In the Tianxuan Dao Province, within the Immortal Phoenix Imperial Palace.
Ye Xiao’s figure descended from the sky, landing in front of the imperial palace gates, and gestured for the two immortal guards to keep quiet. Concealing his aura through the movement of the Zhou Tian Derivation Technique, he stepped into the imperial palace.
Inside, the palace was swirling with spiritual mist, bathed in immortal light, while the continuous sound of flowing water echoed endlessly, stirring the imagination.
"Swish... swish..."
"So much water..."
Ye Xiao was momentarily stunned, a flash of realization dawning in the depths of his eyes.
Judging by the spiritual resonance in the grand hall right now, Gu Mingyue was most likely... bathing? Cleansing her marrow and refining her bones?
Wasn't this just a happy coincidence?
Ye Xiao stepped into the main hall, bypassed a folding screen, and his eyes suddenly narrowed.
There, behind the screen, a flawlessly pale, snow-white back was leaning against a white jade spirit pool. From time to time, she raised a slender jade arm, scattering droplets of spiritual brew.
Her thick, ink-black hair was coiled atop her head, making her jade-like neck appear even more slender and graceful. Her delicate, snow-white back was dampened by the spiritual liquid, flushed with a faint pink and glowing with a warm, translucent radiance.
She lazily raised her arm, the spiritual liquid sliding down her towering, slender collarbones before dripping into the pool and sending ripples spreading outward.
Even Ye Xiao found himself unable to bear the thought of disturbing her, standing quietly in the hall to appreciate this breathtaking scene.
A little higher... yes, that's it, sit a bit higher...
"Hah."
Until Gu Mingyue slowly straightened her body, stretching her waist, as her firm, rounded, snow-white curves gradually broke the water's surface, shifting up and down in a stunning profile that instantly caused Ye Xiao to catch his breath.
"Hm?"
Gu Mingyue was startled, abruptly turning her head to gaze at the white-robed figure standing in the hall, her eyes narrowing sharply.
"Ye Xiao!!"
With a cry of alarm, Gu Mingyue made to stand up, but seeming to remember something, a flush of sunset-red immediately bloomed across her pretty face. "When did you get here?!"
"I've been here for a little while."
Ye Xiao clicked his tongue in admiration, openly and boldly appraising Gu Mingyue. "I saw that Mingyue was in the middle of cleansing her marrow and refining her meridians, so I didn't want to disturb your cultivation."
"You!! Shameless..."
Gu Mingyue bit her pearly whites, yet she didn't dare to move recklessly, keeping herself hidden within the water with only her head exposed, looking rather playful and cute.
Ye Xiao, you couldn't bear to disturb my cultivation, right?
"Oh, that's right."
Suddenly recalling something, Ye Xiao retrieved a golden-threaded soft armor from his Qiankun Ring and placed it beside the spirit pool. "This saint-grade soft armor has astonishing defense. Since you've lost your cultivation, put it on later."
"Hm?"
Gu Mingyue’s pretty face froze in astonishment as she stared incredulously at Ye Xiao.
When did he become so considerate?
Was this still the same selfish, ruthless arch-villain Ye Xiao in her memory, the one obsessed only with attaining immortality?
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for bestowing a saint-grade armor upon the Daughter of Heavenly Mandate. Triggered the ten-thousand-fold return reward: Supreme Star Robe (Supreme-grade Artifact).]
"Cultivate in peace, Mingyue. I'll come check on you again after a while."
Before Gu Mingyue could recover from her shock, Ye Xiao had already turned and walked toward the hall's exit.
"Oh, and since Mingyue likes bathing so much, my Ye Family happens to have a wonderful place. When you have time to visit the Ye Family, I'll take you there myself."
My dear, remember this: if affection cannot breach a place, let spiritual treasures breach it for you.
Ye Xiao believed that through his persistent and high-frequency output, Gu Mingyue's Dao Heart would sooner or later waver.
"Ye Xiao!!"
Not until Ye Xiao's aura completely vanished did Gu Mingyue yank a plain white gauze robe from a nearby clothes rack, wrap it around herself, and step out of the spirit pool.
Looking down at the golden-threaded armor in her hands, her inner confusion deepened.
A saint-grade artifact was already an supreme fortune.
Yet Ye Xiao had casually given it to her without making any excessive demands.
What on earth was he trying to... do?
"Hum."
Meanwhile, after leaving the Immortal Phoenix Imperial Palace, Ye Xiao was suddenly enveloped in threads of ancient and profound starry spiritual patterns that gradually transformed into a pristine white robe.
With this Supreme Robe, Ye Xiao was confident that even if experts of the Cave Void Realm or Dao-Slaying Realm wanted to kill him, it would be no easy task.
"No, I cannot let my guard down; I still need to put in effort from other angles."
Pondering for a moment, Ye Xiao gazed at a manual of the Drifting Dragon Movement Technique in his hand and flashed a sinister smile.
"Hum."
At that very moment, a petite figure darted out from the mountain forest ahead, lunging straight into Ye Xiao's arms.
Instantly, Ye Xiao felt an astonishingly soft mass crash against his chest, rising and falling.
"Big brother, save me..."
Behind her, a towering demonic ape several zhang tall strode forward, grinning as it lunged toward Ye Xiao.
"Hm?"
Ye Xiao frowned slightly, spiritual brilliance erupting within his Double Pupils.
Extending his hand, he directly cast several talisman seals that slammed onto the demonic ape's head.
In an instant, the expression of this Soul Sea-realm fierce beast went completely blank, losing all its mischievousness.
Was he really that much of a scumbag?
I'm just a little Soul Sea beast playing around with this young girl, do you really have to slap me with seven divine talismans?
Its massive head shattered into pieces under Ye Xiao's talisman seals, blood and bone fragments splashing everywhere across the ground.
"Wow, big brother, you're so amazing! How should I repay you?"
The young girl in green bit her seductive red lips, a hazy mist lingering in her green pupils as her breathing grew slightly hurried. "Big brother... do you want it?"
"Hm?"
Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow slightly and slowly nodded. "I want it."
"Hehe, want what?"
The young girl in green bit her lip, lowering her gaze with an expression of supreme allure.
Heh, the mask is about to slip, isn't it?
"I want the rivers and mountains to stand secure, the common people to live in happiness, and all our esteemed reader lords to live a hundred years and meet with smooth sailing in all things."
"Hm?"
As Ye Xiao's words fell, the young girl in green's expression froze slightly.
Though she didn't quite understand what Ye Xiao was talking about, it seemed rather different from what she had imagined.
"Then big brother, would you like to take an obedient and well-behaved pure-blood mount? It's very pure, you know..."
"No."
Ye Xiao shook his head, his expression solemn.
"You won't even take a mount as beautiful as me? Then what do you want to take?"
Hearing this, the young girl in green looked resentful and pouted indignantly.
"I want to take... the Dao Province territories and the ancestral homelands of the Human Race that have been occupied by the dark races."
Although Ye Xiao's tone was calm and solemn at the moment, he showed not the slightest intention of pushing the young girl away.
Finally, he reached out and patted the young girl in green's little head, saying earnestly, "You may not be big, but your thoughts are quite filthy."
"You!!"
This time, the young girl in green could finally no longer contain her resentment; she broke free from Ye Xiao's embrace and vanished like escaping smoke into the depths of the ancient forest.
"Testing me?"
Ye Xiao let out a cold snort before finally turning his steps toward the Ye Family ancestral grounds.
Are you kidding me? I, Ye Xiao, am inherently devoted and can withstand any test.
I swear, I will forever be passionately devoted to eighteen-year-old girls with snow-white skin and burning hot bodies!!
"Pfft."
Meanwhile, within the Immortal Phoenix Palace.
Listening to the young girl in green's recount, Gu Mingyue's fair, peerless face suddenly blossomed with a faint, gentle smile.
"Huh? Mingyue, you're still laughing?!"
The young girl in green bit her pearly whites, evidently never expecting Ye Xiao to be so upright; it was simply exasperating.
"He possesses the Double Pupils. Did you really think you could conceal your cultivation and demonic body in front of him?"
Gu Mingyue shook her head, her gaze serene and distant.
No matter what, she could still sense that the Ye Xiao of this lifetime was somewhat different from the previous one.
She wasn't sure whether this difference was just an act or the absolute truth.
"Hum."
Time passed!!
Two days later, thunderclouds gathered once again above the Ye Family ancestral grounds, Dao patterns surging.
An Imperial Dao Edict slowly manifested, cascading with billions of divine runes.
"This is..."
"A Heavenly Dao phenomenon! Has the Ye Family experienced a Heavenly Dao phenomenon again?!"
Throughout the entire Holy Prefecture, exclamations broke out in waves.
Every immortal sect master and immortal sect patriarch looked toward the direction of the Ye Family ancestral grounds, their faces lacking any great disturbance, as if they had already grown accustomed to it.
"Hum."
Meanwhile, within Ye Xiao's bedchamber, a white jade spiritual pill at his elixir field was humming and spinning, manifesting mountains, rivers, chaos, and primordial void.
The Supreme Foundation Establishment Pill!!
Finally, as Ye Xiao successfully fused with this supreme immortal pill, his realm broke through the Soul Sea Ninth Layer, stepping into the Divine Wheel realm.
The elixir field transformed into the Divine Wheel, clearing the turbidity of heaven and earth.
What surprised Ye Xiao even more was that, nurtured by the Supreme Foundation Establishment Pill, the Divine Wheel in his elixir field had taken on a golden hue, shrouded in misty aura.
Within it, wisps of chaotic energy surged and rolled, boundless and vast.
"This is... the Chaotic Divine Wheel!!"