“I think about revenge every single moment. I want to tear them into pieces.”
Zhuge Jingyue’s voice was filled with hatred. “I only hate that I was born too late and that my strength is too weak. But I swear, one day, I will personally crush their bones inch by inch.”
She forced a bitter smile. “But Palace Master, I want to rely on my own efforts to avenge my father and the elders of my family, not trade my body for it.”
“Sometimes I truly hate this body of mine. It gave me powerful talent, yet it ruined the entire Zhuge Family…”
“Can you give me some time to think?”
“Of course,” Fairy Miaoyin replied calmly. “The Young Master is broad-minded. If you do not agree willingly, he will never force you.”
She handed Zhuge Jingyue a jade stone and said with a faint smile, “Once you’ve thought it through, crush this jade at any time.”
“However, as someone who has walked this path before you, let me remind you. Your body is your only capital right now. It is also an opportunity gifted to you by heaven.”
“Opportunities are always fleeting. It depends on whether you can seize them.”
“The Young Master’s talent and cultivation speed are unprecedented. Perhaps after some time, what you call your body will no longer hold the slightest attraction for him.”
“You should understand clearly how tempting your constitution is. In the entire Heavenly Phoenix Royal City, there are few who can truly protect you and your family.”
Fairy Miaoyin’s smile turned faintly cold. “Within the Red Pavilion of Heavenly Summit Palace, there are also many top courtesans whose bodies aid cultivation. Those great figures only need to pay enough spirit stones.”
“You understand what I mean.”
Zhuge Jingyue stood there for a long time in silence before finally nodding. “Thank you for the reminder, Palace Master. I understand. I will consider it carefully.”
With that, she gripped the jade tightly in her hand and walked out in a daze, soon flying away from the Sacred Heaven Tower.
“I can only help you this much. I hope you come to your senses soon. The Young Master may not remain in Heavenly Phoenix Royal City for long,” Fairy Miaoyin said softly, her gaze calm and unfathomable.
The Yin Water Physique was too precious.
If not for the joint pressure from many high-level figures of the Empire, how could the Zhuge Family, once a top-tier clan, have fallen so quickly?
Even if Zhuge Jingyue yielded, she was only one person.
So many top nobles and powerful figures were watching her like predators.
Who could truly protect her?
She might end up as a jointly kept human-shaped immortal medicine, or worse, a plaything.
Such a fate would be even more tragic than becoming someone’s furnace.
When Fairy Miaoyin said she was helping Zhuge Jingyue, she meant it sincerely.
Her constitution was too valuable. In the entire Azure Cloud Immortal Sect, only a handful could fully shield her.
“Make arrangements. Help her come to a decision sooner,” Fairy Miaoyin ordered.
“Yes!”
The space behind her rippled slightly, as if a graceful figure flashed and vanished.
…
The banquet at Heavenly Summit Palace ended.
The supplier qualification was not finalized, but Heavenly Phoenix Royal City was thrown into turmoil.
A miserable scream echoed from the city tower, reverberating across dozens of kilometers without end.
Looking up, the tower was drenched in blood. The air was thick with the smell of iron. A figure hung there, nearly reduced to a skeleton. Only the face remained relatively intact. The lingering authority in his brows told the world that he had once stood at the pinnacle of the Empire.
Prince Hongtian’s Ying Hong.
The top nobles and powerful figures stepping out of Heavenly Summit Palace only had to raise their heads to witness the scene. Their hair stood on end. It felt as if they had fallen into an icy abyss.
Too ruthless.
“So this is the power that transcends the Empire itself…”
Zhuge Jingyue walked out of Heavenly Summit Palace in a daze. She glanced up at the horrifying sight on the city tower. There was no fear in her eyes. Instead, a strange sense of satisfaction flickered within them.
Ying Hong had been one of the masterminds behind her father Zhuge Xiong’s death.
Two of the royal censors who impeached her father had been loyal to Ying Hong’s faction.
Chu Feng had ordered Ying Hong to be executed by slow slicing, 100,000 cuts. In a way, that was vengeance on her behalf.
Her visit to Heavenly Summit Palace had been to secure the supplier qualification and obtain the protection of the Azure Cloud Immortal Sect.
Once they became a supplier to the Immortal Sect, even the royal family would not dare move against the Zhuge Family easily.
She had come with only a sliver of hope.
Yet Fairy Miaoyin’s words had struck her like a hammer.
So many top nobles had jointly moved against the Zhuge Family. Afterward, how would they divide the spoils?
There were so many of them, and she had only one body.
“Is this the only path left?”
“But I am truly unwilling…”
Zhuge Jingyue wanted to scream at the sky and vent the suffocating turmoil in her chest. Yet her pride would not allow it.
“I am no worse than anyone. If given time, I could slay every one of my enemies.”
She clenched her fist. Terrifying golden spiritual energy surged around her. The sheer force made the surrounding air tremble.
“To protect me, Ancestor failed his tribulation. Father suffered deviation. So many elders died.”
“How can I yield now? Wouldn’t their sacrifices be meaningless?”
“At worst, I die. I will never become anyone’s plaything.”
She took a deep breath and raised her hand to throw away the jade Fairy Miaoyin had given her. Yet after lifting it, she hesitated and finally placed it into her storage ring.
It could remain there. She would never use it.
At that moment, a voice called out from ahead.
“Zhuge Jingyue. Jingyue. May I call you that?”
She snapped back to her senses and looked forward.
A tall, broad-shouldered figure stood less than 2 meters in front of her.
Her brows furrowed slightly. It was Xu Batian, who had just lost face in the Sacred Heaven Tower.
He had not left. It seemed he had been waiting specifically at the entrance of Heavenly Summit Palace.
“I am also a Candidate Holy Son and the chief disciple of Primordial Void Peak. You call Chu Feng ‘Holy Son,’ yet address me by name. Isn’t that somewhat impolite?” Xu Batian said with a half-smile.
“Holy Son Batian, we are not familiar. I have matters to attend to,” Zhuge Jingyue replied coldly and attempted to fly past him.
Xu Batian raised his hand to block her, smiling. “What did that Palace Master Miaoyin say to you just now?”
For some reason, when he had entered the Sacred Heaven Tower earlier, the first person to catch his attention had not been Chu Feng, but this woman whose strength at the early stage Divine Core Realm seemed unremarkable among so many top nobles and powerful figures.
As he spoke, he studied her carefully.
Her features were refined, carrying a heroic aura. She was not breathtakingly beautiful.
By ordinary standards, a woman of her strength and appearance would not draw his interest.
Yet Xu Batian trusted his instincts.
His intuition told him this girl was connected to him by fate and would greatly benefit him. Otherwise, his Tyrant Body would not have reacted so distinctly to her presence.
“That is none of your concern. Move aside.”
Zhuge Jingyue felt increasingly agitated. She only wanted to return home as quickly as possible. Her tone was sharp.
A thought flickered in her mind. If she truly had to make a choice, she would rather choose Holy Son Chu Feng than Xu Batian, who had just been rebuked like a dog by Chu Feng.
Even if Xu Batian was also a Candidate Holy Son.
“Whatever she told you, I must warn you. Chu Feng is not a good person,” Xu Batian lowered his voice. “He is too arrogant. He treats lives like grass. If you have any troubles, you can speak to me…”
“Get lost!”
Zhuge Jingyue’s irritation flared. She instantly branded Xu Batian as yet another man coveting her body. Without hesitation, she struck at close range.
Boom!
Golden light enveloped her like a descending war goddess. Her palm slammed into Xu Batian’s chest, sending him flying dozens of meters away.
She then shot into the sky and vanished.
Even if Holy Son Chu Feng had set his sights on her constitution, at least he had been direct and allowed her to choose.
This man hid behind words and slandered others in secret.
Disgusting.
“So strong.”
Xu Batian stood in the sky, narrowing his eyes as he watched the direction she disappeared. “Zhuge Jingyue. I will remember you.”
He possessed a Tyrant Body at the Half-Step Spirit Transformation Realm, renowned for physical strength. Yet Zhuge Jingyue, merely at the early stage Divine Core Realm, had made him feel a trace of pain. Even some disciples at the Nascent Soul Transformation Realm within the sect could not achieve that.
His interest in her deepened.
A jade talisman appeared in Xu Batian’s hand. He spoke calmly, “Ying Tian, investigate a girl named Zhuge Jingyue. I want to know everything about her. And later, have Su Fan come as well.”
Ying Tian, the Crown Prince of the Heavenly Phoenix Empire, future Emperor, and a vassal aligned with the Azure Cloud Immortal Sect.