Eat the Soft Rice with a Hard Attitude

She was despised.

Despised as dirty by the lover she had searched for over eight hundred years.

At this moment, Wu Lingxiao felt as if the sky had fallen.

Her world crumbled into pieces in an instant.

"No... I am not dirty... I am really not dirty..."

Wu Lingxiao looked at the blood on the back of her hand, her expression dazed. Suddenly, the extreme madness of her yandere nature surged into her heart once again.

Since explaining was useless, then... she would force him to stay!

"I do not care!!"

Wu Lingxiao abruptly raised her head, her eyes bloodshot, and screamed hysterically,

"I know I have wronged you! That is why I want to make it up to you!"

"I will abdicate! I will give you the throne! I will give you my very life!"

"As long as you don't leave! As long as you stay! You can punish me however you want! Even if you lock me up, it's fine!"

"Stay? Hahahaha!"

Ye Xuan threw his head back and laughed wildly, laughing until tears streamed down his face.

"Stay for what? To be locked up by you in that resplendent golden birdcage again?!"

"To watch you take a concubine today to pacify the Western Continent, and take a male pet tomorrow to appease the Demon Race, only to tell me it's for the greater good and that I should be magnanimous?"

Ye Xuan suddenly lowered his head, staring dead at Wu Lingxiao, emphasizing every single word.

"Wu Lingxiao, I don't want to see your hypocritical face ever again."

"Now, immediately, get the hell out of here!!"

"If you don't get lost..."

At the tip of Ye Xuan's finger, that cluster of pale flame which was originally weak suddenly surged with a loud boom!

A terrifying soul fluctuation instantly swept across the entire area.

"I will die right in front of you!"

"You cannot stop me."

"I have the City-Toppling Love, and no one in this world can stop me from dying!"

Ye Xuan looked at her, a spine-chilling, mutually-destructive sneer appearing on his face.

"Wu Lingxiao, didn't you search for me for eight hundred years?"

"Then go search for another eight hundred years!"

"Or eight thousand years! Eighty thousand years!"

"Let's see how long it takes you to find me!"

As he spoke, Ye Xuan's finger pressed toward the center of his brows without any hesitation!

Even if he was just putting on an act, at this moment, it carried a fraction of genuine intent.

Only a true madman could force another madman to back down.

"No!"

Wu Lingxiao let out a heart-wrenching scream, her voice as mournful as a cuckoo weeping blood.

She was truly terrified.

Completely and utterly terrified.

She could feel that Ye Xuan truly no longer wanted to live. He really would rather have his soul scatter into nothingness than return with her.

This despairing realization shattered her final stubbornness.

"Don't! Husband! Don't kill yourself!!"

"I'll leave! I'll leave right now!!"

"Don't be reckless! I beg you, don't be reckless!!"

Wu Lingxiao cried and shouted while frantically backing away. She raised her hands above her head in a gesture of surrender, looking utterly miserable and pathetic.

"I'll get lost! I'll get lost right now!"

Ye Xuan looked at her coldly, the movement of his hand stopping half an inch away from his glabella.

"I forbid you from hurting the people around me."

"Tell your people to get out of my sight."

"And you get lost too."

"I don't want to see you."

"Okay! Okay! I won't hurt her! I'll listen to everything you say! As long as you stay alive!!"

How could Wu Lingxiao dare to bargain?

Even though in her heart she wished she could tear this maid named Ying'er into pieces, right now she could only nod frantically.

She knew Ye Xuan would really commit suicide.

He was different from other men.

If he said he was going to die, he would really die.

If there were a suicide ranking in this world, and the man before her ranked second, no one would dare to rank first.

She abruptly turned around and roared at the hundreds of thousands of troops behind her, her voice carrying a trembling sob and furious rage.

"Get lost! All of you, get lost!"

"Retreat! Everyone retreat ten thousand miles away! Anyone who dares to linger will be killed without pardon!"

Although the army was bewildered, completely failing to understand why the invincible female emperor was forced to retreat by a few words from a man.

But the female emperor's command was an imperial edict, and even more so, a death warrant.

In an instant, the fleet of warships that blotted out the sky retreated frantically like receding floodwaters.

In just a moment, they were completely gone.

In the void, only Wu Lingxiao remained.

She took one last deep, greedy look at Ye Xuan.

Her eyes were filled with reluctance, pain, humble pleading, and a trace of deeply suppressed, heart-palpitating madness.

"Husband... I am leaving... Please don't die..."

"Take good care of your injuries... I will wait for your anger to fade... No matter how long it takes, I will wait..."

Ye Xuan didn't even spare her a glance. He simply sneered and began to count down.

"One."

"Two."

The fatal "Three" was on the tip of his tongue, just about to be spat out.

Wu Lingxiao's entire body trembled, and those phoenix eyes that normally looked down upon the world were now brimming with fear.

She didn't dare to gamble. She absolutely didn't dare to gamble Ye Xuan's life on even the slightest possibility.

Without any hesitation, she raised her hand and tore through the void, her movements as panicked as a child who had broken a vase and was rushing to flee the scene.

However.

Just as she was about to step into the spatial rift and completely disappear.

"Hold on."

A lazy voice, yet carrying a somewhat irresistible tone, suddenly rang out.

These two words, to Wu Lingxiao, were simply the sounds of nature.

The spatial rift that was about to close instantly froze.

Wu Lingxiao whipped around, her movements so fast that they even left behind an afterimage.

She stared fixedly at Ye Xuan, and those originally dim and despairing eyes instantly burst with a light of wild ecstasy so bright that one wouldn't dare look directly at it.

"Hus... Husband?"

Wu Lingxiao's voice trembled uncontrollably. She carefully leaned her body forward, not even daring to fully step out of the rift, terrified that one wrong step would anger him again.

"You... you called me?"

"Have you changed your mind?"

"Are you not driving me away anymore?"

She looked at Ye Xuan eagerly. The tear stains at the corners of her eyes had not yet dried, but a humble and fawning smile already hung on her face.

With this expectant appearance, where was there even the slightest bit of majesty of the Great Xia's Female Emperor? She was exactly like a little dog wagging its tail, begging for pity and waiting for its master to pet it.

Ye Xuan stood in place. Although his face was still pale, his expression had already returned to calm.

Looking at Wu Lingxiao's hopeful appearance, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, revealing a meaningful arc.

Then.

Under Wu Lingxiao's excited gaze, he slowly and very naturally—

Extended his right hand.

His palm was facing up, his five fingers slightly spread.

This was an extremely standard posture for asking for something.

Wu Lingxiao was stunned.

She looked at that slender and fair hand, and countless thoughts instantly flashed through her mind: Is he trying to hold my hand? Does he want me to support him? Or could it be... he wants a hug?

An immense sense of happiness instantly went to her head.

"Husband..."

Wu Lingxiao was so moved that tears filled her eyes, and she subconsciously went to place her hand into Ye Xuan's palm.

However.

Just at the moment her fingertips were about to touch that warm palm.

Ye Xuan's hand pulled back half an inch.

This slight retraction left Wu Lingxiao's hand hovering awkwardly in midair.

"What are you thinking?"

Ye Xuan frowned, looking at her with a gaze as if looking at an idiot, and spoke with absolute self-assurance.

"I don't want your hand."

"I want compensation."

"Compensation?" Wu Lingxiao blinked, her brain seemingly crashing for a moment.

"Obviously."

Ye Xuan rolled his eyes.

"You just scared me, and my psyche has suffered tremendous trauma."

"Moreover, you betrayed me twice. Do you think you can just walk away like this?"

Ye Xuan pointed at his chest, his tone full of grief and indignation, but his eyes were fixed dead on the imperial storage ring radiating a terrifying aura on Wu Lingxiao's hand:

"My heart hurts."

"It hurts a lot."

"Without eight or ten billion supreme-grade spirit stones, or a dozen immortal and divine artifacts, I'm afraid this wound will never heal."

"..."

Dead silence.

A dead silence fell over the entire scene.

Off to the side, Ying'er's eyes were about to pop out of her head. Her mouth hung wide open as she stared at her master.

Is he crazy?

He just managed to force her to back down, and now he actually dares to turn around and extort her?

Is he even human?

This was simply taking "freeloading with absolute arrogance" to the extreme!

However.

A scene that shattered Ying'er's worldview even further occurred.

Upon hearing these borderline shameless words of extortion, not only did Wu Lingxiao not get angry, but she instead... let out a long sigh of relief.

The panic on her face vanished, replaced by a relieved ecstasy.

As long as he was willing to take her money, it meant he no longer hated her!

He wasn't going to kill her, nor was he going to kill himself; he just wanted money... This was simply a monumental blessing!

"Here! I'll give you everything!!"

Wu Lingxiao's hands trembled with excitement. Without a second word, she directly pulled the Nine Dragons Supreme Ring, the symbol of the Great Xia's highest authority, off her thumb.

This was no ordinary storage ring.

This was one of the private treasuries of the Empress of Great Xia!

Inside was the accumulated foundation of the Great Xia Immortal Dynasty over tens of thousands of years. Just a tiny fraction leaking out would be enough to buy ten first-tier sects!

"Husband! Inside are three supreme-grade spirit veins, as well as We... as well as the holy healing medicines I've collected over the years, and a few defensive half-immortal artifacts..."

Wu Lingxiao didn't feel the slightest bit of heartache. She even wished she could strip off her dragon robes and give them to Ye Xuan to sell for money.

Cupping the ring in her hands, she offered it to Ye Xuan like a precious treasure:

"If it's not enough, you can send me a voice transmission anytime! Whether it's the stars in the sky or the dragon pearls in the deep sea, as long as you want it, I will get it for you!!"

Ye Xuan unceremoniously snatched the ring.

He swept it with his divine sense.

Hiss!

Even the experienced and knowledgeable Ye Xuan couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat at this moment.

Rich woman.

Super rich woman.

How was this compensation? This was practically moving half the national treasury over.

Ye Xuan forcefully suppressed the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He slipped the ring into his robes with a backhand motion, maintaining a reluctant expression on his face as he coldly snorted:

"It's barely acceptable."

"Seeing as your attitude is somewhat sincere, I won't die this time."

Hearing the words "won't die," Wu Lingxiao was so thrilled she almost burst into tears again.

"Thank you, Husband! Thank you for your mercy, Husband!"

The scene was too bizarre.

The person being extorted was weeping bitterly in gratitude to her extortionist.

"Alright, stop being an eyesore here."

Ye Xuan waved his hand, as if swatting away a fly:

"I get a headache just looking at you. Get lost."

"Okay! I'll get lost right now! Getting lost immediately!"

Wu Lingxiao left exceptionally decisively this time; one could even say she was overjoyed.

She gave Ye Xuan one last affectionate look, her eyes filled with a satisfaction born of a twisted logic: He accepted my ring, so I am in his heart!

The void fissure closed.

The terrifying Empress had finally left completely.

It wasn't until he confirmed that the oppressive aura had completely vanished from the world.

Ye Xuan finally let out a long sigh of relief. The coldness on his face instantly melted away, turning into an uncontrollable, money-grubbing smile.

He took out the Nine Dragons Supreme Ring, breathed on it, and rubbed it vigorously with his sleeve, grinning from ear to ear:

"I'm rich."

"I'm truly rich this time."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. This is exactly why I don't like doing pure romance."

Ye Xuan sighed while shaking his head and playing with the ring. "Can pure romance put food on the table? Can it be traded for supreme-grade spirit veins?"

"Only by turning feelings into a business can it be a guaranteed profitable trade."

Off to the side, Ying'er looked at her master's greedy face, and then looked in the direction where the Empress had just vanished.

She remained silent for a long time.

Finally, she gave a thumbs-up and let out a heartfelt sigh:

"Master..."

"When it comes to being a scumbag, if you claim second place."

"Absolutely no one would dare claim first."