Inside the room.
Jiangning couldn't help but glance at Xie Xiaojiu a few more times.
Because she was stunning!
Bathed in candlelight, her skin was like polished jade, pure as frost and snow.
Years of martial training had left her without an ounce of excess fat, perfectly aligning with his aesthetic preferences.
Noticing Jiangning's undisguised gaze, Xie Xiaojiu felt a flicker of joy in her heart.
Her confidence surged back a little.
"My lord, I'm done washing!" she announced.
"Mm." Jiangning stood and nodded. "Wearing so little is asking for a chill. Get under the covers first."
Under his gaze, Xie Xiaojiu couldn't help but blush slightly, her left hand instinctively covering her chest.
Unaware that this only drew more attention to it.
Then, with her right hand, she pointed to her hair, still bundled atop her head. "My lord, my hair's still wet. Maybe later?"
"That's easily fixed." Jiangning waved his hand, activating his Water Manipulation ability. Instantly, the moisture clinging to her strands vanished without a trace.
"Done. Your hair's dry now," he said casually.
Hearing this, Xie Xiaojiu gave him a skeptical look but reached up to touch her hair only for her eyes to widen in shock.
Her fingers met no dampness at all. Even the towel wrapped around it felt completely dry.
She quickly untied the towel, letting her inky-black tresses cascade down freely.
A shake of her head sent her waist-length hair flowing like smooth satin.
"My lord, this trick of yours is amazing!" Xie Xiaojiu stared at him in awe.
Jiangning chuckled at her reaction.
Then,
Xie Xiaojiu obediently burrowed under the blankets,
peeking out at him with just her bright, curious eyes visible.
After a glance at her, Jiangning walked over to the bathtub.
Steam still curled faintly from the water, proof of its lingering heat.
Curious, he dipped a hand in.
The next second,
his lips twitched.
"Is this for boiling pigs?"
His mind filled with silent complaints.
Even after all this time, the water's temperature was scalding to the touch.
Meanwhile,
"My lord, are you going to bathe too?" Xie Xiaojiu's gaze held a hint of hopeful anticipation.
"Did that yesterday. No need today." Jiangning shook his head.
With a flick of his wrist,
the closed window swung open. The bathwater rose in a swirling column, arcing neatly out the window to spill across the snowy ground outside.
Once the tub was emptied, he turned back only to find Xie Xiaojiu gaping at him, her lips slightly parted in shock.
"What, scared?" Jiangning asked.
"A little," she admitted with a nod.
He smiled faintly.
Just then,
Xie Xiaojiu suddenly spoke up, her voice timid:
"My lord… are you coming to bed? I've already warmed it up for you."
Jiangning blinked, caught off guard by her boldness.
He hadn't expected her to muster the courage to say something like that tonight.
But considering his current circumstances,
he slowly shook his head. "You sleep well. I'll cultivate here tonight."
In his view, nothing compares to the thrill of cultivation!
Growing stronger, honing his body, and steadily mastering greater power each step brought him closer to transcending mortal limits.
That was the real pleasure far beyond what any woman could offer.
Besides, women were trouble!
Unless one could truly remain heartless, getting involved meant responsibility. It meant complications!
With these thoughts, his resolve hardened further.
No momentary pleasure is worth endless headaches.
Especially when the situation was precarious it would only multiply the troubles!
At the same time,
Xie Xiaojiu's eyes dimmed slightly at his refusal.
She quietly ducked her head under the covers.
A short while later,
Jiangning sat cross-legged nearby.
Having successfully obtained the Bone-Forging Pills today, the path to the sixth martial rank now lay wide open before him.
Every extra effort meant reaching it sooner.
With He Jinyun's elder brother, He Jinsheng, now in Luoshui County,
He couldn't afford even a moment's laxity.
If circumstances took a turn for the worse, strength would be his only reliable safeguard.
Moreover, tonight he intended to observe when exactly the Source Energy points on his panel would change.
Previously, the accumulated Source Energy from each day only appeared on the panel after he woke up.
To him, this suggested that the points updated at a fixed time were likely some form of daily tally.
But that tally seemed tied to his sleep cycle.
Tonight, with Xie Xiaojiu occupying his bed,
He decided to forgo sleep entirely and cultivate through the night.
At his current level, skipping a night's rest might slightly affect his condition the next day, but the impact would be minimal.
The occasional sleepless night was inconsequential.
Closing his eyes,
he turned his focus inward,
Immediately spotting the twenty-six bones now gleaming silver within him.
The thirteen tempered in the afternoon shone brightest, their silvery radiance already covering over a tenth of their surface area.
"According to records, this efficiency far surpasses ordinary martial artists."
Looking at the progress of these thirteen bones, Jiangning marveled inwardly.
From what he knew, ordinary peak seventh-rank martial artists attempting to break through to the sixth rank even if their qi, blood energy, and mental strength met the requirements were far less efficient than him.
Most could only temper one bone at a time, slowly and painstakingly.
To simultaneously temper thirteen bones like him required not only exceptionally strong mental power and precise control but also an immense reserve of qi and blood energy to condense thirteen miniature qi-blood hammers for forging the bones.
From this perspective alone, he knew his efficiency was nearly ten times that of an average martial artist.
Moreover,
condensing qi-blood hammers to temper bones was an extremely draining process both mentally and physically.
Without restorative aids to replenish their qi, blood energy, and mental stamina,
ordinary martial artists could only manage a limited number of bone-tempering sessions per day.
But for Jiangning, this wasn't an issue.
Submerged in water, he could rapidly recover his condition.
If necessary, he could maintain peak performance indefinitely, unbothered by any depletion of qi, blood energy, or mental strength.
With this in mind,
he immersed himself in bone-forging.
As the qi-blood hammers struck his bones, deep tremors reverberated through his body, accompanied by muffled thuds.
Time slipped by unnoticed.
Before long, midnight arrived.
After completing one full cycle of bone forging,
Jiangning opened his eyes. The candle had long burned out, plunging the room into darkness.
Pitch black to the point of not seeing one's hand.
Yet for his heightened senses, while not as clear as daylight, the interior was still easily discernible.
A quick scan revealed Xie Xiaojiu asleep in his bed.
Her sleeping posture was far from proper the quilt had slipped down to her waist, exposing large swathes of pale skin.
One leg had even escaped the covers entirely, dangling carelessly off the edge of the bed.
Jiangning shook his head slightly.
Rising, he approached the bedside.
First, he adjusted her leg, tucking it back under the quilt.
Then, he pulled the covers up to shield the revealing view of her chest.
Just then
"Mmm..."
A soft, unconscious murmur escaped Xie Xiaojiu's lips as her hands suddenly seized Jiangning's arm, clutching it tightly against her.
Like clinging to a stuffed doll, she hugged his arm firmly to her chest.
Instantly,
Jiangning's right hand was pressed against an unmistakable softness.
Then
purely on reflex, he gave a light squeeze.
"Ah"
Another murmur slipped from Xie Xiaojiu's lips.
At the same time, Jiangning felt her entire body tense up abruptly.
...Oh.
It dawned on him.
Given her physical reaction, she was awake now.
Looking down, even in the dark, he could see her eyelashes fluttering wildly a telltale sign of nervousness.
This is bad.
In this position, he'd have a hard time explaining himself even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
From an outsider's perspective, this looked exactly like attempted misconduct.
Jiangning: "..."
After a brief internal sigh,
he tried gently withdrawing his right hand only to find it still firmly trapped in Xie Xiaojiu's embrace, impossible to free.
Meanwhile, her previously rigid body gradually relaxed.
Jiangning: "..."
The next moment,
he gave another deliberate pinch.
"Eep!"
Xie Xiaojiu's tiny yelp gave him the opening he needed. Seizing the moment, he pulled his hand free.
Then, he adjusted the quilt over her once more and patted it lightly.
"Go back to sleep."
After saying this, Jiangning turned and walked away.
Behind him, Xie Xiaojiu continued to feign sleep.
Unseen by him, the corners of her lips curled unconsciously into a faint, pleased smile.
Once he stepped away from the bedside,
Jiangning moved to the water buckets.
Of the two large buckets he had brought earlier, only about thirty percent remained after Xie Xiaojiu's use.
The next moment,
he plunged his hand into the icy water.
His furrowed brows instantly relaxed.
Even with just his palm submerged, he could feel his depleted qi, blood energy, and mental strength replenishing like a spring with an endless source, its waters continuously gathering.
Meanwhile,
Xie Xiaojiu tilted her head slightly toward Jiangning's direction.
Though the room was pitch black, and she couldn't see where he was,
She could sense his presence.
She could smell his scent, and hear his breathing.
A deep sense of tranquility washed over her.
A soft smile graced her lips.
After a moment, she snapped out of her reverie, nodding slightly with a secretive grin.
"It seems I do have some appeal to him after all!"
With that thought, her earlier disappointment vanished entirely.
By the time it took to finish a cup of tea,
Xie Xiaojiu had drifted back to sleep.
Jiangning withdrew his hand from the water.
After that brief period, his mental and physical energy had mostly recovered.
Then,
he returned to his spot and resumed bone-forging.
Time slipped by unnoticed.
Soon, it was 3:15 a.m. the hour of Yin.
"Haa"
Jiangning opened his eyes and exhaled slowly.
A night of continuous bone-forging, with multiple cycles of exhausting his qi, blood energy, and mental strength,
had left even him feeling somewhat drained, especially without proper rest.
He closed his eyes again, massaging his temples to ease the faint weariness between his brows.
Out of habit, he pulled up his status panel.
Jiangning stood and walked to the side.
[Source Energy]: 541.11
His gaze sharpened the moment he saw the number.
"I remember it was around 530 yesterday."
"Now it's suddenly over 540."
"So the daily Source Energy update happens around this hour."
Having pieced it together, he nodded to himself.
Then, he returned to the water bucket and dipped his hand in again.
After a while,
his brows knit together.
"Strange. The water's restorative effect is gone."
Staring at the bucket, a hypothesis formed in his mind.
He glanced at Xie Xiaojiu still sound asleep and dismissed the idea of stepping outside.
Though fatigued and without water to recover, he chose to press on with bone-forging.
Time flowed quietly.
Before long,
The first light of dawn crept into the room.
After completing another cycle, Jiangning inspected his progress internally.
Seventy-eight bones now shimmered faintly with silvery light.
This meant his path to forging Iron Bones was advancing steadily.
The initial thirteen bones, having fully absorbed the iron marrow, gleamed especially bright.
Once all his bones turned completely silver, he would achieve true Iron Bones officially stepping into the sixth rank.
Satisfied with his progress, Jiangning withdrew from his inner vision and opened his eyes.
"My lord!"
The moment he did, Xie Xiaojiu's voice reached his ears.
Turning slightly,
He saw her already awake, sitting sideways on the bed with the quilt pulled up to cover herself.
"Awake?" Jiangning asked.
"Yes!" Xie Xiaojiu nodded eagerly. "Your bed is so comfortable I've never slept so well!"
Jiangning couldn't help but chuckle at that.
He knew his bed was just an ordinary, firm plank hardly anything special.
"Getting up now?" he asked.
Xie Xiaojiu nodded. "Yes. It's time for my sword practice."
Then, with a shy dip of her head,
"Could you turn around, my lord? I need to get dressed."
"Sure." Jiangning obliged, facing away.
Both of them tacitly avoided mentioning last night's incident.
Even though they both remembered.
Soon,
Rustling fabric sounded behind him as Xie Xiaojiu dressed.
In less than a minute,
"Done!" she announced.
Jiangning turned back to find her fully dressed.
She wore the same black dress as yesterday
elegant and subdued, like an orchid in a secluded valley.
"My lord, I'm heading out to practice my swordplay. Would you like to watch?" Xie Xiaojiu stood, smoothing her skirt.
"Not today." Jiangning shook his head. "I'll rest a bit. Wake me when breakfast is ready."
Guilt flickered in Xie Xiaojiu's eyes as she stood by the bed. "This is my fault..."
As Jiangning passed her, he reached out and ruffled her hair. "Not your fault. You warmed the bed for me I was the one who didn't use it."
He gave her a reassuring smile before moving to the bedside.
"Let me!" Xie Xiaojiu darted forward, kneeling swiftly.
"My lord, I'll help you with your shoes!"
Before he could react, she'd already taken hold of his footwear, removing it deftly.
Watching her kneel to take off his shoes and socks, Jiangning found it oddly endearing.
"Not bothered by the smell?"
Xie Xiaojiu sniffed lightly, then looked up. "Not at all!"
Once his shoes were off, she guided him into bed, tucking the quilt around him and patting his chest.
"Rest well, my lord."
As the soothing, faintly sweet scent of the blankets enveloped him,
Jiangning marveled inwardly.
"The differences between men and women are striking."
With that thought, he drifted into a deep sleep.
-support me on Patreon for more chapters, 410+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LordoftheReader