“Have you realized your mistake? If Her Majesty the Empress were someone else, your head might already be carried off by a stray dog.” Ying earnestly admonished Shun.
Shun, finally able to speak again, nodded vigorously:
“Thank goodness, thank goodness! It’s all thanks to Her Majesty the Empress being so understanding, beautiful, and generous~”
Su Qianqian felt rather helpless. She truly wasn’t used to being praised so openly, especially now when it was clear they were reinforcing her identity as “Her Majesty the Empress”…
“You two should hurry up and tidy the place, don’t just stand there chatting… You both know I was forced into this, and I really don’t want to recall what happened yesterday.”
As Su Qianqian spoke, she sighed and sipped her chicken soup.
The soup was indeed delicious, and the grade of this Spirit Chicken was exceptionally high.
The sisters exchanged glances, remembering the task Luo Wuhen had given them—to use Su Qianqian’s trust in them to probe her current “level of acceptance”…
This time, it was up to the always calm and cautious Ying, who still had a decent image in Su Qianqian’s eyes, to bring up the next topic…
As the sisters carefully tidied the room, Ying asked in a casual, conversational tone:
“How does Your Majesty feel about getting along with the Emperor?”
“How do I feel? It’s still the same as ever. That woman really has a terrible personality. And let me tell you, you don’t know how disgusting and twisted she is behind the scenes! After bringing me here, she kept forcing me to do all sorts of strange things, and…”
The more Su Qianqian spoke, the more animated she became.
She almost started pouring out all the “unjust torment” she had suffered last night and how perverse Luo Wuhen could be, but was hastily interrupted by Shun!
“Your Majesty, please don’t say any more! If the two of us hear things we shouldn’t, it’ll be dangerous for us!” Shun was smart this time, quickly cutting off Su Qianqian’s complaints.
“Ah, you’re right, I wasn’t thinking. But Ying looks a little disappointed, huh? How about I secretly tell you two—just keep it to yourselves!”
Upon hearing Su Qianqian’s words, Shun turned around sharply and saw that Ying did indeed look visibly disappointed.
Seeing Ying like this, Shun felt conflicted and grumbled inwardly: “Seriously, sis? Is this really the usual stone-faced you? I know you really ship Luo Wuhen and Her Majesty, but is the gossip worth risking your life for?!”
Fortunately, Ying regained her composure and agreed with her elder sister: “The Emperor and Her Majesty’s private affairs aren’t for us to know. What I wanted to ask is, Your Majesty, has your feeling toward the Emperor changed at all since the beginning? Do you feel more relaxed now when you’re together?”
Hearing Ying’s questions, Su Qianqian smiled faintly, tilted her head, propped her chin on her hand, gently stirring her spoon, then looked at the sisters with a helpless gaze:
“Luo Wuhen sent you two to ask, didn’t she? Sigh, that woman is really troublesome…”
“Sorry, it’s indeed the Emperor’s request, but… I really want to see Your Majesty and the Emperor truly together! Both of you are our benefactors—you saved me and my sister’s lives! I don’t want you to hate the Emperor because of her overwhelming love!”
“Nor do I want the Emperor to keep forcing this one-sided love! What I truly wish for is to see the two of you as perfect for each other as before, genuinely in love!”
Ying admitted directly that the probing just now was at Luo Wuhen’s behest, but the rest of her words clearly came from the heart!
Her emotions ran so high that even Shun was surprised into silence…
Su Qianqian also fell silent, her thoughts drifting to the past as she gazed at the passionate Ying:
“Is that really your own thought, and not something Luo Wuhen told you to say…?”
“Straight from my heart!” Ying answered with utmost seriousness, meeting Su Qianqian’s gaze.
Su Qianqian could never handle this kind of look and shook her head helplessly.
Seeing her shake her head, Ying thought Su Qianqian was rejecting her words and lowered her head in disappointment…
But Su Qianqian’s next words restored her hope!
“If you must pass on a message, tell Luo Wuhen this: I never hated her, not even at the start. In fact, I admire her. I admire the girl who grew from innocence into a ruler. And besides, the one who approached her for my own reasons and ran away was me—there’s no reason for me to hate her…”
“Then Your Majesty means…” Ying looked at Su Qianqian with hopeful eyes.
But Su Qianqian just shook her head again, then continued, “I don’t hate Luo Wuhen. Even with how she’s treating me now, I can’t bring myself to hate her, because this is a mess of my own making. But her actions make it impossible for me to truly fall for her…”
“She treats me as her possession. For her own desires, she’s been forcing me to do whatever she wants, like a Golden Cage Canary being toyed with at will…”
Su Qianqian sighed again at this point, her thoughts drifting to Lin Muxue…
“Lin Muxue, my master for two lifetimes. I owe her a lot, too. Looking back, when she found me, she had her own desires, and often showed strong possessiveness, even getting a little handsy.”
“But… I could feel she always restrained her desires and tried her best to respect my choices. At least, she never threatened me to force me to accept her, just for her own wants…”
“So, if you want me to truly change how I see her—if you want me to genuinely start liking her—she has to at least truly respect my choices…”
At this, Su Qianqian finished her words. Ying quietly made note of them…
“I will relay Your Majesty’s words to the Emperor…”
“Mm, thank you. But I doubt she’s the type to listen…”
Because Su Qianqian had been stirring her soup, it had grown cold. She downed it in one gulp, then stood up and stretched—her waist was still so sore and aching!
“Is the bed made? Then I’m going to lie down a bit longer. I’m really not in shape to go out today—and in these clothes, I don’t have the face to leave the room…”
Su Qianqian walked back to the bed with an awkward, unnatural gait and sat down.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, feeling her aching body, she thought she might as well focus on cultivating today…
“We won’t disturb you then. If you need anything, please call us…” Having finished tidying, the sisters excused themselves upon seeing Su Qianqian didn’t want to talk further, and left.
Su Qianqian sat on her bed and turned her awareness inward to her Dan Tian. At the center, a Lotus Platform was slowly rotating…
“I remember when I sensed it, half of the medicinal power from the Fengchundan I took got absorbed by this lotus. That can’t be a problem, right?”
Su Qianqian probed carefully. It didn’t seem like there was any issue, but the effects of Fengchundan were extremely peculiar, and this lotus was absorbing them at random.
She was honestly a bit worried something strange might happen.
What if she suddenly ended up with a little lotus-shaped nascent soul and jumped straight to the Nascent Soul Stage…!
But after testing and probing for a long while, she still didn’t find anything amiss. The medicinal power seemed to have just vanished without a trace.
“Oh well, I’ll have to take quite a few more of them anyway, so I’ll deal with it later—” Thinking of this, Su Qianqian just decided to take it easy and stop worrying…
Meanwhile, on the other side, Luo Wuhen personally arrived at the front lines of a battle…
This battle was bizarre. A small country had launched an attack against the behemoth Ziyuan Kingdom.
In just two days, while Ziyuan was still puzzled and hadn’t even mobilized its main forces, the border troops—acting on the defensive—had already stormed the enemy’s capital and captured their King alive.
But the King’s condition was very odd.
According to the reports, when they broke into the palace, he was acting normal, but as soon as he was captured, he went completely insane, casting all sorts of suicide spells on himself and demanding to see the Emperor of Ziyuan—he had something important to tell her!
After being captured and brought to Ziyuan’s border, he stubbornly refused to enter, insisting he would only see Luo Wuhen at the border, otherwise he would rather kill himself…
Clearly, this situation reeked of conspiracy, but Luo Wuhen was intrigued. At the border, her own strength would hardly be diminished; she was eager to see what this plot and secret were all about.
Luo Wuhen followed the generals to a dungeon where the king who had started the war without reason was being held.
Seeing Luo Wuhen arrive, the disheveled man looked up and gave her a bizarre smile: “You’ve come…”
“Speak. What plot, what secret is worth you going to such lengths?” Luo Wuhen looked down at the crazed prisoner.
But the man didn’t answer directly. Instead, he rambled on and on with a slew of mad gibberish:
“Hehehe! Sooner or later, this world will be burned to ashes by the Gods’ Wrath. Their resentment will devour every inch of the land! Only… only hope of equal weight, only the Gods’ Legacy will offer the last chance…! Hahahahaha! No, no! Everyone will be buried with the world!!!”
Watching this madman spout such insane nonsense in the dungeon, Luo Wuhen frowned. Clearly, she had misjudged—this was just a pitiful soul consumed by cultivation madness.
Just as Luo Wuhen turned to leave, the madman abruptly stopped his ravings and, with a mysterious look, gazed at her:
“Do you know why I wanted to speak to you, and why I had you come here…”
Luo Wuhen didn’t bother answering—she knew he’d explain it himself soon enough…
Sure enough, the man’s face twisted again as he revealed a secret:
“Right now, hope equal to the Gods’ Wrath exists on your land. I will snuff it out… The world will embrace magnificent destruction!! Wuahahaha!”
Hearing the mad rambling, Luo Wuhen actually found herself a bit interested.
She calmly asked, “So, what is this thing you’re talking about? And where is it? Even I, who rules this land, haven’t noticed a thing—what makes you think you can find it?”
“Hehehe… I don’t know where it is, or what it is right now, but… I will find it, and destroy it… using your identity!!!”
As soon as he finished, the madman exploded into a cloud of black mist that lunged at Luo Wuhen!
Luo Wuhen had anticipated something like this and immediately called upon Faith Power to defend herself.
However, this black mist possessed an inexplicable corrosive force, and Luo Wuhen had underestimated its danger!
Her protective Faith Power was being rapidly corroded, and Luo Wuhen was forced to muster all her strength to resist.
The struggle continued for a long time. The commotion in the dungeon had drawn a large number of stationed troops, but none of them could get close.
The general who had been beside Luo Wuhen had already fallen, and any soldier who tried to approach had their minds shattered by the black mist’s aftershocks…
In the midst of this deadlock, the black mist seized upon a weakness, and several wisps of it merged into Luo Wuhen’s body!
But before the black mist could do anything, it suddenly touched upon a Karmic Bond within Luo Wuhen, drawing the attention of Su Qianqian far away, who glanced over in puzzlement…
And at an infinite distance away, in a pure white space, the headless and heartless White Giant’s finger twitched, a surge of power flowing from it, using its link with Su Qianqian as a medium, following the Karmic Bond between Su Qianqian and Luo Wuhen to appear within Luo Wuhen’s body!
In an instant, blinding white light erupted from Luo Wuhen, rapidly dissolving the black mist surrounding her!
Still bewildered, Luo Wuhen heard a phantom wail of agony in her ear: “Damn it, why is it you…!”
Before the voice could finish, the black mist had already been completely purified, and the howling cut off abruptly…
“What on earth was that…” Luo Wuhen, still sensing the strange residual power in her body, fell into thought, recalling the news her newly returned Prime Minister had just brought…
Meanwhile, Su Qianqian, far away, was equally puzzled. Why had she suddenly thought of Luo Wuhen?!
“Su Qianqian, oh Su Qianqian! Are you really such a pervert? After being bullied like that, you actually start missing her after just a little while apart?!”
Su Qianqian muttered to herself……