Qing Wu, dressed in her sleepwear, went out and immediately saw the prayer beads and dagger on the table.
A playful smile flickered in her eyes as Qing Wu looked at the man lying on the bed with his back to her.
The Judge's Brush's voice echoed in her mind:
"He's so brave~ He actively discarded those ghost-repelling prayer beads and is pretending to be asleep with his back to you, luring you in~"
"Qing Wu, you bad ghost, hurry up and drain him dry!"
Qing Wu ignored the Judge's Brush and walked to the bedside.
"Is Your Highness asleep?"
Xiao Chenyan remained motionless.
Qing Wu smirked, kicked off her shoes, and got into bed. With a flick of her finger, the dragon and phoenix candles in the room extinguished.
The moment darkness returned, Xiao Chenyan opened his eyes.
This woman clearly got into bed first, and then the candles went out. How did she do it?
When he had held her hand earlier, he had quietly investigated. Her pulse was normal, indicating she was alive, but she had no internal energy, meaning she wasn't a martial artist.
So, was it truly an evil ghost possessing a corpse?
As he pondered, a hand crept up to his waist:
"Your Highness, are you really asleep?"
A soft, yielding female body pressed close, so near that through the thin undergarment, Xiao Chenyan could clearly feel her curves.
A chilling emotion surged in the man's eyes, yet his body remained relaxed, like a beast lurking in the night, waiting for its prey's next move.
He had given her the opportunity to get close, now he would see what she intended to do.
"I'm a little cold. Your Highness is a man with abundant yang energy, warm me up, won't you~" As she spoke, the woman's body pressed even closer.
A cold breeze brushed past Xiao Chenyan's ear.
Xiao Chenyan felt a chilling ghost qi and heard the woman's suddenly sinister tone: "Ignoring me, huh? If you ignore me, I'll eat you~"
A strange drowsiness suddenly struck him. He realized something was wrong and abruptly grabbed the woman's hand that was fiddling with his waist.
Before he could do anything more, he lost consciousness.
"Tsk, you wanted to pretend, you wanted to test me, I'll let you have your wish." Qing Wu withdrew her hand, pulled the man over, and gave his handsome face a good kneading.
The Judge's Brush's voice sounded in her mind: "Confirmed, you and he not only have kindness between you, but also grievances."
Qing Wu snorted, yes, there was kindness. As for grievances, there were quite a few.
After all, in her previous life, he always took advantage of being a few years older, taller, and with longer legs to call her a little bean!
He often pinched her face when she wasn't paying attention, saying her chubby face was the easiest to pinch.
Heh, who's pinching whom now?
After leaving several red marks on his handsome face, Qing Wu felt refreshed. Only then did she get to work. She unfastened Xiao Chenyan's undergarment and saw that his waist and abdomen were wrapped in bandages, with bloodstains seeping through.
His chest, shoulders, collarbone... everywhere visible to the naked eye were scars, new wounds layered over old, a shocking sight.
Qing Wu's beautiful eyes trembled. Just looking at these wounds, she knew how difficult his past ten years had been. Her slender fingers couldn't help but trace those scars.
Judge's Brush: "Tsk tsk, he's really tough to survive. Fortunately, ordinary people aren't like him, otherwise it would greatly affect the underworld's revenue."
Qing Wu rolled her eyes and directly dipped the Judge's Brush in some of his blood: "Stop with the nonsense. Taste his blood properly and see what's going on with him."
The Judge's Brush first spat a few times, then slurped its saliva, begging for more.
Finally, under Qing Wu's fierce gaze, it regained its survival instinct.
"The life-snatching malevolent energy on him has been there for at least ten years, otherwise it wouldn't have reached this point of yin wind entering the bones. It's clear he has someone from the Xuanmen sect around him, helping him suppress the malevolent energy, but with little effect."
"What can suppress this pervasive yin energy is, ninety percent, his own willpower and the killing intent accumulated from years of battlefield combat."
"After all~ ghosts are also afraid of villains."
"However, being eroded by yin cold year after year, feeling like deep winter even in midsummer, and he hasn't gone mad. Qing Wu, you bad ghost, your old acquaintance's willpower is monstrously abnormal."
Qing Wu's red lips curled up, with a hint of pride: "Of course~"
Judge's Brush: Why are you proud of praising him?
Qing Wu slapped the Judge's Brush's body: "What nonsense! I told you to taste his blood to track down who inflicted the life-snatching malevolent energy on him."
"It's too troublesome. Just use your Yin Official Seal to investigate and you'll know."
Qing Wu rolled her eyes. If she used the Yin Official Seal, the underworld would know she had snuck into the human realm.
The Judge's Brush knew this well and said, "The person who inflicted the life-snatching malevolent energy on him had some skill and cleaned up their tracks thoroughly, so I can't track them. However, I've remembered the aura. If I encounter them, I'll definitely recognize them."
"What use are you!" Qing Wu batted the Judge's Brush away and leaned close to Xiao Chenyan's handsome face, muttering:
"For the sake of our childhood friendship, I'll help you. Otherwise, who would care if you lived or died..."
Although Xiao Chenyan had been put into a drowsy state by Qing Wu's ghost power, his willpower was indeed astonishing, and he had been trying to wake up.
It was like being trapped in a dream, through a fog, he could vaguely hear the woman's murmuring, and even feel her hands acting up on him.
But his body couldn't move, and he couldn't hear what she was specifically saying.
In his daze, Xiao Chenyan felt a clear and cold aura approach him, like snowflakes landing on his lips and teeth during the first snow, carrying a faint, elusive fragrance.
That fragrance was inexplicably familiar, seeming to have appeared in his memory.
This fragrance... belonged to whom?
This momentary distraction caused his consciousness to sink into a vast fog, becoming muddled.
The fragrance gradually drew out the bone-deep chill that had resided within him for years, like a maggot attached to bone. Subconsciously, he grasped that wisp of fragrance, and grasped it tighter...
In his daze, he seemed to hear the woman's muffled groan.
Qing Wu had only lightly brushed his lips to absorb the malevolent energy for him. She hadn't expected the man to suddenly hug her waist, and caught off guard, she bumped into his lips.
Qing Wu pushed herself up and glared hatefully at the handsome face.
"Even when you're asleep, you've learned to take advantage of people!"
Her lips hurt a little from the collision. Qing Wu rubbed her lips, her eyes glinting slyly. Her fingernails scratched his neck, leaving a few ambiguous red marks.
Then...
"Here you go!"
She kicked Xiao Chenyan off the bed. With a thud, the man rolled to the floor. She stretched out in a starfish position, comfortably occupying the entire bed.
Xiao Chenyan, whose consciousness was muddled, was also half-awakened by the kick. He clearly heard the words "Here you go!"
Beneath his tightly closed eyelids, his eyeballs moved, but he couldn't open them, and his body still couldn't move.
On the bed, Qing Wu pulled the quilt over herself and fell sound asleep.
The room returned to silence.
Until the moment dawn broke.
Xiao Chenyan felt the restraints on him disappear and suddenly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the carved coffer ceiling above him.
He pushed himself up with his arms, his phoenix eyes revealing his emotions as he looked at his open undergarment, while also feeling pain in his face, neck, and... back and waist.
The new pain on his body was unrelated to his old injuries.
It was more like he had rolled on the ground. As for his face and neck, he wasn't sure of the cause.
Xiao Chenyan looked towards the figure sleeping soundly on the bed.
The woman was sleeping sprawled out, with no regard for posture.
His gaze, dark and unreadable, moved to the bedside. After a few breaths, reason prevailed over the urge to kill.
How had he fallen asleep last night?
What had happened after he fell asleep?
This woman... had kicked him out of bed?
The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed. However, last night, this woman had the opportunity to kill him but didn't?
"Princess Consort..." Xiao Chenyan restrained his tone.
The woman on the bed frowned, her beautiful face showing impatience. She directly rolled over, wrapped herself in the quilt, covered her head, and continued to sleep.
Xiao Chenyan: "...Yun, Qing, Wu!"
From inside the quilt: "So noisy, get out!"
Xiao Chenyan: "..."
Except for when he was stripped of his status as Crown Prince over a decade ago and bestowed the humiliating title of 'Prince Yan', and for the years he commanded troops in the Northern Territory, no one had ever spoken to him in such a tone.
Emotions surged again. The angrier he became, the calmer his expression grew.
"Does the Princess Consort want this King to personally escort you out of bed?"
The quilt was lifted from the inside, revealing the woman's angry dark eyes. Her face still held sleepiness, and her pouting expression made her look like a little beast whose peaceful dream had been disturbed, its fur standing on end.
Last night, I shouldn't have just kicked you out of bed. I should have gagged you and nailed you to the wall!
Qing Wu smiled without warmth: "Your Highness isn't old, yet you're like an old person, sleeping so little."
Xiao Chenyan coldly smiled: "This King is injured and wanted to sleep more, but somehow ended up on the ground. Perhaps the Princess Consort can explain to this King?"
"Your Highness, you still want me to explain." Qing Wu feigned surprise, covered her mouth, and suddenly hissed.
Xiao Chenyan then noticed the cut on her lip and that her lips were slightly red and swollen. His eyelids twitched.
An ominous feeling arose in his heart.
He saw Qing Wu looking at him with a shy expression and seductive eyes like silk, her tone ambiguous: "Your Highness, what did you do to me last night? Have you forgotten?"
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