After Navien and Raine left the hospital room, silence quickly settled over the space.
The question Yir had been holding back the entire way could no longer be contained. He sprang forward like a released spring, staring at Gu Qing and Ais as his words burst out in rapid fire.
“So you really are Blue Dai and Aisha?! How is that even possible!”
Gu Qing gave a slight nod. Ais nodded as well.
As if a switch had been flipped, Yir continued rattling off questions.
“Then how did you turn into female insects? Why are you so strong? How exactly did you save the general? Did you use some kind of ultra–high-dimensional technology? Or are you actually some legendary ancient war god—”
Before he could finish, a loud thwack landed on his head.
Vili rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips.
“Stop asking already! That stuff isn’t important. Lord Gu Qing must have his own plans and secrets!” His tone carried a small note of admiration as he blushed slightly and stole a glance at Gu Qing.
Fili nodded in agreement.
“Right. They’re our comrades. That’s enough.”
Yir still wanted to argue, but after a few retorts from Vili the two immediately fell into another round of noisy bickering.
Ignoring them, Fili suddenly changed tone and spoke seriously.
“General, we’ve already notified the insectoid research team to take over repairs on your mech. In addition, the weapon systems you personally designed and modified will be organized and shared with all Star Alliance military branches so they can jointly deploy them against the full-scale war that’s about to erupt.”
Milton gave a small nod.
“Good.”
At that moment, Gu Qing suddenly spoke. His voice was calm but thoughtful.
“I have a request. Could the Silver Crown mech be converted to a dual-pilot system?”
The moment those words were spoken, everyone in the room froze.
Milton paused. His pupils trembled slightly as he turned toward him.
“You mean… dual-pilot?”
Shock flickered in his eyes before he suppressed it again. His voice turned faintly hoarse.
“You’re sure?”
Gu Qing nodded firmly.
Fili’s eyes widened.
“We’ll confirm the technical feasibility with the mech development team. From a technical standpoint, we can design a dual-core cockpit. If the two of you synchronize your mental links, it could actually be more stable than a single pilot.” His eyes gleamed with a data-driven excitement. “If Your Excellency and the general pilot together, I imagine the enemy will have a very bad time.”
He finished with a faint smile before turning toward the two still arguing nearby.
“Alright, you two stop fighting. Let the patient have some quiet!”
With that, he grabbed Vili and Yir by the collars and half-dragged, half-pushed them out of the room.
At the door, Ais waved lightly to the others.
“Good night. Get some rest. I’ll head out first.”
He followed them and left the ward as well.
Now only Milton and Gu Qing remained.
After a moment, Milton spoke softly.
“…Turning the Silver Crown into a dual-pilot mech… was that because of me?”
Gu Qing didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he pulled him a little closer. Lowering his head, he rested his chin gently against Milton’s shoulder, his voice soft.
“I’m not going to let you face those things alone again.”
At that moment, a flash of silver light flickered within their consciousness. A round little glowing ball popped out—the Heavenly Dao spirit—bobbing up and down between them while nodding with great seriousness.
“Exactly, Mimi! If you two fight together, you won’t have to worry about each other anymore! If something like this happens again, you might not be this lucky… you almost didn’t make it back this time. Do you know that Gu Qing used his primordial spirit to repair your mental sea?”
The little spirit’s voice suddenly softened.
“The primordial spirit is the root of a cultivator’s existence—it’s basically their life itself. If anything had gone wrong, not only would you have died, he would’ve had his soul scattered too. And repairing someone like that doesn’t just hurt him… it also shortens his lifespan and slows his cultivation… He… really cares about you.”
Milton froze.
Slowly, he lifted his head and looked at the face so close to his own—still calm as always, yet filled with a tenderness and resolve he had never seen before.
Gu Qing lowered his head and placed a soft yet profound kiss on Milton’s forehead.
“For you,” he said quietly, “there’s nothing I wouldn’t risk.”
Milton’s eyes suddenly burned. His voice caught in his throat.
“Are you an idiot? What if something had happened to you too…?”
He curled deeper into Gu Qing’s arms, as though trying to carve that warmth into his soul.
Then he murmured softly,
“…Then… could I repair you too?”
The air froze.
Gu Qing was stunned. Even the Heavenly Dao spirit froze.
“Huh?! Wait… that… actually might work! At the core, both are forms of soul energy. Yours is primarily spiritual power while his is primordial spirit, but in theory there is compatibility!”
Gu Qing’s lips curved slightly, his gaze playful and warm.
“So the general wants to cultivate together with me?”
Milton flushed instantly and turned his face away.
“I just want to help you recover. Not… do something strange.”
Gu Qing’s eyes softened.
“In the cultivation world, there is a dual-cultivation method. When two people merge their energies, they can repair each other and exchange vital currents. But this method… requires both people to completely open themselves—memories, emotions, obsessions, even the deepest layers of the soul.”
Milton did not hesitate.
He looked quietly at Gu Qing, silver eyes shining under the soft light like a sea of stars.
“I’m willing.”
Gu Qing let out a low laugh, the sound turning into a soft tremor in the quiet room.
His fingertips touched the center of Milton’s forehead. A strand of warm golden spiritual light flowed out like liquid jade, gently guiding Milton’s spiritual power.
“Relax,” he murmured. “Follow me.”
In the next moment, their consciousness seemed to be pulled together into a vast void.
It was neither Gu Qing’s sea of consciousness nor Milton’s mental sea.
It was a completely new space—pure and boundless—born the moment their souls responded to each other.
Silver-white and golden currents of light intertwined within it, illuminating fragments of the past like a cosmic star map stretching endlessly before them.
Memories surged like tides.
Each other’s past unfolded before their eyes—childhood loneliness, struggles of growth, solitary bravery on the battlefield, and the quiet longing hidden in the depths of night.
Emotion, pain, love, hatred, wounds, hopes—all interwoven.
Milton saw Gu Qing’s past: the solitary sword shadow on a mountain peak, the loneliness of a thousand years of cultivation, and the blood and tears that had once fallen upon his blade.
Gu Qing felt the fears and determination buried deep in Milton’s heart—a soul that longed to be recognized yet refused to depend on anyone, a warrior who had grown thorns and steel from the ruins of destruction.
Within the merging of their primordial spirits, the boundaries between them faded.
Emotion, consciousness, memory, soul—everything blended together like two rivers flowing into the same ocean.
For a moment, they seemed to become a single complete existence.
Two hearts beating in perfect rhythm.
Their obsessions, love, longing, and pain flowed like galaxies—colliding, intertwining, merging without reservation.
They were no longer merely partners.
They were extensions of each other—two halves of the same life.
It was an indescribably profound fusion, beyond the reach of language. Only a deep echo remained, like the birth of the universe itself—
At last, we are together.
At some point, the spiritual communion extended into reality.
Gu Qing lowered his eyes. Under the soft light of the room, he leaned down and kissed Milton.
This time there was no urgency, no desperation—only a deep and unwavering devotion, as though engraving each other into their souls.
Milton kissed him back.
Silver hair fell softly, breaths mingled, bodies pressed together, hearts perfectly aligned—until it felt as though the entire world had shrunk to only the two of them.
Gu Qing gently removed Milton’s clothes, kissing every inch of him.
When his fingers traced down Milton’s back, he discovered something unfamiliar yet mesmerizing—
A silver insect pattern.
The delicate lines resembled tiny star tracks, extending from the shoulder blades down along the spine and waist before disappearing along the inner thigh of pale skin. They shimmered faintly, rising and falling with his breathing.
Gu Qing’s fingertips moved along those silver markings, warm yet tinged with a strange thrill.
The pattern seemed to sense his presence, faintly glowing as though responding to his touch.
At that moment, a faint rose fragrance drifted from Milton’s body.
His pheromones filled the air—like morning dew in a deep forest, fresh yet intoxicating, carrying traces of desire and emotion. The scent seemed alive, unfolding from his pale skin and wrapping gently around Gu Qing like soft rain.
Gu Qing’s golden spiritual power surged uncontrollably from within him like the first light of dawn.
Spiritual energy like radiant sunlight.
Pheromones like fragrance.
The two intertwined invisibly—reflecting, absorbing, merging—forming a resonance belonging only to them.
Their primordial spirits and mental seas shimmered together in brilliant light.
And their physical union became a seal that etched this harmony into every inch of their flesh and blood.
They held each other tightly like two stars weathered by countless storms, finally finding the same orbit.
It was not possession.
Not conquest.
But a gentle and resolute merging—a recognition and promise carved into the deepest layers of life itself.
At last, the thread connecting their primordial spirits fused completely.
Both their souls rippled into quiet calm.
Silver light and golden radiance slowly faded.
Only the lingering scent of roses remained in the room, as if love itself still floated in the air, reluctant to leave.
Gu Qing drew Milton close, their foreheads touching.
“You…” he whispered softly. “You’ve made my soul whole again.”
Milton’s breathing was uneven, yet a smile curved at the corner of his lips.
“Then you’d better stay alive,” he said. “We’re going to stay together forever.”
From the corner of their shared consciousness, the Heavenly Dao spirit peeked out and muttered quietly,
“This is the most romantic—and craziest—dual cultivation I’ve ever seen… it’s so touching I could cry.”
It wiped at imaginary tears before slipping back into the depths of their consciousness with a satisfied little sigh.
Soon, both of them fell asleep, their souls still intertwined.
On Milton’s back, the silver insect pattern now shone with deeper, brighter light because of the spiritual fusion—like an energy mark flowing beneath his pale skin.
Their connection had surpassed the warmth of bodies and the intertwining of minds.
It had become something deeper.
A mark carved into the very origin of their souls.
As if the light of fate had bound their two hearts together forever—
Never to be separated again.