Demon Lord Ziyao

The next day, in the faint light of dawn.

The Emperor Boat was traveling above a steep and treacherous canyon.

Help!

The familiar cry for help, the familiar setup, even the shrill tone was exactly the same.

Ye Xuan was holding a cup of spirit tea to rinse his mouth. Hearing this voice, he almost spat out the water.

He put down the teacup, rubbed his temples, and revealed an exasperated expression:

Another one?

He walked to the deck and looked down.

Sure enough, Fairy Ziyao had appeared again.

Only this time, the clothes on her body were even more tattered, revealing more skin, and her wounds looked much more realistic.

Behind her, there were no longer just a few Foundation Establishment extra actors, but a massive, dense crowd of demonic cultivators. The leader even possessed the cultivation of the great perfection of the Golden Core realm, radiating a murderous aura. They were clearly playing for real this time.

Ziyao's hair was disheveled. She stumbled to the area below the Emperor Boat, looking up with a tear-stained face full of despair and pleading:

Young Master! Benefactor!

Those demonic cultivators have caught up again... Ziyao truly has nowhere else to go!

I beg the Young Master to show mercy and save Ziyao! Ziyao is willing to work like a horse, to serve as a slave and maid to repay your great kindness!!

Ye Xuan leaned against the railing, watching the melodrama below, and sighed helplessly.

Since you are so obsessed with acting...

Then I will play along with you to the very end.

Ye Xuan casually waved his hand.

Clang!

A resplendent sword light flew out from his sleeve, cascading down like the Milky Way from the highest heavens.

This sword strike was no longer the flashy trick from yesterday, but a strike that contained a trace of Nascent Soul true intent.

Pfft pfft pfft pfft!

The clamoring demonic cultivators below did not even have the time to react.

The sword light swept past them like the autumn wind scattering fallen leaves.

Whether they were in the Golden Core realm or Foundation Establishment realm, they were all instantly sliced in half at the waist, their blood dyeing the entire canyon red.

A single sword strike cleared the field.

Ziyao knelt amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, trembling all over. This time, she was truly terrified.

She could feel that if Ye Xuan's sword strike just now had been off by half an inch, she would have been cut in two as well.

Ye Xuan slowly drifted down and stood before her, looking down from above with eyes as cold as ice.

M-many thanks, Benefactor...

Ziyao hurriedly kowtowed, her forehead hitting the ground with loud thuds, appearing incredibly sincere and lowly.

Enough.

Ye Xuan interrupted her performance, his voice devoid of any emotion:

I am someone who doesn't make losing trades. If you want to stay, it's not impossible.

Ziyao snapped her head up, her eyes full of hope: Please speak, Young Master! No matter the condition, Ziyao will agree!

No matter the condition?

Ye Xuan playfully chewed over these words, his gaze sweeping over her body brazenly.

Ziyao was ecstatic in her heart.

Could it be... he wants me to share his bed?

If that was the case, it played right into her hands! She wished she could offer herself to him immediately!

However, Ye Xuan's gaze did not ultimately linger on her proud curves, but fixed upon her slender wrist.

There, she wore a gold bracelet with a quaint design, engraved with a pattern of intertwined branches.

Nine small golden bells hung from the bracelet, emitting faint jingling sounds with her movements.

This thing is not bad.

Ye Xuan stretched out a long finger and pointed at the gold bracelet, his tone as flat as if he were asking for a worthless trinket:

"Give it to me, and I will agree to take you in."

"This..."

Hearing this, a troubled look appeared on Zi Yao's face. She instinctively covered the gold bracelet with her other hand. A flash of panic crossed her eyes, but it was quickly masked by a pitiful, helpless expression.

She looked up at Ye Xuan with tear-filled eyes, her voice trembling as she spoke:

"Young Master... it is not that Zi Yao is unwilling, it is just that... this bracelet cannot be given to anyone else."

"This bracelet is called the 'Heart-Linked Lock'. It is a companion artifact that I was born with. It has long since fused with my flesh and soul. Unless I die and my soul scatters, no one... can take this bracelet off."

To prove she was telling the truth, Zi Yao deliberately raised her slender wrist and tugged at it forcefully a few times.

The gold bracelet seemed to have taken root, digging into her flesh without budging an inch. Instead, it left a shocking red mark around her wrist.

"Look, Young Master... it really will not come off."

Zi Yao lowered her head, seemingly to show her injury, but in reality, the corners of her mouth curled into an imperceptible smirk of triumph.

This was the love token Ye Xuan had given her back in the day. After thousands of years of her refinement, it had long become her natal magical treasure. Other than herself, no one in this world could move it the slightest bit.

You want to take it? Keep dreaming.

Wu Lingxiao, who had been standing to the side and had long found this woman an eyesore, let out a cold sneer and stepped forward:

"Will not come off? I think it is just you, demoness, playing tricks!"

"Young Master, let this servant do it!"

A cold glint flashed in Wu Lingxiao's eyes as she grabbed Zi Yao's wrist.

"You... what are you doing? It hurts..." Zi Yao shrank back in terror.

"Shut up!"

Wu Lingxiao barked, her fingertips suddenly exerting force.

At this moment, she held nothing back.

The terrifying magical power of a Half-step True Immortal was exquisitely compressed into her fingertips, transforming into a tremendous force capable of crushing stars as she viciously clamped down on the gold bracelet.

Come off!

Wu Lingxiao roared in her heart, veins bulging on her forehead. She refused to believe that with her cultivation as the Empress of Great Xia, she could not deal with a broken bracelet.

However.

In the next second, Wu Lingxiao's expression changed.

It did not budge an inch.

This seemingly ordinary mortal gold bracelet did not even deform the slightest bit under her heaven-shaking power. Furthermore, an extremely bizarre nether energy rebounded from the bracelet, making her fingers go numb and sending a sharp pain through the web of her hand.

How is this possible?

Shock waves surged in Wu Lingxiao's heart. The grade of this bracelet... was actually higher than her Imperial Seal?

"Ah! It hurts! Sister, please be gentle... my hand is going to break..." Zi Yao let out a timely scream, though a hint of contemptuous mockery flashed deep in her eyes.

Idiot.

This is a Great Luo Immortal Artifact that has fused with my origin. You think a half-baked True Immortal who has not even ascended yet can force it?

Seeing Wu Lingxiao's flushed face and helpless demeanor, Zi Yao felt immensely satisfied.

She looked up at Ye Xuan, her face still wearing the look of a victim:

"Young Master... look, this sister has such great strength but still cannot take it off... Zi Yao really was not lying to you."

"This bracelet truly shares a destiny with me; it cannot leave me."

Her words seemed to imply: Look, this is the will of heaven, it is destiny. Stop forcing it and just let me stay.

Ye Xuan watched this scene quietly.

Watching Wu Lingxiao's frustration, and seeing the smugness and provocation hidden deep in Ziyao's eyes, he suddenly laughed.

"Oh? Is that so?"

Ye Xuan nonchalantly straightened his cuffs, an enigmatic sneer playing at the corners of his mouth. "Innate? No one can take it off?"

He walked step by step up to Ziyao, completely ignoring her deeply affectionate gaze, and directly reached out a slender, fair hand.

"I just don't buy that."

Ziyao sneered inwardly: Even that crazy woman at the half-step True Immortal realm couldn't do it. You are only at the Nascent Soul stage right now. Even with a special physique, how could you possibly...

However.

Before her thoughts could finish turning.

"Click."

An extremely crisp and pleasant sound of a metal clasp snapping open echoed abruptly in the silent valley.

The expression on Ziyao's face froze instantly.

Wu Lingxiao's eyes widened in shock.

They saw Ye Xuan's fingers merely resting lightly on that golden bracelet.

He didn't use any spiritual energy, nor did he use any brute force.

He just casually, as if plucking a fallen leaf stuck to the corner of his clothes, gave it a light unbuckle and a pull.

This golden bracelet that was allegedly grown into the flesh, refined for thousands of years, and impossible for even a half-step True Immortal to deal with...

Acted as if it had met its long-lost master. Obedient as a lapdog, it slipped off without any resistance and landed steadily in Ye Xuan's palm.

"This..."

Ziyao's pupils quaked. She looked as if she had been struck by lightning, her mind going completely blank.

"How is this possible... how is this possible..."

She muttered to herself, her face as pale as paper.

This was her natal magical treasure! Why did it open the moment Ye Xuan touched it?

And with absolutely no backlash?

Moreover... she felt that in the instant the bracelet left her wrist, it actually conveyed a feeling of jubilation?

Ye Xuan toyed with the golden bracelet in his hand, looking with a teasing gaze at the dumbfounded Ziyao.

"It seems this bracelet doesn't really listen to you. The so-called innate connection looks to be nothing but a joke."

Having said that, he didn't even spare Ziyao another glance. He turned and walked toward Ying'er not far away.

"Ying'er, give me your hand."

"Ah? Oh..." Although Ying'er was startled by the sudden turn of events, she obediently extended her wrist.

Ye Xuan took the golden bracelet and gently slipped it onto Ying'er's wrist.

"Although this thing is an old trinket, the material is decent enough. Just wear it as a toy to play with."

The very moment the golden bracelet was placed on Ying'er's wrist.

A sudden mutation occurred.

The golden bracelet, which had been dim and filled with netherworld ghost aura on Ziyao's hand, underwent a complete metamorphosis the instant it touched Ying'er's skin!

A supremely dazzling purplish-gold divine light instantly shot up into the sky, tearing through the clouds in the firmament!

It was accompanied by a clear and resonant phoenix cry that pierced the clouds and cracked the stones.

Amidst the divine light, the rust and bloodstains on the surface of the golden bracelet instantly peeled away, revealing its true appearance. The carvings on it were not ordinary patterns, but a lifelike, ancient divine phoenix about to spread its wings and fly!

A terrifying divine might swept in all directions. The spiritual energy within a radius of a hundred miles poured in madly, condensing into a hundred-zhang tall phantom of a divine phoenix behind Ying'er!

An Immortal Artifact!

This was something that surpassed ordinary Immortal Artifacts... a Great Luo Immortal Artifact!

"Buzz..."

The golden bracelet automatically shrank to perfectly fit Ying'er's wrist. It let out bursts of joyful, trembling hums, as if celebrating its rebirth and announcing to the world that it had finally found its true master!

Ying'er stared blankly at the radiant, flowing colors of the bracelet on her wrist. Feeling the spiritual power instantly surging within her body, she was so frightened that she stumbled over her words:

"M-Master... what... what is this?"

"It... it feels like it's talking to me..."

Ye Xuan smiled faintly and patted her head. "It says it likes you because you are pure."

For Ziyao, who was kneeling on the ground, this scene was no different from having ten thousand arrows pierce her heart.

"Puh!"

Ziyao violently spat out a large mouthful of blood, her entire being instantly withering away.

That was the backlash of having a natal magical treasure forcibly stripped away—and even actively severing its connection with her!

But this physical agony was not even a ten-thousandth of the mental devastation she suffered.

She stared fixedly at the blindingly radiant divine artifact on Ying'er's wrist, tears of blood flowing from her eyes. Her nails dug deeply into the dirt as her entire body trembled violently.

That was hers...

That was the token of love she valued as her very life!

Yet in the hands of a lowly servant girl, it had actually transformed into a divine artifact?

It had even actively severed its ten-thousand-year connection with her, unable to wait to acknowledge this servant girl as its master?!

"Why... why..."

Ziyao let out a hysterical roar in her heart.

This was not just the hatred of having her treasure stolen.

It was a heart-wrenching torment!

It was as if Ye Xuan was using this method to viciously slap her across the face, pointing at her nose and telling her:

You are unworthy.

Whether it be the person, or the object.

You, Ziyao, are unworthy of both!

A soft and sacred light instantly enveloped Ying'er's entire body.

An ancient, boundless aura that seemed to cross the long river of space and time permeated from the bracelet.

"Ding-ling..."

A crisp chime rang out.

This time, it was no longer the ordinary sound of striking metal.

Instead, it was a Daoist resonance imbued with the laws of the Great Dao!

Every chime caused layers of ripples to echo through the surrounding space.

"This..."

Wu Lingxiao, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, suddenly experienced a drastic change in expression.

She stared fixedly at the bracelet, her eyes filled with disbelief:

"The protection of the Great Dao? Destiny linked to the heart?"

"This thing... this thing is no trivial matter! Even my Great Xia's realm-suppressing divine artifact, the Nine Provinces Cauldron, possesses a guardian intent no greater than this!"

"How could this possibly be a mortal object?!"

Ying'er was also stunned by the sight. Holding up her wrist and looking at the vibrantly glowing golden bracelet, she couldn't help but marvel:

"Wow... what a beautiful thing..."

She gently shook her wrist.

"Ding-ling... ding-ling..."

The crisp chiming echoed across the Emperor Boat.

But to Ziyao's ears, this sound was like the most vicious mockery, like ten thousand arrows piercing her heart.

That was hers...

That was her bracelet!

"Puh!"

Unable to bear this massive blow any longer, Ziyao spat out another mouthful of blood, her entire body swaying on the verge of collapse.

Watching this scene, a trace of complexity flashed deep in Ye Xuan's eyes, but his face still carried that faint smile.

He walked up to Ziyao, crouched down, and looked at her face, which was as pale as paper.

"Speaking of which, I find it strange too."

Ye Xuan's voice was very soft, yet it sounded like a demonic curse:

"Looking at this bracelet, I actually feel an inexplicable sense of familiarity."

"I don't know why..."

Ye Xuan tilted his head, his gaze piercing straight into the depths of Zi Yao's soul.

"I can't shake the feeling that I recognize this bracelet."

"This bracelet... I believe it's called the 'Love-Binding Bracelet', isn't it?"

Ye Xuan's words completely shattered Zi Yao's final emotional defenses.

He remembered...

Even without his memories restored, his very soul remembered its name!

Overwhelmed by an immense surge of mingled sorrow and joy, Zi Yao felt a sudden, splitting pain in her mind. Her vision went black, and she completely lost consciousness.

And in the exact moment she fainted...

Countless dust-covered fragments of memory erupted like a bursting dam, sweeping her consciousness away into that agonizing, yet unforgettable past: