"Hmm… A usable talent?"
Ning Chen instinctively turned his gaze to Liu Ruyan, who sat with closed eyes, deep in cultivation. Moments later, her status panel materialized:
[Liu Ruyan]
[Identity: Green Lotus Sect Leader]
[Age: 148]
[Cultivation: Nascent Soul Peak (Advancing to Spirit Transformation Realm)]
[Talent: Indomitable Will (Blue-tier – Gains bursts of strength when exhausted during evenly matched battles.)]
[Physique: None]
[Divine Abilities: None]
[Beauty Score: 96]
A combat-oriented talent? Ning Chen mused. No wonder she always rallies at the brink of collapse.
Aside from her striking appearance, her panel revealed mediocre aptitude—her rise to power clearly propped up by his exploitation.
Even a mosquito's meat is still meat. He selected "Replicate."
His updated panel:
[Talent 1: Replication]
[Talent 2: Indomitable Will (Blue-tier – +100 experience/day)]
Now earning 10,100 daily experience, Ning Chen shifted focus to Liu Ruyan's breakthrough.
Visible spiritual energy crashed against an invisible barrier. Each faltering surge reignited from her lower dantian—fueled by the Supreme Yang Holy Body's inexhaustible power.
Pathetic, Ning Chen sneered inwardly. A talentless hack leeching off my essence. Had he cultivated freely, immortality would've been his without struggle.
Crack!
Hours later, a crystalline shatter echoed. Liu Ruyan's robes billowed as tidal spiritual energy erupted around her, the pressure of the Spirit Transformation Realm rippling outward.
Ning Chen arched a brow. She broke through… already? My Yang essence truly is potent.
Yet the shockwaves dissolved upon hitting the bed, absorbed by a flickering lotus seal—the Green Lotus Sealing Array, the sect's supreme defensive formation, repurposed here with even finer materials.
An hour passed. Liu Ruyan opened her eyes, radiant triumph gleaming beneath feigned calm. Success. She was now a Spirit Transformation sovereign.
Noticing the triggered array, she softened instantly. How could she let her precious disciple suffer?
Removing the jade stopper, she found her "reserves" drained dry—every drop consumed during her breakthrough. She drifted to the bed, tracing Ning Chen's face with icy fingers.
"Does it hurt, my dear disciple?" she cooed, undoing the spirit chains. Red marks marred his wrists.
Like a zealot worshipping a relic, she pressed her lips to his skin. A Nascent Soul cultivator's saliva alone held healing properties. The marks vanished.
Ning Chen endured silently. Madwoman.
Liu Ruyan stepped back, letting her disheveled robes fall. She paused, allowing Ning Chen a lingering view, before donning fresh regalia. Transformed back into the frosty sect leader, she summoned a small table beside the bed.
Steaming delicacies—Braised Deep-Sea Spirit Clam, Flame-Roasted Demon Tiger Tendon—and a jade gourd appeared.
"Eat well," she whispered, gesturing to the gourd. "The pills inside will sustain you this month. With my breakthrough, the sect's ascension begins. I'll… miss you."
Ning Chen said nothing.
The prison door thudded shut. Only after her footsteps faded did he rise, eyeing the feast.
Deep-sea clams? Tiger tendons? He grimaced. She knows my Holy Body self-heals. Is she fattening livestock?