The Empress Who Was Obsessed with Ye Xuan for Eight Hundred Years

Just as the inner palace was surging with undercurrents.

Inside the Imperial Study, Wu Lingxiao had just calmed her emotions. Before she could appreciate Ye Xuan's recorded image again, a shadow guard commander appeared in the center of the hall like a phantom.

This time, his expression was even uglier than before, even carrying a trace of despair.

"Report."

"Speak." Wu Lingxiao's mood was still decent, so she did not fly into a rage.

The shadow guard commander fell to his knees with a thud, not daring to lift his head:

"Your Majesty... something terrible has happened."

"Her... Her Highness the Ninth, has escaped."

"What?"

The smile on Wu Lingxiao's face instantly froze. An aura even more terrifying and violent than before instantly overturned the imperial desk.

"Impossible!"

She roared, her voice making the hall buzz. "The 'Heart-Locking Array of Ruthlessness' imprisoning Old Ninth was set up by Us personally! That array targets all females. As long as she is a woman, even if she is the reincarnation of a True Immortal, it is absolutely impossible for her to escape!"

The shadow guard commander offered up a letter with trembling hands:

"Your Majesty... Her Highness the Ninth has indeed escaped... and, and before she left, she left a letter at the core of the array..."

Wu Lingxiao snatched the letter and roughly tore it open.

On the letter paper, there were only a few words. The handwriting was elegant but revealed a provocative tone.

[To Imperial Sister:]

[Eight hundred years ago, you imprisoned me here, making me suffer the agony of lovesickness day and night.]

[But now, I have sensed his aura. He has returned.]

[You say the array only traps women? Heh, Imperial Sister, you are too arrogant. In order to see him, for these past eight hundred years, I severed my yin and yang, reversed my meridians, and even did not hesitate to cultivate that forbidden 'Dragon Transformation Art', turning myself into something neither male nor female...]

[As long as I can get out to see him, I don't care what kind of monster I become.]

[Imperial Sister, you monopolized him for so long, it's my turn now. This time, I am going to find my husband. If you dare to stop me, then we sisters shall perish together.]

[Your Ninth Sister who loves him, Wu Lingfeng.]

The roof of the Imperial Study was completely blown off at this moment.

A terrifying golden light shot straight into the clouds. All the cultivators in the Great Xia Imperial Capital looked up in horror, feeling the Empress's fury that seemed ready to destroy the mortal realm.

"Hahahahaha!"

Clenching the letter, Wu Lingxiao laughed so hard she rocked back and forth, laughing until tears came out.

However, her laughter was filled with chilling killing intent and madness.

"Good! Good! Very good!"

"My good sister! My good Ninth Sister!"

"For a man, you actually cultivated yourself into that kind of androgynous monster?"

"Find your husband? He is your husband? He is Ours!"

Wu Lingxiao's face was fierce, her features completely twisted, like a female tyrannosaurus whose reverse scale had been touched.

She stared fixedly at the eastern horizon, the possessiveness in her eyes reaching an extreme.

"Ye Xuan is Our exclusive possession! No one can lay a finger on him! Not even you, Our own sister!"

"You want to snatch a man from Us?"

"Dream on!"

"Pass down the order! Dispatch the 'God-Slaying Guards'! Put all efforts into hunting down Wu Lingfeng!"

"If she dares to step even half a pace near Ye Xuan..."

Wu Lingxiao's voice was like it came from the Nine Springs of Hell, every word carrying a bloody chill:

"Then break her legs for Us! Drag her back!"

"We will let everyone know that Ye Xuan... can only belong to Us alone!"

The lingering wrath in the Imperial Study had not dissipated. The world-destroying imperial might seemed to remain in the air, causing the barriers of the entire imperial palace to tremble faintly.

Wu Lingxiao stepped out of the Imperial Study.

She did not ride the Nine Dragons Imperial Carriage that symbolized supreme power, but chose to walk alone through the corridor connecting the outer court and the inner palace.

This was the necessary path to the Empress's bedchambers, and also the deepest and most despairing place in the Great Xia inner palace.

The sky was so gloomy it seemed about to collapse. Heavy dark clouds rolled above the imperial palace. Occasional flashes of lightning illuminated rows of vermilion palace walls. The peeling paint looked like dried blood.

Wu Lingxiao walked very slowly.

With every step she took, the golden bricks beneath her feet would let out a muffled hum.

The tyrannical imperial might that she had not yet fully restrained acted like an invisible noose, slowly tightening around the throat of the entire inner palace as she moved.

Along the way, carved wooden windows that had been tightly shut for hundreds of years were quietly pushed open a crack.

Pairs of terrified and fearful eyes, yet carrying a trace of rekindled hope, peeked through the gaps at this supreme ruler.

These men were all stunning beauties selected from billions of living beings by the Great Xia Immortal Dynasty back in the day.

Some of them were once crown princes of a nation, some were holy sons of immortal sects, and some possessed rare special physiques.

But eight hundred years ago, ever since that man named "Ye Xuan" died, they had been forgotten in the cracks of time.

They did not dare to speak, or even breathe loudly.

When Wu Lingxiao's cold gaze swept past, those men hiding behind the windows were so scared that their bodies went limp. They hurriedly knelt on the ground, pressing their foreheads firmly against the cold floor, trembling.

"Long... Long live Your Majesty..."

The rising and falling sounds of greeting were as faint as mosquitoes and flies, carrying an unconcealable tremor.

Wu Lingxiao turned a deaf ear to this.

In her eyes, these people were not even human, worse than the weeds on the roadside.

They were just a bunch of breathing decorations, a pile of garbage that had to be stuffed into the inner palace due to various political interests.

In her mind, at this moment, there was only that young man in a green shirt who had resolutely run away.

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

"Only you are worthy of standing by Our side, only you are worthy of Us looking at you straight in the eye..."

Just as Wu Lingxiao's heart and eyes were full of sick fantasies about her former lover.

Suddenly.

"Your Majesty! Please wait, Your Majesty!"

An old, hoarse voice, carrying a certain desperate all-or-nothing tone, abruptly broke this deathly silent atmosphere.

Wu Lingxiao's footsteps stopped.

She slightly turned her head, and a chilling coldness instantly surged in her phoenix eyes.

She saw on the palace path not far ahead, a hunched old man with a head full of white hair staggering out.

He was wearing an outdated, washed-out palace outfit. Because he ran too fast, he even fell down, scrambling and crawling to block Wu Lingxiao's way.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, you've finally come... Wuu wuu wuu..."

The old man knelt on the ground, his muddy old tears crisscrossing his face. He lifted his head, revealing a face covered in wrinkles and age spots.

The other palace servants hiding in the dark were frightened out of their wits upon seeing this, secretly cursing this madman in their hearts.

Wu Lingxiao looked down condescendingly at this old thing blocking the way, her brows slightly furrowing.

"Who are you?" Her voice had no fluctuation, cold as ice.

The old man trembled. Hearing the Empress actually asking who he was, the sorrow in his eyes deepened.

He tremblingly took out an already lusterless jade pendant from his clothes and held it above his head:

"Your Majesty... I am Consort Shu! I am the Third Son of the Zhao family!"

"One thousand five hundred years ago, when you were still the Crown Princess, you personally welcomed me into the Eastern Palace... During the Lantern Festival back then, you even praised my zither playing, and you bestowed this jade pendant upon me..."

"We once shared a deep and loving bond, have you forgotten it all? In those days, you visited my bedchamber every single day."

"Your Majesty, your servant is already old... My time is running out..."

Weeping, Consort Shu shuffled forward on his knees, attempting to grasp the hem of Wu Lingxiao's robes, which were embroidered with golden dragons.

"For these past eight hundred years, I have waited in the depths of this palace day and night, watching my youth turn to white hair... I just didn't want to die without even seeing your face one last time..."

"I beg Your Majesty... I beg Your Majesty, for the sake of our past affection, listen to me play one more song... Just one..."

Consort Shu's voice was shrill yet deeply mournful, exhausting the hundreds of years of bitterness, blood, and tears experienced by the men of this inner palace.

Had an ordinary person heard this, they would have likely been moved to pity long ago.

However, the person he faced was Wu Lingxiao.

A tyrant who had been utterly mad for eight hundred years.

Right before Consort Shu's withered, claw-like fingers could touch the edge of Wu Lingxiao's robes.

"The Third Son of the Zhao family?"

Wu Lingxiao chewed on the name, a cruel curve forming at the corners of her mouth. "I remember now."

A burst of ecstatic light instantly erupted in Consort Shu's eyes. "Your Majesty remembers! Your Majesty..."

"I remember that back then... it was you who gossiped behind his back on the day Ye Xuan entered the palace, claiming his background was too lowly and that he was unworthy of being a consort?"

The smile on Consort Shu's face froze instantly, and terror engulfed him like a tidal wave.

"No... No... That was a misunderstanding... Spare my life, Your Majesty..."

"Since your time is running out, then there is no need to wait."

Wu Lingxiao's gaze suddenly turned freezing cold, her previously lazy expression instantly twisting into the ferocity of an Asura.

"You dare block my path, and you dare bring up the past to disgust me..."

"Go to hell."

Without any flashy moves, Wu Lingxiao merely flicked her sleeve in disgust.

"Bang!"

A muffled explosion rang out.

Under the watchful eyes of all those peeking from the shadows, the once proud genius of his generation, the now elderly and dying Consort Shu, was instantly blown into a mist of blood before he could even let out a scream!

Blood splattered against the vermilion palace walls, adding a shocking splash of fresh red to the already mottled surface.

That jade pendant, which represented their past affection, fell into the pool of blood and was mercilessly crushed under Wu Lingxiao's foot.

"Crack."

The jade shattered; the man perished.

Wu Lingxiao paused, looking at a single drop of blood staining her boot, the disgust in her eyes reaching its absolute peak.

"Dirty."

She coldly spat out the word.

The surrounding air froze.

The palace servants and consorts hiding in the dark all clamped their hands over their mouths, desperately suppressing the screams in their throats. Tears flowed uncontrollably, yet they dared not make a single sound.

It was too terrifying...

How was this their wife and master? This was clearly a demon wearing human skin!

Wu Lingxiao raised her head and surveyed her surroundings. Her gaze pierced through the walls and window lattices, stabbing directly into everyone's soul.

"Pass down my decree."

Her voice echoed through the empty, deathly silent long alley:

"From this day forward, whoever dares to mention the word 'old' in my presence, whoever dares to block my path, whoever dares to look at me with that disgusting gaze ever again..."

"Will end up exactly like him."

Having said that, the spiritual energy around her vibrated, instantly obliterating the bloodstain on her boot into nothingness. Then, she turned and walked away without looking back.

Leaving behind only a mangled corpse on the ground, and a palace full of despairing walking corpses.