210: Chapter 210 Xia Qingyue bows three times in gratitude! She is willing to repay him with her body! [Thank you, Brother Yun, for the amazing certification!]

Emperor Xia Wuji finished his bow.

But his phrase "personal guidance" was spoken so seamlessly that it wrapped Chu Wushuang's life and death in a layer of decent gauze, hiding it completely.

Lu Chen glanced at him, feeling quite satisfied.

"Mm, that little fellow has wisdom roots. This Emperor felt a momentary surge of appreciation for talent."

When these words were spoken, not a single person in the entire venue responded.

The hundreds of people in the hall, from the Prodigies of the Wushuang Immortal Dynasty to the civil and military officials of the Great Xia Delegation, all shifted their gazes away from the empty warm jade floor behind Lu Chen as if they had prearranged it.

No second person walked out from there.

Not even a trace of aura remained.

Yue Yihao scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth, but he swallowed the words already on his tongue because he saw his companion beside him shaking his head frantically.

Everyone had the same look: don't ask, don't mention it, that person doesn't exist.

The others in the Great Xia Delegation dug up Chu Wushuang's ancestral grave eight times over in their hearts.

It's good that he's dead; dead is clean. Living would only be a disaster.

If this idiot had come back still breathing, who among the dozens of people in the Great Xia Delegation could have blocked the Great Emperor's wrath for him?

Emperor Xia Wuji straightened up. The back of his hand inside his sleeve was sweating slightly, but his face had regained the composure expected of a monarch.

He breathed a sigh of relief, not out of regret for Chu Wushuang, but out of luck.

He was lucky that this Great Emperor handled things cleanly and didn't act in public, leaving the Great Xia Dynasty one last shred of dignity.

"Chu Wushuang was but a wild scholar. To receive personal guidance from Emperor Yun is the fortune of three lifetimes."

Emperor Xia Wuji followed Lu Chen's lead, every word stepping carefully on the safety line.

"In the future, Great Xia will strictly discipline its Disciples and ensure such offensive incidents never happen again."

Lu Chen gave a hum of acknowledgment and said no more.

Yue Qingxuan stepped forward from his right.

She didn't speak, but raised her right hand, naturally pinching the collar of Lu Chen's Black Robe. Her fingers gripped the edge of the fabric, folding it inward and pulling it up half an inch, neatly closing the open collar.

The movement was so practiced there was no hesitation. As her fingertips brushed past his collarbone, her phoenix eyes were lowered, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and a faint curve was suppressed at the corner of her mouth.

Yue Yihao saw it, and the people behind him saw it too.

Her Majesty the Empress was tidying someone's collar. That technique, that angle, and that muscle memory that could precisely find the collar's wrinkles without even looking—she was clearly a veteran.

"Her Majesty and Lord Emperor Yun..."

"Shut up."

"Just watch, don't talk nonsense."

After Yue Qingxuan finished tidying the collar, she didn't withdraw her hand immediately. Her fingertips lingered on his chest for a moment before slowly pulling back.

"Your collar was open again."

She teased him via sound transmission, audible only to Lu Chen.

"Those who don't know would think you're intentionally seducing people."

Lu Chen looked down at his chest, then at Yue Qingxuan's face, which seemed both annoyed and angry.

Emperor Xia Wuji took in this scene, and that bold idea in his heart became even clearer.

He turned around and glanced at Princess Xia Qingyue.

That look wasn't complicated. Princess Xia Qingyue had grown up in the palace since childhood and could read every subtle expression of her father's.

The meaning of this look was: Go.

Give thanks, sincerely, with all your effort, and without any reservations.

Princess Xia Qingyue's fingers loosened and tightened on her skirt. She lowered her eyelids, her chest rising and falling three times faster than before.

She didn't need her father's reminder; she wanted to go herself.

She still remembered the feeling of that moment of enlightenment just now, when the Great Emperor Origin poured into her spiritual sea—scalding, dense, burning from her brow all the way to her limbs and bones.

The barrier of the Sendai Early Stage she had been stuck at for years was crushed by the flick of his finger.

She could accept this kindness, and she had to repay it.

Princess Xia Qingyue lifted her skirt and walked out from behind the white jade main table.

The hem of her pale gold palace dress traced a shallow arc on the warm jade floor.

Her waist was straight, her pace neither fast nor slow. Each step landed on the same straight line. From the Great Xia Delegation's seats to the center of the hall, twelve steps—she took exactly twelve, neither more nor less.

She stopped three paces in front of Lu Chen.

She looked up, her gaze meeting Lu Chen's.

In those eyes were gratitude, awe, admiration, and something she didn't dare investigate deeply.

"Emperor Yun."

She spoke, her voice clear and her pronunciation precise.

Then she bent her waist.

Her knees came together as they slowly touched the ground. The hem of her pale gold palace dress spread around her, blooming like a golden flower on the warm jade floor.

She bent her waist very deeply.

The standing collar of the palace dress was a high-necked, narrow-opening style, covering everything below the collarbone tightly when standing.

But now, as she bowed down, the forward-leaning angle of her upper body forced a gap in the collar.

The pale gold fabric hung down from her collarbone. From Lu Chen's perspective, the gap in the collar revealed fair skin extending downward, with two full curves squeezed into a deep cleavage by the dress's bodice.

Lu Chen stood directly in front, looking down from above.

His Great Emperor perception was always active.

Mm, next time he should have the System give him a mission with a pair of sunglasses as a reward, to make peeking more convenient!

Princess Xia Qingyue's forehead touched the warm jade floor.

"First bow, to thank Emperor Yun for saving my life!"

Her voice rose from the floor, reflected by the warm jade tiles, and reached the ears of everyone present.

"Chu Wushuang was arrogant and insulted the Emperor. If not for Emperor Yun's magnanimity in not taking his anger out on the Great Xia Delegation, Qingyue and my colleagues would not have been able to withdraw unscathed today. This kindness will never be forgotten!"

Her forehead left the ground and then touched it again.

"Second bow, to thank Emperor Yun for the gift of the Dao!"

"A single finger of enlightenment helped Qingyue break through the shackles of two realms. For such a creation, Qingyue could not repay even one ten-thousandth of it in her entire life!"

Her forehead left the ground once more.

She looked up, her exquisite face flushed with a thin red layer, the cinnabar mole between her brows appearing blood-red under the golden light.

"Third bow..."

Her lips parted halfway, the words already on the tip of her tongue.

"This humble girl has no way to repay you, and only wishes to devote her body..."

Before she could finish, a muffled groan suddenly came from Lu Chen's arms.

It was extremely light, so faint it was almost drowned out by the echoes in the hall.

Yue Shiyun's small face instantly lost all color, turning from pink to white, and from white to gray.

The light of the small red mole between her brows suddenly dimmed, and a very fine strand of dark gray mist emerged from under her skin.

The ten small fingers clutching Lu Chen's collar loosened.

Her whole body went limp, her head sliding from the crook of his neck, her silver hair spreading across his arms.

Her red eyes rolled up, leaving only the whites.

Lu Chen's expression changed.

From beginning to end, his face hadn't changed when facing Chu Wushuang's provocation, nor when facing the kneeling of the two monarchs, nor even during Princess Xia Qingyue's grand three-bow ceremony.

At this moment, it changed.

The Great Emperor Law circulated within his body, and the green vitality of the Eternal Evergreen Body surged from his spiritual sea, pouring into Yue Shiyun's body along his arms.

But the Death Qi came too fiercely. Dark gray mist seeped from the little girl's pores, spreading across his arms.

Something's not right! Dealing with Chu Wushuang in the pocket dimension just now only took a few breaths.

The aura of the Eternal Evergreen Body was interrupted for only a few breaths. In those few breaths, did the Death Qi take advantage of the opening?

"Shiyun!"

Lu Chen's left hand supported the back of her head, while his right hand pressed against her chest, pouring Evergreen Qi inside.

Yue Shiyun did not respond.

The tiny body in his arms went completely limp. The rise and fall of her chest was so weak it was almost invisible, her breathing was intermittent, and her lips turned blue.

Princess Xia Qingyue's third bow froze in mid-air.

She knelt on the ground, head tilted up, her pupils shrinking as she stared at the silver hair in Lu Chen's arms being rapidly consumed by the black mist.

All the laziness and pride in Yue Qingxuan's phoenix eyes shattered completely.

Lu Chen lowered his head, pressing his thumb against Yue Shiyun's brow, and a strand of the most pure Great Emperor Origin seeped in from his fingertip.

The little girl's body twitched, her lips moved slightly, and a broken syllable was squeezed from deep in her throat.

"Revered Master Brother..."

Then she went completely silent, her small head lolling in the crook of his arm, her silver hair hanging down, motionless.