“All under heaven belongs to the King, all within the realm are the King’s subjects.”

These words written in Lingyao Empress’s suicide note appeared on the dilapidated stone wall, instantly making the atmosphere eerie.

Of course, there was a difference.

Judging solely from the handwriting, it did not come from the Empress’s hand.

After Ye Xingchen discovered these lines, he not only stood frozen in place, but killing intent gradually surfaced in his eyes.

The suicide note had mentioned this before—now that these words appeared on the stone wall again, could they be related to her?

“Mr. Pei.”

Xie Lingyao weakly said, “Are you alright?”

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, a torrential force of True Spirit erupted, transforming into a large hand that locked around her neck.

Ye Xingchen’s gaze turned cold and severe as he said, “Names can be a coincidence, but these words absolutely cannot be. Speak! What is your purpose in bringing me here!”

“…”

Xie Lingyao, restrained by the True Spirit hand, found breathing difficult as she said, “Say… what…”

She had brought the Night Emperor to find treasure with some ulterior motives, but it was simply because she valued his powerful strength—she truly had no malicious intent.

“You are Empress Lingyao!”

“All of this—you calculated it all!”

Ye Xingchen’s emotions seemed somewhat out of control, and the force he applied grew stronger.

Xie Lingyao wanted to speak, but being choked made it difficult to open her mouth. She could only let tears gradually gather at the corners of her eyes to tell him she was in pain.

“Buzz!”

Suddenly, the patterns on the stone wall flashed with light, rapidly enveloping the two of them, and then… they vanished into thin air.

“Whoosh, whoosh!”

Cold wind blew through, permeating the ruins, as if nothing had happened.

“Sect Master!”

In the Eternal’s control cabin, Shangguan Xinyao said in shock, “Senior Brother Ye’s aura is gone!”

…

“Drip, drip.”

In the dark environment, the sound of dripping water echoed.

“Swoosh!” Suddenly, a ray of flowing light appeared out of nowhere, illuminating the surrounding environment and revealing a scene resembling a stone cave tunnel.

Ye Xingchen’s expression was somewhat dazed.

Just moments ago he was standing at the stone wall, choking that woman—how did the scene suddenly change?

“Cough, cough!”

Xie Lingyao stood to the side with a flushed face, obvious scratch marks on her neck. If she hadn’t been suddenly teleported in, she would have suffocated.

Ye Xingchen paid her no mind. His spiritual sense attempted to capture everything around them but found it difficult to operate, as if restricted by some power!

“What is this place?”

Looking toward Xie Lingyao, his words and gaze were exceptionally cold.

At this moment, the Night Emperor suspected that his sudden arrival in this unfamiliar environment must be connected to this woman.

Perhaps everything was a trap set up, waiting for him to jump in.

One couldn’t blame Ye Xingchen for being too cautious—the blame lay with his hatred for Empress Lingyao being too intense, to the point where he was almost becoming mentally fractured from his delusions.

After Xie Lingyao caught her breath, she took out the parchment scroll and discovered that the originally carved patterns had been replaced by completely new ones. After comparing them with the surrounding environment, she said, “This should be the treasure location!”

“Hand it over!”

Ye Xingchen snatched the parchment scroll in one motion.

Something strange happened—when the item fell into his hands, the new patterns instantly became blurred, completely illegible.

Xie Lingyao said, “This thing is nothing but blank paper in others’ hands. Only in my hands can it function.”

“…”

Displeasure showed on Ye Xingchen’s face, but he still tossed the parchment scroll back.

Sure enough!

After Xie Lingyao caught it, the blurred images became clear again.

“Lead the way.”

Ye Xingchen said with a straight face.

At this moment, his mind was focused entirely on the treasure.

As for the matter of this woman and Empress Lingyao… he would deal with that after finding the treasure!

…

After the parchment scroll’s patterns changed, they matched the nearby environment perfectly, so Xie Lingyao followed the route through the cave tunnel and soon arrived at a fairly large stone chamber.

Inside it was very empty—there was nothing.

“Where’s the treasure?”

Ye Xingchen frowned tightly, muttering in his heart—was this woman trying to scam him?

“According to the map.”

Xie Lingyao said, “This place is not the endpoint.”

With that said, she walked to the end of the stone chamber where many uniformly sized stone doors appeared, exactly matching what was depicted on the map.

“Take the middle door!”

Xie Lingyao carefully observed the parchment scroll, then stood and walked toward the stone door carved with the character ‘middle.’

Ye Xingchen followed closely behind, maintaining absolute vigilance throughout, afraid that if he wasn’t careful, this woman would suddenly escape.

Xie Lingyao seemed to notice this and said, “There may be mechanisms and traps in this place. You don’t need to worry about me escaping, because if we encounter trouble, I’ll still need you to help resolve it.”

“…”

Ye Xingchen gradually relaxed his guard.

Indeed.

If this place was dangerous, given this woman’s strength, if she dared to flee on her own, her end would certainly be death without life.

To put it plainly.

Ye Xingchen needed Xie Lingyao’s guidance to find the treasure, and Xie Lingyao needed Ye Xingchen’s strength to find the treasure. The two were now grasshoppers on the same rope.

“Also.”

“I am not the Empress Lingyao you speak of.”

“Whatever grudge you have with her, please don’t transfer it to me just because our names are similar.”

Since Empress Lingyao had been mentioned earlier, Xie Lingyao took note of it.

“Hmph.”

Ye Xingchen snorted coldly.

…

The two walked along the middle door, then found themselves in a maze-like environment.

If it were someone else, even if they luckily chose the entrance and arrived here, they would definitely be confused, because every few steps there was a crossroads—who knew if taking a wrong turn would trap them.

The parchment scroll had clear route indicators. Xie Lingyao led Ye Xingchen through it, and soon they arrived at another stone chamber.

This place was quite different from before—the floor alone was paved with special stone slabs that looked smooth as mirrors.

“Step.”

Ye Xingchen stepped onto it, and ripples immediately flickered beneath his feet.

“Not good!”

He realized something was wrong and was about to withdraw his foot when a special energy instantly surged into his consciousness sea, leaving him standing in place dazed like a wooden chicken.

“Swoosh!”

In an exquisite room, Ye Xingchen suddenly rose from the bed, his expression slightly contorted from the pain of his wounds.

“Your injuries haven’t healed yet—don’t move around.”

A gentle voice sounded in his ear.

Upon hearing this, Ye Xingchen’s eyes gradually widened. He stiffly turned his head and saw sitting beside the bed a graceful, noble woman of devastating beauty.

Who?

Empress Lingyao!

Hadn’t he killed her? How was she still alive!

No, wait!

Ye Xingchen worked hard to calm his emotions before realizing that the room he was in was precisely his own bedroom from those years!

And the wound on his chest… wasn’t this the injury from when he competed with several other Martial Emperors back then?

“I…”

The Night Emperor thought in shock, “Have I returned to the past?”

Empress Lingyao gently brought over medicinal soup, her face full of resentment as she said, “Could it be that in your heart, the martial path is more important than me?”

“Smack!”

Ye Xingchen knocked away the medicinal soup handed to him, saying coldly, “Once this Emperor finds the Supreme Profound Scripture, I will definitely grind Du Yinqing and the others into the ground!”

“Damn it!”

“I clearly wanted to say this woman was venomous!”

“Why did I just repeat what I said before!”

Ye Xingchen inwardly lamented.

“I understand now.”

Empress Lingyao stood up, her emotions dejected as she said, “In your heart, the martial path will always be more important than me.”

“If there is a next life, I hope you can change this personality, because in this world there is not only the martial path—there are many other things you need to cherish and protect.”

As she spoke, Empress Lingyao’s entire person gradually transformed into a sharp dagger, then viciously stabbed it into Ye Xingchen’s chest.

The process wasn’t fast.

However, the Night Emperor’s body seemed restrained, completely unable to dodge. Only when he felt heart-wrenching pain did he struggle to raise his hand to grasp the dagger, his eyes splitting with rage as he said, “You…”

“Mr. Pei?”

“Mr. Pei?”

Xie Lingyao’s voice sounded in his ears, instantly pulling Ye Xingchen back to reality.

What just happened felt like a dream—a nightmare from the past.

“You’re hurting me.”

Only then did Ye Xingchen realize he wasn’t grasping a dagger but Xie Lingyao’s hand. He quickly flung it away, turned around, and said coldly, “Where’s the treasure?”

—