Chapter 174: Nuo Fu Whips Out His Queen?
Chapter 174: Nuo Fu Whips Out His Queen?
Su Youming desperately wanted me to hold her tight against the small of her back as we rode atop her flying 7th Circle Summons, the Unicorn. But the optics would have been absolutely disastrous. For a Holy Maiden, maintaining the spotless, untouchable facade of her station was everything; bare, public intimacy with a man on her personal summons was out of the question.
Instead, we flew south in a disciplined parallel formation, heading toward the isolated Imperial Peak. The mountain had been custom-prepared exclusively for the Heavenly Palace Sect’s use during their state visit.
I stood tall on the flat surface of my flying Corpse Refining Coffin, arms rigidly crossed over my chest. I flatly refused to clasp them behind my back like some subservient servant. As the piercing, arctic wind whipped against our skin, Youming let out a soft giggle. She turned slightly, pointing a delicate finger toward her majestic, glowing beast.
"My Unicorn is a Swift and Vanguard magical Healer type of magical beast," she said, her voice dropping into a deliberately cute, melodic cadence. "His name is Han. As a Necromancer, what do you think of my Summons?"
I gave a solemn nod, leaning fully into my gloomy, chuunibyou persona. "I can't believe I am actually envying a horse with a horn," I grumbled, letting out a heavy, dramatic sigh. "Just to be able to fly with you, Youming."
Han the Unicorn nearly dropped out of the sky in sheer panic upon hearing me bitch about wanting to be his master's flying mount. Youming, however, merely giggled louder, thoroughly enjoying my display of fake jealousy.
Before long, we touched down smoothly at the grand gates of the Imperial Palace. With a flick of my wrist, the massive black coffin drifted through the air, pressing against my shoulder blades as I strapped it securely back onto my shoulders. I intentionally chose not to wear my Heavy Saber on my hip tonight. I had no desire to trigger an immediate, bloody brawl with Lin Feng before dinner was even served.
As Youming led the way into the inner sanctum, my eyes locked onto a tall figure with midnight-black hair and stark, pupilless white eyes. It was the Swift Light Knight. A wicked, predatory thought flashed through my mind.
Lin Feng. A 9th Circle Body Cultivator with the Cursed Eyes. He would make an absolutely magnificent Corpse Puppet inside my Corpse Refining Coffin!
The Holy Son of the Heavenly Palace Sect didn't possess Mundane Divination as a skill, but a sudden, violent chill raced down his spine the moment my sky-grey eyes washed over him with raw, unadulterated greed and malicious intent.
The ice palace was a marvel of architectural sorcery, easily matching the scale of my own cultivation abode. Massive blocks of enchanted, magical ice formed the walls and soaring pillars. Yet, despite being constructed entirely from frozen water, the interior air was remarkably warm and comfortable.
A small, powerful assembly sat waiting in the grand audience chamber. At the far end of the room, sitting upon a central, elevated throne-like seat at the back of the room, was the Emperor himself—Nuo Fu. His long, cerulean hair was tied back into a half-up ponytail, the remainder of his blue locks draping elegantly over his snow-white sectmaster robes. His piercing blue eyes immediately locked onto Youming and me as we crossed the threshold.
To his right sat Lin Feng, quietly sipping spiritual tea while visibly trying to shake off the lingering, instinctive chill in his heart.
To the Emperor's left sat Su Mei. She was a vision of lethal elegance, wearing a gold and silver scaled bodice that tightly hugged her curves, transitioning into a dark, flowing skirt. Her grey, gossamer sleeves left her delicate, pale hands exposed as she raised a teacup to her lips. Her crimson eyes slowly scanned us, framed by loose strands of silver-blue hair that had escaped her golden crown, leaving a few loose strands framing her beautiful face and sharp assassin's eyes.
I didn't linger on her for too long. Stepping forward, I brought my hands together in a formal, cupped-fist salute.
"Hao Hun greets the Emperor, the Queen, and Holy Son Lin."
My gaze subtly tracked three minor, yet vital details. First, Su Mei was openly wearing the new Space Ring I had gifted her. Second, she wasn't openly wearing the silver locket known as the Succubus Locket, keeping it carefully hidden from view. Third, Su Ruyan was completely missing from the room—likely lurking nearby while invisible, or intentionally excluded from the guest list.
The Emperor offered a lazy wave of his hand in invitation, gesturing toward a pair of cushions placed on the floor. One rested beside Lin Feng; the other sat directly next to Su Mei.
"Now that the formalities are over, come and have tea before the meal is ready."
Unstrapping the heavy black coffin from my back, I let it drift slowly across the room until it rested quietly against a bare stone wall. The Emperor watched my fluid, effortless control over the necrotic artifact, letting out a low, amused chuckle.
"Hao Hun, sit next to Sect Master Su Mei," Nuo Fu instructed, his voice echoing with absolute authority. "She will be one of your leaders now. Besides, I think you and Feng'er have some unresolved issues, right? Youming, why not serve tea to Hao Hun before sitting?"
I offered another respectful bow before steering my steps toward Su Mei's side. "Pardon me, Emperor," I said, keeping my tone perfectly flat and gloomy. "I didn't want to be rude to sit with the Emperor's Queen. I shall sit with my new Sect Master then, excuse me."
Su Mei almost coughed hearing my humble words of not wanting to disrespect the Emperor's wife. The absolute irony of me claiming I didn't want to disrespect her—when I had spent the entire previous night literally riding on top of her—nearly shattered her composure.
Beneath her dark skirt, her thighs clenched together slightly as a sudden, intense wave of heat rushed through her core. Her mind involuntarily flashed back to the raw, feral passion of our hidden encounters. Her demonic Succubus bloodline began to flare up in response to my proximity, and the ravenous Golden Silkworm Gu nesting inside her flesh began to writhe, wanting to be fed.
As I sat besides her, Su Mei silently cataloged the properties of her new Golden Silkworm Gu. The sheer, staggering streak of luck she had come across in only this last 24 hours was nothing short of miraculous.
First, she had accidentally compromised herself by falling straight into Hao Hun’s bed, only for him to mistake her for his own wife. The intense exchange of their bodily fluids had bound them together in a way she could never have anticipated.
Second, Hao Hun had proven to be an astonishingly powerful, untiring lover. More importantly, he actually understood her perilous background, completely validated her plight, and seemed extra happy to make love to the Emperor's Queen.
Third, the plan to dump her body seemed to work as well as Hao Hun planned; her husband completely failed to track down the supposed "evildoer" who had infiltrated her quarters.
Fourth, by some stroke of fortune, Hao Hun fortunately didn't get her pregnant. The Emperor had personally performed a rigorous diagnostic sweep of her body, checking for both unexpected lifeforces and foreign Gu. Yet, through some unfathomable magical concealment, the golden parasite she knew was coiled inside her system remained completely invisible to others' divine senses.
Fifth, Hao Hun had permanently removed Ye Chen from the equation. The Holy Son seat of her Bloodshed Sect was now completely vacant, providing her with the perfect excuse to try and fill it with Hao Hun, to help facilitate their shady meetings in the future under the guise of sect business.
Sixth, the Golden Gu seemed to hint to her to make that high-stakes bet about the women around Hao Hun possibly being pregnant. To her shock, the Golden Silkworm's urges were spot on, allowing her to obtain the enigmatic Hao Hun as one of her own while securing a powerful three-way alliance to help elevate her Bloodshed Sect going forward.
Seventh, her luck continued to score big as she was even given back the silvery locket that even the Emperor wanted, showing that Hao Hun valued her greatly, perhaps even loving her?
Lastly and most importantly, Hao Hun's body was also something her Succubus body craved. The fact that he was eager and excited to know she was half Demon made her body want him more.
I had absolutely no idea that my pragmatic, calculated actions had broken her internal appreciation meter, skyrocketing my imaginary reputation to an absurd, fanatical peak. I simply looked over at the mature, stunning woman and offered her a small, knowing smile.
Su Youming remained entirely oblivious to the fact that her biological mother sitting right next to me was still completely full of my dual cultivation juice from the previous night's craziness. With a look of fanatical devotion hidden safely behind her silk veil, her emerald eyes remained fixed on me as she served me a steaming cup of top-grade spiritual tea, performing her duties with utmost grace.
Holding the hot porcelain in my hand, with a gorgeous, corrupted Sect Master sitting to my right, I turned my attention to the man who brought me infinite, secret amusement. I raised my cup toward the throne.
"Emperor, this acknowledgment is for you. I am glad our Eastern Wastelands has a leader as wise and farseeing as yourself, cheers."
For the next fifteen minutes, the chamber was suffocated by a thick layer of empty platitudes, exaggerated compliments, and absolute, nauseating boot-licking to proclaim the Emperor's greatness.
Lin Feng sat stiffly across from us, his jaw clenched in pure annoyance. He knew exactly what I was doing. I was really mocking him by out-licking him in front of his own esteemed teacher. Youming, on the other hand, looked entirely pleased. She genuinely believed I was trying to butter up her father to secure his blessing, which only fueled her desire to choose me over Lin Feng—even without the compounding effects of a Love Gu.
Eventually, the gathering transitioned into the grand dining hall. The banquet table groaned under the weight of exotic delicacies harvested from every corner of the Eastern Wastelands. To be perfectly honest, a few of the dishes made my stomach turn; the palates of the eastern elites were far too diverse for my tastes. I won't even begin to describe the horror of watching them enthusiastically crunch on spiced bird's feet. Ew!
During the meal, the Emperor inevitably steered the conversation toward my past. I was forced to spin elaborate, fabricated tales about the hundred years spent alone in the Dragons Graveyard, detailing endless, grueling wars against relentless tides of Death Knights and skeletal monsters.
When I reached the climax of the lie, describing a harrowing battle against an ancient Dracolich, even the Emperor was interested. As a seasoned, veteran Secret Realm diver, he had thoroughly mapped out many forbidden zones, yet he hadn't known a Dracolich resided within those specific, desecrated grounds.
The Emperor then began to subtly inquire more about the Corpse Refining Coffin. He casually dropped the fact that he was actually the man to retrieve it from a collapsing Secret Realm a long time ago—conveniently omitting the detail that his own reckless greed was the direct cause for its destruction.
He admitted that the only reason he didn't keep the artifact for himself, opting instead to gift it to Xia Sha, was his inability to control it due to his complete lack of the Death element. In truth, the entire reason the Emperor had relentlessly pursued Sha in the past was for the Nine Nether Body, intending to use her bloodline as a proxy to dominate the coffin. My mind flashed back to the heavy irony of it all—the damn Snow Woman curse had put a sudden stop to his schemes to get her bloodline like I did.
When Nuo Fu shifted his questioning toward the background of my companion, Minglong, I provided him with a highly sanitized, carefully altered version of the truth. But it was my final, completely manufactured boast that firmly hooked every single one of them.
"Minglong had Loki Sky pinned and tore off his arm for me," I recounted, letting out a dark, arrogant laugh. "That was how I forced him to make that Heavenly vow to me and me him. I was forced to let him go, but the secrets I obtained from him were amazing and worth it... But the next time I face him, I will let my Mummy Lord kill him, as I only said that Minglong and I couldn't kill him, haha!"
A flash of profound relief crossed the Emperor's features. He was secretly happy that I didn't kill Loki Sky; had the man died, the backlash of their connected fates would have instantly killed Wan Meidi.
Seeing my apparent value reach its absolute zenith, the Emperor finally laid his trap—the exact kind of high-tier offer an ambitious cultivator simply cannot refuse.
"Hao Hun," Nuo Fu began, his voice dropping into a smooth, enticing tone. "A special High Level Secret Realm that is only available to the righteous sects is going to open in the middle of summer, and I want to offer you the opportunity to enter it. Only 7th and 8th Circle Cultivators may enter it. It is in the Plane of Time and Space's influence, and Minglong will be strong there. Would you protect Su Youming in there for me?"
I immediately masked my face with a look of deep caution, narrowing my eyes as if weighing the immense risk. "If it is controlled by the righteous path," I inquired hesitantly, "won't my participation be a problem with the presentation of my unholy path?"
This old fox is transparent, I thought, a cold sneer forming in my mind. He is clearly using me to have Minglong acquire some treasure, probably the Secret Realm's Artifact Heart. But that makes me want it more.
"No problem," the Emperor replied smoothly, dismissing my concerns with a negligent wave of his hand. "As you will lead the Ice Palace sect into the realm with the others. Your identity is different from say, Gu Xia now."
Ah. Now the pieces fall into place, I realized. That is the exact reason he wanted me to become the Three Eclipse Holy Son.
"Okay," I conceded, carefully stretching out the negotiation. "But when is it going to open, as Minglong might not be available, as she needs to enter another Secret Realm in the first month of summer?"
"Then there is no conflict with schedule," the Emperor chuckled, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. "As it opens near the end of summer. Good, then you will be Su Youming's protector during the Secret Realm."
With the two of us devils firmly sealing the bargain, the ultimate fate of the oblivious Su Youming lay in the balance. Across from us, Lin Feng ground his teeth together so hard an audible click echoed through the quiet hall, cursing the fact that his Circle level was too high to let him enter the realm and contest my claim.
As the lavish meal finally wound down to a close, I was smoothly persuaded to remain within the palace walls for the night, invited to indulge in late-night drinks with Nuo Fu. With a soft, lingering look, the Holy Maiden herself stepped forward, preparing to personally lead me down the winding ice corridors to my luxurious guest quarters...