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

"Damn it, I'll risk it!"

Ye Chen gritted his teeth, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.

Fortune favors the bold!

Since I'm going to die anyway, I might as well take a big gamble! If I can refine this Emperor's Tear, then my title of "Master of Deception" will be truly solidified!

Without further hesitation, he rushed to the spring, disregarding any semblance of elegance, and lay down on the ground, taking a large gulp of the amber-colored water.

Boom!

The moment it entered his mouth, Ye Chen felt as if he had swallowed water, not water.

It is not a tragedy, but a tragedy for the entire universe.

And... enough power to destroy the world!

"ah--!!!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the entire Peach Blossom Spring.

"ah--!!!"

A mournful scream echoed through Peach Blossom Spring, startling the remnant soul of the half-body-less golden pheasant, which darted about in all directions.

pain.

An indescribable pain.

If the previous peaches were like pouring magma into your veins, then this "Emperor's Tears Divine Spring" is like directly detonating a neutron star right under your skull.

Ye Chen felt nothing but regret at this moment.

Very sorry.

He overestimated his physical strength and underestimated the emperor's grief.

The moment the amber-colored spring water entered his throat, it instantly transformed into countless fine, thread-like fragments of law. These fragments didn't resemble energy; rather, they were like tiny, barbed hooks, frantically tearing downwards down his esophagus.

Every drop of spring water carries the obsession of the Ruthless Great Emperor for two hundred thousand years.

That was the loneliness of being surrounded by enemies, the despair of watching your brother fall in a pool of blood, and the desolation of looking back at the mortal world on the path to immortality only to find it deserted.

How could a mortal body bear the sorrow of an emperor?

"puff!"

Ye Chen opened his mouth and spat out a jet of blood.

The blood evaporated into red mist the instant it left his body due to the high temperature. His skin turned as red as a boiled shrimp, then began to crack inch by inch, with golden light bursting out from the cracks, as if a small sun about to explode was hidden inside him.

[Warning! Energy overload! Countdown to physical collapse: 10, 9, 8...]

The system notification in my mind was urgent, like a death knell.

Ye Chen gripped the bluestone ground tightly, his fingernails breaking and bleeding profusely. He felt his soul being assimilated by the immense sorrow, his consciousness gradually blurring, as if he were about to dissolve into nothingness and become a speck of dust in this world.

Is that all?

Damn it... I'm so unwilling to accept this.

Just as his consciousness was about to fade, Ye Chen felt a gaze upon him.

Cold, indifferent, and aloof.

He struggled to lift his head, his vision blurred by blood, and could only vaguely make out the figure in white.

The Empress had turned around at some point.

At this moment, there was no trace of the innocence and dependence of "Nannan" on her face. Her eyes were as deep as the abyss of the starry sky, without a trace of emotion, quietly looking down at the ants struggling in pain on the ground.

That is the "Emperor's Body".

A ruthless emperor who is clear-headed, rational, and regards all things as worthless.

She saw through it.

The tender story we just heard, the lie about "waiting," seemed so clumsy and ridiculous the moment reason returned.

She was watching a clown, watching him perform by any means necessary to survive, and in the end, because of greed, he swallowed what did not belong to him and headed for his own destruction.

The surroundings were deathly silent.

The peach blossoms stopped falling, and even the wind dared not make a sound at this moment.

"Too clever by half."

The Empress parted her red lips slightly, her voice as cold as ten thousand years of ice.

She didn't kill anyone because she didn't need to.

In his current state, Ye Chen will explode into a cloud of blood mist within three breaths, becoming nourishment for this old peach tree.

This is reality.

There aren't that many fairy tales, that much warmth. Playing mind games before an emperor usually only leads to death.

[Countdown to physical collapse: 3, 2...]

Ye Chen's vision began to darken, and his heart pounded like thunder, as if it might explode at any moment.

But he did not beg for mercy.

In that final moment between life and death, this top-tier "Taoist Heart Deception Master" made a move that went against his biological instincts.

He used the last bit of strength in his body to forcefully control the contorted muscles in his face.

He didn't look at his collapsing body, but stared intently into the Empress's cold eyes.

There was no fear, no pleading in his eyes.

There's only one kind of heartache... an intense, overwhelming pain.

Like the brother who died at the village entrance, watching his sister's departing figure before his death, he felt a heartache that he couldn't let go of no matter what.

"cough……"

Ye Chen coughed up a fragment of internal organs, and managed a bitter smile through his teeth.

"sorry……"

His voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, yet it could be clearly heard in the deathly silent Peach Blossom Spring.

The Empress's usually calm eyes flickered slightly.

"I'm sorry I made you... sad..."

After saying this, Ye Chen tilted his head to the side and completely lost consciousness.

He's gambling.

This is the last hand of all-in.

He neither explained the truth of the story nor defended his own identity.

He skipped the logical maneuvering and avoided discussing his current situation, instead responding to the Empress's previous tear from the perspective of an "older brother."

Only an older brother would care whether his younger sister is crying, even when he is about to die.

This is a calculated move.

It's a psychological tactic.

That's right... risking your life to stage an accident!

boom!

The moment Ye Chen closed his eyes, the violent Emperor's Tear energy within him completely went out of control, surging towards his limbs and bones like a flood bursting its banks.

Death's fingers had already touched his throat.

The empress stood still, her white robes fluttering in the wind.

Her reason told her that this was a fraud, an ant who was exploiting her obsession to survive. Once he was dead, he was dead, and they would have nothing to do with each other anymore.

But at the very moment Ye Chen collapsed, at the very moment those words "I'm sorry to have hurt you" were uttered.

Her heart suddenly clenched with pain.

That kind of pain was ten thousand times more intense than the backlash from the Great Dao.

It was as if, once this person died, her two hundred thousand years of waiting would truly become a complete joke.

"elder brother……"

A very low murmur escaped from deep within her throat.

It's an instinct from the subconscious, a soul imprint that transcends reason.

Before her brain could make a decision, her body had already moved.

Om-!

A delicate, jade-like hand appeared out of thin air above Ye Chen's crown.

There were no earth-shattering phenomena, no world-destroying divine power.

Only a gentle, ethereal light, like a spring breeze and gentle rain, fell from her palm and instantly enveloped Ye Chen's body, which was about to explode.

Time seemed to flow backward at this moment.

The Emperor's Tear energy, which had been violently tearing Ye Chen's meridians apart, became incredibly docile in the face of this immortal light, like a mouse encountering a cat.

"snort."

The Empress let out a cold snort, seemingly annoyed by her own actions.

But she didn't pull her hand back.

Instead, she flicked her fingertips, and several profound and complex imperial runes entered Ye Chen's body.

Since we've already saved them, we can't let it go to waste.

My ruthless... medicinal ingredient, how could it be something ordinary?