243: Chapter 243 Saying no with your mouth, but your body says a different story!

"Who… who acknowledged you as a husband? Stop spouting nonsense! Let go immediately!"

Empress Yue Chan pulled her hand back forcefully, the flush on her cheeks impossible to suppress, spreading all the way to her earlobes.

But Cao Kun not only refused to let go, he instead chuckled mischievously and gripped even tighter, their fingers intertwined, fitting together seamlessly.

"Not acknowledged? Then why are you blushing so hard?"

Cao Kun leaned in close to her, his tone full of teasing.

"In such a public place, the more you struggle, the more others will think we are flirting."

"Your Majesty, you better think clearly. There are at least several thousand Prodigies from the Central Plains on this square."

"If you keep making a scene now and attract everyone's attention, once your true identity as the Empress of Great Yan is exposed…"

"The story of the Empress of Great Yan pulling and tugging with a male cultivator and acting coquettishly in public within the Ancient God Ruins will spread throughout the entire Central Plains by tomorrow."

"Tell me, where will the face of the Great Yan Dynasty be then? What will your subjects think?"

This sentence accurately pinched Empress Yue Chan's Achilles' heel.

She was extremely proud to her core and valued the national prestige of Great Yan more than her own life.

If her identity were really exposed in public, staging a scene of the Empress being forcibly held by the hand, how could she command her subordinates in the future?

Wouldn't rebels like Bi Yuntao wake up laughing in their dreams?

She bit her silver teeth, her beautiful eyes filled with shame and anger.

In the end, she could only act like a bullied victim, allowing him to hold her hand and walk up the stone steps.

The group of Prodigies below the platform watched the backs of the two walking up hand-in-hand and immediately began whispering to one another.

"Who exactly is that woman? Her appearance is average; even if her figure is a bit hot, it shouldn't be enough to make the Living Yama protect her like this, right?"

"Look at that wretched smile on Cao Kun's face; he's practically spoiling that woman to the heavens."

"Could it be some special Cauldron Physique? Or the illegitimate daughter of some hidden expert?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down! Do you have a death wish? If Cao the Great Philanthropist sees you, he'll confiscate your tools of the crime along with you!"

The two stepped onto the Ascending Dragon Platform.

The first ninety stone steps each contained the pressure of the Heavenly Dao.

Ordinary Void Refinement Stage Prodigies would be panting after ten steps, and walking fifty steps would be extremely difficult.

But for Cao Kun and Empress Yue Chan, it was completely child's play.

Cao Kun possessed the Five Emperors Origin True Body; this bit of pressure landing on him didn't even count as a breeze brushing his face.

Empress Yue Chan was a genuine Body Integration Stage expert.

Even if she couldn't use her full strength, the natural aura of her Realm alone was enough to ignore these low-level pressures.

Thus, an extremely bizarre scene appeared on the square.

Other Prodigies were using both hands and feet, their faces flushed red, crawling upward one step at a time.

Cao Kun and Empress Yue Chan walked with light steps, completely as if they were strolling through their own back garden.

They even had the leisure to turn back and point at those below.

"Look at that one on the left, ass stuck up so high, is he an ostrich?"

"The one on the right is even funnier; he started foaming at the mouth after climbing two steps. Coming to snatch an Opportunity when he's this weak, is this the quality of the Central Plains' Prodigies?"

Listening to his roasting, Empress Yue Chan couldn't help but mutter in her heart.

Is this bastard's mouth poisoned? He can make someone die of anger with just one sentence.

But for some reason, listening to his banter, the bit of shame and annoyance in her heart actually dissipated quite a bit.

In less than half an incense stick of time.

The two had already crossed ninety stone steps.

The crowd below was already numb.

"Is this even human?"

"That is the Ascending Dragon Platform! How are they as relaxed as climbing stairs!"

However, just at the moment the two stepped onto the stone step together, a sudden change occurred.

A thick, dark golden light curtain descended from the sky, directly enveloping them.

Empress Yue Chan's body sank.

She discovered that the vast spiritual power within her Purple Mansion had been completely sealed.

Even the Realm enhancement of the Void Refinement Stage had been completely stripped away.

The heavy pressure of the Heavenly Dao acted directly on her Physical Body, pressing down until her legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

Cao Kun also noticed the change.

This place actually stripped away spiritual power directly, leaving one to rely purely on physical strength and sheer willpower.

However, Cao Kun didn't care at all.

With the enhancement of the Chaos Unity Art, even without spiritual power, his pure physical strength remained incomparably tyrannical.

He turned his head to look at the struggling, panting Empress Yue Chan and chuckled mischievously: "Yo, why aren't you walking anymore? Weren't you quite stubborn just a moment ago?"

Empress Yue Chan ignored his teasing, struggling to steady her figure, attempting to lift her leg and step toward the 92nd level.

But that heavy pressure made every movement she made arduous.

Cao Kun leaned in, his tone frivolous.

"How about this, you call me something nice, like 'good brother' or 'good husband', and I'll carry you up; I guarantee you'll reach the top comfortably."

"Stop dreaming!"

Empress Yue Chan's phoenix eyes widened, and she glared at him fiercely.

"Even if I have to crawl up, I will never beg you!"

After speaking, she broke free from Cao Kun's hand and stepped arduously onto the 92nd level.

"Fine, let's see how long you can last."

Cao Kun shrugged, deliberately lagging a step behind, following closely to feast his eyes.

Having lost her spiritual power protection, Empress Yue Chan was soon drenched in fragrant sweat.

Sweat slid down her neck, soaking her tight black night-traveling clothes.

The fabric clung tightly to her body, outlining her graceful and curvy figure, which was even more seductive than if she were wearing nothing.

"Tsk tsk, this figure, it really is top-notch."

"No wonder she can be the Empress of Great Yan; most women don't have this kind of ruthlessness."

Cao Kun was crazily grumbling in his heart, but he had no intention of helping.

He knew Empress Yue Chan's character; unless he pushed her to a desperate situation, this woman would not lower her defenses.

Arriving at the 94th level.

Empress Yue Chan's consciousness was already beginning to blur.

The scene before her eyes began to double, and her ears were filled with the sound of her own heartbeat.

She was relying entirely on an unyielding obsession to hold on.

"This Empress… must absolutely not fall here!"

When she stepped onto the 95th level, the pressure of the Heavenly Dao skyrocketed exponentially.

Empress Yue Chan only felt as if a great mountain was pressing on her shoulders, her knees completely gave out, and her whole body fell directly backward.

It looked like she was about to be flung off the Ascending Dragon Platform by the pressure.

It was over.

In her current state, if she were flung off by the Law from the 95th level and fell, even if she didn't die, she would be severely injured.

Not to mention making a complete fool of herself in public.

Empress Yue Chan closed her eyes in despair, her heart filled with unwillingness.

However, the fall she expected did not happen.

A strong, powerful hand steadily supported her back, and immediately after, another hand passed under the bend of her knees.

In a whirl of dizziness.

Empress Yue Chan fell into a broad, scalding embrace.

Having lost her center of gravity, she instinctively reached out both hands and wrapped them around Cao Kun's neck.

Listening to the heartbeat coming from beside her ear.

Empress Yue Chan's originally panicked heart miraculously calmed down.

Cao Kun looked at the warm, fragrant, and soft jade in his arms, deliberately acting mischievously by bouncing her upward.

"Ah!"

Empress Yue Chan exclaimed, and the hands wrapped around his neck tightened even more.

"See, stubborn to the end, in the end, don't you still have to rely on your husband?"

He teased with a mischievous smile.

"If you had spoken up earlier, you wouldn't have had to suffer so much."

Empress Yue Chan was filled with shame and anger, struggling forcefully: "Put me down! Bastard!"

But her body was limp, and she had no strength at all.

Moreover, she discovered that she was actually somewhat reluctant to leave this warm embrace; she didn't even want to let go.

This sense of security was something she had never experienced in all her years as the Empress of Great Yan.

The crowd below saw Empress Yue Chan collapse from exhaustion and shook their heads and sighed one after another.

"She's reached her limit."

"The 95th level is already very Heaven-Defying. It seems they will stop here."

"Although Cao Kun is strong, the Law here forbids the use of spiritual power."

"He is carrying a living person, doubling the burden on his Physical Body; he surely can't go up."

Cao Kun listened to the discussions below and gave a disdainful sneer.

"Hold on tight; if you fall, I won't be responsible."

Empress Yue Chan hadn't yet reacted to the meaning of this sentence.

Cao Kun had already leaped up while holding her!

"Bang!"

The dragon-patterned stone steps of the 95th level were directly cracked in several places by him.

The violent Heavenly Dao Laws tore at his body.

Attempting to tear this madman who dared to provoke the rules into pieces.

But under the protection of the Chaos Qi, these Laws were all forcibly repelled.

The 96th level!

The 97th level!

The 98th level!

He did not stop in the air at all, directly crossing the last few stone steps.

He landed steadily on the 99th level, the very top of the Ascending Dragon Platform.

"Holy shit!"

"Did he jump up directly from the 95th level?"

"He must be a Body Cultivator!"

Su Su was jumping up and down excitedly below the platform, her little face flushed red:

"Big Brother Cao Kun is too handsome!"

Cao Kun gently put Empress Yue Chan down.

Empress Yue Chan's legs were weak, and she could only lean most of her body against him.

She looked at the 99th level beneath her feet, which represented the highest Opportunity of the Divine Ruins, her eyes still somewhat dazed.

She had just… reached the top like this?

Just at this moment.

The entire Ascending Dragon Platform began to shake.

Above the firmament, the vast Heavenly Dao Qi gathered in mid-air, transforming into a huge golden vortex.

"Roar—!"

Following a high-pitched, resonant Dragon roar, a hundred-zhang-long Golden Dragon spiraled out from the Luck vortex.

After circling three times in mid-air, it swooped down.

Directly enveloping Cao Kun and Empress Yue Chan within it.

The Heavenly Dao Law baptism arrived!

Luo Qingcheng