Chapter 49: Holy shit! Insufficient lifespan!

Lin Fan looked into Li Jiu's eyes, and a deep sense of foreboding washed over him.

"Junior brother, if you were just an ordinary cultivator, we would have let you go without a second thought, and master wouldn't have blamed us too harshly."

"However, this special physique of yours that allows others to break through bottlenecks is simply too rare. Senior sister and I have already discussed this thoroughly."

"Hehe..." Li Jiu did not elaborate further, but the meaning behind her words was crystal clear: they intended to keep Lin Fan for themselves, turning him into their personal tool for future breakthroughs.

"Senior sister, you also know how unique my constitution is. If master finds out that I've gone missing, she will surely search the entire world for me."

"Just let me go, and I'll pretend none of this ever happened!" Lin Fan urged, desperately trying to think of a way to escape.

Bai Jie and Li Jiu remained silent, fixing their gazes entirely on him.

Their eyes shone with greedy luster, resembling famished wolves locking onto a fat sheep.

"Senior sister, why don't we try it once more? Junior brother's physique might not only help people break through, but it could also rapidly elevate one's cultivation level," Li Jiu suggested.

Lin Fan's scalp tingled with dread; these two women were truly pushing him toward a dead end.

"Don't you dare mess around! My constitution can only help people break through bottlenecks, it doesn't raise cultivation levels directly!" Lin Fan explained hurriedly, yet with his hands and feet bound, his defense sounded pale and feeble.

……

An hour later.

"Senior sister, it seems junior brother's physique really can only help with breakthroughs and doesn't increase cultivation level," Li Jiu remarked.

"Is that so? Let me test it out myself!" Bai Jie declared.

……

Lin Fan felt like crying without tears. After this intense bout of torment, his original lifespan of over six thousand years was now reduced to a mere eight hundred years or so.

"My constitution is unique, but it cannot withstand such relentless abuse. Helping you break through takes a massive toll on my own body."

"If you keep going like this, I'll lose my little life right here! If anything happens to me, you two will find it harder than ascending to the heavens to ever break through again!" Desperation laced Lin Fan's voice.

Li Jiu and Bai Jie exchanged glances, seemingly swayed by Lin Fan's words.

"Junior brother does make a fair point. In that case, we'll spare junior brother's life for now!" Bai Jie muttered in deep thought.

"Originally, according to our plan, we would hide junior brother so thoroughly that master wouldn't suspect the two of us at all."

"The trouble now, however, is that both of us have broken through."

"When the two of us appear before master, anyone with eyes will realize our breakthroughs are connected to junior brother."

"This complicates things quite a bit. Junior sister, do you have any other ways to gloss this over?" Bai Jie blinked and asked.

"Senior sister, with junior brother suddenly vanishing, master and Su Xingyue are probably scouring the entire world for him right now."

"If we just walk out there, given master's methods, we'll definitely be in for a world of hurt," Li Jiu said with a charming smile.

"Knowing how serious this is, you can still smile? It seems junior sister must have a backup plan!"

Bai Jie's lovely eyes flashed with a sharp glint.

As her voice trailed off, footsteps echoed from outside.

A look of tension crept onto Bai Jie's face.

"Senior sister needn't be nervous, I'm the one who called her here!" Li Jiu said calmly.

Just then, a woman dressed in a tight-fitting purple dress walked gracefully into the room.

She was tall with curvaceous lines, stretching the tight dress to its absolute limit as if it might split apart at any second.

She walked with a cat-like stride, swaying seductively with every step.

With an oval face, willow-leaf eyebrows, and slightly upturned phoenix eyes that shimmered with allure, she radiated natural charm with every glance.

Her long, jet-black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, gently swaying as she moved.

The woman appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, brimming with mature feminine appeal.

"Senior Aunt Nangong?"

Bai Jie's pupils contracted sharply, and her voice trembled slightly.

Never in her wildest dreams had she expected Li Jiu to summon Nangong Miaoyu!

This Nangong Miaoyu was none other than the senior sister of their master, Ji Qingwan. In their youth, the two had been as close as sisters, inseparable.

Later, however, because of a man, they had completely fallen out, turning into bitter enemies whose relationship deteriorated to the absolute extreme.

They had reached a point where they were as incompatible as fire and water!

Only, while Ji Qingwan's aptitude was somewhat mediocre, Nangong Miaoyu was a variant spiritual root cultivator, and was already at the middle stage of the Golden Core realm.

In the future, she even had a chance to冲击 (assail) the Nascent Soul stage.

Bai Jie looked toward Li Jiu, her eyes filled with questioning doubt.

Their master had issued a strict, unyielding order forbidding any association with Nangong Miaoyu, warning of severe punishment for disobedience.

"Senior sister, I'm doing this for our own good as well." Li Jiu gave a charming smile and explained:

"Senior Aunt has promised to help us shake off master's control, and she will even help us erase the slave marks!"

"Now that we've captured junior brother, if master ever finds out, we'll be left without a burial place!"

"However, with Senior Aunt Nangong's help, the situation will be entirely different."

"Who in the entire sect doesn't know the relationship between Senior Aunt Nangong and master?"

"As long as she is here, even if master finds out, she wouldn't dare do anything to us."

"Besides, Senior Aunt Nangong is a middle-stage Golden Core cultivator. With her protection, master won't be able to touch us." Triumph practically overflowed from Li Jiu's voice.

"But..."

Bai Jie still hesitated.

She instinctively felt that doing this was improper.

"Senior sister, do you have a better plan?" Li Jiu countered.

Bai Jie fell silent.

Indeed, she had no better plan.

Nangong Miaoyu's phoenix eyes landed on Lin Fan, whose hands and feet were bound, curiosity filling her gaze.

"He is quite handsome, though."

"Seeing that both of you have stepped into the Foundation Establishment stage, it seems his physique really can help people break through!"

Bai Jie hurriedly chimed in, "Senior Aunt, it is indeed true. Senior sister and I have experienced it firsthand!"

Looking at Nangong Miaoyu's undisguised gaze, Lin Fan felt a chill grip his heart!

"Senior, I truly can help people break through, but every single breakthrough causes heavy damage to my body, which is why spiritual stones are needed for replenishment."

"Furthermore, forcing it to happen could cause me to drop dead on the spot!"

Lin Fan's tone was taut with nervousness. He stared intently at Nangong Miaoyu, terrified that she wouldn't believe him.

"Is what he said true?" Nangong Miaoyu tilted her head slightly, looking toward Li Jiu with a trace of inquiry in her eyes.

"Senior Aunt, whether junior brother is telling the truth or not is hard for us to say, but Second Senior Sister and I just broke through..."

Li Jiu's voice was crisp as she recounted the entire breakthrough process in detail, leaving out not a single facet.

One could even hear a hint of lingering fondness for that process in her tone!

"So whether what junior brother says is true or not, we'll just have to try it out and find out!" A playful smirk curved the corner of Nangong Miaoyu's mouth as her gaze swept up and down Lin Fan's body.

Lin Fan felt a bone-chilling frost rush from the soles of his feet straight to his crown. His soul nearly left his body; Nangong Miaoyu was a middle-stage Golden Core cultivator—if she were to milk away his primordial yang, wouldn't she drain him dry in a matter of minutes?

By then, with his lifespan entirely exhausted, wouldn't he be completely doomed?

At this thought, Lin Fan hastily shouted in his mind, "System, quick! Help her break through!" Panic consumed him, and fine beads of sweat broke out across his forehead.

[Ding! Consumed 1,000 years of lifespan to assist Nangong Miaoyu with her middle-stage Golden Core bottleneck!]

[Ding! Insufficient lifespan, breakthrough failed!]

The system's voice echoed in Lin Fan's mind like a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky.

"Damn it! I'm finished..." A deep chill enveloped Lin Fan's heart as his world utterly collapsed.