The Return of the Gender-Swapped Sage Chapter 48

After that night, Ling Xiaoxiao’s memories took on an eerie crimson hue. The continuity of her recollections became fragmented, disjointed.

This time, the scene jumped abruptly to when the white-haired girl brought Lu Ziye home. Instead of stepping aside to let them in, Ling Xiaoxiao blocked the doorway, her gaze locked onto the man behind the white-haired girl with unsettling intensity.

Lu Ziye, utterly unprepared for such a reception, fumbled with his folding fan. His usual composed demeanor faltered, his posture stiffening like a martial artist trying—and failing—to appear refined.

The white-haired girl, observing Ling Xiaoxiao’s hostility, couldn’t help but smile.

“Alright, alright. This is Master Yu, a longtime correspondent of mine. I invited him here to help.” Her tone was dripping with fond indulgence.

“Then what about that night? Why were you meeting her alone in the bamboo grove?” Ling Xiaoxiao’s voice trembled with accusation and hurt.

The white-haired girl remained calm. “That night, I asked Master Yu to help arrange something special—our wedding. I wanted to surprise you.”

Master Yu—Lu Ziye, as Xue Ji knew him—sensed the bizarre tension between the two and wisely chose silence.

With that, the white-haired girl took Ling Xiaoxiao’s hand and gently pulled her inside, finally allowing Lu Ziye to enter.

Dinner was already prepared. The small table in the cottage barely fit three people, but it was laden with three dishes and a soup. For their guest, a jug of immortal’s wine had been set out.

The white-haired girl picked at her food absently. “The flavors are a bit light today,” she murmured before casting a meaningful glance at Ling Xiaoxiao.

Ling Xiaoxiao’s expression remained icy. “Perhaps Sister Ji’s tastes have grown heavier.” She spoke without looking up, though her sidelong glance at the rigidly seated Lu Ziye was sharp enough to draw blood.

Even that fleeting look carried enough killing intent to make Lu Ziye freeze mid-bite.

Xue Ji’s consciousness, observing this scene, let out an amused snort.

“This guy boasts about ‘flitting through a field of flowers without a single petal sticking to him,’ yet here he is, sweating bullets.”

Perhaps out of pity, the white-haired girl finally intervened.

“Brother Lu, we should focus on the matter at hand. We still need to prepare for tonight.” Her earlier playfulness vanished, replaced by seriousness.

Lu Ziye nodded. “According to the fragmented records I recently obtained from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, there’s mention of the location of the Spirit Sea.”

[The Black Moon leads to the Spirit Sea.]

The white-haired girl fell into thought.

Lu Ziye continued, “The problem lies in determining what the ‘Black Moon’ refers to. At first, I thought it might be a solar eclipse. Later, I considered the dark side of the moon.”

“But solar eclipses don’t produce spatial fluctuations, and the moon’s dark side was fully explored by the Skygate Sect’s lunar probes days ago—nothing was found.”

He sighed heavily. The major sects of the continent had exhausted nearly every method in their search for the legendary Spirit Sea, pouring vast resources into the effort, only to come up empty-handed.

The white-haired girl suddenly spoke. “What if the Great Calamity is the Black Moon?”

The bold suggestion made Lu Ziye reflexively want to refute it—but the words died in his throat as doubt crept in.

The white-haired girl pressed on. “Every time the Great Calamity appears, it’s accompanied by intense spatial distortions. And nothing is blacker than the Great Calamity itself.”

Lu Ziye’s eyes lit up. “You’re right! The earliest records describe it as a ‘pitch-black full moon hanging in the night sky.’”

“Then tonight, we’ll search near the Great Calamity!” The white-haired girl’s excitement mirrored his own. “It appeared nearby last time, and today’s the predicted date for its return.”

That night, despite Ling Xiaoxiao’s desperate pleas, she couldn’t stop the two from embarking on their reckless mission.

Some time later, the white-haired girl solemnly entrusted Ling Xiaoxiao with instructions.

From the sachet returned to her by her master, she withdrew a single seed—a sapling of the Dao-Seeking Tree.

“When this tree grows as tall as you, I’ll return.”

…..

Five years later, the sky was choked with countless Great Calamities, plunging the world into endless darkness. Just as despair took root, the entities began vanishing one by one.

Ten years later, only the white-haired girl returned—alone. Lu Ziye was nowhere to be found.

But the girl who came back was no longer the same. Her cultivation was gone, her mind teetering on the edge of madness. Her eyes burned crimson, her face deathly pale.

Inside the cottage, the white-haired girl pinned Ling Xiaoxiao beneath her, teeth sinking into flesh like a demon possessed.

Yet Ling Xiaoxiao didn’t resist. Instead, she pulled her frenzied lover closer, embracing her.

A decade of separation had warped her heart, leaving only an all-consuming hunger.

“Shizun… now your eyes are only on me, aren’t they?” As teeth tore into her skin, Ling Xiaoxiao watched her master’s lips stain with her own blood—and smiled, radiant with bliss.

Twisted. Deranged. Grotesque. No words could fully capture what Xue Ji felt witnessing this. The two had spiraled so far into madness that nothing they did should surprise her—yet something about it gnawed at her, a dissonance she couldn’t ignore.

In the vision, the white-haired girl finally stilled after lapping up Ling Xiaoxiao’s blood. The Vermilion Bird’s bloodline was a natural bane to evil, and such a concentrated dose had temporarily purged the madness.

But the reprieve didn’t last. Days later, the girl left again—only to return in another frenzy.

Ling Xiaoxiao, weary of restraint, finally cast aside her principles. For the first time, she bound her lover to the cottage.

From that moment on, she surrendered to the urge she’d suppressed for so long—the desire to own someone completely.

The two became entangled in their isolated world, loving and hurting in equal measure.

To Ling Xiaoxiao, this was happiness.

Had things ended there, theirs would have been a tale of mutual ruin, a descent into shared oblivion.

But fate wasn’t so kind.

After half a year of madness, the white-haired girl regained her senses.

Bound and helpless, she took in Ling Xiaoxiao’s battered body—and wept.

“I’m sorry, Xiaoxiao… I’m so sorry.”

Ling Xiaoxiao tilted her head, her gaze dark and feverish. “Why apologize? Even if Shizun abandoned me for ten years… these past six months, I’ve finally learned what ‘happiness’ is.” Her smile bloomed, beautiful and terrifying.

From then on, just as Xue Ji had seen before, the white-haired girl became a hollow shell, yielding to Ling Xiaoxiao’s every whim. The only thing that still sparked life in her eyes was the Dao-Seeking Tree she’d planted long ago.

“Shizun, don’t look at it.” Ling Xiaoxiao blocked her view, voice eerily calm. “You only need me.”

“Mm.” No resistance. Only utter submission.

Then, one day, the Dao-Seeking Tree finally reached Ling Xiaoxiao’s height.

“Xiaoxiao… there’s something I must tell you. Please—remember this.” Her voice was raw with pleading.

Ling Xiaoxiao cupped her face. “Speak.”

“Back then… Lu Ziye and I found the Spirit Sea after contacting the Great Calamity.”

“Guided by a mysterious presence, we crossed the Spirit Sea and reached the source of the Heavenly Dao.”

“There… I learned the truth. The Great Calamities are entities that feed on the Heavenly Dao.”

Xue Ji clung to every word, terrified of missing a single detail.

[The Heavenly Dao’s source] was already besieged by [the Great Horror], on the verge of being devoured. With no escape left, the Heavenly Dao’s last act was to send the two to the [World Stele]—the equivalent of its heart, connected to every corner of existence.

The World Stele could transport them anywhere within the world.

It wanted them to flee.

They refused.

“So… I came up with a desperate plan.” The white-haired girl’s voice broke. “One that would bring you endless pain.”

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The Return of the Gender-Swapped Sage Chapter 48

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