The Awakening of the Empress

He ran away?

A legendary Dao Comprehension realm expert...

Actually fled?

The people from the Profound Ice Palace were nearly driven mad, with some disciples even starting to lose their minds.

"Whew, that was close." Ye Chuan let out a sigh of relief. After his ethereal state ended, he wouldn’t have been able to handle Elder Xuan anymore. Though he had plenty of techniques, none could bridge the gap between their realms.

Luckily, he managed to scare the old man off.

Even at his age, he still cared deeply about those two demon pills.

"Though I wish dealing with that little dragonkin could be this easy," Ye Chuan chuckled to himself as the hum of his spirit sword gradually faded.

Elder Xuan’s protective armor could be suppressed with chaotic energy, but the dragonkin’s natural scales were entirely different—fused with their flesh, they were physically indestructible. Even his spirit sword could barely leave a mark. At best, he could hack at their souls with a demonic blade, though the results were uncertain.

"Time to get down to business." He glanced down at the Profound Ice Palace disciples below, their faces ashen as if mourning their own deaths. Their mix of terror and despair stirred a hint of amusement in him.

"You—you dare touch me?!" Bing San took half a step back, his voice shrill with false bravado. "I’m about to join the Holy Land! Do you have any idea how terrifying the might of the Holy Land is? Harm me, and you’ll make an enemy of every Holy Land in the Western Divine Continent!"

"Oh." Ye Chuan responded flatly, his tone devoid of any emotion.

"Then take it up with my Soul Banner."

"Entangle."

As the word left his lips, the Soul Banner unfurled from his sleeve, releasing a tide of ghostly energy that morphed into countless eerie chains, radiating a soul-devouring chill as they swept downward.

The screams of the Profound Ice Palace disciples were cut short as the chains coiled around them, forcibly wrenching their souls from their bodies. Like fireflies, their spirits were devoured by the banner. In mere moments, only corpses—still warm—remained on the icy plain, their lifeless forms stark against the swirling snowflakes.

"Job done~"

Ye Chuan yawned and vanished in a flash, reappearing beside Cang Wu and Ademi.

The two now looked at him with nothing but awe. After all, the Dao Comprehension realm was the stuff of legends—earthly immortals. Yet Ye Chuan had forced one to retreat through sheer strength.

Didn’t that make him a Dao Comprehension realm immortal as well?

Ademi suddenly understood why Ye Chuan had shown no interest in her physique. With his level of cultivation, it was no surprise.

"Now that things are settled, we should get moving." Ye Chuan opened his inventory, and the massive flying vessel reappeared beside them.

He was quite pleased—having a vehicle meant he wouldn’t have to fly manually anymore.

"You two, not coming aboard?"

After landing on the vessel, Ye Chuan noticed Cang Wu and Ademi still standing dumbfounded in the snow and called out to them.

"Huh?" The two quickly scrambled onto the deck.

A flag bearing the words "Profound Ice" in icy blue hung on the ship.

Ye Chuan glanced at it and casually used his spiritual energy to alter the characters to "Xi Xi."

"Alright, the Xi Xi, set sail!"

After studying the controls, he realized the vessel ran on spirit crystals and promptly activated it, steering toward their destination in the Western Luo Kingdom.

The ship was equipped with a small formation that shielded it from wind and snow, and its speed wasn’t bad either—comparable to a Golden Core cultivator flying at full speed.

"Not bad." Ye Chuan nodded in satisfaction.

But with some distance still to cover, he checked the time and decided to log off.

The rest could be handled on autopilot—no need to micromanage.

Having reached the peak of Golden Core, Ye Chuan now had to consider breaking through to Nascent Soul.

Heh, he’d soon catch up to Bai Qianshuang’s level.

"Just a measly Nascent Soul. I’m almost there."

"Tianxuan Continent, log off!"

......

......

"Ye Chuan, I think I’m about to break through to Spirit Transformation."

The moment he stepped out of his room back in the real world, the words from the girl with the ahoge left him stunned.

Ye Chuan: "?"

Huh? ↗

"Wait, you’re breaking through to Spirit Transformation? For real?" Ye Chuan was floored. Bai Qianshuang had only just reached Nascent Soul not long ago. How was she already sprinting toward Spirit Transformation?

Were her level-ups powered by rockets?

"I’m not sure either." Lately, Bai Qianshuang had been preoccupied with thoughts of Ye Chuan and Lan Xiaoke, occasionally sulking in frustration.

Perhaps it was all that pent-up irritation, but her breakthroughs came effortlessly, one after another.

"Maybe the spiritual energy here is abundant, so progress is a bit faster," she murmured, avoiding Ye Chuan’s intense gaze.

A bit faster? More like astronomically.

"The Innate Dao Body truly lives up to its ‘Peerless’ rarity." Ye Chuan suddenly grasped just how terrifying such a constitution was.

If his Chaos Indestructible Body granted magic immunity and devouring, Bai Qianshuang’s specialty was sheer leveling speed, right?

It seemed that as long as spiritual energy was present, she could endlessly absorb and break through without any bottlenecks—arguably even more absurd than him.

At least Ye Chuan had to splurge on materials for breakthroughs. Bai Qianshuang just meditated, and her cultivation soared faster than gulping down water.

"Whatever." Ye Chuan shrugged it off.

Her rapid progress wasn’t a bad thing. After all, she was part of his household—an ally.

"Ye Chuan, aside from my strength increasing, I’ve also been having strange dreams lately while resting," Bai Qianshuang suddenly added.

Dreams?

"What kind? Us making out?" Ye Chuan asked curiously. What counted as "strange"?

Bai Qianshuang averted her eyes. "Of course not."

"......"

After a few seconds of silence, she continued, "I dream of someone attacking me, stabbing me in the back with a sword. And..."

"The pain feels real."

"It doesn’t feel like a dream. More like... something that actually happened."

"......" Ye Chuan pondered for a moment. "Could it be exhaustion from overtraining?"

"Normal absorption and refinement of spiritual energy shouldn’t cause fatigue," Bai Qianshuang replied.

"Maybe I’m overthinking it. It’s just a dream, after all."

With that, she turned and headed back to her room.

Watching her leave, Ye Chuan seemed to recall something. He pulled out his phone and opened Bai Qianshuang’s status screen.

[Tenant: Bai Qianshuang

Realm: Peak Nascent Soul

Jade Void Sect’s head disciple on the Tianxuan Continent. Innate Dao Body. In her past life, she was a peerless empress who chose reincarnation after betrayal...

Status: Memory resurgence?]

Wait, seriously?

Her memories are returning?

A sense of foreboding crept over Ye Chuan. A betrayed empress—what if she really regained her past-life memories?

Would Bai Qianshuang still be Bai Qianshuang?

Would she still be that airheaded foodie?

What if she turned into some domineering, terrifying figure?