Chapter 60: The Coming Storm

“Princess.”

“Wh… what is it?”

“Your soul source exploding like fireworks—you are truly the first person in the cultivation world to achieve such a feat.”

“……”

Ning Shengsheng stood up elegantly, pretending nothing had happened. She said with earnest gravity, “Your experience is still too limited. You should go out and see the world more.”

To avoid staying there and feeling awkward, she tidied her hair and walked over to Yun Huaiyue.

“Is Your Majesty talking about the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Pill? I certainly know the refinement method.”

“Really?” Ning Xuan looked agitated.

Yun Huaiyue cupped her face, looking at Ning Xuan with starry eyes. “Why would I lie to you? The difficulty isn’t the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Pill itself, but that refining it requires Earth Core Fire Essence.”

“Earth Core Fire Essence.” Ning Xuan lowered his eyes in thought. “I have heard of it. Rumor has it that it lies beneath the Magma Sea in the far south, shaped like a red gemstone, and guarded by a Fire Flood Dragon.”

“That’s right. It is extremely dangerous.”

Yun Huaiyue said solemnly, “That is why the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Pill is something that has a price but no market.”

“Older Brother, what are you talking about?”

Ning Shengsheng walked over and sat down next to Yun Huaiyue. She couldn’t be bothered with the soul source exploding back and forth in her head; it only hurt at the beginning, now she didn’t feel anything.

“Nothing much, just asking Miss Yun for advice on alchemy.”

Ning Xuan turned his head to look at Yun Huaiyue, signaling her not to say more.

Yun Huaiyue glanced at Ning Shengsheng, who had no cultivation, understood his meaning, and helped change the subject.

“Junior Sister Ning, I heard the Eight-Treasure Gourd Duck and Lotus Pastry in your capital are delicious. Will you take me?”

“Sure!” Ning Shengsheng agreed with a smile, her gaze focused on Yun Huaiyue’s face.

She was curious. Wearing a human skin mask in such hot weather, wasn’t it stuffy?

Yun Huaiyue saw Ning Shengsheng’s gaze wandering over her face and felt a bit guilty.

“Junior Sister Ning, is there something dirty on my face?”

“No.” Ning Shengsheng’s gaze fell on the other party’s eyes, which always seemed to hold affection.

Such a beautiful pair of peach blossom eyes.

They were completely incongruous with the rest of her face. Anyone with a brain would know she was wearing a human skin mask.

Yun Huaiyue let out a sigh of relief. She had thought her disguise had been discovered by Junior Sister Ning. Before leaving the valley, her mother had said her face was too attention-grabbing and might attract trouble, so she specially had Senior Brother Dongfang make a human skin mask.

Ning Shengsheng couldn’t bear to expose her. She turned to ask Ning Xuan how long it would take to return to the imperial palace.

Even with the flying ship traveling at full speed, it would take another four shichen (eight hours).

Ning Shengsheng glanced at Ning Xuan, then swept her eyes over Yun Huaiyue, secretly wondering.

In the novel’s plot, the two fell in love at first sight.

Why did it seem now that Yun Huaiyue had feelings for Ning Xuan, but her silly big brother didn’t seem to have any ideas?

What was going on?

Could it be because of the human skin mask?

In the original book, Yun Huaiyue was unexpectedly taken into the palace for the selection without any disguise on her face.

Tsk tsk…

Ning Xuan, this man who only cared about looks.

She despised him!

Today was another day of supporting Yun Huaiyue getting together directly with Ling Hegui.

After enduring eight hours of hard seating, they finally returned to the capital of Great Ning.

As the flying ship traveled above the capital, Ning Shengsheng keenly sensed that something was wrong. Perhaps it had to do with her cultivating soul techniques.

She could vaguely see black, thread-like foreign objects floating above the capital. The normally bustling market in the city center, usually filled with the energetic shouts of commoners, was different.

Now, the commoners passing by looked gloomy and depressed. Some clearly had dark clouds hanging over their foreheads.

“How could this be?” Ning Xuan frowned tightly, a trace of suspicion flashing in his sharp eyes.

“Return to the palace immediately. Summon Pei Yuan and Meng Jingyang to the study.”

“This slave will go invite Master Pei and Master Meng right away.”

“Xue Chen, escort An’an and Miss Yun back to Zhaoxia Palace,” Ning Xuan turned and instructed. “Look after them.”

Xue Chen: “This subject obeys.”

As soon as they got off the flying ship, Ning Xuan rushed to the assembly hall.

Xue Chen escorted Ning Shengsheng and Yun Huaiyue back to Zhaoxia Palace.

Knowing that the situation in Ning Country was wrong, he reminded them, “Miss Yun, Great Ning may be in danger. Why don’t you return to the Qingling Sect tomorrow?”

Ning Shengsheng thought for a moment. “Xue Chen is right. I’ll write a letter and ask Lu Youxin to come pick you up.”

Calling Songgao over, she immediately sent a letter to the Qingling Sect. This eldest miss of the Hundred Herb Valley absolutely could not come to any harm.

Yun Huaiyue was confused. She asked weakly, “Is it that serious? Isn’t His Majesty and the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion here?”

“I’m afraid so.”

It was more serious than imagined.

Ning Shengsheng had originally thought that Great Ning’s calamity should be Xue Chen, not this emergence of demons and monsters. After all, it wasn’t in the original book.

Now, a plot that wasn’t in the original book had appeared. She didn’t know if it was the butterfly effect caused by her transmigration, or if these things had happened in the original book but the author just didn’t write about them.

The author had spent a huge amount of space writing about the abusive romance. The plot aspect was almost blank, only mentioning a few major changes in the cultivation world.

Since this wasn’t written, changing the perspective, did it mean Great Ning would be fine in the end?

Thinking this through, she wasn’t as panicked as at the beginning. Ning Shengsheng methodically directed Songgao to settle Yun Huaiyue in.

After finishing, she saw Xue Chen still in the courtyard.

She said, “You move into Zhaoxia Palace.”

The young man was stunned for a moment, hesitating. “That’s not appropriate, is it?”

He wasn’t the prince consort yet. How could a man live in the princess’s residence?

“In extraordinary times, don’t worry about those rules.” Ning Shengsheng waved her hand潇洒ly.

“Zaoni, clean up the side hall.”

Xue Chen looked up at the sky, looking somewhat at a loss.

After everyone was settled, Ning Shengsheng returned to her room and asked the system.

“You saw those black foreign objects in the capital just now too. Do you know what they are?”

【It should be demonic energy.】

“What kind of monster can affect an entire city?”

【If it emerges, it’s at least at the peak of the Spirit Transformation Aperture.】

An early-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator could be the leader of a sect.

Aside from that ancestor of the Hundred Herb Valley who had the power to fight, who could resist?

Ning Shengsheng wished she could go back to the modern world, shake the author awake, and ask her how to survive this difficulty.

【Host, observing the chaotic minds and dark foreheads of the citizens in the city, it is extremely likely that their essence and energy are being sucked away.】

“And we don’t even know where the monster is,” Ning Shengsheng said with a bitter smile.

No wonder when she first transmigrated, there were so many turbid souls floating in the imperial palace. She thought they were wronged souls of the deep palace.

It turned out there was an evil demon harming people.

She summoned the Mirror Demon.

“Can you deduce the location of the evil demon harming people through the mirror demons in the city?”

“I’ll try.”

The young man jumped into the bronze mirror.

After a while, he drilled out again.

“No good.” The Mirror Demon shook his head. “They were intimidated by the demonic energy and have all sealed themselves.”

When a great demon appears, this is the self-protection method of small demons. If they didn’t temporarily seal themselves, they would very likely become puppets of the evil demon.

“Sigh…”

Ning Shengsheng sighed, feeling deeply powerless.

She didn’t notice that the Huan Li egg on the bed had quietly finished drawing all the patterns.

The golden lines flickered.

It was as if the thing inside was breathing.

“I hope Older Brother and Master Pei can think of a way.”

The person with the highest cultivation in the Great Ning Imperial Palace was Meng Jingyang, at the Half-step Spirit Transformation realm, followed by Ning Xuan and Pei Yuan.

With such combat power, could they deal with the giant demon that appeared out of nowhere?