Ning Xuan had once been a Cultivator with immense spiritual power and extraordinary Perception Power. She could hear the faint, deliberately suppressed breathing inside her room. If she entered, she would face danger, but if she retreated, the enemy would immediately realize she had discovered him.

She remembered reading on the Star Network that a Contractor could use spirit control on a Contractor with whom they had established a spiritual connection. ’I might as well give it a try.’

Ning Xuan immediately followed the tutorial from the Star Network. She gathered her spiritual power and performed a Divine Return to the Sea of Consciousness. In doing so, she "saw" a channel extending outward from a vast Spiritual Sea. Ning Xuan knew this was the Spiritual Link Channel. Her spiritual power spread along it, entering a place she had visited before.

The intrusion of Ning Xuan’s spiritual power met no resistance. Clusters of light gathered around her, jostling each other affectionately. She continued deeper. In the depths of the Spiritual Sea, she saw the Golden Eagle resting with its wings folded, just as before. However, the black substance flowing within its body was now much fainter, and a red mist still shrouded it. When it saw Ning Xuan, it let out a clear KREEE, its eyes filled with confusion, as if it couldn’t understand why she was here.

Ning Xuan touched a finger to the spot between her eyebrows. The spiritual power that had entered Chen Nan’s Spiritual Sea through the Spiritual Link Channel burst apart, forming a message that carried the quality of a soft sigh. "Take off your Imprisonment Ring and come here!"

When Ning Xuan saw the dense red mist enveloping Chen Nan’s Companion Spirit, she knew why he hadn’t noticed the intruder in the house. ’He must be wearing an Imprisonment Ring!’

Upon receiving Ning Xuan’s telepathic message in his Sea of Consciousness, Chen Nan shot upright. ’Why is Ning Xuan using telepathy?’ He unfastened the ring from his neck, clutched it in his hand, and hurried toward Ning Xuan’s room.

Just then, the man lying in ambush inside Ning Xuan’s room saw her standing outside the door, hesitating to push it open. Realizing she might have discovered something, he yanked the door open. With a SPIT, he spewed a mouthful of white venom from a gaping maw that reeked of a foul, bloody stench, sending it spraying toward Ning Xuan!

Although Ning Xuan was prepared, the man was too fast. Her evasion was clumsy, and by the time Chen Nan arrived, venom had splattered onto her arm and thigh. The venom ate through her clothes and then corroded her flesh, leaving behind black pits. The worst spots were deep enough to expose the bone.

The moment Chen Nan saw Ning Xuan was injured, a KREEE tore out. A great bird with golden feathers and emerald eyes shot out from his body. It spread its wings and dove viciously at the black-clothed man. The Golden Eagle’s wing feathers were as sharp as blades, and its talons could slice through iron as if it were mud. It quickly overwhelmed the black-clothed man, leaving him powerless to fight back.

The black-clothed man had actually seen Chen Nan when he infiltrated the house. But at the time, Chen Nan was wearing an Imprisonment Ring, so the assassin couldn’t determine his Level. He only wanted to kill Ning Xuan silently, complete his mission, and avoid any unnecessary complications.

The black-clothed man’s Companion Spirit was a Black Snake, and his Level was likely around A-level. The Black Snake could already condense into a solid form. However, Golden Eagles were the natural nemesis of snakes. Furthermore, Chen Nan’s Spiritual Power Level and Comprehensive Combat Power were a cut above the assassin’s. As a result, after just a few exchanges, the Golden Eagle had the Black Snake pinned under its talons.

"Don’t kill it! If it dies, the Snake Gallbladder’s efficacy will decrease. Extract it while it’s alive. I need it for Alchemy!" Ning Xuan said to Chen Nan, enduring the pain.

The black-clothed man, already covered in wounds and restrained by Chen Nan, trembled when he heard Ning Xuan’s words. His eyes darted, but before he could speak, the Golden Eagle swiped its claw like a blade and precisely carved out a complete Snake Gallbladder. After having its gallbladder extracted alive, the Black Snake’s body went limp and it died. Once a Superpower Body dies, it cannot return to its owner. The moment the Black Snake’s gallbladder was taken, the black-clothed man let out a wretched howl and fainted.

The Golden Eagle flew to Ning Xuan, its claw loosely holding the bloody, steaming Snake Gallbladder, and presented it to her.

Ning Xuan took the Snake Gallbladder and patted the Golden Eagle’s head. She turned to Chen Nan and said, "Carry me to the lab!" It wasn’t that she couldn’t walk, but walking would quicken her circulation and accelerate the spread of the poison.

"Okay!" Chen Nan took an Imprisonment Light Rope from his Space Button and tied up the unconscious black-clothed man securely. In truth, even without being tied up, the man was as good as crippled now that his Superpower Body was dead. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Chen Nan picked Ning Xuan up and ran to the lab at top speed. By now, the area around the wounds corroded by the snake venom had turned a purplish-black, showing that the poison was spreading. Even the bone beneath the wound was stained black.

The snake venom seemed capable of destroying the nervous system; Ning Xuan could already feel her limbs growing numb. She placed the Snake Gallbladder into the Alchemy Furnace and released her vines, focusing her spiritual power to guide the Special Energy within the gallbladder. She refined away the impurities to extract its active ingredients. About a few minutes later, several drops of a dark green medicinal liquid dripped from the outlet at the bottom of the Alchemy Furnace.

Chen Nan took the bottle containing the medicinal liquid, replaced it with a new one, and dripped the extracted fluid onto Ning Xuan’s wounds.

After the refined gallbladder extract was dripped onto them, the blackened and swollen wounds quickly began to reduce in swelling. Black poison oozed out from around the wounds, and only after the venom was gone did fresh, red blood begin to well up.

Ning Xuan handed Chen Nan a piece of gauze. "Don’t get it on your hands. This poison hasn’t completely lost its toxicity!"

By the time Ning Xuan had completely refined the Snake Gallbladder, Chen Nan had already bandaged all the venom-splattered spots on her arms and legs with gauze, except for the deepest wound on her arm.

"It’s a good thing you weren’t bitten by that viper, otherwise..." Chen Nan, who had been kneeling on the floor treating Ning Xuan’s wounds the whole time, glanced at her uneasily as he spoke.

Ning Xuan felt the numbness in her body recede, replaced by a dense, prickling pain. Although the poison had been completely removed from her wounds, the corroded flesh couldn’t grow back quickly. She looked down at Chen Nan. "Are you trying to say your family didn’t do this?"

"I just contacted my older brother today. My father only suspects that I’m not following his orders; he hasn’t taken any action. Besides my father, no one else in my family knows you exist! In fact, my father only knows you’re on a D-level Star, but he doesn’t know your specific location or details!" Chen Nan quickly explained.

Ning Xuan recalled the contents of Chen Nan’s communication with his family. His father had always referred to her with the phrase "that woman from a Low-class Star," so it seemed he truly didn’t know her name or specific address.

’If it wasn’t an assassin sent by Chen Nan’s family, then who was it? The Bai Family? Ning Chuchu? The family of the Contractor behind Ning Chuchu? Or perhaps one of my other four Contractors, whom I’ve never met?’