The confrontation came sooner than anyone expected.
It was Ling Xue'er who made the first move.
Three nights after giving herself fully to Xiao Yang, the young saintess sent a secret transmission talisman to Jade Phoenix Peak—addressed not to him, but to Su Qingxue.
The message was simple, written in trembling script:
"Madam Su, this junior requests a private audience. I cannot sleep. I cannot cultivate. I must speak with the woman whose warmth I felt in him. Please."
Su Qingxue stared at the talisman for a long hour, silver hair unbound, eyes red from yet another night of passionate reclamation with Xiao Yang.
Jealousy warred with curiosity. Pain with something softer—understanding.
In the end, she replied:
"Tonight. Midnight. The eastern spirit spring. Come alone."
Xiao Yang knew nothing of the arrangement until both women informed him—separately, urgently.
She agreed to meet me, Ling Xue'er sent, voice transmission shaking. I'm terrified. What if she hates me?
She's coming to the spring, Su Qingxue told him later, fingers tracing his chest in the dark. I need to see her face. The girl who made you look at someone else the way you look at me.
He tried to protest, to mediate, but both refused.
This is between us, they said in unison, though miles apart.
And so, at midnight, Xiao Yang concealed himself high in the mist-shrouded cliffs above the eastern spirit spring—close enough to intervene if needed, far enough that his presence remained hidden.
The two women arrived moments apart.
Su Qingxue first—flowing ice-blue robes, silver hair cascading like moonlight, aura cold and regal.
Ling Xue'er second—simple white robes, black hair tied in a loose braid, pure yin aura shimmering like starlight.
They faced each other across the steaming spring, ten paces apart.
Silence stretched, thick and heavy.
Finally, Ling Xue'er dropped to her knees, forehead touching the stone.
"This junior greets Madam Su. I… I have wronged you. I know what you share with Xiao Yang. I felt it in him. And still… I took more."
Su Qingxue's voice was frost.
"Stand, child. I am not your elder in this matter. We are both thieves of the same heart."
Ling Xue'er rose slowly, tears already falling.
"I didn't mean to fall in love with him. I love Senior Brother Zhao—I truly do. We promised each other everything. But when Xiao Yang's yang touched my qi… it was like waking from a dream I didn't know I was sleeping in."
Su Qingxue's hands clenched in her sleeves.
"I know the feeling," she said quietly. "I waited three hundred years for my husband's touch. I sacrificed my progress, my youth, my desires. And in eight nights, Xiao Yang gave me more warmth than centuries of loyalty ever did."
She stepped closer.
"You are young. Pure. You could still walk away. Break it off before it destroys you."
Ling Xue'er shook her head fiercely.
"I tried. Last night, I meditated for hours to sever the resonance. But my qi reaches for his even in sleep. My heart hurts when he's not near. I… I'm addicted to him. To how he makes me feel."
A broken laugh escaped Su Qingxue.
"So am I."
They stared at each other—centuries of experience facing innocent youth.
Then Su Qingxue asked the question that haunted her:
"Do you want him all to yourself?"
Ling Xue'er's tears fell faster.
"No. I want him happy. I want him safe. And I see how he looks when he speaks of you—like you're his entire world. I could never take that from him. From you."
She took a trembling step forward.
"I don't want to be your enemy, Madam Su. I… I want to understand. To share the burden of loving someone we shouldn't."
Su Qingxue's icy facade cracked.
She closed the distance, pulling the younger woman into an embrace.
Ling Xue'er stiffened—then melted, sobbing against the older woman's shoulder.
"I'm so scared," she whispered. "Of losing him. Of hurting Senior Brother Zhao. Of what this makes me."
Su Qingxue stroked her black hair gently.
"I know, child. I wake every morning terrified my husband will emerge from seclusion and see the truth in my eyes. I hate myself for wanting Xiao Yang more with each passing day."
They held each other for a long moment—ice and moon finding unexpected solace.
Then Su Qingxue pulled back, cupping Ling Xue'er's face.
"There is only one way forward," she said softly. "We share him. Openly between us. No more secrets eating us alive."
Ling Xue'er's eyes widened.
"You… you would accept me?"
"If you accept me," Su Qingxue replied. "His heart is big enough for both. But only if we do not tear him apart with jealousy."
A shy, tearful smile broke across Ling Xue'er's face.
"I would like that. To… to know you. To not be alone in this."
They sat together at the spring's edge, hands clasped, talking until the sky began to lighten.
About their first meetings with Xiao Yang.
About the guilt that never faded.
About the love that grew despite it.
High above, Xiao Yang watched—heart pounding with relief and something deeper.
The system chimed softly.
But he ignored it.
Because below, the two women he loved most in this world were finding a fragile peace.
When dawn broke, they stood.
One last embrace.
"Tell him," Su Qingxue said. "Tonight. Bring him to my cave mansion. We will face this together."
Ling Xue'er nodded, eyes shining.
"Together."
As they parted—Su Qingxue ascending to her peak, Ling Xue'er returning to the guest pavilion—Xiao Yang descended from his hiding place.
Both women sensed him immediately.
Their divine senses wrapped around him in perfect sync—cool yin and pure yin intertwining with his yang.
Come to us tonight, they sent as one. We're ready.
His blood sang.
But so did his fear.
Because across the sect, Zhao Tian stood in the shadows of the herb gardens, staring at the spot where his fiancée had first changed.
A discarded transmission talisman lay at his feet—the one Ling Xue'er had used to contact Su Qingxue.
He crushed it beneath his heel.
"I'll find out who you've been meeting at night, Xue'er," he muttered. "And when I do… he'll wish he'd never been reborn."
The storm was coming.
But for the first time, Xiao Yang would not face it alone.
He had an Ice Phoenix and a Moon Saintess at his side.
And tonight, in Su Qingxue's cave mansion, the three of them would cross a line there was no returning from.