The Empress is Searching for Ye Xuan

Xuanzhou, Great Xia Immortal Dynasty.

Deep within the imperial palace, the Imperial Study.

This hall, representing the highest authority over the entire territory, was currently shrouded in a terrifying, suffocating low pressure.

Nine true dragons forged from ten-thousand-year profound gold coiled around the pillars. Their dragon eyes, usually majestic, now seemed to tremble under the oppressive aura radiating from the throne.

Crack.

A crisp sound broke the dead silence.

A teacup carved from top-grade warm jade was forcefully crushed into fine powder by a slender, pale hand that harbored apocalyptic power.

Scalding spirit tea mixed with jade dust slowly dripped down that palm, burning small scorched holes into the gold-brick floor.

Trash.

From the throne came a voice completely devoid of warmth.

The voice was not loud, but it struck like a heavy hammer against the hearts of the figures kneeling on the ground below.

A bunch of absolute trash!

The Empress of Great Xia, Wu Lingxiao.

She wore a dark imperial robe embroidered with dark gold suns, moons, mountains, and rivers, and a twelve-tasseled imperial crown on her head. The phoenix eyes behind the tassels were incomparably cold.

She leaned lazily against the dragon throne, her gaze looking down upon everything.

I gave you boundless resources and told you to turn heaven and earth upside down to search.

She leaned forward slightly, and her terrifying imperial might instantly erupted like a tsunami, pressing down on the dozens of Tribulation Transcendence realm cultivators below until their bones cracked, and blood even spilled from the corners of some of their mouths.

Eight hundred years.

A full eight hundred years!

Wu Lingxiao's voice suddenly rose, carrying a trace of violently suppressed irritability and madness: Even if it were every grain of sand in this world, you should have counted them clearly for me! But where is my Consort Xuan? Where is he?

Below, the leader of the dark guards trembled all over, cold sweat having long soaked through his heavy armor. He pressed his head deeply against the ground, his voice hoarse and distorted from fear:

Your... Your Majesty, please quell your anger! It is not that your subjects are incompetent, but rather... rather, His Highness Consort Xuan's reincarnation is too deeply hidden, and the heavenly secrets seem to have been intentionally obscured by someone...

Excuses!

Wu Lingxiao fiercely waved her sleeve.

Boom!

An invisible wave of air directly sent the dark guard leader flying dozens of feet, crashing heavily into a coiled dragon pillar as a mouthful of blood sprayed out.

I do not want to hear explanations; I only want results!

Wu Lingxiao stood up and walked down the steps step by step. With each step, the space of the entire Imperial Study trembled. Even this stretch of heaven and earth could not bear her fury.

If you still cannot find him, all of you trash can go to the imperial mausoleum and be buried with Consort Xuan.

Her tone was terrifyingly calm, yet it revealed an unquestionable bloody intent.

Just then, an old man in a grey robe staggered in from outside the hall, holding high a weakly glowing recording stone.

Your Majesty! Your Majesty! There is news! There is news!

Wu Lingxiao's footsteps suddenly halted.

In her phoenix eyes, originally filled with brutality and killing intent, a trace of heart-palpitating panic and longing flashed the moment she heard the word news.

Her figure flashed, and she instantly appeared before the old man. Disregarding her imperial dignity, she snatched the recording stone.

If you dare to deceive me, I will execute your nine generations.

With trembling fingers, she injected a trace of spiritual energy into the recording stone.

Light and shadows flowed, and a clear image was projected into the void.

The background was the mountain gate of the Azure Cloud Sect.

Right in the center of the image, a youth in a red shirt stood with his back to the crowd, seemingly saying something heartless.

Then, he turned his body, revealing a peerlessly handsome and elegant side profile.

Looking at the curve of his eyes and brows, the slight trace of unruliness at the corner of his upturned mouth, and his running-away movements that were so practiced it made one's heart ache.

Time stood still at this moment.

Wu Lingxiao stared fixedly at the youth in the image, her eyes unmoving, even forgetting to breathe.

That was the face she had been dreaming of for eight hundred years.

That was the face she woke up crying for at midnight, wanting to touch but unable to reach.

Consort Xuan...

A soft call spilled from the lips of this iron-blooded Empress, carrying endless attachment, infatuation, and a sick, ecstatic joy born from extreme suppression.

It is you... It really is you...

She reached out her hand, her fingertips carefully touching the image in the void, slowly tracing the youth's silhouette.

Your Majesty.

The old man reported cautiously: According to our spies, this person is named Ye Xuan, a newly accepted disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect. Just a few days ago, he publicly fled his wedding on the day of the ceremony, thereby humiliating the Azure Cloud Sect Master Xia Lengyue, causing...

Fled his wedding?

Hearing these words, Wu Lingxiao was not angry.

On the contrary, she suddenly threw her head back and let out a burst of hair-raising laughter.

Hahahaha... Hahahahaha!

The laughter echoed within the Imperial Study, carrying a nearly neurotic pleasure.

Fleeing a wedding... That is right, it is him! It is absolutely him!

The light in Wu Lingxiao's eyes was frighteningly bright, the excitement of a hunter finally discovering the tracks of their prey: Eight hundred years ago, he fled my wedding just like this... He loves running away the most... This disobedient little wildcat...

She stared fixedly at Ye Xuan's departing back in the image, stuck out her tongue, and gently licked her scarlet lips. Her gaze gradually grew dark and dangerous:

Run, run... The further you run, the more excited I will be when I catch you...

Transmit my decree!

Wu Lingxiao suddenly turned around and waved her large sleeve. Her imperial robe fluttered loudly as she restored her domineering aura of supreme authority. Only this time, there was a bit more impatient madness in her dominance:

Mobilize the thirty-six divisions of the Heavenly Net, and immediately lock down the borders of Qingzhou!

No matter the cost, even if you have to turn Qingzhou upside down, you must bring my Consort Xuan back entirely whole and completely unharmed!

If he is missing even a single hair... She narrowed her eyes, a cruel red light flickering in their depths: All of you will bring your heads to see me!

Yes!

The people kneeling on the ground felt as if they had received a grand amnesty, swiftly accepting their orders and leaving.

The Imperial Study returned to silence once more.

Wu Lingxiao tightly gripped the recording stone, pressing it against her chest. She closed her eyes, a sickly flush appearing on her face as she muttered to herself:

Ye Xuan... Consort Xuan... This time, I will absolutely not let you run away again.

I will build a golden cage, the sturdiest and most magnificent cage in this world... I will lock you inside, and day and night, you will only be able to look at me alone...

Eight hundred years... Do you know how I have spent these eight hundred years?

Just as Wu Lingxiao was immersed in the ecstasy of their impending reunion.

A slender and lonely figure, carrying a tray, slowly walked into the Imperial Study.

The newcomer was a man.

He was extremely beautiful, his eyebrows like distant mountains and his eyes like autumn waters. Wearing a bright yellow phoenix robe, he did not look effeminate at all; instead, it highlighted a noble and aloof temperament.

What was even more shocking was that the aura faintly radiating from his body had actually reached the terrifying Tribulation Transcendence realm!

In the outside world, this would be enough to make him a regional hegemon, capable of founding his own sect.

Yet here, he was merely a resentful husband in name only within the deep palace.

The Empress of Great Xia, Bai Ran.

Bai Ran watched the female Emperor standing in the center of the great hall, smiling obsessively at a stone. His heart felt as though it were being fiercely crushed by an invisible hand, aching so much he could barely breathe.

It was a smile he had never seen before.

Or rather, it was a smile that belonged solely to that man.

He took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the surging sorrow and jealousy in his eyes, and replaced it with a gentle and virtuous expression as he stepped forward lightly.

"Your Majesty..."

His voice was soft, carrying a trace of cautious flattery. "You must be tired from handling state affairs. This is the Nine-Turn Dragon and Phoenix Soup that I brewed with my own hands. It is the most nourishing for the soul. Please drink it while it is hot..."

"Put it down."

Wu Lingxiao did not even turn her head. Her voice instantly changed from its previous warmth to being as cold as frost.

It was the kind of indifference reserved for an object, without the slightest emotional fluctuation.

The hands Bai Ran used to hold the tray trembled slightly. Boiling hot soup splashed onto the back of his hand, scalding it red, yet he felt nothing.

He bit his lower lip and did not retreat. Instead, he gathered his courage and looked up at the woman before him, the woman he loved to the very marrow of his bones.

"Your Majesty..."

Bai Ran's voice held a hint of pleading, a trace of humble anticipation. "I... I successfully broke through to the Tribulation Transcendence realm a few days ago."

Wu Lingxiao remained with her back to him, toying with the recording stone in her hand, and said indifferently, "Oh, not bad. Reward him."

Just one word.

Reward.

It was as if she were dismissing a servant who had performed a meritorious deed.

Bai Ran's heart instantly turned cold, but he was still unwilling to give up. He took a step forward, set down the tray, and even boldly reached out to tug at Wu Lingxiao's sleeve.

"Your Majesty... have you forgotten?"

His voice was trembling, his eyes slightly red. "During our grand wedding, you once said... as long as my cultivation reached the Tribulation Transcendence realm, when I had the qualifications to stand by your side, you would... you would consummate our marriage."

"Now... I have achieved it."

He lifted his head, his breathtakingly beautiful face full of expectation, a longing that had been suppressed for hundreds of years. "Tonight... could Your Majesty come to my sleeping quarters? I have prepared for a long time..."

"Bai Ran."

Wu Lingxiao finally turned around.

But her gaze made Bai Ran feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

There was not the slightest trace of lust in her eyes, only impatience and disgust.

She looked coldly at the mighty Tribulation Transcendence expert humbly begging for her affection, as if looking at a reckless fly.

"I have said it before, I am very busy lately."

Wu Lingxiao waved her hand, as if swatting away garbage. "Furthermore, I am about to enter secluded cultivation to prepare for the return of Consort Xuan. I have no time for these trivial matters."

Trivial matters.

So, his hundreds of years of effort, his day and night of bitter cultivation, all the blood and sweat he had poured in just to be worthy of her, was nothing more than a trivial matter in her eyes.

"Consort Xuan..."

Bai Ran's body swayed violently, his face as pale as paper.

Consort Xuan again.

That man who had been dead for eight hundred years again!

"Your Majesty..."

Bai Ran's tears finally flowed uncontrollably, his voice shrill and mournful. "He has been dead for eight hundred years! What is so good about him? I am a living person! I have accompanied you for hundreds of years! I am your Empress! Why are you not even willing to spare me a single glance?"

"Insolent!"

Wu Lingxiao's face darkened, and a terrifying imperial pressure erupted with a boom.

Smack!

An invisible wave of energy whipped directly across Bai Ran's face, ruthlessly striking the Tribulation Transcendence realm Empress to the ground.

Blood trickled from the corner of Bai Ran's mouth, half of his face swollen high. His hair was disheveled, making him look utterly miserable.

Wu Lingxiao looked down at him from above, her gaze piercingly cold:

"Bai Ran, remember your place."

"I crowned you as Empress because the Bai family behind you is useful to the dynasty, and because you are obedient and sensible."

"But this does not mean you have the right to dictate my actions, much less the right to speak his name."

Wu Lingxiao crouched down, reached out, and used her nails painted with bright red polish to lift Bai Ran's chin, enunciating every word clearly:

"In this world, other than Consort Xuan, no man is worthy of climbing into my dragon bed."

"You included."

"Get back to your inner palace. Do not come out without my decree."

After speaking, Wu Lingxiao flung his chin away in disgust and pulled out a silk handkerchief to wipe her fingers, as if she had just touched something filthy.

"Yes..."

Bai Ran trembled as he crawled up from the ground, his head lowered, his voice hoarse.

He did not dare to resist, could not resist, and could not bear to resist.

Like a dog with a broken spine, he stumbled backwards step by step out of the imperial study.

In the inner palace, the long alleys were deep.

The red walls and yellow tiles locked away countless spring scenes.

Bai Ran walked down the long palace path, looking as if he had lost his soul.

The passing maids and attendants knelt to pay their respects upon seeing him, calling out, A thousand years to Your Grace.

However, beneath their respectful facades, Bai Ran astutely heard their faint, needle-like whispers.

"Look, His Highness the Empress has come back alone again..."

"Sigh, seeing him look so devastated, he must have been chased out by Her Majesty again, right?"

"How pitiful... A dignified Tribulation Transcendence expert with such kingdom-toppling beauty, yet he hasn't been favored by Her Majesty in hundreds of years."

"Shh! Keep your voice down! I heard that Her Majesty only has the deceased Consort Xuan in her heart. The hundreds of masters in our inner palace, even including the Empress, are nothing more than mere decorations."

"Being a living widow for hundreds of years, I would go mad too..."

"Her Majesty was not like this from the beginning. At first, she also liked to visit her consorts, but ever since she met Consort Xuan, she completely changed."

"I heard that in the eight hundred years since Consort Xuan died, Her Majesty the Emperor has never favored a single consort."

These words were like poisoned knives ruthlessly stabbing into Bai Ran's heart, grinding his already shattered self-esteem into dust.

Bai Ran stopped in his tracks, gripping the vermilion pillar beside him tightly. His nails dug deep into the wood, producing a teeth-aching creak.

He raised his head, looking at the square patch of sky.

His tears had dried up, replaced by a thick, unresolvable resentment and madness.

"Consort Xuan... Ye Xuan..."

He chewed on the name through his gritted teeth, every word seemingly dripping with blood.

"Why do you have to come back?"

"Since you are dead, why couldn't you stay dead? Why must your lingering ghost continue to haunt Her Majesty?"

"Her Majesty is mine... she is mine!"

Bai Ran's originally cold and ethereal face was now covered in a hideous distortion, his eyes like those of an evil spirit crawling out of hell.

"Five hundred years... I have waited for five hundred years, loved for five hundred years, yet I cannot compare to a dead man like you."

"Good, very good."

"Since you want to come back, I will let you know whose domain this inner palace is."

"You want to regain her favor? Keep dreaming!"

"I will make you wish you were dead, make you regret living in this world again! I will tear your corpse into ten thousand pieces, grind your bones to dust, and ensure you cannot even become a ghost!"