The Empress and the Demon Lord Are Fighting

Inside the cabin of the Emperor's Ark, incense smoke curled gracefully in the air.

Zi Yao suddenly opened her eyes.

There was no confusion of just waking up in her eyes, only endless panic and disarray.

Memories flooded back like a tidal wave—Ye Xuan's coldness, the changing hands of the Love Token Bracelet, and that one sentence, "It has found its true master."

"No..."

Zi Yao flipped over and sat up. The violent movement aggravated her internal injuries, but she could not care less.

Her gaze was deadlocked on Ying'er, who was making the bed not far away. To be precise, it was locked on Ying'er's fair wrist, where the Love Token Bracelet was flowing with a purple-gold divine aura!

"That is mine..."

Zi Yao's pupils instantly shrank to the size of pinpricks, her sclera crawling with bloodshot veins.

An unprecedented sense of deprivation instantly destroyed all her rationality.

That was something she had worn for thousands of years.

That was the symbol of her identity!

On what grounds was it being worn on the hand of this lowly servant?

"Give it back to me!"

Zi Yao let out a shrill roar in her heart.

Without any hesitation, the terrifying divine sense of the Mahayana Realm was compressed in an instant into an invisible Soul-Extinguishing Needle.

Kill!

Kill her!

As long as she shattered this lowly servant's divine soul, she would become a breathless corpse!

Without anyone knowing!

"Die!!"

A flash of vindictive pleasure crossed Zi Yao's eyes as her divine sense struck out like a venomous snake, aiming straight for the center of Ying'er's brow.

However.

Right at the moment when the world-destroying divine sense was about to touch Ying'er's sea of consciousness.

The Love Token Bracelet on Ying'er's wrist suddenly let out an extremely faint yet extremely majestic hum.

A soft golden light, like a gentle large hand, lightly brushed over Ying'er's body.

"Pfft!"

Zi Yao only felt as if her head had smashed into an insurmountable wall of sighs.

The Soul-Extinguishing Needle shattered instantly, and a terrifying backlash rolled back along her divine sense, viciously bombarding her Purple Mansion.

"Ugh!"

Zi Yao let out a muffled groan, a trail of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth as her face turned deathly pale in an instant.

She had forgotten.

She had really forgotten.

This Love Token Bracelet was a Great Luo Immortal Artifact, possessing the characteristic of the "Immortal Heart," specifically countering all divine soul attacks and insidious methods.

Back then, Li Tianxing could not seal her, and now, she could not kill Ying'er who was protected by the bracelet.

"Damn it... damn it..."

Zi Yao clutched her agonizingly painful head, the killing intent in her eyes not retreating at all, but rather becoming even more crazed.

Since divine sense would not work...

Then she would use dharma power!

Chop off her hand! Twist off her head!

Zi Yao suddenly sprang from the bed, her fingers forming claws wreathed in netherworld ghost qi, pouncing ferociously like a hunting leopardess toward the completely unaware Ying'er.

"Give the bracelet back to me!"

Just as her fingertips were only half an inch away from Ying'er's neck.

A slender, powerful hand, yet equally containing terrifying strength, reached out from the side and clamped down hard on Zi Yao's wrist.

"Crack."

Accompanied by the sound of grinding bones.

Zi Yao snapped her head around, meeting a pair of phoenix eyes that were equally cold, equally containing endless killing intent and jealousy, yet possessing a sliver more rationality than her own.

It was none other than Wu Lingxiao.

"What are you trying to do?" Wu Lingxiao's voice was kept extremely low, yet it sounded like shattering ice. "Do you want to die? Or do you want to drag us down to die with you?"

"Let go of me!"

With her hair disheveled, Zi Yao hissed with a suppressed voice, like a trapped beast:

"That bitch is wearing my bracelet! That was given to me by Ye Xuan!"

"I am going to kill her! I am going to chop her hand off!"

"Idiot."

Wu Lingxiao cursed coldly. Sensing Ye Xuan's aura shift in the next room, her expression changed.

"This is not the place to talk."

Wu Lingxiao grabbed Zi Yao by the collar, and the figures of the two women vanished instantly.

The next moment.

Outside the Emperor's Ark, ninety thousand miles high in the sky.

This was the astral wind layer.

Terrifying astral winds capable of tearing apart Soul Formation Realm cultivators howled like countless steel blades.

However, in the center of this violent storm, the two women stood suspended in the air. They let the astral winds blow against them, their clothes flapping wildly, yet it could not harm them in the slightest.

At this moment, they were no longer a lowly embroiderer and the destitute Zi Yi.

They were the absolute peak existences of this lower realm.

Two Half-Step True Immortals!

"Why did it turn out like this?"

As soon as they arrived, Zi Yao completely erupted.

She waved her arms at the void like a madwoman. Terrifying spiritual energy poured out, forcefully tearing open a massive vacuum zone in the surrounding astral wind layer.

"That is mine! That is mine!"

"Ye Xuan is my husband! That bracelet is also mine!"

"On what grounds? On what grounds was it given to a tea-serving maid? Is she even worthy?"

Zi Yao's eyes were blood-red, and tears of blood even flowed from the corners of her eyes:

"I wore it for thousands of years... I suffered so much for it..."

"Ye Xuan, that bastard... how could he treat me like this..."

Wu Lingxiao stood with her hands behind her back, coldly watching the crazed Zi Yao. Only when she had mostly vented her anger did Wu Lingxiao speak coldly:

"Have you vented enough?"

"If you are done, then calm down."

"Calm down?" Zi Yao sharply turned her head, staring deadly at Wu Lingxiao. Her breathtakingly beautiful face was filled with twisted hatred. "How do you expect me to calm down?"

"Did you not see? That lowly woman named Ying'er stole my bracelet!"

"She did not just take away an immortal artifact... she took away the identity of Ye Xuan's wife!"

"This means... she is the fated person Ye Xuan spoke of! That pure and flawless bitch!"

Hearing the words "pure and flawless," the corner of Wu Lingxiao's eye twitched fiercely.

A strong surge of sour jealousy and killing intent churned in her heart.

She took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the brutality in her heart, and looked at Zi Yao:

"Explain yourself clearly."

"What fated person? What pure and flawless?"

"And... you just said Ye Xuan is your husband? What exactly is going on?"

Zi Yao wiped a trace of blood from the corner of her mouth, sneered, and looked at Wu Lingxiao with contemptuous eyes:

"What? You are allowed to be his Consort Xuan, but I am not allowed to be his first wife?"

"I will tell you the truth. Ye Xuan and I became Dao Companions thousands of years ago! I am his lawfully wedded wife!"

Hearing this, although Wu Lingxiao already had her suspicions, hearing it with her own ears still made her heart ache with a sharp sting.

Thousands of years ago...

So, he had other women.

"Hmph." Wu Lingxiao snorted coldly, refusing to show weakness. "That is ancient history from thousands of years ago, and you still have the face to bring it up? I... My time as Consort Xuan, that was a deep love between Emperor and Empress eight hundred years ago! He was willing to give up his very life for me!"

"For you?" Zi Yao acted as if she had heard a joke. "If it was for you, would he have given the Love Token Bracelet to a maid?"

"You!" Wu Lingxiao was struck in a sore spot, her eyes blazing with killing intent.

"Enough!" Zi Yao waved her hand, looking irritated. "Now is not the time for us to fight for favor. That is all in the past."

"The key is the future."

Zi Yao took a deep breath, her eyes becoming incomparably solemn, even carrying a trace of fear:

"Do you know the origin of that bracelet?"

Wu Lingxiao frowned. "A Great Luo Immortal Artifact. I know."

"No, you don't know everything."

Zi Yao gritted her teeth, her eyes flashing with the pain of her memories:

"In the previous life..."

"Ye Xuan was already a True Immortal. He told me himself."

"He said this bracelet had to wait for its true master."

"That master is a woman waiting for him in the future."

"She is pure and flawless, her body and mind like jade, never polluted by the secular world."

"She is Ye Xuan's destined Dao companion, the one he will spend the rest of his life with!"

At this point, Zi Yao pointed at the Emperor Boat below, her voice pitching up sharply:

"Now the bracelet has recognized its master!"

"It recognized that Ying'er as its master!"

"What does this mean? It means Ying'er is that pure and flawless bitch! It means she is the true love Ye Xuan is looking for!"

"We... we are just passersby! We are just trash!"

These words exploded like a thunderclap in Wu Lingxiao's mind.

She staggered back half a step, her face instantly turning deathly pale.

Destined...

Spend the rest of his life with...

Pure and flawless...

Each of these words was like a knife, stabbing Wu Lingxiao's heart to pieces.

"Impossible..."

Wu Lingxiao muttered to herself, her eyes filled with disbelief:

"Just that silly girl?"

"Just that clumsy maid who can't even brew spirit tea properly?"

"She is Ye Xuan's true love? Then what am I? What are you?"

The flames of jealousy instantly burned away Wu Lingxiao's reason.

She originally thought Ying'er was just a tool, a plaything Ye Xuan used to take revenge on her.

But now, Zi Yao told her that she was the destined one?

"No..." Monstrous black energy surged in Wu Lingxiao's eyes: "She must die!"

"I will not allow such a person to exist in this world!"

"Ye Xuan can only be mine!"

Seeing that Wu Lingxiao also had murderous intent, Zi Yao actually calmed down a bit. She sneered:

"Right? You want to kill her too, don't you?"

"I wanted to do it just now, why did you stop me?"

Wu Lingxiao took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She was the Empress, she couldn't act recklessly like this madwoman Zi Yao.

She frowned, suddenly thinking of something, a trace of doubt flashing in her eyes:

"Wait."

"You said Ye Xuan said that the true master is pure and flawless, body and mind like jade?"

Zi Yao nodded, gritting her teeth: "Yes! He said that woman has never been polluted by the secular world! As clean as a blank sheet of paper!"

Wu Lingxiao's expression suddenly became somewhat strange.

She looked up at Zi Yao, her eyes carrying an eerie mockery and inquiry:

"If Ye Xuan really said that..."

"This matter becomes very interesting."

"What do you mean?" Zi Yao was taken aback.

Wu Lingxiao sneered, a vicious curve hooking at the corner of her mouth:

"You just arrived, you don't know the background of that lowly maid Ying'er."

"Do you know how she met the Young Master?"

Zi Yao: "How did they meet?"

Wu Lingxiao said slowly:

"She was originally a beggar in the secular world."

"Her parents were dead, and she had no one to rely on."

"In that kind of man-eating place, what do you think a weak woman relies on to survive?"

Wu Lingxiao paused, a trace of disdain showing in her eyes:

"I checked her background."

"She used to be a brothel prostitute."

At this point, Wu Lingxiao spread her hands, looking at the dumbfounded Zi Yao:

"Do you think..."

"Such a prostitute ridden by a thousand men and straddled by ten thousand..."

"Counts as pure and flawless? Counts as having a body and mind like jade?"

Dead silence.

A brief dead silence appeared in the astral wind layer.

Zi Yao opened her mouth wide, completely stupefied.

A few seconds passed.

"Pfft..."

Zi Yao suddenly clutched her stomach, bent over, and her whole body trembled violently.

"Haha... hahahaha..."

Laughter spilled from between her fingers, growing louder and more frantic.

"Hahahahaha!"

Zi Yao laughed so hard tears flew wildly, she laughed rolling in the air, laughed until she almost lost her breath.

"Pure and flawless? Hahahaha!"

"So... so she's also a whore!"

"So she's even dirtier than me!"

"Hahahaha! I'm dying of laughter! Ye Xuan, oh Ye Xuan! This is the true love you chose? This is the purity you longed for?"

In Zi Yao's laughter, there was an extreme distortion and relief.

Great.

This was truly great.

So Ying'er wasn't the only one.

So Ying'er was also a piece of trash struggling in the mud, just like her!

"Hoo... hoo..."

Zi Yao laughed enough, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and stood up. The killing intent in her eyes had mostly dissipated, replaced by a kind of contempt and mockery:

"Since that's the case, it means..."

"The token bracelet recognized the wrong person."

"Or rather, Ying'er is just a transition."

"The true destined female lead hasn't appeared yet!"

Wu Lingxiao nodded, a cold light glinting in her eyes:

"Exactly."

"Ying'er is just a shield, a scapegoat."

"Ye Xuan giving the bracelet to her might just be a smokescreen, or for some kind of layout."

"So..." Wu Lingxiao looked at Zi Yao: "We can't kill Ying'er now."

"Why?" Zi Yao frowned, "Since she's a fake, keeping her around is an eyesore, it's better to kill her and be done with it!"

"Idiot!"

Wu Lingxiao glared at her, hating iron for not becoming steel:

"Have you forgotten what kind of personality Ye Xuan has?"

"He is a man of ultimate passion and nature, but also the most paranoid madman."

Wu Lingxiao remembered what Ye Xuan said to her that day, and her body couldn't help but shudder:

"He told me."

"If Ying'er dies, whether by accident or by human hands."

"He will count it on our heads."

"He will hate us life after life."

"Even... to accompany Ying'er in death, he would unleash the Love of a Fallen City and end his own life!"

"What? Love of a Fallen City?!" Zi Yao's expression changed drastically.

Of course she knew that move.

That was a forbidden technique of mutual destruction. If Ye Xuan died, what meaning would there be for them to live?

"So..."

Zi Yao bit her nails, her expression fluctuating:

"Not only can we not kill her..."

"We have to enshrine her like an ancestor?"

"We have to protect her from being killed by others?"

Wu Lingxiao nodded through gritted teeth: "Yes."

"Fuck!"

Zi Yao couldn't help but curse, kicking a floating meteorite to pieces.

This was too stifling!

Two Half-Step True Immortals actually had to act as bodyguards for a lowly maid who sold her body for food!

"However..."

Wu Lingxiao changed the subject, a trace of viciousness flashing in her eyes:

"Ying'er doesn't have to be killed."

"But, that truly pure and flawless woman..."

"Must die."

Zi Yao suddenly looked up, green light surging in her eyes:

"Exactly!"

"That bitch must be waiting for Ye Xuan somewhere in the future."

"We have to find her!"

"Before she even meets Ye Xuan... tear her to pieces! Peel off her skin! Refine her soul into lamp oil!"

The two madwomen reached a terrifying consensus at this moment.

Their goal was unified:

First, protect the scapegoat Ying'er (to prevent Ye Xuan from committing suicide).

Second, find and brutally murder that unknown destined heroine.

"But..."

Zi Yao suddenly turned her head and glared fixedly at Wu Lingxiao, the hostility in her eyes resurfacing.

"Future enemies are a matter for the future."

"Who does the current Ye Xuan belong to?"

Wu Lingxiao sneered, the oppressive aura of the Empress erupting with a boom.

"Do you even need to ask?"

"Naturally, he is mine."

"I am his Consort Xuan, and he is my Emperor. We are a rightful husband and wife."

"Bullshit!"

Zi Yao shrieked, her demonic energy surging to the heavens.

"I am his first wife from thousands of years ago! I am the main wife! You are the mistress!"

"Furthermore, I understand him better than you do! I shared his hardships and suffered with him! You are just reaping the rewards of my labor!"

"You don't know shit!" Wu Lingxiao flew into a rage. "You only know how to suck his blood! Do you know how to serve a man? Can you cook? Can you wash his feet?"

"I can!" Zi Yao thrust out her chest. "I practiced in the Heavenly Demon Sect for hundreds of years! I know every position!!"

"Shameless slut!"

"Hypocritical tyrant!"

"Let's fight!"

"You think I'm afraid of you?"

Within the layer of astral winds, an earth-shattering battle instantly broke out.

The purple-gold imperial dragon aura fiercely collided with the pitch-black heavenly demon energy.

Space shattered, and the sun and moon lost their light.

Two women standing at the absolute pinnacle of the lower realm brawled like street shrews over the ownership of a man.

There were no divine abilities, no magical treasures.

It was all hair-pulling, throat-strangling, and face-slapping—the most primal of methods.

"This slap is for Ye Xuan! You leech!"

"This kick is for myself! You old woman!"