284: Sucking Cat

He struggled to crawl up, his small eyes filled with grievance.

[Lord Zhu Yan strictly ordered not to touch Lady Meng, and even more so not to destroy the foundation of the Demon. With hands and feet tied, how am I supposed to fight this!]

Meng Jiang's figure floated above the giant pit, her green robes fluttering as she looked down at the great Demon Ao Ya at the bottom.

Her eyes were indifferent, as if she were looking at a pile of kitchen waste. "A thousand years have passed, Ao Ya. This is all you have left."

"Roar!!!"

Ao Ya roared in fury, the demonic power around him surging into a sky-piercing wave of fire, his body swelling crazily.

Molten light flowed from the gaps in his dark red scales, the scorching waves distorting the surrounding demonic energy.

Ao Ya was preparing to reveal his thousand-meter dragon form.

"Heh, you want to show your true form?" A cold light flashed in Meng Jiang's eyes. "Did I give you permission?"

Her hands formed seals, her finger movements so fast they were just a series of blurs. "Netherworld Lock!"

"Buzz!"

Several jet-black chains appeared out of thin air, their bodies entwined with wisps of chilling death energy. Like spirit snakes emerging from their burrows, they instantly wrapped around Ao Ya's bulging dragon body.

Spiritual runes flickered on the chains, firmly suppressing the surging demonic power.

"Ugh, ah~" Ao Ya let out a pained roar, his momentum of expansion forcibly strangled.

His hundred-zhang body was tightly bound by the black chains, his half-dragon, half-human form frozen in mid-air, like a fierce beast trapped in shackles.

"Lady Meng, you're looking for death."

Ao Ya's eyes were nearly splitting, the chains clattering as he struggled, but he couldn't move an inch.

"The one looking for death is you." Sister Meng's figure flickered and she was already standing before Ao Ya's massive dragon head.

She raised her index finger, its tip condensing a point of dark light to the extreme, and lightly tapped the vertical pupil in the center of Ao Ya's brow.

The movement seemed gentle, but it was wrapped in world-destroying killing intent.

Lava surged in Ao Ya's pupils, reflecting a clear sense of fear for the first time. He knew very well that if this finger truly landed, his dragon soul would surely scatter into fly ash.

"Lord Zhu Yan... will never let you off." Ao Ya roared at the top of his lungs, his voice filled with the desperation of a cornered beast.

Meng Jiang's fingertip paused slightly, her ink-jade eyes showing no ripples.

"Zhu Yan?" Her lips parted slightly, her voice as cold as an icicle.

"Let him come."

"I shall be waiting." Having said that, her index finger pressed down steadily.

"No!!!" Ao Ya screamed heart-wrenchingly as the fingertip was about to hit his brow.

"Buzz!"

An invisible ripple spread from the center of Ao Ya's brow, just barely blocking the Soul-Extinguishing Finger. The black light hit the spatial barrier, making a "sizzling" sound that set one's teeth on edge.

Meng Jiang's eyes darkened. The aching pain in her arm made her realize that the person who intervened had unfathomable strength, at least two major realms higher than her own.

"Humph!"

She snorted and took the opportunity to leap back several zhang, staring coldly at a certain point in the void.

A phantom condensed from thousands of shadows slowly took shape. No features could be seen, no breath could be sensed, only an overwhelming sense of presence that pressured the 'spirit' overflowed.

The phantom didn't bother to pay attention to Meng Jiang at all, only focusing on transmitting a thought to the shaken Ao Ya, who was bound by chains at the bottom of the pit.

[Useless thing, come back.]

Ao Ya's body trembled violently, his lava vertical pupils filled with resentment as he glared viciously at Meng Jiang.

"Lady Meng, consider yourself lucky." He roared, and the space around him twisted like a fried dough twist.

The Netherworld Lock chains made an overburdened muffled sound and shattered with a "bang".

Ao Ya's giant shadow and the dark phantom vanished into the distorted space together. Only the scarred ten-thousand-meter pit and a pungent smell of dragon blood remained.

Meng Jiang hung in mid-air, looking in the direction they disappeared, her eyes deepening.

"Zhu Yan..." she whispered the name.

Although the phantom just now didn't directly take action, its exquisite control over space made her heart feel a trace of solemnity.

"Sister Meng is so awesome!!!"

Chen Yu jumped out from behind a rock, carrying half a surviving copper pot and shouting. "That bastard dragon was beaten by you until he crawled away."

Feng Xi and the Grass Spirit Dogs followed out with lingering fear, looking at the terrifying giant pit, gaining a whole new understanding of the "Netherworld's capabilities."

Meng Jiang floated to the ground, glancing at the jubilant White-Haired Loli and then at the mess on the plains.

"Cultural Ambassador," she said calmly.

"Eh?" Chen Yu's eyes sparkled.

"There's still half a pot left." Meng Jiang pointed to the copper pot on the ground and the red oil splashed everywhere.

"It's just right to add a taste of the Netherworld to this 'new territory'."

Chen Yu's eyes instantly lit up. "That's a great idea! To celebrate Sister Meng's first victory, a hotpot banquet must be arranged."

She nimbly set up the broken pot and lit the Netherworld Fire... Feng Xi stared at the bubbling red oil in the pot, then at the bottomless pit. Looking again at the Prefecture City God who was enthusiastically preparing to "add ingredients," he quietly clutched his chest.

[My position... my official position...]

...Netherworld, Jiaotai Palace

Shang Wan Ning watched with great interest, "Tsk, Sister Meng tearing Ao Ya apart was so cool!"

Seeing the dark phantom save the day, she curled her lip: "That old schemer Zhu Yan only knows how to hide in the back."

Xiao Si's light point bounced up and down, [Host, don't be sour. When you reach the ninth rank, you can be just as cool.]

Shang Wan Ning imagined the scene of herself tearing Ao Ya apart, then looked at her slender fingers.

"Forget it, during the main quest period, it's safer for me to be a Pillow Princess."

She continued to reminisce about Sister Meng's heroic posture when the space beside her suddenly twisted, and the familiar green-robed figure appeared.

[So fast!!!]

Shang Wan Ning was so startled she almost slammed the Water Mirror onto her own face.

Before the Empress could speak, Meng Jiang stepped to the phoenix couch like a cat that hadn't eaten for three days seeing catnip.

With a grab of her slender hand, she caught the scruff of Shang Wan Ning's fated neck and lifted her out of her silkworm cocoon state.

"Hey, Sister Meng... mmm!"

Shang Wan Ning's protest was ineffective.

Meng Jiang had already pressed her entirely into her arms, resting her chin on the crown of her head, and took a deep breath.

"Hu~ Hu~"

Meng Jiang sighed in satisfaction, tightening her arms like she was holding a large human-shaped pillow, even rubbing against her.

"A Ning still smells the best. Taking a few sniffs after a fight is refreshing, more effective than gnawing on ten flowers of the other shore."

Shang Wan Ning: "..."

Her limbs were stiffly encircled in Sister Meng's arms, her face forced into the other's neck, her nose filled with a cool body fragrance.

Empress's majesty? Non-existent. Only a life-weary numbness remained.

"Sis-Sister Meng... I can't breathe..." Shang Wan Ning protested muffledly, trying to struggle.

Instead of letting go, Meng Jiang freed a hand and familiarly scratched Shang Wan Ning's chin.

"Be good, don't move, recharge for a bit longer. That wretched place, the Demon, the turbid air gave me a headache."

Shang Wan Ning: "???"

The Empress stopped struggling, her eyes becoming empty and lightless.

[Forget it, forget it, this is just the fate of being a Pillow Princess.]