Getting Ready to Run

Regent's Estate, secret chamber.

Ye Xuan sat at the head of the room, with dozens of his trusted death guards kneeling below, their auras concealed and murderous intent hidden.

These were the old core forces he had personally brought out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood over three thousand years. They were loyal only to Ye Xuan; not even Chu Jinghong had the authority to mobilize them.

"Your Highness..." The Shadow Commander raised his head, his eyes full of worry and incomprehension.

"Pass down my secret order," Ye Xuan's voice was hoarse and completely emotionless. "From this moment on, sell off all spirit mines, merchant guilds, pill pavilions, artifact shops, and all my secret properties across the Central State under the estate's name!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the dozens of death guards below all gasped in unison.

"Please reconsider, Your Highness!" The Shadow Commander kowtowed urgently. "These properties represent half of the Great Jin's foundation, and they are the legacy you have built with your blood, sweat, and tears over three thousand years. If we sell them all now..."

"I said, sell them all!"

Ye Xuan fiercely clenched his fists, veins bulging on the back of his hands. A profound sorrow and resolve flashed in the depths of his eyes:

"Spare no cost, ignore the losses, I only want top-grade spirit stones and pills! Within ten days, everything must be liquidated!"

Looking at the shocked faces of his trusted aides, Ye Xuan slowly closed his eyes, hiding the desolation within them.

"I am leaving." His voice was very soft, but it carried an ironclad, death-defying will: "Before that green hat of cuckoldry is truly and firmly placed on my, Ye Xuan's, head."

Although the aides were full of shock and confusion, their discipline as death guards kept them from asking another word.

"Yes! Subordinates understand!"

The crowd turned into streaks of black shadows, instantly vanishing from the secret chamber.

Ye Xuan let out a long breath of stale air, his entire body seemingly drained of strength, slumping back into his chair.

Over the next two days, the imperial palace was decorated with lanterns and colored banners, with ethereal fairy music floating in the air.

Four more peerless geniuses from ancient sects arrived in the Great Jin's imperial capital, riding spirit ships that blotted out the sun and sky.

Chu Jinghong, dressed in full regal attire and wearing a twelve-tasseled flat-topped crown, personally left the palace to welcome them.

The entire Central State was in an uproar. Countless factions marveled at the charm and methods of this Great Jin Empress, who had managed to bring the heirs of eight top-tier factions into her harem without shedding a single drop of blood.

Meanwhile, the official Imperial Consort, Regent Ye Xuan, seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth, not showing his face at all.

He couldn't even be bothered to care who else Chu Jinghong had welcomed. All his energy was focused on frantically urging his subordinates to sell off his assets and gather the resources needed to leave the Central State.

Until the third day.

To force Chu Jinghong to sign the divorce papers, Ye Xuan walked alone into the imperial palace's royal garden.

Before he even got close, a burst of silvery, coquettish laughter drifted into Ye Xuan's ears on the wind.

"Your Majesty's spirit tea is indeed a peerless delicacy in this world. However, if Your Majesty could personally feed it to this humble minister, I'm afraid the taste of this tea would be three times sweeter." A magnetic and ambiguous male voice sounded.

Ye Xuan's footsteps stopped abruptly.

Through the layers of exotic spirit flowers and grasses, he clearly saw Chu Jinghong leaning lazily on a soft couch in a white jade pavilion.

She was surrounded, like the moon among stars, by eight top-tier geniuses of peerless elegance and varying temperaments.

The one who had just spoken was Gui Wuji of the Limitless Sacred Land.

His gaze was sticky, brazenly sizing up Chu Jinghong's graceful figure.

And Chu Jinghong, instead of getting angry, covered her red lips with her slender jade hand and gave Gui Wuji a coquettish eye-roll. "Dao Child Gui is always making fun of We. This spirit tea is unique to the Great Jin. If the Dao Child likes it, in the future... there will be plenty of opportunities to taste it."

The gentleness and the half-rejecting, half-welcoming charm in her eyes made Ye Xuan tremble all over, his entire body shaking.

"Bang!"

Ye Xuan could no longer suppress the violence in his chest. Without hiding his aura, his figure crashed outside the white jade pavilion like a black lightning bolt, stomping two deep cracks into the hard jade ground.

"It seems..."

Ye Xuan's face was extremely cold, his eyes dancing with a fury and mockery enough to burn the heavens and destroy the earth: "...there's no need to hold any Imperial Consort Ceremony. You're all having such a wonderful time here, so deeply in love."

Seeing Ye Xuan suddenly appear, a trace of panic flashed across Chu Jinghong's smiling face, but it was quickly masked by imperial majesty.

"Ye Xuan, what are you doing here? We are discussing state affairs with the Holy Sons." She straightened her posture, a hint of displeasure in her tone.

"State affairs? State affairs discussed on a bed?" Ye Xuan sneered, pulling out a silk scroll covered in blood-written characters straight from his robes, slapping it down on the stone table with a "smack."

"Cut the crap. Hurry up and sign the divorce papers! From now on, we make a clean break, and your affairs have nothing to do with me!"

"Ye Xuan! You are insolent!" Chu Jinghong flew into a rage, standing up abruptly and pointing at Ye Xuan's nose as she scolded, "How many times have We told you, this is just putting on an act! Why do you refuse to understand Our painstaking efforts?"

Seeing this, a malicious glint flashed in Lin Jiutian's eyes from the side.

He immediately stepped forward, putting on a righteous and awe-inspiring posture, and accused, "Regent, you are being far too arrogant because of the favor you receive! Her Majesty works tirelessly day and night for the Great Jin's empire. Instead of sharing Her Majesty's burdens, you make unreasonable scenes here and force Her Majesty to divorce. What are your intentions?"

"What kind of thing are you, to dare bark at me here?"

Ye Xuan's eyes sharpened. Without any nonsense, he backhanded a slap through the air!

"Smack!"

A crisp slapping sound echoed through the royal garden.

Lin Jiutian possessed a cultivation at the peak of the Body Integration Realm. Facing Ye Xuan's casual strike, he could have easily neutralized it, or even dodged it. But in that split second, a bizarre sneer hooked the corner of his mouth. Not only did he not dodge, but he actively leaned into it.

"Ah!"

Lin Jiutian let out a miserable shriek, his entire body flying backward like a kite with a broken string. He spat out a huge mouthful of blood and smashed heavily into a rockery, his face as pale as gold paper, as if he had suffered a fatal, heavy injury.

"Jiutian!"

Chu Jinghong's expression changed drastically, and she hurriedly stepped forward to help Lin Jiutian up. When she saw Lin Jiutian's weak, gasping state, anger instantly shot up to the top of her head.

"Ye Xuan! Are you crazy?" Chu Jinghong turned her head, roaring at Ye Xuan with bloodshot eyes: "He is the Holy Son of the Nine Heavens Sacred Land! You struck with such a vicious hand right away, do you want to provoke an all-out war between the Great Jin and the Nine Heavens Sacred Land? You reckless, selfish madman!"

Looking at Chu Jinghong's expression, which looked so heartbroken it could almost bleed, Ye Xuan laughed out of extreme anger, a laugh filled with a hair-raising desolation.

"A vicious hand?"

Ye Xuan pointed at Lin Jiutian, who was still playing dead on the ground, looking at Chu Jinghong as if he were looking at an unreasonable idiot.

"The power of my palm strike couldn't even kill a Soul Formation cultivator; it's absolutely impossible for it to cause such injuries! He just deliberately shattered his own heart meridians to win your sympathy!"

"You're still arguing! Would he joke with his own life?" Chu Jinghong couldn't listen at all; she only felt that Ye Xuan was shirking responsibility and making unreasonable trouble.

"Chu Jinghong!"

Ye Xuan could no longer bear it. He took a step forward and instantly appeared in front of Chu Jinghong, under the horrified and despairing gazes of everyone present.

Slap!

A resounding slap landed squarely on the breathtakingly beautiful face of the Great Jin Empress, the Mahayana Realm First Emperor!

The entire venue fell dead silent!

All the prodigies widened their eyes, looking at Ye Xuan as if they had seen a ghost.

Chu Jinghong's head was knocked to the side by the blow, and five distinct red finger marks instantly appeared on her fair cheek. Cupping her face, she was completely stunned, her mind going blank.

It had been three thousand years, and this was the first time he had ever laid a hand on her.

What kind of mortal realm theatrical play are you acting out for me here?

Ye Xuan's eyes spat fire. Pointing right at Chu Jinghong's nose, every word he spoke pierced the heart, every sentence dripped with blood:

You are a mighty figure of the Mahayana Realm! With your divine sense, you only need to take a single glance to know the flow of spiritual power in his body, to know whether he is faking it or not!

But you just pretend not to see it! You are willfully blind!

Then again, you are intoxicated by the flattery of these prodigies who treat you like the moon surrounded by stars, intoxicated by your illusion of invincible power. No one can wake a person who is pretending to be asleep!

Every word from Ye Xuan was like a heavy hammer, smashing ruthlessly against Chu Jinghong's ridiculous ego, tearing her hypocritical disguise to shreds.

Hurry up and sign the divorce papers! Then, give me half of the Great Jin! Ye Xuan looked at her coldly. Half of this empire was conquered by me, Ye Xuan. I will take what I deserve, and from now on, we shall never see each other again until the day we die!

Don't even think about it!

Chu Jinghong snapped back to reality. The ultimate humiliation of being slapped in public, coupled with the immense panic brought on by the words 'never see each other again,' sent her into a complete frenzy.

I will never divorce you! This Great Jin is mine, I am the First Emperor! Without my permission, you are not allowed to go anywhere! What do you mean half is yours? The entire Great Jin is mine, and you are mine too! She screamed hysterically, her Mahayana Realm coercion spilling out uncontrollably, pressing down on the surrounding prodigies so hard they could barely breathe.

Crazy woman.

Ye Xuan spat out coldly. There was no longer any anger in his eyes, only a disgust as if he were looking at trash.

Too lazy to spare her even another glance, he turned around, tore open the void directly, and strode into it, vanishing without a trace.

Ye Xuan! Come back here! Chu Jinghong raged impotently at the empty void.

Only after Ye Xuan had completely left did Lin Jiutian manage to stand up with great difficulty, supported by the others.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a venomous, triumphant gleam flashing in his eyes.

Please quell your anger, Your Majesty... Lin Jiutian coughed weakly, seizing the opportunity to sow discord. The Regent has worked hard and achieved great things, so it is inevitable that he would be arrogant about his merits. However... not only does he now dare to assault Your Majesty in public, but he also calls himself the Regent and even wants to split the Great Jin... If such a madman who disregards his sovereign is allowed to stay, I am afraid he will become a great disaster in the future.

Hearing this, Chu Jinghong's body stiffened slightly.

She did not speak, but stared fixedly at the void where Ye Xuan had disappeared. In those eyes that were once filled with love for Ye Xuan, not only did the flames of fury burn at this moment, but a deep apprehension toward the threat to her imperial power also quietly grew.

In the days that followed, the atmosphere in the imperial palace became bizarre to the extreme.

Ye Xuan did not mention leaving again, but like a ghost, he would frequently appear on occasions where Chu Jinghong was spending time with those eight prodigies.

He quietly watched Chu Jinghong bestow the Great Jin's top-tier magical treasures and spiritual medicines upon them.

He watched her chat and laugh with them, using the gentle gaze that had once belonged exclusively to him, Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan knew that Chu Jinghong might truly be putting on an act, that in her heart she might disdain these men and was merely using them.

But so what?

Looking at this resplendent imperial palace, he felt a churning wave of nausea in his stomach.

Back then, he had fought bloody battles, risking his life to establish the Great Jin, all because he simply wanted to give Chu Jinghong, to give the two of them, a safe home in this chaotic world.

If this home required his woman to flirt and feign compliance with other men to maintain it; if this home had already turned into a filthy trading ground for power...

Then there was no longer any need for this home to exist.