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Chapter 10: One Sentence of “No Regrets” from the Empress Nearly Cost Ning Bei Half His Life.

In the face of the remnant soul’s complaints, Ning Bei and Qin Jiujiu acted as though they heard nothing.

They leaned together and began to whisper.

“Jiujiu, it wants to seize our bodies.”

“You noticed too?” Qin Jiujiu looked surprised and lowered her voice. “We are standing on an array; it carries the aura of a sacrificial formation.”

“Since this old thing is no good, we can stop playing nice.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Whatever feels the most satisfying…want to give it a shot?” Ning Bei curled his lips and stared meaningfully into the girl’s beautiful eyes.

“Do it right here?”

Meeting Qin Jiujiu’s questioning gaze, Ning Bei nodded solemnly.

He had already come up with a plan that did not require leaving the remnant soul’s sacrificial array and would allow them to tear masks then and there.

When she saw Ning Bei’s determination, Qin Jiujiu nodded as well.

She also had a trump card; even if Ning Bei’s plan went awry, she could still seize control and at least drag him out alive.

“What are you two brats whispering about? Did your elders never teach you manners?”

Receiving no reply for a long time, the remnant soul gradually lost patience.

“Shut up, old ghost.” Ning Bei dropped the act and drew a Soul-Melting Talisman from his sleeve, one he had exchanged for in the system store.

This talisman could refine any spirit body and convert it into spiritual power for absorption.

“Whelp, you dare speak to me in such a tone? I had thought of granting you a bit of fortune, but it seems you are unworthy.”

As he spoke, the remnant soul looked at Qin Jiujiu. “Young lady, you are far more polite; rest assured, I shall guide you onto the broad road to greatness.”

“Senior, what is that behind you?”

Qin Jiujiu raised her jade-white hand and asked in feigned surprise.

The moment the remnant soul reflexively turned, several rune-carved wooden darts appeared in Qin Jiujiu’s hand; once she poured mystic power into them, they shone with dazzling blue light.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

With a flick of her wrist, the darts shot dozens of yards in a flash and lodged themselves in different spots on the ground.

Each location was a critical node of the array.

Boom…

When the formation halted abruptly, a terrifying shockwave rippled outward.

“What?”

Sensing the disturbance, the remnant soul jerked back. “Young lady, what are you doing?”

“The array has been sealed; your little scheme failed.”

Qin Jiujiu’s voice was icy.

“You… ha-ha.”

At this point the remnant soul knew further words were useless and burst into laughter. “I have lain dormant all these years waiting for the right chance. You two are indeed clever enough to detect my Heaven’s Condemnation Soul Array, yet you are still too young if you think sealing the array can change the fate I control.”

Boom!

A tyrannical pressure erupted from the remnant soul’s tottering body, and in an instant the entire cavern quaked.

“Even without a physical body, I am not someone you ants can oppose!”

As he spoke, the remnant soul thrust out a hand; midway, the spectral palm expanded to blot out the sky and grabbed toward Ning Bei.

At that moment, the remnant soul laughed maniacally, clearly treating the pair as nothing.

After all, in his prime he had been a figure who stirred the world.

“Hand it over!”

Just as the remnant soul closed in, Ning Bei flicked his hidden Soul-Melting Talisman, and it slapped onto the ghost’s brow in a flash.

Thud…

A second earlier the remnant soul had seemed unstoppable; the next, it hung frozen in mid-air.

The motes of power it released were sucked into the talisman at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“What?”

The remnant soul’s expression changed drastically.

Feeling its strength drain away, it shrieked, “Whelp, what are you doing… stop this at once… aah…”

With only a sliver of power left to sustain it, the remnant soul screamed hysterically.

Qin Jiujiu looked at Ning Bei in amazement. “Where did you learn a trick like that?”

Subduing a spirit with a single talisman…and apparently siphoning its power…was a method even she could not produce right now.

Ning Bei shook his head and smiled. “I’ll teach you later.”

“Mm?” Qin Jiujiu blinked, then broke into a sweet smile. “Okay.”

Before long, the remnant soul’s screams faded, and its figure vanished.

The Soul-Melting Talisman flew into Ning Bei’s hand; after sensing it, he exclaimed, “Whoa, it still holds this much spiritual power…Jiujiu, we might break through if we refine it.”

“You refine it yourself; after all, you…”

“Come on.”

Before Qin Jiujiu could finish, Ning Bei pulled her to a flat spot and insisted she share in the process.

After all, the saying went that the strongest bonds were forged by doing bad things together, not good ones.

Ning Bei had an idea that might bind this reincarnated Empress to him for good.

Under Ning Bei’s enthusiastic invitation, Qin Jiujiu could not refuse, so they refined the spiritual energy together, and she felt gratified by his generosity.

A short while later, after they finished absorbing the energy, the talisman crumbled into ash.

Ning Bei and Qin Jiujiu’s cultivation simultaneously rose to the late Foundation Establishment stage.

“If I hadn’t taken half your energy, you might have been able to attempt the Core Formation realm,” Qin Jiujiu said, pressing her lips together as she looked at Ning Bei.

Ning Bei laughed. “Don’t say that; at the brink of life and death, you were the only one who stayed with me.”

At his words, Qin Jiujiu’s gaze flickered, and she hurried to change the subject. “You’re such a good person… I wonder if Lin Yueyao has something wrong with her head, not cherishing you at all.”

“Ha, it’s all in the past,” Ning Bei said breezily. “Besides, without her contrast, how would I know how wonderful you are?”

“Hm?”

The sudden praise made Qin Jiujiu’s face flush red.

Her heartbeat quickened, and she spoke nervously. “Um… for centuries the academy has treated the remnant soul as a boon. We dealt with it for self-preservation, but refining it like this… if word gets out, the academy might blame us.”

“Don’t worry; I’ll say it was my decision and has nothing to do with you,” Ning Bei replied earnestly.

“No.”

Qin Jiujiu refused without hesitation. “We decided together, and our cultivation changes can’t be faked. Let’s just claim we obtained a legacy, and after we inherited it the remnant soul exhausted its power and disappeared…that sounds more logical.”

Hearing this, Ning Bei almost laughed out loud.

He had shared the energy with Qin Jiujiu precisely to get her onto the same boat.

Now that she suggested lying together, it fit his wishes perfectly.

The bond was truly sealed.

Of course, Ning Bei still had to appear steady. “That plan is good, but the idea to refine it was mine… Jiujiu, I led you down this crooked path.”

“Don’t say that. If I hadn’t wanted to, how could you have forced me?” Qin Jiujiu met his gaze and smiled softly.

“Besides, I don’t think it’s a crooked path. Even if everyone else does, I am willing to walk it with you, and I won’t regret it.”

“Jiujiu…”

Ning Bei froze.

In that instant, the words he had prepared seemed pale and unnecessary before her sincere feelings.

Moved by that sincerity, he lost himself for a moment and clasped Qin Jiujiu’s jade-white hand.

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