Afternoon.
The Azure Emperor had grown smarter. She decided to stay as far away from Ying'er as possible—farther was better.
She spent all day in the most remote corner of the Sword God Palace, inside an abandoned alchemy room in the rear mountains where no one ever went.
There, she meditated and cultivated, trying to numb herself with her training.
The alchemy room was cramped and dim, and the air was thick with the stale scent of medicinal herbs. Moss crawled across the walls, while spiders had spun webs in the corners.
The Azure Emperor sat cross-legged on a worn meditation cushion, her eyes closed in concentration. The azure immortal light around her body flickered erratically.
She needed to calm her mind.
But no matter what she did, her heart refused to settle.
Her mind kept replaying the moment Ye Xuan had slapped her, Ying'er's innocent yet cruel smile, and the way she had looked reduced to someone lower than the dust beneath their feet.
“How did I end up like this…?” she murmured miserably, covering her face with her hands.
Just then, the door to the alchemy room was pushed open.
Creak.
The Azure Emperor's eyes snapped open, her pupils contracting sharply.
Ying'er stood in the doorway, dressed in a pale-purple gown. A white gardenia was pinned in her hair, and her face wore that same familiar, harmless smile.
“Sister Azure Emperor, so this is where you were,” Ying'er said sweetly. “You made me look everywhere for you.”
The Azure Emperor's face instantly turned livid. She shot to her feet, her voice filled with wariness. “What are you doing here?”
Ying'er tilted her head, her smile growing even brighter. “I came to bring you some pastries. My husband was worried you might go hungry, hiding here all alone.”
She carried an exquisite food box and slowly walked into the alchemy room. With every step she took, the Azure Emperor's heart tightened further.
“I don't need anything,” the Azure Emperor said coldly. “Get out.”
Ying'er acted as if she hadn't heard her. She placed the food box in front of the Azure Emperor, then obediently took two steps back.
“Aren't you going to see what they are, Sister? They're osmanthus cakes I made myself.”
The Azure Emperor stared at the food box as though it were a venomous snake. She enunciated each word. “I said I don't need them. Please leave.”
Ying'er's smile finally faded somewhat, and a trace of hurt flashed through her eyes. “Sister, do you really hate me that much? I only want to treat you well…”
“Treat me well?” The Azure Emperor let out a cold laugh, fury filling her eyes. “Is framing me your way of treating me well? Making me get slapped? Making me kneel on the ground?”
Ying'er's eyes immediately reddened, tears welling up in them. “Sister, how can you say that…? I've never framed you… Those were all accidents…”
“Accidents?” The Azure Emperor's voice turned shrill. “Tripping on flat ground was an accident? A rock appearing out of nowhere on the threshold was an accident? Do you take me for a three-year-old child?!”
Ying'er bit her lip, and the tears finally spilled down her cheeks. She lowered her head and choked out, “Sister… I really didn't… Why won't you believe me…?”
Crying, she began to retreat. When she reached the threshold—
“Ah!”
Ying'er's foot slipped. Her entire body fell backward, and the back of her head struck the doorframe with a dull thud. The food box flew from her hand, and the osmanthus cakes scattered across the floor, coated in dust.
The Azure Emperor's pupils contracted violently.
Again?
She hadn't touched Ying'er at all! Ying'er had fallen on her own!
But this time, Ying'er had hit herself even harder.
The skin on the back of her head had split open, and blood trickled down through her hair, staining the collar of her pale-purple dress red.
She lay on the ground, tears mingling with blood, looking utterly miserable.
“It hurts…” Ying'er's voice was weak and tremulous with sobs. “Sister Azure Emperor… why did you push me…?”
The Azure Emperor's entire body trembled, her face as pale as paper. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
She hadn't pushed her!
Ying'er had fallen on her own!
But she knew that no matter how she explained herself, no one would believe her.
Sure enough, hurried footsteps sounded behind her.
At some point, Ye Xuan had appeared in the doorway of the alchemy room. When he saw Ying'er lying on the ground and the blood on her head, his face instantly twisted into something terrifying.
“Azure Emperor!”
His voice was like a thunderclap, shaking the walls of the alchemy room.
He rushed inside, scooped Ying'er up, and examined her injuries. When he saw the wound on the back of her head, blazing fury ignited in his eyes.
“Husband… it hurts…” Ying'er leaned weakly against him, her voice trembling. “Sister… she didn't do it on purpose… Don't blame her…”
That same act again!
The Azure Emperor was practically on the verge of collapse. Looking at Ye Xuan's cold, grim face, she was overcome by a despair unlike anything she had ever felt before.
“Ye Xuan, I didn't push her.” Her voice was eerily calm—so calm that even she found it strange. “I was standing here, three steps away from her. I never touched her.”
“Besides, she's already a Core Formation cultivator. How could she possibly fall this badly?”
Ye Xuan raised his head and looked at her coldly.
“If you didn't push her, then how did she fall?”
“She fell on her own.” The Azure Emperor stressed every word. “She's framing me.”
In Ye Xuan's arms, Ying'er sobbed, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz. “Husband… Sister is right… I fell on my own… Don't blame her…”
As she spoke, she shrank further into Ye Xuan's embrace, as though she had suffered some terrible injustice yet was still trying to plead on the other woman's behalf.
Ye Xuan's expression grew even darker. He glared at the Azure Emperor, his voice thick with anger. “Azure Emperor, are you still trying to argue? Ying'er already said it was you. She's even pleading for you, yet you're standing here shirking responsibility!”
The Azure Emperor was so furious she nearly laughed.
“So whatever she says is true? Do you actually believe her? Ye Xuan, that wretched woman has deceived you! She's been putting on an act from beginning to end! Her strength is far greater than mine. How could she possibly have been pushed down by me?!”
Ye Xuan's gaze suddenly turned dangerous.
“You say Ying'er is stronger than you?” he asked with a cold laugh. “Azure Emperor, will you say anything to escape blame? Ying'er is just an ordinary maid. She hasn't even reached Foundation Establishment, and you expect me to believe that she's stronger than you?”
The Azure Emperor was so anxious she nearly jumped. “I'm not lying to you! At Bibo Pool, she sent me flying with a single slap! Her strength is at least at the peak of the Mahayana Realm—perhaps even higher!”
Ye Xuan shook his head, his eyes filled with disappointment and disgust.
“Azure Emperor, you disgust me.” He picked Ying'er up and turned toward the door, leaving behind a final sentence. “From now on, you are not to come within thirty feet of Ying'er. Otherwise, I will show you no more mercy.”
His footsteps gradually faded into the distance.
The Azure Emperor stood alone in the dim alchemy room, surrounded by scattered osmanthus cakes and shards of porcelain.
Her tears slid silently down her cheeks, one drop after another striking the dust-covered floor.
“Why…? Why won't you believe me…?”
She murmured to herself, her voice hoarse beyond recognition.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
