The moment Ye Xuan called her “Junior Sister,” Xiao Honglian’s entire body shuddered violently, and her face turned as pale as paper.
Her body swayed as though she might collapse at any moment, all strength seemingly drained from her legs.
“You… what did you just call me?”
Xiao Honglian’s eyes instantly reddened, and mist spread across them at a visible speed.
Her voice trembled as she stared fixedly at Ye Xuan, her gaze filled with disbelief and shock.
She desperately hoped she had heard him wrong. She hoped that, after reincarnation, Ye Xuan’s memories had become confused and that he had spoken those words without thinking.
Long ago, when they had still been young and innocent, he had always called her “Lian’er” or “Little Junior Sister” in a gentle voice.
But ever since she had belittled him and ground him into the dust for Xiao Huo’s sake…
He had never called her “Lian’er” again.
He had always stood respectfully—and even somewhat coldly—behind her and Xiao Huo, calling her “Junior Sister” in a humble voice.
Even at the moment of his death, when he had collapsed before her, covered in blood, the final words he had spoken were still that heart-wrenching phrase:
“Junior Sister, live well.”
Now, several thousand years later, he had returned from the dead. Yet the first words out of his mouth were still that cold, formal “Junior Sister”—the title that drew a clear line between them.
Seeing Xiao Honglian’s reddened eyes and violently trembling body, there was not the slightest trace of pity in the depths of Ye Xuan’s gaze.
The smile on his face did not change in the slightest. He simply looked at her with an utterly matter-of-fact expression and asked:
“Junior Sister, what’s wrong?”
Ye Xuan even tilted his head slightly, clearly puzzled by her reaction.
“I was your Senior Brother at the Scarlet Flame Sect for so many years. Is it really wrong for me to call you Junior Sister?”
Xiao Honglian felt a surge of blood and qi rise in her chest. A thick, sweet taste welled up in her throat, and she nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Fellow disciples…
Those two simple words were like two sharp blades stabbing straight into her heart, then cruelly twisting inside it.
That was right. They were merely fellow disciples.
In Ye Xuan’s eyes, had all the bonds between them—all their entanglements, all their life-and-death struggles—really been confined to those two words?
Xiao Honglian drew in a breath of cold air, desperately suppressing the bitterness and regret that threatened to consume her.
She knew that now was not the time to dwell on how he addressed her. There was something far more important—something a thousand times more important—that had brought her here today.
She abruptly raised her head and looked at Ye Xuan with reddened eyes. Her voice was hoarse and urgent.
“I received an invitation from the Sword God Palace addressed to all the great orthodox traditions… It said that you… you…”
Her voice caught. The word lodged in her throat, impossible to force out.
She took a deep breath, digging her fingernails into the flesh of her palm, and gritted her teeth as she asked:
“Are you planning to marry the Sword Sovereign, Ye Jiuhuang?”
The moment she asked the question, Xiao Honglian’s heart nearly stopped beating.
She stared desperately into Ye Xuan’s eyes, longing to see him shake his head. She wanted him to be the same man who had once followed behind her, saying in a humble and ingratiating voice:
“How could I marry anyone but you?”
Yet Ye Xuan merely glanced at her before nodding without the slightest hesitation.
“Yes.”
His tone was as relaxed as though he were discussing the weather.
“Jiuhuang possesses extraordinary talent, and she loves me deeply. For us to become Dao companions is a match made by Heaven. Since Junior Sister received an invitation, I assume you’ll come to our wedding and have a cup of celebratory wine?”
“No!”
Before Ye Xuan had even finished speaking, Xiao Honglian let out an anguished scream.
The cry was filled with jealousy, panic, and despair. It even caused the sea of clouds surrounding them to collapse in an instant.
She suddenly stepped forward and reached out, grabbing Ye Xuan by the arm without regard for anything else.
Those once lofty Flame Emperor’s eyes were now filled with humility and pleading, tears swirling frantically within them.
“No! You absolutely cannot marry her!”
Xiao Honglian’s voice had become nearly hysterical. She shouted incoherently:
“How could Ye Jiuhuang possibly be sincere about marrying you? She’s the most cold-blooded and ruthless Sword Sovereign of this generation in the Sword God Palace! She cultivates the Supreme Heartless Sword!”
“She must have ulterior motives. She must have taken a liking to some special constitution you possess, or perhaps she intends to use you as a cultivation cauldron!”
“You can’t stay here! She’ll get you killed!”
Xiao Honglian clung tightly to Ye Xuan as though he were the last lifeline in the world.
She projected the selfish and cold-hearted way she had once used others onto Ye Jiuhuang without reservation.
Deep down, she could not believe that any heavenly daughter would fall in love with a man who had once served as her backup for no reason. Unless that woman had some ulterior motive.
More importantly, she could not accept it!
She could not accept that the man whose eyes had once held only her, the man who had been willing to throw away his life for her, was now about to offer that one-of-a-kind tenderness and devotion to another woman without holding anything back.
“I’ll take you away!”
Tears finally spilled from Xiao Honglian’s eyes and rolled down her beautiful cheeks, soaking her azure robes.
She gripped Ye Xuan’s wrist tightly and spoke in a trembling voice that was almost pleading, yet carried a trace of forcefulness.
“Ah Xuan, I’ll protect you… I’m the Flame Emperor now. In the entire Great Thousand World, no one would dare bully you! Come back with me to the Endless Flame Domain. I’ll give you everything I have, all right?”
When the words “Ah Xuan” finally left Xiao Honglian’s lips again after several thousand years, a bitterness filled with unbearable sorrow and soul-deep pain instantly engulfed her.
She seemed to have returned to that ruined Scarlet Flame Sect thousands of years ago.
Back then, when she had just begun to understand love, she had tugged at Ye Xuan’s robe, blushing as she promised that she would marry no one but him. “Ah Xuan” had been a name belonging solely to her.
She had believed that as long as she called him that, she could awaken his sleeping memories and turn him back into the man who had once obeyed her in everything.
However…
Faced with Xiao Honglian’s heart-rending pleas and that cry of “Ah Xuan,” filled with endless regret and love, Ye Xuan’s expression gradually turned cold.
The gentle smile at the corner of his mouth receded like the tide, replaced by a coldness and majesty that sent a chill into one’s bones.
“Impudent.”
Ye Xuan uttered those two words coldly and gave his wrist a slight tremor.
A terrifying force of vibration, mighty beyond resistance, instantly flung Xiao Honglian’s hand away.
Xiao Honglian staggered back half a step, staring blankly at her empty hands, her mind utterly blank.
“Ye Jiuhuang is my wife.”
Ye Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the renowned Flame Emperor as though he were gazing upon a corpse.
His voice carried an overbearing coldness that permitted no dissent. Each word struck Xiao Honglian’s heart like a heavy hammer:
“You openly slandered and insulted my fiancée right in front of me. Xiao Honglian, who gave you the nerve?”
“Watch your words. Do that again, and don’t blame me for disregarding the bond we once shared as fellow disciples.”
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
