“What? Do you want to get out of bed and move around now?”
Zhu Siyao sat sideways on the edge of the bed of soft jade. Hearing his voice, she paused her somewhat clumsy movements.
She pulled a plain white handkerchief from her sleeve with her other hand, wiping the back of her hand with a hint of feigned disgust.
Then, she lifted her bright eyes, which were always filled with spirit, and looked down at Jiang Huai, who was still lying on the bed, letting out a soft snort from her nose.
“Wait, let me clean you up first.”
Once she had meticulously tidied everything up, she stood, carefully took Jiang Huai’s arm, and helped him slowly shift off the bed to stand on the floor.
During these days, the person responsible for Jiang Huai’s daily care, sleeping, and eating by his side had changed to Zhu Siyao.
That day, Su Yingman had spoken with Chi Lian.
Now that the Nine Heavens Palace was being rebuilt, its sphere of influence was being established, and there were a thousand things to attend to.
As the Saintess of the Nine Heavens Palace, it was simply unacceptable for Chi Lian to never show her face in public.
It would be detrimental to stabilizing the people’s hearts and establishing authority.
However, Jiang Huai, who was still recovering from heavy injuries, could not be without someone absolutely trustworthy by his side.
Tang Zhaoxue had already broken through to the Merging Stage and was Su Yingman’s right hand in handling external affairs, so she couldn’t be spared at all.
After weighing the options, the only choice was to have Zhu Siyao return to take over Chi Lian’s duties in caring for Jiang Huai.
Meanwhile, Chi Lian had to return to the Nine Heavens Palace to shoulder her responsibilities as Saintess.
Chi Lian was extremely reluctant to leave, but when she remembered that Jiang Huai had given her the position of Saintess, she could no longer find the words to refuse.
She could only solemnly entrust Jiang Huai to Zhu Siyao, looking back every three steps and giving a thousand instructions before finally departing.
Jiang Huai’s body was still in a slow recovery phase.
Unfortunately, the reproduction-priority instinct of the Yin-Yang Body continued to cause trouble.
The side effects brought about by the restoration of his vitality would occasionally make things awkwardly unbearable for him.
Zhu Siyao used the most basic method to help him find relief. However, her technique could hardly be called skilled.
In fact, it was quite clumsy, making the process feel exceptionally long.
At this moment, the sun had already risen high.
The bright sunlight poured through the window without obstruction, filling the quiet room with brilliance—it was even a bit dazzling.
Supported by Zhu Siyao, Jiang Huai slowly took two steps.
His brow furrowed slightly as he looked out the window at the blazing midday sky.
He couldn’t help but sigh, whispering in a suggestive tone, “I say, Siyao, next time… well, if you’re willing to use your mouth or…”
Before he could finish, Zhu Siyao’s bright eyes glared at him immediately.
The message “Not allowed to say it” was written clearly within them, accompanied by a flash of shy irritation.
Seeing this, Jiang Huai could only shut his mouth awkwardly and swallow the rest of his words.
He wanted to say that if Zhu Siyao were willing to switch to a more efficient method, she might not have to spend so much time and effort every time, and he could suffer a bit less.
But this girl was exceptionally stubborn; she would only use the most traditional manual method, and her lack of skill made it a silent ordeal for him.
Even stranger was that whenever he gave even a slight hint, she would stop him with that glare.
He couldn’t figure out if she was shy or just being spiteful.
“Hmph, you certainly have a beautiful imagination!” Zhu Siyao huffed with dissatisfaction, though the hand supporting him remained steady.
“If you weren’t injured like this, I’m afraid I wouldn’t even be able to touch a certain someone! And you want something else? If you keep talking, I won’t even use my hands—I’ll use my feet! I’ll just stomp you to death!”
Jiang Huai paused his steps and looked at her in confusion.
‘Truly, using your feet might actually be better than your hands.’
Zhu Siyao tilted her chin slightly, her gaze drifting elsewhere as she muttered under her breath.
“Haven’t you been running around outside, being very busy?” he tried to explain.
“I have my moments of leisure too!” Zhu Siyao retorted instantly.
Her fingers reached out to his waist and gave the soft flesh there a quick, medium-pressure pinch.
“Why didn’t I see you coming to find me?”
She paused and continued, “Oh, right, a certain someone is surrounded by so many women—the gentle and considerate, the charming and moving, the cold and noble. You don’t even have enough time to ‘comfort’ them one by one, so how could you possibly remember me?”
Jiang Huai couldn’t help but sniff the air. Where was this sour scent of vinegar coming from?
“That’s not it,” he quickly tried to soothe her. “When you are free, I will naturally come to find you.”
“Is that so?” Zhu Siyao sneered repeatedly, looking at him askance.
“Find me for what? To spar in swordsmanship? Or to listen to me complain about the Sect’s trivial affairs? I’m not like other women who have such good figures and know how to serve people, let alone say sweet words. Don’t come looking for me!”
After saying that, she practically half-supported and half-pushed Jiang Huai down onto a stone chair in the courtyard.
She then turned her back to him, her shoulders rising and falling slightly, clearly still harboring some lingering anger.
Jiang Huai was completely perplexed.
‘Didn’t you just complain about me not coming to find you?’
But hearing her subsequent words, Jiang Huai seemed to understand a little.
Su Yingman bringing Zhu Siyao back probably wasn’t just because the Saintess of the Nine Heavens Palace needed to show her face.
It was likely that Zhu Siyao had privately complained to Su Yingman about something, feeling that she was being neglected.
“Siyao, look at you…” Jiang Huai reached out and gently tugged at the back of her skirt. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
Only then did Zhu Siyao turn her head slightly.
She leaned against the stone table, looking down at Jiang Huai sitting in the chair.
Her gaze was filled with the dissatisfaction of someone who said, “I saw through you long ago.”
She began to count on her fingers, listing them off like a familiar inventory: “The Main Wife, my mother, Sister Su, Sister Tang, Clan Leader White, Chi Lian, and those Red Dragon master and disciple from before…”
With every name she mentioned, she folded down one finger and her tone grew heavier. “With so many women around you, every single one of them has something to do with you…”
The more she spoke, the angrier she became, feeling a wave of grievance surge in her heart.
More and more women were appearing around Jiang Huai.
One had given him a daughter, another had her talent restored, and others were being treated for chronic physical ailments.
It seemed that only she, despite knowing him early on, had nothing happen between them at all.
This finally made Zhu Siyao unable to hold back.
Taking advantage of the fact that this man was heavily injured, weak, and unable to resist or retreat, she bared the “fangs” and “claws” she had hidden for a long time.
To hide her overly blunt desire and to make it seem like she wasn’t that impatient, Zhu Siyao snorted again, feigning an attitude as she changed the subject.
“Didn’t you say before that you would help me ‘improve my talent’? You’ve been saying it for so long, but I haven’t seen any actual action from you.”
Her eyes flickered, her cheeks flushed slightly, and her voice lowered with a bit of a petulant tone.
“Never mind being a husband; even as an ad… adoptive father, you’re irresponsible!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she seemed to feel that the last comparison was a bit inappropriate and too embarrassing.
She quickly turned her face away completely, pretending to concentrate on admiring the spiritual plants in the courtyard, no longer looking at Jiang Huai.
Only the reddened tip of her ear faced him.
Hearing this, a subtle expression appeared on Jiang Huai’s face.
She was truly wrong about him on this matter.
While Zhu Siyao was soaking during her recovery from heavy injuries, he had already quietly used his Yin-Yang Primordial Source during his many visits to completely supplement the missing Xiantian Yang source within her.
The current Zhu Siyao had a complete primordial source.
She faced almost no bottlenecks in her cultivation, and her speed was incredible.
Her combat strength far exceeded those of the same level, making her just like a Small Yin-Yang Body.
Where would she need any additional talent improvement? Even if he tried to improve it, it wouldn’t change much.
Of course, he didn’t dare say such things right now.
He just continued to gently tug at the corner of her skirt, his voice softening.
“Once my injuries are healed, I will definitely make it up to you, okay?”
Zhu Siyao patted his hand away but didn’t answer directly.
She just tilted her head back, looking at the white clouds drifting through the azure sky, remaining silent for a moment.
“What’s wrong?”
She let out a soft sigh toward the sky. Her tone had less spite and more of a sense of melancholy and faint longing.
“I really seem to have become the Master Sister of the Nine Heavens Palace. If my mother knew what I am doing now, she would probably praise me, wouldn’t she?” Her voice was very light, as if she were talking to herself.
After saying that, she suddenly extended her foot and used the tip of her embroidered shoe to give a firm stomp on Jiang Huai’s foot.
Then, she withdrew her foot, turned around, and looked at Jiang Huai with a serious expression, saying solemnly, “In front of outsiders, you are not allowed to call me ‘daughter’ or anything like that. No adoptive ones, no ‘wet’ ones, nothing! Do you hear me? Or else I’ll go to Sister Su to complain and show you what’s what!”
Jiang Huai was confused yet again, staring at her blankly.
‘What does she mean by “in front of outsiders”?’
Deep within the Black Dragon Clan, in a dark, quiet room.
A tall, curvaceous woman with dragon horns on her head sat cross-legged on a prayer mat.
She wore black robes.
Her eyes were tightly shut, her brow was furrowed, and black Lingli surged around her body.
Her aura fluctuated as she attempted to charge at the solid barrier leading to the Deity Transformation Realm.
Qin Xuange had already stepped halfway across the threshold of the Deity Transformation Realm. A true breakthrough seemed to be just one step away, like a thin layer of window paper. However, every time her cultivation reached the most critical point, her mind would uncontrollably fall into an illusion.
It was a space where black and white intertwined. Majestic spiritual pressure roars like a tide, crashing wildly in cycles. She was kneeling on one knee, exerting all her strength to try and stand up. Suddenly, a familiar, cool sensation came from her neck.
She snapped her head up.
Within her field of vision was the figure of that man in the black robe, standing with his sword.
His eyes were indifferent as he looked down at her, neither happy nor sad.
“To be a slave or servant.” Those five cold words exploded deep within her Recognition Sea!
Immediately following that, countless noisy voices filled with mockery and disappointment flooded in from all directions, piercing her ears.
“Didn’t you say that if you lost, you would become a slave or servant?”
“So the Saintess of the Black Dragon Clan also eats her own words. She dares to say it but lacks the courage to admit it?”
“We all know the result of that match in our hearts. In truth, Jiang Huai won.”
“I thought Qin Xuange was a person who kept her promises. It turns out she’s just like this!”
Some of these voices were blurry and hard to distinguish, while others were exceptionally clear, as if they came from the familiar faces in her memory—clansmen, friends, and even rivals.
They were all mocking her, accusing her of deceiving others about the result of the match, calling her a coward who couldn’t handle losing or fulfilling a promise.
Qin Xuange let out a muffled groan.
A surge of sweetness rose in her throat as she forcibly tore herself away from the brink of Qi deviation. This was another failed attempt at breakthrough.
She panted heavily, her gasps filling the room.
The fabric of the clothes pressed against her back was completely soaked with cold sweat, sticking to her skin and bringing waves of chill.
Her exquisite, cold face was as pale as paper, and fine beads of sweat stood out on her forehead.
She didn’t know how many times this had happened. The same illusion, the same mental barrier, the same failure.
A person’s obsession with their own character and promises sometimes far exceeds what others expect of them.
At the very least, Qin Xuange had her own standards and could not accept such accusations.
She could not bear to become the kind of person who went back on their word.
She feared hearing those voices of doubt and mockery, and she feared even more that one day, she would become someone she herself looked down upon.
“No…”
She stood up shakily, forcibly suppressing the blood that was once again surging in her throat.
“I must go to Jiang Huai and make things clear. I, Qin Xuange, am absolutely not a dragon who dares to speak but lacks the courage to admit it!”
Her mind was made up, and she no longer hesitated.
She leaned over and carefully pulled soft silk socks over her white, jade-like feet.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.