The Sword Emperor Emerges from Seclusion

Yet in the face of the threats from these four madwomen, not the slightest trace of panic appeared on Ye Xuan’s face.

Instead, he revealed an extraordinarily gentle smile, one that even carried a hint of reverence.

“You bullied me, humiliated me, and cheated on me.”

“But there are people who love me and dote on me.”

He looked at the four madwomen who were about to attack, his eyes filled with disdain. “The reason I gathered you four worn-out shoes here was not to have you rescue me. I simply wanted you to see with your own eyes that I, Ye Xuan, am not unloved by women of pure and spotless virtue.”

“Are you talking about Ying’er?”

Wu Lingxiao snorted coldly and glanced at Ying’er, who was sitting nearby, cracking melon seeds. “The four of us joining forces will be more than enough to deal with you. She won’t be able to save you either!”

“Ying’er?”

Ye Xuan shook his head, the corners of his lips curling into a proud smile.

“Of course not her. I’m talking about the one who holds down the Three Thousand Dao States with her sword, who suppresses the sun and moon—the Supreme Swordmaster. A woman of deep feeling and true nature, pure and immaculate, the foremost master of the sword.”

“The Sword Sovereign, Ye Jiuhuang.”

The moment those words were spoken, the originally violent aura abruptly froze.

“Ye Jiuhuang?”

Wu Lingxiao’s eyes widened in shock. “That’s impossible! Didn’t she enter seclusion eight thousand years ago to break through into that legendary realm? How could she possibly come out of seclusion for you?”

Clang!

A sword hum, so faint that it should have been inaudible yet so resonant that it rang deep within everyone’s soul, suddenly exploded above the Weiyang Palace.

In an instant, the shattered void was restored beneath the force of that sword hum. The chaotic laws of time, demonic energy, fiendish energy, and frost all vanished without a trace before a beam of pure white-gold sword light, like snow melting beneath the blazing sun.

“Husband, I’ve come.”

A voice that was cold and proud, yet gentle to the very core, drifted from the depths of the void.

Immediately afterward, a peerlessly graceful and unrivaled woman crossed the river of time and slowly stepped into everyone’s sight.

She wore an extremely simple white dress and carried an ancient, unadorned sword on her back.

There was no spiritual pressure radiating from her at all. Yet the moment she stood there, the entire world seemed to become nothing more than a backdrop for her.

Her beauty was so overwhelming that even the four stunning women—Wu Lingxiao and the others—felt an unbearable sense of inferiority and despair.

She was the true Emperor of Swords.

The Sword Sovereign who had dominated an entire era!

“Ye Jiuhuang?” Zi Yao cried out. The Soul-Devouring Bell in her hand was actually cracked by an invisible sword intent at that very moment.

“I’ve only just come out of seclusion, and merging with my other incarnations took a few extra days.”

Ye Jiuhuang did not look at the four women, who were facing her as if confronting a great enemy. Her eyes held only the man standing atop the ruins and smiling at her.

She walked up to Ye Xuan. In those eyes capable of severing the ages, there was now nothing but tenderness.

Before everyone’s eyes, this Swordsmanship's foremost master, who looked down upon the heavens, actually inclined her body slightly and performed the most formal ceremony between Dao companions.

“Husband, Jiuhuang was late in coming to your rescue. I hope you can forgive me.”

Thud!

Wu Lingxiao’s legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

The Sword Sovereign… had actually called Ye Xuan her husband?

Moreover, the submission and adoration that came from the depths of her soul were utterly genuine. There was not the slightest hint of pretense.

“Subdue them. There’s no need to kill them.”

Ye Xuan extended a hand and gently helped Ye Jiuhuang to her feet, his tone as calm as still water.

At his words, Ye Jiuhuang’s cold, proud gaze swept across the four women.

In an instant, the four Great Ascension cultivators felt a chill around their necks, as if an invisible immortal sword had already been placed against their souls. With but a thought from their opponent, their bodies and spirits would be annihilated in an instant.

“Does my husband still have feelings for them?”

Ye Jiuhuang turned her head toward Ye Xuan, a meaningful smile playing at the corners of her lips.

It was the composure unique to a principal wife scrutinizing a group of ruined concubines.

Ye Xuan’s expression remained calm. Not a ripple stirred in his gray-white eyes.

“Do you wish to deprive me of the right to take revenge myself?”

The moment he said this, the Sword Sovereign—who had still been carrying herself like a principal wife—instantly became flustered.

She suddenly dropped to one knee, her voice filled with unmistakable fear and self-reproach.

“Husband! Jiuhuang would never dare! Jiuhuang merely… merely feared that these filthy things would dirty your hands. Jiuhuang was wrong. Please punish me, husband!”

This shocking scene left Wu Lingxiao and the other three madwomen completely dumbfounded.

This was the Sword Sovereign who suppressed the Three Thousand Dao States!

The foremost figure in swordsmanship, feared by all the gods and Buddhas of the heavens!

And yet, because of a single mildly reproachful sentence from Ye Xuan, she had been frightened into kneeling before everyone and begging for punishment?

Just what kind of allure did this man possess—or what sort of karma did he control—to make such a pure, immaculate, peerless Sword Emperor humble herself to this extent?

Ye Xuan looked down from above at Ye Jiuhuang, kneeling by his feet, then glanced at Wu Lingxiao, who sat collapsed on the ground, her face ashen.

The corners of his lips curved into a smile that was both extremely cruel and intensely satisfying.

“A-Xiao, look.”

He pointed at the Sword Sovereign beside him and spoke softly to Wu Lingxiao.

“This is what loyalty looks like.”

“This is what it means to be pure and immaculate.”

“And you… are nothing more than a pool of filth along the path of the Great Dao. Since you want to imprison me, then all of you can stay in Jiuhuang’s Sword Domain and reflect on your actions.”

Ye Jiuhuang slowly rose to her feet. The sword intent she had suppressed for so long completely enveloped the entire imperial capital of Great Xia at that moment.

“Rest assured, husband.”

She turned her head toward the four despairing empresses and sect masters. A ruthless, decisive killing intent flashed through her eyes.

“Within Jiuhuang’s Sword Domain, they will beg for life and be denied death.”

“Ye Jiuhuang… you truly crossed realms for this man?”

Wu Lingxiao let out a sharp shriek. Her long black hair whipped wildly in the wind. Her nine-tassel crown had already shattered in the earlier shockwave, revealing a beautiful face twisted by jealousy and madness.

She was unwilling to accept this.

She possessed one of the Nine Ultimate Dao Bodies—the Temporal Dao Body. She was the ruler of the Great Xia Immortal Dynasty. She had waited bitterly for Ye Xuan for eight hundred years. Why was it that this woman who had appeared later could receive all of Ye Xuan’s tenderness?

“The River of Time—Twilight of the Gods!”

Wu Lingxiao bit down fiercely on the tip of her tongue and sprayed a mouthful of blood essence onto the golden sword of time in her hand.

In an instant, a desolate, ancient, and decaying golden ripple spread out from her in circular waves.

Wherever it passed, even the void began to age at an accelerated rate. Even the spiritual energy drifting through the air became turbid and stale, as though it had endured tens of millions of years.

This was her ultimate trump card. She was attempting to use the power of time to drag Ye Jiuhuang forcibly into her twilight years.

Below, Ye Xuan stood in the void with his hands behind his back.

Ying’er somehow produced a handful of spirit-infused five-spice melon seeds. She leisurely cracked one open and handed a seed to Ye Xuan, her tone as relaxed as though she were watching a clumsy shadow play.

“Husband, how many moves do you think our Empress of Great Xia can last against Ye Jiuhuang?”

Ye Xuan accepted the melon seeds and cast a faint glance at the immense ripples of time above. A disdainful sneer tugged at the corner of his lips. “Wu Lingxiao is far too full of herself. Does she really think that relying on her half-baked mastery of the Laws of Time, she can challenge Swordsmanship’s foremost master?”

Ying’er nodded, a flicker of disdain crossing her lively eyes. “Indeed. The Temporal Dao Physique may well be one of the ultimate Dao physiques, but she hasn’t even reached the minor-completion stage. Besides…”

She paused, and her tone grew more solemn. “The Mahayana stage and the True Immortal Realm are worlds apart. Those in the Mahayana stage cultivate a nascent soul, whereas a True Immortal no longer has one within their body. In its place is a ‘Dao Fruit’ forged from a lifetime of cultivation.”

Ye Xuan nodded slightly, pride showing in his eyes as he looked toward Ye Jiuhuang. “Exactly. What Jiuhuang has formed within her is the Sword Emperor Dao Fruit, whose offensive power is unrivaled throughout the heavens. Anyone who possesses this Dao Fruit is an Emperor of Swords. Before her, all those flashy laws amount to nothing more than something she can shatter with a single sword strike.”