Bestowing Merit!

After entering the room, Zhong Xiaokui felt entirely uneasy.

Although she was a cold-blooded killer during her time in the Xuanming Cult and had weathered many storms, she was completely clueless about matters of this nature.

What if Zhu Youning really expected her to serve him in bed?

Zhong Xiaokui pondered this question silently while actively searching for a solution.

After a moment of thought, she finally arrived at an answer.

The Ghost King had sent her to infiltrate Zhu Youning's side to keep tabs on his movements; if she defied his wishes, she would likely find it impossible to remain by his side.

If she wanted to stay, it seemed she had no choice but to submit.

With this realization, a sense of grim resolve, like a warrior cutting off his own wrist to survive, welled up within her.

Yet, once she stepped into the room, she dared not look at Zhu Youning. Instead, she kept her head bowed, cupped her fists, and whispered like a buzzing gnat, "Your Highness, did you call for me?"

"Ah, Xiaokui, you've finally come."

Seeing her arrive, Zhu Youning was naturally delighted.

Intent on winning her over, he unconsciously adopted the demeanor of a lord showing respect to his subordinates.

Thus, he spoke impatiently, "Quick, come here! Get on the bed!"

Hearing such brazen words, Zhong Xiaokui was shocked to the core.

She truly hadn't expected Zhu Youning to be so eager. Her speech became incoherent as she stammered, "Your Highness, you... your subordinate is only..."

Seeing her reaction, Zhu Youning couldn't help but frown. "Did Miao'er not tell you? Why are you dawdling? Come here!"

"Yes."

With no other choice, Zhong Xiaokui obeyed. However, after taking a step or two, she stopped and asked tentatively, "Your Highness, does your subordinate need to remove her clothes?"

Zhu Youning shot her a strange look.

When I look at you with this expression, it's not that I have a problem—it's that you do!

"No need to undress. Just come over."

Having received his answer, Zhong Xiaokui didn't necessarily believe him, but she walked to the bedside with trepidation.

Seeing her reach 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 that kind of thing require sitting cross-legged? What kind of position was that?

Though the request was strange, she complied nonetheless.

The moment she climbed onto the bed and sat down, Zhu Youning's palm pressed against her back.

A strange, stimulating sensation washed over her.

The instant his palm touched her, Zhong Xiaokui shuddered as if seized by a spasm, her hair standing on end.

Through this physical contact, it felt as if some invisible force was facilitating a subtle exchange of information.

Zhong Xiaokui gritted her teeth to suppress the urge to flee, though she couldn't stop her body from trembling.

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

Zhong Xiaokui blushed at these words, then closed her eyes as if resigning herself to her fate.

Zhu Youning slowly extended his hand, pressing his left palm to the center of her forehead, sending a stream of internal energy straight into her heart meridian.

Feeling the abnormality in her meridians, Zhong Xiaokui's body suddenly tensed.

Only then did she realize Zhu Youning had no intention of making her serve him in bed, and her instincts urged her to resist.

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

He then extended his right palm, pressing it against her flat abdomen, right over the Shangqu acupoint where blood and energy intersected to the right of her navel. He had a clear purpose in doing this, and it was not to benefit himself at the expense of others, but rather the opposite.

"Your Highness, what are you doing?"

Zhong Xiaokui clearly felt that Zhu Youning harbored no malice toward her; it was merely that her body felt somewhat uncomfortable.

As he rubbed her abdomen, his palm was not only burning hot, but a warm current flowed directly from his palm into her dantian.

Even though she had seen enough bloodshed in the Xuanming Cult to train herself into a heartless killer, she still found it difficult to let go of the social divide between men and women.

Thanks to the heat flowing from his palm, Zhong Xiaokui felt a sense of total relief, a feeling of extreme comfort spreading through her entire body.

This heat was clearly internal energy—an incredibly powerful and pure force. It flowed into her body endlessly, merging like water and milk, feeling naturally and exquisitely wonderful.

However, after a while, this peaceful, warm energy suddenly turned as scorching as a raging fire. Zhong Xiaokui felt her lips go dry and her entire body grow feverish.

It was clear that the energy flowing from Zhu Youning's palm had become even more powerful and vigorous.

Feeling the increasingly potent energy being channeled into her dantian, Zhong Xiaokui had no choice but to do her best to guide the flow, hurriedly circulating her own energy to digest and absorb the endless stream.

At first, the influx of internal energy was slow, but it soon surged like a bursting river, unstoppable as it poured into Zhong Xiaokui's dantian, instantly merging seamlessly with her own internal power.

After a while, Zhong Xiaokui finally fully assimilated the Wedding Dress Divine Art internal energy that Zhu Youning had transmitted to her.

The internal energy that Zhong Xiaokui absorbed was, in fact, the very essence of the Wedding Dress Divine Art within Zhu Youning's body.

This internal energy was undoubtedly immense.

Over the past few days, by consuming miraculous elixirs such as the Tiger Leopard Dragon Snake Pill, the Great Restoration Pill, and the Five Treasure Flower Nectar Wine, supplemented by the Cold Jade and the miraculous effects of the Celestial Master Sandalwood, Zhu Youning had long since cultivated the Wedding Dress Divine Art to about seventy percent completion.

Do not underestimate this seventy percent; it was already the limit one could reach when first cultivating the Wedding Dress Divine Art.

For an ordinary person to reach this level, it would take at least several decades of cultivation. Zhu Youning was only able to infinitely shorten this process because he had consumed potent elixirs like the Great Restoration Pill.

However, to progress any further, one would have to either waste the cultivation or transfer it to another and start from scratch.

Such is the mechanism of the Wedding Dress Divine Art.

"Wedding dress, wedding dress"—it implies making a wedding dress for someone else.

Because the Wedding Dress Divine Art is so violent, reaching sixty or seventy percent is the limit; to train further would only bring needless suffering upon oneself.

To advance further, the practitioner must destroy all the power of the Wedding Dress Divine Art they have cultivated or transfer it entirely to another, and then begin training all over again.

To reap its benefits, one must first blunt its edge; that is the principle.

Zhu Youning transferred his entire Wedding Dress Divine Art cultivation to Zhong Xiaokui precisely so that he could start over from the beginning!

Although Zhu Youning had only cultivated this Wedding Dress Divine Art to seventy percent, this power was already comparable to the internal energy and true qi that an ordinary person would refine over several decades, even propelling Zhong Xiaokui's internal energy realm to the Great Heavenly Rank in a single leap!

Having gained decades of internal energy for nothing, and having become a Great Heavenly Rank expert—a status she had dreamed of—Zhong Xiaokui was naturally overjoyed.

This was the Great Heavenly Rank!

Experts of this caliber were few and far between in the entire world!

In her excitement, Zhong Xiaokui had no time to wonder why Zhu Youning possessed such profound internal energy, nor did she care why he would pass this power to her, let alone dwell on his earlier actions of touching her lower abdomen. She walked straight to the bedside and knelt on one knee before Zhu Youning.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for bestowing this power! Zhong Xiaokui will surely go through fire and water for Your Highness, and will not hesitate even if it means death!"