You Want to Peek at the Highness Sleeping?

Cold Night Palace.

The grounds surrounding the sleeping quarters were a meticulously designed landscape of gardens and water features.

In the center of the courtyard lay an artificial lake, its water clear enough to reveal the bottom. A few water lilies drifted upon the surface, and occasionally, a school of koi would dart through the water, stirring up layers of ripples.

Along the banks, rockeries were piled high with jagged, peculiar stones, and water trickled between them, forming a series of small waterfalls.

In the heart of the lake sat an exquisite water pavilion with layered eaves and arches, draped in pale blue tassels. Two figures could be vaguely seen within.

Yu Youhan, dressed in a long purple iris-patterned gown with a gold branch-shaped hairpin in her hair, sat on a platform suspended over the water. Her taut dress outlined a semi-circular curve, and her toes gently toyed with the lake water, drawing small fish to swim around them.

She looked less domineering and majestic than usual, her face flushed with a soft, rosy hue, much like peach blossoms in spring.

Chen Mo stood to the side, quietly admiring this breathtaking "small fish nibbling at feet" scene.

"Are you saying that you went to the Music Bureau to dally with courtesans and encountered an assassination attempt by a ghost cultivator?" Yu Youhan's voice was clear and melodious, like pearls falling onto a jade plate.

Dally with courtesans? He had only dallied with loneliness...

Chen Mo sighed inwardly and said, "The man called himself Daoist You, from the Ghost Devouring Sect. The Soul-Summoning Banner was originally his Dharma treasure, but it was stolen by Qin Wuxiang three years ago. Hearing that Qin Wuxiang died at my hands, he tracked me down."

"However, with the vital essence and the divine ability bestowed by the Highness, dealing with that ghost cultivator was effortless."

Yu Youhan nodded slightly.

The Dharma Seal she had granted Chen Mo back then was intended to protect his body.

The path of ghost cultivation focused on tempering the soul and raising ghosts, leaving the practitioners themselves physically weak. With Chen Mo's Soul Absorption ability, a mere fifth-rank Ghost Envoy stood no chance against him.

"The Ghost Devouring Sect was destroyed long ago. This Daoist You must have stumbled upon some fortuitous encounter; there is no need to worry about further retaliation."

"However, your soul..."

Yu Youhan turned her head, a strand of dark hair falling over her shoulder, and glanced at him with eyes that seemed to hide a sea of stars.

Chen Mo gave a wry smile. "I ate too much and got bloated."

Swallowing the soul power of over a hundred vengeful ghosts had caused his soul to swell violently. The most direct effect was that his five senses had become abnormally sharp; even the slightest sound within a hundred paces could not escape his perception, and his reaction speed had become incredibly fast—

The problem lay right there.

His reaction speed was too fast, but his physical movements were a beat behind, creating a certain aesthetic of a "high-ping warrior."

"You only cultivate the body and not the soul; your Purple Mansion and spiritual platform have yet to be opened. To rashly swallow so much soul power is like building a pavilion in the air. At best, it leads to mental confusion; at worst, your soul will be damaged and your spiritual platform will collapse. Simply put, it is..."

"A vegetable?"

"Hmm?"

Yu Youhan asked, puzzled, "What is a 'vegetable'?"

Chen Mo thought for a moment and said, "Like grass or trees—unable to move, losing all five senses, ignorant and unaware..."

Yu Youhan nodded. "The term is quite apt. Well, if your luck had been slightly worse, you would indeed be a vegetable right now."

"..."

Chen Mo hadn't expected he had nearly turned into a tree. He frowned and asked, "This ability actually has side effects?"

Yu Youhan toyed with the small fish with her jade-like toes. Clearly understanding his subtext, she said coldly, "It is just like eating; you stop naturally when you are full. A normal person would feel their spiritual platform swelling after swallowing a few vengeful ghosts and find it difficult to continue. Who would swallow over a hundred in a row? Does this really need to be explained to you by this Highness?"

Chen Mo's expression turned slightly awkward.

That Daoist You had left his chest wide open, and he had just eaten like it was a buffet; he simply couldn't stop himself.

Moreover, aside from his "latency" being a bit high, he hadn't felt "stuffed" at all.

"Forget it."

Yu Youhan shook her head.

Chen Mo's figure suddenly lifted into the air, flying uncontrollably before her. She reached out a slender, jade-like finger and tapped it gently against his brow.

His vision went black, and he plummeted into boundless darkness.

It felt like the end of the universe—no time, no space, no up or down, only pure nothingness.

Is this... my spiritual platform? Chen Mo realized.

BOOM—

Like a thunderclap, a ray of light ignited within the void.

The light extended, pulling into a thin line, as if splitting the heavens and earth, dividing the universe in two.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—

The entire spiritual platform trembled. The clear rose and the turbid sank, gradually becoming distinct.

The chaotic soul power flowed like a galaxy, converging in the air into a small golden figure. Its body was nearly transparent, sitting cross-legged like an old monk in meditation.

Although the features were blurred, it was not hard to recognize that this was Chen Mo himself.

The original feeling of bloated swelling had vanished, and his divine sense had become refined and full. Without even opening his eyes, everything around him was laid bare.

The ripples stirred by the fish at the bottom of the lake, the hem of the palace maid's dress as she walked, the silkworm moth gnawing on leaves on a distant ginkgo tree...

Chen Mo immersed himself in this profound sensation. His divine sense drifted past palace after palace, and before he knew it, he arrived before a luxurious hall. The vermilion gates were adorned with nine rows of golden studs, and on the plaque above the door, the characters "Yangxin Palace" were written in bold, elegant strokes.

"Presumptuous!"

Suddenly, a furious shout exploded in his ears!

Immediately following, an incomparably vast soul power bore down upon him, as if Mount Tai were crushing him, intending to grind him into dust!

"Hmph."

A cold snort echoed.

The aggressive divine sense from just a moment ago suddenly froze, then, without the slightest hesitation, it instantly retreated as if nothing had ever happened.

Chen Mo withdrew his divine sense, his face turning slightly pale.

That shout just now had caused him to lose focus instantly, leaving him unable to dodge; had the Highness not intervened in time, he would likely have suffered severe injuries!

"This Palace just helped you open your Purple Mansion and condense your spiritual sense, and you are already in such a rush to seek death?"

Yu Youhan was somewhat speechless.

It was currently midday, and the Highness was resting in the Yangxin Palace after her lunch; his actions just now were no different from swaggering into the Highness's bedchamber.

Was he like an old man eating arsenic, tired of living?

Chen Mo knew he had nearly caused a disaster and smiled sheepishly: "This feeling was too novel; I couldn't control myself for a moment."

Yu Youhan said indifferently: "The waters in the palace are deeper than you imagine. Aside from the Cold Night Palace, do not wander into other places. As for the method of soul refining, you are not yet ready; we shall discuss it when you are about to break through to the Fifth Grade."

"Many thanks, Highness."

Chen Mo bowed in salute.

The Fifth Grade Pure Yang Realm, where one condenses a Martial Soul using divine sense—he was very curious, what would he condense?

"By the way, there is a very strange case in the city recently..."

Chen Mo gave a brief report on the murder case on White Pagoda Street.

Yu Youhan was not the least bit interested: "Heaven Capital City is a place where dragons and snakes mingle; it is normal for a few small demons to sneak in. The person who should have a headache is the Highness; you should not meddle in it."

"This Palace, however, has a task for you to do..."

Yangxin Palace.

Outside the high walls, Eunuch Jin, dressed in a python robe, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Just a moment ago, he had detected a probing divine sense and, thinking some petty thief had trespassed into the palace, was about to blast them to death when an extremely tyrannical pressure arrived in its wake.

If he hadn't run fast, he would have nearly lost his life...

Besides that woman, who else would dare to act so recklessly in the palace?

"This place is where the Highness rests, not some confidential stronghold. Could it be that Imperial Concubine Yu wants to peek at the Highness sleeping?"

Eunuch Jin's old face was full of question marks.