Shenxiao Palace
Inside Yun Che’s shabby wooden hut.
Yun Che’s consciousness fully returned, and he abruptly sat up from the hard board bed, taking a deep breath of fresh air.
“Phew…”
He closed his eyes, and in his mind were still the warm candlelight and elegant orchid fragrance of Li Zijun’s quiet room. His fingertips still seemed to retain that condensed, serene aura from when he had lifted the brush and swept the ink, and he could even seem to hear her final instruction, tinged with helpless indulgence.
“I still want more…” he murmured softly, and his heart felt like it had been scratched by a kitten’s paw… satisfied, yet empty.
Two hours was too short.
It was so short that just as he had sunk into that subtle “siblings” atmosphere… half teacher and friend, half intimate… he was violently yanked back out.
“This damn system’s cooldown period is way too long!” Yun Che could not help complaining. A full 5 days!
For someone who had just tasted the sweetness of “cheat mode” and wanted to go back in immediately to experience that soaring cultivation speed, it was pure torment.
Just then, the system prompt arrived as promised, and a cold mechanical voice rang in his mind as a notification window appeared before his eyes:
『The second binding with “Li Zijun” ended, and the comprehensive settlement began…』
『Energy absorption and conversion complete… cultivation level steadily improved…』
『Confucian Dao fusion level increased slightly…』
『Intimacy updated: Li Zijun → 68/100』
『Detected intimacy breaking through 65 for the first time, achieving the milestone “Beginning of Trust.”』
『Achievement reward issued: cultivation comprehension slightly improved; soul resilience slightly enhanced; binding points +20.』
『Detected that the host’s cumulative intimacy with a single target reached 68 for the first time; system function unlock progress updated…』
『Ding! Congratulations, host. Intimacy has met the requirement, and you have successfully unlocked a new “binding slot”!』
A stream of prompts flashed by, and Yun Che had originally been basking in the joy of his cultivation level rising and his points increasing, but that last message made him freeze.
“A new ‘binding slot’?” he repeated subconsciously, then pressed on with his thoughts: “System, what does this new binding slot mean?
“Does that mean I can bind another person?”
The system replied, “Mm, that’s right.”
Yun Che seemed to think of something. “Whoa… I think there’s a bug in your system!”
His heart pounded, and an exciting guess surfaced: “The system said last time that the cooldown period for possessing the same person was 5 days?”
“But if I bind another immortal maiden…”
Wouldn’t that let me connect seamlessly and stay in a state of “cheat-mode possession” all the time?
Wouldn’t that make my cultivation speed take off?
That thought made him excited.
If that really worked, it would be a rotation plan tailor-made for him… a “genius experience card” rotation plan!
Today I possess the Confucian school… tomorrow I possess someone else… the day after tomorrow… bliss!
This life was too promising!!!
The system seemed a little speechless, as if it wanted to curse him for dreaming the impossible. It then retrieved the information and gave a detailed explanation, completely shattering his fantasy and revealing a deeper rule:
『Supplementary explanation of the core rules: the host must reach the “trust stage” (above 60 points) in intimacy with all currently bound objects before the system will evaluate whether to unlock the next binding slot.』
『This rule is intended to ensure that the host builds a sufficiently stable, mutually trusting foundation with existing bound targets, so as to avoid muddled souls and unpredictable backlash risks caused by greed, rashness, or frequent target switching.』
『In short: binding a new target requires the “old relationship” to be strong enough. Please keep your feet on the ground and take it step by step, host. Stop dreaming.』
Yun Che found it a little confusing, but he caught the key point: “So it’s just about winning over immortal maidens, then. Once I win one over, I can unlock the next one.”
“If I want to unlock the third binding slot… I have to raise the second bound target’s intimacy above 60, and I also have to make sure Sister Zijun’s intimacy doesn’t drop.”
The system said, “You can understand it that way.”
He sat dazed on the bed for a long while, then squeezed out a sentence through his teeth:
“You damn system, are you basically a ‘scumbag-prevention mechanism’?! You still need the ‘old flame to stay solid’ before you can find a ‘new flame’?”
This rule was simply a precise strike against his just-born “player binding plan”!
The system stayed silent and offered no comment.
Yun Che said helplessly, “Fine, you have to eat one bite at a time. Let’s take it slow.”
“System,” he said, taking a deep breath and issuing a command with his thoughts, “find me the second bound target!”
『Command confirmed. Beginning random search for a highly compatible binding target…』
『Search range: the wide area centered on the host and within the reach of divine sense, as amplified by the system.』
『Matching conditions: female, with cultivation-level potential or talent assessment no lower than “excellent”, and with potential karmic ties or fate entanglement with the host.』
『Searching… please wait…』
『Multiple potential targets detected… performing deep filtering…』
The system prompt echoed in his mind, and Yun Che’s heartbeat sped up involuntarily. Random binding was like opening a blind box… exciting and full of unknowns.
He suddenly remembered something extremely important and quickly added an instruction: “System, when you filter, make sure you exclude the saintess of Shenxiao Palace for me!”
What a joke. Binding the saintess of Shenxiao Palace, someone from the same sect?
How was that any different from doing a striptease right in front of the sect master?
A sweep of divine sense would immediately reveal that his original body was off!
By then, let alone clinging to a powerful patron, he would probably be treated as a body-snatching fiend and wiped out!
Distance made things look better. As for that saintess, Her Highness, it was better to admire her from afar, because the risk of binding her was simply too high.
『Filter conditions updated: exclude known high-risk identity targets within the host’s sect (Gu Qingxue). Re-matching…』
『Matching degree recalculating… best solution found!』
『Target locked! Beginning consciousness projection…』
The system panel flickered with streaks of light, and countless blurry fragments of light and aura flashed by so quickly that Yun Che could not make them out at all.
He held his breath, waiting in anticipation. Which immortal maiden would it be?
A familiar dizziness, as though his soul had been pulled away, struck all at once!
His consciousness instantly left the simple wooden hut on Great Bamboo Peak and plunged into a bizarre, chaotic passage of light and shadow, where countless blurry scenes and fragments of aura flew past.
Before Yun Che could even make sense of it, the sensation of falling abruptly stopped, and his consciousness sank with a jolt, completing the “landing.”
First came back his sense of smell.
A sweet scent, with just a hint of milkiness, drifted into his nose, and it smelled very pleasant, making him relax unconsciously.
Then came touch.
What lay beneath him was exceptionally soft, as if he were sinking into the clouds, like some extremely fluffy and soft cushion. The fabric touching his skin was fine and smooth, with a pleasant coolness.
Then came sight.
Yun Che tried hard to adjust to the new body and slowly “opened his eyes.”
What came into view was a world he had never expected at all.
The roof was a hanging canopy dotted with tiny crystals and soft gauze curtains. The curtains were a gentle pale pink, and they shone with a pearl-like luster under the soft light coming from nowhere.
As his gaze shifted, he saw a thick, fluffy, snow-white long-pile carpet on the floor, with several brightly colored, cute cushions scattered across it.
A small carved bed that looked incomparably comfortable, draped with pink gauze curtains, leaned against the wall, and the bed was piled high with all kinds of… plush dolls?
That’s right, plush dolls.
They came in all sizes and shapes, including adorably chubby plush dolls, exquisite dolls wearing gorgeous court dresses, and even a few small cloth figures whose stitches were a little immature, as if they had been sewn by hand.
They were all placed on the bed or on the low cabinet beside it, as if they were important members of the room.
Yun Che’s consciousness was a little dazed.
This… what kind of place was this?
Which immortal maiden’s residence was this… so distinctive?
He instinctively wanted to move a little and feel this new body.
As his viewpoint shifted, he saw the clothes on “himself”… a small pale-yellow dress of excellent material, embroidered with intricate and exquisite dark patterns, its skirt hem softly spreading across the snow-white carpet.
He used this body’s tiny eyes to look around as much as he could.
He saw a pink, palace-like room full of dolls and a sweet, cloying fragrance…
“What the hell… where the hell had they sent me?!” Yun Che was almost in tears.
Then he “saw” this body’s hands. They were a bit small?
A pair of fair, soft, tiny, and rather cute hands.
Yun Che: “…”
He tried moving his fingers.
An extremely absurd feeling surged in his heart. Could it be that the one I bound this time was a little girl?