300: Yin Shi Nu, Shang Wan Ning

[Ahhh! 600,000 words! Dear readers, please give a five-star review! With good reviews, I can write up to a million words. (ˊ˘ˋ*)]

"The special edition meng pos soup is ready."

She shook the bottle, the liquid leaving thick traces on the glass walls.

"Your Majesty is well aware of the rules of the underworld."

"Even if a human is reserved by a supreme deity, once they descend to the Netherworld, they must obediently come to my Bridge of Helplessness and drink a bowl of Dust-Cleansing Soup to wash away all past attachments."

Meng Jiang's voice was light and soft.

"If on that day, my hand happens to slip just a tiny bit and I add a few grams less of the ingredients..." She glanced at Shang Wan Ning, her smile deepening.

"The soup brewed will be a bit weaker in flavor, and once drunk, naturally..."

She shrugged, the implication clear.

Shang Wan Ning's puffed-up, pretty face instantly froze, her phoenix eyes narrowing. She stared at the small jade bottle in Sister Meng's hand, then turned back to Lin Ran's figure in the water mirror.

The heart in her chest suddenly throbbed uncontrollably, thumping against her ribs.

[Add fewer ingredients, make the flavor weaker? Then ARan...]

A clear and extremely tempting thought grew and entwined like a wild vine.

[Wouldn't she be exactly the same Chief Assistant Lin?]

She looked up at Meng Jiang, her eyes shining brilliantly with a hint of disbelief and probing.

"Eh? What did Sister Meng just say? I didn't hear... clearly?" Shang Wan Ning's voice was a bit dry as she maintained a facade of composure, her fingers secretly picking at the corner of her clothes.

Seeing A Ning's look of clearly knowing but playing dumb, Meng Jiang couldn't help but burst out laughing.

She tucked away the jade bottle and brushed her wide green sleeves.

"Didn't hear clearly? Then never mind." She turned and walked out with light steps.

"The fragment has been delivered, I shall take my leave. Your Majesty, watch slowly, and don't chew your brocade handkerchief to bits."

The door closed softly, leaving Shang Wan Ning alone in the bedchamber, along with the bustling mundane world reflected in the water mirror.

Shang Wan Ning's gaze lingered on the doorway where Meng Jiang had disappeared for a long time; then she slowly shifted her eyes to the xuan pin gate fragment on the low table.

Finally, her gaze fixed on Lin Ran's fingertips in the water mirror as she picked up a piece of green vegetable.

She slowly released her grip on her clothes, her fingertips tracing circles on the smooth surface of the low table.

[Add fewer ingredients!]

The light from the water mirror flickered on her face... The lights at No. 126 Cuiping Courtyard went out.

Shang Wan Ning's divine sense was like an invisible thread, quietly entwining around the window in the mortal realm.

The water mirror hung in the inner chamber of Jiaotai Palace, reflecting the blurry outline of Lin Ran's bedroom.

Lin Ran returned, her footsteps stopping in front of the wardrobe.

Shang Wan Ning's heart thudded against her chest. She quickly picked up the cold spiritual tea nearby and took a gulp, her fingertips gripping the edge of the low table.

[Calm down, Shang Wan Ning. You are the Netherworld Empress, an Eighth-Rank Deity, a being who rules over ten thousand ghosts.]

[Peeking at a subordinate changing clothes is beneath you, so beneath you!]

[But what's wrong with one look? Just one look to confirm her physical state—yes, to check for any yin energy erosion.]

Two little figures in her head were fighting frantically.

The Empress's reserve and the dark thoughts in her heart twisted together.

In the water mirror, Lin Ran had her back to the "camera" and raised her hand to unbutton her clothes... Shang Wan Ning's fingers tightened around the teacup, her knuckles white. Her divine sense seemed pinned down, stuck to the mirror surface, unable to be pulled away.

The uniform jacket slid off, revealing a tight black tank top underneath that outlined her firm shoulders and back.

The traces of years of training were fully visible.

Shang Wan Ning's throat felt dry; she subconsciously licked her lips, her fingertips scratching the low table.

[Tsk, ARan's back muscles are even more beautiful than the ones I trained.]

[Damn it, what am I thinking!]

[Checking, I'm checking for yin energy. Yes, to see if there are any bruises or hidden injuries.]

Lin Ran, completely unaware in the mirror, took off her trousers, her long, straight legs dazzlingly white in the light.

She bent down to pick up the loungewear on the bed.

As she bent over, her waist curved, and the edge of the black tank top revealed a slight indentation of her back dimples.

"Clatter~"

The teacup in Shang Wan Ning's hand slipped and crashed onto the low table, tea splashing everywhere and soaking the xuan pin gate fragment.

She scrambled to wipe it, her heart beating like a drum.

[Steady yourself, Shang Wan Ning. You are a god, a god!]

In the water mirror, Lin Ran's female intuition seemed to wake up as she looked back suspiciously toward the window.

Shang Wan Ning was so startled she held her breath, her divine sense "whooshing" back most of the way, leaving only a faint trace attached to the window frame.

[She can't see me, she can't see me.]

Lin Ran found nothing unusual and, assuming it was just the night wind, shook her head and put on her loungewear.

Only then did Shang Wan Ning breathe a sigh of relief, pretending a thin layer of sweat had broken out on her back. She slumped back onto the soft couch, covering her face in frustration.

[It's over, it's over, my Dao heart is unstable. If Sister Meng finds out, she'll laugh at me for a hundred years.]

But that faint "thread" wasn't withdrawn. Like a restless little insect, it quietly crept back.

The next evening, the sound of water splashed in the bathroom.

The water mirror was a blur, only showing the hazy, swaying warm yellow light and shadows behind the frosted glass.

Tracing out... a tall and slender silhouette.

Shang Wan Ning sat cross-legged on the couch, eyes closed, trying to regulate her breathing. Her eighth-rank divine power flowed steadily through her meridians, looking solemn and dignified.

[If the heart is as clear as ice, the sky falling will not cause alarm...]

[All thoughts are silent, follow the natural law...]

[Wait, what brand of body wash does ARan use? The scent seems quite refreshing.]

"Sniff a bit more~"

Her divine sense uncontrollably drifted toward the steam-filled bathroom.

The sound of water sliding over skin was magnified infinitely, as clear as if it were right next to her ear.

The tips of Shang Wan Ning's ears slowly turned red. She shyly scratched her bun, making the neat hairstyle fuzzy.

[Shang Wan Ning, you've fallen. You're gloomy, so gloomy!]

[Just listening, not going in. It's just the sound of water, what could happen?]

[Does that area on her shoulder look like an old scar? Probably left from catching that serial killer back then. Tsk, I wonder if it still hurts.]

[I've never even asked.]

She forced herself to "look" elsewhere. Her gaze swept over the bottles and jars on the bathroom shelf.

Hmm, it really is mint-scented.

The Empress silently noted the brand in her heart, planning to have Ling Qi buy a batch for the Jiaotai Palace baths later.

The water stopped.

The frosted glass door pushed open with a "click."

Lin Ran walked out wrapped in a white bath towel, water still dripping from the tips of her hair. It slid down her neck, past her collarbone, and disappeared into the edge of the towel.

In the warm light, her skin glowed with a heated flush. She casually picked up the towel draped over the back of the chair and rubbed her hair haphazardly.

The bath towel slipped down slightly with her movement, barely hanging over her rounded breasts.

[Haa... haa...]

[What's that in the shadow just below her breast?]

Shang Wan Ning's breath was held subconsciously, the Heart-Clearing Incantation in her head long since thrown to the winds.

Only the small space in the water mirror remained.

She swallowed hard. "Go down, just a little further down."

Unfortunately, Lin Ran didn't give her another chance.

As if sensing something, she looked up into the void. Frowning, she subconsciously pulled her collar tighter.