228: Chapter 228 The Eternal Empress

"Old thing, you look quite ugly, but your imagination is quite beautiful."

Xu Chen patted the dust off Hua Jieyu's shoulders, signaling her to step back and rest. Then, he looked up, facing Ghost Hand's sinister gaze with his signature nonchalant expression on his face:

"Want my body? Then you might have to go to the back of the line. After all, there are several others waiting at home."

"Sharp-tongued little brat."

Ghost Hand sneered, and his figure suddenly became blurred.

There was no fluctuation of spiritual power, not even the sound of wind.

"Careful!"

Mo Han's pupils constricted sharply. Her instinct as a top-tier assassin allowed her to react instantly. The Imperial weapon dagger in her hand stabbed instinctively toward an empty spot behind her.

"Clang!"

A crisp sound of metal clashing rang through the Sword Tomb.

Ghost Hand had appeared behind Mo Han at some point, his pitch-black Ghost Hand tightly gripping the blade of Mo Han's dagger, his fingertips less than half an inch from Mo Han's throat.

"Not bad reactions."

A sinister smile appeared on Ghost Hand's skull-like face. Although he was praising her, his tone was full of condescension:

"Pity, still too slow. The Shadow Kill lineage values being 'shadowless and formless.' Your Killing Intent is too heavy; before you even strike, your intentions are already exposed under my eyes."

"Break!"

Mo Han didn't waste words. She jerked her wrist, and a force of extreme cold Shadow energy erupted along the dagger, attempting to shake off Ghost Hand.

But Ghost Hand just gave a light squeeze.

"Crack."

That Imperial weapon dagger, capable of cutting metal and breaking jade, was actually cracked by his Ghost Hand.

Immediately after, Ghost Hand flipped his wrist, and a strange, clever force came through.

"Bang!"

Mo Han felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her body flew backward, smashing heavily onto the ground, sliding dozens of meters on the ground full of broken swords before stopping. A mouthful of blood sprayed out, staining her black veil red.

"Mo Han!"

Hua Jieyu exclaimed, wanting to use her charm techniques to support her.

"Don't move."

Xu Chen raised a hand to stop Hua Jieyu. He looked at Mo Han, who was struggling to stand up with unwillingness in her eyes. His gaze was calm, almost cold:

"This is her battle. An assassin's Heart Demon can only be broken by killing."

"But Young Lord, although that old monster's cultivation is suppressed, his techniques are too terrifying..." Hua Jieyu said anxiously.

"Techniques?"

The corners of Xu Chen's mouth curled up, golden light faintly swirling in his eyes:

"Playing with techniques in front of me? He doesn't have the qualifications."

In the center of the battlefield.

Mo Han wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. In those eyes that had been calm for years, a flame like never before burned.

That was the anger after being humiliated, and even more, a top-tier assassin's longing for a higher Realm.

"Again."

She gripped the cracked dagger again, took a deep breath, and her figure gradually faded, as if merging into the sky full of bone powder and shadows.

"Invisibility technique? A petty trick."

Ghost Hand stood where he was, not even bothering to find Mo Han's location. He closed his eyes, as if enjoying a boring game:

"Playing hide-and-seek in front of your grandfather? When I was doing assassinations, your Ancestral Master was still wearing open-crotch pants!"

"Here!"

Ghost Hand suddenly raised his hand and grabbed randomly at a void on his left.

"Puff!"

A muffled sound.

Mo Han, who had just revealed her figure and was preparing to launch a fatal strike, was slapped away again. This time, she was injured more severely; her left shoulder collapsed, and she could barely hold the dagger.

The gap was too big.

Although everyone was suppressed to the Quasi-Saint Peak, Ghost Hand's ten thousand years of combat experience and his insights into the Dao of assassination were simply not something the young Mo Han could compare to.

It was like a max-level main account bullying a small account; even if the equipment attributes were the same, the operational awareness was worlds apart.

"See that?"

Just as Mo Han felt despair, Xu Chen's voice suddenly rang directly in her Sea of Consciousness.

Calm, majestic, carrying a power that made one instantly stable.

"His speed is not fast because of his physical speed, but because of his predictive speed."

"Before you strike, he has already calculated your landing point. Every breath, every heartbeat, and even every look of yours is within his calculations."

Mo Han, lying on the ground, shivered.

She lifted her head with difficulty and looked at Xu Chen.

Xu Chen was not looking at her, but stood with his hands behind his back. His deep eyes were fixed on Ghost Hand, as if that old monster who had lived for tens of thousands of years had no secrets in his eyes.

"You also possess the innate Shadow Body. In terms of Aptitude, you are a hundred times stronger than him."

"Since he is predicting you, why don't you use his predictions against him?"

"Mo Han, remember."

Xu Chen's voice was like a great bell, shattering the confusion in Mo Han's heart:

"The highest Realm of an assassin is not being shadowless and formless, but deception."

Deception...

A glimmer of thought flashed in Mo Han's eyes, then gradually became clear, finally turning into an extremely pure cold light.

She understood.

"Still want to struggle?"

Ghost Hand looked at Mo Han, who was staggering to her feet again, and a trace of impatience flashed in his eyes: "It's over. I don't have time to play house with children."

This time, Ghost Hand took the initiative to attack.

His figure instantly turned into ten thousand black shadows, covering the sky and earth toward Mo Han. Every shadow was a physical entity, and every shadow carried fatal Killing Intent.

This was his famous unique skill: Ten Thousand Shadow Ghost Hands!

In this desperate situation, Mo Han did not dodge.

Instead, she closed her eyes. Her entire body's Killing Intent converged cleanly in an instant, as if she had become a lifeless stone.

Just as the ten thousand Ghost Hands were about to tear her apart.

She moved.

She faced Ghost Hand's strongest strike, not retreating but advancing, and the dagger in her hand drew an extremely strange arc.

This strike had no Killing Intent, it was even a bit soft.

"Courting death!"

Ghost Hand sneered, one claw grabbing toward Mo Han's heart.

However, the moment his fingers touched the corner of Mo Han's clothes, his expression changed.

Empty!

His fingertips passed through "Mo Han's" body as if passing through a puff of air.

An afterimage? No! This was an illusion composed of physical entities!

Where was the real killing move?

"Pfft!"

A very slight sound of flesh being pierced sounded particularly harsh in this noisy Sword Tomb.

The world seemed to stand still at this moment.

The black shadows in the sky dissipated, revealing the true bodies of the two.

Ghost Hand's pitch-black Ghost Hand was suspended in mid-air, only an inch away from Mo Han's throat.

And Mo Han was kneeling halfway beside him, the broken blade in her hand stabbing into his ribs from an extremely tricky angle, piercing straight through to his heart.

"You..."

Ghost Hand lowered his head with difficulty, looking at the bloody blade tip in his chest. The light in his eyes rapidly dissipated, his face full of disbelief:

"How... could you... deceive... my... perception..."

"Because,"

Mo Han slowly pulled out the dagger, bringing up a splash of black blood. She stood up straight, her voice cold as ice, but carrying a trace of unprecedented confidence:

"I am Mo Han."

"The Heavenly Court's number one assassin of the present."

"Bang."

Ghost Hand's corpse fell straight down. This old monster who had roamed for three thousand years eventually died in the hands of a junior. He died on the prediction he was most proud of.

"Clap, clap, clap."

Xu Chen smiled and applauded. He stepped forward, not minding the bloodstains on Mo Han, and reached out to tidy up her messy hair:

"Not bad. This strike has some potential."

Receiving Xu Chen's praise, Mo Han's body, which had been tense all along, finally relaxed. Her body went limp, and she was about to fall, but was steadily caught by Xu Chen, who embraced her.

"Sleep for a while if you're tired. Leave the rest to me."

Xu Chen stuffed a top-grade Medicinal Pill into her mouth, then looked up behind the Sword Mountain.

With the fall of Ghost Hand, this Sword Mountain seemed to have lost some kind of suppression and began to shake violently.

"Rumble—"

Countless broken swords shattered and turned into powder.

Behind the sky-filling bone powder and Sword Qi, a hidden spatial crack slowly tore open.

An ancient, vast, and Supreme majestic Imperial Dragon Qi surged out from the depths of the crack, instantly dispersing the Evil Qi of the Ancient Battlefield.

"That is..."

Hua Jieyu covered her mouth in surprise, almost kneeling down under the pressure of this aura.

Xu Chen narrowed his eyes, operating his Grandmist Golden Body to offset the pressure.

Through the crack, he seemed to see an extremely magnificent underground palace. The palace was suspended in the Void Realm, with carved beams and painted rafters, golden and brilliant, like the ruins of the ancient Heavenly Court.

And in the deepest part of the palace, there was a Dragon Throne formed by nine coiled golden dragons.

On the Dragon Throne sat a peerless phantom.

It was a woman.

But what she wore was not the Phoenix robe symbolizing a consort, but an imperial robe embroidered with a nine-clawed golden dragon, symbolizing the Supreme!

She wore a crown on her head, and beaded curtains hung down, covering that beautiful face.

"nine-clawed golden dragon robe..."

Xu Chen looked at the phantom, his pupils slightly constricted.

As the Young Master of the Imperial Clan, he had read many books and naturally knew what this clothing meant.

In the long river of history, there were women who became emperors. But there was only one person who dared to defy the Heavenly Dao and ethics, wearing the nine-clawed dragon robe symbolizing masculine supremacy as a woman, and suppressing all races until they couldn't lift their heads.

"So it was you."

The corners of Xu Chen's mouth curled up slightly. There was no fear in his eyes; instead, a strong desire for conquest rose:

"No wonder such a great Opportunity was hidden in this Ancient Battlefield."

[Ding! System scan complete.]

[Detected life fluctuation (asleep).]

[Target identity confirmed: Thousand-Year Empress — Wu Mingkong.]