Chapter 193 : Decisions Are Easy to Make
Chapter 193: Decisions Are Easy to Make
That night, Long Tao entered meditation once again. He had to admit that in this environment, if he stayed a while longer, the speed at which he entered a meditative state would definitely improve considerably.
Although he could not project his Divine Sense outward—making it impossible to observe his complete Divine Soul—through simple meditation he could still vaguely perceive it.
Just as he was steadily sensing the fluctuations of his Divine Soul and planning to go to sleep after ending this meditation session, something abnormal suddenly occurred.
An absolutely unnatural force seemed to suddenly reach into his body and began forcibly tearing at his Divine Soul. Immediately afterward, he felt a burst of pain acting directly upon his soul.
But compared with the time in the Secret Realm when the System Senior had forcibly pushed him through a breakthrough, this pain was hardly anything.
Moreover, the force quickly retreated.
Just as he opened his eyes to figure out what had happened, something completely unexpected occurred.
The System Interface Panel suddenly appeared before him and released a message he had never anticipated:
【Detected an external abnormal force attempting to steal the Host’s Soul Lamp Value. This attempt has been blocked by the System. Please do not worry. However, the Host is advised to leave this abnormal region as soon as possible and return to the original world.】
Long Tao was momentarily speechless, yet somewhat moved.
This damned System! This black-hearted capitalist boss that only issued bizarre System Tasks to exploit him! And yet… and yet it had actually done something decent for once!
It seemed that in its eyes, he—the unlucky workhorse being squeezed dry—still had at least some “protection value.” At the very least, he could not just be casually harvested by someone else.
But… stealing Soul Lamp Value.
That meant the abnormal force just now had been trying to steal his Divine Soul!?
He quickly turned to look at True Person Mingzhu on the bed.
Although there was no lighting in the room, with the help of the moonlight and his fairly good night vision, he could still see clearly.
The woman who was usually cold and breathtakingly beautiful—the Golden Core True Person—now had a face as pale as paper.
Fine beads of cold sweat covered her smooth forehead. Several strands of hair were stuck to her face by perspiration. Her lips had been bitten until they bled, and her fingers were tightly clutching the red quilt beneath her, her knuckles turning white.
Her entire body looked as though she had just endured a brutal torture.
The sight made Long Tao’s heart pound in alarm.
“True Person! Are you alright?”
At that moment, True Person Mingzhu was trembling all over. The pain of her Divine Soul being torn apart made it so she had not even clearly heard Long Tao’s voice.
Only when he came closer did she release several suppressed, delicate gasps and say intermittently,
“So that’s how it is… so this is the so-called punishment. A portion of my Divine Soul has been extracted… ha… ha… What about you?”
Long Tao did not want her to waste energy worrying about him, so he replied,
“After the Itinerant Merchant Senior strengthened my Divine Soul last time, it seems he also added some protective measures. That force tried to move my Divine Soul just now, but it was directly driven away.”
Shock immediately appeared on Mingzhu’s sweat-covered and pained face.
But soon afterward she smiled.
“You truly are lucky. You helped that Senior once, yet the reward you received was so generous.”
In Mingzhu’s view, being able to completely protect one’s Divine Soul in such a bizarre place meant the protective divine ability placed upon him was absolutely extraordinary. At the very least, as a Golden Core cultivator, she could not even imagine what kind of method it might be.
But now there was an even more serious issue.
The so-called punishment was actually the extraction of the Divine Soul.
This was something she absolutely could not accept—and must resist.
This was the Divine Soul!
If it had been her cultivation or even Destiny Luck, she could grit her teeth and accept it.
But methods to restore and strengthen the Divine Soul were extremely rare. It could even be said that before reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, she had already used every method capable of strengthening the Divine Soul that she could possibly obtain.
Even so, she had no confidence in safely passing the Nascent Soul Inner Demon Tribulation.
And now, for no reason at all, a piece of her Divine Soul had been taken away.
Although the amount was not large enough to immediately damage her foundation, it was still painful enough to make her heart bleed—as if a piece of flesh had been cut from her body.
She could not delay any longer… absolutely could not delay any longer!
Tonight only a trace had been extracted.
What about tomorrow night?
The night after that?
If this dragged on for several more days, she would probably become a cripple with a damaged Divine Soul—someone without even a shred of consciousness!
Rather than becoming such a muddle-headed walking corpse who could not even remember who she was…
She… she would rather give up the chastity she had guarded for so many years!
“True Person… are you alright?”
Long Tao noticed that Mingzhu’s gaze had become somewhat unfocused and was startled, thinking that the damage to her Divine Soul might have been too severe and that even her mind had been affected.
Even though she had now become a mortal, True Person Mingzhu’s knowledge and experience were still there.
She was an indispensable powerful backer for him.
“I… have figured it out.”
Mingzhu suddenly took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, as though using every ounce of strength in her body to make an immense decision.
Her voice trembled faintly.
“Tomorrow… at the latest, before tomorrow night… the two of us… will do it.”
“Huh?!” Long Tao’s eyes widened instantly. He thought he must have heard things from the pain.
“What ‘huh’ what!” Mingzhu snapped, somewhat embarrassed and irritated. A faint unnatural blush appeared on her pale face.
“Do you want to watch helplessly as my Divine Soul is drained bit by bit until I end up becoming an idiot?!”
“N-No… True Person, please calm down!” Long Tao’s face turned red in an instant, like an innocent young boy with no experience in such matters.
“What I mean is… this kind of thing… it’s our first time after all. I—I hope… that! It can be… a little… romantic. With some preparation. Not… not something so simple and direct… like completing a task…”
“You’re a grown man—why are you so fussy!” Mingzhu rolled her eyes at him irritably.
“I’ve heard that among mortal couples, many only see each other for the first time after entering the Bridal Chamber. Some don’t even know the other person’s name, yet they still do what must be done.”
As she spoke, her gaze involuntarily glanced toward Long Tao again.
To be honest, this boy’s appearance was fairly decent.
His brows were delicate, his features clean, and his figure upright.
At the very least, he could be considered above average.
Although he was still far from worthy of her peerless beauty…
But in special circumstances, she could only make do.
“That still feels too careless,” Long Tao muttered quietly.
“At the very least, we should start by chatting, getting to know each other a little, building some emotional foundation. Otherwise it would be awkward…”
……
During the day the next day, at the Main Peak of the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect, in the courtyard where the Hehuan Sect delegation was staying.
Saintess Yaxi was practicing calligraphy while waiting for someone.
Suddenly, the Xiangjianhuan Mirror on the table reacted again.
She hurriedly picked it up and discovered that it was actually a message sent from Long Tao’s side.
So the connection with that place had resumed again.
She quickly perceived the words he had sent through her mind.
But after reading them, she instantly lost her composure.
What the hell was this?!
That lucky bastard had actually been forced by that Rule-Based Horror Scenario world to do that kind of thing with True Person Mingzhu!
What kind of bizarre dungeon was this?!
This was clearly a “room you cannot leave unless you do it.”
Yaxi immediately felt a surge of jealousy and resentment and slammed her fist heavily against the bed.
True Person Mingzhu!
That was True Person Mingzhu!
Even she, the Saintess of the Hehuan Sect, could not obtain such a top-tier beauty!
So how had that brat Long Tao managed to get her?!
When Yaxi thought about their previous two encounters—Mingzhu’s intoxicating beauty, especially those two long legs—her imagination could not help but wander.
Without noticing, her brush had already written two characters on the paper.
Sigh.
But since Long Tao was her brother, Yaxi carefully read the question he had asked.
Actually, the question was very simple.
Since it was his first time doing such a thing—and with a goddess like Mingzhu—he wanted everything to be perfect in every aspect.
So he came to ask her, the Saintess of the Hehuan Sect, if she had any little techniques.
Heh.
He had both asked the right person—and the wrong person.
He asked the right person because, as a Saintess, she indeed possessed a huge amount of knowledge ranging from Dual Cultivation techniques to ordinary technical methods.
But he asked the wrong person because… in both her previous life and this one, from male to female, she had always been a virgin.
Her theoretical knowledge was extremely rich.
But she had never practiced it at all.
Still, in order not to lose face, she decided to package together some knowledge points Long Tao might be able to use and send them all over.
How he used them—and whether they worked—would depend on him.
Just then, a maid outside the door announced that the guests she had been waiting for had arrived.
Yaxi quickly instructed them to be brought in.
Three young girls entered the room one after another, stood in a line, and bowed together.
“Greetings, Saintess.”
“No need to be so formal,” Yaxi said with a smile. “Come, Long Xi, Xiao Ying, and Wu Yun. I promised to teach you how to make desserts today.”
Long Xi was so nervous that she could barely speak clearly.
Even now, she still did not understand why this Saintess of the Hehuan Sect—so beautiful she hardly seemed human—had specifically chosen her to be some kind of dessert-making assistant.
She had even gathered the courage to ask if she could bring Jiang Wu Yun and Xiao Ying along.
And the Saintess had casually agreed.
Yet she herself was only an ordinary Five Spiritual Roots Qi Refining Disciple.
Xiao Ying, on the other hand, was not so nervous.
With a small turtle perched on her head, she curiously approached the table.
Seeing the writing on it, she asked with interest,
“Saintess, are you practicing calligraphy?”
Yaxi’s heart skipped a beat.
She had forgotten to put the paper away!
So she could only stiffly answer,
“Yes… unfortunately, my handwriting isn’t very good.”
“What character is that?” Xiao Ying tilted her head and asked.
“Uh… the ‘jiao’ from ‘wrestling.’”
“Why is it written so wide? I thought it was two characters.”
“That’s why I said… my handwriting is bad.”
Yaxi gave an awkward laugh and hurriedly crumpled the paper into a ball.