"Ummm!"

Gu Fan sat against the broad trunk of a tree while Bai Bing was straddling his lap, completely naked.

Her flawless, pale skin was smeared with dirt and mud, but she didn’t care. She rested her head against his chest, her steady breathing matching his heartbeat.

Gu Fan gently trailed his fingers down the smooth curve of her spine, before his hands settled softly on her waist, pulling her body against his, as he leaned forward, pressing a warm, lingering kiss over her shoulder.

"Ah..." Bai Bing moaned softly, her long eyelashes fluttering open.

She leaned into his warm touch, as her hips instinctively grinding down against his groin. She could feel his thick cock getting hard again against her bare ass.

"Time to wake up, sweetheart," Gu Fan murmured, a teasing, affectionate smile playing on his lips. He reached up and gently cupped her cheek, his thumb wiping a smudge of dirt from her skin.

He leaned in and captured her lips in a kiss.

Bai Bing kissed him back without hesitation, and her hands slid to lovingly trace the broad muscles of his shoulders.

"Already getting greedy for your husband?" Gu Fan chuckled against her lips, breaking the kiss to playfully bite down on her earlobe.

"I can’t help it, husband," Bai Bing breathed heavily, "Put it back inside me. I want to feel you again."

"Patience, greedy girl," Gu Fan laughed, giving her bare ass a playful, gentle slap, "We have other things to take care as well."

But just then Bai Bing blinked, and the lust in her eyes faded away as she finally looked down at her own hands.

She gasped.

The agonising, freezing pain that had plagued her meridians for so many years was entirely gone. Her body didn’t feel like a block of ice anymore.

Her Nirvana Phoenix Fire Physique was fully integrated, seamlessly fused and nurtured by Gu Fan’s boiling Yang energy.

She closed her eyes and channelled her Qi.

BOOM!

A massive, terrifying shockwave of spiritual pressure erupted from her naked body. And everything around them was blown away.

The sheer volume of purified energy violently smashed through her cultivation bottlenecks. She didn’t just stabilise at the 8th Stage.

Her Spiritual Qi climbed rapidly, shattering the barrier to the 9th Stage of the Spirit Realm and firmly planting her at the absolute peak.

She was now a hair’s breadth away from the Origin Realm.

"I... I broke through?!" Bai Bing whispered in absolute awe. She looked at Gu Fan as tears of pure, overwhelming gratitude welling in her beautiful eyes, "You cured me?! You made this all happen!"

"Uhhh! Think of it as a wedding gift from your husband," Gu Fan teased, his eyes filled with a possessive, playfulness, "Your strength, your heart, your body... they are entirely mine now. Don’t you forget it, Sister Bing."

"I won’t ever forget," she replied softly, a beautiful, docile smile completely replacing her former icy arrogance. She rested her head on his shoulder, completely content, "I am yours, husband."

Before Gu Fan could pull her down for another lingering kiss, a loud, piercing chime echoed directly in his skull.

[System Notification: The Ten Thousand Poison Forest perimeter arrays are shifting.]

[Warning: The Joint Hunting Competition officially ends in exactly 1 Hour.]

[All participants must return to the Exit Plaza immediately or face disqualification.]

Gu Fan clicked his tongue in mock annoyance. He dismissed the blue text hovering in his vision.

"Get dressed, wife," Gu Fan ordered playfully, tapping her on the nose, "Playtime is unfortunately over. We have a competition to win."

Bai Bing didn’t argue, and she scrambled to her feet, completely unbothered by her nakedness in front of him. She pulled out a fresh set of pristine white and silver Bai Clan robes from her spatial ring. She tied her sash, instantly reverting to the visual image of the untouchable Ice Fairy.

Gu Fan was amazed by the number of spare clothes she got for herself, while he was stripping Bai Clan disciples for trousers. He needs to stuff his inventory with at least 10 pairs given by the rate he has to remove them.

"Let’s go," Gu Fan smirked, grabbing her hand and walking into the toxic fog, "Time to show the Golden Boy what a real winner looks like."

~~~

Meanwhile, outside the Ten Thousand Poison Forest, the atmosphere was chaotic and loud.

The massive Exit Plaza was a sea of smell of fresh blood, sweat, and pungent medicinal herbs hung thickly in the air.

Ten large, heavy wooden counters were set up in a long row across the plaza. Behind each counter sat two strict, unsmiling elders; one wearing the white robes of the Gu Clan, and the other wearing the dark green of the Bai Clan.

They were inspecting the loot, tallying the beast cores, and loudly shouting out the scores.

In the exact centre of the plaza stood a massive, towering slab of glowing smooth jade. It was a giant Qi screen, projecting the names and scores of the Top 10 participants for everyone to see.

The tension in the plaza was suffocating.

Disciples from both clans were constantly limping out of the dense forest fog. Most of them were heavily injured, battered, and covered in deep claw marks or chemical burns. Some were being carried out on stretchers, screaming in pain.

But nobody was paying attention to the wounded. All eyes were glued to the glowing scoreboard.

Currently, the Top 10 list was a dead tie in terms of bodies. Five Gu Clan disciples and five Bai Clan disciples.

But the point values told a completely different story.

At the very top of the board, shining brightly in arrogant green text, was Bai Yun. He held 1st place with a massive 3,600 points.

Right below him in 2nd place was Bai Tao, another Bai Clan elite, with 2,600 points.

In 3rd place was Gu Mo, a massive, heavily scarred youth from the Gu Clan, sitting at 2,300 points.

The rest of the board trickled down, but the Bai Clan firmly held the absolute point advantage.

Bai Yun was standing near the central counter. He had already changed his clothes and had someone tend to his injuries. and right now he was looking in the direction of the Gu Clan disciples incredibly smug.

"Is this really the best the Gu Clan has to offer?" Bai Yun laughed loudly, his voice carrying across the entire plaza.

He pointed his sword mockingly at Gu Mo, who was getting his bleeding arm bandaged nearby.

"I barely even broke a sweat killing a 2nd Stage Spirit Beast, and your top guy looks like he got chewed up and spat out by a stray dog!"

The Bai Clan disciples surrounding him erupted into loud, mocking laughter.

"The Gu Clan is absolute trash this year!" a Bai disciple yelled from the crowd.

"Your women should just surrender and come warm our beds! We will teach them how real men fight!"

The Gu Clan disciples gritted their teeth in pure fury. Many of them gripped their weapons, ready to start a brawl right there in the plaza.

Up on the elevated viewing platform, the Clan Elders were having a war of their own.

The Bai Clan Patriarch, Bai Haoran, an elderly man with a long white beard, stroked his chin and chuckled.

"I am sorry Gu Yangtian, it seems my boys are a bit too rough," Bai Haoran sneered, looking sideways at the Gu Clan side. "But the results speak for themselves. Your clan is lacking in talent. Perhaps you should prepare to hand over those Spirit Mines we wagered."

Gu Yangtian, sat rigidly in his heavy wooden chair. His face was an absolute mask of grim, suppressed anger.

"The competition isn’t over yet," Gu Yangtian spat coldly, his hands gripping the armrests of his chair so tightly the wood splintered, "We still have some time left."

"Ah, you are banking on that famous Golden Boy," the Bai Patriarch laughed dismissively, "One boy cannot overcome a five-thousand-point deficit. Face reality, Gu Yangtian. You have lost."

Down in the plaza, the taunts were reaching a boiling point. The Bai Clan disciples were practically throwing their weight around, shoving the exhausted Gu Clan members away from the healing tents.

"Hey, where’s that crippled trash, Gu Fan?" Bai Yun yelled over the crowd, smirking maliciously. "I bet a low-level toxic toad ate him in the first ten minutes! Or maybe he is hiding in a bush, crying for his mommy!"

More laughter erupted from the green-robed disciples.

But the laughter was suddenly cut short.

The thick, swirling toxic fog at the edge of the plaza parted.

The crowd went dead silent as a figure stepped out of the tree line.

It was Gu Ling. The Ice Fairy of the Gu Clan.

She looked entirely exhausted. Her elegant blue and white robes were torn in several places, exposing the pale skin of her shoulders and thighs. Her hair was messy, and a thin trail of dried blood ran down the side of her delicate face.

But her posture was absolutely rigid. Her eyes were as cold and sharp as daggers.

She didn’t speak. She ignored the stares and the whispers as she walked straight through the middle of the plaza, her boots clicking loudly against the stone.

She reached the central counting table. She unhooked a heavy, bloodstained spatial pouch from her waist and slammed it violently onto the wooden counter.

"Tally it," Gu Ling ordered coldly to the shocked elders.

The Gu Clan elder immediately opened the pouch and began dumping the contents onto the table.

Gasps echoed through the crowd.

Dozens of high-level beast cores and herbs rolled across the wood.

The elders frantically counted the loot, verifying the energy signatures to ensure there was no cheating.

"Gu Ling!" the Gu Clan elder shouted, his voice trembling with sheer excitement, "Total score... 3,300 points!"

The massive Qi screen in the centre of the plaza instantly flickered.

Gu Ling’s name shot up the board, slamming directly into 2nd place. The shift violently knocked a Bai Clan disciple sitting at 10th place entirely off the board.

The Gu Clan side of the plaza erupted.

"YES!" Gu Mo almost roared, throwing his arm into the air.

"That’s our Second Miss! Show these Bai Clan dogs how we hunt!" the Gu disciples screamed, their morale instantly skyrocketing.

Bai Yun’s smug smile cracked. He glared at Gu Ling, his hand tightening around his sword hilt. He was still in 1st place, but the gap was closing.

Up on the viewing platform, Gu Yangtian finally let out a long breath, a proud smile breaking through his grim expression.

"Like I said... we still have some time," Gu Yangtian sneered at the Bai Clan Patriarch.

The Bai Clan Patriarch frowned, waving his hand dismissively, "A minor setback. She only took the second place."

"My Bai Yun still holds the top spot, and our overall cumulative points are still vastly superior to yours. It changes nothing."

The Gu Clan’s cheers slowly died down as the reality of the math set in. Gu Ling’s massive haul was incredible, but it wasn’t enough to secure the win. They were still losing the war.

The tension returned, thicker than before. The clock was ticking down. Only thirty minutes remained.

"Is that it?!" Bai Yun yelled, regaining his arrogant sneer. "One girl gets lucky and you all start celebrating? Where are your men? Where is Gu Chen?!"

"Right here."

The voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through the noise of the plaza like a sharpened blade.

Every single head in the plaza whipped toward the forest entrance.

A disciple standing near the perimeter pointed a shaking finger at the swirling fog.

"Look!" the disciple yelled, his voice cracking. "Young master Chen is here!"

The fog violently parted as Gu Chen stepped out of the Ten Thousand Poison Forest.

"I am a few minutes late, and you are already missing me, Bai Yun?!"

"What will you do without me, Bai Yun?!" Gu Chen shook his head.

"What will you do?"

*****