[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-investing-in-the-reborn-empress-she-actually-cal":3,"chapter-investing-in-the-reborn-empress-she-actually-cal-investing-in-the-reborn-empress-she-actually-cal-chapter-166":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Investing in the Reborn Empress, She Actually Calls Me ‘Husband’",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},596689,846,"Chapter 166: Oh no, the ice block seems really pissed off","investing-in-the-reborn-empress-she-actually-cal-chapter-166",166,"\u003Cp>The rain never came.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the atmosphere was now unbearably awkward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mo’s laughter gradually died down as he realized something was off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sensation in his hand wasn’t right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Puzzled, he gave it a squeeze—firm yet soft, with an unsettlingly perfect elasticity...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nine out of ten, no, ten out of ten, this was very wrong!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His gaze stiffly trailed downward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is… a misunderstanding…” Li Mo’s throat went dry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Go on. I’m listening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ahem…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under that gaze, Li Mo’s confidence withered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was now seriously reconsidering whether the Autumn Water Pavilion was still a safe place to stay.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From now on, sleeping with his eyes closed would be impossible—once shut, they might never open again, forever frozen wide like brass bells.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well… it’s like ‘skill bordering on the Dao,’ you know? The Great Dao has forty-nine aspects, but one escapes its grasp…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That ‘one’ just… happened to be right there.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mo wasn’t sure if the ice block would buy this explanation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d just been too focused on training!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And who could’ve guessed that the flaw in Ying Bing’s defense would be her… rear flaw?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ying Bing’s jade-like face turned even frostier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silence thickened. She said nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, she pulled out a large-headed doll from her robes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huh?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mo blinked. Why did that doll look familiar?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crack—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ice block twisted the doll’s head clean off, putting considerable force into it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mo: “!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His neck suddenly felt drafty, a phantom pain creeping in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was this some kind of voodoo doll made from his hair or something?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then, he watched as Ying Bing stowed away her Frostblade and drew a ruler instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good thing this is a spatial treasure…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Again.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cold sweat dripped down Li Mo’s back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ying Bing’s voice was glacial. “That last round was my loss. I’ll honor the wager—think about what you want.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now. Again.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Again?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Li Mo could protest, the ruler was already whistling through the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, Ying Bing’s swordplay—that elusive “one”—was gone, replaced by an even more domineering, relentless force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even with his Nine Swords of Dugu, he couldn’t find an opening. At least, not at his current level of mastery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, for the next hour, Li Mo’s backside endured a tempest of disciplinary strikes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thwack…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s all that noise so early in the morning?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shang Wu peeked down from the upper floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sight in the courtyard jolted her awake, her drowsy beauty sharpening into alertness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She scratched her head and yawned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What fresh mischief is this…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before long, the “sparring” concluded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ying Bing stored the ruler and returned to her room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mo wanted to collapse onto a lounge chair, but the ruler’s strikes had left his backside tender—no visible injuries, yet even the slightest pressure stung.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gap between him and the Heaven’s Chosen in swordsmanship was still vast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if he was already among the top of his generation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So what had happened earlier? Why had she suddenly left such a glaring… opening?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had she gone easy on him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, he’d been too fired up, thinking, I just mastered the basics of Nine Swords of Dugu—how dare she humiliate me like this?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then he’d lost his cool.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She even helped scrub my back yesterday… She’s definitely mad now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mo rubbed his temples.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ying Bing was his top investor, after all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His sugar mommy, so to speak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What to do?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The ice block doesn’t really have any hobbies or preferences…” Li Mo scratched his head, genuinely stumped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, a system notification chimed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Congratulations, Host! Successful investment in ‘Ying Bing’—helping her identify flaws in her swordplay.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Investment Reward: One Drop of Primordial Frost Nectar]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Primordial Frost Nectar]: “The oldest essence of ice in the world, condensed over ten thousand years into a single drop. A sacred treasure for nourishing the soul and refining spiritual intent!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, in her room…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After shutting the door, Ying Bing slowly walked to her Frostbone Jade bed and sat down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the moment she made contact, a tingling sensation—like an electric current—shot through the very spot that had been struck earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The composure she’d maintained for so long finally shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hah…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wanted to erase the memory of what had happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the system notification rudely popped up again:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Congratulations, Host! Reward successfully claimed!]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tch.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ying Bing pressed her lips together and flicked her sleeve, dispelling the irksome text.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only after several deep breaths did the strange fluttering in her chest begin to fade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every time she ranked below Li Mo, not only did she suffer the “loser’s penalty,” but she also received these absurd rewards!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could not, under any circumstances, lose to him again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Truthfully, Ying Bing still didn’t understand how Li Mo had outranked her last time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How did he… manage to hit me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“His swordsmanship suddenly became… bizarre.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did he touch the threshold of ‘skill bordering on the Dao’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her eyes flickered with contemplation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment, she shook her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had brushed against that threshold, but only barely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once she’d shaken off external distractions, his strange swordplay couldn’t exploit any more loopholes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t been practicing the hammer recently, so what had caused it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The answer eluded her for now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“All I can do is grow stronger.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ying Bing took a deep breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, Divine Skyheart Sword Art was a transcendent martial art, profound and boundless, representing the pinnacle of combat in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mastering it wasn’t something she could achieve overnight—it demanded relentless refinement and practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But earlier…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sparring with Li Mo had exposed certain shortcomings in her technique.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The first stance still lacks seamless fluidity…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet as she reflected, her thoughts inevitably circled back to Li Mo’s final strike—that move which barely qualified as a “sword technique.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The memories she’d tried to suppress now replayed relentlessly in her mind…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the days that followed, Li Mo’s routine became simple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Observing divine forms. Tempering his soul. Practicing the sword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since that day, Ying Bing’s ruler had made daily contact with his backside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, there were benefits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His Nine Swords of Dugu was steadily progressing toward the “small mastery” stage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One morning, Li Mo sank his consciousness into his dantian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the glow of his Mystic Core, the avatar of his soul flickered with intricate, ever-shifting divine runes—each one painstakingly carved through his observations of the divine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just a few days, the newly unlocked acupoints had stabilized completely!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Much of this was thanks to the daily drops of Primordial Frost Nectar and the Phoenix Empress’s Ascension Diagram.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Every person’s soul can bear different divine forms.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The ice block observes more than one. I wonder what other forms mine will manifest…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mo exhaled softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, a knock came at the Autumn Water Pavilion’s door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few expected visitors had arrived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Junior Brother Li, we’re heading out to Cloud Province!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ouyang, lugging a hefty bundle of painting supplies, waved cheerfully.\u003C\u002Fp>",1166,"2026-05-30T17:19:00.270Z","2026-06-01T04:31:46.286Z",1,"novelbin.me","a0462cf9e08fb17fa0bbd607a707faa37573f39770d935042cce9b65bc28dff6","investing-in-the-reborn-empress-she-actually-cal-chapter-167","investing-in-the-reborn-empress-she-actually-cal-chapter-165",737,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Finvesting-in-the-reborn-empress-she-actually-cal-cover.jpg"]