Chapter 497

Only now did Zhao Chi feel his fingers aching a little.

A large drop of blood seeped out.

Qi Yue's eyes couldn't look away.

Zhao Chi smiled and raised his hand.

Qi Yue said happily, "I'll just eat that drop of blood on the outside, nothing more. Sister Gu Qing, please help my lord with a healing technique."

With that, her little tongue curled softly over it.

Zhao Chi's fingertip was immediately clean.

Only a little slick, glistening fluid was left behind.

Qi Yue pushed Zhao Chi's hand toward Gu Qing.

Gu Qing had originally intended to spit out silk paste to heal it.

After all, it was only such a tiny wound — it wasn't worth using a healing technique at all.

But somehow, she too lowered her head and took the fingertip into her mouth.

Zhao Chi only felt a soft warmth around his finger.

He knew this was the touch of Gu Qing's tongue.

Gu Qing pressed her lips tightly together once, then pulled away.

Zhao Chi's finger was even cleaner now — even the tiny bit of residue Qi Yue had left was gone.

The wound on his finger had already healed.

Both Zhao Chi and Qi Yue stared at her in surprise.

Gu Qing laughed and said, "Qi Yue made it sound so delicious, I wanted to try it too — but I couldn't taste any flavor."

Qi Yue said, a little embarrassed, "I never felt this way before either. It was only after I got that new gene that I became like this. I never knew before that my lord's scent smelled so good."

After saying that, she licked her lips again.

This was her way of showing craving.

Zhao Chi felt truly fortunate.

Fortunately, he hadn't set them up with a corpse-eating gene just now.

If he had, and over a hundred women all thought they smelled delicious, that would have been dangerous.

The look in Qi Yue's eyes as she gazed at Zhao Chi now became a little complicated.

Zhao Chi couldn't quite read it.

【Qi Yue's "Favorability" has increased. Current level: "Tender Affection"】

Favorability has advanced.

So that look in her eyes had gained another measure of lingering tenderness?

No wonder it was more complicated.

"Alright, you two go attend to your own tasks. I'm heading out for a bit."

"Please take care, my lord."

The two women said in unison.

Zhao Chi nodded. "Don't worry, it should be fine. Gu Qing, I can't take these things out with me — I'll leave them in your care."

Zhao Chi had seized quite a few items this time.

The easily portable elixirs were in his system space. If he took them out, not only would he have to pay taxes, Zhao Chi also worried the irregularities might be noticed.

After all, items like "Vengeful Maiden's Lament" seemed rather hard for ordinary commoners to get hold of.

Among them was also a small World Stone that hadn't been used yet, which he would temporarily hand over to Gu Qing as well.

Expanding the world wasn't urgent for now.

He'd wait until the matter of Zhao Ji's death had settled down a bit before discussing it further.

He bade them farewell and clicked to return.

The scene before his eyes changed rapidly.

He was back in the altered workshop hut.

Returning here again truly felt like a lifetime had passed.

He opened the door, and the soft morning sunlight poured in. Zhao Chi found it a little blinding.

At that moment, he heard footsteps in the distance.

He looked east.

A squad of noble soldiers in black armor was already approaching, with Zhao Quan seated in the spirit-energy vehicle in the middle.

Zhao Tan and Zhao Mu rode white steeds, leading the soldiers forward.

Zhao Chi's heart gave a start.

Seeing nobles now, he couldn't help feeling a little tense inside.

But the other party had clearly already spotted him.

If he went back into the house and returned to his territory now, it would obviously look like he had something to hide.

So he simply stood still.

Zhao Chi stood at the doorway, silently watching them.

Zhao Tan and Zhao Mu glanced at him, then ignored him and pressed on.

Zhao Quan's gaze also swept over him for half a circle.

Expressionlessly, he turned his head away.

Zhao Chi could sense they had likely come because of the matter with Zhao Ji.

Soon, the group passed by, kicking up a cloud of dust.

They headed straight for the family hall.

Zhao Chi went over it once more in his mind, checking for any flaws or oversights.

There were indeed still some.

But those were beyond his control.

Everything he could do, he had already cleaned up.

Now it was just a matter of luck.

He had originally planned to go to the exchange in town, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen.

Sure enough, a notification popped up in the family group chat.

【Family Notice: All official lords gather at the family hall — come immediately!】

What was bound to catch up with him couldn't be avoided...

There was bound to be some kind of screening — he wondered what the situation would be in a while.

Zhao Chi didn't walk over right away, but kept standing at the doorway, looking around.

If he went over now, he'd be very early — no one else would be there yet.

That would mean facing those nobles alone, which was hardly a good moment.

After a while, Zhao Chi saw over a dozen people filing in one after another, and only then did he hurry over to join them.

The one in front was a woman.

It was his 12th-ranked clan-sister, Zhao Jiao.

Seeing him, Zhao Jiao muttered in complaint: "What is it this early in the morning? These nobles really have nothing better to do."

Zhao Chi said nothing, just nodded.

"How's the development on your end going? Should be pretty good, right? After all, you actually got first place at the academy."

Zhao Jiao asked him out of the blue.

Zhao Chi answered quietly: "It's alright, nothing special — only been developing for a few days."

Zhao Jiao said: "This year's New Talent Competition is about to start. In our family, only the two of you are entering. Last time I got 11th place and got nothing — what a shame. You should do alright this time, right?"

New Talent Competition?

Zhao Chi recalled that his 11th-ranked clan-brother Zhao Huai had mentioned this to him before.

It was jointly held by five nearby villages.

Only newly promoted lords from that year could enter.

Every family from these five villages had to contribute funds and put up prizes.

After the new lord competition ended, the winners could select prizes in order of their ranking.