Bestowing Power!

After Zhong Xiaokui entered the room, she looked deeply uneasy.

She had killed without batting an eye back when she was in the Xuanming Cult, and had weathered plenty of storms. But she was completely inexperienced when it came to this sort of thing.

What if Zhu Youning really ordered her to spend the night with him?

Zhong Xiaokui quietly pondered the problem, while eagerly searching for a solution.

After thinking for a while, she finally came up with an answer.

The Ghost King had sent her to infiltrate Zhu Youning's side so she could keep track of his movements. If she went against Zhu Youning's wishes, she would probably have a hard time staying by his side.

If she wanted to stay, it seemed she had no choice but to grin and bear it.

As she thought this, a resolute determination welled up in Zhong Xiaokui, like a warrior ready to sever her own arm.

But when she stepped into the room, she didn't dare look at Zhu Youning. Head bowed, she clasped her hands and spoke in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "Your Highness, you called for me?"

"Xiaokui, it's you. You're finally here."

Zhu Youning was naturally delighted to see Zhong Xiaokui.

He had been thinking of winning her over, and without realizing it, he had begun to carry himself like a lord who knew how to honor the worthy and humble himself before them.

So he immediately urged her, unable to wait a moment longer. "Quick, come over! Get on the bed!"

Hearing those lascivious words, Zhong Xiaokui was stunned.

She hadn't expected Zhu Youning to be so eager. He was even stumbling over his words. She stammered, "Your Highness, this subordinate is only—"

Seeing her reaction, Zhu Youning furrowed his brow. "Didn't Miao'er tell you? What are you dawdling for? Come over!"

"Yes."

With no other choice, Zhong Xiaokui obeyed. But after taking one or two steps, she stopped again and cautiously asked, "Your Highness, should this subordinate take off her clothes?"

Zhu Youning looked at Zhong Xiaokui strangely.

When I look at you like this, it's not me who has a problem. It's you!

"You don't need to take off your clothes. Just come over."

Though Zhong Xiaokui wasn't sure she believed him, she nervously walked to the bedside.

The moment she reached the edge of the bed, Zhu Youning grew excited.

"Get on the bed and sit cross-legged."

"Cross-legged?"

Zhong Xiaokui was immediately confused.

Did you have to sit cross-legged for that sort of thing? What kind of position was that?

The request was strange, but Zhong Xiaokui did as she was told.

As soon as she climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged, Zhu Youning's palm pressed against her back.

A strange, thrilling sensation washed over her.

The instant his palm touched her, Zhong Xiaokui's whole body trembled as if seized by a spasm, and the hairs on her arms stood on end.

Their physical contact seemed to set off a subtle exchange of information through something invisible.

Zhong Xiaokui gritted her teeth, suppressing the urge to flee, but she still couldn't stop herself from trembling.

"Xiaokui, don't move around. I'm going to give you something good."

Zhong Xiaokui blushed at his words, then closed her eyes as if she had decided to steel herself for the worst.

Just then, Zhu Youning slowly raised his left hand and pressed it to the center of her forehead. A thread of inner power flowed straight into her heart meridian.

Feeling something strange in her meridians, Zhong Xiaokui's body abruptly tensed.

Only now did she realize that Zhu Youning wasn't trying to make her spend the night with him. Instinctively, she tried to resist.

"Don't move," Zhu Youning whispered in her ear.

Then he raised his right hand and pressed it against Zhong Xiaokui's flat stomach, at the Shangqu acupoint—the blood gate where qi and blood converged just to the right of her navel. He had a purpose in doing this, and it wasn't to benefit himself at her expense. It was to benefit her at his own expense.

"Your Highness, what are you doing?"

Zhong Xiaokui could clearly feel that Zhu Youning meant her no harm, though her body felt a little uncomfortable.

Zhu Youning was rubbing her lower abdomen with his palm. His hand was hot as fire, and a warm current flowed from it straight into her dantian.

Though she had seen her share of bloodshed in the Xuanming Cult and trained herself into an emotionless killer, she still felt awkward about such close contact with a man.

Thanks to the warm current flowing from Zhu Youning's palm, Zhong Xiaokui felt completely relaxed, with an indescribably pleasant sensation throughout her body.

The warm current was clearly inner power, and extremely powerful, pure inner power at that. It flowed into Zhong Xiaokui without pause, blending with her own like milk and water, bringing an effortless, exquisite sense of ease.

But after a while, the inner power, which had been so calm and warm, seemed to turn into blazing fire. Zhong Xiaokui's lips grew dry, and heat surged through her entire body.

Clearly, the inner power coming from Zhu Youning's palm had grown even stronger and more vigorous.

Feeling the ever-stronger inner power pour into her dantian, Zhong Xiaokui had no choice but to regulate her qi and guide it through her body, hurriedly working to absorb the unending stream.

At first, the inner power flowed in slowly. Then it came surging like a river bursting its banks, fierce and unstoppable, pouring into Zhong Xiaokui's dantian. In an instant, it blended with her own inner power.

After a while, Zhong Xiaokui had completely absorbed the Wedding Dress Divine Art inner power Zhu Youning had imparted to her.

The inner power she had absorbed was, in fact, the Wedding Dress Divine Art power within Zhu Youning's body.

It was undoubtedly immense.

In recent days, Zhu Youning had taken Tiger Leopard Dragon Snake Pills, Great Restoration Pills, Five Treasure Flower Nectar Wine, and other miraculous medicines. With the added effects of Cold Jade and Celestial Master Sandalwood, he had already cultivated the Wedding Dress Divine Art to around seven-tenths of its full power.

Don't underestimate seven-tenths. That was already the limit one could reach on the first cultivation of the Wedding Dress Divine Art.

An ordinary person would need at least several decades of training to reach that level. Zhu Youning had managed to compress that process almost indefinitely only because he had swallowed miraculous medicines like the Great Restoration Pill.

But to make any further progress, he could only either suffer through it or transfer his power to someone else and start cultivating from scratch.

That was how the Wedding Dress Divine Art worked.

A wedding dress was made for someone else. The art's name meant exactly that: making a wedding dress for another.

Because the Wedding Dress Divine Art was so fierce, six or seven-tenths was the limit. Any further cultivation would only bring needless pain.

To go further, the cultivator had to destroy all the power they had cultivated, or transfer it all to someone else, then start over.

First blunt its edge to use its strength—that was the principle.

Zhu Youning had transferred all his Wedding Dress Divine Art power to Zhong Xiaokui so he could start cultivating it again from the beginning!

Though Zhu Youning had only cultivated the art to seven-tenths, that power was already comparable to the inner strength and qi an ordinary person could cultivate over several decades. It had even raised Zhong Xiaokui's inner cultivation realm all the way to the Great Heavenly Rank!

Having gained decades of inner power for nothing and become the Great Heavenly Rank expert she had dreamed of, Zhong Xiaokui was overjoyed.

This was the Great Heavenly Rank!

Experts of this caliber could be counted on one hand across the whole world!

Too excited to wonder how Zhu Youning had acquired such profound inner power, or why he had transferred it to her, and no longer caring that he had been rubbing her lower abdomen, Zhong Xiaokui immediately walked to the bedside and knelt on one knee before Zhu Youning.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for bestowing your power! Zhong Xiaokui will brave fire and water for you and never shrink from a thousand deaths!"