Nine Nether Dragon Emperor-Chapter 309: Predicting Her Supposed Prediction Prediction!

Tianyang Realm, Retreat from Mundanity City.

At the Old Pig Manor, a reception party was already waiting at the entrance when Ning Xuan and Zhongli Ruoruo's group arrived. Ning Xuan was quite surprised, as the greeters were genuine members of the Human Race, and their faces bore no conspicuous Human Slave marks. The only thing that seemed off was that he couldn't sense any energy fluctuations from them.

"This place isn't suitable for humans, so their lack of Cultivation isn't my doing," Old Pig explained, taking the initiative since it knew Ning Xuan had noticed the anomaly.

An elder immediately stepped forward to confirm. "Yes. We chose to cripple our own Cultivation. To live here, one must pay a price."

Behind Ning Xuan and Zhongli Ruoruo, some in their party looked on with envy, while others were filled with regret. They too had once been given a choice. Unfortunately, some hadn't believed it was possible, while others had refused to accept their fate.

Ning Xuan smiled. "It seems you're all living well here."

"Yes, aside from not being able to leave, everything else is fine," the elder replied with a smiling nod. He quickly added, "This has nothing to do with our master. We choose not to go out because the outside world is too dangerous! It's different here; everyone treats us with respect."

The other humans murmured their agreement.

Old Pig spoke up again. "My kind here dislikes the Human Race. However, once they evolve to a certain extent, they all yearn to become human. These individuals are responsible for teaching the other kin in my manor about Human Race etiquette and other customs." After a moment's hesitation, it continued, "When that tragedy occurred, I wanted to stop it, but I can't fight against the entire world. All I can do is help where I can. Also, this human skin of mine was absolutely not flayed from a living person. He was a volunteer!" At that moment, its attitude was unprecedentedly sincere.

Just then, Zhongli Ruoruo's voice transmission sounded in Ning Xuan's ear. "Young Master, I feel like something is wrong. This old beast is definitely not a good person!"

She had seen far too many sanctimonious hypocrites in her life. This old beast wasn't even human; how could it possibly be good-natured in such a twisted environment? While it might have been unfair to judge it so harshly, it was better to be safe than sorry, especially when the probability of it being evil was so high.

"You're absolutely right," Ning Xuan replied with extreme certainty, dispelling the last of her unease.

Her face instantly lit up with a smile. Across from them, Old Pig was completely oblivious to their exchange, as it was being pestered by Gou Jianhong.

"There! That's her!" Annoyed to the point of madness, Old Pig's eyes suddenly lit up. It pointed in a direction while throwing an arm around Gou Jianhong's shoulders. Ning Xuan glanced at Old Pig's claws, a strange light flashing in his eyes before he looked at Gou Jianhong with immense sympathy.

"Truly otherworldly... a beauty rarely seen in this world!" Gou Jianhong's gaze went vacant, and his feet seemed frozen to the spot.

Zhongli Ruoruo followed his gaze and saw a hyena covered in white fur. Even though she had known what to expect, the sight was still an eyesore, especially since the creature looked entirely human except for its claws. A shiver of disgust ran down her spine. "Hey, you! Can you get lost?!"

"Ugly wretch!" Gou Jianhong shot back before proudly embracing the hyena and planting a loud kiss on it.

Zhongli Ruoruo flew into a rage and was about to make a move, but Ning Xuan's voice transmission stopped her. His expression became exceedingly strange as he looked from Old Pig to Gou Jianhong.

A shiver went through Old Pig's heart. That look... it means Ning Xuan already understands the meaning behind my action! What a terrifyingly shrewd human youth! Its resolve to keep Ning Xuan here grew even stronger. I already have a plan to handle him.

"Come, I'll take you to meet them," Old Pig sent to Ning Xuan via voice transmission, giving him a suggestive look. "I will make proper arrangements for your companions. This young lady can stay and supervise."

Ning Xuan understood. He immediately said aloud to Old Pig, "You had better make proper arrangements for them!"

As he spoke, he shot a meaningful look at Zhongli Ruoruo. Startled at first, she pouted, her reluctance clear. Ning Xuan feigned a look of anger. Zhongli Ruoruo flinched and could only nod, looking aggrieved.

Ning Xuan then raised a triumphant eyebrow at Old Pig and declared loudly, "Old Pig, this manor of yours is quite large. Aren't you going to give me a tour?"

"It would be my pleasure!" Old Pig was overjoyed. Just as it was about to turn, it looked back at Zhongli Ruoruo and asked with a smile, "Does this young lady wish to join us?"

Zhongli Ruoruo's eyes lit up, but after a covert glance at Ning Xuan, she simply shook her head and lowered her gaze.

Old Pig discreetly gave Ning Xuan a thumbs-up. What it didn't know was that as Zhongli Ruoruo lowered her head, her eyes were filled with mirth. This dumb pig is being played for a fool and doesn't even have a clue. It's hopeless!

The clueless Old Pig happily led Ning Xuan toward the manor, and Ning Xuan managed to coax quite a bit of information out of it along the way. This was only possible because Ning Xuan was asking about the so-called Divine Crystals. Since those things were complete trash, Old Pig naturally let its guard down. By the time it stopped and announced they had arrived, Ning Xuan had already learned the location of every Divine Crystal in the area.

"Thank you," Ning Xuan said with a smile, then simply stared straight at Old Pig.

The creature stood there, stunned. It took a long moment before it finally understood: Ning Xuan was telling it to get lost.

"Have fun," Old Pig said with a lecherous smirk before scampering away.

In a great mood, Ning Xuan pushed open the door to the room. The people inside and Ning Xuan outside stared at each other, baffled.

After a few moments, a joyful cry rang out. "Young Master!"

Ning Xuan smiled and nodded to the equally excited women inside. He couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment, however. The two women were not Si Lanyi and Yun Wangshu, but Yuan Yurong and Yuan Xueying.

"Are you two alright?" he asked with concern, pushing his disappointment aside.

The two women shook their heads in unison.

"Um, Young Master Ning, we're sorry. We don't know what happened," Yuan Xueying took the initiative to explain, having noticed the subtle shift in Ning Xuan's expression. "We weren't in this realm for long before we ran into so-called hunters, and then we were brought here."

Ning Xuan nodded, about to speak, when Yuan Xueying cut in, trying to preempt what she thought he would say. "It's alright, I understand. If it were me, I would also be disapp—"

To her surprise, Ning Xuan spoke at that very moment, asking, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Embarrassment washed over Yuan Xueying. So he was just worried about us, and here I was thinking he was… This is so humiliating! She didn't dare continue the thought.

Little did she know, Ning Xuan was celebrating his own narrow escape. Thankfully, I reacted quickly. I anticipated her thinking she had anticipated me!

However, his relief vanished when he saw the look Yuan Yurong was giving Yuan Xueying. He immediately adopted an earnest tone to lecture the disciple. "Honestly, young lady, what kind of look is that? She is your Master! You have to respect her!"

The master and disciple both turned to look at him, their expressions a mixture of confusion and surprise.