Su Yan stared at Jiang Zheyu, his red pupils seeming to narrow into slits, like a snake's, for an instant.
A Snake Beastman's pupils would narrow into slits not only when they were extremely excited, but also when they were hunting prey.
The girl, with her beautiful and exceedingly youthful face, was looking at him and speaking such explicit words.
When he first chose her to be his Female Master, he hadn't been without hope that she might be different from other females.
'This is probably what I was hoping for back then, wasn't it? Her, just like this.'
'But now, I've long since given up all expectations for females.'
'I nearly killed her last night, yet she, against all odds, didn't report it to the Empire.'
'In the past, she would have made a fuss over the smallest things.'
'I wonder what kind of trick she's playing now.'
Su Yan watched her quietly, saying nothing.
Jiang Zheyu, however, felt the air grow inexplicably tense. His calm gaze seemed to hide extreme danger beneath its placid surface.
"The-the Spiritual Comfort I was talking about is…" Jiang Zheyu thought he had misunderstood and was about to explain, but before she could finish, Su Yan slowly walked in. His wrist rested on the doorknob. The incandescent light fell on his fair, strong wrist, where a silver watch seemed to be coated in a layer of light. He slowly pulled the door shut.
With his other hand, he slowly undid the top button of his shirt.
The casual touch of his long, powerful fingers against his slightly prominent Adam's apple was exceptionally sexy.
The sight made Jiang Zheyu's brain short-circuit for a moment.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Female Master." Su Yan's cool, red eyes watched her quietly as he slowly walked closer.
Jiang Zheyu subconsciously backed away, her cheeks flushing red in embarrassed panic.
"No, that's not it!" Jiang Zheyu explained hurriedly, her bunny slippers shuffling backward as she instinctively raised her hands to block the young man's oppressive approach. "There's no need to mate! I can just use my Spiritual Touch Silk to purify you. J-just like yesterday!"
Su Yan's hand stopped. His pair of red, phoenix-like eyes stared at Jiang Zheyu, as if trying to see straight through to her soul.
"My Spiritual Power Level must have increased," Jiang Zheyu explained lamely.
After all, the only female known to be capable of purification using spiritual power filaments was the Little Princess of the Empire, whose rank was A+.
Of course, it wasn't impossible for some females' spiritual power to mutate later in life—it could get stronger or weaker, varying from person to person.
But the probability of that was minuscule.
And yet, the girl had indeed used her spiritual power filaments to purify him yesterday.
Yesterday, she had lowered his Beastification Value from a sudden spike of 94 down to 89.
A Purification Power of five points in a single session was not a low level. It might even be higher than the currently known Spiritual Power Level of the Imperial Princess.
Su Yan's rationality had also returned the instant his Beastification Value dropped back to 89.
"Alright." Su Yan looked at her. "What do you need me to do?"
Jiang Zheyu let out a sigh of relief. She looked up at him, her crystal-clear, tea-colored eyes taking on a mesmerizingly beautiful hue under the incandescent light. "Just give me your hand."
Su Yan glanced at her, then slowly extended his hand.
The girl's slender hand was not as slow as his. On the contrary, just as he reached out, she decisively grasped his palm, a step ahead of him.
Her hand was very small and couldn't completely envelop his.
Su Yan's red eyes flickered slightly, and he clasped her hand in return.
Jiang Zheyu didn't notice his action, instead simply closing her eyes.
She needed to be extremely focused to capture the contaminated spiritual power.
After closing her eyes, there was only darkness. But as she focused her spiritual power, it was as if a black curtain was pulled aside, revealing a pure white space where a giant black python lay coiled on the ground.
This time, however, the great python was not slumbering like it was yesterday. Instead, its red, slit-like snake pupils were wide open.
Jiang Zheyu silently swallowed.
'The original owner disliked the great python, but I'm terrified of snakes—those soft, slimy, cold creatures.'
'I don't like snakes either! I don't like any kind of snake!'
'Yesterday, I didn't see anything clearly and just rushed in. Now that I can see it, I'm terrified.'
'Just look at it! This python must be over ten meters long! Its body is as thick as my torso!'
Outside, Su Yan could easily see the girl's face turn pale, her closed, raven-feather lashes trembling violently in fear.
He didn't feel his Beastification Value being purified, and seeing the girl's expression, he quickly realized she was afraid of his spiritual body.
'In that case, my real body is several times larger than my spiritual body. She'll probably be even more terrified…'
"Host, hurry up! It's already fifty-five past the hour—it's almost midnight!" the system's voice pulled Jiang Zheyu from her terrified daze.
Torn between failing the mission and facing a socially-cringey penalty versus overcoming her fear of snakes, Jiang Zheyu ultimately chose to overcome her fear of snakes.
Like someone marching to their death, she approached the black energy surrounding the great python.
'As long as I don't see the great python, as long as I don't see the great python... All I see is black energy, all I see is black energy!'
Jiang Zheyu tried to brainwash herself, thinking she could ignore the giant python this way.
'But in reality, it was impossible to ignore! Impossible!'
If Jiang Zheyu had a physical body here, she would definitely be trembling.
But in this pure white space, she was just a wisp of spiritual power, as light as the wind.
Her pearly white spiritual power strenuously grabbed at the black energy.
One wisp, two wisps, three, four, five, six…
Just as she was about to give up, unable to hold on any longer, the great python silently slithered up beside her.
Its enormous head drew near her, and its forked, bright red tongue flicked out, licking with excruciating slowness across her Spiritual Touch Silk.
'Wet, cold, and slippery.'
Every hair on Jiang Zheyu's body stood on end. She instantly withdrew her Spiritual Touch Silk, and her tightly shut eyes snapped open in terror.
'It felt just like a snake was licking my skin! Aaaah!'
'So scary, so scary, aaaah!'
Su Yan's spiritual power felt an unprecedented comfort, along with a faint sense of pleasure and excitement.
So when Jiang Zheyu's eyes snapped open and she suddenly looked at him, she saw that his red irises had straightened into needle-like slits, just like his spiritual body's.
'Exactly the same as the great python's eyes in his spiritual body!'
Jiang Zheyu reacted instinctively, flinging his hand away and stumbling back several steps.
Su Yan snapped back to his senses, and his red eyes returned to normal.
He looked at Jiang Zheyu and saw the girl continuously backing away as if fleeing something terrifying, her pretty little face pale and bloodless.
"It's-it's done. The Spiritual Comfort is finished," Jiang Zheyu said, grabbing onto a table to keep her weak legs from giving out.
"You…" Su Yan subconsciously started to walk over to ask how she was.
After finishing the comfort, Jiang Zheyu's head was splitting with pain again. Seeing Su Yan approach, she quickly raised a hand to stop him. "Don't come any closer!"
"Female Master…" Su Yan's expression was impassive, his eyelids half-lowered. His cool, red eyes watched her, and he didn't move again.