NOVEL WEB Chapter 18: White Snake's Gambit
Li Wei blinked.
The collapsing mindscape of Feng Yue's soul vanished.
The cold, ancient chamber in Penglai reappeared around him.
He was back.
He looked down. Feng Yue was there, lying on the floor, no longer a giant phoenix, but herself again.
Human.
Beautiful.
And unconscious.
"Did it work?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
Bai Suzhen stood over them, her gentle professor's smile firmly in place.
"Perfectly," she said.
Then she clapped her hands.
Once.
And the world shattered.
**
It didn't shatter into chaos.
It shattered into... nice.
Horrifyingly, suffocatingly nice.
The cold stone chamber dissolved, replaced by walls of rich, red silk.
The air, once smelling of ozone, was now thick with the scent of incense and plum blossoms.
They were in a room.
A very traditional, very ornate, very red room.
It looked like a wedding chamber.
A very, very fancy wedding chamber.
"What the hell?" Li Wei breathed.
Feng Yue began to stir. She sat up, her head in her hands, groaning.
"My soul feels like it just went ten rounds with a cement mixer," she mumbled.
Then she looked around.
Her eyes went wide.
"Where are we?"
"Welcome," Bai Suzhen's voice echoed from everywhere at once, "to your engagement trial."
**
The White Snake stood at the far end of the chamber, though she looked... different.
More regal. More powerful.
Less like a literature professor and more like a goddess of manipulation.
"Your powers are inherited," she explained, her voice dripping with serene condescension. "They are a birthright, not an achievement. We must determine if you are truly worthy of them."
"And what better test of worthiness," she said with a theatrical flourish, "than the sacred trials of marriage?"
Li Wei's brain stalled.
Marriage?
He wasn't even ready for a serious relationship. He still bought his socks in packs of twelve.
"This is insane," Feng Yue snarled, scrambling to her feet. "Let us out of here, Bai Suzhen!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Your Highness," the White Snake said, her smile never faltering. "The trial has already begun."
She gestured to a set of ornate robes laid out on a silk cushion.
"Your first task: The Robing Ceremony. You must dress each other in the traditional wedding attire. It is a test of cooperation and... intimacy."
Intimacy? Yin Mode's internal voice squeaked. I'm not emotionally prepared for this level of intimacy! I still get nervous ordering pizza over the phone!
This is a trap, Yang Mode's cold voice cut in. The robes are likely imbued with a binding spell. The act of dressing each other will create a sympathetic link between our qi signatures.
She wants us to put on the horny magic clothes!
Precisely.
**
Feng Yue looked at the robes.
She looked at Li Wei.
She looked like she would rather fight a hundred demons than participate in this... cosmic reality show.
But Bai Suzhen's power radiated from the walls. They were trapped.
"Fine," she gritted out.
She snatched up the groom's robes and threw them at Li Wei.
"Get undressed," she commanded, her face a mask of furious embarrassment.
The next ten minutes were the most awkward of Li Wei's entire life.
And that was saying something.
Every touch was electric.
Every brush of fabric against skin was a jolt of pure, unfiltered qi.
He could feel her power, her pride, her mortification.
She could feel his chaos, his panic, his surprisingly steady hands.
Yang Mode was in control of the fine motor skills, his movements precise and efficient as he tied the intricate knots of her sash.
Yin Mode, meanwhile, was having a full-blown meltdown in the background, his internal monologue just a continuous, high-pitched scream.
They finished.
They stood facing each other, dressed in the stunning red and gold of a celestial wedding.
They looked like a divine couple.
They felt like two middle schoolers at their first dance.
"Congratulations," Bai Suzhen's voice purred. "You have passed the first trial. Your souls are now... attuned."
Yang Mode felt it instantly. A new connection. A link between their life forces, woven by the magic in the robes.
They were bound.
**
"Next," the White Snake announced, "The Tea Ceremony."
A table appeared between them, bearing a single, ornate tea set.
"You must serve each other. A test of respect and mutual servitude."
Feng Yue poured the tea, her movements stiff with rage.
Li Wei took the cup, his hands trembling.
He could feel her anger through their new soul-link. It was a burning, bonfire of fury.
She's going to kill me, Yin Mode whimpered.
She is going to kill Bai Suzhen, Yang Mode corrected. We are merely collateral damage.
He watched Feng Yue as she drank her own cup of tea.
He saw the subtle shift in her expression.
The flicker of confusion.
The dawning horror.
"What was in this tea?" she demanded, her voice low and dangerous.
"A simple truth serum," Bai Suzhen replied calmly. "A test of honesty. Now, you must speak your heart's true feelings for one another."
Oh no.
This was so much worse than the clothes.
**
Feng Yue fought it.
She bit her lip, her knuckles white as she gripped the teacup.
But the magic was too strong.
"You are," she began, the words forced from her lips, "the most infuriating, chaotic, and utterly brainless individual I have ever had the misfortune of meeting."
Li Wei flinched.
"Every time I think you have reached the absolute peak of human stupidity," she continued, her eyes blazing, "you find a new, undiscovered mountain of idiocy to climb."
"But you are also..."
She struggled, her pride warring with the magic.
"...brave," she admitted, the word tasting like ash in her mouth. "And... kind. And your complete lack of self-awareness is, on rare occasions, almost... charming."
"And when your other self emerges," she whispered, her gaze softening for a fraction of a second, "you are the most brilliant and terrifyingly beautiful thing I have ever seen."
The truth serum faded.
She stood there, breathing heavily, looking utterly violated.
It was Li Wei's turn.
The words just tumbled out.
"I think you're really pretty," Yin Mode blurted out. "And you smell nice. Like cinnamon and righteous fury. And you're super scary, but in a cool way. And sometimes I think about holding your hand, and my brain just kind of... stops working."
He slapped a hand over his own mouth, horrified.
**
Feng Yue stared at him.
Her anger, her pride, her centuries of emotional walls... they just crumbled.
She saw the raw, unfiltered honesty in his terrified eyes.
She saw the boy who cried over spilled soup.
The genius who saw the code of reality.
The idiot who tried to recruit pigeons.
And she realized, with a sudden, gut-punching clarity, that Bai Suzhen had been playing a much longer game.
Her training. Her missions. Her "accidental" discovery of Li Wei.
It had all been a setup.
Every event, every crisis, pushing them together.
Manipulating them.
Her trusted mentor. Her mother figure.
Had been using her as a pawn.
A tear, hot and fiery, traced a path down her cheek.
The anger was gone.
Replaced by a cold, hollow heartbreak.
Li Wei saw her pain through their new soul-bond.
It was a feeling so sharp, so devastating, it cut through his own panic.
He forgot his embarrassment.
He forgot the trial.
He saw her, truly saw her, broken and betrayed.
And for the first time, both halves of his soul, the idiot and the genius, felt the exact same emotion.
Rage.
Pure, protective rage.
He stepped toward her, his expression hardening.
"It's okay," he said, his voice a low, steady growl. "I've got you."
He took her hand.
Not as part of a trial.
But because she needed him.
**
"How touching," Bai Suzhen's voice dripped with sarcasm. "You have passed the second trial. Your hearts are now... exposed."
"And now, for the finale."
The tea set vanished.
The room grew darker, lit only by glowing red lanterns that descended from the ceiling.
"The final step of the engagement ceremony," the White Snake announced. "The wedding kiss."
She materialized in front of them, her smile a venomous slash.
"A test of true compatibility."
"If your souls are truly aligned, if your feelings are genuine, the kiss will complete the binding. It will merge your fractured souls into one, perfect, unified whole."
She leaned in, her voice a triumphant whisper.
"But if you're not compatible... if there is any doubt, any lie, any fear..."
"The conflicting energies will overload your spiritual cores."
"And you'll both die."
📣 [SYSTEM NOTICE: AUTHOR SUPPORT INTERFACE]
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