Shrouding the Heavens: Empress, I am truly not the Desolate Heavenly Emperor!

All was silent, and the peach blossoms in the sky were as stiff and cold as iron.

The Empress's words, "the smell of the dead," were like an invisible imperial weapon pressed against Ye Chen's soul.

The clear look in her eyes was gradually being swallowed up by a murky scarlet.

In her mind, her brother was the only light in the world, the source of all life, and should never be tainted by the decay of the underworld.

Once the "brother" before him is equated with "death," he will instantly turn into the most insignificant dust in this peach blossom abyss.

Ye Chen's heart stopped for a moment, then was forcibly suppressed.

He didn't look at the Empress's eyes, which could pierce through one's soul. Instead, he focused his gaze on his own hand, which was covered in black mud. His brows furrowed slightly, like a child who had dirtied his beloved toy, feeling annoyed and helpless.

"It smells terrible."

Ye Chen's voice was a little hoarse. He subconsciously hid his hand behind his back, his face showing undisguised embarrassment and self-blame.

"I was going to find some clean water to wipe away the dust and frost that you got on last night... but I never expected to get all dirty instead."

He took a step back, creating distance between himself and the Empress, his tone filled with urgency.

"Nannan, step back a bit, don't get overwhelmed by the smell."

However, before he could finish speaking, his body trembled violently.

Ye Chen's face instantly turned deathly pale, devoid of any color.

"Wow--!"

He could no longer suppress the jet-black blood that was flowing out, which gushed out violently, staining the pure white peach petals in front of him with a shocking dark color.

The black blood landed with a sizzling sound, actually corroding the peach blossoms formed from the fragments of the Emperor's Path, causing them to emit wisps of black smoke.

This is a venomous curse from the forbidden sea of ​​suffering, a curse that even the red spider lily cannot completely dispel.

Ye Chen instinctively suppressed it, but at this moment, he chose to detonate it completely.

The rage and killing intent that had just ignited in the Empress's eyes were instantly extinguished by this mouthful of black blood.

"elder brother!"

A piercing scream shattered the eternal tranquility of Peach Blossom Abyss.

The imperial might that could freeze time and space vanished, replaced by primal fear and panic.

A white shadow flashed like lightning, and she appeared in front of Ye Chen in an instant, completely ignoring the deadly filth and poison, trembling as she supported his swaying body.

Those hands, strong enough to pluck stars and grasp the moon, were now trembling uncontrollably, frantically pressed against his back.

boom!

A boundless life force, mixed with supreme imperial laws, surged wildly into Ye Chen's body.

The lingering poison of the sea of ​​suffering, powerful enough to turn even a saint into pus and blood, was completely wiped out and purified before it could even last a moment under the cleansing force.

"No...don't die..."

The empress's voice was thick with sobs, her eyes were bloodshot, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

At this moment, she was not a ruthless person looking down on eternity, but just a little girl from two hundred thousand years ago, helplessly holding her brother's cold corpse and crying in despair.

Ye Chen leaned against the Empress's warm embrace, feeling the vast life force washing over his meridians, which were on the verge of collapse.

His tense nerves finally relaxed, and waves of dizziness from surviving the ordeal washed over him.

Is this... the power of the Emperor?

It can destroy eternity, but it can also create life.

And now, this power is being used by him.

"Silly girl, your brother is alright."

Ye Chen weakly raised his hand to wipe away the remaining blood from the corner of his mouth, and his fingertips gently traced her tear-streaked cheek, the action intimate and natural.

"However... something went wrong during my training."

Under normal circumstances, this would be tantamount to offending the gods.

But at this moment, the Empress simply let him do as he pleased, her bewildered eyes filled with self-reproach.

"Practice... went wrong?"

"yes."

Ye Chen broke free from her embrace, sat down cross-legged on the spot, and looked at the peach blossoms falling all around him with a forlorn expression.

"This forbidden land is in ruins, its laws broken, its Great Dao no longer exists. I want to become stronger, I want to one day take you away from here, to see the mountains beyond mountains, the skies beyond skies. But..."

He took the tattered parchment scroll from his bosom and sighed heavily.

"This method has the power to reach the heavens, but there is no ladder to ascend to them."

He unfolded the scroll of "Dao Yan Jue: Fragment," his fingertips tracing the incomplete ancient characters, his smile bitter.

"It taught me how to pluck stars and grasp the moon, but it didn't teach me how to build a foundation. I was too dull to understand the mystery, and could only try to cross that bottomless abyss with my own flesh and blood."

The Empress's gaze fell on the rolled-up parchment scroll.

The sadness and panic in her eyes slowly faded, replaced by a deep, still gaze.

She didn't speak, but simply extended her slender, jade-like fingers and gently touched the ancient scroll.

hum!

The moment the Empress's fingertips touched the parchment scroll, the Dao patterns on the ancient scripture lit up on their own, then dimmed instantly, as if forcibly suppressed by a supreme will. All spirituality shrank back, not daring to reveal itself in the slightest.

The Empress's delicate eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"Rubbish."

Two words escaped her lips.

There was no contempt, no disdain, just the most objective statement of the facts.

Ye Chen's lips twitched involuntarily.

But a more helpless, bitter smile appeared on his face: "Perhaps. But this is the best thing I could find. After all, I am just a mortal, unlike you... who was born a legend."

These words precisely pierced the softest spot in the Empress's heart.

She turned her head and looked at Ye Chen's face, which was slightly pale due to blood loss. Reason and instinct began to fight fiercely in her eyes.

Reason told her that this was the cause and effect of ants, and she shouldn't interfere.

But a deep-seated obsession roared: Brother cannot suffer injustice, brother cannot practice trash, brother must have the best of everything!

a long time.

"read."

The Empress's voice rang out, cold yet brooking no refusal.

"What do you mean?" Ye Chen feigned ignorance.

Read it to me.

The Empress sat down again under the peach tree, slowly closed her eyes, and only her butterfly-like eyelashes trembled gently.

"Fix the mistakes where they are."

Ye Chen's heart was in turmoil, but his face remained calm.

Become!

This isn't just grading homework; it's the Creator God personally descending to earth to pave a path to heaven for him!

He suppressed all his excitement, adjusted his breathing, and his entire demeanor became solemn.

Ye Chen did not rush to recite the incomplete cultivation technique. Instead, he pondered for a moment and then uttered an ancient scripture from his hometown.

"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name..."

These few words seem to contain the ultimate truths of the universe.

A strange Daoist aura flowed around him, causing even the Emperor's Dao laws within Peach Blossom Abyss to resonate with him.

The Empress's tightly furrowed brows unconsciously relaxed.

Immediately afterwards, Ye Chen's voice deepened as he began to recite the main text of the "Dao Yan Jue".

"The way of Heaven is to take from the excess and give to the deficiency... to draw qi into the body, cleanse the chakra, and transform death into life..."

He only read three sentences.

"stop."

The empress suddenly opened her eyes, a hint of undisguised irritation flashing in them.

"Wrong. This method is crude and base. If spiritual energy follows this path, how is it different from severing one's own meridians?"

Ye Chen immediately adopted a humble, inquiring expression: "Then... what should we do?"