Chapter 239: After a Night

Chapter 239: After a Night

Inside the room, Jiang Ning couldn't help but glance at Xie Xiaojiu. Her skin, illuminated by the candlelight, was like smooth jade, fair as frost and snow. The absence of any excess fat on her body, a result of her martial arts training, also appealed to his aesthetic sense.

Xie Xiaojiu, sensing Jiang Ning's unconcealed gaze, felt a surge of confidence. "I'm done, sir!" she said.

Jiang Ning nodded and replied, "It's easy to catch a cold with so little clothing. Go back to the bed for now!"

Feeling a bit shy under Jiang Ning's gaze, Xie Xiaojiu slightly covered her chest with her left hand. Unbeknownst to her, this gesture only made her more alluring. Then, pointing to her hair, which was still wet and tied up on top of her head, she said, "Sir, my hair is still wet. I'll just wait a bit!"

Jiang Ning waved his hand, activating his Water Control Technique. Instantly, the water on Xie Xiaojiu's hair evaporated, leaving her hair dry. "There, your hair is dry now!" he said nonchalantly.

Hearing this, Xie Xiaojiu looked at Jiang Ning with a mix of belief and skepticism. She reached up to touch her hair, and her eyes widened in surprise. Her hair, where her hand touched, was completely dry, and even the towel wrapped around her head felt bone dry.

Xie Xiaojiu immediately untied the towel, and her long black hair tumbled down, smooth as silk, reaching her waist. "Sir, your abilities are truly amazing!" she exclaimed, her face filled with awe as she looked at Jiang Ning.

Smiling at Xie Xiaojiu's expression, Jiang Ning turned to the bathtub. Steam was still rising from it, indicating that the water was still very hot. Out of curiosity, he reached into the water.

The next moment, he couldn't help but twitch his mouth. "Is this a pig's bath?" he thought to himself.

Even after a long time, the water in the bathtub remained uncomfortably hot for Jiang Ning.

Meanwhile, Xie Xiaojiu, seeing Jiang Ning's actions, asked, "Are you going to take a bath, sir?" There was a hint of anticipation in her eyes.

"I bathed yesterday, so I won't today," Jiang Ning replied, shaking his head. With a flick of his hand, the nearby window suddenly opened, and the water in the bathtub rose, transforming into a water column that flew out the window and landed in the snow outside.

After dealing with Xie Xiaojiu's bathwater, Jiang Ning turned to look at her. She stood there, her slightly parted lips a soft pink, lost in thought.

"Are you scared?" Jiang Ning asked.

"A little," Xie Xiaojiu nodded.

Jiang Ning smiled at her reaction.

Just then, Xie Xiaojiu timidly asked, "Sir, are we going to bed now? I've already warmed the bed!"

Hearing this, Jiang Ning looked at Xie Xiaojiu with surprise. He hadn't expected her to be so bold, especially in saying such words.

However, considering his current situation, Jiang Ning slowly shook his head. "You sleep alone. I'll just cultivate beside you tonight!" In his mind, women were less likely to enjoy cultivation.

Gaining strength, enhancing the physical body, gradually mastering greater power, and experiencing a life-changing transformation—these were the true pleasures of cultivation.

Moreover, women were ultimately a source of trouble. Unless one could be truly heartless, getting involved with them would lead to countless complications. With these thoughts, Jiang Ning's resolve strengthened.

He must not give in to momentary desires and invite endless troubles.

At that moment, upon hearing Jiang Ning's words, a hint of gloom flashed in Xie Xiaojiu's eyes. She quietly tucked herself back into the bed.

A while later, Jiang Ning sat cross-legged beside the bed. With the Bone Forging Pill obtained today, the path to the Sixth Rank Martial Dao was now clear to him.

With a little more effort, he would soon reach the Sixth Rank.

When He Jinyun's brother, He Jinyun, arrived in Luoshui County, Jiang Ning dared not slack off. In a worsening situation, strength was the most reliable asset.

Tonight, he also wanted to observe the Essence Energy points on the panel and see when they would change. Previously, the Essence Energy points he accumulated each day would only update on the panel after he woke up the next day.

In his understanding, the Essence Energy points only updated on the panel the following day. This suggested that the points were calculated and displayed at a specific time during his sleep.

Tonight, with his bed occupied by Xie Xiaojiu, Jiang Ning decided to stay awake and cultivate for the entire night. Although this might affect his condition the next day, it wouldn't be significant.

Occasionally staying awake for a day or two was not a big deal.

(End of Chapter 239)

He closed his eyes, his mind immersed within his body.

In an instant, he saw twenty-six bones within his body, shimmering with a silver glow.

Especially the thirteen bones he had tempered in the afternoon, their silver radiance was even more pronounced, already covering more than a tenth of the area of those thirteen bones.

"This efficiency, according to records, is far superior to that of ordinary martial artists!"

Seeing the progress of these thirteen bones, Jiang Ning secretly marveled in his heart.

As far as he knew, ordinary martial artists at the peak of the Seventh Rank would take much longer to break through to the Sixth Rank, even if their vital energy and psychic energy met the requirements.

They could only temper one bone at a time.

Because to temper thirteen bones simultaneously, one would need not only extremely strong psychic energy but also exceptional control.

At the same time, their vital energy power must be exceptionally strong to gather thirteen small hammers of vital energy to temper the bones within the body.

From this perspective alone, he knew that his efficiency was already nearly ten times that of ordinary martial artists.

Moreover...

Gathering the small hammers of vital energy to temper the bones was an extremely exhausting task for both psychic energy and vital energy.

Ordinary martial artists, without the aid of restorative items, would struggle to temper their bones more than a few times a day.

But for him, this was not a problem.

Being in the water, he could quickly restore his state.

In other words, if necessary, he could maintain his peak state indefinitely, unafraid of any depletion of vital energy or psychic energy.

Subsequently...

Jiang Ning entered the bone tempering process.

As the small hammers of vital energy fell, they landed heavily on the bones within his body, causing his body to tremble violently and emit a series of muffled sounds.

Time passed quietly.

In the blink of an eye, it was midnight.

After completing one round of bone tempering...

Jiang Ning opened his eyes, the candlelight had long since gone out, and the room was pitch black.

He couldn't see his fingers.

But for his five senses, although it wasn't as clear as during the day, he could still easily see everything in the room.

His gaze fell upon Xie Xiao Jiu, sleeping on his bed.

Her current sleeping posture was not modest, the blanket had slid down to her waist, exposing a large area of her fair skin.

One of her feet also stuck out from under the blanket, dangling loosely from the edge of the bed.

Seeing this, Jiang Ning shook his head slightly.

Then he got up and came to the bedside.

First, he straightened her foot and tucked it back into the blanket.

Then he pulled the blanket up to cover the spring scenery that had just been exposed on her chest.

At this moment...

Xie Xiao Jiu emitted an unconscious nasal sound, then grabbed Jiang Ning's arm and held it tightly.

She seemed to be hugging a doll, pulling Jiang Ning's arm into her embrace and holding it tightly.

In an instant...

Jiang Ning felt his hand touch a soft spot.

Then...

Jiang Ning instinctively pinched it.

Xie Xiao Jiu emitted another unconscious nasal sound.

Then, Jiang Ning felt her body suddenly tense up.

Jiang Ning froze.

From Xie Xiao Jiu's reaction, it was clear that she had woken up.

Jiang Ning looked down and, even in the darkness, saw Xie Xiao Jiu's eyelashes trembling, clearly nervous.

At this moment, he felt something was amiss.

In this position, he felt that even jumping into the Yellow River wouldn't wash away the suspicion.

From an outsider's perspective, it seemed like he had ill intentions.

Jiang Ning: "..."

After a moment of silence...

He gently twitched his right hand, only to find that Xie Xiao Jiu was still holding it tightly, unable to pull it out.

At the same time, Xie Xiao Jiu's tense body gradually relaxed.

Jiang Ning: "..."

The next moment...

He gently pinched her again.

6◇◇Book◇◇Bar

"Ah—"

Xie Xiao Jiu let out a soft cry, and Jiang Ning took the opportunity to pull out his right hand.

Then he pulled the blanket up to cover his chest and patted it gently: "Go back to sleep!"

After saying this, Jiang Ning turned and left.

Behind him, Xie Xiao Jiu continued to pretend to sleep.

When Jiang Ning wasn't looking, a hint of joy unconsciously appeared on the corner of her mouth.

After leaving the bedside...

Jiang Ning came to the water bucket.

The two large buckets he had brought were now only about three-tenths full after Xie Xiao Jiu's use.

The next moment...

Jiang Ning submerged his hand in the cold water.

His frown instantly relaxed.

Even with just his hand in the water, he felt his depleted vital energy and psychic energy replenishing like a spring, with a constant flow of water gathering.

Meanwhile...

Xie Xiao Jiu turned her head towards the direction where Jiang Ning was.

Although she couldn't see Jiang Ning in the pitch-black room, she could sense his presence.

She could smell his scent and hear his breathing.

She felt an unparalleled sense of peace.

A smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of her mouth.

After a while, she came back to her senses, nodding slightly, a hint of joy on her face.

"It seems I still have some appeal to him!"

With this thought, her previous disappointment vanished without a trace.

After a short break, Xie Xiaojiu fell back asleep.

Jiang Ning withdrew his hand from the water.

After a while, his psychic energy and vital energy were almost fully restored.

Then, he continued his bone forging practice nearby.

In the blink of an eye, it was one moment past midnight.

Jiang Ning opened his eyes, exhaling a breath of turbid air from his stomach.

After a whole night of bone forging, his vital and psychic energies had been depleted several times.

Without sufficient rest, even he felt a hint of fatigue.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, easing the weariness between his brows.

Then, he habitually opened his status panel.

Jiang Ning stood up and moved to the side.

Essence Energy: 541.11

When he saw the Essence Energy column, his eyes widened.

"I remember it was over 530 points yesterday!"

"Now, it suddenly became over 540 points!"

"That means the daily Essence Energy change occurs around this time!"

Jiang Ning muttered to himself, then understood.

Then, he looked at the water bucket beside him and reached his hand into the water.

After a short while, his brows furrowed.

"How strange! This water has lost its effect of restoring my condition!"

Looking at the water in the bucket, Jiang Ning couldn't help but speculate.

Then, he glanced at Xie Xiaojiu, who was still asleep.

Seeing this, he abandoned the idea of going out.

Despite his fatigue and the lack of water to absorb and restore his condition, he chose to continue bone forging.

Time passed quietly.

In the blink of an eye, dawn had arrived.

After another full cycle of bone forging, Jiang Ning visualized his body, and instantly, he saw that seventy-eight major bones were emitting a faint silver glow.

This indicated that the progress of bone forging for these bones was one step closer to the Iron Bone stage.

Especially the initial thirteen bones, after completely absorbing and integrating the iron marrow into the bones, emitted a substantial silver radiance.

Once all the bones in his body turned silver, it would signify the success of bone forging, the creation of the Iron Bone, and his entry into the ranks of the Sixth Stage Martial Artist.

After observing the state of his bones, Jiang Ning was extremely satisfied.

This progress meant that achieving the Iron Bone stage was not far off for him.

Then, he exited the visualization state and slowly opened his eyes.

"Sir!"

As he opened his eyes, he heard Xie Xiaojiu's voice.

He turned slightly to see that Xie Xiaojiu had awakened. She sat up in bed, pulling the covers to block her exposed body.

"You're awake!" Jiang Ning said.

"Yes! I'm awake!" Xie Xiaojiu nodded repeatedly, then said, "Your bed is so comfortable! I've never slept this well before!"

Hearing this, Jiang Ning smiled.

His bed was just an ordinary hardwood bed, nothing special about it.

"Do you want to get up now?" Jiang Ning asked.

Xie Xiaojiu nodded, "Yes! It's time for me to practice my sword skills!"

After speaking, Xie Xiaojiu blushed and lowered her head.

"Sir, could you turn around? I need to get dressed!"

"Okay!" Jiang Ning nodded slightly.

Then, he turned around.

At this moment, both of them tacitly avoided mentioning the previous night.

Even though they both knew what had happened!

Soon after, a rustling sound came from behind.

It was the sound of Xie Xiaojiu getting dressed.

In less than a quarter of an hour, she spoke up.

"I'm ready!" Xie Xiaojiu announced.

Jiang Ning turned around, and by then, Xie Xiaojiu was fully dressed.

She wore the same black dress as the day before.

Like a valley orchid, she donned a black dress.

"Sir, I'm going out to practice my sword skills! Do you want to come with me?" Xie Xiaojiu stood up and asked.

"No!" Jiang Ning shook his head, "I'll take a nap! Wake me up when it's time for breakfast!"

"Sir, blame me!" Xie Xiaojiu stood timidly at the side of the bed, her eyes filled with guilt.

As he passed by her, Jiang Ning patted her head, "It's not your fault! You warmed my bed last night, and I didn't even sleep in it!"

Then, he smiled at her.

"I'll help you take off your shoes!" Xie Xiaojiu said, quickly taking two steps in one to stand before Jiang Ning.

"Sir, I'll take off your shoes and socks!"

Seeing this, Jiang Ning smiled.

"Don't you mind my smelly feet?"

Upon hearing this, Xie Xiaojiu's face moved slightly.

Then, she raised her head and said, "They don't stink!"

After taking off his shoes, Xie Xiaojiu helped Jiang Ning lie down and covered him with the blanket, patting his chest.

"Sir, sleep well for a while!"

The smell of the blanket was pleasant.

"The differences between men and women are truly significant!"

Jiang Ning sighed inwardly, then fell into a deep sleep.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end