When the power gap is too vast, this is what happens. Even if the Jialan Empress didn’t intend to kill Jiang Che, in her invincible dream realm, he was nothing more than an extremely fragile existence. A mere sneeze from her could shatter him to pieces.
[Ding! Host successfully tricked the Jialan Empress! Reward: 1.5 billion points.]
A massive windfall!!!
Humiliation!
Utter humiliation!!!
The Jialan Empress was on the verge of collapse. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she would be forced to kiss someone—especially a mere ant whose cultivation was far beneath her own!
She was far too proud. To conquer her... one would need strength surpassing hers. Jiang Che had made her feel as though she had suffered an unbearable disgrace!
"Are you satisfied now?" The woman’s voice was practically forced through gritted teeth.
Her phoenix-like eyes burned with fury. The wrath of a half-immortal... The entire dream world, once dim and shadowed, suddenly transformed into a landscape of crimson molten rock, as if a volcanic apocalypse had erupted.
"Very satisfied. But Your Majesty, you’ll need to get used to this. To save Ling'er... you have no other choice, do you?"
"Besides, this is just a fragment of your soul in the dream realm. It’s not even connected to your true body. Just think of it as being bitten by a dog, alright?"
Jiang Che’s skin was thicker than a fortress wall—so thick he’d even insult himself without hesitation!
"No choice..."
Indeed, she truly had no way out now.
She knew exactly what this ant wanted. In the end, to save Ling'er, she would have to yield. Yet, she was powerless to resist.
Ling'er was her everything!!!
The fury on the empress’s face gradually subsided into calm. Then, she released Jia Ling'er.
The poor mermaid girl was already half-petrified—her lower body, waist, and hands had turned to stone. She lay unconscious, her life hanging by a thread.
"Your Majesty, I beg you... don’t tell Ling'er about my crimes. Let her continue loving me as she does now."
"Over my dead body!!!"
Once Ling'er awoke, the empress would use every means at her disposal to project the despicable scene of Jiang Che’s shamelessness into her mind, forcing her to see the true evil behind his charming facade!
He was far more wicked than the demons of the outer realms!
"Tsk tsk, what a shame... Then I suppose my heart’s blood is off the table—"
"I... I agree!"
The Jialan Empress had never known the meaning of helplessness—until now.
She was being led by the nose, completely at his mercy!
Jiang Che had truly backed her into a corner.
"Extracting heart’s blood isn’t easy, you know... But lucky for you, I already prepared it in advance!"
Jiang Che retrieved a small jade vial from his spatial pouch. Inside was a drop of his heart’s blood, extracted with the system’s power.
Did he really expect to endure the agony of the Midnight Heartbreak Curse?
Not a chance!
Gazing at the crimson droplet, Jiang Che smirked.
There were many ways to undo Jia Ling'er’s petrification. The simplest was to spend 300 million points to replace the royal blood in her veins with another lineage’s, nullifying the curse entirely.
But... wouldn’t that be a terrible waste of a golden opportunity?
How else could he use Jia Ling'er to control the esteemed empress?
"Didn’t you say you’d extract the heart’s blood at midnight?" the woman demanded.
"Oh, this drop was taken yesterday. Must be the time difference—you know how it is on Earth. I took a quick trip abroad, and midnight there happened to align with midnight here in Dragon Country now..."
Jialan Empress: "......"
She strongly suspected Jiang Che was lying through his teeth, but she had no proof.
With a slow, deliberate motion, Jiang Che let the droplet fall onto Jia Ling'er’s nearly fully petrified body.
In the next instant—
The stone encasing her shattered away like a shell, revealing flawless skin beneath, smooth as a peeled egg.
At the same time, the girl’s vitality began to surge back!
The mermaid clan’s petrification curse was, at its core, a seal on the life force. Once lifted, it left no lasting harm.
"This—!"
The Jialan Empress’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief!
This was the first time she had ever seen someone survive the ancestral curse after being afflicted.
Which meant... Jiang Che’s method actually worked!
But her astonishment quickly sharpened into suspicion. "No, the curse in Ling'er’s body hasn’t dissipated—it’s only been suppressed! What did you do?!"
"I told you, this is just a temporary fix. It lasts twelve hours at most. Every midnight and noon, she’ll need another drop of my heart’s blood. If even you can’t break this curse, how could I possibly eradicate it completely?"
The empress fell silent. She was certain Jiang Che had a way to fully cure Ling'er but was withholding it deliberately!
Even his so-called "heart’s blood treatment" might be a sham!
His true target was her. This greedy human not only wanted Ling'er—he wanted her as well!!!
[No. Endless concessions will only embolden him further. Today, he demands five cities; tomorrow, ten. And after a night’s peace, you wake to find his armies at your gates once more.]
[I must uncover the mermaid clan’s ancestral secret. Only then can Ling'er be saved without relying on him.]
Jiang Che glanced at her, his gaze unreadable.
A clever woman indeed. Pity about the temper... A woman like her needed to have her pride utterly crushed beneath his heel!
For now, he couldn’t touch her true body. But this fragment of her soul would make for excellent practice...
......
"Mmm... What happened to me?"
Freed from the curse, Jia Ling'er slowly opened her eyes—and immediately locked gazes with the Jialan Empress.
Her entire body froze.
"M-Mother...?"
"Ling'er... You’re safe! That’s all that matters!" The empress pulled her daughter into an embrace, her voice trembling with emotion.
But the next moment, Ling'er shoved her away with startling force!
Horror filled her as she looked down at her hands—the petrification marks were completely gone.
A terrible realization dawned on her.
As far as she knew, the only way to lift the petrification curse... was to kill its source!
Which meant... Jiang Che... was dead?!
Her heart clenched violently!
Memories of her time with Jiang Che flooded her mind. Their acquaintance had been brief, far from pleasant—even outright hostile.
By all logic, Jiang Che should have been nothing more than a despicable scoundrel to her. Yet, for some reason... she had still begun to petrify. The ancestral curse didn’t lie. She had no choice but to confront her own heart!
"Mother!!! You killed Jiang Che!!!"
Jia Ling'er’s scream pierced the air like a blade.
reezy rom-com) Good news: Jiang Liu is quite the ladies' man. Bad news: He’s lost his memory. Lying in a hospital bed, Jiang Liu listens to a parade of goddesses spouting "absurd claims," feeling like the world is one giant game of Werewolf. "Jiang Liu, I’m your first love." "Jiang Liu, you’re my boyfriend—she’s your ex." "Jiang Liu, we’re close friends who’ve shared a bed, remember?" "Jiang Liu, I want to have your baby." The now-lucid Jiang Liu is convinced this must be some elaborate scam... until someone drops the bombshell: "The day before you lost your memory, you confessed your feelings—and got into a relationship." Jiang Liu is utterly baffled. So... who the hell is his actual girlfriend?! ... Before recovering his memories, Jiang Liu must navigate this minefield of lies and sincerity, fighting to protect himself from these women’s schemes. But things spiral even further out of control as more people show up at his doorstep—each with increasingly unhinged antics. On the bright side, the memories he lost due to overwhelming trauma seem to be resurfacing. Great news, right? So why are they all panicking now?
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
