Ji Nanhong couldn't help but carefully examine Chen Guan's features.
When she first met Chen Guan, she hadn't been particularly impressed. He had a decent face, but compared to Qin Ziyu's striking handsomeness with his sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, Chen Guan seemed to lack that immediate soul-stirring impact that made one gasp in admiration at first glance.
But upon closer inspection now, she realized each of Chen Guan's facial features was actually exquisitely proportioned - one might even call them delicate. The reason he didn't appear stunning initially was because his eyebrows stole attention from his other features.
His eyebrows were unusually thick and dark, almost suspiciously so, as if drawn on with heavy ink. They were much broader than average, yet their lines weren't sharply defined but rather softly curved.
These distinctive eyebrows gave Chen Guan's entire countenance a gentler, more approachable quality - less striking but radiating a warm, brotherly charm from next door.
Ignoring those bold eyebrows, Ji Nanhong concluded Chen Guan could absolutely be considered handsome, not inferior to Qin Ziyu at all. With the eyebrows, while his looks lost some edge, they remained comfortably above average and far from unpleasant. Newest update provided by novelFɪre.net
Placing a finger horizontally an inch before her eyes to block Chen Guan's eyebrows, Ji Nanhong felt her heartbeat unexpectedly accelerate.
The transformative power of those eyebrows exceeded her expectations. Without them, Chen Guan became someone who could make her pulse race just by looking at him.
A thought crossed Ji Nanhong's mind - having some romantic entanglement with such a man might prove rather pleasant, at least not disagreeable, perhaps even something to anticipate.
After repeated observations, Ji Nanhong realized the presence or absence of those eyebrows completely altered Chen Guan's aura into two distinct personas.
Without the eyebrow buffer, Chen Guan's handsomeness carried a dangerous allure - not in a negative sense implying wickedness, but rather like a moth fatally drawn to flame despite knowing the peril.
The eyebrows completely neutralized that dangerous charm, replacing it with harmless gentleness that unfortunately also reduced his appeal to women.
This was Ji Nanhong's first realization that mere eyebrows could so drastically transform someone's appearance and aura.
"If Chen Guan trimmed his eyebrows into sharper, more angular shapes, he might surpass even Qin Ziyu in attractiveness," she mused.
Yet this thought made her sigh softly. While Chen Guan's looks were fine, in their world a man's appearance wasn't the deciding factor.
Especially for someone of her background - unless she found a cultivation prodigy, any relationship would inevitably drift apart over time, doomed from the start.
Not due to character flaws or fickleness, but simply because their life paths would lack intersection points, straining even the deepest affection.
From what Ji Nanhong could tell, Chen Guan's cultivation talent and family background seemed average at best. Otherwise, having entered this place at the same time as Qin Ziyu, their power disparity wouldn't be so vast.
"Though we could never truly be together, given our current predicament... having memories with such a man wouldn't be unpleasant," Ji Nanhong thought, cheeks faintly flushed as she suppressed her emotions. Aloud she said: "Under normal circumstances, even with medicine, my injury would take ten to fifteen days to heal. In this place, every extra minute means extra danger. We must find a way to recover quickly."
"Even your good medicine can't cure it? What else can we do?" Chen Guan responded, though a passage from those earlier words came to mind.
Among the dual cultivation techniques was one called "Ten Thousand Things Rebirth" - describing how all things mutually generate and restrain, how yin and yang complement and nourish each other, achieving miraculous effects like regenerating bones and reviving the dead. Though he wondered if this was exaggerated.
"Is Ji Nanhong planning to use me as her dual cultivation tool for this Ten Thousand Things Rebirth method?" Chen Guan speculated silently.
"Chen Guan, did you memorize those words earlier?" Ji Nanhong asked impatiently, frustrated by his unchanged expression. Despite her willingness, as a woman she still hoped the man would take initiative.
"Too many characters, and that shadow distracted me. I haven't studied them closely," Chen Guan lied, unwilling to voice his suspicions.
Though Ji Nanhong was undoubtedly beautiful - radiant and athletic - he currently lacked such inclinations. In this perilous situation, who would have the leisure for such thoughts? Chen Guan wasn't some lust-driven fool.
Moreover, he doubted this was truly the Ancestral Emperor's "Epang Scripture" at all - its efficacy remained unproven.
Seeing Chen Guan's reaction, Ji Nanhong adopted an air of composure. "Those words described a method called Ten Thousand Things Rebirth that could potentially heal my foot injury rapidly. Currently, it's our only option."
"Then use it quickly," Chen Guan said with innocent eyes.
Exasperated, Ji Nanhong continued: "Ten Thousand Things Rebirth requires dual cultivation as foundation. It needs two people. If you're willing to help... I can offer compensation."
Chen Guan thought sarcastically: "Now I'm just a tool to her. I'm not some paid escort - what does she mean by 'compensation'?"
As he mentally scoffed, Ji Nanhong produced something from her robes: "This is a supreme secret technique core called 'Ghost God Steps' - a movement technique. Help me this once, and it's yours."
"Ghost God Steps from North Mound Blessed Land?" Chen Guan swallowed his initial refusal.
He'd heard of Ghost God Steps - among supreme movement techniques, it ranked within the top ten.
There was a saying: "First step startles ghosts, second step shocks gods, third step baffles both" describing this technique. In unpredictability, Ghost God Steps stood peerless.
Unfortunately, only the Ghost Emperor of North Mound Blessed Land produced these rare cores - so few existed that reportedly fewer than ten cultivators worldwide knew Ghost God Steps.
Most supreme secret techniques had similarly limited distribution.
The key was this could be used immediately after first awakening, without waiting for second awakening.
Chen Guan never imagined Ji Nanhong would possess this. Why wouldn't she use such a precious technique herself? Why offer it just to purchase him as her dual cultivation tool?