36. Showing Weakness

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Ning Xuan swung a backhanded punch into Chen Nan’s face, striking precisely where his eye met the bridge of his nose. The blow sent stars bursting before his eyes, leaving him with tears and mucus streaming down his face.

“Besides the mastermind who sent assassins from the Slaughter Pavilion, my father also dispatched his own people. The danger you’re in was brought upon you by me. I owe you a debt. From the moment I became your contracted one, I became yours. Whether it’s my property, my body, or my life, all of it belongs to you! Helping you, saving you, taking care of you—that’s what I ought to do. If I’ve done something wrong, punish me however you want, but don’t say you don’t want me anymore!”

As Chen Nan spoke, Ning Xuan struck him several more times, then kicked him in the chest and sent him flying a long distance.

Immediately afterward, eight black-and-red vines lashed toward him like whips. They were covered in thorns, their tips sharp enough to pierce flesh. Every strike tore out a spray of blood and left behind a gaping hole. Ning Xuan showed no mercy. By the time she stopped, Chen Nan’s eyes were blackened, both cheeks swollen, and his mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood. Several teeth were visibly loose. His clothes had been reduced to tattered strips, soaked through with blood, and there was not a single uninjured patch of flesh on his body.

Every part of Chen Nan hurt—the bones that had been broken, the skin and flesh that had been torn. This pain was entirely different from the pain of wounds sustained on a battlefield. It hurt so badly that he did not dare breathe freely, terrified of disturbing his injuries. He adjusted his breathing slowly and carefully, curling himself as far as possible into a secluded corner.

He had brought Ning Xuan to the Extreme Cold City without consulting her for two reasons. One was that the rules of the Extreme Cold City differed from those of Federation society, and he feared she might refuse to come. The other was that he wanted to test the limits of her tolerance toward him.

Although Chen Nan had been beaten terribly and his body was in agony, he felt inexplicably lighter inside. He had deliberately forced himself on her just now in order to provoke her. He would rather let Ning Xuan vent her anger than have her bottle it up. Given enough time, it would inevitably harden into an irreconcilable knot.

If one beating was not enough, then she could beat him a few more times. That had been his original plan.

What he had not expected was that Ning Xuan, who was usually so gentle and respectful toward him, could strike with such brutality—or make it hurt so much.

The way he now huddled in the corner, trembling, was not an act. He was genuinely frightened. Women of low rank raised on inferior planets tended to be submissive and spineless when faced with powerful men of higher rank. Chen Nan had sensed long ago that his contract master was not someone raised on a low-level planet. Yet the murderous fury Ning Xuan displayed today left him shaken to the core. To be honest, he was beginning to regret it.

After venting her anger, Ning Xuan’s boiling blood and agitated mental power gradually settled. She exhaled deeply, and a special energy began to gather within her body before dispersing into her bloodstream. As she had done last time, she circulated the Clear Mind Formula. Under her control, that energy followed the faintly perceptible meridians toward the crown of her head.

The Clear Mind Formula was primarily used to dispel distracting thoughts, preserve one’s natural clarity, and nourish the spirit. Its effects centered on the head, and the meridians that needed to be opened were there as well. Unfortunately, there was still too little energy. Although it had merged into her meridians and stabilized her previously restless mind, the meridians leading to the crown remained indistinct and had not been fully opened.

Ning Xuan glanced at the blood still clinging to the vines, then at Chen Nan, who was curled in the corner with his flesh a bloody mess.

“Didn’t you say this was an absolutely safe zone? How is it that I’ve beaten you into this state and no one has come to intervene?”

As she spoke, Ning Xuan reached out to touch Chen Nan’s face. Still shaken, Chen Nan instinctively shrank backward.

“What are you hiding from? Didn’t you just say that you’d willingly let me beat you to death? You’re still a long way from dying.”

With malicious intent, Ning Xuan rubbed his neck, as though she might crush his cervical vertebrae at any moment.

Chen Nan forcibly suppressed the instinct to resist and whispered submissively, “It is Ah Nan who deserves to die. Please punish me as you see fit, honored contract master.”

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The miserable state Chen Nan was in after the beating, combined with his perfectly timed display of submission, greatly diminished the fury in Ning Xuan’s heart.

“Didn’t you say this was an absolutely safe zone? As the owner of this residence, doesn’t it protect your safety?” Ning Xuan asked curiously.

“Contract master, the city guards will only appear if I call for help,” Chen Nan replied.

“If I die, the teleportation token will disappear automatically, and the city guards will investigate the cause of death.” Chen Nan had already guessed what information Ning Xuan wanted to know and hurriedly added this explanation.

The rest needed no explanation. Ning Xuan could easily guess that killing someone here would require paying with one’s life. Only then could the interests of those holding identities within the safe zone be protected, and only then could the rules and order of the safe zone be maintained.

Ning Xuan pressed one finger against the back of Chen Nan’s hand, where the vines had pierced through it earlier.

“Does it hurt?”

Chen Nan was covered in injuries. A disturbance in one place affected his entire body, and at once every muscle in him went rigid with pain. Seeing the cold expression on Ning Xuan’s face, he instinctively put on a frightened and aggrieved look.

“It hurts…”

“You don’t want to dissolve the contract?” Ning Xuan continued to regard him coldly.

“No. If you truly don’t wish to remain here, honored contract master, I’ll send you back at once!” Chen Nan hurriedly declared.

“Oh? Then we don’t need to wait for me to awaken my companion spirit?” Ning Xuan looked at Chen Nan mockingly.

“It would still be best to wait until after you awaken your companion spirit…” Chen Nan studied Ning Xuan’s expression and dared not continue.

Ning Xuan slapped him across the face.

“What do you take me for? How dare you make decisions for me?”

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“Ah Nan won’t dare again!” Chen Nan endured the pain and reached out to embrace Ning Xuan’s leg.

After learning about the situation in the Extreme Cold City, Ning Xuan had to admit that the place Chen Nan had chosen was actually well suited to her current needs. While studying the art of alchemy, she would need to consume large quantities of materials such as exotic substances. Purchasing them through the stellar network would be expensive. If she wanted to afford the losses incurred during the alchemical process, she would have to choose medicines that posed no challenge to her, refine them into finished products, and sell them for money. Doing so, however, would inevitably slow the progress of her studies.

As for enrolling in a school’s intensive training program, she would owe the school a debt of gratitude while making use of its resources, and would inevitably have to repay that debt at some point in the future.

Here, however, exotic plants were far cheaper, and there were also earthfire resources available for use. Without her realizing it, the cost of honing her alchemical skills had been reduced considerably.

As long as Chen Nan had no intention of harming or resisting her, there was no harm in staying here for a while.

“I remember your father sent you a document—the rules the Bai family wanted you to study before entering the household,” Ning Xuan suddenly said.

When Chen Nan heard her bring it up, his heart lurched. He replied cautiously, “Yes. But I had already chosen you in my heart, so I never read the document carefully.”

Thinking of the three densely packed pages of rules, Chen Nan felt like crying. In truth, it was not only the Bai family. Every prominent household on the high-level planets had no shortage of rules.

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