Getting a Sugar Mommy in Cultivation World!!

Clink! Clink!

Watching Noah's back disappear into an obscured and gloomy passageway, Concubine Wen Ji, who arrived at the chambers from the same path in her soul form, fell into deep thought.

What were they talking about?

What kind of deal did they manage to reach?

Did it have anything to do with that thing?

What were the personal problems the old man was talking about?

All kinds of questions popped up in her head, but there was no one to answer her questions. She looked back and saw the old emperor walking back slowly into his study with a defeated look on his face, as if he had just signed his soul.

The look made her curiosity rise to another level.

And the only person who could even answer any of her questions was walking down the hallway.

Wen Ji let curiosity get the better of her; gritting her teeth, she followed Noah, pushing her feet into the air and skipping steps to catch up to him.

Noah went around the area and walked out of the Emperor's chamber from the garden, where he saw the Empress sitting in a daze looking at the flowerbed before her. She sat alone with no one accompanying her but her thoughts.

Noah merely glanced at her before looking away; since she was lost in her thoughts, he did not want to disturb her or put his legs where they do not belong.

Crossing the boundary of the courtyard, Noah made his way through the open corridor with a long walkway covered with wooden huts, shielding him from the blazing sun.

Noah walked with a slow, measured pace, hands tucked loosely behind his back, eyes half-lidded as though he were merely taking a stroll—not aware someone was following him.

Wen Ji kept a few meters' distance between the two of them; the scars of encountering Xin Yan were still new in her mind.

The wind howled in the open corridor, and the wooden floor creaked as Noah continued walking at a constant pace.

In the distance, Wen Ji frowned, seeing Noah's action. It was not his deliberately slow pace that bugged her. No, it was the way he looked around the area, pausing here and there for a second before continuing to walk.

This was not normal!

This was… scouting!

She knew it better than anyone.

This man named Noah was looking for something or someone, and he was being secretive about it.

With narrowed eyes, Wen Ji closed the distance by a few meters, her determination to follow the man steeled even further.

Just as Wen Ji was about to inch closer, a faint sound made her halt.

Swoosh!

The brisk sound of something light flickering and the oppressive feeling that followed made her hair stand on end. Her breath caught in her throat.

Her eyes darted sideways—and there it was.

The cat!!!

Its hairs flickered like darkness, and maybe it was made of the shadows themselves. Wen Ji was not sure, and she was brave enough to find out by touching the dangerous creature.

Gulp!

And the way it just walked out of the shadow with grace and style, as if it had always been there, made her double back the distance she had closed in between her and Noah.

Wen Ji's spirit shook when she saw what the cat did next.

It moved into the light, and then it leapt.

The cat's body dissolved into mist midair, only to reappear perched delicately on Noah's shoulder.

Her eyes widened in horror. Noah didn't even flinch.

The creature rubbed its head affectionately against the man's cheek. Nudging. Pressing. Demanding attention.

But Noah… didn't look like he felt the touch or even its presence as he kept looking in the front without flinching.

Wen Ji's jaw tightened. Her whole being wanted to back away, flee, dissolve into the darkness, and return to her still body back in the room—but she didn't.

The cat's eyes flicked to her.

Just for a moment.

That was all it took.

Her breath turned to ice.

'Why?' She felt like crying but had no tears in her soul. 'Why would you look at me while acting so close to him? I am not competing for any affection; please do all you want with him. Just leave me alone!'

But then, just as suddenly, it looked away, gave a twitch of its tail, and disappeared—misting off Noah's shoulder into the pale wind like it had never existed.

Wen Ji stood frozen. Her limbs refused to move for a long while.

She was not welcome.

She could feel it in her marrow.

But… the cat hadn't acted hostile.

Not this time.

And it had ignored her in the end. As if she didn't matter.

And she was more than willing to keep it that way.

Wen Ji saw Noah resuming his walk, and even though she was still shaken up, she walked once more with shaky soul steps.

For what felt like an eternity, Wen Ji trailed him.

Noah moved like the castle belonged to him—or rather, like the paths obeyed him. Every corridor he passed through, every winding garden path, every stairwell spiraling into nowhere… he walked them with absent familiarity. And yet, never once did he speak. Never once did he stop.

It was maddening.

Wen Ji followed as the scenery changed, but the colors remained the same dull shades of the darker ones, painting the world like an inverted image.

And the most frustrating thing was, through it all… she got not even a single clue.

Wen Ji's brow twitched. Her breath—what passed for it in this form—grew heavier. Her steps once again made no sound, but her frustration echoed loud inside her mind.

What is he doing?!

While she was haunting him absentmindedly, she did not even realize where he was going until she found herself in familiar surroundings.

'He is going back to his room!' Wen Ji panicked with the realization and hurriedly ran in the opposite direction. While moving through the stairs, she wondered if he had noticed her presence and acted that way on purpose in order to throw her off.

Soon she returned to her room and crouched to calm herself, her ethereal chest moving up and down in an unconscious beat. Once she calmed herself, she noticed how pale her body looked from the time she had left this room for the first time.

"Oh no, I have to return to my body fast, or I might die for real." Swearing at her own lack of awareness, Concubine Wen Ji rushed and jumped into the copper mirror like a dolphin jumping through a loop.

She phased through the bloody mirror and felt her soul submerging in a murky feeling once more.