Xiao Mei

Chen Mu returned to his room.

As he was deep in thought.

"Second Master, dinner is served."

Xiao Mei's voice came from the doorway.

This time, however, she did not push the door open and enter directly.

"Come in."

Chen Mu looked up.

As his words fell, Xiao Mei entered carrying a wooden tray and set it on the table.

Chen Mu looked thoughtfully at Xiao Mei as she entered. After casually sizing her up, he suddenly raised a hand and flicked the teacup on the table.

Clink, clatter!

The teacup flew from the table, hurtling toward Xiao Mei's forehead.

Yet Xiao Mei moved with extraordinary agility. With a simple tilt of her head, she easily avoided the teacup. At the same time, she looked at Chen Mu in slight surprise, unable to make sense of it for the moment.

But in the next instant, Chen Mu's calm voice reached her.

"Without my permission, you secretly practiced Martial Arts. What do you intend to do about that?"

Those words

made Xiao Mei's entire body stiffen at once.

She suddenly realized that her movement just now had exposed the fact that she had secretly learned Martial Arts!

She had been discovered!

What was she supposed to do?

Run? That would probably be difficult. This was Xuanguo Estate, after all. If Chen Mu merely called out and alerted those outside, how could she, a mere Ninth Rank, possibly escape?

And Chen Mu had never mistreated her in the past. She could not bring herself to do something like murder him to silence him; otherwise, how would she be any different from the villains who had once killed her elder sister?

Xiao Mei looked at Chen Mu before her and bit her lip.

"Second Master, I'm sorry... Please sleep for a little while."

As the words left her mouth, she stepped forward, brought her right hand together into a knife-hand, and lightly chopped down toward the side of Chen Mu's neck.

She did not wish to hurt Chen Mu either. Her plan was to knock him unconscious first, then try to flee Xuanguo Estate.

But.

Before that knife-hand could touch Chen Mu's neck, it abruptly stopped in midair.

It was not only her arm.

At that moment, Xiao Mei felt as though an irresistible force had pinned her entire body in place, covering every corner of her from head to toe.

She could not move even a single finger!

Under Xiao Mei's frozen gaze.

Chen Mu slowly turned sideways. He remained seated, merely looking at her calmly as he said,

"You dared to secretly learn Martial Arts in Xuanguo Estate. You have courage, but you are a little foolish. Since I dared expose your secret here, you should have realized that all resistance is useless."

How could this be?

For a moment, Xiao Mei could not understand.

She did not know why she could not move. She had clearly sensed no one else in the room, nor had anyone approached her when she made her move.

Moreover, the flow of blood and qi within her body was perfectly normal. She had not been poisoned or anything of the sort. It was simply as if her entire body had been encased in an iron shell, leaving not even enough room to shift a finger.

Could it be...

Xiao Mei suddenly looked at Chen Mu in disbelief.

She remembered the teacup Chen Mu had thrown at her earlier. After she dodged it, there had still been no sound of it shattering!

With great difficulty, she shifted her gaze.

Not far away, three feet above the ground and away from the wall, the teacup Chen Mu had flung was floating unsupported in midair, spinning merrily.

Then, with a slight lift of Chen Mu's hand, the teacup traced an arc through the air from afar and silently returned to his hand, where he placed it back on the table.

A sorcerer!

Such a mysterious sight was undoubtedly not something a martial artist could achieve, but the means of a sorcerer!

No wonder Chen Mu had clearly changed from before over these past few days. No wonder he had so easily acquired a full two hundred gold in wealth!

Though Xiao Mei was only a maidservant, she knew what a sorcerer represented. She also knew what earth-shaking changes would come once Chen Mu, a young master of Xuanguo Estate, possessed a sorcerer's abilities.

Then what had everything she had done up until now been for?

In her daze.

A thread of despair gradually welled up in Xiao Mei's heart. Bitterness and sorrow surged up together, and tears abruptly spilled from her eyes.

Seeing Xiao Mei suddenly burst into tears, Chen Mu was slightly taken aback. He had not expected this.

With a thought,

he released his control over her.

Having regained her freedom, Xiao Mei collapsed onto the floor at once. She lowered her head toward the ground as though all the spirit in her had been drained away.

She neither struggled nor resisted, nor did she say anything. Only two streams of clear tears kept flowing as she sobbed without cease.

"..."

Watching Xiao Mei sit there on the floor and sob, Chen Mu found himself both irritated and amused.

After being exposed for secretly learning Martial Arts, she had even tried to attack him. Yet after he subdued her, she had turned into this state.

He had ignored this maidservant until now. Today, he had intended to deal with her while he was at it. It would be best if she became obedient and well-behaved; after all, she had delivered his three meals every day for years, through wind and rain alike. He was not cruel or tyrannical enough to simply beat her to death.

Who could have expected Xiao Mei to dare risk her life to secretly learn Martial Arts, only to break down crying the moment he restrained her? It was truly incomprehensible.

For a moment, Chen Mu lost interest. He said listlessly,

"From now on, without my orders, you are not to reveal a single thing about this courtyard to anyone. Also, if anything happens with that Xiao Feng, report it to me at once. You may leave."

Xiao Mei was still sobbing.

But as she cried, she gradually came to her senses and raised her head in confusion.

Seeing her expression, Chen Mu could not help giving a short scoff. "What are you still doing here? Staying the night with me? Take a look at the state you're in."

To anyone else, a maidservant secretly learning Martial Arts was an absolutely unforgivable offense. Not only would she be put to death, she would likely suffer an exceptionally cruel punishment.

But Chen Mu did not care so much about such things.

On one hand, he had never placed much importance on them. On the other, he could sense that Xiao Mei bore him no ill will; she was merely a little cold toward him normally.

Her earlier attempt to attack him did deserve severe punishment. But seeing her now, crying and sobbing as though her soul had left her body, Chen Mu had no desire to punish her at all.

"Se... Second Master?"

Xiao Mei stared blankly at Chen Mu, still lost in confusion.

It was not that she was too fragile. Secretly learning Martial Arts or attacking one's master were both crimes for which being dragged out and beaten to death would be considered a light sentence. Chen Mu's words left her so dazed that she even wondered if she had misheard him.

Chen Mu glanced at her. "What is it? Do you really want to try those punishments?"

"No, no."

A trace of fear appeared on Xiao Mei's face. She struggled up from the ground and fled outside in a panic. But after rushing through the door, she came to her senses, stopped outside, turned back, and knelt before Chen Mu.

Chen Mu said nothing more, merely waved his hand casually.

Xiao Mei remained kneeling there for a long time. Only when she saw that Chen Mu was no longer looking at her did she slowly rise. Biting her lip, tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes, she gradually retreated.

Only after Xiao Mei disappeared.

did Chen Mu glance in the direction she had left.

He was now a Seventh Rank sorcerer. Not even the slightest rustle of wind or grass in the entire courtyard could escape his eyes. What happened to Xiao Mei from here on would be up to her.

Then, with a thought from Chen Mu, the door to the room silently closed, and he began his dinner.

After finishing his meal, he returned to the bedroom.

He summoned the system interface.

After looking at the remaining 46 Soul Points, he did not hesitate and continued upgrading his Soulmind!

Name: Chen Mu

Age: 16

Strength: Strength to Truss a Chicken

Soulmind: lv10(+)

Soul Points: 36 points

Soul Roaming (Netherworld)—Available to Activate

After a flash of light, his Soulmind had also risen to lv10.

Chen Mu could clearly feel that the power of his Soulmind had risen another level, and the range of his Spirit Sight had expanded further. He could take in everything within a hundred zhang, even directly seeing into the bedroom of the East Courtyard, where Ning Shi's figure stood.