147: Chapter 147 Yuan Miaoyu: I'll Run! [Thanks for the gift, Brother Yun, this is an extra chapter!]

The morning light shone through the window, bathing the entire guest room in white.

Not long ago, Lu Chen leaned against the headboard, his gaze falling upon Yuan Miaoyu.

Her back was to him as she calmly tied the ribbons of her undergarments one by one, then smoothed her disheveled hair with her fingers before sliding the white lotus hairpin back into her tresses.

After finishing all this, she turned around.

It was still that same face.

Cold, ethereal, and without a single flaw, as if the woman who had pinned him against the door last night, ears flushed red as she said "This is my choice," wasn't her at all.

"I'll slip away, but I don't need you to take responsibility, Senior."

Yuan Miaoyu continued, her tone neither warm nor cold, but something was burning in her eyes.

"I have been presumptuous, Senior Emperor Yun. I want to become strong quickly, and you are merely an assistant on my path to strength! Thank you for the hospitality last night!"

Her voice was soft and her tone flat, no different from a report at the morning court.

"The baptism was very comfortable, and my cultivation has stabilized at the Middle Stage Perfection of the Xiantai realm."

"I'll take my leave now."

"Fine, good, wonderful, simply wonderful!"

He gripped the edge of the bed, his voice dry, carrying an indescribable sense of absurdity.

"Leaving right after sleeping together—is this what you meant by 'calling it even'?"

Yuan Miaoyu showed no sign of shame.

"It's not calling it even." She shook her head, the white lotus on her hairpin swaying slightly.

"It's a unilateral settlement. I never said I would give Emperor Yun anything in return. As long as you enjoyed yourself, Senior, that's enough! It's mutual aid, after all!"

Good grief, the Emperor had been used, yet he ended up being the one who 'took advantage'? He lost to this logic, completely and utterly.

"Fine, then why don't you tell me." He reached out and picked up the cold teacup beside him, holding it without drinking, looking at her calmly.

"Tell me, the reason why you must become strong so quickly!"

Yuan Miaoyu did not answer immediately.

She glanced out the window; the morning light hit half of her face, making everything above her collarbone appear translucently white.

"Mhm, then is Emperor Yun willing to help?"

She turned back, and this time her lips truly curved, though only on one side, with an ambiguous meaning.

"Whenever Emperor Yun is willing to continue helping, I will be at your beck and call."

She paused and added a sentence, her voice dropping half a pitch as if speaking casually, yet articulating every word clearly.

"It's no problem even if you put me in your Small World; it's no problem to use me anytime!"

Lu Chen's finger paused on the rim of the teacup.

At his beck and call, putting her in a Small World—hearing these words from the Saintess who had been so demanding last night, combined with her incredibly cold face, the impact was too great to ignore.

He put down the teacup and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I understand. Since you don't need me to take responsibility, you should at least tell me what kind of help you actually want." His tone was calm.

"Magic Treasures? Cultivation Techniques? Or is your Yaochi lacking some Spirit Medicine?"

Yuan Miaoyu'sHis eyes changed.

It wasn't a slow change; in an instant, the coldness faded, revealing what lay beneath—sharp and icy, like a blade hidden in a white jade box suddenly drawn into the light.

"I want none of those."

Her voice was devoid of any inflection.

"I want Emperor Yun to help me kill someone."

The room fell silent.

The morning light shone in, stretching her shadow long and thin across the floor.

Lu Chen looked at her, his brow arching slightly.

"Kill who?"

Yuan Miaoyu's eyes did not waver, her back straight, as she spoke each word deliberately.

"The Nine-Turn Quasi-Emperor Old Ancestor of the Zixiao Holy Land, Zi Yanghua."

Lu Chen's teacup made a soft click as he set it on the stone table.

A top-tier overlord power in the Central Region, a Nine-Turn Quasi-Emperor—looking across the entire Central Region, beings of this level could be counted on one's fingers.

"Speak." Lu Chen leaned back against the headboard, resting his arms on his knees as he looked at her.

Yuan Miaoyu was silent for two breaths.

She didn't sit down, just stood there, her voice remaining steady throughout.

"My original Family name is Yuan. The Yuan Clan was originally settled in the Central Region. We weren't a major power, but with two Early Stage Saints and one Middle Stage Saint whose Lifespan was nearly exhausted, we were considered to have some foundation among the surrounding families."

"My mother, whose cultivation had reached the Great Perfection of the Xiantai realm, wanted to take a step further and went out alone to explore a Secret Realm."

She paused.

"In an ancient ruin, she encountered the former Saint of the Zixiao Holy Land, named Zi Yangtian."

Lu Chen didn't speak, just watched her.

"That man took a fancy to her looks."

Yuan Miaoyu's tone didn't change, but her knuckles whitened as she gripped the end of her hairpin.

"He said something about how married women have a better flavor and tried to force her!"

"My mother's cultivation was inferior to his, but she designed a plan to trap him in a Formation and used an ancient Restriction to kill him within the Secret Realm."

"Having killed the Saint of Zixiao, she naturally knew she couldn't escape, but she still came back."

"The first thing she did upon her return was to send me away."

Yuan Miaoyu's voice paused here, a very brief moment, almost imperceptible.

"I was only four then, old enough to understand some things but not everything. She pushed me into the city's teleportation array, tied a piece of spirit jade to me, and said, 'Go somewhere far away and just don't come back.' Then the array lit up, and the last I saw of her, she was standing outside the platform."

"She smiled and waved at me."

Lu Chen said nothing.

"I wandered for a month before being picked up by a passing Revered Master and placed in the outer sect of Yaochi. When I got older, I used connections to inquire about the news from back then, and only then did I find out."

"After my mother returned to the Yuan Family, she took all the blame upon herself, intending to trade her life for the Family's safety, and decisively defected from the Yuan Family."

"Zi Yanghua came in person."

"He didn't accept the deal. He first took everyone in the Yuan Family hostage to force my mother to appear, intending to keep her as a Dual Cultivation Cauldron. He said dying was too easy for her; he wanted to cripple her cultivation and have her used by others for the rest of her life."

"My mother self-detonated and died before the gates of the Yuan Family."

"In a fit of rage, Zi Yanghua wiped out the entire Yuan Family."

"By the time my Revered Master brought me back, the Yuan Family was already in ruins. Passersby in the city were gossiping, saying the Yuan Family had crossed the wrong people and been exterminated by the Old Ancestor of the Zixiao Holy Land himself, not a single soul left."

She looked up at Lu Chen.

"Emperor Yun, I've stayed in Yaochi all these years not because I like it here, but because I needed a safe place to survive, grow up, and become strong."

"I am now at the Xiantai realm Perfection, still far from becoming a Saint. I know that relying on myself, I might never reach Zi Yanghua's level in my entire life."

"That's why I've come to beg Emperor Yun. Only a Great Emperor like you, Senior, can easily take action!"

Having finished, she lowered her eyes and stopped looking at him, as if speaking her piece was enough, and whatever the outcome, it was up to him.

Lu Chen leaned against the headboard in silence.

He watched her for a long time.

Then he raised his hand, pinched the bridge of his nose, and spoke slowly.

"Zi Yanghua, Zixiao Holy Land of the Central Region, Nine-Turn Quasi-Emperor," he said, his tone casual.

"I've noted it down."

Yuan Miaoyu looked up.

Lu Chen didn't say anything more. He reached out, picked up the teacup from the stone table, took a final sip of the completely cold tea, and swallowed it without changing his expression.

"When this Emperor remembers, it can be a matter of convenience."

Yuan Miaoyu looked at him. Something flickered in her cold eyes before being suppressed, and her voice remained calm.

"Thank you, Emperor Yun."

She turned and walked toward the door, her steps without hesitation.

The silver chain on her ankle jingled twice.

Lu Chen watched her back and suddenly said casually.

"Miaoyu."

Yuan Miaoyu's footsteps paused.

"Does Senior Emperor Yun have anything else to say?"

"PS:"

"I'll be posting extra chapters these next two days. There might be quite a few, and since I'm writing in a hurry, if there are any mistakes, please point them out so I can fix them!"

"After all, I'm writing part-time and don't have much time, yet I have to write many chapters, so there will inevitably be some oversights!"

"Thanks for understanding, love you all!"