The Emperor's Domineering Favor, the Evil Consort's Unparalleled Reign

Ying Li looked around the courtyard, panting. Her eyes fell on Jiang Yanli, and finally on the withered bone ring on the other's wrist. She was slightly startled. The others in the courtyard had already been asked to leave by Qingyu.

"You were waiting for me?!" Ying Li walked into the courtyard and looked at the woman sitting in the house through the screen.

"Did Lord Xuan Ye send you?! In that case, please come in. I have something to say to you."

"Xuan Ye?!" Ying Li's expression changed slightly. When did she come here on Xuan Ye's orders?!

Half-believing, half-doubting, Qingyu beckoned to Yingli and said, "You come here just because my master wants you to. Your eyes have been on my master's hand several times. What are you pretending to be stupid for?!"

"Qingyu, if you don't speak properly, I'll slap you!!!" Jiang Yanli rarely scolded Qingyu like this. Qingyu blushed, glared at Yingli, and said, "Hurry up and come here! Do you want me to go and fetch you?!"

"Qingyu!" Jiang Yanli said, "Have I been too good to you all this time, making you so unruly?!"

"Jiang Yanli, she came here to steal things, and you're still being so nice to her?! I don't like this person!"

"Get down!" Jiang Yanli said, then groped her way out from behind the screen. She had a hint of anger on her face. Qingyu looked at the anger on her face, muttered a few words, and left reluctantly.

Ying Li looked at Qing Yu's awkward back and became even more puzzled.

Before she could speak, Jiang Yanli smiled and said, "Qingyu is ignorant of etiquette, please forgive her."

“Your name is Jiang Yanli?! This name is similar to mine…” Ying Li said, “Our names do have many similarities.”

"My parents hated parting, so they named me this. Your name, however, is quite ironic. 'The moon lingers sadly above the tower, its light should shine on the dressing table of the one who has departed.' Whom are your family remembering through your name?!"

"Who is this person?!" Ying Li couldn't help but ask as Jiang Yanli walked out of the house. She didn't have time to argue with her now. So many people in the Ghost Realm wanted her dead. She had to become stronger so that she could live openly and honestly in the mortal world.

"You seem quite impatient. You came here under the guidance of Lord Xuan Ye, the Great Sage Jue Ling. He asked me to wait for you here and tell you how to control the Bone Ring." Jiang Yanli said, and Ying Li's eyes lit up. She asked, "What is your relationship with Xuan Ye?! Does he really want me to know how to control the Bone Ring?!"

Although Lianyi was killed by Xuanye, it was a story that couldn't be told, but Yingli still had a knot in her heart. Chu Lianyi was a friend she met in the Ghost Realm, the first friend she could really talk to in her life. She was killed by Xuanye, and every time Yingli heard the name Xuanye, she would feel a surge of anger for no reason, and her chest would feel tight and uncomfortable.

"Come with me." After hearing Ying Li's words, Jiang Yanli seemed to stare at Ying Li's face for a long time. With a smile on her lips, she bowed slightly to Ying Li and then walked towards the courtyard on her right.

Ying Li followed behind Jiang Yanli, wondering what the other was up to. Jiang Yanli walked for a long time, about half an hour in the courtyard. Ying Li couldn't believe that she could walk for half an hour in such a small courtyard. Soon, she understood Jiang Yanli's intention.

A strange array appeared in the very center of the courtyard. A powerful spiritual force emanated from the center of the array, pulling Ying Li continuously toward it.

"What is this?!" Ying Li stood outside the formation, looking at the many inscriptions within it, his expression changing slightly. "It seems like I've seen it somewhere before."

"Come here." Jiang Yanli said, reaching out her hand to Ying Li. Ying Li looked at her and walked in step by step, entering the great formation.

Holding Jiang Yanli's hand, Ying Li felt a burning pain in her wrist from the withered bone ring on her right hand. "Xuan Ye is my master, whom I never formally became his disciple. Twenty years ago, he took me back to Yunshan and taught me how to grow up. He entrusted me with the withered bone ring from his body and taught me the key to controlling it. I think he did this so that I would wait for you. Now that you're here, see for yourself."

Ying Li suddenly felt a surge of heat in her heart, and her vision blurred as if she were lost in a fog. Standing in the center of the formation, seven beams of blue spiritual energy shot out from the withered bone ring on her right hand. The seven spirit lords stood outside the formation, surrounding Ying Li. They wore dark blue cloaks, obscuring their faces.

The Spirit Devouring Stone in Ying Li's hand emitted a blue spiritual light, and the spiritual energy drifted to the seven Spirit Lords. Ying Li felt as if his whole body had been drained, and a shiver ran deep in his bones!

"They lost their spiritual power while helping you fight last time, and they need to use your spiritual power to recover their strength. This will cause great damage to their bodies. If you don't want to, you don't have to share your spiritual power with them. When their spiritual power is exhausted, that will be the time when this Bone Ring breaks. After all, the Soul King who controlled the Bone Ring has disappeared. He will no longer help you balance the spiritual power of the Seven Spirit Lords. Everything depends on yourself."

As Jiang Yanli spoke, she extended her right hand, and a young girl emerged from her bracelet. She was also dressed in a dark blue cloak. If Ying Li hadn't seen the girl's appearance, she wouldn't have been able to tell whether the Spirit Lord was male or female. However, the girl was extremely powerful, possessing the skills of a ninth-level Spirit Saint!

"This is Xue'er, the guardian spirit master within the One-Star Bone Ring. I have been replenishing her spiritual power. If you want to control the Bone Ring, you must balance your relationship with the guardian spirit master within it. Otherwise, they will not be willing to fight for you, especially since you do not have the assistance of a Spirit King."

"I'm willing," Ying Li said firmly, glancing at the guardian spirit master opposite Jiang Yanli. His expression changed slightly; the spirit master was indeed very strong.

"You trust me that much?! Aren't you afraid I'll conspire with Lord Xuan Ye to deceive you?! You should know you have an abnormal physique; to the people of the Spirit Realm, your physique is a cardinal sin. Moreover, the Seven Star Bone Ring you possess is coveted by both the Spirit Realm and the Ghost Realm. If I take it away, you'll have nothing left." Jiang Yanli added fuel to the fire. She wanted to see just how much courage and strength the person Xuan Ye had taken a liking to possess!

"If that's the case, I will finish you off with my seven guardian spirit masters before I die! You know very well that I am stronger than you." Ying Li said, then closed his eyes, condensed the spiritual power within his body into seven streams, and distributed those streams to the seven guardian spirit masters!

Jiang Yanli's expression changed slightly. Ying Li surprised her; the other party's courage and spirit were indeed very sharp! It seemed that she would be the most suitable disciple for Xuan Ye to choose.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Ying Li's forehead, and she felt powerless all over. The seven guardian spirit masters seemed to be seven bottomless pits, constantly absorbing the spiritual power in her body. It seemed that their battle with Venerable Mu Zhen last time was indeed a bitter one, and now they were almost draining all the spiritual power in Ying Li's body!

The veins on Ying Li's neck bulged, fine sweat streamed down her face, and her lips were pale. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, she seemed to have collapsed completely. No matter how much she struggled, she would only look worse.

"It's not too late for you to give up now!" Jiang Yanli sensed the drastic change in Ying Li's spiritual energy loss and hurriedly said, "This won't do. Your seven guardian spirit masters used up too much spiritual energy in the last battle. You alone can't replenish it. If this continues, you'll be drained! Stop now. We can wait. We can take it slowly!"

"No! This time, I absolutely cannot stop!" Ying Li said stubbornly, Chu Lianyi's face appearing in her mind. She needed to learn the power of control; she had things she had to do, things she absolutely had to do!

Her wood-elemental shadow guard, Li Xiyue, is still lying in Mirror Lake on Illusionary Mountain; Lianyi's fate is unknown; and then there's Jiang Huai. To save Jiang Huai, she must cut the snake threads binding him. Jiang Huai will surely die. If she cannot master the art of controlling the Bone Ring, then every one of them...

"Ah!!! Ugh!!!" Ying Li's crescent-shaped scar on her forehead suddenly appeared, her face was covered in bulging veins, and she was sweating profusely. Her spiritual power was constantly draining away, while the spiritual energy within the seven spirit bodies was becoming increasingly abundant, faintly showing an aura that could shatter the entire formation.

“Ying Li…” Jiang Yanli said, when she heard a hissing sound behind her. She turned around and saw a giant, blood-red python coiled around her. Its gaping maw and murky eyes were fixed on Jiang Yanli, filled with murderous intent!