“A two-hundred-year-old senior with such intense curiosity… huff… puff… fine, be curious if you want, and I don’t care if you seek your own death, but why on earth do you have to drag me along?”
Wang Sandong was being carried by her belt as the Yuan Emperor leaped and bounded across the landscape.
She was tossed about until she was utterly disoriented and dizzy.
After just a few words, she was breathless.
“Ow… no, stop… I’m dying.”
As she spoke, her eyes actually began to roll back.
The Yuan Emperor let out a mocking chuckle.
“Look at you, so spineless. With me here, how could I let you die so easily?”
She noticed that because Wang Sandong was folded in half and hanging upside down, her face had turned bright red from the blood rushing to her head, but she didn’t care. Instead of stopping, she moved even faster.
Wang Sandong felt her head swelling, and her consciousness began to blur.
She truly felt like she was going to die.
As soon as that thought surfaced, panic seized her.
Her hands and feet began to flail wildly, hitting, scratching, and clawing in a desperate, frantic struggle.
Even if it was a futile resistance, she refused to give up.
Unconsciously, she even began to circulate her demonic qi.
In her lightheaded state, her awareness was no longer clear; she only knew to strike and scratch blindly, having no idea where she was hitting or what she was grabbing.
Curses, complaints, and pleas for mercy poured from her lips—her only thought was to survive.
“Behave yourself!”
The Yuan Emperor warned in a low voice.
“If you don’t want to die, then… then… let go!”
Her brow furrowed, and she raised a hand to slap Wang Sandong on the back.
Though it was only a light tap, and though her strength was a shadow of its former self, Wang Sandong couldn’t withstand the blow and blacked out instantly.
The hands that had been clutching onto something with a death grip went limp and let go.
When Wang Sandong woke up again, she found herself lying in an unfamiliar room.
Beside her, under the light of an oil lamp, the Yuan Emperor had both hands pressed against a sphere about the size of a human head, injecting demonic qi into it.
Her eyes were filled with pitch-black demonic energy, with no white visible, making her look incredibly eerie.
Wang Sandong shivered in fright and sat up instinctively.
A wave of dizziness hit her immediately; once she stabilized, she seemed to remember something and quickly checked if her clothes were intact.
She was terrified that while she was unconscious, the Yuan Emperor might have inspected her body and discovered the truth she was hiding—that she had already transformed into a woman.
Even though she didn’t know what the Yuan Emperor’s true motives were, Wang Sandong felt she should keep it hidden as long as possible—dragging it out day by day.
“I told you!”
Seeing Wang Sandong’s behavior, the Yuan Emperor’s face darkened.
“I am not interested in men!”
“Ah… well, that’s good then.”
Wang Sandong gave a forced laugh, looked around, and asked in a weak, soft voice, “Where is this?”
“The back courtyard of the Fengyue House.”
“Oh.”
Wang Sandong looked back at the object wrapped in demonic qi before the Yuan Emperor, then at the Emperor’s entirely black eyes.
“And what are you doing?”
“Something similar to the ‘Human Emperor’s Eye’,” the Yuan Emperor explained.
“Though it’s far inferior, it’s quite suitable for spectating a battle. Observing a duel between top-tier masters is of great benefit to one’s cultivation. In times of peace, such opportunities are rare; it would be a true waste to miss it.”
“Really?”
“Come and try.”
Wang Sandong was indeed curious.
Despite her extreme physical discomfort and her desire to lie down and rest, she forced herself to climb out of bed and sat in the chair next to the Yuan Emperor.
“How do I try?”
“Place your hands on it.”
Wang Sandong did as she was told.
However, she was a bit careless.
As she pressed her hands onto the sphere, her fingers accidentally brushed against the Yuan Emperor’s fingers.
The Yuan Emperor quickly shifted her hand away.
“Mmmph!”
The moment her hands touched the sphere, Wang Sandong couldn’t help but let out a pained whimper.
Simultaneously, her eyes became just like the Yuan Emperor’s, the whites obscured by black demonic qi.
“This… this is amazing!”
A vision of the Zheng estate suddenly materialized before Wang Sandong’s eyes.
By now, the Zheng estate was a total ruin.
Zheng Xiao stood amidst the rubble, sword in hand.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and her face was ghastly pale.
Beside her sat a middle-aged man with graying hair, also wounded; even the sword in his hand was broken.
This was Zheng Xiao’s younger brother, the current Head of the Zheng Family.
The Noble Integrity Secret Art usually didn’t require a sword.
Once a sword was drawn, it meant either a slaughter was coming or they were prepared to die fighting.
Cui Jinnian’s grandfather, the “Life-Snatched Sword” of the Nine Surnames, and the Wang Family Head, Wang Fa, stood nearby with swords drawn.
The “Life-Snatched Sword” had a black beard and hair, radiating a murderous aura.
Wang Fa, with his flowing silver hair, looked like a transcendent immortal.
From their stance, they were clearly protecting the Zheng siblings.
Not far away, one man was beating a drum, and one woman was playing a zither.
Sand and stones flew through the air as dust billowed.
It looked like two armies clashing in a fierce, unending battle.
“Cough, um…”
Wang Sandong whispered.
“Go ahead and speak; they can’t hear us,” the Yuan Emperor said.
“Are those two the Human Emperor and the Qin Emperor?”
“Yes.”
The Human Emperor, dressed in bright yellow brocade, had an ordinary appearance and an ordinary temperament; he looked like a commoner in every way.
There wasn’t a hint of “imperial majesty” emanating from him.
As for the Qin Emperor, she also had an unremarkable face.
Even through her voluminous robes, one could tell she was slightly plump.
Wang Sandong let out a sigh.
“What is it?”
The Yuan Emperor asked.
“Sigh, what a disappointment,” Wang Sandong said.
“The Emperor of Men, the number one person in the world… tsk, the servants in my house have more presence than the Human Emperor. As for the Qin Emperor… if she tried to make a living in the Fengyue House, she’d probably starve to death.”
“Never judge a person by their looks,” the Yuan Emperor lectured seriously.
“Fighting is not a beauty pageant.”
That made a lot of sense.
Wang Sandong quipped, “True. If success were based on appearance, you would certainly be number one.”
The Yuan Emperor fell silent and didn’t respond.
Wang Sandong also stopped talking, focusing her attention on her “fiancée.”
At this moment, Zheng Xiao gripped her sword tightly, her face filled with resolve.
A hand suddenly grabbed Zheng Xiao’s pant leg.
Zheng Xiao looked down at her wounded brother.
The Head of the Zheng Family shook his head gently.
Zheng Xiao furrowed her brows in silence, scanning her surroundings.
The once bustling noble estate was now a graveyard of broken walls and ruins.
More than half of the Zheng kin were dead or wounded; those remaining might not survive either.
Zheng Xiao’s eyes reddened, and a white spiritual light began to glow on the edge of her blade.
Looking back at the Qin Emperor who was playing the zither, Zheng Xiao instinctively took a step forward.
A sword blocked her path.
It was the Life-Snatched Sword.
Suddenly, the drumbeat grew significantly louder.
Dong!
One loud strike.
The sound waves rippled outward, actually forcing away the accumulated rainwater on the ground.
The Qin Emperor’s brow twitched, and she quickly pressed down on her zither strings.
She had felt an abnormal vibration in the strings.
She knew that if she hadn’t pressed down in time, the strings would have snapped.
More importantly, she knew the Human Emperor was angry.
But…
The Qin Emperor grunted and looked at Zheng Xiao, saying, “Hand over my thing, and I shall spare the Zheng family from extinction!”
Zheng Xiao shifted her gaze from the tip of the Life-Snatched Sword, lifted her head coldly, and met the Qin Emperor’s eyes.
She said, “Man is born between heaven and earth to carry a sincere heart and uphold the moral laws of human relations; to hold the righteous path and guard the heavenly Dao. If the heart possesses integrity, no evil can invade; if the body holds righteousness, one will not bend despite ten thousand hardships. May the soul of integrity live forever, and may the brilliant righteousness last for eternity!”
This was the Zheng family motto.
Reciting this motto meant that Zheng Xiao refused to compromise.
The hand clutching her pant leg let go.
The Head of the Zheng Family gave a tragic smile, used his broken sword to struggle to his feet, and stood shakily side-by-side with Zheng Xiao.
“Man is born between heaven and earth…”
A roaring voice echoed from the darkness.
“To carry a sincere heart!”
More voices joined in the shout.
On the ruins, the surviving members of the Zheng family gathered in scattered groups.
Whether they were white-haired elders or young children; whether men or women; whether wounded or whole; everyone held a weapon, everyone shouted the Zheng family motto at the top of their lungs, and everyone wore a look of absolute resolve.
Watching this, Wang Sandong swallowed hard.
An indescribable feeling of desolation mixed with heroism surged in her heart, nearly making her recite the motto along with them.
She clenched her fists, forcing back the urge to speak.
But the agitation in her heart could not be suppressed.
Alongside that stirring emotion was the pain and oppression of being powerless in the face of a powerful enemy.
She suddenly thought of the “ideal” she had always held—to survive!
However…
Is merely surviving enough for a human being?
Looking at these Zheng family members who stood tall without fear, Wang Sandong remembered something the Zheng family “father” had said: “The Zheng family never bows to evil.”
After the motto was finished, the Zheng family stood with their weapons, waiting only for their leader’s command to march toward death!
The Qin Emperor was not intimidated by this display; in fact, she looked quite incensed.
She gritted her teeth and looked angrily at the Human Emperor, saying, “See for yourself! Should the Zheng family be destroyed or not?!”
The Human Emperor didn’t reply immediately. He looked around at the Zheng family members, sighed, and turned to Zheng Xiao.
“Xiao-xiao, just give the thing to her. The things of the past…”
“Can the past truly be forgotten?”
Zheng Xiao asked, her tone devoid of anger or murderous intent—it was actually eerily calm.
“Can even the great Human Emperor only be generous at the expense of others?!”
The Human Emperor was speechless.
“Grand-daughter-in-law!”
Wang Fa suddenly spoke up.
The address “Grand-daughter-in-law” drew everyone’s attention.
Wang Fa looked at Zheng Xiao and said, “You are a daughter-in-law of my Wang family, even if you haven’t married in yet…”
He then turned to the Qin Emperor and added, “Qin Emperor, the thing you want—you won’t be taking it!”
His aged voice was thick and powerful, sounding like a tiger roaring in the forest.
The Life-Snatched Swordsman frowned at the sight.
The Qin Emperor ignored Wang Fa and Zheng Xiao, looking instead at the Life-Snatched Swordsman.
“And you? What say you?”
The Life-Snatched Swordsman looked at Zheng Xiao, hesitating. He seemed to have a question but also seemed to already know the answer.
He could only sigh and say to the Qin Emperor, “This matter has gone too far today.”
This statement seemed vague, but those in the know understood his meaning.
“Since the Human Emperor is here…”
The swordsman continued, “And you have already killed so many of the Zheng family…”
The Qin Emperor laughed loudly and questioned, “Ha! Why did I kill them?!”
“It is getting late.”
In an instant, the world fell silent.
The Human Emperor, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke.
He looked at the sky, then at the Qin Emperor, and said, “Rest. We still have the Celebration Grand Ceremony to attend tomorrow.”
Having said that, he suddenly turned his head toward the darkness and frowned slightly.
Crack!
In a room in the back courtyard of the Fengyue House.
The bodies of the Yuan Emperor and Wang Sandong jerked backward violently.
The Yuan Emperor was fine, but Wang Sandong fell straight onto her back on the floor.
At the same time, the sphere they had been pressing on, which was wrapped in demonic qi, shattered into pieces.
Wang Sandong’s face was filled with terror.
In the moment the sphere exploded, it felt as though her own head had blown apart.
With a grunt, Wang Sandong coughed up a mouthful of blood.
She swayed her body in a daze but couldn’t hold on, falling back to lie flat on the floor.
It was only then she noticed that the head-sized sphere she had been pressing on was actually a human skull—now shattered into fragments.
Suddenly, the Yuan Emperor flashed over and pressed a hand onto the top of Wang Sandong’s head.
Wang Sandong felt a thread of gentle demonic qi enter her body through the crown of her head, instantly stabilizing the churning demonic qi within her.
Exhaling, Wang Sandong reminded the Yuan Emperor, “Should we run for it?”
“No need,” the Yuan Emperor said.
“He won’t find us.”
Having said that, she glanced at the shards of the skull on the floor, a pained expression crossing her face.
“A pity for my demonic treasure.”
Hearing this, Wang Sandong’s racing heart settled.
She lay peacefully on the floor, closed her eyes, and muttered, “I told you spectating was risky, but you wouldn’t listen.”
She then furrowed her brows and clutched her chest with one hand, a pained look appearing.
“I was nearly killed by your antics today.”
The Yuan Emperor withdrew her hand.
She glanced at Wang Sandong’s small face, which had become flushed due to the surging blood, and dazed for a moment. Noticing the blood at the corner of her mouth, she reached out to wipe it, but seeing Wang Sandong cough twice, she quickly retracted her hand.
Her gaze fell on Wang Sandong’s delicate white hand resting on her own chest, and she remembered being grabbed by that hand earlier…
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
She gave a silent, self-deprecating smile.
Two hundred years without touching a woman, only to have her heart unsettled by a “man” today…
How ridiculous!
Sigh…
In two hundred years, no one had ever dared to grab her so haphazardly.
That feeling…
It actually felt quite…
After all, she only avoided women; she hadn’t severed her body’s physical sensations.
At this thought, the Yuan Emperor froze for a moment, then shook her head with a bitter smile.
“Say…”
Wang Sandong’s voice suddenly broke the silence.
Although her body was weak, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity.
She struggled to open her eyes and looked at the Yuan Emperor, asking, “What was the thing the Qin Emperor wanted?”