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

"Brother Yi, I didn't mean to keep it from you, I just..." Ying Li slumped to the ground, looking at Yi Bicheng opposite him, and said with some difficulty.

She knew how much of a blow her words would be to Yi Bicheng. She clearly had a chance to bring Ling Yun back to life, and she clearly knew that he was looking for the Bone Ring, but she kept quiet about it. Even if she had a thousand reasons, for Yi Bicheng, who already considered Ying Li a friend, this was undoubtedly a deception.

“I understand, girl. You still have your family. It’s understandable that you’re afraid. With the Deep Eyes massacre as an example, you can’t use the rise and fall of your family as a bargaining chip. I understand. I’m not the kind of person who gets blinded by love. I understand Ling Yun very well. Besides love, I feel more guilty towards her. I’m just in so much pain. I just can’t believe that such a wonderful Ling Yun is suddenly gone without leaving a trace.” Yi Bicheng looked at Ying Li, forcing a bitter smile on her face.

He was grateful to Ying Li; she was such a loyal, intelligent, and strong woman. He believed she hadn't done it on purpose. Putting himself in her shoes, he knew he probably wouldn't have been as open-minded as her if he had been exposed. Besides, she had no relation to Wei Lingyun and had no obligation to abandon her family to save her.

After a long while, he supported himself and stood up, walking slowly towards Wei Lingyun. Beyond the icefall was an even deeper chill. Perhaps because the Wei clan was buried here, the snow on Guliang Mountain never stopped. Those people seemed not to be dead, but were just sleeping peacefully inside, but they would never wake up again.

Yi Bicheng's right hand touched the crystal coffin, but he suddenly pulled away when his fingertips touched it. Wei Lingyun didn't like him, so he should restrain himself. He shouldn't have any unnecessary fantasies.

"I haven't mastered the art of control yet. Once I do, I will definitely return here with the Bone Ring. I..." Ying Li said, but looking at Wei Lingyun in the ice coffin, did she really want to come back to life? How could she live well after such a painful experience?

"Thank you for coming to see her with me. I'm already very grateful. Ali, may I call you Ali?" Yi Bicheng looked at Ying Li, her eyes calm and indifferent, but the sorrow in them was impossible to hide.

Ying Li nodded and stood up from the snow. Only then did she realize how extremely cold it was.

"You two fools, get out of here immediately. Lonely Mountain is not a place for ordinary people. In addition to the extreme cold here, there is also a layer of spiritual energy covering it, which prevents the icefall from melting in any weather except when it snows, thus protecting the bodies of the Wei clan members to a certain extent."

“Girl, it’s time to leave Lonely Mountain,” the alluring man said, making no mention of Yin Huan or the man in black. He knew Ying Li would be sad, so he simply stopped talking about it.

Ying Li walked up to Yi Bicheng, carefully looked at Wei Lingyun beside him, took the other's arm, and the two of them retreated back the way they came.

"Ah Li, do you know the person from earlier?" Yi Bicheng asked, barely managing to pull himself out of his grief. Thinking about Ying Li's reaction earlier, he couldn't help but feel curious.

"Hmm, I know him and I don't know him. Brother Yi, do you think there are really people in this world who look exactly alike?" Ying Li asked. She racked her brains but still couldn't believe that the man in black from earlier wasn't Yin Huan.

"I don't know." Yi Bicheng's expression changed. He had never seen two people who looked exactly alike, so he couldn't give a definite answer to Ying Li's question.

"The man in black just now looked remarkably like Yin Huan, who was with me through thick and thin in the Soul-Disrupting Array a while ago. I told you about him, back in Huai'an Kingdom, when Yuan Zhongxue sent people to kill me. He and the man in black look alike, but their personalities are completely different." Ying Li recalled Yin Huan's appearance: a silver-clad figure, a perpetually serene smile on his lips, such a handsome face, such clear eyes—it was impossible to connect him with the cold and aloof man in black just now.

"Who was that man in black just now?" Ying Li asked.

Yi Bicheng paused, his eyes narrowed sharply, his right hand clenched, and his whole body stiffened. "It's Mu Huan from the Mu Dynasty. Both her parents are Spirit Lords, and she is the next successor to the Mu Dynasty."

Ying Li's heart skipped a beat. Mu Huan—just one character different, the same appearance. Could he really not be Yin Huan? He shook his head violently. Absolutely not. This person was decisive and ruthless; how could he possibly be Yin Huan?

The other party's identity was actually the crown prince of the Mu Dynasty. No wonder even Tianfu, one of the nine great families, dared not provoke him. In front of Mu Huan, Yi Bicheng was just like an ordinary person. However, Yi Bicheng's talent was considered among the geniuses even among spiritual cultivators. Even so, he still could not compare to Mu Huan, who had the aura of a born king.

Forget it, even if the two are the same person, such an identity is indeed something Ying Li dares not even dream of.

The two limped out of Guliang Mountain, and the snow didn't stop until they had walked more than twenty miles away. The sun shone generously on Ying Li and Yi Bicheng, warming them for a moment, then they felt cold again. The snow on their bodies melted in the sun, turning into water that clung to their skin, making it icy cold.

After finding a bustling inn in Lonely City to stay in, Ying Li took out the two remaining Winter Night Grasses and handed them to Yi Bicheng. The other party had taken forbidden drugs, and his body had already been damaged to some extent. If things continued like this, he could not even think about cultivating spiritual energy.

Because they were in a hurry, the wolf hunter was imprisoned in the huge space of Xuanjin by Ying Li using a spiritual barrier. Since the wolf hunter recognized Ying Li as its master, it was very obedient at the moment, spending its days peacefully in the spiritual barrier and never causing Ying Li any trouble.

Yi Bicheng declined several times, but finally accepted it for recuperation. Seeing Ying Li sitting in the room, hugging the stove, Yi Bicheng suddenly seemed to remember something and asked, "A-Li, was your grandfather at the third stage of the Spirit Master realm?"

Ying Li nodded. "Yes, besides Grandpa, Ye Lingcheng also has the heads of the Lin, Xiao, and Jiang families who are all Spirit Masters. Brother Yi, do you have any questions?"

Yi Bicheng pondered for a long time. After learning about Jin Yi's whereabouts, he came to Linshui City. He heard some news about the heads of various families in Yeling City, but he had put it out of his mind. In fact, he had always been suspicious, but he had been preoccupied with other matters and had not paid attention to it. Now, however, he realized that the rumors did not hold up under scrutiny.

"Did any of the major families in Yeling City participate in the war between humans and ghosts? Do they have any divine beasts under their command?" As far as he knew, once someone became a Spirit Lord, they would have a divine beast by their side. When Dongye Mountain was destroyed and Cheng Bo died, he clearly felt a powerful contractual force disappear from Cheng Bo's body. He didn't even have time to summon his divine beast before he died in the jaws of the hunting wolves. When they left, Cheng Jing and Cheng Fei, the brother and sister, had probably inherited the contractual force, so even though Dongye Mountain collapsed, the two of them remained calm, or perhaps their minds had been altered by the contractual force at such a young age.

Even if Winter Night Manor has an unremarkable reputation, its legends spread far and wide. Everyone knows that Winter Night Manor produced a Spirit Gathering Master named Cheng Dongye, so Cheng Bo is at least a Spirit Opening Master.

But Yeling City in Jin'an Kingdom is just a small city, yet it produced four Spirit Lords at the same time. It seems impossible no matter how you look at it.

“I have never heard of anyone having a divine beast under their command, but my grandfather participated in the war between humans and ghosts back then, which other families did not participate in. Brother Yi, is there anything strange about this?” Ying Li asked curiously. Because his family was not very large, Ying Li knew very little and could only listen to Yi Bicheng’s explanation.

Yi Bicheng's expression became even stranger. He said, "After becoming a Spirit Lord, one must have a divine beast under one's command. The divine beast fights alongside the Spirit Lord to expand territory and strengthen the family. It can be said that the divine beast is the Spirit Lord's right-hand man. Without the ability to control a divine beast, one cannot enter the Spirit Lord level. Ali, you said that Ye Lingcheng has four Spirit Lords, but none of them have a divine beast under their command. That's really strange."

Ying Li was also deep in thought. She really didn't know. Judging from Yi Bicheng's expression, this seemed to be no small matter.

"Besides your grandfather, what are the cultivation levels of the rest of the Ying family?" Yi Bicheng continued, as if he were searching for something.

Ying Li thought for a moment and said, "Both my second and third uncles are at the Divine Cultivation level. My second uncle is at the eighth level of Divine Cultivation, and my third uncle is at the sixth level. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Tianfu is known as one of the nine great families on the Spirit Realm Continent, and is more than a hundred times more prosperous than Ali's family. However, when it comes to the strength of Tianfu, its mid-level experts are not as good as Ali's second and third uncles. Isn't that strange? My Tianfu has countless cultivation resources and spiritual herbs, but when I asked Ali, I found that its mid-level experts are much weaker than Ali's second and third uncles." Yi Bicheng replied. He couldn't understand how the Ying family had managed to make all three of their sons experts among experts.

Ying Li was even more surprised. Although she was young, she had heard others say that there were many experts in Tianfu, and even lower-level experts could easily wipe out a family. However, Tianfu was strictly guarded, and no expert's spiritual power level had ever been leaked. Therefore, in Ying Li's understanding, this spiritual power level was only comparable to that of Ye Lingcheng in Jin'an Kingdom.

Aside from the Eastern family, the heads of the other four major families are all Spirit Lords, so she always believed that as long as she cultivated diligently, she would definitely become a Spirit Lord. However, after hearing Yi Bicheng say this, she began to have doubts. In Ye Lingcheng, a small city, four Spirit Lords without divine beasts as their subordinates had emerged. Where did their spiritual power come from? Where were their divine beasts?

"Perhaps I'm being paranoid. Jin'an Kingdom is one of the nine major kingdoms on the Spirit Realm Continent with relatively strong spiritual cultivation, so it's understandable that Ye Lingcheng has such a powerful Spirit Lord. Ali, don't overthink it. I just remembered to ask." Yi Bicheng saw Ying Li's increasingly serious face and was worried that the other party would be displeased, so she quickly said.

After a while, Ying Li nodded, watching Yi Bicheng immediately regain his usual composure. She kept this question to herself, knowing she would ask her grandfather, Ying Wuyou, when she returned home.