259: This crazy woman is checking up on me! My dear husband, where has your soul wandered off to?

The Heavenly Demon fled.

He fled more pathetically than a stray dog with its tail stepped on, and more panicked than a rat caught in the light.

Without leaving even a single parting word, he tore open the Void Realm and dove in, fleeing for his life toward the Nine Nether Demon Domain in the southwest of the continent.

That sea-like Emperor Realm Divine Thought had arrived silently and left as a gentle breeze, brushing past the brightly lit Great Xia Imperial City without disturbing a single Soul immersed in the peaceful revelry.

Except for one person.

Wen Tianlai Theater, Heaven Room One.

Ye Linghan leaned her chin on her hand, looking at Liu Ruyan's newly written script with little interest. Her phoenix eyes, burning with dark red demonic flames, seemed to sense something, and she cast a casual glance toward a certain direction in the Void Realm.

The corner of her mouth curled into a faint arc, like a cat discovering a new toy.

"Oh?"

"That little bug from before?!"

Her voice was very soft, as if she were only speaking to herself.

Beside her, Liu Ruyan was writing flamboyantly on the script with a runic pen. Hearing this, she curiously lifted her naturally seductive face.

"Sister, what bug are you talking about?"

"It's nothing."

Ye Linghan shook her head and withdrew her gaze, picking up the blood-colored nectar on the table and taking a sip.

"I just feel that this play is a bit bland."

She watched the actors on stage fighting and killing with all their might, finding it utterly boring.

In her eyes, a conflict of this level was far less interesting than watching two three-year-olds rolling on the ground over a piece of sugar cake.

She suddenly felt a bit nostalgic.

She missed the sensation of using a single finger to gently crush that Quasi-Emperor old man to death in the Qiankun Hall a few days ago.

Now that... was fun.

Ye Linghan's gaze unconsciously drifted toward the large, soft couch nearby.

On the couch, Su Chen was still "fast asleep."

She noticed that this Little Husband seemed to have been sleeping... a bit too long.

A whole day and night had passed since they returned from the imperial palace.

He was actually still sleeping.

His breathing was long and steady, his face was rosy, and there was even a faint smile on the corner of his mouth. Who knew what sweet dream he was having?

Ye Linghan's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

She extended her slender, jade-white finger and playfully poked Su Chen's handsome cheek.

"Little thing, haven't you slept enough yet?"

Su Chen's body instinctively curled inward, and a muffled mumble came from his throat.

"Don't... the bath... so pretty..."

Ye Linghan's poking motion suddenly stopped.

As she looked at Su Chen's defenseless sleeping face, the playfulness in her eyes instantly vanished, replaced by a hint of deep thought.

Something was wrong.

This Little Husband looked like a lazy salted fish, but he was more vigilant than anyone deep down.

Especially when he was around her, he was like a startled rabbit, always keeping his ears pricked up.

How could he be sleeping so soundly?

And what was that about... a bath?

A thought flashed through Ye Linghan's mind like a bolt of lightning.

She reached out and grabbed Su Chen's wrist.

A strand of pure Devilish Qi, like the finest thread, probed into Su Chen's body and traveled through his limbs and bones.

The next moment, Ye Linghan's expression turned strange.

She found that Su Chen's body was full of spiritual energy and his blood vitality was vigorous, but his Divine Soul... was severely depleted.

It was like a deep well that had been scooped dry, with only a tiny bit of soul origin left at the very bottom, barely maintaining the vitality of his Physical Body.

More importantly, deep within that withered soul origin, she captured a faint, unfamiliar aura that belonged neither to Su Chen nor to herself.

That aura... carried a hint of imperial majesty and a touch of... a woman's fragrance.

[Divine Soul Emergence?]

Ye Linghan's phoenix eyes narrowed dangerously.

[What on earth is this little thing doing behind my back again?]

[Did he run off to a secret tryst in some little lover's dream?]

At the thought of this possibility, the dark red demonic flames in Ye Linghan's eyes flickered violently and uncontrollably.

A bone-chillingly cold and dangerous aura began to spread around her, and the temperature inside the booth plummeted by over a dozen degrees.

"Sister, what's wrong?"

Liu Ruyan also sensed that the atmosphere was off and hurried over.

She glanced at Su Chen, who was sleeping soundly on the couch, and then at Ye Linghan, whose face was so dark it seemed ready to drip water. Her Soul-hooking peach blossom eyes shimmered with a curious light, as if she were eager to see the world in chaos.

"It's nothing."

Ye Linghan withdrew her hand, all emotions on her face vanishing completely.

But the way she looked at Su Chen became meaningful.

[Little thing, you'd better not let me find out that you're fooling around out there.]

[Otherwise...]

[I wouldn't mind breaking your legs with my own hands.]

...At this moment, far to the southwest of the continent, in the most remote and desolate mountain range of the Nine Nether Demon Domain.

The figure of the Heavenly Demon tumbled pathetically out of the torn Void Realm, his massive demonic body smashing a deep pit into the ground.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

He was like a dying set of bellows, gasping for air. In his blood-red demonic pupils was a lingering sense of terror and lingering fear.

"Too terrifying!"

"This damn place doesn't look like a Lower Realm from hundreds of thousands of years ago at all!"

"That peerless Demoness... is this the kind of setup a starting village should fucking have?!"

The more the Heavenly Demon thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.

He felt as though he had fallen into a carefully designed trap.

He remembered when that great figure from the Netherworld told him that the Xuanyuan Continent was rich in resources but depleted of Spiritual Qi, with its experts withered away—a perfect place for him to establish his legacy.

But looking at it now, how was this any kind of blessed land?

This was clearly a giant meat grinder specially prepared for invaders like them!

"No! I can't just go back like this!"

A flash of ruthlessness crossed the Heavenly Demon's eyes.

If he scurried back to the Jiuli Divine Dynasty like this, not only would he lose all face, but that Demoness might even follow the clues to his doorstep.

When that time came, there would truly be no way to heaven and no door to the earth!

"I must call for backup!"

The Heavenly Demon's gaze turned toward the depths of the mountain range.

There stood an ancient and dilapidated altar, a coordinate established hundreds of thousands of years ago during the Netherworld's first cross-realm incursion.

Although it was abandoned due to energy depletion, it was sufficient for transmitting information.

"As long as I can contact those lords in the Netherworld and let them know the truth about this place..."

"Forget one Demoness—even ten of them would have to obediently become food for us!"

A hideous smile appeared on the Heavenly Demon's face as he dragged his heavily injured demonic body step by step toward the altar.

He injected Devilish Qi into it.

Buzz—!

The demonic runes on the altar lit up one by one, and a faint black pillar of light shot into the sky, disappearing into the Void Realm.

A moment later.

A cold and majestic thought descended here, crossing endless time and space.

"What is it?"

The voice was full of lofty indifference.

The Netherworld Heavenly Demon was overjoyed and hurriedly reported his experiences, embellishing the details.

However, after hearing the report, that thought fell into a long silence.

Just as the Heavenly Demon was waiting anxiously, the cold voice spoke again.

"Useless trash."

These two words were like a bucket of Nine Nether Profound Ice water, drenching the Heavenly Demon from head to toe.

"The passage between the two realms is unstable, and the cost of transmitting power is immense. For such a trivial matter, you want me to clean up your mess?"

The Heavenly Demon's heart instantly went cold.

"Then... what does the Lord mean?"

"Humph."

The thought gave a cold snort.

"There is a way."

"If you want my Clone to descend, I need... a sacrifice."

"A powerful sacrifice containing the Origin of this world."

The voice paused.

"For example..."

"A few... Emperor Weapons of this world."