233: I told you I was sleepwalking! Would you believe me?

Late at night in the Fengming Hall, all was silent.

In the incense burner at the corner of the hall, the Ten-thousand-year Soul-Nourishing Wood made a slight "crackling" sound as it burned, becoming the only sound in this space.

Su Chen lay on the soft couch, his eyes staring blankly at the gorgeous tassels on the top of the bed canopy.

He felt his Soul being drained inch by inch by this invisible luxurious cage.

It had already been three days.

Ji Hongxue, under the pretext of "asking for advice on battle tactics," had hardly left his side.

Ye Linghan, that Crazy Woman, used the excuse of "watching over her husband" to stay and not leave, and from time to time, she would use that spine-chilling gaze to scan back and forth between him and Ji Hongxue.

Su Chen felt that he wasn't the Divine Master Protecting the Nation, but rather an out-of-print antique being fought over by two top-tier rich women.

And the kind of fragile item that would break at a touch, and once broken, would be dismembered.

[I can't live like this anymore!]

The opportunity finally came.

With an urgent border war report and a critical military situation, Ji Hongxue was eventually dragged to the Qiankun Hall for an overnight discussion.

Meanwhile, Ye Linghan had developed a strong interest in Liu Ruyan's new script, "the empresss sorrows." She was currently holding a handwritten copy in the side hall, reading it with great interest and letting out an occasional bewitchingly bone-deep giggle.

Now is the time!

Su Chen did a carp kick-up, his movements as light as a cat sneaking in the dark of night to steal a treat, and silently flipped down from the Phoenix couch.

He didn't even have time to put on his shoes.

Barefoot, his soles stepped on the warm jade floor without making a sound.

He tiptoed, moving step by step toward the palace doors.

Every step was taken with extreme caution, for fear of alerting the group of palace maids outside whose lowest cultivation was the Saint Realm.

Closer.

Even closer.

The palace doors, crafted from Purple Gold Divine Wood, were right before his eyes, separating the inner and outer worlds.

The air of freedom seemed to have already seeped through the cracks in the door, carrying a long-lost fragrance!

Su Chen was ecstatic. His hand had just touched the cold door ring and was about to exert force.

"Creak—"

A soft sound, as abrupt as a thunderclap in this deathly silent palace.

The door was pushed open from the outside.

A cold current mixed with the scent of ambergris and iron-blooded aura hit him head-on, making Su Chen's blood feel as if it were about to freeze.

His movements froze on the spot.

Su Chen slowly raised his head, the joints in his neck making a slight "clacking" sound.

Under the moonlight, Ji Hongxue was dressed in elegant casual clothes, her long hair draped over her shoulders, her posture as upright as a pine tree, standing quietly at the door.

There was no expression on her face.

But those deep Phoenix eyes were colder than the ten-thousand-mile frigid night outside, clearly reflecting his currently dumbfounded face.

Su Chen's heart instantly went half-cold.

No, it was directly frozen into a block of ice.

[No way? It's over so soon? Are all your Great Xia military meetings open-book exams?! You finished a war of national destruction in just three minutes?!]

Before he could decide what to do, a voice that was lazy yet filled with a demonic quality, sounding like a lover's whisper, echoed faintly from behind him.

"Little Husband, why are you barefoot in the middle of the night?"

Su Chen's body, from his Soul to his toes, was completely petrified.

He stiffly turned his head.

At some point, Ye Linghan had stood behind him like a ghost.

Those strange Phoenix eyes, burning with dark red demonic flames, were sizing him up with three parts playfulness and seven parts scrutiny.

It's over.

An Empress in front, a Devil Head behind.

A tiger in front, a wolf behind.

Su Chen's mind went blank, and even his internal monologue was stuck.

"Where are you planning to go?"

Ji Hongxue's voice was flat, yet it carried an unquestionable imperial majesty.

She stepped into the hall, sandwiching Su Chen between herself and Ye Linghan.

Boom!

Two completely different yet equally terrifying auras converged and squeezed upon Su Chen!

On one side was the overbearing Dragon Qi of a ruler over the world, and on the other was the Fallen Immortal demonic might that could destroy all things!

The warm jade floor beneath his feet silently cracked into spiderweb-like fissures, centered around him!

The dust floating in the hall instantly froze, and even the light underwent a strange distortion!

He felt as if his Divine Soul was about to be torn apart by this invisible, great power!

Outside the hall, a waiting palace maid didn't even have time to cry out before her eyes rolled back and she fell unconscious!

"I am also very curious."

Ye Linghan chuckled, reaching out a slender finger to gently hook a lock of Su Chen's black hair. The movement was intimate, but her words were bone-chillingly cold.

"Is it... because you want to find that little vixen who sings for you outside?"

[I don't! I didn't! Don't talk nonsense!]

[I just wanted to find a latrine and quietly write a diary entry to save my waist, which is about to break! Believe me!]

Su Chen's heart was roaring wildly.

On his face, however, driven by an extreme desire to survive, he squeezed out an incredibly confused and even somewhat drowsy expression.

He rubbed his eyes hard, let out a large, seemingly contagious yawn, and his body swayed like a tumbler toy in coordination.

"Ah? What?"

His eyes were unfocused, his pupils lost their center, looking as if he had just been woken up from a deep sleep.

"I... I seem to have been sleepwalking."

As soon as he finished speaking.

Inside the Fengming Hall, those two terrifying auras capable of crushing heaven and earth froze for a moment because of this incredibly ridiculous statement.

Dead silence.

Ji Hongxue's Phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, and a crack seemed to appear in the ice at the bottom of her eyes.

The playful smile on Ye Linghan's face also froze for a second, clearly not expecting him to give such an answer.

In this deathly silent atmosphere that was so tense it was about to explode, where even Su Chen thought he was about to be exposed on the spot.

A voice that was bewitchingly bone-deep, as if it could drill into the marrow of one's bones, drifted faintly from outside the hall, accurately falling into everyone's ears and breaking this suffocating stalemate.

"Oh my, His Highness the Divine Son, This humble servant's new play just happens to be missing a male lead."

"I wonder... would you be interested in making a guest appearance?"

Before the voice even faded.

A graceful black shadow, ignoring the layers of Restriction arrays in the imperial palace, passed through the palace doors like a wisp of black smoke or a falling feather, appearing before everyone.

Liu Ruyan was in a black dress, her snowy-white long legs faintly visible beneath the hem.

She didn't look at Ji Hongxue at the door, nor did she look at Ye Linghan inside the hall.

Those Soul-capturing peach blossom eyes were fixed on the stunned Su Chen from beginning to end, and she gently blew him a wink.

[Crap! A type of plant! Why are you here too?!]

[Three! There are three now! Are we going to play Mahjong here tonight?!]

The light in Su Chen's eyes completely went out.

The night in the Great Xia Imperial City.

Was in complete chaos.