Time flowed back to the space of one incense stick ago.
On the fringes of the Eastern Wasteland, inside the assembly hall of the Xiao Family in Wutan City.
"Patriarch, this is terrible!"
"A terrifying giant from the Qingxuan Sect has arrived outside our Xiao Family gates! The giant says he is here to deliver a letter, and he is carrying a huge coffin on his back!"
A young disciple of the Xiao Family rushed into the assembly hall, his face pale with terror, practically crawling and stumbling as he came.
"What? Is—is he here to deliver a letter or a funeral? Annulment isn't enough; is the Qingxuan Sect trying to wipe us out completely and kill Yanyue as well?"
Inside the assembly hall, the expressions of the older generation of Xiao Family experts altered instantly. They sprang to their feet, and the hand of Xiao Ding, the Xiao Family patriarch, trembled violently as he held his celadon teacup.
Even as shock gripped them, their gazes turned unanimously toward a remarkably refined, breathtakingly beautiful young woman whose face was drained of color.
"The Qingxuan Sect wishes to form a marriage alliance with the Yuhua Dynasty. Simply annulling their engagement with our Xiao Family is certainly not enough! An ancient and supreme power of their caliber will never tolerate the slightest blemish on the reputation of their future successor."
"And an engagement in the past is that blemish! First an annulment, then complete eradication—the Qingxuan Sect's actions are entirely justified! To prevent our entire family from being implicated, I suggest we hand Xiao Yanyue over immediately of our own accord!"
In the assembly hall, a high-waisted, stunningly attractive young woman suddenly stepped forward.
She was none other than Xiao Yanli, the daughter of the Xiao Family's Second Elder!
Before Xiao Yanyue was reduced to a good-for-nothing, Xiao Yanli had been nothing more than a speck of dust in her presence.
Back then, Xiao Yanyue possessed astonishing, world-shaking talent. Across the entire Eastern Wasteland, she could suppress every proud peer of her generation single-handedly, stepping into the Nine-Star Grand Master realm at the tender age of eleven.
Throughout that period, Xiao Yanli had spent nearly all her time looking up to Xiao Yanyue, willingly content to remain her follower.
Back then, she had never even dared to dream of trampling Xiao Yanyue beneath her feet!
Yet, following the mishap that befell Xiao Yanyue ten years ago, her cultivation had regressed rather than advanced over the past decade, gradually reducing her to a useless burden. Meanwhile, Xiao Yanli's buried ambitions began to sprout like wild grass in springtime.
Even so, no matter how useless Xiao Yanyue had become, she still held an engagement to the Qingxuan Sect. Jealous though Xiao Yanli might have been, she had never dared to openly suppress or attack Xiao Yanyue over the past few years.
Yet now, everything had changed!
During yesterday's family assessment, Xiao Yanyue's cultivation realm had plummeted to a mere Three-Star Qi Refining Realm, making her utterly useless!
Early this morning, news had come from outside that the Qingxuan Sect was coming in person to annul the engagement!
And now, an actual giant from such a colossal, ancient power had arrived in person to eliminate Xiao Yanyue!
In Xiao Yanli's eyes, the opportunity she had waited ten years for had finally arrived in full!
She had endured for a decade. In her view, Xiao Yanyue had already been worth nothing ten years ago—why on earth should the family continue to bestow such prime resources upon her? Why should Xiao Yanyue be the one to marry an peerless, heaven-gifted prodigy of a great clan like Chen Qiye? Those privileges should have belonged to her, Xiao Yanli!
As for the care Xiao Yanyue had shown her back then, Xiao Yanli viewed it as nothing more than harboring malicious intentions!
Standing publicly before them now, she cast a mocking gaze at the peerless prodigy she had once only been able to look up to, pushing Xiao Yanyue toward a dead end without the slightest hesitation.
Xiao Yanli was determined to ruthlessly trample this former genius of the same sect beneath her feet!
"Yanli is right. Yanyue is nothing more than a good-for-nothing now!"
"There is no need for us to ruin our entire Xiao Family over a useless person. The Qingxuan Sect wants to annul the engagement and kill Xiao Yanyue, and none of us can stop them. Rather than letting that happen, we might as well hand Xiao Yanyue over to the Qingxuan Sect immediately and let them deal with her however they please!"
After a brief moment of thought, the Second Elder of the Xiao Family spoke up publicly as well!
Under the gaze of the crowd, the expression of the pale-faced young woman shifted continuously.
A decade had passed in the blink of an eye. From a peerless prodigy, she had been reduced to a good-for-nothing, suffered a public annulment of her engagement, and now faced annihilation at the hands of the Qingxuan Sect. No matter how resilient Xiao Yanyue's inner resolve might be, her foundation began to crumble wildly.
"Are they truly going to annul the engagement, and kill me as well?"
Xiao Yanyue murmured to herself, her breathtaking face cold and detached as her fingernails dug fiercely into her palms, drawing droplets of bright crimson blood!
After ten years, had she finally awaited the most brutal news of all?
"Death? What is the Qingxuan Sect? And what is that Qingxuan Sect successor, Chen Qiye?"
"Give you just one more day, and you will complete the transformation into the Heavenly Dao Divine Body. When that time comes, you can use the cultivation technique for devouring Different Fires that I have imparted to you. Once you succeed, Chen Qiye will be nothing more than an ant in your hands, one that you can crush to death at any moment!"
On the index finger of Xiao Yanyue's right hand rested an unadorned, ancient ring.
Just as a bone-chilling cold gripped Xiao Yanyue's entire body, an ancient, mystical voice suddenly echoed from within the ring.
The Qingxuan Sect was ancient, powerful, and possessed a profound foundation, yet the ancient figure residing within Xiao Yanyue's ring was far more terrifying and mysterious.
Following yesterday's Xiao Family assessment, she had already manifested and communicated with Xiao Yanyue once before.
She had already taken Xiao Yanyue as her disciple.
Her true identity was that of a supreme, world-shaking empress of the Primeval Era, who had fallen and slumbered due to an unexpected calamity.
Over the past decade, the reason Xiao Yanyue's cultivation realm had declined, turning her from a prodigy into a good-for-nothing, was entirely because this entity had been borrowing Xiao Yanyue's spiritual energy to repair her own soul.
"Empress Senior, no—Master! Do, do you have a way to resolve this desperate crisis before us?"
Sensing the voice from within the ring, Xiao Yanyue's delicate, frail body trembled slightly.
Over the past ten years, Xiao Yanyue had tasted the warmth and coldness of human nature and grown accustomed to the fickle ways of the world. She had endured the strange, sidelong glances of her family and those around her for a decade. Having withstood that pressure, she certainly wasn't about to go willingly to her death.
She understood all too well that those who wear the crown must bear its weight!
Yet!
She had truly reached an impasse now!
She possessed a chest full of heaven-scorching fury and the ambition to attain the Dao, but she had been granted not a single moment of breathing room to grow!
"Hmph! Naturally, I have a way to take you away. Yanyue, you must remember that you are the disciple of me, Empress Shentu. No matter the circumstances... Wait, no. Void locking? The Qingxuan Sect has actually dispatched a giant capable of locking the void?"
At that instant, Empress Shentu within Xiao Yanyue's ring seemed to sense something, and her voice shifted abruptly.
Having slumbered for tens of millions of years, she had only just recovered a sliver of her consciousness; she was still entirely incapable of executing any true taboo methods. Originally, she had intended to forcefully mobilize a shred of soul power to shatter the void and barely help Xiao Yanyue escape this place, but now—the void had actually been locked down?
"What? Master, can we still tear open the void and leave? No! Master, what is wrong? What do you mean the void is locked?" Hearing this, Xiao Yanyue's expression changed yet again.
This mysterious empress inside her ring had only just awakened, and less than one ten-thousandth of her strength had been restored. Yet this newly awakened empress soul was her greatest trump card at present.
Had something gone wrong with her as well?
Was she, too, unable to take her away now?
"Rumble—!"
At that very moment, outside the doors of the Xiao Family assembly hall, a terrifying pressure resembling a roaring torrent descended instantly upon everyone present!
"Thud! Thud! Thud..."
Facing this surge of pressure, many of the younger generation and even older figures of the Xiao Family could not offer any real resistance; they collapsed to their knees one after another.
Sensing this terrifying pressure, Xiao Yanyue felt the color drain entirely from her already pale face until it matched blank paper!
Strong!
Terrifyingly strong!
Feeling this aura, Xiao Yanyue was gripped by an immediate sense of impending death!
"Senior! She is Yanyue!"
"Our Xiao Family has never once thought of shielding her. She is nothing more than a good-for-nothing now. Even if Senior had not come, our Xiao Family would have cleansed our own house. She is utterly unworthy of marrying into the Qingxuan Sect!"
Beholding the appearance of the giant from the Qingxuan Sect, Xiao Yanli's eyes filled with elation. Without a second thought, she dropped directly to her knees, groveling with the submissive awe of a dog.
"You are Xiao Yanyue?"
"I sense nothing extraordinary about you whatsoever."
Ignoring Xiao Yanli completely, the giant from the Qingxuan Sect fixed a gaze that seemed capable of piercing through illusions solely upon Xiao Yanyue. After studying her for a second, he gave a slight shake of his head.
To this moment, he still could not quite understand why Chen Qiye had asked him to make a prior trip to the Xiao Family behind the sect's back.
Even less could he comprehend why Chen Qiye was willing to give up a divine maiden of an imperial dynasty, yet cared so intensely for a useless maiden of the Xiao Family in this remote little town.
As the giant from the Qingxuan Sect turned his gaze upon her, Xiao Yanyue felt as though she had been struck by a heavy blow.
Though she forced herself to remain standing against that immense pressure, her heart contracted to an extreme degree, as if it might shatter at any moment.
"So be it. Ever since he entered the sect, Qiye has never asked me to do a single thing. The letter, the coffin, and the storage ring have all been delivered to you; I have fulfilled this commission for Qiye."
"Oh, right—Qiye also asked me to bring you a message. He, Chen Qiye, refuses to annul the engagement! From this day forth, wherever you go, he shall follow in life and death! He, Chen Qiye, vows to protect you in peace through all eternity!"
The giant from the Qingxuan Sect looked Xiao Yanyue over once more, still unable to detect anything out of the ordinary about her.
Nevertheless, recalling the earnest and repeated instructions Chen Qiye had given him before his departure—coupled with the fact that Chen Qiye had once saved his life—he set aside his deep bewilderments and faithfully delivered the words Chen Qiye had asked him to pass on.
"You're going to annul the engagement right now and kill Xiao Yanyue? Senior, I can handle it for you. A mere good-for-nothing isn't worth your—"
"No, wait! Senior, what did you just say? D—did you say that Holy Son Chen Qiye is still willing to marry this good-for-nothing Xiao Yanyue?! And what was that about a letter and a storage ring? And protecting her in peace through all eternity?!!"
Mid-triumph, Xiao Yanli had automatically assumed the giant's words signaled the immediate execution of Xiao Yanyue.
Without a second thought, the words tumbled from her lips. But halfway through her sentence, realization struck her like a thunderbolt!
She jerked her head up, a roaring explosion echoing within her mind. At that moment, it felt as though a thunderclap had burst directly above her!
At that exact same instant, Xiao Yanyue snapped her head up as well!