48: The battleground is ignited! The female demon unleashes her ultimate attack at point-blank range!

Inside the VIP room of the Yaochi Holy Land.

After the initial surprise came a deep confusion. Ling Qingzhu stood motionless before the crystal window.

She resembled a breathtaking ice sculpture forgotten by time—holy, yet utterly lifeless.

The sounds of the world were completely stripped away.

All she could hear was her own heart, pounding wildly within her chest. Each beat churned the Qi and blood in her delicate body, nearly causing her Dao Heart to collapse.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The diary's lazy yet resolute handwriting was still deeply etched in her mind.

"I really can't be bothered to go."

"Going into seclusion to sleep!"

He said he wouldn't come.

But now, not only had he come, he had appeared above everyone's heads with a posture befitting a monarch surveying his domain.

That man who complained in the diary about "social anxiety acting up" and "just wanting to be a salted fish" was now lounging lazily at the highest point, receiving the worshipful gazes of tens of thousands.

Calm and unruffled.

Where was there even a trace of social anxiety?

Liar!

A surge of aggrieved humiliation and shame at being played for a fool exploded in Ling Qingzhu's heart.

But... why?

Why was her Yaochi Dao Heart, that spiritual sense already in harmony with heaven and earth, screaming and warning her so frantically?

As if the person before her was a primeval Vicious Beast clad in the guise of a deity!

Her gaze was locked onto that face.

The same handsome features.

The same lazy demeanor.

But the eyes... they were wrong!

The real Su Chen from the diary had clear eyes, carrying a pure indifference towards all things.

But deep within the eyes of this person before her, there lurked a trace of wicked amusement and possessiveness, like that of a predator toying with its prey!

Real or fake?

Ling Qingzhu was utterly bewildered.

Her mind was in complete Chaos.

If he was fake, then who in this world possessed such heaven-defying means to imitate Su Chen to this extent, even replicating his mastery over the Dao of Space?

If he was real... then was everything in the diary a lie he fabricated?

Was his true personality this one before her now, treating the Mortal World as a game and all living beings as ants?!

Did he appear today just to watch her make a fool of herself?

This thought plunged her into an ice cavern that seemed a billion years old.

She felt like a butterfly trapped in a spider's web, with the weaver high above, admiring her futile struggles and disarray.

"Saintess, Your Highness!"

The Yaochi Elder behind her let out a shocked cry.

Ling Qingzhu's Dao aura was completely out of control, her delicate body trembling uncontrollably.

"I... I'm fine."

She forced the two words through gritted teeth, picking up a teacup to calm her emotions.

But her hand shook violently.

Clatter... The cold tea spilled onto her snow-white palace gown. The icy sensation sent a jolt through her entire body.

Her world had completely fallen into disarray.

At the very moment her mental defenses crumbled.

That figure she both revered and feared, moved.

"Su Chen" on the Star Gazing Platform shifted slightly.

The next instant.

As if traversing dimensions, he appeared silently outside Ling Qingzhu's window.

Separated from her by only a single pane of glass.

The Emperor-grade protective array guarding the VIP room didn't stir a single ripple, as if it were utterly useless against him.

The breaths of the tens of thousands of Cultivators present were seized by an invisible hand. The once-roaring venue fell deathly silent, so quiet one could hear their own heartbeat!

He leaned one hand against the window ledge, slightly bending forward.

That face which could make heaven and earth lose their color slowly approached hers through the crystal window.

Too close.

Close enough for her to see his long, delicate eyelashes.

Close enough to see her own face, etched with terror and helplessness, reflected in the depths of his profound, peach-blossom eyes.

A uniquely masculine scent belonging to him, mixed with the fragrance of sunlight, aggressively invaded her nostrils.

However, beneath this sunny fragrance, Ling Qingzhu's Dao Heart instinctively detected an extremely faint trace of a bone-chilling, millennia-old, icy Yin coldness and bloodlust!

What... what does he want to do?!

Ling Qingzhu's mind went blank.

She wanted to retreat.

But her feet seemed nailed to the floor, filled with lead.

She could only watch him helplessly.

Watch as a lazy, amused smile curled on his lips.

His handsome, thin lips parted slightly.

A low, magnetic whisper, carrying an irresistible magic, pierced through the array and drilled precisely into her Divine Soul.

"My..."

He deliberately drew out the tone, full of teasing and doting affection.

"Li-t-t-le... aggrieved... wife."

BOOM——!!!!

Those words were a curse, a gut-wrenching poison, the final fuse that ignited the powder keg!

On the second floor, inside the Wang family's VIP room, the wine glass in Wang Teng's hand shattered into dust with a *crack*!

Elsewhere, Qin Feng's humble face twisted completely, his fingernails digging into his palms until they bled!

In a corner, Liu Ruyan's motion of licking her candied hawthorn stick paused, the corner of her mouth splitting into an exaggerated arc as she laughed soundlessly and maniacally.

And at the center of the storm.

Ling Qingzhu's world collapsed with a roar.

How dare he?!

How dare he use that most humiliating, private nickname to tease her in front of the entire world!

Shame!

Fury!

Resentment!

Countless emotions erupted like a volcano!

The violent surge of emotions washed away all her reason, shattered her supposedly unbreakable Yaochi Dao Heart!

Hummm——!

A terrifying, completely out-of-control wave of cold air exploded outward from her as the center!

"Crack! Crack!"

The table before her, the chair beneath her—everything was instantly frozen and shattered into pieces!

"Saintess, Your Highness?!"

The Yaochi Elder was scared Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

Ling Qingzhu's usually cool and aloof face was now flushed crimson, that captivating flush spreading all the way down her snow-white neck.

The rims of her eyes reddened visibly.

A layer of glistening mist uncontrollably welled up.

She bit her lower lip fiercely, using all her strength to prevent the humiliating tears from falling on the spot.

She felt like a clown stripped naked, exposed before the entire world, left to be mercilessly toyed with by that man.

This bastard!

He did it on purpose!

Outside the window.

Ye Ninghan, disguised as Su Chen, watched Ling Qingzhu's on-the-verge-of-tears, "broken defense" appearance and felt overjoyed.

Hehehe... Interesting. This "aggrieved little wife" expression is truly enough to stir pity.

She felt the heat wasn't quite enough yet.

The smile at the corner of her mouth deepened. She spoke again, in an even gentler, more doting tone.

"What's wrong?"

Her voice was full of magnetic concern, as if she were truly a husband worried about his wife.

"Who bullied our Qingzhu? Tell your husband."

As the words fell, her slender fingers lightly tapped twice on the cold crystal window.

Tap. Tap.

The soft sound was like the drumbeat of a devil, shattering the last thread of Ling Qingzhu's reason.

The figure outside the window swept a glance at Wang Teng and Qin Feng below, whose faces had turned livid, like pig liver.

She smiled.

That smile was sinister and overbearing, carrying the arrogance of one who looks down upon all living beings.

"Your husband will settle this for you."