The battlefield has finally come

The real world.

A flying skiff shuttled through the magnificent sea of clouds.

Ye Xuan leaned lazily against the bow of the skiff, his white robes completely spotless.

With one leg bent, his slender fingers held a pot of fine spirit wine. His expression was as cold and aloof as a banished immortal.

Meanwhile, at his feet, Ye Qingcheng curled up against him without a shred of dignity, like a mad dog.

Her originally gorgeous red dress was soaked with the heart-blood of dozens of elders from the Sword Worship Villa. With her rapid and heavy breathing, it emitted a sickly sweet and nauseating metallic scent of rust.

"You did very well this time."

Ye Xuan slightly lowered his head, like a god taking pity on his most lowly believer.

He slowly reached out his jade-white hand, his fingertips gently tracing across her bloodstained cheek.

His movements were gentle to the extreme, as if wiping a dusty, rare treasure, yet the depths of his eyes remained as calm as a placid pool, devoid of a single ripple.

"If junior sister hadn't stepped in, facing the siege of so many Body Integration realm elders, I'm afraid it would have been difficult for me to retreat unscathed."

Ye Xuan deliberately slowed his voice, lacing it with a touch of perfectly feigned lingering fear.

Hearing these words, the muscles all over Ye Qingcheng's body suddenly tensed, and then she began to tremble violently.

The sheer euphoria of being needed by her one and only god, of being acknowledged, and of being wantonly doted upon by her master, acted like the most potent aphrodisiac, instantly washing away all her reason and dignity as a mighty Tribulation Transcendence realm expert.

She suddenly tilted her head up. Her originally enchanting eyes were now covered in terrifying, crimson bloodshot veins, filled with an almost manic obsession and fanaticism.

"Senior brother..."

Her voice was hoarse, carrying a heavy nasal tone and uncontrollable, delicate pants:

"As long as you are satisfied... as long as you are happy..."

Her gaze gradually turned fierce and twisted:

"Let alone killing a few elders... even if it means tearing a hole in the heavens, Qingcheng is willing."

"I am your dog... I will bite whoever you tell me to bite..."

Having said that, she could no longer suppress the yearning in her heart. She buried her face deeply into Ye Xuan's warm chest, greedily and heavily sniffing the crisp, immaculate scent emanating from his body.

This was her only antidote; it was her sole obsession in this world.

"As long as... as long as senior brother doesn't abandon me..." She gripped Ye Xuan's lapels tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.

Ye Xuan lowered his eyelids, looking down from above at the Tribulation Transcendence realm demoness in his embrace, a woman who was dead-set on him, yet whose very name was enough to stop a child's crying in the outside world.

His gaze was dark and profound. The muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, curling into an extremely cold and mocking arc that ordinary people would find hard to detect.

Very good.

This blade was not only sharpened to perfection, but its hilt was now entirely within his grasp.

However.

Just at this seemingly tender moment.

Crack!

Without any warning, a crisp cracking sound exploded across the horizon.

The originally cloudless, rippling blue sky instantly seemed as if all its vitality had been drained. It lost its color, turning into a deathly silent, ashen gray.

Immediately after, an utterly terrifying chill, carrying endless resentment and despair, seemed to erupt from the deepest depths of the netherworld. With an overwhelming momentum, it instantly froze the sea for tens of thousands of miles around!

Crack, crack, crack!

The rolling and roaring waves beneath the flying ship were forcefully frozen in mid-air, turning into crystal-clear yet deathly still ice sculptures. The clouds in the sky were directly shattered by this extreme cold, transforming into countless sharp ice crystals that fell rustling down like a grand snow of death.

Even this flying ship of the Hehuan Sect, engraved with top-tier defensive arrays and boasting immunity to all spells, let out a teeth-aching wail of being overwhelmed. Its surface instantly frosted over with a layer of white rime several feet thick, the array lights flickering erratically, on the verge of collapse.

Ye Qingcheng's body suddenly stiffened. The sense of crisis of being locked onto by a natural predator made all the hairs on her body stand on end.

She abruptly lifted her head from Ye Xuan's embrace. The gaze that was infatuated and dependent just a second ago was instantly filled with tyranny and ferocity.

Like a vicious dog fiercely guarding its food whose absolute territory had been invaded, she let out a low, dangerous growl from her throat, her killing intent soaring to the heavens:

"Who is it?"

Ye Xuan did not move. He maintained his lazy posture, not even bothering to lift his head, because he was far too familiar with this aura.

This oppressive presence and chill made even the depths of his soul feel a stinging pain.

This suffocating possessiveness sought to turn the entire world into a cage of ice and snow, eternally imprisoning him within it.

Aside from that madwoman, who else could it be?

In the space several hundred zhang ahead, a deep void fissure was torn open from the outside by sheer brute force.

A figure wearing a red bridal coronet and ceremonial robes, surrounded by a storm of extreme cold capable of freezing time and space and shredding all things, stepped on the void, walking out of the fissure stiffly, step by step.

Xia Lengyue.

Her appearance at this moment was ten thousand times more terrifying than at the wedding.

The red bridal dress, which should have symbolized celebration, looked exceptionally glaring amidst the sky full of deathly silent flying snow, resembling a massive patch of dried blood.

Her long hair draped over her shoulders, not fluttering in the wind, for every single strand had been sculpted into sharp ice crystals by the materialized cold energy.

The most chilling part was her face. That originally kingdom-toppling, peerlessly glamorous face was now ghastly pale without a trace of blood.

Those eyes had completely lost all human reason, turning a bizarre pale white. There were no pupils, no sclera; only an endless storm of destruction and despairing dead silence remained within.

"Husband..."

"I've finally... found you..."

Xia Lengyue's voice was no longer a sound that a human could make. Carrying a bizarre echo that made one's soul feel as if it were splitting apart, it reverberated above the entire frozen sea.

Her pale eyes stared fixedly at the scene on the flying ship.

Staring at Ye Xuan's face, the face she yearned for day and night, wishing she could knead him into her very bones and blood.

And staring even more fixedly at... that woman in red curled up in Ye Xuan's embrace, her hands tightly gripping his lapels in an intimately close posture!

"Ye Xuan..."

"My husband..."

Xia Lengyue suddenly tilted her head in an eerie manner, her bones letting out a teeth-grinding cracking sound.

The stiff expression on her face completely collapsed and twisted in that instant.

"You actually... really dared to find another woman?"

"You actually... let this kind of filthy thing touch you?"

"You actually... hugged her?"

With every word she spoke, the surrounding space trembled violently, cracking open countless pitch-black rifts.

"Ahhh!"

Xia Lengyue suddenly threw her head back and let out a shrill, piercing scream that shattered the very heavens!

With this scream, her repressed emotions erupted in their entirety.

The already fragile space around her instantly shattered into countless fragments. The solid ice on the sea's surface exploded inch by inch, transforming into billions of massive, incomparably sharp ice spikes. Like an inverted rainstorm, they surged madly toward the flying skiff with world-destroying momentum!

"Ye Xuan is mine! He is mine! Take your filthy hands off him!"

Xia Lengyue pointed at Ye Qingcheng, her facial features twisted to the extreme by jealousy as she roared like a madwoman.

Facing this apocalyptic strike capable of instantly obliterating countless mighty experts, Ye Qingcheng did not retreat in the slightest. Instead, the bloodthirsty glare in her eyes surged to its absolute peak.

How dare this woman try to snatch her husband right in front of her?

"You are courting death!"

Ye Qingcheng let out a sharp, piercing fox cry and shot up from Ye Xuan's embrace.

The void behind her warped instantly, and an unimaginably massive phantom of a Nine-Tailed Demonic Fox that blotted out the sky materialized into reality!

Carrying a pink miasma and a berserk, destructive power, the nine colossal fox tails lashed out like nine heaven-reaching pythons, viciously colliding with the sky full of ice spikes.

Rumble!

The unreserved clash between two mighty Tribulation Transcendence realm experts instantly stripped the world of all sound and color, reducing it to a violent, chaotic void.

Undersea currents were forcefully ripped upward, seawater poured backward into the sky, and massive rifts were torn across the firmament.

Had the two women not instinctively and deliberately avoided the tiny pocket of space where the flying skiff hovered at the moment they struck, Ye Xuan and Ying'er, who was hiding in the cabin, would have been reduced to ash upon impact.

Even after the apocalyptic collision, the spiritual energy storm continued to rage.

Ye Qingcheng stood firmly in front of Ye Xuan, her red dress snapping loudly in the wind as her long hair danced wildly.

Panting slightly, she locked her disdainful and provocative gaze onto Xia Lengyue opposite her, a vicious sneer curling the corners of her lips.

"I was wondering who it could be. So it is that crazy hag who was publicly divorced and discarded by my husband?"

"What? Did you not lose enough face at the wedding? You had to chase us all the way here to make a fool of yourself?"

Ye Qingcheng deliberately emphasized her words, her eyes brimming with mockery.

"My husband does not want you anymore! Can you not understand human speech?"

"You are courting death!!"

Xia Lengyue was completely driven mad. The pale white hair behind her stood on end as her hands frantically formed hand seals in front of her chest. Following her movements, an incomparably massive frozen throne radiating a deep blue light slowly manifested behind her.

The terrifying coercion emanating from the throne actually caused the frozen sea for ten thousand miles around to let out a mournful wail, forcefully sinking several feet deeper!

"Ye Xuan is my Dao Companion! We have a marriage contract! We have the heavens and earth as our witnesses!"

Xia Lengyue pointed at Ye Qingcheng, her eyes tearing at the corners to weep pale, bloody tears as she cursed hysterically.

"You shameless vixen! I will torture you to death! I will extract your living soul and roast it over the Netherfire of the Nine Springs for ten thousand years!"

Seeing the spiritual energy around the two women crazily surging once more, they were on the verge of engaging in a fight to the bitter end.

Right at this moment, Ye Xuan, who had been sitting steadily on the flying skiff with an indifferent expression as if watching a play, suddenly set down the wine pot in his hand.

He moved.

"Both of you, stop."

His voice was not loud, nor was it infused with any profound true essence, yet it bizarrely pierced through the spiritual energy storm, ringing clearly in the ears of the two blood-crazed women.

The next second.

A scene unexpected by everyone occurred.

Ye Xuan did not obediently hide behind Ye Qingcheng to seek shelter as he had done before.

Instead, he kicked off the deck with one foot and leaped straight down from the flying skiff!

Completely defenseless, turning into a faint streak of white light, his physical body ignored the sky full of frost capable of tearing steel and the killing intent capable of freezing souls. He charged straight toward the center of the storm, right at the maddened Xia Lengyue!

"Senior Brother!"

Ye Qingcheng turned pale with fright and screamed in terror, her heart nearly leaping out of her throat.

"Husband?" Xia Lengyue's pupils shrank violently, her mind going blank for an instant.

Even on the verge of completely losing her rationality, her remaining instincts caused her to subconsciously and desperately pull back the surrounding ice storm that could shred everything, terrified of harming the approaching white-clad young man.

In this extremely brief moment of daze, not even lasting a single breath.

Ye Xuan had already pierced through the storm and arrived right in front of Xia Lengyue.

Without any pause, he opened his arms.

As Xia Lengyue's pale eyes violently contracted from astonishment, to shock, and then to disbelief.

Fiercely, forcefully, and without any guard, he pulled this demoness reeking of murderous aura into his embrace!

This embrace produced no earth-shattering roar, yet it seemed to press the pause button on the entire world. The howling blizzard stopped, and the churning ocean waves fell still.

Xia Lengyue's body, which had been tense to the absolute limit, suddenly stiffened into a literal stone the moment she felt Ye Xuan's body heat.

The monstrous murderous aura radiating from her, the despairing chill that froze the entire world, vanished at an incredible speed the instant she was firmly held by Ye Xuan. It melted away completely, like snow covering the mountains meeting the most scorching sun.

The terrifying demoness who, just a second ago, wanted to slaughter entire families and skin people alive, now looked like a wooden puppet whose clockwork had suddenly been unwound.

She blankly allowed Ye Xuan to hold her tightly. Her hands hung suspended in mid-air, her fingers twitching helplessly, completely unsure of where to place them.

"Hus... Husband?"

Her voice trembled violently, like fallen leaves scattered by the wind.

The terrifying paleness in her eyes quickly faded, retreating like the tide, and restored the clear black pupils belonging to a human. Only at this moment, there was no more resentment in those eyes; there was only utter bewilderment, panic, and a cautious probing that was humble to the bone.

"You... you don't hate me?"

"Didn't you... think I was dirty?"

Her voice gradually took on a hint of a sob.

Ye Xuan buried his chin deeply into the hollow of her neck, feeling her ice-cold skin.

He did not speak immediately.

But his broad shoulders began to tremble slightly.

The magnitude of this trembling was controlled perfectly. It did not seem like the fear of a stronger being, but rather a breakdown suppressed to the extreme after enduring endless grievances. It was a relieved catharsis, like finally finding a safe haven amidst the wind and rain outside.

A long time passed.

Only the sound of a gentle breeze remained on the ice field.

Ye Xuan's voice finally murmured softly by Xia Lengyue's ear. His voice carried a heavy hoarseness, endless exhaustion, and a trace of guilt:

"I'm sorry."

Boom!

These three simple words were like a heavy hammer, directly and thoroughly shattering the last psychological defense that Xia Lengyue had been desperately struggling to maintain deep within her heart.

Her eyes instantly turned red. Large drops of tears burst forth without warning, smashing against Ye Xuan's shoulder, warm and scalding.

"Why... why are you apologizing?" she asked with a trembling voice. She clumsily wanted to hug him back, but was terrified that this was merely a fragile illusion that would shatter at the slightest touch.

Ye Xuan slowly raised his head.

His eyes were bloodshot, and a single tear hung precariously at the corner of his eye, just about to fall.

His deep gaze locked fixedly onto Xia Lengyue. The look in his eyes was nothing short of a god-tier acting performance: interwoven within it was pain, struggle, the sudden realization of waking from a dream, and an irrepressible, thick affection that simply could not be melted away.

"Everything I did... the humiliation I caused at the wedding, my absolute resolve when I fled... it was all done in a moment of fury."

Ye Xuan smiled bitterly, his smile brimming with self-deprecation. He slowly reached out a hand, gently and gradually stroking Xia Lengyue's bone-chillingly cold cheek, wiping away her tears.

"Back then, I suddenly awakened the memories of my past life."

"Those scenes of being tortured and betrayed were just too real, too painful."

"I was blinded by hatred. I couldn't distinguish between reality and dreams, and I thought you were still that demon who wanted to kill me."

"That is why I hurt you like that, why I pushed you away like that..."

Reaching the most emotional part of his speech, Ye Xuan closed his eyes in agony. His brows furrowed tightly together, and two streams of clear tears slid down his handsome cheeks with perfect timing.

"But..."

He paused, his tone becoming incomparably desolate.

"These past few days, I left the Azure Cloud Sect. I left your protection."

"I faced this cruel cultivation world all by myself."

"I saw the greedy faces of the people from the Sword Worship Villa. I saw how the so-called righteous geniuses would gladly stab you in the back at any moment for the sake of profit."

Suddenly, Ye Xuan snapped his eyes open. He stared burningly at Xia Lengyue, his gaze so gentle that it could practically drown a person.

"I finally understand... Senior Sister, it turns out that your actions back then were right all along."

"The outside world is too dirty, too dangerous."

"Only you truly wanted to protect me."

"Only that cage you gave me... is the safest place in this entire world."

"I was wrong... I never should have yearned for so-called freedom. That wasn't freedom at all; that was courting death."

This speech was simply textbook-level, the absolute pinnacle of top-tier psychological manipulation!

He did not try to explain away any misunderstandings. Instead, he directly acknowledged her "evil" and romanticized it into "love."

He flawlessly pinpointed the most twisted, darkest, and most validation-starved sickly thought in Xia Lengyue's heart: "I am doing this for your own good. I break your wings and control you because I love you."

Xia Lengyue was completely dumbfounded as she listened.

She stared blankly at the man before her, who was weeping bitterly, repenting to her without any reservations, and even actively begging to return to the cage.

An indescribable, colossal sense of happiness surged forward like a tsunami, instantly and completely submerging her soul.

See!

I knew I was right!

I knew that the vixens and bad people outside all wanted to harm my husband!

He finally understands! He finally understands my painstaking efforts! He wants to be locked up by me!

"Husband! Wuu wuu wuu..."

Xia Lengyue could no longer control her emotions that were on the verge of collapse. She suddenly reached back, tightly and desperately hugging Ye Xuan.

She buried her face into his chest, crying like a wronged child who had finally received a piece of candy. Her voice was heart-wrenching:

"You finally understand... you finally understand..."

"How could I ever harm you? Everything I did was just to keep you by my side!"

"Sob... as long as you are willing to come back, as long as you admit your mistakes... I will forgive you! I will forgive everything!"

She cried incoherently, then cupped Ye Xuan's face. Her eyes revealed a sickly, intense tenderness that was terrifying to behold. Where was the slightest trace of the world-destroying demoness from just a moment ago?

"Be good, come back with me."

"We will return to Lengyue Peak."

"I will forge a new, larger, and sturdier golden cage to lock you up in, okay?"

Her tone was like she was coaxing a baby, but in the next second, as her gaze passed over Ye Xuan's shoulder, that tenderness instantly transformed into a terrifyingly venomous resentment.

"As for these two bitches..."

Xia Lengyue's eyes were like knives as she glared at the dumbstruck Ye Qingcheng not far away, and Ying'er, who was shivering in fear on the flying ship. A cruel arc curled at the corner of her mouth:

"I will drag them back and torture them to death, little by little, right in front of you."

"I will let them know the consequences of seducing my man."

Hearing this bloodcurdling threat, Ye Xuan not only did not object, but extremely cooperatively and obediently rested his head in Xia Lengyue's embrace. He nodded like a tamed kitten, having completely immersed himself in and accepted this suffocating, twisted arrangement.

"Okay, I will listen to everything Senior Sister says."

Ye Xuan answered meekly, his voice soft.

Then.

As if he had suddenly remembered something important, his previously relaxed body tensed up slightly.

He raised his head, his eyes becoming somewhat anxious. Like a child who had done something wrong, he pitifully stretched out his right hand.

His fingers were long and fair, palm facing upwards. His posture looked exactly like a peerless pretty boy who had just been taken in by a wealthy woman, begging for pocket money.

"Um... Senior Sister."

Ye Xuan lowered his head in embarrassment. His gaze darted away, and his voice was as quiet as a mosquito:

"I also want to go back."

"But... as you know, I have a Five Elements Spiritual Root. My cultivation consumes too much."

"Those resources you gave me before... I used them all up on the road, and just now to pull out the Sun-Slaying Sword."

"Right now... I am completely penniless. I don't even have the spirit stones needed to power the flying ship."

At this point, he slowly raised his head. His curled eyelashes fluttered as he blinked those extremely pure and innocent big eyes, looking at Xia Lengyue pitifully and with full dependence:

"Senior Sister... can you give me some resources?"

"I don't need too much... just enough for me to cultivate for a while."

Xia Lengyue was clearly stunned for a moment.

But it was only a momentary astonishment.

Immediately after, a soft spot in her heart was completely melted and pierced by Ye Xuan's defenseless, dependent appearance of reaching out for money!

Yes! This was it!

This was her husband!

This was the kept man who could only rely on her, depend on her, and couldn't survive without her!

This sense of control—of being thoroughly needed and completely relied upon—made her scalp tingle. It felt so incredibly good that she almost screamed out loud. She was utterly fascinated by it, unable to extricate herself.

"Here! I'll give it all to you!"

Xia Lengyue was so thrilled that she didn't hesitate for even half a second. She immediately pulled off the ice-blue spatial ring worn on her right index finger, which emanated a terrifyingly dense fluctuation of spiritual energy and was engraved with intricate array formations.

This was the top-secret private vault of a majestic Tribulation Transcendence realm almighty and the Demon Venerable of the Azure Cloud Sect!

This was her entire net worth, which she had specially brought along just in case when she came out to hunt down Ye Xuan this time!

"Husband, there are ten supreme-grade spiritual veins inside, along with countless pills and magical treasures."

"I have prepared them all for you."

Xia Lengyue's breathing grew rapid, her eyes shining brightly. Like someone offering a priceless treasure, she eagerly shoved the heavy ring into Ye Xuan's palm and then gripped his hand tightly, terrified that he might change his mind and run away in the next second:

"Never mind cultivating for just a while; these resources are enough to forcefully pile your cultivation all the way up to the Soul Formation realm, or even the Void Refinement realm!"

"Take it! It's all yours! I am yours too!"

Ye Xuan flipped his hand to grasp the ring, its touch chilling to the bone.

He extremely stealthily released a wisp of divine sense to sweep inside.

Thump!

Even his own cold, ruthless heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

Good heavens! This Xia Lengyue was actually an incurably honest person!

The spiritual light inside this spatial ring nearly blinded his divine sense!

This wealth was actually several times more abundant than that of Ye Qingcheng, the Joyous Union Sect Master who had plundered heaven knows how many male cultivators!

The net worth of a peak Tribulation Transcendence realm big shot was truly no joke!

Ye Xuan slowly raised his head. The gloom on his face was completely swept away, replaced by a breathtakingly beautiful smile that was brighter than the sun and enough to make all things lose their color.

He suddenly leaned in, completely disregarding the occasion.

Under the fire-breathing gaze of Ye Qingcheng not far away, he leaned over without any hesitation and planted a fierce, heavy kiss on Xia Lengyue's pale yet exquisitely beautiful face.

Smack!

The crisp sound was exceptionally loud across the deathly silent ice plains.

"Thank you, Senior Sister! Senior Sister treats me the best!" Ye Xuan smiled like a young boy who had just received the most precious gift in the world.

This kiss sent Xia Lengyue's soul soaring straight out of her body.

She stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning. Immediately after, an unnatural blush spread all the way from her neck to the roots of her ears, turning her entire face as red as a ripe apple.

She felt dizzy, and even the true essence in her body was on the verge of going berserk. She felt as if she were stepping on clouds, floating in a euphoric daze.

"Husband... I love you too..." she muttered to herself. Her eyes were glazed over, having completely fallen to Ye Xuan's tender offensive.

However.

This extremely heartwarming scene of public affection, falling into the eyes of Ye Qingcheng who had been staring fixedly at them from not far away, was no different from having ten thousand arrows pierce her heart or suffering the death of a thousand cuts!

"Ye Xuan!"

An extremely shrill scream, its pitch rising to the point of tearing, filled with endless anger, unwillingness, and despair, abruptly tore through the sky!

Ye Qingcheng went mad.

This time, she had truly and utterly gone mad.

She watched helplessly as the master she had willingly sworn loyalty to just a second ago, the one she was willing to be a dog for, actually turned around and threw himself into the arms of that crazy woman without any hesitation!

He even made a passionate confession!

He even kissed her!

And he even called her Senior Sister!

And he even took her fucking ring!

What was this? What did she, Ye Qingcheng, amount to?!

"You lied to me!"

"You just said I was your dog! You just told me to bite her!"

"And now you're kissing her!"

Ye Qingcheng was furious to the extreme. The phantom of the nine-tailed demon fox behind her let out a shrill and mournful howl. The originally pink phantom instantly burst into flames, turning into a sickening, dark blood-red.

Two shocking trails of blood tears flowed from her eyes.

Without hesitation, she burned her Tribulation Transcendence realm lifespan and origin blood essence, entering a state of reckless rampage. The surrounding space began to collapse in massive swathes, unable to withstand her violent killing intent.

"Slut! Slut! Slut!"

Ye Qingcheng stared fixedly at Xia Lengyue, who was being held in Ye Xuan's arms, her teeth grinding loudly. She wished she could rush forward to eat her flesh raw and drink her blood:

"He is my senior brother! He is my master!"

"You old hag! How dare you seduce him!"

"Get your dirty hands off him!"

Ye Qingcheng completely lost her mind. Her nine blood-red fox tails were like pillars holding up the sky, stirring the clouds and winds:

"I will kill you!"

"I will tear your corpse into ten thousand pieces!"

Rumble!

The terrifying pressure of the Tribulation Transcendence realm erupted once again like a volcano!

And this time, there was no probing, no holding back—it was pure madness driven by the obsession of mutual destruction!

The world changed color, and a sea of blood surged to the heavens!

The violent spiritual power transformed into a blood-colored storm, heading straight for Xia Lengyue!

Faced with Ye Qingcheng's mad dog-like rampage, Xia Lengyue, who had been immersed in ultimate happiness and dizziness, was instantly enraged.

How dare someone interrupt her in her happiest moment?

How dare someone insult her? And try to steal her husband?!

Xia Lengyue slowly pushed Ye Xuan away, turned her head coldly, and smoothly protected Ye Xuan securely behind her.

The blush on her face instantly faded, and her gaze once again became bone-chillingly cold, looking down upon the world.

"Who are you calling an old hag?"

Xia Lengyue's voice was freezing cold, every word like a knife:

"A Hehuan Sect slut like you, ridden by a thousand and crushed by ten thousand, thinks she is worthy of fighting me for my man?"

She slowly raised her hand, and a faint blue ice lotus slowly bloomed in her palm:

"Since you want to die, this Venerable will grant your wish!"

As her voice fell, a thousand miles were sealed in ice!

The ocean-like icy magical power within Xia Lengyue erupted without reservation. Even time seemed frozen by this chill. She wanted to turn this world completely into a dead, icy tomb to bury this reckless vixen.

The two peak Tribulation Transcendence realm mighty figures, each carrying world-destroying power, were about to collide in mid-air once again.

And this time, it would definitely be a meat-grinder battle to the death!

Just at this critical moment, when everyone thought an apocalyptic war was about to break out.

"Swoosh!"

Ye Xuan, who had originally been hiding obediently and weakly behind Xia Lengyue seeking protection, suddenly blurred without any warning.

A cold, eerie smile curled up at the corner of his mouth, and the dormant spiritual power in his body instantly circulated. Utilizing the heaven-defying, magic-immune trait of his peerlessly rare Immaculate Dao Body, he acted like a ghost, passing directly and unhindered through the protective ice aura set up by Xia Lengyue, which was strong enough to strangle Mahayana realm cultivators!

Subsequently, he transformed into a mere afterimage. In the narrow gap where the two massive storms were about to collide, he instantly leaped across and landed steadily right back by Ye Qingcheng's side!

"Hmm?"

Xia Lengyue sensed the sudden emptiness behind her and froze, the ice lotus in her palm nearly spiraling out of control to backfire on her.

"Senior brother?"

Ye Qingcheng, who had been preparing to fight for her life, was equally stunned as she looked at the man who had suddenly appeared in front of her.

The blood-red palm strike she had already unleashed, one powerful enough to shatter mountains, was forcibly halted in mid-air. The backlash of the interrupted energy made her let out a muffled groan as a trace of fresh blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

Without a single wasted word, Ye Xuan took a step forward. He reached out and pulled the murderous Ye Qingcheng, who had been teetering on the edge of despair, tightly into his embrace.

His movements were as smooth as flowing water, so practiced and natural that it made one's heart ache.

Leaning close to Ye Qingcheng's ear, he spoke rapidly in a faint, urgent, and deeply affectionate whisper that only the two of them could hear:

"You fool! Don't be impulsive!"

"Did you really think I wanted to go back to her?"

Ye Qingcheng panted heavily, the fierce, blood-red light in her eyes flickering at his words.

She bit her lip tightly, and with a trace of lingering hesitation and immense grievance, she choked out,

"But... but you kissed her... You even took her ring..."

"That was acting! Don't you understand acting?"

Ye Xuan abruptly raised his head, feigning a look of frustrated desperation, as if he were burning with anxiety. Lowering his voice, he explained with urgent intensity:

"She is at the Great Perfection of the Tribulation Crossing stage! And she has countless secret treasures in her possession!"

"If we were to clash with her head-on, even if you managed to win, you would undoubtedly suffer severe injuries or even perish!"

He cupped Ye Qingcheng's cheeks with both hands, his thumbs gently wiping away the blood at the corners of her mouth, his eyes brimming with heartache and reluctance.

"How could I ever bear to let you get hurt?"

Seeing the red glow in Ye Qingcheng's eyes slowly subside, Ye Xuan gazed deeply and affectionately into her eyes, doubling down on his act:

"What I did just now was to lower her guard! I did it to trick her out of her resources!"

"Look!"

Like presenting a grand prize, Ye Xuan smugly brandished the ice-blue ring in his hand, which still radiated a freezing aura. A cruel, cunning sneer curled at the corner of his lips.

"Now that her resources are in my hands, she's nothing but a toothless tiger!"

"Moreover..."

Ye Xuan suddenly lowered his head, leaning in extremely close. His lips practically brushed against Ye Qingcheng's ear, his warm breath spilling across her skin:

"That wretched woman, she is Xia Lengyue."

"She is the one who forced herself on me, the one who left me with so much psychological trauma!"

"I wish I could devour her flesh and sleep on her flayed skin!"

Every single word dripped with a bone-deep, unforgettable hatred.

"Really?" Ye Qingcheng shuddered violently. The moment she heard that someone had harmed her man, the murderous intent in her eyes multiplied exponentially, twisting the very air around them. "She is the one who tortured you? The one who took your first time?"

"Yes! It was her!"

Ye Xuan ground his teeth, his expression twisting into something fierce. He gripped Ye Qingcheng's shoulders tightly:

"Qingcheng, you are my loyal hound, and my sharpest blade."

"Now, our chance has come."

"She thinks I have had a change of heart, so her guard is at its absolute lowest."

"Kill her!"

Ye Xuan's voice had now completely turned into the demonic whispers of temptation, carrying a lethal toxicity that constantly eroded Ye Qingcheng's sanity:

"As long as you kill her and help me avenge this grudge."

"I will be completely free."

"When that time comes, I will return to the Hehuan Sect with you."

He paused, throwing out the ultimate bargaining chip enough to destroy her reason:

"We will dual cultivate every day, living in bliss day after day, and no one will ever disturb us again!"

"I will spoil you to the heavens and make you the happiest woman in this world!"

Boom!

These words, to Ye Qingcheng—who hailed from the Hehuan Sect, desperately craved love, and had an extreme desire to dual cultivate with Ye Xuan—were simply an irresistible nuclear bomb dropping right on her head!

"Dual cultivation... return to the Hehuan Sect... bliss every day..."

Ye Qingcheng unconsciously murmured these few words.

Her breathing instantly became as heavy as a broken bellows, her chest heaving violently. Her originally beautiful pupils rapidly dilated, losing all focus.

Reason? What was that?

Only this maddening promise remained in her mind!

She slowly turned her head and looked at Xia Lengyue, who was still in a state of confusion and bewilderment not far away.

At this moment, her eyes no longer held any dread of a powerful enemy, nor simple jealousy. It was clearly the gaze of looking at a stumbling block, at a dead person!

"Good... Good!"

Ye Qingcheng suddenly let out a piercingly high laugh that pierced the clouds. The laughter was like the cry of a night owl, filled with a spine-chilling madness that even made the chilling winds on this ice plain come to a standstill:

"Senior Brother, just you wait."

"I will kill her right now."

"I'll twist her head off and kick it like a ball!"

"Good Qingcheng, go."

Ye Xuan smiled faintly, a barely imperceptible cold gleam flashing in his eyes.

He raised his hand and gave Ye Qingcheng's frail back a seemingly gentle, yet actually ruthless push, giving her one last stimulant-like word of encouragement:

"Kill her, and I will belong to you."

As soon as his voice fell.

Swish!

Without giving the two women any time to react, Ye Xuan abruptly summoned his escape light and retreated with lightning speed!

In a single breath, he actually retreated thousands of feet away, landing directly on that flying ship which was already on the verge of cracking from the cold!

At this time.

Xia Lengyue, who had been left completely dizzy by this series of mind-boggling twists, finally snapped back to reality.

She stood blankly in the void, watching Ye Xuan "throw himself" into Ye Qingcheng's embrace.

Watching the two whisper intimately; and then watching Ye Qingcheng suddenly act as if in an absolute frenzy, staring at her with a gaze that looked ready to eat her alive...

How could she not understand what had happened!

She, a dignified Demon Venerable, a Tribulation Stage almighty, had been played again!

Not only was she cheated out of her feelings, but she was also swindled out of her entire fortune!

"Ye Xuan!"

Xia Lengyue let out a heart-wrenching, blood-weeping shriek of absolute fury!

The sense of disparity from first being pushed to the pinnacle of happiness, only to be ruthlessly kicked into a bottomless abyss.

The humiliation and rage of being mercilessly deceived once again, of being discarded like trash once again, caused her already fragile mental defenses to completely collapse, turning her into a true demon on the spot!

"You lied to me again! You lied to me again!"

"You took my things, and then turned around to tell that bitch to kill me?"

"Ahhhhh! Unforgivable! Unforgivable!"

The black pupils in Xia Lengyue's eyes completely disappeared, replaced by two clusters of burning, ghostly blue demonic fire!

"Since I cannot have it... then no one else will!"

"I will bury you adulterous dogs together in this icy sea!"

Xia Lengyue unhesitatingly burned the most primordial essence blood within her body.

Her body began to crystallize eerily, her long hair turning into a glacial river. Amidst the violent freezing aura, she actually grew hundreds of feet tall, transforming into a terrifying, emotionless Goddess of Ice and Snow!

Following her rampage, the surrounding space collapsed on a massive scale like a shattered mirror.

The seawater within a radius of ten thousand miles was drained of moisture in an instant, transforming into countless ice dragons thousands of feet long. Emitting deafening roars, they bared their fangs and brandished their claws as they charged at Ye Qingcheng.

"Old hag! Die!"

Right now, Ye Qingcheng's mind was filled with illusions of dual cultivation; how could she have even a shred of fear?

For the ultimate promise of her senior brother, she also risked her life completely!

The true form of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox manifested, standing tall between heaven and earth. The massive fox fire seemed capable of incinerating the Eight Desolates, burning half the sky into a tragic blood-red!

"Rumble!"

The two peak Tribulation Transcendence realm mighty figures, having completely lost their minds, held nothing back and made no probing attacks. Like two colliding meteors, they finally crashed into each other fiercely!

The heavens collapsed and the earth fractured!

The sun and moon lost their light!

This battle caused the laws of the Great Dao to wail and wear away, shattering the void into countless pitch-black turbulent black holes.

The entire boundless sea was dragged into a doomsday scene within a single second.

On one side was the freezing deathly stillness of absolute zero, and on the other was the blood-red fox fire that incinerated all things.

The intertwining of ice and fire, the ultimate collision of hatred and jealousy.

The residual energy radiating from every single strike of these two could easily wipe a mid-sized sect with profound foundations off the map!

However.

Against this backdrop of a collapsing world.

The absolute instigator of this world-shocking battle, the one who caused two top-tier combatants to fight to the death—Ye Xuan.

At this moment, he was sitting safely and comfortably in the safest pilot seat of the flying ship, with his legs crossed.

With one hand resting on the helm, he had already activated the flying ship's maximum speed mode and all its defensive arrays.

Taking advantage of the fact that the two crazy women were fighting so intensely over him that the sky turned dark and they couldn't even spare their divine sense to check on this side.

The flying ship turned into an inconspicuous streak of light, speeding away in the opposite direction of the battlefield without looking back.

In the corner of the flying ship.

The little maid Ying'er was clinging tightly to a carved pillar. Looking at the terrifying scene in the distant horizon that seemed to destroy the heavens and tear the world apart, her little face was pale as paper, and her legs were trembling like a sieve.

"M... Master..."

Ying'er's teeth chattered madly, making clicking sounds as she stuttered to ask:

"T-this is too terrifying..."

"Two mighty figures at the Tribulation Transcendence stage... are actually fighting..."

"Are we... are we just running away like this?"

Ye Xuan leaned casually against the back of his chair.

Between his slender fingers, he was absentmindedly playing with two spatial rings flowing with brilliance.

One was dark red, from Ye Qingcheng, containing half the wealth accumulated over countless years by the Joyous Union Sect.

The other was ice blue, from Xia Lengyue, containing the lifelong savings and countless supreme-grade spirit veins of the Azure Cloud Sect's Demon Venerable.

At this moment, his eyes were clear and profound. Where was the deep affection he had just shown in front of Ye Qingcheng?

Where was the grievance he had shown in front of Xia Lengyue?

And there was certainly none of the anger of being betrayed.

On his face, there was only a sense of extreme calmness.

A calmness so profound it bordered on cruelty.

Unhurriedly, he took out a pot of precious, top-grade spirit wine from the ring Xia Lengyue had given him. He pulled off the stopper and took a sniff, then brought out a bag of top-tier spirit fruits he had swiped from Xia Lengyue—fruits so rare they were impossible to buy even with ten thousand pieces of gold.

Crunch.

He casually picked one up and took a bite. The crisp sound of his chewing echoed aboard the silent flying skiff, rich and sweet juices overflowing.

"Run? Why use the word run?"

Ye Xuan said lightly, chewing on the spirit fruit while looking out the skiff's porthole at the distant horizon, where the sky was already collapsing under the clash of fire and ice. There wasn't even the slightest ripple of emotion in his tone:

"I call this a strategic retreat."

He raised the wine pot, took a sip, and added as a matter of course:

"My strength is so weak; I am only in the Golden Core realm. Staying there would only make me a burden to them."

"What if I were killed by the shockwaves of their battle?"

Ye Xuan turned his head and looked at the dumbstruck Ying'er, his lips curling into a gentle yet chilling smile:

"Therefore, staying far away is also to let them fight without any distractions."

"This, too, is a form of consideration."

Ying'er stood with her mouth wide open, staring dumbfounded at the man in front of her, her mind completely blank.

Consideration my ass!