Having her slender hand suddenly grabbed by Long Chen, Chu Yao’s pretty body shook and two red spots appeared over her cheeks.

A bit of panic flashed over her eyes, but she didn’t take her hand away. She secretly glanced at Long Chen and realized that he was actually a bit puzzled.

When Long Chen glanced up at Chu Yao’s face, he momentarily forgot what he was doing. She was like a blooming flower with eyes like sparkling jewels, and it was simply impossible not to be moved by her beauty.

“Cough.” Chu Yao became even redder when Long Chen just foolishly looked at her. But within her beautiful eyes was happiness as well. With a cough, she turned her head down and didn’t dare to look at Long Chen again. Only the gentle warmth transmitted from his hand continued to warm her heart.

Taking a deep breath, Long Chen calmed himself back down. She had an air of being too high to reach, and yet, also a contradicting gentle softness of a woman.

The Chu Yao who had arrogantly captured him in a net and the current gentle and shy Chu Yao were completely different.

Suppressing his wildly jumping heart, Long Chen used his Spiritual Strength to follow along the meridians within Chu Yao’s hand and slowly enter into her Dantian.

Actually, with Long Chen’s strength, at such proximity, it was entirely possible for him to examine Chu Yao without touching her.

But doing so would mean that Chu Yao would be essentially naked in front of Long Chen. Maybe Long Chen wasn’t so against that, but he was afraid that afterward, she might once again capture him inside a net.

Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength gently entered into her Dantian. But when he saw what was going on, even with his self-control, he couldn’t help having his expression turn ugly.

“What is it?” Chu Yao was alarmed at his dark gaze.

Long Chen’s anger was due to the fact that nine types of foreign spiritual energy were currently locked and fixed within her Dantian.

Those nine foreign spiritual energies were like nine saplings planted into a fertile farm; they were incessantly absorbing Chu Yao’s spiritual energy away, leaving her with only a fraction for her own use.

No wonder her spiritual energy was so frail and disorderly! So she was just like Long Chen and had been schemed against by others.

Even more infuriating was that there was a Spirit Root that released a dense qi. Although he wasn’t sure what level she was at, Long Chen knew she was definitely a rare genius seen only once in a thousand years.

Such a genius had been wasted away like this. But just this wouldn’t have aroused Long Chen’s killing intent.

Long Chen had found that those nine foreign spiritual energies were following along her Spirit Root, and in the future, when she married and lost her virginity, the spiritual energy that had been absorbed by them for years would be silently snatched away!

That was the most hateful thing. A princess of this generation, a beauty that could topple cities, had been used by someone as a chess piece. This was clearly the result of some sort of scheme.

And as for Chu Yao, she didn’t seem to know anything about it! Long Chen couldn’t help feeling empathy for this beautiful woman.

“Long Chen, what’s going on?” His expression was complicated, and Chu Yao was somewhat alarmed by it.

“Chu Yao, do you trust me?” Long Chen hesitated for a moment before solemnly asking her this.

Seeing his extremely serious manner, Chu Yao also sensed something. But she didn’t hesitate. Looking Long Chen in the eyes, she said, “You are the person I trust the most.”

Long Chen heart warmed. “Your Dantian has been altered by others.”

But what surprised Long Chen was that Chu Yao didn’t have that great of a reaction. Helplessness appeared in her sad eyes.

Looking at the distant mountain peaks, her jade hands gently brushed back her hair that was blown wild by the wind. She quietly said, “If you say this secret out loud, you might be implicated with the people from my family. Are you not afraid?”

“You already knew?”

“Can you answer me first?” asked Chu Yao.

Long Chen bitterly smiled. “Since we’ve chosen to trust each other, then even if I were to lose my life, it would be worth it.”

“Trust? Trust?”

Chu Yao mumbled that word over and over. She suddenly threw herself at Long Chen’s chest and began to weep loudly. Her tears flowed out as if a dam had been broken, as if she wanted all her grievances to be swept away.

Despite having such a beautiful woman in his arms, Long Chen didn’t have the slightest intention of being charming. Instead, his heart was also filled with a kind of mourning.

Long Chen had been even worse off than Chu Yao. His Spirit Root, Spirit Bone, and Spirit Blood had all been stolen. If he hadn’t suddenly fused with a Pill God’s soul, he would perhaps still be completely in the dark.

At some point, his arms had wrapped around her slender waist and tightly hugged her. Smelling the scent of her hair, it felt as if they were the last two people on earth.

After crying for forever, Chu Yao finally stopped her sobbing. Long Chen’s chest was already completely wet from her tears.

Her face suddenly turned completely red, and she quickly escaped Long Chen’s embrace. She turned away from him, but inside, she was filled with both happiness and hesitation.

Long Chen awkwardly coughed and asked, “Chu Yao, when did you learn that your Dantian had been tampered with?”

Chu Yao slowly recovered herself and turned back to look at him. “When I was young and before my father, the emperor, entered seclusion, he told me I was this generation’s martial cultivation genius and might even be able to ascend beyond the empire. Before he entered seclusion, I was greatly encouraged to cultivate, and I truly did work hard at the beginning. But when I turned ten, my mother suddenly became sick. She turned gravely ill, and before we could even invite grandmaster Yun Qi, she had already left this world.”

Arriving at this point in her story, her tears once more began to slowly flow out. She seemed to have sunk back into her memories of that time.

“At that time, my little brother and I were still young. But as we grew older, we gradually learned about the palace’s internal struggles. I realized my mother’s death was definitely no accident. But all the evidence had long since disappeared. I was powerless. Then, five years ago, my cultivation base ceased to progress. No matter how hard I tried, I was unable to advance a single step, and my spiritual energy became weaker and weaker. At that time, I realized that the villain who had killed my mother had finally stretched his hand towards me and my brother. From that day onwards, my brother and I started to act bossy and arrogant. We started making headstrong, rash decisions, and from that time, it seems as if everything went back to normal.”

Long Chen felt completely helpless as he listened to her story. The palace’s internal affairs were even crueler than what he had imagined.

“You used such a method to protect you and your brother?” sighed Long Chen.

Chu Yao nodded. “The only family I have left right now is my little brother. I just hope he can stay alive. Although having him to act this way is annoying, at least no one will menace him, so it should be a bit safer. Although I don’t know what they did to my Dantian, I know they were afraid I would be a threat to them, and so they restricted my cultivation. Thus, as long as I don’t have the heart to cultivate, no one will have any plans against a weak girl like me. My brother and I also will be able to live without worry.”

Long Chen sighed, “Unfortunately, you’ve underestimated your enemy’s viciousness. Whoever did this was an absolute bastard.”

Hesitating for a moment, Long Chen still decided to tell Chu Yao the situation within her Dantian. Hearing this, anger and indecisiveness flared in her eyes. Her face turned pale and her body shook.

Long Chen supported Chu Yao, saying, “You don’t need to be too worried. Give me some time, and I can unlock the seal within your body.”

“Really?” Chu Yao couldn’t believe this.

“Really,” promised Long Chen.

For some reason, when Chu Yao looked at Long Chen, she was filled with trust. It was a kind of indescribable feeling.

He gave her a sense of complete safety. This kind of feeling was extremely precious and rare within the palace that was full of hidden schemes.

Seeing that she didn’t have any hesitation or doubt in him, Long Chen sighed, feeling as if another burden had been placed on his shoulders.

“Oh beautiful Chu Yao, can you display some of your magnificent skills for me again? Let this little one study a bit.” Long Chen found that the atmosphere had become a bit depressed, so he joked a bit.

“Scoundrel, you’re clearly mocking me,” she rebuked.

“Oh heavens no, your foundation is extremely strong. It’s just that your Dantian is unable to release enough force. But don’t worry. In just a short time, I’ll help you resolve it,” consoled Long Chen.

Only when she judged Long Chen’s words to be sincere did she once more display a high Mortal class Battle Skill – Breaking Wind Fist.

Long Chen carefully examined her this time, and couldn’t help but to feel some shock. Her spiritual energy was constantly being sucked away by those nine spiritual energies, leaving her with perhaps a tenth of the energy.

But even with such a frail energy, Chu Yao’s display was completely perfect without the slightest energy wasted.

He realized her control with spiritual energy had reached an extremely high level. It was much greater than even Blood Condensation experts.

He was not at all miserly with his praise of her, causing her to happily blush.

The nine foreign spiritual energies were actually seeds of spiritual energy. After having absorbed her spiritual energy for so many years, they had already become very powerful.

Long Chen felt that if he were to just break them, it would be too wasteful. That kind of huge energy was enough to allow Chu Yao to break through to the Blood Condensation realm, and her cultivation base would continue climbing after.

After learning the Breaking Wind Fist, he suddenly took out a bottle of medicinal liquid. “This is Face Changing Liquid; once you apply it to your face, it will change your appearance for twenty-four hours. It’s very convenient.”

He poured out a few drops and rubbed it over his face. In just an instant, he appeared to become a completely different person, his eyebrows becoming thicker and his skin changing shade.

Chu Yao exclaimed, “Then in the future, I can change my appearance and come out to find you!”

She then also applied it over her face. The medicinal liquid became a thin layer over the face that could be changed at will for a while. Once no more changes were made to it, it would completely set in just a few breaths’ time.

Looking into her mirror and seeing that her face had become extremely ordinary, she couldn’t help jumping in joy.

Pulling Long Chen’s arm, she happily said, “Long Chen, let’s go stroll the streets. I’ve never been allowed to just walk along the streets.”

Amongst princesses, she was one of those unruly types, but she still wouldn’t go too far. She normally couldn’t act like the ordinary poor people and just go as she pleased. So, she naturally couldn’t let go of this chance Long Chen had given her.

Chu Yao intimately held onto his arm. Seeing her excited manner, it would be a lie to say Long Chen wasn’t moved. He straightaway agreed to go with her.

But after agreeing, Long Chen started to regret it. He had clearly underestimated Chu Yao’s desire to stroll the streets.

She practically pulled him through every small alley within the capital. She wanted to see everything and anything, and she even shot question after question to him.

He was quite happy to just smell her scent and feel the joy of her hand wrapped around his arm, but suddenly he stopped, bringing Chu Yao to a small vendor to the side.

Long Chen struck up a fake conversation with the vendor about his wares, but his gaze narrowed towards several people in the distance.

“Xia Changfeng?”