Goodbye, Alluring Night

The Sword God Palace, the Abyss Beneath the Earth.

This was the darkest and most frigid place in the entire Sword God Palace.

Countless ancient sealing runes were carved into the surrounding walls, radiating a terrifying pressure capable of suppressing all things. Threads of icy air seeped through the cracks in the walls, shrouding the entire dungeon in a sinister atmosphere.

At the very depths of the dungeon stood three separate cells.

Each cell was completely sealed off, its walls covered in dense layers of restrictions and seals.

These restrictions were powerful enough to suppress any existence below the True Immortal realm. Even an unparalleled expert at the peak of the Mahayana realm would have no choice but to submit if imprisoned here.

And within these three cells were confined three peerless female demonesses who had once shaken the heavens and all the worlds.

The first cell.

Ye Qingcheng lay curled up on the frigid floor.

Her once enchanting and breathtakingly beautiful face was now so pale that not a trace of color remained.

Her eyes were red and swollen, tear tracks streaked her cheeks, and her makeup had long since been ruined. She looked utterly wretched.

She thought back to everything that had happened that day in the Weiyang Palace.

She remembered Ye Xuan’s cold eyes, eyes that regarded her as though she were already dead.

She remembered the three platinum-white sword qi launched by Ye Jiuhuang, each one piercing through the void.

Most of all, she remembered the humiliation of being unable to withstand even a single exchange before that Peerless Sword Empress.

“Ye Xuan…”

Ye Qingcheng murmured his name, her voice hoarse and despairing. “Why are you treating me like this? Can’t you truly feel what I feel for you? For your sake, I was even willing to make an enemy of the entire world… So why… why won’t you even look at me?”

Her voice echoed through the dungeon, but no one answered.

Only endless darkness and silence accompanied her through the long night.

The second cell.

Zi Yao sat cross-legged on the floor, the purple-black demonic aura around her having long since vanished without a trace.

Her once stunningly bewitching face was now pale as paper. Her eyes were sunken, and her entire body exuded the desolate air of someone nearing death.

She had once been the most dazzling prodigy of the demonic path, possessing demonic arts powerful enough to devour heaven and earth.

But now, the demonic cultivation within her had been completely sealed. She was not even as strong as an ordinary mortal.

She thought back to everything that had happened that day.

She remembered kneeling at Ye Xuan’s feet, crying and begging him for forgiveness in a posture of utter humility.

She remembered how, in that moment, all her former pride and ambition had turned to ashes.

“Ye Xuan…”

A self-mocking smile appeared at the corners of Zi Yao’s lips. “You were right… I really am a cheap woman.”

She slowly closed her eyes. “I lost. I lost utterly and completely. But… I will not admit defeat.”

Before her voice had even faded, the sealing runes within the cell suddenly lit up. A powerful suppressive force instantly slammed her flat against the floor.

“Ugh!”

Zi Yao grunted, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.

Only then did she remember that this was the dungeon of the Sword God Palace, surrounded by seals capable of suppressing everything.

In a place like this, any thought of resistance would be met with merciless suppression.

A trace of despair flashed through Zi Yao’s eyes, but she still refused to give up.

She clenched her teeth and silently endured the torment of the suppressive force.

The third cell.

Xia Lengyue leaned against the wall, motionless.

Her once icy and breathtakingly beautiful face had now lost all its luster.

Her cultivation had been completely sealed, and she could no longer sense even the slightest trace of cold energy within her body. She was like a withered leaf drained of all its moisture, slowly wasting away bit by bit.

“Ye Xuan…”

Xia Lengyue’s eyes reddened slightly, but she stubbornly held back her tears.

“One day…”

She murmured in a low voice, her tone cold yet resolute. “One day, I will make you regret what you said today.”

Endless darkness and deathly silence surged through this place like a tide. The frigid wind traveled back and forth through the deep passageways, letting out a mournful whine like the shrill cries of countless vengeful spirits.

Tap… tap… tap…

A steady, unhurried set of footsteps shattered the dungeon’s silence, undisturbed for countless millennia.

Ye Xuan stood with his hands behind his back. His black-and-gold robe reflected a cold, noble gleam beneath the dim, flickering blue spirit flames.

His face was hidden within the shifting boundary between light and shadow, making his expression impossible to discern. Only his eyes were visible—deep and merciless, carrying the vicissitudes and ruthlessness of countless cycles of reincarnation.

Along both sides of the passage, the vicious criminals imprisoned within the Sword God Palace’s dungeon trembled in terror beneath the suffocating pressure of the superior aura emanating from Ye Xuan. Not one of them dared even to breathe too loudly.

Ye Xuan did not pause before any of the ordinary cells. He walked straight toward the deepest part of the dungeon.

There, the three peerless female demonesses who had once cast him into an endless abyss were imprisoned.

The farther inward he went, the lower the temperature became. The space itself seemed to distort beneath the power of the extreme seals.

He passed Xia Lengyue’s cell.

Through the thick door of black-ice iron, he could sense that the woman who had once stood high above all others, cold as frost, was now curled up in a corner like a withered lotus, the vitality within her fading bit by bit. Yet he did not even spare her a glance.

He passed Zi Yao’s cell.

The Demon Empress, once arrogant and peerlessly alluring, was now being held firmly against the floor by the suppressive runes. Every breath she took was accompanied by the muffled sound of bones cracking and humiliating gasps. He did not stop there either.

At last, Ye Xuan stopped before the door of the first cell.

Rumble!

With a deep, thunderous sound, the heavy door of black iron stone, covered in countless ancient restrictions, slowly opened at Ye Xuan’s command.

A sinister wind mixed with the smells of blood and mold, along with a faint, nauseatingly sweet fragrance, rushed out from within the cell.

At the center of the cell, Ye Qingcheng sat sprawled helplessly on the frigid floor.

Upon hearing the stone door open, her delicate body, trembling from fear and despair, suddenly went rigid.

She struggled to raise her head. Her disheveled hair clung to her cheeks, which were streaked with tears and grime.

When she saw the black-robed young man standing against the light outside the door, lofty and godlike, an extremely complicated gleam instantly erupted within her previously dim peach-blossom eyes.

There was surprise, fear, resentment—and, even more bizarrely, a self-assured confidence that she could once again manipulate the man before her.

“Husband…”

Ye Qingcheng’s eyes reddened, and two streams of tears immediately broke free.

Like a kitten that had suffered some enormous injustice, she ignored the pain wracking her body and the suppression of the seals. Using both her hands and feet, she crawled across the frigid floor until she reached Ye Xuan’s feet.

She raised her breathtakingly beautiful face—the kind that could overturn the hearts of all living beings and drive countless prodigies and heroes into madness—and gazed at Ye Xuan through her sobs.

“Husband, you finally came to see me… I knew it. I knew you still had me in your heart. You wouldn’t really abandon Qingcheng, would you?”