213: The Empress was stunned! Was her fiancé an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao?

Great Xia Divine Dynasty, Imperial Palace, Imperial Study.

A heavy scent of blood filled the air, emanating from the battlefield images branded onto the urgent front-line reports using special secret techniques.

Ji Hongxue, clad in a golden Dragon robe, sat behind the desk, her expression as deep and still as water.

Over a dozen Jade Slips she had already finished reading floated before her, each recording shocking intelligence.

The Jiuli Divine Dynasty has gone mad!

Without any warning, they launched simultaneous devastating attacks on over a dozen subsidiary dynasties along the Great Xia border.

This was not war; it was a massacre!

"Report—" An Imperial Guard commander knelt on one knee, his voice trembling. "Your Majesty, the Qingyang Dynasty... the entire territory of the Qingyang Dynasty has fallen! After the Jiuli army broke through the city, they did not loot, but... but slaughtered every living being in the city! The whole city... the whole city is filled with mummified corpses!"

"Report! The Heishi Dynasty has been breached! According to the fleeing Cultivators, the Jiuli soldiers seemed possessed by demon gods, feeling no pain and fearing neither life nor death. Even with their limbs severed, they would still frantically pounce and bite!"

"Report! The Chiyun Sect has been wiped out! Their mountain-protecting array collapsed instantly. Several Saint Kings with eerie auras appeared in the Jiuli army, and the Cultivation Techniques they used... are unheard of and extremely sinister!"

Blood-colored war reports flew in like snowflakes.

Within Ji Hongxue's phoenix eyes, the imperial fury almost solidified into substance.

But beneath that anger was deeper confusion and coldness.

When things are this abnormal, there must be a demon at work!

She knew the national strength of the Jiuli Divine Dynasty perfectly; it was already a setting sun, gasping for its final breaths.

Where did they get the courage and strength to launch a war of such scale?

Moreover, the state of those soldiers, the methods of slaughtering cities... it didn't seem like they were trying to seize land at all, but rather like... an evil sacrifice!

Just as she was racking her brains, enveloped in a bone-chilling cold...

That familiar animal-hide diary, which made her feel both hatred and helplessness, appeared before her again without warning.

Ji Hongxue's breath hitched.

She looked at the diary, a trace of complexity flashing in her eyes.

She hadn't even recovered from her towering rage over Su Chen hiding beauties in a golden house—and hiding two at that.

What romantic escapades has this bastard written about now?

She almost didn't want to look.

But the bizarre situation on the front lines made her reach out her hand as if possessed.

She opened the diary.

What met her eyes was Su Chen's flamboyant yet lazy handwriting.

[So annoying! Just sent those two women away and wanted to take a nap to recover, but then something weird happened with the Jiuli Divine Dynasty again. The Su Family spies are acting like the sky is falling, saying there's major movement, causing widespread panic.]

Ji Hongxue's brow twitched.

[A bunch of hicks who haven't seen the world; this is just the beginning. The real show is still to come.]

[That Old Ancestor of the Jiuli Divine Dynasty, who has supposedly been in secluded cultivation for thousands of years and was just one step away from being buried in peace, is likely "emerging" soon. Of course, the one crawling out of the coffin won't be the old man himself. His Divine Soul has probably been gnawed until not even crumbs are left—clean and hygienic.]

Boom!

It was as if a thunderclap exploded in Ji Hongxue's mind!

She stared intently at those few lines, her heart suddenly constricting.

Possession!

That Jiuli Old Ancestor, whose life force was exhausted, has been possessed?!

Suppressing the massive shock in her heart, she continued reading.

[The one occupying that body now is an Old Devil who wandered over from the outer domain hundreds of thousands of years ago, called something like "Netherworld Heavenly Demon." Just hearing the name is incredibly low-class; a tasteless villainous vibe hits you right in the face.]

[This guy was just released from prison and is very weak, desperately needing nutrients. So he came up with a rotten idea: to provoke a war across the entire Central Region, treating the continent like a giant buffet where he stays in the back devouring flesh and Souls to have a feast.]

Devouring flesh and Souls!

Inside the Imperial Study, the air temperature instantly dropped to freezing.

Ji Hongxue suddenly looked up, instantly connecting descriptions like "mummified corpses throughout the city" and "sinister Cultivation Techniques" from the war reports with the contents of the diary!

Everything matched!

It fit perfectly!

So that's how it is!

The Jiuli Divine Dynasty had long since become a Puppet controlled by an Outer-Domain Heavenly Demon!

Ji Hongxue felt a chill rush from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, making even this Iron-Blooded Empress shudder uncontrollably.

Such a world-shattering, apocalyptic conspiracy, yet the entire Xuanyuan Continent was still kept in the dark.

Yet Su Chen... as if sitting on a cloud watching a play, had casually written the truth of it all in his diary!

Ji Hongxue looked at the diary again and saw the final few sentences that nearly caused her Dao Heart to collapse.

[Tsk tsk, poor Ji Hongxue. Being an Empress, she really worries herself to death. If she knew this shocking secret, I wonder what her expression would be? She'd probably pee her pants on the spot, right?]

Ji Hongxue's delicate body trembled imperceptibly.

She felt no anger.

Instead, it was replaced by a bone-deep sense of helplessness and absurdity.

Indeed, what difference was there between her current expression and "peeing her pants"?

It turned out that while she was exhausting herself with worry over national affairs, that man had already seen through everything and was even... commenting on her reaction in his diary.

[Forget it, it's none of my business. Anyway, if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. I'll just stay on my Divine Son Peak and enjoy the show.]

Gulp.

Ji Hongxue swallowed hard.

She looked at the thin diary in her hand, her gaze completely transformed.

How was this just a diary?

This was clearly a Divine Oracle of the Heavenly Dao that recorded the movement of heaven and earth and saw through the secrets of the ages!

And the man who wrote this oracle... Su Chen!

In Ji Hongxue's mind, that handsome figure with a lazy smile always on his lips, who seemed indifferent to everything, instantly became incredibly tall, mysterious, and... terrifying!

He is not the Divine Son of the Su Family!

He is simply an Incarnation of the Heavenly Dao walking the Mortal World, playing with life!

Only this could explain why he knows the past and the future!

Only this could explain why he can see through human hearts and understand the ages!

Only this could explain why he always has that salted fish appearance, knowing everything but being too lazy to intervene!

Because in his eyes, everything in this world is just a boring play for which he personally wrote the script and watched unfold!

At this thought, Ji Hongxue felt the world spinning, her mind going blank.

She looked at the last page of the diary.

[Alas, all living beings suffer; all are but chess pieces.]

[This game of chess is becoming more and more interesting.]

A sense of helplessness sufficient to completely crush all her pride, mixed with endless shock and awe, instantly flooded her Divine Soul.

It turned out that in the eyes of this "Incarnation of the Heavenly Dao," she, the so-called Great Xia Empress, and everything she fought for, were just... a chess piece that he found "interesting"?