Not a Lolicon

"Master~ Shang'er doesn't like those nasty cats. Can she kill it?" a cute smile blossomed on the beautiful face of Shang'er but her words were equally deadly.

"Haha, Shang'er, that cat is my companion. Can you let her go?"

"But Master, that cat is no good. Thieving cats are all leechers."

Shen perspired madly. Every second, the cute and innocent image of Shang'er in his heart was being replaced by blood-stained Shang'er.

"Shen, get me out of here!" said Kaidi, currently locked in her cat form. It caused Shen to wonder why didn't she ask for his help through telepathy?

"Shang'er, release her. She is a very very close friend of mine."

Shang'er made an unwilling face but she didn't wish to be hated by her Master. Grudgingly, she let the cat free from its cage.

Right after Kaidi got her freedom, she returned to her humanoid form. "Hey, what was that supposed to mean?" she immediately questioned, and her mood took a turn for worse, "I was forced into that form, on top of I couldn't use any powers, not to mention our telepathy didn't work either."

Kaidi didn't even take a moment to appreciate the art or the beauty of her current position. Or rather, she was in a tricky mood. Suddenly she gets thrown into prison and sealed of her powers, anyone can get the picture of her mood. It can't possibly get worse.

Shen only peered at Shang'er, who felt a little embarrassed from his gaze. Her cheek reddened as a soft shade of crimson dyed her cheeks, with a timid expression, she whispered, "M-master, Shang'er is always ready, no matter the place and time she won't resist..."

"..." Shen got carried away by her flow and his hand landed on her cheeks, his face neared hers but at the crucial time his sense sharpened and a chant started spinning in his head, "I'm no lolicon, I'm no lolicon, I'm no lolicon..."

"Cough cough," Shen felt embarrassed for getting carried away, if he didn't get to his sense at the correct time, he would've committed a crime! But Shang'er wasn't just any normal loli, her age surpassed the current Shen by an astronomical amount!

"Shang'er, where did you learn those stuff? Little girls shouldn't know these kinds of thing!" Shen reprimanded her.

"Shang'er is not a little girl, she a fine lady!" Shang'er pushed her chest to his arm, emphasizing her "assets", which could be only described as "not a flat board". Although, Shen could see that she had some and it wasn't completely flat, but due to her golden robe, he felt nothing. "Hmph, Shang'er learned about all of Master's preferences from the library. There's a lot of book about them, hehe."

Shen literally facepalmed. Even after her ridiculous age, she didn't grow at all. Neither in body nor in temperament. Yet, she had an innocent feminine charm which could be fatal sometime.

"Alright, Shang'er. Tell Master why did you lock Kitty in that prison?"

"Eh, that cat?" she pointed at Kaidi and said, "Shang'er doesn't like those nasty cats, Master. They are no good. They stripped Shang'er of her source energy. Thankfully, it was only a small amount, or else they could have damaged Shang'er greatly!"

"Eh, Nasty Cats? Source Energy?" Her words only served to confuse Shen. It seems she didn't imprison Kaidi for some childish reason as Shen thought initially.

"Yes, Source Energy is something Shang'er needs to strengthen herself. Shang'er named it source energy because she doesn't know its name and it could be found anywhere"—she had a haughty expression but immediately it turned gloomy—"but those despicable cats, they, they leeched off my energy for strengthening themselves. Shang'er can't bring herself to like them."

Shang'er snuggled on Shen and asked him cutely, "Master~ can Shang'er kill her?"

"Haha, Shang'er, you can't. She is my friend and I promise that she will never try to do what the others did."

"Promise?"

"Yes, promise!"

Shang'er turned toward Kaidi, who already neared the duo on the Throne and unwillingly said, "Although Shang'er doesn't like you, she will still forgive you for Master."

Kaidi's facial muscle quivered uncontrollably. She had no idea what they were talking about but listening to Shang'er, she felt irritated.

"Still, Shang'er, can't you spare some of your Source Energy?" inquired Shen.

"No, Master. Source Energy is very important for Shang'er. Thanks to that Shang'er gained her physical form. The more Shang'er has, the better. Shang'er shall tell Master just in case but she can't absorb Source Energy. It all happens naturally."

"Hmm, ok." Shen felt a little sad that they couldn't use the Treasure Energy, now known as Source Energy, for letting Kaidi cultivate. Else, she could get stronger much faster.

"What are you two talking about? And who is this little girl?" Kaidi finally stepped between their conversation and inquired as she still didn't feel that good.

"This is—"

"Don't talk to Master so casually!" Shang'er had a displeased expression. Her Master was literally her God. How dare some nasty thieving cat talks with him so casually?!

Kaidi finally felt threatened by Shang'er's presence, in more than one way. Firstly, Shang'er occupied her position with Shen. Secondly, she called him "Master", which Kaidi avoided for innumerable reasons. Kaidi listed more than twenty reasons in her head and came to one conclusion, she was dangerous!

"Shang'er, stay quiet. Kitty, this is Shang'er. The spirit of this palace. Shang'er meet Kitty and treat her well, ok?"

Both gazed at each other intently for three seconds and immediately turned away. "No way!" both said simultaneously as if it was practiced thousands of times.

"Heh, you are already getting along," Shen smirked happily, "Shang'er take me to the treasury. That's the main reason for my visit."

"Ehh, treasury... Shang'er doesn't think there's something particularly."

"That's good enough. I just want to check it."

"Let's go, Master~"

Shen left the Throne and stood up. Before he could say anything to Shang'er, they already appeared in a different space.

"Shang'er," Shen sighed deeply, "Where's Kitty? Bring her here."

Shang'er pouted, she wanted to enjoy the time with her Master but that nasty cat had to get in her way. With a flick of her hand, Kaidi appeared behind them. Shen noticed something in particular. Shang'er didn't create any circles during teleportation. He kept it in mind and decided to try it next time.

Being dragged and pushed, Kaidi obviously didn't feel so happy. She knew Shang'er had the upper hand here and grumbled inwardly.

Shang'er placed her delicate hand on the door in front of them. A few golden runes lit up and different sounds of mechanism could be heard.

Clack Clack Clack

And after a brief silence, the door slid sideways without any sound. The treasury came to everyone's view and... it was rather unimpressive. It was long and had uncountable shelves but not even 1/100th was filled. More like wiped clean, there was however a few items at the end of the treasury that caught Shen's eyes.

On top of a simple looking wooden table, laid a bracelet, a small bottle, and one simple ring.

The bracelet was black in color, yet it gave a pure feeling. The azure colored bottle looked normal from a single glance, but Shen knew it was high-class pill bottle. Even storing pills in this bottle will keep them in perfect condition for millions of years. As for the ring, it was bronze in color and normal looking in every way one could see.

As Shen was about to take the ring to assess it, the ring started buzzing and suddenly, it disappeared. Before Shen knew it, he felt a prickling sensation from his ring finger and he found the bronze ring on his finger. No matter how he tried to get rid of it, nothing worked.

"Shang'er, what's this ring?"

"Shang'er has no idea, these items were here from the start and none could access it before Master."

"Huh? Then, what about the person who owned you before?"

"Master~ only you can own Shang'er~"

"No joking, I know there was someone who owned the palace before."

"Jeez, Master. Are you getting jealous? Anyone other than Master didn't have the full access, in fact, they couldn't gain the full access. That's all Shang'er knows."

"...So, according to you, these items were here from the start?"

"Yes!"

Shen felt things were getting more and more complicated. As if there was a whole bunch of mystery surrounding the palace. The trip inside the Secret Realm completely changed his whole viewpoint about this world. No matter how many things one explored, he felt like there would be no end to it.

Shaking his head to clear his head, he decided to check the right first.

[Empyrean Ring (Inactive)]

"Sigh~" a reminiscing sigh left Shen's mouth, "This brings back memories. Even the Yin-Yang Pendant also had Inactive status."

Shen proceeded to check the next item, the bracelet.

[Unnamed Bracelet]

And that turned out less eventful than he thought. Sighing in disappointment, he considered his option of checking the pill. He lightly shook the bottle and confirmed the existence of a single pill inside the bottle. Just through the pill bottle, it became obvious that it contained a special and precious pill. What if the pill must be taken after taking out due to its frail state? And if the pill was too powerful and he failed to absorb the energy, he will possibly die or be badly injured from the backfire.

He used Absolute Vision and completely failed to see anything through the bottle. But he noticed unknown runes and inscriptions placed on the bottle, from top to bottom. With another disappointing sigh, he took the bottle with him.