The Empress's Heart Is in Turmoil

Changmen Palace.

On this day, the winds and clouds suddenly changed.

An imperial carriage drawn by nine golden dragons descended above this small, desolate cold palace, bringing with it a terrifying, all-crushing pressure.

"The Empress has arrived!"

Following a sharp announcement, the Empress's coercive pressure descended.

Uncle Fu trembled all over, gripped by a fear of imperial power that stemmed from the very depths of his soul.

He dropped to his knees with a thud, burying his head deeply into the dirt, not even daring to breathe loudly.

"Kid... quickly... quickly kneel down..."

Uncle Fu reached out with trembling hands, desperately tugging at Ye Xuan's trouser leg.

But Ye Xuan did not kneel.

He stood in the middle of the courtyard wearing a washed-out green shirt. His figure was as thin as a sheet of paper, but his spine was perfectly straight.

He raised his head, his gaze passing over the palace servants kneeling on the ground, looking straight at the woman walking out from the golden light.

This was the first time he had truly seen Wu Lingxiao.

Previously at the Jiaofang Division, the Empress had peeked at him from behind a gauze curtain.

When they met in prison, she had disguised her appearance.

But at this moment, standing before him was the true Empress of Great Xia.

She wore a dark dragon robe and an imperial crown. Her peerless beauty and cold, noble temperament made people afraid to look directly at her.

The aura she exuded was as deep as an abyss and as vast as the sea. Just standing there, she was the ruler of this world.

Ye Xuan was stunned.

He blinked. The bellyful of complaints and questions he had prepared suddenly caught in his throat.

"You..."

Ye Xuan subconsciously blurted out, "You are the Empress?"

Wu Lingxiao looked down at him from her commanding position, her eyes cold and arrogant.

"Insolent. Why do you not kneel when you see me?"

"I am the master of Great Xia, the Emperor of this world."

A terrifying spiritual pressure pressed down like a mountain, attempting to forcefully bend the young man's knees.

Ye Xuan's bones emitted cracking sounds, and his face instantly flushed red. However, he gritted his teeth, stubbornly holding on with his meager Qi Condensation realm cultivation, refusing to bow.

He suddenly grinned and said something that plunged the entire courtyard into dead silence.

"I thought... the Empress who forces civilian men into her harem was an ugly monster with a face full of pockmarks... It turns out, you are actually this beautiful."

"..."

Kneeling on the ground, Uncle Fu nearly fainted from fright.

Wu Lingxiao was also slightly taken aback.

She had heard countless praises. Some praised her peerless divine might, while others praised her kingdom-toppling beauty.

But no one had ever spoken such straightforward truth in such a tense moment, using a tone like a boy next door seeing a pretty older sister.

The anger in her heart inexplicably dissipated a fraction, but her tone remained icy.

"Ye Xuan, since you know my appearance and have witnessed my methods, it is your honor that I have taken a liking to you. Do not be ungrateful."

"Honor?"

Ye Xuan shook his head. The amazement in his eyes faded, and he reverted to that stubborn youth.

He looked at Wu Lingxiao and said earnestly,

"Your Majesty, you are indeed beautiful, and your cultivation is high, but I stand by what I said."

"Even if you capture me, I will not serve you in bed. If you lock me up, I will not be happy."

"Why don't you... just let me go?"

Wu Lingxiao laughed out of extreme anger. She walked down the steps one by one, approaching Ye Xuan.

With every step she took, her aura grew stronger, until she stood right in front of Ye Xuan, close enough to hear each other's breathing.

"Let you go?"

She reached out, her slender fingertips gently tracing across Ye Xuan's cheek. The action was intimate yet laced with killing intent.

"Ye Xuan, how have you spent this past month? Was the life of spending money like dirt and advancing your cultivation by leaps and bounds comfortable?"

"You should have felt it by now, right? Such resources, such a life, only I can give you, and it can only be found in the Great Xia Imperial Palace."

"If you went outside, with your trash five-element spiritual root aptitude, what would you use to cultivate? You could only work as a coolie for others. Just to snatch a single low-grade spirit stone, you would have to fight until your head is broken and bleeding, and you might even die in the wilderness without anyone to collect your corpse."

Wu Lingxiao's voice was full of temptation and intimidation.

"You are a smart person. Stay by my side and be my favored consort, and you will have whatever you want. If you go outside, you are just an ant that could die at any moment."

"I am saving you, not harming you."

Ye Xuan fell silent.

He did not refute Wu Lingxiao's words; instead, he nodded seriously.

"Your Majesty is right."

"The cultivation world is very cruel, I know. For a rogue cultivator like me, with no background and no talent, living outside is indeed like living like a dog. For a single spirit herb, I might have to risk my life fighting demonic beasts."

The corners of Wu Lingxiao's mouth curled up slightly, thinking he had finally seen the light. "Since that is the case..."

"But..."

Ye Xuan interrupted her.

He raised his head, his eyes so clear that they reflected Wu Lingxiao's astonished face.

"No matter how good it is here, it is still just a cage."

"No matter how many spirit stones there are, they are just feed for a pet."

"No matter how bad or dangerous it is outside, even if I might die violently on the streets tomorrow..."

Ye Xuan took a deep breath. His voice was not loud, but it was deafening.

"That is still the vast, open sky."

"Your Majesty, I am not a canary you keep, nor can I be a dog that wags its tail for pity."

"I am a bird. Even if I am just a sparrow that cannot fly high, I want to die in the wind, not in this resplendent cage."

"I beg Your Majesty to set me free!"

Wu Lingxiao's smile completely vanished.

Her face turned terrifyingly gloomy, and the tyranny in the depths of her eyes gathered like a storm.

She had never been rejected so thoroughly.

Her proud power, wealth, and even beauty seemed so pale and powerless before the word freedom from this young man.

"Do you really think... I wouldn't dare to kill you?"

Wu Lingxiao stared fixedly into Ye Xuan's eyes, her voice like the freezing ice of the netherworld.

"Crushing you to death is easier for me than crushing an ant."

Facing the threat of death, Ye Xuan did not back down.

He even smiled, smiling with a sense of relief and calmness.

"I know."

He looked at Wu Lingxiao and said softly,

"To me, if I have to live like a plaything, if I have to sell my soul just to stay alive..."

"Then please, Your Majesty, grant me death right now."

"Dying by Your Majesty's hand is better than rotting in this cage."

After speaking, he closed his eyes, adopting a posture of waiting for the executioner's blade.

The wind stopped.

The entire Changmen Palace fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone thought that in the next second, this tyrannical Empress would smash this ignorant kid into meat paste.

However, she did not.

Wu Lingxiao's hand was raised in mid-air, trembling and stiff.

Looking at the young man before her who had closed his eyes to seek death, looking at his face that was so clean it made one's heart tremble.

She could not bring herself to do it.

"Good... very good..."

Wu Lingxiao retracted her hand, her voice trembling slightly, whether from anger or something else.

"You want to die? I simply won't grant your wish."

"Ye Xuan, I want to see just how hard your bones really are."

"I have plenty of time to waste with you!"

After saying this, she abruptly turned around, flicked her large sleeves, and strode away, covered in anger and a flustered state.

But no one noticed.

In the moment she turned around, her hand pressed against her chest, her knuckles already turning white.

Her heart was in turmoil.