186: Chapter 186 A Delicate Little Loli Falls from the Sky?

On the skyline of the Northern Territory of Central Continent, a leaf-like spiritual wood boat sailed slowly at an altitude of ten thousand zhang.

Its speed was absurdly slow.

At the Great Emperor Peak level of flight speed, one could traverse half a region in an instant at full power. Yet, Lu Chen deliberately suppressed the Flying Boat's speed to match that of a Saint Realm Cultivator.

It wasn't ostentatious, but it certainly didn't look ordinary either!

He lay on his back on the boat's deck, hands pillowed behind his head, his right leg crossed over his left, his toes idly tapping the Void Realm.

High-altitude winds rushed in from all sides, making his Black Robe rustle. A few strands of long hair escaped the wooden hairpin's restraint, drifting and swaying on his shoulders.

The sunlight was just right.

Not too cold, not too hot, with abundant Spiritual Qi. Clouds spread beneath his feet, distant mountain ranges undulated continuously, and occasionally, a few spirit birds would skim beneath the clouds, their wings slicing through the mist, leaving long trails behind.

He loved this feeling the most. It was like in his previous life when he went out for leisure trips. Whether by car or plane, he always preferred the window seat, watching the scenery outside. It was even better if he could open the window, feeling the wind whoosh past his cheeks!

Squinting his eyes, Lu Chen took the gourd from his waist, pulled out the stopper, and took a swig.

The immortal brew flowed down his throat, spicy at first with a lingering sweetness, warming all his Meridians.

"This is the retirement life a Great Emperor should have."

He placed the gourd on his chest, hands returning to pillow behind his head.

No need to handle Holy Land affairs, no need to deal with Mo Wentian's nagging, no need to be pestered by disciples, and no need to worry about Ascension to the Immortal Realm for mining.

One person, one wine, one small boat, traveling the world with a carefree heart.

Comfortable.

Lu Chen's thoughts began to drift far away.

Yue Qingxuan, the unparalleled female emperor.

That little girl who once blocked his path demanding a fight was now at the Peak of Quasi-Emperor Ninth Revolution, with a Major Achievement Heavenly Overlord Body, a hegemon who shook the Northern Territory of Central Continent.

He needed to think about how to start the conversation when he arrived.

"Your Majesty, this Emperor comes under the Ye family's orders to deliver an invitation..."

Too official, sounds distant.

"Little girl, do you still remember me?"

Sounds like a playboy, no good.

Thinking about it, the corner of Lu Chen's mouth curved.

Forget it, I'll play it by ear when the time comes. She's not an outsider anyway.

He closed his eyes, preparing to take a short nap.

Right at that moment, the Void Realm changed.

Without any warning.

The originally calm, dead-water-like high altitude suddenly trembled with an extremely faint vibration.

Not a tremor of wind, but the distortion of the spatial Law itself.

Lu Chen's eyes remained closed, but his brow lifted slightly.

A Great Emperor's Divine Sense covered hundreds of miles in radius. This fluctuation of Law was very clear within his perception.

This spatial rift, he estimated, was the effect of some emergency escape talisman.

The intensity of this Law fluctuation indicated it was caused by an escape talisman crafted by a Cultivator at least at the Supreme Realm level or above.

But the fluctuation was mixed with an extremely turbid Death Qi, so dense it was corroding the surrounding Spiritual Qi.

Lu Chen still showed no intention of getting up, merely opening his eyes.

Not long after, the Void Realm several zhang above the Flying Boat cracked open.

Starting from a single point, it silently and instantly tore open a half-zhang-long fissure.

The edges of the fissure glowed with a dark purple light. Fragments of spatial Law fell from the tear, dissipating into specks of stardust under the sunlight.

Then, a mass of black mist surged out from the fissure.

The mist was filled with a decaying aura. Wherever each wisp of black mist passed, even the Spiritual Qi was completely eroded, leaving behind patches of spiritual vacuum.

"What's going on? Is dropping soot from the sky fashionable in Central Continent now?"

Lu Chen muttered, secretly mobilizing a trace of his Great Emperor's Protective Aura.

A golden Qi barrier flashed briefly over his body surface and then vanished, isolating the drifting Death Qi.

The black mist was wrapped around something, plummeting rapidly downward.

Extremely fast, with a sharp whistling sound, it fell straight towards the Flying Boat.

He could see what was inside the black mist.

A small hand.

An unnaturally pale small hand, fingers spread open, reaching out weakly within the black mist. The wrist was so slender one could grasp it in a single hold, with faint blue veins visible on the back of the hand.

Then a face.

A delicate, jade-like little face, looking about six or seven years old.

A small, straight nose bridge, thin lips tinged with an unhealthy bluish-purple.

Eyes tightly shut with extremely long eyelashes, trembling slightly. Red eyes that didn't appear fierce, with a small crimson mole between the eyebrows.

A head of silver hair.

Not the pale white of an elder, but the silver of a young girl. It cascaded from the crown of her head, fluttering wildly in the black mist, blown into aFlying everywhere by the high-altitude wind.

The silver hair was extremely long, completely disproportionate to her six- or seven-year-old stature, falling from her head all the way to her ankles, wrapping around most of her body.

She wore an opulent goose-yellow palace dress.

The embroidery was exquisite to the utmost. The skirt hem was embroidered with golden thread Phoenix patterns, a jade-inlaid belt tied at the waist, and spirit pearls adorned the cuffs—clearly the style of a top-tier imperial family.

But the palace dress was already torn in several places. The left sleeve was ripped from the shoulder to the elbow, revealing a section of an arm so fair it seemed to glow.

The skirt hem was stained by the black mist, edges blackened and brittle, slowly crumbling bit by bit.

Death Qi.

Death Qi so dense it was appalling enveloped her entire body, seeping into her skin from her pores, invading her Meridians from her skin.

Those black mist threads clung to her neck, arms, and calves, winding and snaking like living creatures, burrowing into her body.

For an ordinary Cultivator, merely approaching within three zhang of this Death Qi would cause their Meridians to rupture completely.

But this little girl was still alive.

Her heartbeat was faint yet tenacious, her breath as thin as a thread. Her vitality was suppressed to its lowest point by the Death Qi, but it never completely severed.

Lu Chen's brow furrowed.

This body's condition was very strange. Death Qi and vitality were entangled together, opposing yet interdependent, like two snakes biting each other's tails, neither able to swallow the other.

It seemed innate, not some Acquired sinister curse, but something she was born with.

The little loli's body plummeted rapidly, about to crash onto the Flying Boat's deck.

Lu Chen inwardly cursed his bad luck.

He originally didn't want to meddle. He was just out delivering an invitation; less trouble was better than more.

But letting such a little girl splatter into a bloody pulp right in front of him—he couldn't do it.

Lu Chen extended his right hand, his broad palm open and facing upward, preparing to catch the little loli before she landed on the deck.

Great Emperor spiritual power condensed into a soft cushion of Qi in his palm, ensuring she wouldn't be hurt upon impact.

But Lu Chen hesitated. Catching her like this with his hand... wouldn't he get shocked?

However, the angle of descent changed.

The black mist suddenly exploded and scattered three chi away from the Flying Boat. The little loli's body, now devoid of the black mist's wrapping, flipped half a circle in the high-altitude turbulence. Her falling trajectory shifted from vertical to diagonal.

The endpoint of this diagonal line was not Lu Chen's open palm.

It was his chest. Lu Chen's already hesitant hand froze mid-air.

Catch her? It wasn't impossible, but from this angle, his hand would have to scoop from below upwards, directly touching the little girl...

No, too perverted.

She looked only six or seven years old.

Even though he knew it was just catching her, the other party was wearing a palace dress, clearly a young lady from a noble family. Falling from the sky, her clothes torn, and him, an adult male Great Emperor, grabbing her—if word got out, what would happen to his reputation?

He hesitated for half a breath.

In that half-breath, the little loli had already passed his hand.

A soft, faintly milk-scented, petite body crashed into Lu Chen's embrace.

To be precise, her calves landed first. Lu Chen dissipated the force for her. The little loli's tiny body landed as if on a trampoline.

Her silver hair spread out like a canopy, covering Lu Chen's face and chest. The soft strands carried a faintly sweet, milky fragrance that invaded his nostrils.

Her tiny body nestled in his arms, unbelievably light, her bone structure so slender it was startling.

Through the torn palace dress, he could feel the temperature of her skin.

Ice-cold.

Not a normal coolness, but the bone-penetrating chill of being saturated with Death Qi. Yet beneath that layer of cold, an extremely faint warmth was stubbornly pulsating.

As she settled again, her position had shifted. Silver hair brushed past Lu Chen's face, and a deathly pale little face grew larger and larger before his eyes.

Closer and closer, and then...