Discarded Records Pavilion, Midnight
The silence in the archive was absolute, broken only by the sound of Bai Xiaofei's sharp, hitched breathing.
The oppressive, golden aura of Gu Xuan's true cultivation pressed down on her, a physical weight that made her knees feel weak.
This was not just Foundation Establishment power. This was a perfected Foundation.
It was dense, stable, and so pure it made her own "Volatile Yang Spark" feel like a chaotic, sputtering firecracker next to a silent, immovable star.
Her mind, usually so sharp and analytical, was a screaming void. The peasant. The ghost. The nothing she had dismissed... was this.
The plain face was a mask. The weak cultivation was a lie. This entire archive was a stage, and she had just been played for an absolute fool.
She looked past Gu Xuan, to the door, where Su Linyue stood. The former cripple was watching her, not with surprise, but with a cold, knowing superiority.
She had been in on it. She was the first. The "miracle fruit" was a lie. This... he... was the truth.
Bai Xiaofei's formidable pride, the only shield she had ever known, crumbled into dust.
All that was left was the raw, calculating pragmatism that had made her a genius.
She forced her voice to work, her throat dry. "Who... are you?" It was not the demand of a superior, but the cautious query of someone who had just walked into a dragon's lair.
"I am the man who holds the key to your cage," Gu Xuan said, his true voice a mesmerizing, low baritone.
He took a slow step closer, not menacing, but in total command. "You are correct. I am not Young Master He. I do not offer a golden cage. I am offering you the sky."
He gestured to Su Linyue. "Her problem was ice. A chaotic, destructive Yin that was killing her. My scripture provided the 'fire' to tame it. Your problem is fire. A volatile, scorching Yang that limits you, that makes you a half-genius."
The word "half-genius" struck her harder than any physical blow. It was the truth she had hidden from the world, the source of all her fear and rage.
"You incinerate Yin herbs," he continued, his voice calm, analytical, as if he were diagnosing a patient. "You cannot brew a simple Moon-Glow Pill. You will fail your Second-Grade certification, and you will be married off to He Jian. You will be a broodmare, and your talent will rot."
He had seen it all. He had seen her.
"My art is not just fire," he said, holding her gaze. "It is the Primal Chaos Union. It is harmony. Your fire needs a sea to ground it. My scripture allows me to become that sea. Through our union, I can draw out your volatile, excess Yang, refine it for my own use, and in its place, infuse you with a stable, grounding Yin. The result? You will have perfect balance. You will be able to handle fire and ice. You will be the alchemist you were always meant to be."
Bai Xiaofei's mind was racing, connecting the pieces. "A... symbiotic union. A dual cultivation pact." She looked at Su Linyue again, understanding dawning. "That's how she... her power... it's so... pure."
"It is," Gu Xuan affirmed.
The pragmatist in Bai Xiaofei took over. The shock faded, replaced by cold, hard calculation. "A pact," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "And what is your price? My body? My servitude? You save me from one master only to become another?"
This was the crux of it. The final, desperate negotiation.
Gu Xuan actually smiled. It was a cold, devastatingly handsome smile that held no humor, only absolute confidence. "Servitude? Don't be absurd. A servant is useless to me. I have no interest in being your master, Bai Xiaofei."
He leaned in, his voice dropping. "I am offering you a partnership. I am a man with powerful enemies. I am on a path of vengeance that requires power, resources, and influence. Su Linyue is my sword. She is the power."
His gaze became incredibly intense. "I need an alchemist. A master alchemist. Someone who can turn my resources into the pills that will fund my war and fuel my cultivation. I am offering you an alliance. You get your freedom, you get your perfect mastery, you get to spit in your family's and He Jian's faces. And in return... I get my apothecary."
He laid the terms bare. It wasn't a violation. It wasn't a seduction. It was the single greatest transaction she had ever been offered.
She got everything. And all it cost was the one thing she had already been forced to sell to a lesser man—her body.
But with Gu Xuan, it wasn't a sale; it was an investment.
Her entire future balanced on this single moment. The image of He Jian's leering face... and then the image of the man in front of her.
A hidden master, a brilliant schemer, a wielder of impossible power. There was no comparison. This was not a choice. It was a foregone conclusion.
Bai Xiaofei took a deep, shuddering breath, her decision made. The last of her resistance, the last ember of her shattered pride, gave way to a cold, burning ambition.
"You are right," she said, her voice clear and sharp, the alchemist back in control. "He is a fool. And I would be a greater one to refuse."
She looked him dead in the eye, a partner, not a victim. "When do we begin?"
Gu Xuan's smile widened. "An alchemist's true work is never done. The pavilion is quiet. There is no time like the present."
He turned to the woman by the door. "Su Linyue. You will guard the entrance. No one enters. No one leaves."
Su Linyue nodded, a faint, proprietary smile on her lips. She drew her sword, the blade gleaming with a cold, silvery light, and silently took her post.
Gu Xuan turned back to Bai Xiaofei. "The first step," he said, "is to prove my theory. We will perform the 'Alchemical Harmonization.' And you, Senior Sister Bai, will be the crucible."