relax a little.

Xiao Mo remembered that last night he and Bai Ruxue had sat cross-legged on the bed. She had refined his spiritual power for him, and in the end, because it felt too comfortable, he had fallen asleep.

Turning his awareness inward, Xiao Mo not only felt that his spiritual power had become much purer, he also felt that it was as if his spiritual power had been compressed—there was no longer that sign of it being full to the point of overflowing.

In other words, before foundation establishment next month, he likely would not need to deliberately suppress his spiritual power for the time being, nor would he need to deliberately avoid cultivating.

His Qi Refining Realm could be made even more solid, increasing his chances of foundation establishment by several more parts.

“Your Majesty is awake.”

Bai Ruxue’s gentle voice came from the room.

Xiao Mo turned his head. Bai Ruxue was at the dressing table, combing out her long hair.

She was still wearing that thin gauze dress from last night. That slightly languid yet bewitching look made her seem as though she had attended His Majesty’s bed last night.

But Xiao Mo knew that he and her had done nothing last night.

After finishing her grooming, Bai Ruxue changed into a snow-white palace dress and walked to the bedside with dignified elegance.

“How does Your Majesty feel?”

“The spiritual power in my body is much richer. Thank you, lady.”

Xiao Mo answered honestly.

“This is what this consort should do. This consort’s attainments in sword arts truly cannot compare to National Preceptor Jiang, but in the future, Your Majesty may often come to this consort’s Hall of Congealed Snow. This consort can continue refining Your Majesty’s spiritual power.”

Bai Ruxue smiled lightly, then picked up the clothes at the side.

“This consort will attend to Your Majesty’s dressing.”

“No need to trouble the lady. I will do it myself.”

Xiao Mo shook his head, sat up, and dressed himself.

And after Xiao Mo got out of bed, Bai Ruxue bit the tip of her finger. Without a sound, after stripping away the spiritual power and dragon might within her blood, she let it drip onto the white bed cloth.

A few drops of fresh blood spread and bled into the white cloth like a blood-red plum blossom.

Xiao Mo knew what she was doing.

He had spent the night here with her. Even though nothing had happened, Empress Dowager Yan would not believe that.

So this blood-stained white cloth was for Empress Dowager Yan to inspect.

“I once heard National Preceptor Jiang say that for that thing, the lady searched for a long time?”

Xiao Mo asked curiously.

To be honest, for a cultivator of the middle Three Realms to infiltrate the palace for some object, and even be willing to become the consort of an emperor who was nothing more than a puppet—the sacrifice was indeed too great. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“Yes. This consort searched for a very long time.”

Putting away the cloth, Bai Ruxue nodded.

“If this consort were a mortal, then in the words of ordinary people... this consort would have searched ‘most of a lifetime’...”

Xiao Mo paused slightly.

“Then what if the lady never found it? What would you do?”

“Never found it...”

Bai Ruxue’s eyes curved as she smiled.

“Then this consort will use the remaining half of her life...”

“And keep searching.”