14: What does it matter to you if I marry you?

Gu Lingshuang was utterly stunned.

Her mind went completely blank.

What had Su Xuanchen just said?

Marry her?

He wanted to marry her?

It took a full dozen breaths before this reborn Myriad Tribulations Empress finally snapped back to reality from that earth-shattering statement.

The next second.

A towering fury exploded from the depths of her heart!

"You're insane!"

Gu Lingshuang's voice was sharp, laced with humiliation and rage.

She stared fixedly at Su Xuanchen. On her pale, exquisite face, a sickly flush of excitement had risen.

"What are you? You dare lay a finger on this Empress!"

Subconsciously, she had reverted to the tone of the Empress from her past life, the one who commanded the heavens and decreed the myriad Daos.

Hearing this, Su Xuanchen smiled.

He looked with great interest at this little fledgling phoenix who had all her feathers ruffled, finding it quite amusing.

"This Empress?"

He repeated the phrase, his smile growing even more playful.

"But right now, you are merely a Mortal who hasn't even reached the Spirit Sea Realm."

"An ant I could crush by merely lifting a finger."

"What right do you have to call yourself 'This Empress' in front of me?"

With each word Su Xuanchen spoke, Gu Lingshuang's face grew paler.

That's right.

Right now, she was nothing.

But the pride of an Empress would not allow her to bow her head.

"What do you know!"

Gu Lingshuang clenched her silver teeth, her eyes flashing with cold light and confidence.

"I am ordained by destiny, fated to prove my Dao and become an Empress in the future!"

"I will remember today's humiliation!"

She raised her delicate chin, speaking coldly in a tone that was almost a pronouncement.

"Su Xuanchen, you just wait!"

"Ten years! No, a hundred years at most!"

"In a hundred years, killing you will be as easy as turning over my hand!"

This was her final trump card, her greatest reliance.

She did not believe a Saint would fail to understand the terror of incurring the Karma of a future Great Emperor.

However.

After hearing her threat brimming with killing intent, the smile on Su Xuanchen's face did not change in the slightest.

He even nodded in agreement.

"I believe it."

He took a step forward, his figure instantly appearing right in front of Gu Lingshuang.

He leaned in slightly, bringing his lips close to her ear, and spoke softly in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"But, so what?"

The warm breath brushed against Gu Lingshuang's sensitive ear, making her entire body stiffen.

Then she heard Su Xuanchen continue, his tone tinged with mockery, enunciating each word clearly.

"I marry you, what's it to you?"

Boom!

This sentence struck Gu Lingshuang's crown like a bolt of divine lightning from the Nine Heavens.

All her pride, all her threats, all her confidence were shattered into dust at this moment by this utterly unreasonable statement.

That's right.

He wanted to marry her, what did it have to do with her?

Could she resist?

Watching the expression on Gu Lingshuang's face shift from dazed and stunned to furious, the smile on Su Xuanchen's lips deepened.

He straightened up, leisurely appreciating her loss of composure.

Gu Lingshuang's chest heaved violently, her silver teeth almost grinding to dust.

She wanted to strike, to fight him with her life.

But reason told her that would only bring further humiliation upon herself.

In the end, all her anger and resentment condensed into a suppressed cold snort.

She whirled around, sat down cross-legged right on the spot, and closed her eyes.

Out of sight, out of mind!

She expressed her final defiance in this almost childish way.

That puffed-up, sulky appearance was exactly like a young girl who had been wronged but had nowhere to vent, with not a trace of an Empress's bearing left.

For the next three days.

The Su Family, with overwhelming force, completely took control of North Nether City.

All the territories, mineral veins, resources, and industries accumulated by the Gu Family over tens of thousands of years were completely devoured by the Su Family.

Su Xuanchen had become a Saint, and the Su Family had destroyed the Gu Family.

This news, like a storm sweeping across heaven and earth, spread throughout the entire Northern Wastelands in just a few short days, and with even greater speed, it wildly expanded towards more distant regions.

Countless powers were shaken.

Everyone understood that a brand new top-tier power was rising with unstoppable momentum.

It wasn't entirely smooth sailing, of course.

Su Xuanchen's slaying of the Myriad Spirits Sect Elder had thoroughly ignited the fury of that first-rate Sect.

The Sect Master of Ten Thousand Spirits Sect publicly declared he would make the Su Family pay in blood, even going so far as to mobilize connections with the Holy Land backing them.

However, it was all thunder and no rain.

After blustering for several days, the Myriad Spirits Sect never dared to send a single soldier or pawn into the Northern Wastelands.

The deterrence of a single Saint was enough to suppress all petty villains.

Across the Northern Wastelands, the numerous powers that had originally been watching and waiting no longer dared harbor any illusions.

They rushed to send representatives to North Nether City, offering lavish gifts and pledging allegiance.

The few stubborn holdouts who resisted to the end were utterly erased under the iron hooves of the Su Family's legions, leaving not even a trace of their existence.

After half a month of conquest.

The Su Family had completely pacified the Northern Wastelands.

Over two-thirds of this vast land now flew the banners of the Su Family.

During this month.

Gu Lingshuang was imprisoned in an extremely luxurious palace.

This place had once been where the Gu Family entertained their most honored guests. Now, it had become her cage.

Su Xuanchen came to see her every day.

He wouldn't speak, nor would he do anything. He would just pull up a chair, sit not far away, sip tea, and scrutinize her from head to toe with that playful gaze of his.

That look was like appreciating a fine piece of artwork that was soon to be his.

Gu Lingshuang felt intensely uncomfortable under his gaze, as if needles were pricking her back.

She continued to resist with silence.

No matter what Su Xuanchen did, she remained seated cross-legged with her eyes closed, ignoring him, treating him like air.

Until today.

Su Xuanchen seemed to have grown tired of this boring standoff.

He set down his teacup and slowly walked over to stand before her.

Gu Lingshuang didn't even lift an eyelid, only the aura around her quietly turned icy.

Suddenly.

A hand reached out and pinched her cheek.

The warm touch made Gu Lingshuang's body jolt violently, as if struck by an electric current.

Her eyes flew open!

Those phoenix eyes instantly blazed with towering fury and humiliation!

"How dare you!"

She shouted sharply, her voice trembling.

Su Xuanchen, however, acted as if he hadn't heard. His fingers even pinched and kneaded her smooth cheek with interest.

"Not bad texture."

He commented with a smile.

"Outrageous!"

Gu Lingshuang trembled with rage. She wanted to resist, to tear this scoundrel before her into a thousand pieces.

But an invisible force held her firmly in place, preventing her from moving even a finger.

She could only watch helplessly as the other party used those hands she wished she could chop off to freely take liberties with her face.

Humiliation!

Unprecedented humiliation!

Even when her Dao bones were dug out and her entire family slaughtered in her past life, she had never suffered such disgrace!

Just as she was overwhelmed with shame and fury, almost grinding her silver teeth to dust.

Su Xuanchen suddenly released his hand.

Gu Lingshuang's heart had just begun to relax.

The next second.

That handsome face suddenly loomed large in her rapidly contracting pupils!

A cool sensation landed on her lips.

Gu Lingshuang's mind buzzed, going completely blank.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

All she could hear was the drum-like pounding of her own heart.

All she could smell was the clear, domineering scent of Ambergris that belonged to him, lingering at the tip of her nose.

All she could feel was the sensation from those lips, a touch that made her Divine Soul tremble.

And the bone-deep... overwhelming humiliation!

She didn't know how long it lasted.

Perhaps just an instant, perhaps ten thousand years.

Su Xuanchen slowly straightened up.

Looking at the young girl before him, her eyes vacant and utterly stunned, he revealed a satisfied smile.

Gu Lingshuang snapped out of her daze as if waking from a dream.

She abruptly raised her hand, fiercely wiping her lips, over and over, as if trying to scrub the very flesh away.

Light reignited in those vacant phoenix eyes.

It was a hatred so profound it could burn through the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, a hatred that would make All Eternity tremble!

"Su Xuanchen!"