550: Chapter 550 Punishment

This was a tranquil courtyard, far away from the bright lights at the center of the Jinwu Tower.

Formations circulated at the four corners of the courtyard walls, and a faint spiritual light isolated the entire courtyard into an independent small world.

There was a pond in the courtyard, planted with a few clumps of slender bamboo. When the wind blew, the tips of the leaves brushed against each other, making a soft, rustling sound that resembled turning book pages.

No lights were lit inside the guest room. Only the moonlight slanted in through the half-open lattice windows. The entire room seemed to be shrouded in a thin layer of silver gauze.

Zhu Xuanni half-leaned against the edge of the couch.

A thin, nearly transparent gauze robe loosely wrapped around her body, with only a silk ribbon tied around her waist, leaving nothing underneath.

The material of the gauze robe clung to her body like flowing water, outlining her mature and plump figure faintly.

The smooth curves of her shoulders and neck, the full contour of her chest, and the indented arc of her waist all undulated faintly under that layer of thin gauze.

This was her usual attire because it was convenient for self-meditation and Cultivate.

Right now, Zhu Xuanni felt somewhat flustered and uneasy.

In the evening, when she learned from Saintess Yan Xueyuan about Yan Hongwei making a move, she broke out in a cold sweat on the spot.

Although she later learned that the defensive Magic Treasure left by that man kept Saintess Yan Xueyuan safe and sound, she still felt lingering fear.

The Golden Crow Holy Son probably only thought about guarding against the outside, but did not expect that there would also be danger internally. He thought his deterrence was sufficient, but he underestimated the power of human jealousy.

If Saintess Yan Xueyuan really met with an accident, how would that man treat her?

A whipping? Physical torture? Crippling her cultivation?

Those images churned back and forth in the mind of Zhu Xuanni.

After a long while, she opened her eyes again. Her body felt somewhat hot and restless.

Ever since that night at Yingxian Peak, she had never performed self-meditation and Cultivate again.

Just once. She told herself this.

Under the moonlight, that layer of gauze robe slipped off a bit due to her slightly sideways movement. Her breathing gradually grew hurried, and her fingertips slowly probed downwards along her waistline.

Outside the window, the wind rose and the bamboo leaves rustled, masking certain soft hums inside the guest room. The green bamboo tapped against the pond again and again, going deeper and deeper.

Zhu Xuanni closed her eyes tightly, and her hand gestures for forming seals became faster and faster. However, no matter how hard she tried, she always felt a thin barrier blocking her, making it impossible for her to reach the peak of perfectly concluding her session.

It was like a flame beneath the water surface; she could clearly see the light, but could never touch the heat.

She frowned slightly, her hand gestures pausing for a moment, and suddenly a face involuntarily surfaced in her mind — that man, holding a projection stone under the moonlight at Yingxian Peak and smiling at her.

At this instant, Zhu Xuanni vaguely felt a gaze falling upon her, warm and burning, causing her body to suddenly tense up.

This is... the man she imagined in her mind is looking at her!

This thought was like a fuse, instantly igniting all the Spiritual Qi within her body.

The peak timing for self-meditation and Cultivate had arrived!

Zhu Xuanni felt as though the Spiritual Qi inside her body had been burned dry. She tilted her head back with a soft sob, and then her whole body went limp against the edge of the couch.

This time sensation was completely different from before, exceptionally intense, whether because she had not self-meditated for too long or because that person face in her mind was too clear.

Zhu Xuanni closed her eyes to recover for a good while before slowly opening them.

? ! Someone ! ! ! It is that man!

The consciousness of Zhu Xuanni was still somewhat hazy at this moment. Looking at the face in front of her, she murmured:

"... Is this still in my imagination?"

Ling Hao was standing half a step away in front of the couch, slightly bending over to size her up.

The moonlight shone on Zhu Xuanni, illuminating her current appearance clearly.

Her face was cold and alluring yet flushed, drenched in fragrant sweat that clung to her temples, with a few strands of dark hair wetly stuck to her cheeks.

Her gauze robe was half-stripped, exposing one rounded shoulder and half of a towering jade peak, which was half-concealed and half-covered by the sweat-moistened thin gauze, revealing a warm and lustrous skin glow.

Moist and full, dripping with allure.

The air was permeated with a faint fragrance, mixed with her cold floral scent and a hint of damp, unusual aroma, warm and cozy, making the bones feel somewhat soft.

It was truly lewd to the extreme.

Ling Hao came to this conclusion in his heart.

He found that Zhu Xuanni was indeed quite beautiful, mature and glamorous. It was just that her usual Taoist robe covered her tightly, suppressing even most of her tranquil body fragrance. It was reasonable for that blond Saint to have illicit thoughts.

Zhu Xuanni woke up completely.

She suddenly sat up, casually gathering her slipping gauze robe, a layer of panic and annoyance surfacing on her face:

"You... how did you get in?"

"Naturally, I came through the door." Ling Hao tilted his head slightly toward the direction of the door.

Zhu Xuanni looked along his gaze; the guest room door was wide open, and the night breeze was blowing in from outside, causing a scroll of book pages on the table to flutter slightly.

The door was open, yet she had not noticed at all.

Just now she was indulging herself in self-indulgence... self-meditation, and did not notice a thing.

Her face suddenly burned fiercely. She clenched her teeth, but could not say a single word.

The mouth of Ling Hao hooked up slightly:

"What are you still covering up? Did I not see everything last time?"

Zhu Xuanni only felt a wave of heat burn from her cheeks to the roots of her ears, and spread all the way down her neck.

Twice!

The last time was at Yingxian Peak, and this time was here. The same man had twice caught her in her most wretched appearance.

She gritted her teeth, her chest rising and falling violently, unsure whether it was out of shame or anger.

The smile on the face of Ling Hao suddenly vanished, and his tone turned serious:

"Zhu Xuanni, do you know your mistake?"

Zhu Xuanni shuddered all over. She was silent for a moment, then slowly knelt down, saying in a low, husky voice:

"It is my problem. I accept the punishment."

Oh? It seems she has communicated with Saintess Yan Xueyuan, which saves me from saying much more.

Ling Hao lowered his gaze to look at her:

"I kept you by her side so that you could protect her. If I had not left a backup plan in advance, she would already be dead. Give me an explanation."

Zhu Xuanni knelt on the ground, the silver-white moonlight illuminating her lowered face in half-light and half-shadow.

She remained silent for a good while before speaking in a low voice:

"The mother of the Golden Crow Holy Son, Zhu Xuanyue, is my biological sister. Before her death, she took my hand and asked me to take care of him. I promised my sister. Later, I do not know when he embarked on an evil path, and no matter how bitterly I tried to persuade him, I could not change him. So I made a three-chapter compact with him — aside from special matters, I would unconditionally help him ten times. Over the years, staying in the Golden Crow Holy Land was to do things for him."

The gaze of Ling Hao flickered slightly:

"What does this have to do with you leaving?"

Zhu Xuanni lowered her eyelids, hesitated for a moment, and still said it out:

"He loved my sister dearly. Because I look so much like my sister, after she died, he treated me as his mother, and even... developed feelings that should not exist."

Her voice grew lower and lower,

"He even once wanted to use one of his favors in exchange for my body, which I could never agree to. After the auction, he sent a message asking me to go over, saying it would offset one of the favors. So I went."

Ling Hao nodded. Back at the auction, he had already sensed that the blond Saint cared unusually much about his "aunt".

Afraid that his words at the auction had filled this blond Saint with a sense of crisis, making him willing to waste one favor.

Tsk tsk, who would have thought that a Golden Crow Holy Son addicted to homosexuality would actually harbor such thoughts toward his own aunt.

"Capital punishment can be avoided, but living punishment is inescapable. Speak, what kind of punishment do you want?"

Zhu Xuanni raised her head to look at him:

"At your discretion."

With her weakness in his hands and her life and death controlled by others, could she still choose her own punishment?

Let me decide? Ling Hao actually did not have any good ideas, which was why he threw it to her, but he did not expect her to throw it back to him.

Ling Hao looked down condescendingly at the appearance of Zhu Xuanni kneeling in the moonlight.

Her gauze robe was semi-translucent, her collarbones straight, her shoulders rounded, and her twin peaks full and upright.

Her dark hair, dampened by sweat, clung to the sides of her cheeks, and the flush on her face had not yet faded. The dripping-with-allure red lips on that cold and alluring face were slightly parted, as if waiting for something.

Ling Hao suddenly took a step forward.

His fingers passed through the wet hair of Zhu Xuanni, plunging into her slightly cool dark hair, and gently lifted her face up.

The moonlight shone in from outside the window, overlapping their shadows together.

Zhu Xuanni maintained her kneeling posture as the fingers of Ling Hao slowly slid down from her hair, along her jawline, cupping her chin, his thumb gently rubbing across her slightly parted lips.

Zhu Xuanni trembled slightly, tilting her head back, a fine flush suffusing the corners of her eyes.

A tear slipped from the corner of her eye, rolling down her flushed cheek to her jaw, dripping onto the bluestone ground beside the couch, shattering into a small clump of dim damp marks.