Chapter 46: Whispers by the Pillow, Warning of the Empress's "Morning Grumpiness"
The morning sunlight pierced through the gaps in the blinds, stubbornly drilling into the office and casting mottled light and shadow on the leather sofa.
The air was filled with a strange scent, a unique... lingering ambiguity woven from the freezing frost and the scorching Yang Qi.
Jiang Chen felt a heaviness on his chest, as if tightly entangled by an octopus.
He struggled to open his eyes, and what greeted him was a head of white hair cascading like a galaxy, along with a cold, stunningly beautiful sleeping face inches away.
Mu Qingxue, at this moment, had completely lost her usual cold, unapproachable instructor demeanor.
She was like a kitten lacking a sense of security, shrinking tightly into Jiang Chen's embrace, her hands firmly wrapped around Jiang Chen's waist, while one slender leg rested unceremoniously on Jiang Chen's own.
It was instinct.
Possessing the "Mystic Yin Ice Body," she had become completely addicted after last night's hours-long "close-contact treatment."
The scorching Yang Qi within Jiang Chen's body was, to her, the most fatal temptation in this world and her only salvation.
"Mmm... don't move, so warm..."
Seemingly sensing Jiang Chen's movement, Mu Qingxue murmured in her sleep, subconsciously rubbing her face against Jiang Chen's chest to find a more comfortable position to continue sleeping.
Jiang Chen stiffened, drawing a cold breath.
"Hiss—Teacher, although I know I'm your special-edition heating pad, the way you're holding me... is very likely to cause an accidental discharge."
Jiang Chen felt the astonishing softness and elasticity in his arms, especially that leg pressing against him; her skin was as smooth as jade, and the sensation was maddeningly soft.
As a hot-blooded youth in the Organ Refining Realm, who could withstand this?
"Besides... that was interest, not principal, you can't keep defaulting on the debt."
Jiang Chen sighed helplessly, but he didn't push Mu Qingxue away. Instead, one of his hands rested quite naturally on Mu Qingxue's slender waist, even subconsciously giving it a squeeze.
【Ding! Detected high-quality "Yin and Yang Harmony" state.】
【Mental Energy recovery speed +300%.】
【Current Evaluation: Advanced Realm of eating soft rice hard.】
It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that the iceberg beauty in his arms showed signs of waking up.
Mu Qingxue's long eyelashes fluttered a few times, and she slowly opened her icy blue eyes.
When her focus locked onto Jiang Chen's half-smiling face and the incredibly shameful posture the two were in—
Boom!
A flush instantly spread from her neck to her earlobes, and her whole body seemed like a cooked shrimp.
"Jiang... Jiang Chen!!"
Mu Qingxue sprang up like she'd been electrocuted, frantically straightening her somewhat disheveled professional attire, almost falling off the sofa due to her hasty movements.
"Don't get excited, don't get excited, it was all to treat your illness." Jiang Chen sat up leisurely and stretched, his bones popping. "But Teacher, can we change positions next time? Your 'Deadly Scissors Kick' is a bit too much for my kidneys."
"Shut up! Get out! Get out now!"
Mu Qingxue was mortified, pointing at the door, her fingers trembling. Although she was scolding him, she was shocked to discover that the Cold Poison that had plagued her for years had actually dissipated by more than half! In its place, a warmth she had never felt before flowed through her Meridians.
This physical dependency made her look at Jiang Chen with extremely complex eyes.
"Alright, I'm going back to prepare for battle." Jiang Chen jumped off the sofa, picked up his coat, draped it over Mu Qingxue, and whispered in her ear, "I'll leave the coat with you; it has my scent on it. If you're cold... just smell it."
After saying this, a second before Mu Qingxue was about to unleash her ice-sealing powers, Jiang Chen greased his feet and made a quick escape.
Returning to Cloud Top Villa.
The playful expression on Jiang Chen's face vanished instantly, replaced by a rare solemnity.
"Wang Xiaotian has come out of seclusion. Peak of the ninth stage of the Grandmaster Realm..."
Jiang Chen sat cross-legged on the big bed and took out the star dream emperor pillow that had just finished upgrading last night.
The pillow was a deep starry blue, its surface flowing with faint starlight, and it felt cold and silky to the touch, as if touching the skin of the night sky.
"A head-on collision definitely won't work; the gap is too large. It seems I have to go into the dream and borrow some heavy-duty goods from that 'rich woman'."
Jiang Chen took a deep breath, threw himself onto the big bed in a spread-eagled position, and rubbed his cheek against the star dream emperor pillow.
"Your Majesty, Empress, although we haven't received our marriage certificate yet, we are at least sharing the same bed, so you have to protect me this time!"
【Ding! Detected Divine Artifact "star dream emperor pillow".】
【Constructing high-level dream channel... Target: Abyssal Empress's palace.】
Buzz—!
His consciousness blurred for a moment.
When Jiang Chen opened his eyes again, he was no longer a Mortal.
He stood in a towering bone palace. And on that bone throne reaching into the clouds, a peerless figure lay on her side, playing with a shrunken star in her hand.
The Abyssal Empress, Empress.
She was still wearing her purple-gold imperial robes, her three thousand strands of black hair cascading down, and those purple eyes, which seemed to contain mountains of corpses and seas of blood, were looking down at Jiang Chen from her high vantage point.
"Is My pillow comfortable to sleep on?"
Her voice was cold, carrying a lazy magnetism that made Jiang Chen's bones melt.
"Comfortable! It's practically tailor-made for you!" Jiang Chen shamelessly floated to the side of the throne, less than half a meter away from the Empress, using the rules of the dream. "Your Majesty, I risked my life to get this pillow, so you see..."
"Hmph."
The Empress let out a cold snort, and an invisible pressure flicked Jiang Chen's fingers away. "Stop with the prying hands. If you're offering courtesies without a reason, you're either plotting something or a thief. Tell me, what trouble have you gotten into again?"
"It's not much trouble." Jiang Chen floated cross-legged in the Void Realm, looking aggrieved. "It's just that some old geezer insists on taking my life in public. He even wants to snatch your pillow to use as a footrest! I was just afraid of disturbing your sleep."
"Snatch My pillow?"
A cold glint flashed in the Empress's eyes, and the surrounding Void Realm instantly cracked with countless fissures. "An ant that has just touched the fur of the Law dares to touch My things?"
She slowly sat up straight, and an overbearing Emperors Might instantly filled the entire dream space.
"Since he wants to die, I will grant his wish. However..."
The Empress curled her lips into a cruel yet beautiful smile and lightly tapped Jiang Chen's forehead with her jade finger.
"Your Mental Energy is too weak; you can't withstand even a sliver of My power. For these three days, I will give you 'special training'."
"Special training?" Jiang Chen's eyes lit up. "Is it the kind... where you teach me hand-in-hand?"
"In your dreams."
The Empress waved her sleeve, and a rag condensed from Mental Energy appeared in Jiang Chen's hand.
"Polish all 108,000 bones on this throne for Me! Use your Divine Thought to polish them! Every single one must be polished until it shines! If one is missing, or if there is a speck of dust..."
Zzzzt!
A purple thunderbolt danced on the Empress's fingertip.
"I will shock you. Don't worry, you won't die in a dream, it will only make you wish you were dead."
Jiang Chen's face turned green: "What kind of special training is this?! This is labor exploitation!"
"You can choose not to polish it." The Empress lay back down and closed her beautiful eyes. "Then in three days, just wait to be slapped to death by that ant."
"I'll polish it! I'll polish it, okay?!"
And so, for the next three days (the flow of time in the dream is different, equivalent to thirty days in reality), Jiang Chen experienced hellish torture.
"This one isn't clean! Shock!"
"Ah—! This lightning massage is a bit too intense!"
"Whose skull is that? Don't touch it! Shock!"
"Empress sister, I was wrong! Don't hit my face!"
In the process of being struck by lightning again and again, and his Mental Energy being exhausted and reborn repeatedly, Jiang Chen's Sea of Consciousness was undergoing earth-shattering changes. His originally stream-like Mental Energy was forcibly widened into a river, and its toughness became comparable to alloy.
Finally, the special training ended.
In reality, Jiang Chen opened his eyes abruptly.
In those pitch-black eyes, a streak of purple thunder faintly flashed.
【Ding! Special training complete.】
【Mental Energy Realm: Peak of the Viscera Refining Realm (Qualitative change).】
【Unlocked special status slot: Waking Up Anger (Rage value).】
【Current Rage bar limit: Borrowing Divine Thought lv1. Activation condition: The degree of a beautiful dream interrupted during deep sleep.】
Jiang Chen rubbed his still aching buttocks (phantom pain from the dream), but a ferocious smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
"Old dog of the Wang family, for this battle, I've been polishing bone racks for that rich woman in my dreams for a month..."
"If you don't die miserably enough, it won't be worth my hard-working hands."