NOVPUBChapter 73
Standing before the Demon Prison, Ji Zhiqing took a deep breath and stepped forward with her token.
The door slowly opened.
Since it was daytime, the interior was well-lit, and the surroundings were clearly visible.
Rows of cells remained, but the demonic beasts inside had vanished.
Ji Zhiqing wasn’t surprised.
She had heard from Xiao Qin that after learning of Yu Hua’s golden page ability, the Sect Master had helped him sacrifice all the demonic beasts. Thus, the Demon Prison was now a misnomer.
It seemed plans were underway to renovate it entirely.
Walking down the narrow corridor, Ji Zhiqing grew increasingly uneasy.
Even though she had regained her Nascent Soul-level strength, she still felt a strange vulnerability in the youth’s presence, as if she were inherently suppressed in front of him.
It was utterly peculiar.
Just as Ji Zhiqing was about to turn back, light appeared below.
Gritting her teeth, she resolutely descended.
Soon, the scene on the lowest level came into view.
Compared to her last visit, the room had been transformed into an elegant and luxurious space. Even the unsightly iron bars had been completely removed.
Stylistically, it no longer resembled a prison.
At the moment, on the most prominent purple sandalwood bed carved with dragon motifs, Ning Chen lay half-naked against the headboard.
A charming woman in a peach-patterned fitted dress, adorned with cow horns and a tail, knelt by the bed, her delicate hands meticulously massaging his outer leg.
Beside her, another woman with rabbit ears and a black bamboo-patterned dress knelt, holding a delicate fruit plate on her snow-white knees.
She lowered her head, using a silver pick infused with spiritual energy to remove the black seeds from a piece of dragon fruit.
Then, with a fork, she eagerly offered the white flesh to the man beside her.
Ning Chen glanced over and casually instructed, “Change it. I want the red one.”
“Yes, Master,” the bamboo-clad attendant replied respectfully, setting down the freshly prepared white dragon fruit and quickly picking up a piece of the red one to prepare it.
Seeing this, Ji Zhiqing was speechless.
Was the Qinglian Sect secretly treating this person like an ancestor? 𝚗o𝚟pub.𝚌𝚘𝚖
Well… thinking about it, it made sense.
This young man was single-handedly carrying the entire Qinglian Sect on his shoulders.
But why dress a perfectly normal person up like some kind of spirit creature?
Ji Zhiqing remained still.
...
Hearing footsteps, Ning Chen looked up. Upon seeing the visitor, he smiled and greeted her first, “Isn’t this Elder Ji? What a rare guest.”
His words weren’t mere politeness. Since that day, he truly hadn’t seen her again.
“Elder Ji,” the bamboo and peach-clad attendants stood up and bowed respectfully before quickly sitting back down to continue their tasks.
If they met outside, they might have struck up a conversation due to her status and cultivation level.
But within the Demon Prison, they always remembered their role as servants.
“Greetings, Young Master Ning,” Ji Zhiqing bowed slightly to Ning Chen, placing him on equal, if not higher, footing than herself.
After all, no matter how you looked at it, he was her greatest benefactor.
Ning Chen lowered his head and ate the fruit offered by the bamboo-clad attendant.
After chewing slowly, he asked with apparent interest, “One doesn’t visit the treasure hall without a purpose. What brings Elder Ji here?”
“I came to…” Ji Zhiqing opened her mouth but stopped, realizing her request might sound crude. After a moment of thought, she awkwardly phrased it, “Young Master Ning, I’ve come to request the materials needed to refine the Qinglian Chongyang Pills.”
“Materials for refining pills?” Ning Chen looked puzzled. “If you’re missing materials, go get them. Why come to me?”
“You!” Ji Zhiqing was momentarily stunned.
He was definitely doing this on purpose, right?
She had sent Xiao Qin to retrieve the essence several times already. The number of Qinglian Chongyang Pills refined was close to two thousand. How could he not know!
Yet, despite this, Ji Zhiqing forced a gentle smile.
“Young Master Ning, please don’t joke.”
“Joke? Who’s joking?”
“Elder Ji hasn’t said what’s missing. How am I supposed to know what you want?” Ning Chen spoke matter-of-factly, fully intent on playing the fool.
When he first met this woman, although she was a rare triple-red, she was a spirit without a physical form—something to look at but not touch. Thus, he hadn’t been particularly interested.
However, after she fully materialized, Ning Chen found himself quite tempted by the obvious 300,000 experience points she represented, which was three-fifths of his daily experience limit.
If he could replicate that, it would be a significant boost.
Originally, since she hadn’t shown up, he had almost forgotten about her.
But now that she had come to him of her own accord, he naturally wouldn’t let such a fat duck fly away easily.
Ning Chen was curious about the differences between a materialized spirit and a human.
Would she feel hard?
...
Faced with Ning Chen’s pretense of not understanding unless explicitly told, even Ji Zhiqing, with her centuries of patience, felt a bit frustrated.
But she feared that speaking too harshly might anger Ning Chen and cause him to refuse her request.
Biting her lip lightly, Ji Zhiqing blushed and finally stammered, “Give me your… nectar!”
Hearing this, Ning Chen finally spoke as if he understood, “Ah, so that’s what it is. Elder Ji, you should have said so earlier!”
“Everything Elder Ji does is for the sect, and I am part of the sect too. Naturally, I won’t refuse.”
“Come here.”
“Thank you,” Ji Zhiqing nodded gratefully, taking out a container to hold the nectar. She then turned to the bamboo and peach-clad attendants on the bed and requested, “Could you two help me retrieve some nectar? I’ll thank you properly later.”
But her words were met with silence.
It was Ning Chen who spoke up.
“Elder Ji, they are only here to attend to my daily needs. It’s best not to trouble others with such tasks.”
Ning Chen raised his hand and pointed to the source of the nectar.
He smiled faintly, his tone casual, “So, you’ll have to retrieve it yourself.”
