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

A day and a night later, the fierce battle ended, and Nan'an Kingdom became a scorched earth. Hou Ning stared blankly at the ruins in front of him. The city where he grew up had become a ruin. He opened his mouth, but found that he could not utter a single word.

Of the nine great rulers of the Spirit Realm Continent, some were injured, some had disappeared, leaving only him here. Fu Cheng's claim that he had captured the nine young masters was all a lie. He only had enough time to go to the Ghost Realm to find Hou Ning; the other young masters were scattered across eight countries. How could he possibly capture them all?! It was nothing but an illusion, merely to give Ying Li some breathing room and create some momentum.

"Oh dear, the king's palace was destroyed like this in just one night. That girl is really amazing, even more amazing than a god!"

"Isn't that right?! I heard that she single-handedly took on nine national lords, and all by herself! And she's just an eighteen-year-old girl, where did she get such power?!"

"Oh dear, you have no idea! Today, those people hanged Ying Li's clansmen alive. They were dead for several days when Ying Li arrived and saw it. If your relatives were treated like that, you would probably go even crazier than Ying Li! A perfectly good little girl was hanged alive, and her cries before she died were truly heartbreaking! Ying Li made such a big scene, but still couldn't save the Ying family!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, they've already attacked our doorstep, and you're still defending Ying Li?! What's wrong with your brains?! Ying Li is an anomaly! What's an anomaly? She's a scourge on the Spirit Realm Continent, a scourge that will cause turmoil! Look at Ying Li, she's just an eighteen-year-old girl, yet she's so powerful, destroying the palace of the King of Nan'an Kingdom overnight. If she's not a scourge, what is she?! Don't call her a genius cultivator; those two princesses of Dong'an Kingdom were the real genius cultivators back then. Look at those two princesses, neither of them caused as much trouble as Ying Li!!!"

"Exactly! Ying Li is an anomaly, a demoness, a scourge to the entire Spirit Realm! Instead of watching yourselves, you pity Ying Li?! How utterly foolish! She could snap your neck with a flick of her finger! Now you're praising a demoness? Have you lost your minds?!"

"If she's so powerful, why didn't she kill us?! Why did she only cause trouble for the king?! What is her motive?!"

"..."

Outside the mental barrier set up by Ying Li, the people of Nan'an City were all safe and sound. Apart from being terrified for a day and a night, no one was injured.

After the great battle, the Chu family of Zizhu Gorge in Nan'an Kingdom, led by Chu Jue, arrived here. Seeing the devastation of the Nan'an Kingdom's palace, Chu Jue frowned. He had never imagined that Ying Li would be so powerful!

For days, Chu Lianyi's disappearance had been a source of great distress for him. He frequently connected her disappearance with the Ghost Spirit Fruit, and nothing in the Spirit Realm mattered as much as Lianyi's life. Now that Ying Li had even reached the Southern Kingdom, as one of the Four Great Spirit Lords, he simply could not stand idly by.

But by the time he arrived, Ying Li and the others had already left. Ying Li's grandfather, Ying Wuyou, had been transferred out of Nan'an Kingdom ahead of time and was said to be imprisoned in Tianfu Mansion, under the supervision of the nine Mansion Lords.

Ying Li has fought nine great rulers alone, so he must be exhausted and won't be able to reach Tianfu in a day or two. Tianfu in the far north is at least ten days away from here, even without eating, drinking, sleeping, or resting.

"Grandpa, what should we do?! It looks like Ying Li has already escaped. Should we chase after him or not?!" Chu Kuo asked. This time, Chu Jue had brought him along, and he was determined to perform well so that his grandfather could teach him more.

After careful consideration, Chu Jue said, "The divine beasts of the nine great kingdoms have had their contracts reversed by Ying Li's Bone Ring, becoming Ying Li's guardian divine beasts. How powerful must we send people to chase after them before we receive a reply?! The Venerable Lord must already know about this calamity. What we need to do is observe the situation. Doesn't Ying Li still have a grandfather in the Far North Heavenly Palace?! You take people there, representing the Chu family, and act according to the circumstances!"

Chu Kuo nodded, watched Chu Jue turn around, and quickly followed.

After a long pause, Chu Jue coldly glanced at Chu Kuo, who was following closely behind him, and said, "Don't you have anything else to say?!"

"Grandpa, what do you mean?!" Chu Kuo asked hastily when he saw Chu Jue stop, thinking he hadn't done something right.

"Your sister, Chu Lianyi, what are you planning to do?! How far are you and your vicious mother going to bully Lianyi?! Now that Lianyi has been bullied away by you, are you happy?! She is your own sister! Chu Kuo, I have more than one grandson. Don't think that just because you are the legitimate son and grandson you can do whatever you want!"

Chu Kuo's expression changed drastically, and he quickly cupped his hands and said, "Grandpa, how could Chu Kuo have such arrogant thoughts?! Sister Lianyi, I have already sent people to look for her. All the things that Sister Lianyi has experienced are due to Mother's stubbornness. When Sister Lianyi returns, Chu Kuo will definitely persuade Mother to treat Sister Lianyi well. Grandpa, rest assured, Chu Kuo will definitely not let you down."

Hmph, you old scoundrel! If you weren't Ling Jue, who would tolerate your bad habits?! Not just Chu Lianyi, the entire Chu family will become my stepping stones to advancement! Once I've received all your true teachings and truly taken control of the Chu family, I will repay you for all the lessons you've taught me over the years, one by one! Just you wait and see!

Chu Jue stared at the top of Chu Kuo's head and sneered, "No one would believe your words. I'm only warning you one last time. Just because I'm not home doesn't mean I'm unaware of your affairs. You're trying to pin everything on that poisonous woman; don't think you can wash your hands of it! Get back to the Far North Heavenly Palace; you're an eyesore!!!"

"Yes, Grandpa, I'll go right away!" Chu Kuo replied.

"Take that bitch of yours, Mo Yue from the bird-raising family, away too! Don't think just anyone can act so arrogantly in the Chu family!!!"

"Yes, Grandpa! Chu Kuo will take care of it right away. Please don't be angry, Grandpa!!!"

After Chu Kuo finished speaking, he quickly retreated. Chu Jue looked at the yellow dust filling the sky and the black mist enveloping the palace, and sighed for a long time. Finally, with his hands behind his back, he shot off towards Feng'an Kingdom. At this moment, Lord Mu Zhen was in the Feng'an Kingdom's palace. With such a major incident occurring in the Spirit Realm, only he and Mu Zhen could conspire together.

Snow was falling in the far north. Yi Bicheng, dressed all in white, stood by the window, staring blankly at the red plum tree in the courtyard. It was the season when plum blossoms were in full bloom, and the vibrant red against the white backdrop possessed a kind of ascetic beauty.

Yu Qingdai walked from the courtyard into the house. Seeing Yi Bicheng's absent-minded eyes, her expression changed. She said, "What's so good about plum blossoms?! Even if they are beautiful, they stubbornly stand proudly in the snow. If you like them and hold them in your arms, they will die."

Yi Bicheng ignored her and instead looked at the red plum tree. The plum blossoms were blown by the cold wind, and the red petals fell into the snow, creating a kind of desolate beauty that was heartbreaking.

"Are you thinking of Wei Lingyun?! She's sleeping peacefully in the Lonely Mountain, undisturbed and unburdened by life. Her people are protecting her. You're in the far north and still thinking of her. I feel she's the happiest woman in the world," Yu Qingdai said to herself.

Yi Bicheng's expression finally changed. He turned around and said coldly, "What are you doing here?!"

"Here you go, the Northern Red Plum Fan. Someone asked me to give it to you. Such a fine weapon, why don't you want it?!" Yu Qingdai said. "Is it because you used this Northern Red Plum Fan to hurt Ying Li, that's why you don't want it?!"

"What exactly are you trying to say?!"

“Last night, I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to look at the moon in the courtyard. I am a girl from a poor family in Zizhu Gorge, Nan’an Kingdom. My family runs a dye shop. I have many older brothers and many younger brothers. I have not read many books, have not learned any spiritual magic, and have never seen much of the world. So, I wanted to see how the moon in the far north is different from the moon in Zizhu Gorge.”

As Yu Qingdai spoke, Yi Bicheng turned her head away, her eyes darkening. Her thoughts drifted back to last night…

"I saw a shadow drift past my courtyard, and soon, it was a flash of white. I was curious, so I followed the shadow to the place in Tianfu where Ying Wuyou, the head of the Ying family, was imprisoned. I watched as that person spoke a few words to Ying Wuyou and then secretly released him. He even used a kind of magic to make it seem as if Ying Wuyou had never left. After watching for a long time, I felt sleepy, so I went back to sleep, but I couldn't fall asleep no matter what I did."

"You saw it all, you hate Ying Li, why don't you expose me?! If you go and tell my father now, Ying Wuyou will be brought back, Ying Li will come, you will be threatened, and you might even be dragged down to your death. Isn't that what you want?! These should be the results you've been thinking about day and night. Yu Qingdai, what are you really thinking?!" Yi Bicheng said, his brows furrowed, his eyes filled with coldness, colder than the weather in the far north.

Yu Qingdai took a deep breath, clasped her hands together, and pressed her nails deep into the back of her hands, leaving ten deep finger marks on the back of her hands. The marks were red and white, and eventually the skin peeled off, and pink blood flowed out.

Yu Qingdai said, "If I treated you as well as Yao Fan, would you pity me? Would you keep me by your side?! Yi Bicheng, I don't want anything anymore, please let me stay by your side! I won't make things difficult for Ying Li anymore. Ying Li and I were originally friends. I don't want things to turn out like this. Don't you dislike Ying Li?! Wei Lingyun is dead, your heart has been dead for a long time, and you won't love anyone else. But I want to be like Yao Fan, I want to be remembered by you every day like Yao Fan, I want you to see me every day. Yi Bicheng, even someone like me, are you going to push me away?!"

Yi Bicheng's tightly furrowed brows suddenly relaxed. After a long while, he smiled, carefully digesting Yu Qingdai's words. After a long time, Yi Bicheng asked indifferently, "You want to be Yao Fan? Are you Yao Fan?! Yao Fan was pure and kind. Even though fate played tricks on her, she never hurt others indiscriminately. She loved the world, loved me, and loved Ying Li. Can you do that?! Yes, I love Ling Yun. When Ling Yun died, my heart died too. If Ling Yun doesn't come back to life, I will marry for the sake of Tianfu someday. It doesn't matter to me whether Ling Yun is my wife or not. I promised Yao Fan that I would marry her. I want to marry a woman like Yao Fan, not someone like you."

"What's wrong with me?!" Yu Qingdai's voice trembled, her eyes instantly reddened, and her whole demeanor turned gloomy and fierce.

“Once you’ve latched on, you can’t get rid of me. You initially wanted to marry me just because I’m a noble young master, didn’t you?! You said you wanted to learn from Yao Fan, but your jealousy is too intense, your arrogance is too self-righteous, and your stubbornness and coldness are too much. Why should I want someone like you?! Why should my Yi Bicheng of Tianfu have to have a daughter from a dyeing house like you?! Yu Qingdai, please recognize your place. You are not a princess, and you never will be.”