Chapter 87: Ning Roumei

Ning Ruomei was having a wonderful afternoon.

At least, judging by her appearance, one would think she had come to enjoy a leisurely picnic rather than watch several hundred cultivators tear each other apart.

The interior of her black-and-red palanquin was far larger than its exterior suggested, lined with soft cushions, dark silk and enough expensive furnishing to make the muddy battlefield outside feel like an unfortunate rumor.

And right in the middle of it all lounged Ning Ruomei.

The infamous Xie Mei.

She wore almost criminally little for someone attending a battlefield.

Long purple hair spilled behind her in thick waves, cascading over the cushions and down her back without any headdress or ornament restricting it. Several loose strands framed a beautiful face filled with playful sensuality, highlighted by narrow violet eyes, dark lashes and glossy lips that seemed permanently curved as though she had just thought of something indecent.

Her clothing was even worse.

Or better, depending entirely upon one’s perspective.

A black-and-red outfit wrapped around her torso while leaving an enormous amount of pale skin exposed across her shoulders, sides and stomach. The upper portion struggled heroically against a chest generous enough to make the word ’support’ sound like a military occupation, while the lower portion clung tightly around broad hips before opening into strips of dark fabric that left most of her long legs visible.

Gold chains and ornaments rested against her bare skin, shifting whenever she moved and drawing the eye toward places where a sensible woman would probably prefer people not staring.

Ning Ruomei was not a sensible woman, at least not in that regard.

If men wanted to look, let them look!

She lay sideways across the cushions with one leg bent slightly over the other, holding a cluster of grapes in one hand.

Then she slowly plucked one free, her pink tongue emerging to catch the fruit before she pulled it between her lips and bit down, the movement deliberately lazy enough that several nearby cultivators forgot they were supposed to be preparing for battle.

The sides of the palanquin had been opened for air, which meant anyone positioned nearby had a rather magnificent view.

Sometimes, depending on how Ning Ruomei shifted...

They got a little more than that.

Tang Yuyen, to her right, was unaffected.

The Level 9 Qi Condensation cultivator stood beside the palanquin with folded arms, her late-middle-aged features still carrying enough traces of former beauty that one could easily imagine her being rather attractive in her youth.

Unfortunately, age had sharpened those features instead of softening them, coming out into thin lips, narrow eyes, and high cheekbones.

She also wore a permanently disapproving expression that made her resemble the sort of sinister step-aunt who would compliment a young bride’s dress while secretly wondering how best to poison her before the wedding.

She noticed the gazes around them and clicked her tongue.

"Lady Ning, are you truly not bothered by these filthy creatures staring at you like starving dogs? Give the word and I will claw every eye from their sockets." Tang Yuyen asked coldly.

She did not bother lowering her voice, so every Body Tempering disciple within earshot immediately came back to reality.

A dozen heads snapped away in terror.

One man who had been staring particularly hard suddenly discovered that the distant clouds were extremely fascinating.

Another lowered his gaze so quickly that his neck almost cracked.

And several weaker disciples who had been suffering rather visible physical reactions suddenly remembered that Tang Yuyen could probably rip their lower halves off with one hand.

A dark chuckle came from the other side of the palanquin.

"Oh, Granny Tang, calm down. They’re merely young and virile men appreciating a youthful beauty. Can you truly blame them for having working eyes?" Fang Lu remarked lazily.

Tang Yuyen’s face twitched.

’Granny’!

’Young’!!

’Virile’!!!

The Level 8 Qi Condensation cultivator had emphasized every single word, though Fang Lu barely looked interested in her reaction.

He was a thin man with messy black hair, a plain face and perpetually tired-looking eyes that made him appear as though life itself had inconvenienced him by requiring consciousness.

That ordinary appearance was deeply misleading.

The fellow’s cultivation was powerful, his reputation was disgusting and, at this exact moment, his eyes were practically glued to Ning Ruomei’s exposed thighs.

Tang Yuyen’s aura exploded outward, causing several nearby Body Tempering disciples to choke, many dropping to their knees.

"Say that again, Fang Lu!" Tang Yuyen hissed.

Fang Lu glanced toward her, then smiled and said nothing.

Which was somehow worse.

The bastard simply turned his head away and resumed shamelessly ogling Ning Ruomei as though Tang Yuyen had ceased existing.

"You—!"

Ning Ruomei finally chuckled.

She did not stop them.

Why would she?

Watching these two fools bicker was entertaining.

If Fang Lu and Tang Yuyen eventually decided to kill each other, that might be entertaining too.

Her violet eyes gleamed faintly as she ate another grape.

People mistook beauty for softness far too often, so Ning Ruomei had long learned to let them.

Before Tang Yuyen could actually attack, however, all three suddenly looked toward the opposite side of the battlefield.

Someone was staring at them.

No... at her.

A young man sat upon a Gale Beakrunner near the Evergreen formation, his posture relaxed despite the army surrounding him.

Damian Baines.

Ning Ruomei’s playful expression faded slightly.

Across the long distance between both armies, their gazes met.

Damian’s eyebrows rose.

So this was Ning Ruomei’s true appearance?

Interesting.

The woman who had quietly arranged for him to die was apparently built like somebody had asked a divine artisan to create ’temptation’ and then complained the first draft was too subtle.

Silky purple hair, pale yet supple skin, a ridiculous figure, bare legs all the way to her upper thigh, completely bare midriff, and enough cleavage visible from breasts that surpassed Lady Selene and caught up to Ophelia and Lady Lyla.

Damian’s gaze traveled once before returning to her face.

Tsk, tsk.

Impressive, very nice!

He still wanted her dead though.

Ning Ruomei did not share his amusement, as her eyes narrowed.

The moment she focused upon Damian properly, the faint unease she had felt from information and reports sharpened violently.

Danger!

Serious danger!

Her instincts were screaming at her, almost making her feel dizzy.

But it made absolutely no sense!

Damian’s displayed cultivation remained near the beginning of Qi Condensation.

Weak!

So weak that anyone around her should have been capable of suppressing him casually.

Yet the sensation coming from him was worse than standing before her own father.

Ning Ruomei had lived under Xie Man’s shadow her entire life, so she knew exactly what it felt like to face someone who could kill her.

This was different.

Her father felt like a mountain towering overhead, a being that could crush you with sheer power and snuff the life out of you.

Damian, though, felt like standing at the edge of a great ravine, of which the bottom flowed with acid so potent it could melt water, much less flesh.

Her fingers tightened around the grape stem.

Indeed...

The information had been correct.

This man could not be allowed to live!

"Oh... oh my..."

Ning Ruomei’s thoughts were interrupted by Fang Lu.

The man was trembling, and not from fear, but from ecstasy.

His attention had passed straight over Damian as though the young man were a roadside weed.

Instead, Fang Lu was staring at the two women accompanying him, Mu Qingyao and Shen Xueyi!

His tired eyes opened wider than Tang Yuyen had ever seen them.

"The heavens truly favor me..." Fang Lu whispered.

Tang Yuyen followed his gaze and immediately became grim.

Those two?!

The premier beauties of the Azure Water Sector!

They were together and following the same man?!

Along with Ning Ruomei present on their side...

All three of the Azure Water Sector’s most famous beauties were standing upon the same battlefield!

When had something like this ever happened?

Tang Yuyen’s unease deepened.

She had come here expecting another routine suppression of the Grass Munchers, personally sent by Ancestor Xie to ’supervise’ and ’monitor’ Ning Ruomei.

Instead, Ning Ruomei had personally come onto this low level battlefield, and now Damian Baines, the rumored fatal enemy to their sect, had also appeared.

Somehow, as if to buttress that claim, both Mu Qingyao and Shen Xueyi had appeared with him!

Even worse, the Evergreen camp they expected to find half-dead now stood in full strength!

Something was deeply wrong!!

This battle... may not proceed according to expectation.

Fang Lu did not share a single one of her concerns.

He was already imagining the future, a future of Mu Qingyao pressed beneath him and Shen Xueyi beside her.

Both famed beauties finally subdued and captured while he became the man who conquered the Azure Water Sector’s legendary flowers.

His mouth curled upward.

Wonderful.

Simply wonderful!

On the opposite side, Damian finished examining the enemy forces and came to a simple conclusion.

No threat to him... none whatsoever.

The Body Tempering disciples were farm material.

The two Qi Condensation cultivators were stronger, yes, but Damian felt no meaningful pressure from either.

Ning Ruomei herself inspired caution because he knew too little about her methods, but nothing here currently triggered the same instinctive warning he associated with genuine danger.

This should be routine enough.

The only real problem was ensuring his ’prey’ did not escape.

Damian’s attention returned toward the enemy backline, then noticed Fang Lu.

More specifically...

He noticed where Fang Lu was looking.

Mu Qingyao had quietly shifted behind Damian after recognizing the infamous cultivator, putting Damian’s body between herself and that burning gaze.

Shen Xueyi reacted differently.

Her expression became cold as she stepped closer to Damian’s side, clearly refusing to appear as though she were hiding while still avoiding Fang Lu’s shameless stare.

Neither woman liked that fellow, and that much was obvious.

Damian’s face darkened as he knew that look.

He had seen men admire beautiful women before.

Hell, Damian himself had spent the last few days shamelessly appreciating Ophelia, Lyla, Selene and practically every other absurdly attractive woman these worlds kept throwing at him.

That was normal.

Fang Lu’s expression, however, was not!

There was extreme possessiveness and entitlement within.

It was not the kind of gaze that said ’wow she’s beautiful’.

It said ’I want that, therefore it should belong to me’.

Damian’s eyes became colder.

"Alright."

Fang Lu had just volunteered for the immediate execution list.

How kind of him.

Ironically, Fang Lu reached almost the exact same conclusion.

He watched Mu Qingyao move behind Damian, then Shen Xueyi also stepped closer to that weak bastard.

Something hot surged into his chest.

On what grounds?!

Fang Lu’s fingers slowly curled into fists.

On what fucking grounds did that pretty-boy weakling get to stand between those two women?

A mere entry-stage Qi Condensation cultivator!

An averagely handsome fellow with none of the domineering bearing expected from a proper genius!

Worse...

What if he had already touched them?

What if that fellow used his tiny little worm to defile such peerless beauties before Fang Lu could properly show them what a real man was capable of?

Unacceptable!

Only when they experienced the true power of a masculine man like Fang Lu would they properly appreciate being born into this world as women!

His eyes burned with hatred and killing intent.

As for the reports about Damian’s strange Daoist Magic?

Pfft!

Fang Lu had dismissed most of them immediately!

The Nightmare Corpse Sect had suppressed Evergreen and Azure Water disciples across these battlefronts for years.

Corpse Qi possessed natural advantages, and their methods had been proven superior repeatedly.

Then some random hick appears from nowhere and suddenly possesses the perfect counter?

What kind of childish ’hero defeats the villain’ story was that?!

Even the most exaggerated legends possessed some structure!

The righteous hero should begin weak.

He should endure suffering, experience betrayals, discover opportunities, temper an unbreakable will, and develop magnificent charisma while struggling through blood and fire before eventually becoming powerful enough to overthrow the ancient evil.

That was how stories worked!

What the hell was Damian Baines?

A moderately handsome fellow sitting there with completely ordinary posture and that mild, simple-minded expression on his face?

This was supposed to be their destined counter?

"Pfft!"

Fang Lu nearly laughed.

A Body Tempering disciple approached Ning Ruomei’s palanquin and bowed deeply.

"Lady Ning, both sides are prepared. Please give your instructions."

Ning Ruomei did not answer, but Fang Lu did.

"Attack as usual. Don’t interfere with the two beauties near the front. Those two are mine." Fang Lu ordered with a perverse smile.

The disciple’s expression immediately showed understanding. "Yes, Elder Fang!"

Tang Yuyen looked at him with open disdain. "Filthy animal!"

Fang Lu simply ignored her.

Tang Yuyen’s disgust was genuine.

Unfortunately...

Beneath it sat something much uglier.

Jealousy!

Fang Lu was a lecher of the highest order, and everyone knew it.

His standards were infamous.

He chased young beauties relentlessly and barely acknowledged women outside the age and appearance range that pleased him.

Yet his reputation in certain private circles was equally infamous for another reason.

The man’s prowess in dual cultivation and bedroom techniques was said to be divine.

Some women who entered his chambers never recovered, and not because Fang Lu physically tortured them.

That would have been simpler.

His methods overwhelmed the mind through pleasure and stimulation until weaker women could suffer permanent mental collapse.

A few had even died wearing expressions of bliss.

Tang Yuyen hated him for it.

And in the darkest, most humiliating corner of herself...

She desperately wanted to know what that felt like.

Unfortunately, Fang Lu would never touch her as she was now as she was ’too old’ for his tastes.

Only breaking through to Foundation Establishment offered a real chance to reverse much of the aging that had settled onto her appearance and restore the youthful beauty she once possessed.

But entering Foundation Establishment? How could that be easy?

Tang Yuyen’s gaze returned toward the opposite army.

Mu Qingyao, Shen Xueyi, and Damian Baines.

Her eyes flashed.

If she helped capture the two women and successfully took down this mysterious Damian fellow...

The merit contribution would be enormous!

Perhaps enormous enough to exchange for something capable of pushing her toward Foundation Establishment.

She would regain her youth, attain true power, and another chance to experience her whims and wishes to the fullest!

Tang Yuyen’s heartbeat accelerated.

Perhaps today’s battle really was an opportunity!

Through all of this, Ning Ruomei still had not spoken a single word, her violet eyes remaining fixed upon Damian.

The rest of the battlefield had almost faded from her attention.

Whether it was the confidence of the Nightmare Corpse Sect disciples, Fang Lu’s lust, Tang Yuyen’s schemes, or the grim Evergreen army.

None of it mattered nearly as much as the man sitting across from her on the battlefield.

Damian Baines, the unknown variable.

The man that had entered this war from nowhere and begun changing everything.

Ning Ruomei slowly smiled, her tongue slowly sliding over her rosy lower lip.

’Now you are mine!’