98: Chapter 98 Ye Qingluan is subdued and branded with a slave mark.

The moment the spatial rift closed, Ye Qingluan's figure vanished at the end of the gray Void Realm.

Lu Chen stood where he was, his right hand tucked into his sleeve, a faint smile hanging on the corner of his lips.

He did not Move. One breath, two breaths, three breaths.

Directly in front of the gray space, a spatial rift suddenly exploded open.

Ye Qingluan tumbled out headfirst, landing face down directly onto the gray ground. Her long cyan hair was scattered everywhere, and her mask was skewed to the base of her ear.

"Ouch—my head!"

She clutched her forehead and climbed up from the ground, her phoenix eyes full of confusion.

Just a moment ago, she had torn through space and dived in, but before she could run for even half a breath, she had slammed into an invisible wall.

That wall was ridiculously hard. When her Peak Third-Turn Quasi-Emperor Physical Body collided with it, her head hummed, and her vision was filled with stars.

A spatial barrier.

The boundary of the entire independent space had been welded shut by someone using the Great Emperor Law.

She had no way to escape.

Ye Qingluan stood up while holding her head, straightened her mask, rolled her phoenix eyes rapidly twice, and then slid down to her knees.

"Senior!"

Her tone was like a completely different person from before, her voice carrying three parts ingratiation and seven parts probing.

"As a Senior who emerged from the undying divine coffin, forcing a Saintess of the Ye family to become your disciple—that wouldn't sound very good if it got out, would it?"

She peeked at Lu Chen, and seeing no reaction, quickly added another sentence.

"We won't even ask for an apology from you! It's our fault! I, Ye Qingluan, apologize to you!"

She touched her forehead to the ground and kowtowed once.

"Please be magnanimous, spare me and little Ye Qingxian, and the Ye family will definitely reward you heavily!"

"However, Senior, you also know that the Ye family has a million-year Legacy, and our foundation is unfathomably deep. If this really blows up, it won't be good for anyone."

Using both soft and hard tactics, kneeling first and then threatening—standard talk for an old hand of a noble family.

Lu Chen did not look at her.

He looked down to his right.

Ye Qingxian was squatting on the ground, her twin tails undone, the tip of her nose red, her large eyes brimming with tears, and her lips quivering as if she were about to cry at any moment.

Lu Chen walked over and crouched down.

His right hand landed on Ye Qingxian's head, rubbing it twice.

Ye Qingxian's body trembled, and she looked up at him, two teardrops falling with a plop.

Lu Chen reached out again and pinched her cheeks, distorting her round little face.

"Don't cry."

His tone was very light, just like coaxing a kitten.

"Be good, don't Move around while you're here."

He let go, stood up, and brushed off his sleeves.

"Revered Master is going to go beat your Aunt Qing up and drag her back to keep you company."

Ye Qingxian was stunned.

Before she could react, Lu Chen had already turned around to face Ye Qingluan.

He did not release his Great Emperor aura, but his figure vanished.

It wasn't speed; he simply disappeared.

Ye Qingluan's pupils constricted sharply.

Her reaction was extremely fast, crossing her hands in front of her chest.

The Heavenly Phoenix Feather Garment was activated instantly. This colorless Quasi-Emperor-grade Magic Treasure turned into a layer of skin-tight gauze, protecting her tightly from her neck to her ankles.

All the defenses of a Peak Third-Turn Quasi-Emperor were maxed out within 0.1 breaths.

Then, a punch landed.

Lu Chen appeared in front of her, his right fist slamming into her lower abdomen.

No flashy Moves, no light from the Law, just a punch.

Pure strength.

The Heavenly Phoenix Feather Garment trembled violently the moment the fist made contact. Dense cracks appeared on the surface of the colorless gauze, but it didn't shatter; the Quasi-Emperor-grade Magic Treasure had withstood the blow.

However, the force penetrated the defense and poured directly into Ye Qingluan's body.

Her phoenix eyes widened instantly, and her mouth opened.

She flew backward, smashing a ten-zhang-long trench into the gray ground before finally stopping when she hit the spatial barrier.

Ye Qingluan knelt halfway on the ground, clutching her lower abdomen, feeling as if her internal organs were churning.

"Senior, I was wrong!"

Her voice trembled, and the lips under her mask were shaking.

"Go easy, don't use so much force, I'm really in so much pain!"

She looked up, the arrogance in her phoenix eyes shattered to dust.

"I shouldn't have attempted to provoke Senior's authority..."

Lu Chen didn't care. His actions were clear; he wasn't settling down in the Central Continent, and Ye Qingxian wouldn't be staying in the Ye family permanently in the future.

Since he was taking Ye Qingxian as his disciple, the Ye family would naturally hop on his fast track and enjoy the benefits of him being a Great Emperor.

He wanted to beat his disciple's protector into submission and take her as a servant; that way, he would have his own eyes and ears within the Ye family.

Although he wouldn't do anything to the Ye family, he at least needed to know what they would do with his reputation as a Great Emperor. If it wasn't excessive, he wouldn't mind; if it was excessive, that wouldn't do.

Most importantly, if the Ye family were to fight to the death, their foundation was stronger than the Yunxiao Holy Land, and that was uncontrollable!

Lu Chen ignored Ye Qingluan's pleas for mercy.

He raised his right hand, splayed his five fingers, and an invisible suction force dragged Ye Qingluan directly from ten zhang away.

Ye Qingluan's body flew toward Lu Chen uncontrollably, her feet dragging two marks across the ground.

The moment she flew in front of Lu Chen, he backhanded her with a palm, striking her lower abdomen again.

The force of this palm was heavier than the punch.

The defense of the Heavenly Phoenix Feather Garment at the abdomen shattered directly, the colorless gauze exploding into fragments, revealing her fair, flat lower abdomen.

The palm force entered her body, but it wasn't damage.

It was a strange thing that poured into Ye Qingluan's Dantian along with the palm.

Ye Qingluan fell to the ground, clutching her lower abdomen, curling into a ball.

She felt it.

Her abdomen was burning hot; something had burrowed into her body, traveling along her Meridians, and finally taking root deep in her Dantian.

That thing was growing, spreading, and changing something.

Ye Qingluan looked down at her lower abdomen.

On her fair skin, a pink Dao pattern was slowly emerging, the lines fine and intricate, shaped like a blooming flower stamen.

"What kind of thing did you inject into my body?"

Her voice carried fear, her phoenix eyes staring fixedly at Lu Chen.

Lu Chen brushed his sleeves, his tone nonchalant.

"Nothing much."

He paused.

"Anyway, it's a good thing; it won't cause any harm."

Ye Qingluan wanted to refute, wanted to struggle, wanted to circulate her spiritual power to force that thing out of her body.

But it was too late.

Pink light radiated from her body, through her skin, through her clothes, enveloping her entire being in a layer of soft pink light.

The light lasted for three breaths.

Then it dissipated.

Ye Qingluan knelt on the ground, her body no longer trembling.

She slowly raised her head.

In her phoenix eyes, the fear was gone, the wariness was gone, the hostility was gone.

Replaced by something very pure.

The way she looked at Lu Chen was exactly the same as when Ye Qingxian first saw him at the teahouse window.

Shining, carrying adoration, carrying closeness, carrying a trace of indescribable affection.

Then she pounced on him.

The movement technique of a Peak Third-Turn Quasi-Emperor erupted with full force, heading straight for Lu Chen.

Not an attack, but a pounce.

Ye Qingluan hung on Lu Chen, her arms wrapped around his waist, her face buried in his chest, and she took a deep breath.

"So you are that Great Emperor from the Yunxiao Holy Land..."

"Hearing about you a hundred times is not as good as seeing you once..."

She took another breath.

"Let me smell more! You smell so good!"

The moment her body pressed against Lu Chen, the pink Dao pattern on her lower abdomen lit up, clearly visible through the shattered Heavenly Phoenix Feather Garment.

The Demon-Planting Revered Master-Servant Seal.

A reward from the early days of the Sign-in System, a masterpiece of evil arts.

It does not alter consciousness, it does not destroy intelligence, it only does one thing—it makes the cursed person idolize the caster.

In Ye Qingluan's cognition, the man in front of her was the existence she most wanted to be loyal to in her life.

Beside them, Ye Qingxian was completely dumbfounded.

She was squatting on the ground, her large eyes wide, her mouth open in an 'O' shape.

Aunt Qing, the Aunt Qing who just told her to hold on, the Peak Third-Turn Quasi-Emperor Aunt Qing.

Now hanging on a man and smelling him?

And this poor Loose Cultivator is a Great Emperor?

That Great Emperor from the Yunxiao Holy Land?

Lu Chen reached out and peeled Ye Qingluan off his body.

"I know I have many fans."

He brushed off his lapels.

"But you don't need to be this fanatical, thanks."

In his mind, a loli voice sounded.

[Hehehe, Host, you seem to have used this Demon-Planting Revered Master-Servant Seal once, right?]

Lu Chen thought to himself: [Damn System, you rewarded me with this thing back when you were still a Sign-in System. I did use it, on whom again?]

[Let me think...] The loli voice dragged out a long sound.

[Oh! I remember now! It seems it was used on the little Saintess of the Hehuan Holy Sect!]

[But that person should be dead, right? Wasn't the Hehuan Holy Sect wiped out in the Central Continent?]

Lu Chen nodded:

[Indeed, I remember that little Saintess was quite pretty, just too young.]

[She only became the Saintess because her Physique was very Heaven-Defying. She wanted to harvest my Yang at such a young age, so I just cast it on her to test this Cultivation Technique; I had no other thoughts.]

He withdrew his focus and walked to Ye Qingxian's side.

He picked her up by the scruff.

Ye Qingxian was suspended in mid-air, her legs kicking wildly, the remaining ribbons of her twin tails swinging back and forth.

Smack, a palm landed on her butt.

Ye Qingxian's eyes were teary, her lips quivering, but she didn't dare to cry out loud.

Lu Chen held her and turned to look at Ye Qingluan.

"Do you have any objections this time?"

Ye Qingluan stood three steps away, her phoenix eyes shining, and shook her head, shaking it very vigorously.

"For my niece to be able to take a Great Emperor as her Revered Master."

"Is her good fortune."

Lu Chen put Ye Qingxian down.

Ye Qingxian stood where she was, looking up at Lu Chen, her large eyes filled with shock, confusion, and disbelief.

"Are you really that person who shattered the Heavenly Gate with one punch..."

Lu Chen looked down at her and flicked her forehead.

"What? Scared?"

Ye Qingxian's face instantly turned the color of a pig's liver. The person she had just forcibly kissed was the only Great Emperor in the world.

As a girl in the Middle Stage of the Xiantai Realm, she had grabbed a Great Emperor by the collar, by the side of the Spirit River, under the fireworks-filled sky, and kissed him mouth-to-mouth.

Ye Qingxian's knees went weak, she immediately turned into a fangirl, and muttered softly.

"Isn't this just like what I read in the novels and storybooks! How exciting!"