Empress

The real world.

An isolated island—a towering spire.

Waves churned on the midnight sea. The sky-piercing tower stood at the heart of the island, its body gleaming with a cold metallic light, its apex obscured and lost within the heavy clouds.

Right now, on the twentieth floor of the tower.

"Roar!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Howl!!!!!!!!!!!"

Over a dozen demonic beasts, thousands of feet tall, let out hoarse, deafening roars.

Their bodies were covered in pitch-black scales, twisted bone wings sprouted from their backs, and vertical blood-red eyes cracked open on their foreheads. Their auras were terrifyingly heavy!

Every single one of them was at the Tribulation Crossing Realm. In the Profound Sky Continent, they would be terrifying existences capable of overturning an entire sect, let alone in the modern world.

Just one of these monsters could cause a natural disaster outside.

Yet, they remained confined within this high tower.

As those monsters roared, a pale blue ice mist spread from the sky without warning.

The temperature plummeted to hundreds of degrees below zero. The monsters, lunging forward with their gaping maws, suddenly stiffened, their raised front claws freezing in mid-air—

Soon, their bodies were coated in a layer of crystalline ice at a visible rate. Even the demonic energy circulating within them was frozen into ice shards.

"These monsters are truly powerful..."

A girl with a ponytail slowly flew out.

Luo Xi appeared, completely spotless. A pale gold Emperor Seal flickered faintly on her forehead. She raised her hand and lightly snapped her fingers.

Crack—

The dozen Tribulation Crossing Realm demonic beasts shattered simultaneously, turning into a ground full of ice shards before even a trace of demonic energy could escape.

"Luo Xi, be careful."

A cold, clear female voice rang out. A black-haired girl holding a spiritual sword stood on a high broken cliff, her clothes fluttering wildly in the wind. An Emperor Seal, identical to Luo Xi's, glowed faintly on her forehead.

She didn't assume a sword stance; she simply waved her sword casually. A sky-filling sword aura tore through space, accurately piercing the foreheads of three demonic beasts hiding behind a stone pillar!

The moment the sword aura entered their bodies, the three beasts didn't even have time to scream before their souls were shredded to pieces. They crashed heavily onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The monsters were slaughtered, leaving behind only a variety of demonic corpses.

Luo Xi flew to Bai Qianshuang's side and looked up at the pitch-black door leading to the twenty-first floor, her brows furrowing slightly:

"This is already the fifth wave we've cleared today. The cultivation of these demonic beasts gets higher with every floor. If we go further up... there will probably be even more terrifying monsters."

Bai Qianshuang sheathed her sword, her expression icy:

"This tower itself is abnormal. I suspect..."

She paused and pointed at the ancient runes on the tower wall, which were blurred by demonic energy corrosion.

"These are things from over there."

Luo Xi's face also darkened.

"Have you been remembering fragments of things lately?" Bai Qianshuang walked to her side and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

The pale gold Emperor Seal on her forehead glowed faintly.

Luo Xi said softly, "I remember a lot of things... things that happened a long, long time ago. They're blurry, I can't see them clearly, I just remember a sky full of shattered stars."

"I used to think it was a dream."

"But—"

"It's not. It seems to be my past life... no, maybe even further back."

"My name..." Luo Xi seemed unable to recall it, merely shaking her head.

She seemed to be remembering many things. She wasn't just an ordinary female student.

She—

Was an Empress.

The reincarnation of an Immortal Emperor!

Bai Qianshuang lowered her eyes, looking at her reflection on the sword blade. The Emperor Seal on her forehead pulsed with her breathing.

She gently ran her fingertips over the blade. No one had ever taught her those complex sword arts and obscure runes, yet the first time she held a sword, they came to her naturally.

She, too, could not remember the name of her past life.

But—

She was also an Empress!

The reincarnation of an Immortal Emperor!

"Me too." Her voice was very soft.

"There are always fragmented scenes... endless heavenly palaces falling down, the galaxy shattering into pieces, and flames so bright you can't open your eyes."

"Someone stood at the very front, with his back to me, holding a very dark sword... His back was so familiar..."

"He suppressed the evil spirits of billions of planes."

"He looks a lot like Ye Chuan."

"No, it seems he is Ye Chuan..."

Luo Xi remained silent for a moment. "If you can't remember, let it be. Maybe it was too long ago. Compared to that, this tower is much more concerning."

"Mhm." Bai Qianshuang nodded, her fingertip lightly touching the blurred ancient rune on the wall.

The moment her fingertip touched the stone, the rune faintly lit up with a dark gold light, echoing the Emperor Seals on their foreheads and creating a subtle resonance.

"This is a spatial anchor rune. It's something from over there," Bai Qianshuang said with certainty.

"This tower didn't just happen to fall here. It came for Ye Chuan... This tower is an anchor point, constantly locking onto his location, trying to draw the things from that side over here."

"They are looking for Ye Chuan."

"They want to kill Ye Chuan."

Luo Xi's expression sank completely.

"We can't let it keep pinpointing his location." Luo Xi looked up at the tightly shut stone door of the twenty-first floor, where demonic energy was seeping through the cracks.

"And we can't let these monsters escape. Just one Tribulation Crossing Realm beast could destroy several countries. If they made it to the mainland, the whole world would be plunged into chaos."

Bai Qianshuang had already raised her hand and gripped her sword hilt. The spiritual sword let out a clear, resonant chime.

"Let's go up and see."

The stone door was gently pushed open by sword aura, and the space in their vision twisted slightly.

At this moment, over a dozen six-winged demonic beasts hovered in mid-air.

These creatures actually had Ascension Realm cultivation!

Any single one of them could destroy a continent, destroy this world!

"This..." Bai Qianshuang was taken aback. Not only her, but Luo Xi hadn't expected this either.

Sensing the intrusion of the living, all the demonic beasts turned their heads simultaneously, letting out a roar, and lunged toward the two girls, blotting out the sky.

Ding—

The clear ring of the spiritual sword leaving its sheath overpowered the roars.

Bai Qianshuang's figure blurred. Countless streaks of sword aura poured out like a torrential rain, tearing through space and accurately striking the monsters' scales, sending sparks flying.

At the same time, pale blue ice mist rose from the ground, creeping up the monsters' bone wings and freezing them into ice crystals, forcefully dragging them down from mid-air to shatter.

The Emperor Seals lit up simultaneously on their foreheads. Pale gold patterns spread along their brows and eyes, condensing into a thin protective barrier around them.

The soul-corroding demonic energy crashed against the barrier and was instantly purified into nothingness.

Sword light and ice light intertwined in the darkness. The two stood back-to-back, their attacks connecting seamlessly, as if they had fought side-by-side like this millions of times.

They no longer delved into those blurred memories of their past lives, nor did they agonize over who they truly were.

It didn't matter if they couldn't remember, it didn't matter if it was unclear.

They only knew that they had to hold this tower and not let a single monster take a step outside.

Just like a long, long time ago, when they had stood exactly like this, guarding his back, guarding that world on the verge of collapse.