The Return of Eight Hundred Years

When Ye Xuan opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was an extravagantly luxurious domed ceiling with carved beams and painted pillars. Inlaid upon it with entire pieces of top-grade spirit stones was an extremely intricate pattern of a dragon and phoenix bringing auspiciousness.

Every spirit stone emitted a soft halo of light, yet it stung his eyes. The air was thick with an overpowering scent of ambergris, mixed with the aura of an incredibly precious, high-tier spirit herb used to soothe the mind and soften the sinews.

Ye Xuan's pupils violently contracted, and his heart uncontrollably skipped a beat in his chest.

He didn't need to get up, nor did he even need to turn his head to check his surroundings. Just from this suffocating sense of luxury alone, he knew exactly where he was.

Ganlu Hall.

Deepest within the Great Xia Imperial Palace, it was the most luxurious gilded cage in the entire world, and the one that brought him the most despair.

Heh...

A dry, self-deprecating chuckle uncontrollably escaped Ye Xuan's throat, sounding uglier than a cry.

After eight hundred years of going around in circles, he had actually returned to this place that devoured people without spitting out their bones.

He subconsciously tried to mobilize the spiritual energy in his body to break his restraints.

However, it was completely empty.

His dantian, which was originally as vast as the sea and endlessly generating life, now felt as if it had been forcibly filled with cold, hard cement. It was dead silent, unable to stir up even the slightest ripple.

Within his meridians, several extremely overbearing restrictions radiating a piercing golden light had been driven in.

Those were the Dragon-Locking Nails, a secret transmission of the Great Xia imperial family, specifically used to seal the cultivation of high-tier cultivators. Once one forcibly tried to break through them, they would suffer the agony of ten thousand arrows piercing their heart.

Master... are you awake?

Right at this moment, a tearful call sounded by his ear.

Ye Xuan turned his head and saw the maid Ying'er kneeling beside the precious spirit jade bed. Her face was as pale as paper, her eyes red and swollen, and her face was filled with terror and helplessness toward this unfamiliar environment.

Ying'er.

Ye Xuan's voice was terribly hoarse. Enduring the aching pain that felt as if all the bones in his body were falling apart, he propped himself up with both hands on the bed and struggled to sit up.

What exactly happened?

Ying'er seemed to have caught her final lifeline, desperately gripping Ye Xuan's sleeve, her knuckles turning pale from excessive force.

She trembled and spoke incoherently:

Master, it's too terrifying... that embroiderer... the embroiderer who always cooked for us and chatted with us...

She is actually... actually the Empress of Great Xia, Wu Lingxiao!

How is this possible? She was clearly so gentle, and would even blush because she burnt the fish. How could she be that murderous female tyrant?

Ye Xuan looked at Ying'er, who was as pure as a blank sheet of paper, and a trace of deep pity flashed through his eyes.

Even an outsider like Ying'er couldn't accept this terrifying disguise and betrayal, let alone himself back then?

That woman, in order to get what she wanted, could cast aside all her imperial dignity to play the role of a gentle and weak woman. This was exactly what was most terrifying about her.

There is nothing impossible.

Ye Xuan threw off the priceless, weightless cloud brocade silk quilt covering him. Without even putting on his shoes, he stepped barefoot directly onto the ice-cold, jade-like floor.

A piercing chill instantly rushed up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, making his previously groggy mind incredibly clear in a split second.

This is her.

Ye Xuan walked step by step to the window and forcefully pushed open the carved wooden window.

Outside was an expanse of red walls and yellow tiles, so familiar it made him nauseous, resembling a sea of blood.

Countless imperial guards clad in heavy golden armor with cold expressions stood around Ganlu Hall like emotionless killing machines. There was a guard every three steps and a sentry every five; even the flight path of a fly was under their surveillance.

In the sky, a golden curtain of light radiating a terrifying oppressive might could faintly be seen. Like an overturned glazed bowl, it enveloped the entire hall, making it impossible to escape even if one were given wings.

She is a lunatic, a female lunatic who will resort to any means to achieve her goals.

Ye Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the inescapable net outside. His voice was frighteningly calm, without a single trace of fluctuation.

He looked at this square sky, rigidly framed by imperial power. In his eyes, which should have been filled with despair, there was none of the fear Ying'er had expected. Instead, they were surprisingly calm, so calm they resembled a pool of dead water.

Since he was here, he would make the best of it.

Since Wu Lingxiao had laid down such an inescapable net to prevent him from fleeing, he would stay and turn this lofty Great Xia Imperial Palace upside down!

Ye Xuan withdrew his gaze and looked at the shivering Ying'er, his eyes regaining a trace of concern:

She didn't do anything to you, did she?

Ying'er shook her head, her expression full of the helplessness of surviving a disaster, and replied with a hint of timidity:

She placed Master here, told me to watch over you, and then left.

Oh, right, she said that you should go find her when you wake up.

Ying'er swallowed hard, seemingly recalling Wu Lingxiao's terrifying aura, and hurriedly urged:

Master, you better not go. She is very fierce.

Hearing this, the corners of Ye Xuan's mouth curled into a sneer interwoven with arrogance and coldness. As he calmly straightened his slightly disheveled clothes, he spoke in an extremely certain tone:

No matter how fierce she is, she still cannot escape the palm of my hand.

Ye Xuan reached out and pushed open the heavy vermilion doors of Ganlu Hall without hesitation.

He thought that countless swords, spears, and halberds would immediately swarm up to force him back, but there was no forceful obstruction outside the doors as he had imagined.

On the contrary, the scene before him made Ye Xuan feel an absurdity that was ironic to the extreme.

Under the morning sunlight, below the long, flawless white marble steps outside Ganlu Hall, a dense, dark crowd of eunuchs and maids was actually kneeling.

Hearing the sound of the door opening and seeing Ye Xuan's tall and straight figure appear at the entrance of the hall, these people fiercely kowtowed in perfect unison, as if they had rehearsed this thousands of times.

The foreheads of hundreds of people struck heavily against the hard stone floor, emitting a teeth-aching, deafening sound:

Your servants pay their respects to Her Highness, Consort Xuan!

May Her Highness live a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand thousand years!

Hundreds of people spoke in unison. This respectful sound of worship was incredibly loud, shooting straight up into the clouds like a tsunami and echoing endlessly within the deep palace.

However, this sky-shaking Consort Xuan sounded ten thousand times more piercing to Ye Xuan, an indomitable man who had once made countless heaven-chosen geniuses bow before him, than the most vicious and vulgar curses in the world!

This title again.

This was yet another sickening honor forced upon him, an attempt to completely trample and ruthlessly crush his masculine dignity beneath her feet.

Ye Xuan stood on the high steps, expressionlessly looking down at this group of ants kneeling on the ground.

His gaze was extremely cold as it swept over those faces that appeared humble from lowering their heads, yet secretly harbored a bit of curiosity and scrutiny.

He did not ask them to rise according to palace etiquette, nor did he fly into a rage.

He merely looked at them as if they were a floor full of lifeless corpses. With an incredibly indifferent look in his eyes, he simply walked barefoot and coldly passed through their kneeling bodies.

"Master..." Ying'er followed timidly behind him. Terrified by the royal family's almost perversely eerie display, she shivered and did not even dare to breathe too loudly.

Ye Xuan walked with long strides, his back straight as a ramrod.

He did not need a guide at all. Relying on the route etched in the humiliating memories deep within his mind, he headed straight for the center of Great Xia's power—Weiyang Palace.

Along the way, countless fully armed, gold-armored imperial guards saw him walking barefoot. Not only did they show no intention of stopping him, but they also acted as if they had seen a half-sovereign, falling heavily to one knee to salute him.

They uniformly inverted their gleaming halberds, their armor clashing with a cold metallic sound, paying the highest military respect of Great Xia to this Consort Xuan.

Wherever he passed, thousands submitted.

He, Ye Xuan, was truly already half a master of this massive imperial palace.

But this almost eerie reverence only made Ye Xuan feel waves of nauseating disgust.

He understood Wu Lingxiao too well. This was no favor at all; it was a silent yet extremely arrogant display of power!

It was Wu Lingxiao showing him in every possible way her absolute control as the Empress—Look, as long as I wish it, you are below one person and above ten thousand, worshipped by the entire army; but if I do not wish it, you are nothing but a bird with broken wings, absolutely nothing!

Ye Xuan walked through this resplendent, power-hungry architectural complex with an incomparably indifferent expression.

A light breeze blew through his black hair, and his deep eyes hid the vicissitudes of time.

Unknowingly, he realized he had almost forgotten his identity as a transmigrator.

After all, before transmigrating into this dog-eat-dog cultivation world, he was just an eighteen-year-old internet addict, an orphan with no one to rely on, spending his days immersed in virtual worlds.

At that time, he had nothing and no attachments.

But having come to this cultivation world, he had truly lived here for too many years.

He had witnessed the magnificence of this vast universe, experienced countless life-and-death struggles, and his mind had fused with the massive memories of multiple reincarnations.

That past naivety had long been worn away by time. The current Ye Xuan was no longer the boy typing on a keyboard in front of a computer, but a cultivator who had completely integrated into this world, with unbridled arrogance carved into his very bones.

Finally. The long white jade imperial path came to an end. The vermilion gates of Weiyang Palace, towering ten zhang high and symbolizing the absolute zenith of Great Xia's imperial power, appeared in his line of sight.

And standing at the doorway was the Chief Eunuch of the Inner Palace, Eunuch Li.

Eunuch Li held a snow-white horsetail whisk over his arm, and his wrinkled old face immediately piled on a timeless, sycophantic smile.

Seeing Ye Xuan marching over aggressively, his eyes darted around, and he quickly bowed his waist, taking quick, small steps to greet him:

"Oh my, my dear ancestor!"

Eunuch Li exclaimed exaggeratedly, his gaze falling on Ye Xuan's shoeless feet, his tone full of extremely hypocritical heartache:

"How could you come out barefoot? The ground is cold. If you harm your phoenix body, Her Majesty will be heartbroken, and then she'll use her servants' heads as balls to kick again."

Ye Xuan glanced at him coldly, his eyes as if looking at a pile of trash. Without pausing his steps in the slightest, he spat out two icy words:

"Get lost."

Faced with Ye Xuan's insult, Eunuch Li was not only unbothered but remained smiling.

However, his seemingly hunched body precisely shifted a step sideways. Like a mountain of meat growing from the ground, he firmly blocked Ye Xuan's path with a smile hiding a knife:

"Calm your anger, Your Highness. Her Majesty is currently reviewing memorials in the Imperial Study, discussing important matters with several Grand Councilors. She specifically ordered that no one is to disturb her."

Eunuch Li flicked his horsetail whisk, his tone carrying a needle-in-cotton warning and feigned consolation:

"You see, why don't you return to Ganlu Hall to rest first? When Her Majesty finishes her work, she will naturally go to see you."

Ye Xuan finally stopped in his tracks.

He lowered his head slightly, looking at Eunuch Li's old, orange-peel-like face.

After two seconds of silence, the corners of Ye Xuan's mouth suddenly curled up, pulling into a sneer full of brutality and mockery:

"No one is to disturb her?"

"Is that so?"

Before his voice faded, a sudden change occurred!

Ye Xuan violently raised his bare right foot.

Although his dantian was sealed at this moment and he had no cultivation base to rely on, his body had still been tempered through a thousand trials.

Even without the enhancement of spiritual energy, sheer physical strength alone still contained a terrifying force of a thousand catties.

"Bang!"

An extremely muffled sound of flesh colliding rang out! This kick was as fast as lightning, landing solidly and without any mercy on Eunuch Li's round belly!

"Ouch!"

Eunuch Li never expected that this Consort Xuan, whose cultivation was sealed, would dare to attack right in front of the Imperial Study. Caught off guard, his entire body flew through the air like a kicked ball!

He rolled several times on the hard white marble ground, only stopping when he crashed into a stone pillar. Clutching his stomach, he curled up on the ground like a cooked shrimp, letting out a miserable wail.

The elite imperial guards stationed around had a sudden, drastic change in expression. Their bodily instincts made them subconsciously grip their sword hilts, wanting to draw their blades to defend.

But when they clearly saw that the attacker was the Consort Xuan who was the apple of Her Majesty's eye, everyone uniformly and forcefully shoved their swords back into their scabbards.

One by one, they immediately looked straight ahead, straightened their backs, and pretended to be blind and deaf, turning a blind eye to the wailing Chief Eunuch on the ground.

"I want to see Wu Lingxiao."

Ye Xuan calmly withdrew his foot, not even glancing at Eunuch Li on the ground.

"Let alone the Grand Councilors, even if the King of Heaven himself is inside, I will still barge in!"

After speaking.

No one dared to step forward to stop him anymore.

Ye Xuan strode forward with the momentum of killing gods and buddhas if they stood in his way, stepping onto the highest flight of stairs.

Arriving before the tightly shut doors of the Imperial Study, which symbolized the highest power of Great Xia, Ye Xuan took a deep breath. The fire of brutality and rebellion deep in his eyes was completely ignited at this moment.

He did not have the patience to knock on the door, let alone bow and scrape to wait for a eunuch's announcement.

He directly raised his powerful right foot, using all his strength, like an enraged lion, and viciously kicked the heavy vermilion doors carved with five-clawed golden dragons that represented royal majesty!

Accompanied by wildly flying wood splinters, the thick wooden latch was directly snapped by the violent force!

The massive sound was like a thunderclap on the ground, echoing with a shockingly tyrannical posture through the deep and spacious Imperial Study!

Inside the Imperial Study, there was dead silence.

The ministers who were originally reporting on military affairs were so startled by the sudden loud noise that they trembled all over, almost dropping the memorials in their hands.

They turned their heads in horror, wanting to see which suicidal assassin dared to trespass into the Imperial Study.

However, when they clearly saw the figure at the door, dressed in clothes whiter than snow, barefoot with unkempt hair, the horror in their eyes instantly turned into a more complex shock and panic.

"Consort... Consort Xuan?"

The elderly ministers exchanged nervous glances before tactfully and swiftly lowering their heads. They wished they could bury their faces in their laps, not daring to breathe a word or make a sound.

Right in the center of the Imperial Study.

Behind the massive purple sandalwood dragon desk.

The Empress of Great Xia, Wu Lingxiao, sat upright upon the dragon throne, holding a vermilion brush.

She was not wearing her usual coarse linen garments today; instead, she had changed into the most majestic imperial robes.

Against a profound black background, nine lifelike five-clawed golden dragons were embroidered in gold thread. Upon her head rested a flat-topped imperial crown with twelve tassels, its dangling bead curtains obscuring her majestic and profound phoenix eyes.

Hearing the door being kicked open, she did not show the slightest hint of surprise or anger.

She merely raised her head slowly.

The beaded curtain swayed, revealing a face that was breathtakingly beautiful yet radiated an overwhelming, oppressive aura.

The moment she saw Ye Xuan, she smiled.

It was not the cold sneer typical of an emperor, nor was it a hypocritical, fake smile.

Rather, it was a maniacal laughter that came from the depths of her heart, brimming with a sick, possessive desire and profound satisfaction.

Hahahaha...

Wu Lingxiao set down her vermilion brush and slowly stood up.

She opened her arms, her wide sleeves spreading like clouds hanging from the heavens, as if wanting to pull Ye Xuan into her embrace.

My beloved consort, you have come.

I knew that the very first thing you would do upon waking up would be to come find me.

The term beloved consort was spoken with such tender and lingering affection, yet it sent a shiver of goosebumps down the spines of everyone present.

Ye Xuan stood at the doorway, silhouetted against the light.

He looked at this high and mighty woman, taking in the imperial robes that symbolized her supreme, unrivaled power, and made no effort to hide the disgust in his eyes.

Is this your true face?

Ye Xuan let out a cold scoff and walked into the grand hall step by step. Every footfall seemed to trample heavily upon the beating hearts of the onlookers.

Wu Lingxiao, seeing you like this truly makes me sick.