Chapter 36: I’ll Protect You!

“Lose face?”

Ning Shengsheng teased.

“Me, a person who hasn’t even opened my spiritual apertures, was able to break your illusion. That is indeed quite embarrassing.”

Mirror demon: “…”

Forget it, I can’t win an argument with her.

【Ding-dong, your system is now online.】

【Congratulations, Host, for completing the mission. You’ve performed even better than I expected. Would you like to receive your reward now?】

Ning Shengsheng: Later, when I have time.

【Alright, Host.】

She asked the mirror demon, “Where is Xue Chen?”

Mirror demon: “Xue Chen?”

“The one you just captured, the young man with the red-sigiled long sword. Where did you take him?”

“Oh, oh, you mean him.”

The mirror demon’s smile was wicked. “He’s much more interesting than you. His heart demon is enough to feed me for a good ten years.”

With that, it licked its lips.

“Send me to his illusion.”

Ning Shengsheng’s expression was unusually serious.

“Why?” The mirror demon stomped its foot in anger. “My good lady! I’ve only captured two people today. You don’t even have a heart demon. That boy is finally enough to fill me up, and you’re going in to cause trouble? Won’t my efforts be in vain?”

She let out a soft sigh and patted the mirror demon’s shoulder. “If I don’t go in, you’ll be in for a world of hurt from him.”

Xue Chen’s way of subduing the mirror demon was not as gentle as hers. Now that she was the mirror demon’s master, Xue Chen would have no scruples. It was even possible that he would directly destroy the mirror demon.

The mirror demon was half-believing, half-doubting. It remembered the young man’s demonic sword and relented. “Fine, I’ll listen to you. Sigh…”

He casually flipped his hand, and a transparent glass ball floated in his palm. Inside, Xue Chen could be seen in a dilapidated room, covered in wounds, with a barely breathing rabbit lying at his feet.

Just then, the door was pushed open, and several brutish men walked in. Each of them was accompanied by a ferocious demonic beast. One of the fierce beasts lunged at Xue Chen.

“Mirror demon, quickly get me into the illusion.”

The mirror demon was savoring the scene, really wanting to see the pitiful sight of the young man being torn apart by the illusion. But it had to obey its master. It reluctantly opened the illusion.

Ning Shengsheng jumped in and landed right in front of Xue Chen.

Xue Chen: ?

“Xue Chen, are you alright?” She looked up from her clumsy fall, her face wreathed in a smile as she asked about him first.

He slowly hid the dagger in his sleeve, stared at Ning Shengsheng with a wronged expression, and painstakingly picked up the rabbit by his side, tattling on them to her. “Your Highness, they’re bullying me.”

The few burly men looked at each other. They had been ordered by the First Prince to cause trouble, but before they could even get close to Xue Chen, they had been beaten black and blue. They had had to go back and bring their demonic beasts. The beasts hadn’t even hurt anyone when a crazy woman in a night-prowling outfit had fallen from the sky.

The Fifth Prince called her “Your Highness”? What’s going on?

“Who… who are you?”

The leader of the burly men looked at her fiercely.

Ning Shengsheng guessed that this was the imperial palace of the Heavenly Phoenix Nation. So Xue Chen had been so pitiful, bullied by the people of Heavenly Phoenix, and then bullied again when he went to Great Ning.

She stood up, shielded Xue Chen behind her, and cracked her knuckles.

“And who are you?”

“Hilarious! Do you bastards even deserve to know this princess’s name?”

“This is the Heavenly Phoenix Imperial Palace. We are guards of the First Prince.”

“Oh, so you’re just little guards. This princess is the most-favored princess of Great Ning, Ning An!”

“Hahahahaha!!!!”

The few guards laughed wildly.

“Crazy woman! Great Ning is tens of thousands of kilometers from Heavenly Phoenix. How could a princess of Great Ning just appear in Heavenly Phoenix out of nowhere? Brothers, let’s go! If we don’t cripple Xue Chen, the First Prince will be the one to deal with us when we get back.”

Xue Chen’s left hand was propped against the wall as he slowly stood up. “Princess, be careful. You can’t get hurt because of me.”

“It’s okay! I’ll protect you this time!”

Ning Shengsheng saw the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his body covered in wounds, and the rabbit in his arms even weaker than he was. He looked completely helpless.

She took out a large golden bell from her storage pouch and covered Xue Chen with it.

“It’s a heaven-grade magical artifact!”

The guards’ eyes turned red.

“This crazy girl is rich! Tear her apart!”

Four demonic beasts roared and charged.

Ning Shengsheng, as if they were free, threw out the offensive magical artifacts from her storage pouch. The demonic beasts were bombarded by the magical artifacts, and some were injured, some were maimed.

The guards exchanged a look. “Let’s retreat for now!”

The few of them retreated at lightning speed.

A finger from Xue Chen, hidden in his sleeve, flicked, and a wisp of white light attached itself to the sole of a guard’s foot.

“Are you alright?”

Ning Shengsheng turned around and supported him by the shoulder. “Sit down quickly and let me see your wounds.”

“Princess, how did you get here?”

He was so seriously injured, yet he hadn’t forgotten to protect the injured rabbit in his arms. Ning Shengsheng knew she hadn’t misjudged him. Xue Chen was actually a very kind person. He had only gone astray because he had been pushed by that group of people.

She lowered her head and searched for wound medicine, saying, “I couldn’t sleep. I heard you go out and was afraid something might happen, so I followed you.”

The dilapidated room had not even a single candle. Fortunately, there was no window either. Moonlight streamed through the window lattice, illuminating the two of them.

He moved his eyes. In his line of sight was her long, slender, and curled eyelashes. And she, in the moonlight, seemed to be faintly glowing.

“Found it!”

She suddenly looked up, a white jade porcelain bottle in her hand. Her reddish cheeks were wreathed in her usual bright and lively smile, even in such a dilapidated place.

“There’s so much blood. Let me clean your wounds first.”

Ning Shengsheng tore off the sleeve of her inner garment and leaned forward slightly to wipe his wounds.

Xue Chen endured the pain, his peripheral vision taking in her movements. As a princess of Great Ning, her food and clothing were naturally the best. Her inner garment was also made of cloud-patterned sash. The pure white cloud-patterned sash was stained with his blood.

Xue Chen couldn’t help but frown, his thin lips pressed tightly together. He felt as if his blood had sullied this cloud-patterned sash.

After cleaning the wound, she poured the spiritual medicine from the white jade bottle onto her palm, and with her fingertips, she applied the ointment to his festering, painful wound. A faint medicinal scent filled her nostrils.

Suddenly, a cool, soft touch came from his shoulder.

The young man’s back stiffened, and in a place she couldn’t see, his palm had already been pierced with several red marks by his own nails.

His lashes trembled, and his throat moved. After a long moment, he finally said, “Thank you, Princess, for saving me.”

“I wasn’t saving you.” Ning Shengsheng’s movements became even gentler. She looked up and smiled at him. “You know my personality is domineering. This princess is not tired of your face yet. Whoever dares to disfigure you or injure you, I will settle the score with them.”

The young man was both amused and exasperated. He wasn’t a fool. He knew, of course, that this was her excuse.

“Oh my, you can speak to me so gently!” She shook the porcelain bottle, and her sleeve slipped, revealing her fair, soft wrist.

Xue Chen averted his gaze, not daring to look again.

“There’s still more than half a bottle of spiritual medicine left. Give me the rabbit. I’ll take a look at the little one.”

“Alright.”

He was stunned. The words had already left his mouth, and he realized his voice was hoarse. He quickly shut up. He peeked at Ning Shengsheng. She was concentrating on applying medicine to the rabbit and hadn’t noticed anything was wrong with him.

Xue Chen let out a sigh of relief, but another breath was caught in his chest. He hid himself in the shadow of the corner, staring at the girl in a daze.

Not far away, the cloud-patterned sash that had been used to wipe his blood was neatly folded and placed to the side. He picked it up as if possessed. His fingers tightened, and his knuckles gradually turned white.

Xue Chen lowered his head, a bitter smile on his face. The strands of his hair that fell covered the uncontrollable emotion in his eyes.

Humble, and yet… crazy.