Jia Ling'er's mentality completely collapsed, as if all her pride had been drained away. She sat on the cold ground, her stunningly beautiful face tinged with desolation.
Meanwhile, Xue'er and the others stole glances at Jia Ling'er, secretly reveling in her downfall. Especially Qing'er, who was perched on Jiang Che's lap—she was absolutely thrilled!
[Ahahaha! So even Her Highness the Princess has a day like this! That expression... If only it could break down even more, yes yes... just like that, completely shattered!]
[Look who’s acting all high and mighty now! Noble Princess... let’s see whose bloodline is truly superior now!]
Qing'er indulged in a little internal gloating, but her face remained the picture of innocence. Before gaining power, she wouldn’t have dared to even think of rebelling against Jia Ling'er. But now? Her bloodline was nobler than Jia Ling'er's, and this former crybaby was starting to show her true colors.
Jiang Che slowly approached Jia Ling'er, looking down at the once-proud princess from above.
Jia Ling'er raised her eyes, her gaze dull and lifeless, as if all light had vanished.
"You’ve won. You can mock me all you want now," she whispered.
Jiang Che smirked. "Heh, the noble Princess... your arrogance really is fragile, isn’t it? I much preferred the version of you who talked back. Do me a favor and bring her back."
He bent down, gripping Jia Ling'er’s chin with one hand and tilting her face up.
[Ding! Host successfully scammed Jia Ling'er, rewarded with 2 million scam points.]
"Miss Ling'er, you’re so noble, aren’t you? Daughter of an Emperor, the future hope of your clan... So, I’ll just take this storage pouch for myself!"
With that, Jiang Che swiftly snatched Jia Ling'er’s storage pouch right out of her grasp—completely catching her off guard.
"Give it back! Return my storage pouch!"
Jia Ling'er, already teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown, was utterly stunned by Jiang Che’s audacity. If he had kept pushing her with words, she might have truly spiraled into darkness.
But now—
"Ahaha, guess what? I’m taking a look anyway! As the daughter of an Emperor, you must have some real treasures in here, right?"
Jiang Che rifled through the pouch.
"Ha! This pouch has a restriction set by my mother—an Emperor-grade seal! Even a Quasi-Emperor couldn’t break it, so there’s no way you could possibly—... WHAT?! HOW?!"
Before Jia Ling'er could finish, Jiang Che’s hand plunged into the pouch, rummaging around without hesitation.
Her worldview shattered once again.
This was an Emperor-grade restriction! How had it failed?!
But shock quickly gave way to panic. "S-Stop! Don’t look! Please, don’t—!"
Clearly, there was something inside she desperately wanted to hide.
The more frantic she became, the more eagerly Jiang Che dug through the pouch, pulling out items like a magician emptying his hat.
"Damn, so many treasures! Nearly two thousand top-grade spirit stones—that’s almost as much as a mid-sized spirit vein!"
He piled up a small mountain of spirit stones before turning to Xue'er and the others. "Here, each of you take ten. Use them for cultivation."
"Awesome! Thanks, Young Master Jiang Che!"
"Young Master Jiang Che, mwah!"
Xue'er and the others were overjoyed, reveling in the thrill of looting the rich.
"Oh? Magical artifacts and talismans? Qing'er, take more of these. The restrictions are already lifted, so you can use them freely. And don’t grab the low-tier stuff—where’s your taste? Take the Saint-grade artifacts!"
"Ohhh~ Young Master, which ones are Saint-grade? Qing'er doesn’t know..."
Jia Ling'er: "......"
[Ding! Host successfully scammed Jia Ling'er, rewarded with 8 million scam points.]
Tsk tsk tsk. The joy of killing multiple birds with one stone—who could possibly understand?
"You—you savages! Absolute savages! Stop stealing my things!" Jia Ling'er’s mentality was truly in ruins. She wasn’t even given the chance to descend into darkness—Jiang Che was too busy wrecking her sanity.
It was like snatching a kid’s phone mid-tantrum and selling his gaming account right in front of him.
In Jiang Che’s presence, "falling into darkness"? Impossible. The most efficient way to prevent a mental breakdown was to keep pushing her buttons.
She didn’t even have the energy to spiral anymore!
"Holy—HOLY CRAP! Princess... I never took you for the type to take private photos! Tsk tsk tsk... If even one of these got out into the Nine Heavens, it’d cause an uproar, wouldn’t it?"
Jiang Che swallowed hard. So Jia Ling'er had a secret side too?
She’d been secretly taking... very private photos of herself—the kind without any censoring or cover-ups. Jiang Che immediately paid the highest form of "respect" to her beauty.
Qing'er peeked as well. "Wow, Princess... were you wearing a binder here?"
"Stop looking! Just stop! PLEASE!"
But Jiang Che only dug deeper, his nose practically bleeding from excitement.
"Princess... is this the Dragon Palace’s Princess Longnü? Did you take these private shots of her... without her knowing?"
Jia Ling'er paled. "W-We’re best friends! The closest of sisters!"
Jiang Che sneered. "Oh? So ‘best friends’ means secretly snapping private photos behind their backs? You realize if these got out... the entire Southern Azure Heaven’s Beauty Ranking would explode, right?"
Jia Ling'er trembled. She’d never imagined someone could forcibly bypass an Emperor-grade restriction and raid her storage pouch.
If even a national-security-level vault couldn’t stop him... what could she do?
Most importantly—she was well and truly trapped now. If these photos leaked, she’d be ruined. Worse, it could drag down the entire Jia Lan Clan.
As the princess of the Jia Lan Clan, Jia Ling'er moved in the highest circles of Southern Azure Heaven. The Dragon Palace’s Princess Longnü was like an elder sister to her, and the Pearl Clan’s treasured jewel was like a younger sister...
And Jia Ling'er had a little hobby—sneaking photos. Using Quasi-Emperor-grade recording devices, she’d captured many... private moments of her sisters.
But she swore she never intended to leak them! It was just a personal collection!
If these photos spread, she and all her sisters would be disgraced.
The Southern Azure Heaven’s Young Beauty Ranking would turn into... a scandalous catalog, where any random cultivator could spend a few spirit stones to buy private portraits of heaven’s most revered maidens. The consequences were unthinkable.
"I—I’m warning you! Destroy those photos immediately! If even one gets out... neither of us can handle the fallout!" Jia Ling'er snapped.
But Jiang Che’s eyes lit up. "Oh? I was just planning to keep them for myself, but now that you mention it..."
He leaned in with a wicked grin.
"Princess... you wouldn’t want these photos to leak, would you?"
Jia Ling'er: "......"