As long as I run fast enough, the green hat won't catch me.

At this moment, the gazes of tens of thousands of experts and mighty figures from various sects all converged on Ye Xuan.

Chu Jinghong's heart skipped a beat, and a strong sense of foreboding welled up inside her.

Furious, she desperately tried to cast a spell within her sleeves to seal Ye Xuan's mouth. Even if it gave people cause for gossip, she absolutely could not let him ruin this grand marriage plan!

However, a shocking scene occurred!

Although there was not a single trace of spiritual energy in Ye Xuan's body, an extremely profound fluctuation of the Great Dao suddenly erupted from his muscles and bones!

It was the instinctive resistance branded deep into his flesh from his day and night comprehension of spatial laws. In an instant, it forcibly blocked the silencing spell Chu Jinghong had hastily cast!

Ye Xuan took a step forward, looking straight at the high and mighty Chu Jinghong, a cold sneer of utter mockery curving the corner of his mouth:

"Chu Jinghong, when did I ever say I would become your Imperial Consort?"

Dead silence fell over the entire venue! Everyone gasped, looking in disbelief at this Regent who dared to publicly defy the Empress.

Ye Xuan's voice grew louder, every word like a resounding slap fiercely striking Chu Jinghong's face:

"Does a woman like you, blinded by power, even deserve to be my, Ye Xuan's, wife?"

"Whoa!"

The entire square instantly exploded into an uproar. The experts of the major sects looked at each other in sheer horror.

Chu Jinghong's face instantly flushed red, then turned as pale as paper. Being humiliated like this in front of the whole world made her extremely furious, feeling as if her internal organs were on fire.

But in broad daylight and before the public, it was truly inappropriate for her to attack a mortal with no cultivation. She could only forcefully suppress her rampaging spiritual energy, grit her teeth, and whisper in a nearly pleading tone:

"Husband, do you really have to say this here?"

"Where else? Should I save it for your dragon bed, and say it while watching you roll around in the sheets with this bunch of wild men?"

Ye Xuan had completely torn off all pretenses. He angrily pointed at Lin Jiutian and the others below the steps, roaring to the whole world: "With so many dynasties in this world, I have never seen a founding emperor wanting to bear children for other men!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was dumbfounded. The unspoken, dirty deals of the Eight Great Sects were mercilessly stripped bare by Ye Xuan and exposed directly in the broad daylight!

Lin Jiutian and the others' faces instantly turned extremely ugly.

"In the end, it's just that you want to borrow the power of the Eight Great Sects to consolidate your imperial power."

Ye Xuan sneered, his smile revealing endless sorrow and desolation. He looked at Chu Jinghong's panicked face. "And for this, you have to sacrifice my dignity."

"I am doing all of this for our Great Jin!" Chu Jinghong's tears burst forth like a broken dam. She cried out mournfully, trying to awaken Ye Xuan's memories of the past. "Wasn't our dream to establish the number one dynasty in the Central State?"

"You are wrong."

Ye Xuan shook his head, the last glimmer of light in his eyes completely extinguishing, turning into a desolate, dead ash: "That is your Great Jin. It hasn't been mine for a long time."

He took out the long-prepared divorce paper from his robes and viciously threw it onto the white jade steps at Chu Jinghong's feet: "Sign it now! Chu Jinghong, we are divorcing! From now on, you take your high road, and I'll cross my single-log bridge. You can bear children for whoever you want, I, Ye Xuan, couldn't care less! From this day forward, I am no longer your husband, and the life or death of the Great Jin has nothing to do with me!"

The surrounding experts looked at each other, and even the elders of the Eight Great Sects were stunned. Who could have imagined that this world-renowned grand ceremony would turn into such a farce?

"No! I don't accept this!"

Chu Jinghong looked at the divorce paper fluttering at her feet and completely descended into madness.

She crushed it under her foot. The oppressive aura of the Mahayana Realm erupted uncontrollably, whipping up fierce winds across the square and forcing countless cultivators to their knees, coughing up blood.

"I am your wife! For all lifetimes! I do not accept the divorce!" Her eyes were bloodshot as she stared intently at Ye Xuan like a mad beast guarding its food.

"Chu Jinghong, you are truly despicable." Ye Xuan looked at her like this, gritting his teeth, every word dripping with blood: "Are you only satisfied if you force this cuckold's hat firmly onto my head?!"

"Regardless, I won't sign! I won't sign even if I die!" Chu Jinghong roared hysterically.

"Hahaha... hahahahaha!"

Looking at this completely hopeless woman, Ye Xuan suddenly threw his head back and let out a burst of heart-wrenching, maniacal laughter. He laughed until tears flowed, his chest heaving violently.

"Since you don't accept a mutual divorce, that's fine! There is another way!"

Under the shocked gazes of the world's heroes, Ye Xuan once again reached into his robes. This time, he pulled out a shocking letter written in his own life essence blood.

He threw it into the air without hesitation, using his last bit of strength to project the blood-red characters into the heavens!

"This is a letter of repudiation! I'm bestowing it upon you!"

Ye Xuan's voice, amplified by spiritual energy, echoed like the furious thunder of the nine heavens, spreading to every corner:

"I, Ye Xuan, today in front of the people of the world, repudiate you, this shameless slut Chu Jinghong! From this moment on, all our ties are severed, and we shall never meet again! Let the heavens be my witness!"

As soon as the word "slut" came out, the entire Taihe Hall square completely exploded! The people of the Eight Great Sects gasped, and Lin Jiutian trembled with rage.

"No! Ye Xuan, you cannot do this to me!"

Chu Jinghong had gone completely mad. Her terrifying Mahayana Realm cultivation erupted without reservation at this moment, changing the color of the sky and earth as fierce winds howled.

She transformed into a streak of blood-red light, reaching out with trembling hands to grab this resolute man.

However, Ye Xuan just looked at her coldly, his eyes so indifferent it was heartbreaking.

"Chu Jinghong, I would rather fight and kill by your side for another thousand years, and even if I died in battle, I would have no regrets."

His body began to turn illusory, wrapped in spatial laws: "It's just a pity that my, Ye Xuan's, three thousand years were ultimately given to the wrong person."

"Trackless Ten Thousand Miles, activate."

"Bang!"

As a profound sound of the Great Dao rang out, all spatial lockdowns and tracking marks within a meter of Ye Xuan were instantly wiped completely clean.

His figure turned into specks of starlight, vanishing into thin air right in front of Chu Jinghong, leaving not a single trace behind.

"Thud."

Chu Jinghong missed and fell heavily onto the cold white marble floor. She stared blankly at her empty hands, her mind completely blank.

"No... Ah Xuan... Ah Xuan!!!" A shrill, desperate scream echoed throughout the entire Great Jin Imperial Palace.

This grand wedding had completely devolved into an earth-shattering farce rarely seen in the cultivation world in ten thousand years.

Just as Chu Jinghong was breaking down, the leading elder of the Nine Heavens Holy Land stepped forward. He coughed lightly, hiding the calculation in his eyes, and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty! Since that Ye Xuan failed to appreciate your kindness and fled the wedding on the spot, the nation cannot be without a master for a single day. I ask Your Majesty to immediately issue a decree and allow our sect's Dao Child, Lin Jiutian, to fill the position of Imperial Consort!"

Hearing these words, Chu Jinghong, who was lying on the ground, stiffened abruptly.

She slowly raised her head. On that tear-stained face, all the sorrow and despair were restrained in an instant, replaced by a chilling, deathly coldness.

After all, she was the founding empress who had ascended the throne over a mountain of corpses; she would absolutely not lose her composure in public.

"Very well." Chu Jinghong stood up, not even sparing a glance at Lin Jiutian, and mechanically spat out a single word. "Confer Lin Jiutian the title of Imperial Consort. Let the ceremony continue."

Lin Jiutian was overjoyed. Just as he was about to step forward to give his thanks, Chu Jinghong abruptly turned around and violently grabbed the collar of the imperial guard commander beside her. Her eyes were so red they seemed to drip blood, and she roared like an absolute madwoman.

"Pass down my decree! Send the Shadow Guards, the Black Scale Army, and dig three feet into the ground if you have to! Go find him! Bring Ye Xuan back to me! If you cannot bring him back, you will all be buried with him!"

At this moment, the smile on Lin Jiutian's face completely froze.

He suddenly realized that although he had gained the title of Imperial Consort, in the eyes of this madwoman, he still could not even compare to a single strand of Ye Xuan's hair.

Meanwhile.

Millions of miles away from the Great Jin Imperial Capital, in a desolate, endless desert filled with blowing yellow sand.

The void twisted, and Ye Xuan's figure tumbled wretchedly onto a sand dune.

Because of the spell-connecting effect of the Miles Without a Trace Talisman, the sealed spiritual energy in his body instantly broke through its shackles like a bursting dam, and the mighty cultivation of the Tribulation Transcendence stage once again filled his entire body.

Feeling the surging power within him, Ye Xuan finally let out a long breath of relief.

He raised his hand and looked at the storage ring on his finger, which contained half of the Great Jin treasury. On his face, which had been cold for a long time, a relieved yet somewhat mocking and bitter smile finally appeared.

"As long as I run fast enough, the green hat of a cuckold will never catch up to me."

Looking back in the direction of the Great Jin Imperial Capital, Ye Xuan's eyes held not a shred of lingering attachment.

A gust of fierce wind swept past, carrying yellow sand. Then, his figure completely blended into the wind and sand, disappearing without a trace.

Inside the Great Jin Imperial Palace, Chu Jinghong had gone completely mad.

She stayed day and night in Ye Xuan's former Regent Estate, holding the clothes Ye Xuan had worn, sometimes wailing loudly, sometimes killing in a fit of rage.

She kept eight peerless prodigies in her harem, but she did not even spare them a glance. Any male concubine who dared to approach her bedchamber would be sent flying and coughing up blood by the direct pressure of her Mahayana stage aura.

Over the next few years, she searched like a madwoman.

However, it was useless.

Although the Great Jin Dynasty had been established, its foundations were shallow and it was not very powerful.

After the eight great sects received their official status, they began to collude in secret. They simply did not cooperate with Chu Jinghong's absurd order to find her ex-husband, and even secretly tripped her up.

Just like that, spring passed and autumn came, and the world changed.

One year, ten years, a hundred years.

A full hundred years passed. Chu Jinghong still could not find Ye Xuan's whereabouts.

Even if spies finally managed to discover traces of Ye Xuan, those pursuers below the Mahayana stage simply could not block a single sword strike from him.

What made Chu Jinghong even more desperate was that the Miles Without a Trace Talisman that Ye Xuan had created to escape back then had actually swept across the entire cultivation world over this century!

This kind of talisman, which did not require magical power to activate and could forcefully erase all restrictions, became a life-saving trump card that all cultivators dreamed of.

By selling this talisman, Ye Xuan not only earned a massive fortune but also turned Chu Jinghong's pursuit into the biggest joke in the cultivation world.

The Great Jin Imperial Palace, the Imperial Study.

This place no longer had its former resplendence. It was plastered with portraits of Ye Xuan everywhere, and messy jade slips containing clues were piled up like mountains.

Chu Jinghong sat slumped on the dragon throne with disheveled hair, tightly clutching a Miles Without a Trace Talisman bought at a heavy price.

Her once imperious eyes were now bloodshot and filled with deep exhaustion.

"Husband..." Chu Jinghong stared at the profound patterns on the talisman paper, her lips curling into a self-deprecating smile that was uglier than crying. "To escape me, you actually invented this unprecedented space-time talisman in a desperate situation."

Two lines of clear tears slid down her gaunt cheeks.

"I really do not know... whether I should be proud of you, or feel sorrow for myself."

Chu Jinghong pressed the talisman paper tightly against her heart and curled up in the chair like an injured little girl, letting out a desperate whimper. "I was wrong... Ah Xuan, I really know I was wrong. This throne is so cold, they are all scheming against me, only you truly treated me well... Where are you?"

Right at this moment, the door of the Imperial Study was carefully pushed open.

The commander of Great Jin's most elite shadow guards knelt on the ground, holding high a faintly glowing recording stone with trembling hands, his voice quivering. "Reporting to Your Majesty. Your subordinate found traces of the Regent at the edge of the Endless Sea of Fire. This... this is the recording stone the Regent asked your subordinate to bring back."

Chu Jinghong sprang up violently as if electrocuted. She did not even have time to put on her shoes, rushing over barefoot to snatch the recording stone and frantically pouring her spiritual energy into it.

Light flickered.

A magnificent and boundless sea of fire appeared on the recording stone.

And at the edge of the sea of fire, Ye Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, dressed in black. His cultivation had astonishingly reached the great circle of the Mahayana stage, and immortal Dao laws faintly circulated around him.

In the projection, the spy's trembling voice could be heard. "Regent, Her Majesty... Her Majesty has been looking for you for a full hundred years!"

Ye Xuan's back did not even twitch. He slightly turned his head, and those deep eyes pierced through the image of the recording stone, stabbing directly into Chu Jinghong's heart.

"Looking for me?" Ye Xuan sneered, his lips curling into an unconcealed smirk of disgust. "What does that worn-out shoe want with me? Is she out of men to sleep with and insisting on finding me to put a green hat on my head?"

Worn-out shoe.

These words made Chu Jinghong tremble violently, her face instantly turning an ashen, deathly gray.

In the recording stone, the spy was so oppressed by Ye Xuan's aura that he was left speechless.

Ye Xuan turned around and faced the projection directly. His eyes no longer held the pain and struggle from a hundred years ago, leaving only a transcendent, lofty contempt.

"Go back and tell her that I have already divorced her. She is now just a slut rotting in the deep palaces of Great Jin. Whether she lives or dies has nothing to do with me, Ye Xuan, anymore."

Ye Xuan raised his head, looking at the faintly discernible sky-piercing pillar of light above the firmament, his voice carrying endless freedom.

"I am about to tear through space and ascend to the Spirit Realm. Tell that worn-out shoe, if she still wants to look for me like a mad dog, then she should abandon the throne she cannot bear to part with and come find me in the Spirit Realm!"

Ye Xuan turned his head, looked at the projection, and let out an extremely harsh, mocking, and maniacal laugh.

"It is just a pity, would that woman who values power more than her own life, who did not hesitate to sell her body to consolidate her imperial power, be willing to leave behind the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty that she worked so hard to build, even at the cost of making me a cuckold? Hahahaha!"

Buzz!

The light screen flickered and completely went out. The projection ended.

Dead silence.

Inside the Imperial Study, it fell into a deathly silence.

Chu Jinghong stared fixedly at the dimming Shadow Stone. Ye Xuan's final mocking words echoed madly in her mind like a curse.

The Spirit Realm?

He went to the Spirit Realm?

The Human Realm and the Spirit Realm are separated by the laws of the Heavenly Dao. Once one ascends to the Spirit Realm, it is impossible to return.

If she dared to chase after him, she would never be able to come back!

The Great Jin Immortal Dynasty she had fought for a thousand years to build, the supreme imperial power she had traded her love for, the throne of the First Emperor she was so proud of—all of it would instantly crumble upon her departure, completely carved up by the Eight Great Sects until nothing remained!

Her empire? Or Ye Xuan?

This was an unsolvable dead end! It was the ultimate punishment Ye Xuan had personally laid before her, crafted through a century of flight and the most vicious calculation!

Pfft!

Overwhelmed by sudden fury and with her vital energy and blood flowing in reverse, Chu Jinghong threw her head back and violently spat out a large mouthful of bright, tragic blood, completely dyeing the memorials on the desk red.

She staggered back two steps, her hair disheveled, her dragon robe stained with blood.

Haha...

Hahahahaha!

After a long period of stupor, Chu Jinghong suddenly began to laugh lowly. The laughter grew louder and sharper, eventually turning into a bone-chilling, maniacal roar of laughter!

My good husband... you really... you really gave me the hardest problem of all...

Chu Jinghong jerked her head up. Her originally breathtaking face was now covered in bulging veins from extreme paranoia. Her eyes had turned completely blood-red, and her terrifying Mahayana realm cultivation actually showed faint signs of breaking through into Qi Deviation at this moment!

I will not give up the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty.

But at the same time, I will not give up on you!

Her thoughts, like a receding tide, violently dragged Chu Jinghong back to reality from that heart-wrenching memory of thirty thousand years ago.

Inside the Star Plucking Tower, it remained deathly silent and cold.

The air was thick with the heavy stench of blood left behind after the musician had just exploded, mixing with the premium dragon ambergris incense that originally lingered in the hall, creating a nauseating smell.

Yet Chu Jinghong seemed completely oblivious. She still stood barefoot before the dark red bloodstains, a shattered light flickering in her hollow phoenix eyes.

Thirty thousand years...

She muttered to herself, her pale fingers gripping the dragon robe at her chest tightly. Her heart had long become riddled with holes on the day Ye Xuan completely disappeared.

Back then, Ye Xuan had left too resolutely, leaving not a single trace behind. By the time she finally realized what she had lost, by the time she frantically suppressed those sect prodigies and completely grasped the power of Great Jin in her hands, the man who would protect her with his life had already thoroughly perished, his soul stepping into the cycle of reincarnation.

For these thirty thousand years, she was like a beautiful ghost wandering the mortal realm. She had trodden across the three thousand Dao states of the Central State, even slaughtering her way up to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, just to find even the slightest clue about him.

Just then, a series of incredibly hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the Star Plucking Tower, accompanied by the panicked interceptions of the guarding eunuchs.

Your Highness the Crown Prince! Her Majesty is in secluded cultivation, you cannot...

Get lost! I have a matter of monumental importance to see Imperial Mother! If you delay me, I will skin you alive!

Bang!

The heavy purple-gold doors were violently pushed open by a tyrannical surge of spiritual energy.

A young man wearing the four-clawed golden dragon robes of the Crown Prince stumbled into the great hall.

He gasped heavily for air, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat. Even the purple-gold jade crown on his head was slightly askew from running. It was obvious he had used some kind of escape technique that severely depleted his vital energy, rushing back desperately.

He had a face that bore a fifty percent resemblance to Ye Xuan, with sword-like eyebrows, starry eyes, and sharp contours.

But compared to the coldness and vicissitudes Ye Xuan had tempered from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he appeared younger and more sharp-edged, carrying a trace of the noble arrogance belonging to Chu Jinghong between his brows.

He was the Crown Prince of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty—Ye Linyuan!

Linyuan, you are becoming more and more impudent.

Chu Jinghong slowly turned around. Only when her hollow eyes saw this face similar to Ye Xuan's did they barely ripple with a trace of life. But her voice remained as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice.

Imperial Mother! I found it! Your son found it!

Ye Linyuan didn't care about the bloody stench in the hall at all, nor did he care about his mother's suffocating aura. He dropped to his knees before Chu Jinghong with a thud, his hands trembling as he held up a faintly glowing Shadow Stone high, as if holding a rare treasure.

His voice cracked slightly from extreme excitement and agitation:

Father's reincarnation... has been located!

What... did you say?

Chu Jinghong's body violently trembled. The terrifying aura of her True Immortal realm actually completely lost control at this moment, causing the entire Star Plucking Tower to let out a groan of overwhelming burden.

Imperial Mother, it's true! The hidden spies your son planted in Qingzhou risked their lives to send back this news!

Ye Linyuan's eyes were red, and the hand holding the Shadow Stone trembled violently. Father... he reincarnated into a second-rate faction in Qingzhou called the Azure Cloud Sect. When the spy sent back the footage, Father... he fled his wedding at the Azure Cloud Sect!

Before Ye Linyuan could even react, the Shadow Stone in his hand vanished into thin air.

The next second, Chu Jinghong had teleported right in front of him. She gripped the Shadow Stone tightly, her fingers pressing so hard her knuckles turned white, as if the moment she let go, the only hope she had in thirty thousand years would turn into a bubble.

Open... open...

The grand First Emperor of Great Jin, the peerless Empress who suppressed the three thousand Dao states, couldn't even condense a single thread of spiritual energy at this moment. Her hands shook so much she couldn't activate the Shadow Stone at all.

In the end, it was Ye Linyuan who gathered his courage and injected a trace of true essence.

The Shadow Stone burst into brilliant light, and a translucent image slowly projected within the dim Star Plucking Tower.

It was the scene of an extremely extravagant wedding. Red silk filled the view, seats were packed with guests, and upon the high platform stood a beautiful young woman wearing a phoenix coronet and a red bridal gown, her face full of arrogance and imperiousness.

Opposite the woman stood a young man wearing the bright red wedding attire of a groom.

The young man's cultivation base didn't look high, only at the mere Foundation Establishment stage. But as he stood there, his back was perfectly straight, like a peerless divine sword that would rather break than bend.

When the image gradually cleared, and the young man's face was completely revealed before Chu Jinghong—

Time stopped flowing at this moment.

In the image.

The high and mighty bride was pointing at the young man's nose, bossing him around and angrily scolding him about something, while the surrounding guests pointed fingers and mocked wantonly.

However, the young man had no anger, no roaring.

He merely looked coldly at the bride before him.

This look... this look that revealed a deep-seated pride, exhaustion, and absolute resolve!

Chu Jinghong was too familiar with it!

Thirty thousand years ago on the Ascension Terrace, when Ye Xuan tore through the void and completely abandoned her, this was the exact look he gave her!

In the image, the young man suddenly sneered.

He raised his hand and, without the slightest hesitation, tore off his bright red wedding attire and viciously threw it right into the bride's face.

Amidst an uproar and exclamations, the young man turned around, leaving everyone with an aloof and lonely back, and then silently activated the Ten Thousand Mile Traceless Talisman.

The image came to an abrupt halt here.

The light of the Recording Stone dimmed.

Inside the Star-Plucking Pavilion, there was a deathly silence.

Drip... drip...

One drop, two drops.

Crystal-clear tears, like pearls from a broken string, fell madly down Chu Jinghong's devastatingly beautiful cheeks, shattering into countless droplets on the ground.

She stared blankly at the spot where the image had disappeared, her entire body trembling violently.

It is him... It is really him...

Chu Jinghong suddenly covered her face, a mournful wail spilling through her fingers.

My husband... My Ah Xuan! Even the look in your eyes when escaping your wedding is exactly the same as when you abandoned me!

She cried and laughed at the same time. That originally aloof and lofty face was now twisted with extreme ecstasy and a sickly paranoia, exuding a breathtakingly demonic beauty.

Escaping a wedding? Hahahahaha! You are actually escaping a wedding again!

Chu Jinghong abruptly raised her head, her red lips curving into a hair-raising arc. The emptiness in her eyes was filled with a fanatical possessiveness strong enough to incinerate the entire world.

It seems that even if your memory was erased, even if you reincarnated to cultivate anew, in your very bones you still hate being forced, still hate that kind of hypocritical arranged marriage! Right?!

I was wrong back then... I shouldn't have forced you! I shouldn't have made you suffer such a great grievance!

She nervously stroked the air, as if caressing Ye Xuan's face: But it doesn't matter anymore, Ah Xuan... I found you! This time, in the heavens and the earth, across the Three Thousand Dao Continents, no one will ever take you away from my side again!

Ye Linyuan, kneeling on the ground, looked at his mother who had completely descended into madness. An uncontrollable chill shot up his spine, but he still braced himself and called out, Imperial Mother, the journey to Qingzhou is far. This son requests to personally lead a team...

You will remain to oversee the state.

Chu Jinghong coldly interrupted him.

When she lowered her eyes again, the tears in them had already been instantly evaporated by a terrifying killing intent and imperial majesty.

Chu Jinghong slowly draped the dark golden cape symbolizing supreme imperial power over her shoulders, her exquisite face covered with a suffocating mix of tyranny and deep affection.

Pass down My decree!

Chu Jinghong's voice turned into rolling heavenly thunder, instantly spreading throughout the entire Great Jin Imperial Capital, causing billions of living beings to tremble:

Ring the Divine Bell of State! Activate the Cross-Continent Teleportation Array!

We depart for Qingzhou!

Notify all factions in the eighteen provinces of Qingzhou to surround that place called the Azure Cloud Sect so tightly that not even a fly can escape! If Ah Xuan loses a single hair, I will make all of Qingzhou barren, burying it alongside him!

The night wind surged wildly, making her cape flutter and snap in the air.

Chu Jinghong raised her head and looked in the direction of Qingzhou, the corners of her mouth curling into a sickly and crazed smile.

Husband, be good and stand there without moving... Your Jinghong is coming to take you home.