497: Chapter 497 Zhu Xuanni

Looking around, it was messy and overflowing.

Gan Yiyi's small face turned red in an instant, but then, remembering her current situation, she knelt down to salute, her forehead touching the ground: "This servant Gan Yiyi thanks Senior for healing the Saintess."

Ling Hao glanced at her, then looked at Saintess Yan Xueyuan, smiling slightly: "Your servant is more sensible than you."

Saintess Yan Xueyuan blushed and threw the pillow at him.

Ling Hao raised his hand to catch the pillow, his gaze falling on Gan Yiyi. Ling Hao reached out and pulled her over as well: "Since you are here, let us Cultivate together."

Gan Yiyi shivered all over but did not struggle. She snuck a glance at Saintess Yan Xueyuan.

Saintess Yan Xueyuan turned her face away, her tone feigning indifference: "You... be careful, Yiyi's cultivation..."

Gan Yiyi lowered her eyelids, her voice as soft as a mosquito: "Senior... this servant can manage. This servant's life was given by the Saintess; since the Saintess agrees, please do not worry about this servant."

Ling Hao wrapped his arm around Gan Yiyi's waist; that slender waist trembled slightly in his palm. Gan Yiyi closed her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering violently.

Considering that Gan Yiyi was only at the Nascent Soul Stage and it was her first time receiving his Yang Qi, Ling Hao first guided the Chaotic Spiritual Qi to nourish Gan Yiyi's Meridians. Once the Spiritual Qi turned into liquid, he slowly transferred the Yang Qi into her body.

As Gan Yiyi let out a muffled groan, Ling Hao leaned over to Saintess Yan Xueyuan's ear: "Your servant is much better than you; at least her Meridians are intact and can easily accept my..."

Saintess Yan Xueyuan pinched him in shame and anger, but did not push him away.

Gan Yiyi lay prone on the side of the couch, her hands gripping the bedding tightly until her knuckles turned white, her voice fragmented and suppressed. How could the Spiritual Qi and Yang Qi of the Mahayana Stage be so easy to endure?

Ling Hao held her slender waist with one hand and placed his other hand on Saintess Yan Xueyuan's wrist, circulating the Chaotic Spiritual Qi through both their bodies simultaneously. The temperature on the couch rose quietly; this was the result of the three people's Spiritual Qi synchronizing.

Candlelight cast the shadows of the three onto the wall, flickering and swaying. The night breeze passed through the gaps in the window lattice, blowing the gauze curtains at the corner of the couch, gently brushing against Saintess Yan Xueyuan's scattered black hair.

She turned her head, her gaze passing over Ling Hao's shoulder to look out the window. Below Yingxian Peak, a wide river meandered eastward in the moonlight, its silvery waves shattering across the entire river.

The tree shadows along the riverbank were layered, their branches still swaying gently, one after another. The moonlight was like silk, the river flowed silently, the treetops swayed; everything between heaven and earth was quiet just right, only within the room, the sounds...

Three more days passed. Saintess Yan Xueyuan leaned on the couch, cleaning her clothes. Ling Hao sat on the edge of the couch, his palm gently stroking Gan Yiyi's little head, his gaze falling on Saintess Yan Xueyuan's face with a mischievous smile.

"How was the experience of the female levitating train I took you on to fly to the sky yesterday?" This was met with Saintess Yan Xueyuan's scolding. "Bah..."

Ling Hao was not annoyed and returned to a serious expression. "I heard about the subsidiary tripods in the hands of the Golden Crow Holy Son; how much do you know?"

Saintess Yan Xueyuan tilted her head and thought for a moment, "As far as I know, the Holy Son has three. The Xi Kun Tripod, Xi Dui Tripod, and Xi Qian Tripod are all with him."

"What else?" "The Xi Gen Tripod and Xi Xun Tripod should be with the Sword Peak Master of the Holy Land. He himself is highly likely related to the Niding Alliance."

Ling Hao nodded slightly: "Two left?" "The Xi li tripod was originally in the Linglong Blessed Land; it is in your hands now, isn't it?"

Ling Hao did not deny it. "As for the other two..." Saintess Yan Xueyuan frowned, trying hard to recall for a moment: "I vaguely heard the Old Ancestor of the Yan family mention it once. Decades ago, it seemed someone in the northern part of Fusang Province saw a subsidiary tripod appear. But it disappeared later."

"Where in the north?" "It should be... around the area of the eighth-grade cultivation nation of Huogui Kingdom, or further north in the Wuling Mountains."

As she spoke, she glared at Ling Hao with dissatisfaction, "For a Puppet Saintess like me, knowing this much is already very good."

Ling Hao was lost in thought. All five subsidiary tripods had clear owners; added to the Xi li tripod already in his hands, the subsidiary tripod that An Ruosu mentioned should be either the Xi Kan Tripod or the Xi Zhen Tripod.

Suddenly, he lowered his head and glanced at Gan Yiyi by his knees, then suddenly said to Saintess Yan Xueyuan: "Your servant is meticulous in her work and has a sharp mind. She is a person who can be used."

Saintess Yan Xueyuan rolled her eyes, too lazy to reply. Outside the room, the night was as thick as ink.

Zhu Xuenni stood under an old locust tree, her plain-colored Taoist robe gently blown by the night breeze, her sleeves flapping loudly. She stared at the tightly closed door, her brows tightly knitted.

It had been several days. Saintess Yan Xueyuan had not stepped out of the room once; when the servant Gan Yiyi delivered tea and snacks, she was blocked outside the Formation for days, and now, both she and the tray had been inside for two days.

There was no abnormality in the Restriction of Yingxian Peak, but this lack of abnormality was itself the greatest abnormality. She remembered that night at the Nine-Story Tower in Tianyuan Capital City. This lack of abnormality was itself the greatest abnormality!

A guess surfaced in Zhu Xuenni's heart that made her spine chill. She was about to step forward to knock on the door. The door opened.

Ling Hao and Saintess Yan Xueyuan walked out side by side, with Gan Yiyi following closely behind with her head lowered. Moonlight spilled into the courtyard, dragging the shadows of the three people long on the ground. Zhu Xuenni's pupils shrank suddenly. It was him! Moon Shadow Sect Master!

And now he was no more than three zhang away from her, in a green shirt, looking upright and composed, with a faint, elusive smile hanging on the corner of his mouth.

"She is the person the Holy Son sent to supervise me." Saintess Yan Xueyuan's voice drifted from Ling Hao's side, kept very low, "She is also the Holy Son's... aunt."

"Sect Master of Moon Shadow Sect from Cangwu Province, Ling Hao!" Zhu Xuenni stared at him, her voice as cold as a blade scraping over an ice surface.

Ling Hao, however, did not have the slightest panic at being exposed. He measured Zhu Xuenni up and down unhurriedly, his gaze sliding from that mature and bright face down to the shoulder line covered by the plain-colored Taoist robe, and finally stopping at the slightly trembling fingertips beneath her sleeve. She was nervous.

The arc of Ling Hao's mouth deepened slightly, and he spoke slowly: "So it is the Holy Son's aunt. I did not expect there to be this layer of identity."

He paused, his voice softening. A sound transmission entered Zhu Xuenni's ears, which only she could hear. The transmission was very short, only a few words, but it made Zhu Xuenni's face instantly turn pale.

Her fingers suddenly gripped her sleeves tightly, her knuckles creaking. Her body beneath the plain-colored Taoist robe trembled slightly, and her eyes stared fixedly at a recording stone that had appeared by Ling Hao's right hand at some unknown time.

The stone glowed with a warm luster in the moonlight, like some ordinary toy. But Zhu Xuenni knew that it contained something she would never let anyone see.

Zhu Xuenni thought the Restriction of Yingxian Peak was strict enough, and she had enough confidence in herself; she had never thought that on the territory of Qingmu Cliff, someone could silently pass through layers of Formations without alerting her.

But in fact, someone had done it, and that person was standing in front of her right now, watching her with a smile.

Zhu Xuenni took a deep breath, suppressing the tremor in her throat, and her voice regained seven parts of cold severity: "Do you think I would care about this scandal?"

Ling Hao made a "feel free" gesture, "It is fine if you do not care. But you might as well circulate your Spiritual Qi first and rush the Shanzhong Acupoint and Yutang Acupoint."

Zhu Xuenni stared at him for two breaths, then followed his instructions to circulate her Spiritual Qi. Two sharp pains exploded simultaneously from the Shanzhong and Yutang Acupoints, like fine needles piercing through the bone marrow and straight into her limbs and bones.

She let out a muffled groan, her knees softened, and she almost fell to the ground, only barely standing firm by leaning against the tree trunk behind her. She understood. She had been planted with a Restriction.

It was probably on that night, when her vigilance was at its lowest, that this man had silently tampered with her. And she, as a Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable, had not noticed it at all.

Zhu Xuenni raised her head, her light-colored eyes surging with anger, unwillingness, humiliation, and a trace of deeply hidden fear. She gritted her teeth, squeezing out the words through her teeth: "...What do you want me to do? Do you want my body?"

Ling Hao shook his head: "Continue to protect her. The thing you have always been doing, only now—it is to protect her for me, not for that damn Golden Crow Holy Son."

Zhu Xuenni was silent for a long time. The moonlight in the courtyard fell on her shoulders, plating the plain-colored Taoist robe in a thin layer of silvery white. Finally, she lowered her eyelids and nodded.

When Ling Hao turned around, his gaze swept over Saintess Yan Xueyuan. Ling Hao did not tell Saintess Yan Xueyuan that he had also left a Chaos mark inside her body. If anyone forcibly attacked her, this mark would automatically trigger. This counted as an insurance policy.

Saintess Yan Xueyuan stared blankly at the confrontation between Ling Hao and Zhu Xuenni, completely unaware of what had happened. She opened her mouth, not yet saying anything. A figure suddenly appeared in front of Saintess Yan Xueyuan and reached out to her.