183: Chapter 183 The Empress Breaks Through! Me, shameless? I'll demonstrate my Foundation Establishment skills right now!

A flash of greed flickered in Dark Seven's eyes. He stared fixedly at the Little Girl before him, who had just drained a Foundation Establishment Cultivator dry. The Golden Core Stage spiritual energy around his body surged faintly as he intentionally lowered his voice and sneered.

"Little Girl, your Cultivation Technique is quite decent. But to reveal such a peerless Demonic Technique that sucks people's essence and blood in front of a Golden Core Stage Cultivator like me, aren't you afraid I'll kill you and seize your treasures?"

Facing this blatant threat, there wasn't the slightest ripple on the Empress's mud-stained little face. She didn't even lift an eyelid, completely ignoring Dark Seven's greed.

Had she not been allowed to devour the essence and blood of that Foundation Establishment Cultivator just now, perhaps she would have had some reservations.

But now, as the essence and blood entered her stomach, her Divine Soul—which had been nearly depleted due to forcibly performing a Heaven-Defying forbidden technique—had been barely repaired by one-millionth.

Though it was only one-millionth, for the Extreme Dao Great Emperor who had once suppressed the starry sky for a hundred thousand years, this bit of Divine Soul power was enough for her to execute a single [Soul-Slaying Spike].

Although this body might be paralyzed for half a month after using it, it was more than enough to insta-kill this Golden Core Cultivator from the Lower Realm.

She already had the power to protect herself.

The Empress's extreme composure, which even carried a hint of a superior's attitude, actually made Dark Seven hesitate.

He was indeed covetous of this eerie Demonic Technique, but the Little Girl's steadiness—looking at him as if he were a dead man even under the pressure of a Golden Core—made him instinctively feel a trace of danger.

As an elite assassin of the Shadow Pavilion, he knew well that in the world of cultivation, the more abnormal an existence was, the more likely it was to hide a lethal trump card.

The Empress glanced at Dark Seven and spoke indifferently in her withered, tender, yet worldly voice:

"This 'Heaven Swallowing Dao Transformation Art' is an Extreme Dao Demonic Technique. It requires a body with Severed Meridians and the supreme perseverance of standing back up after being broken to practice. A mediocre person like you with a Spiritual Root would explode and die within half an hour if you tried to force its cultivation."

The Empress paused, her little face taking on a thoughtful expression, as if she were searching through the vast ocean of memories in her mind.

"However... considering that your kick just now was passable and you provided this Empress... provided me with a mouthful of essence and blood, if you are willing to offer resources as a tribute, I can bestow upon you a..."

The Empress frowned slightly, seemingly feeling that it was a bit too shameful to present.

"Hmm... a Heaven Rank Cultivation Technique, then. It can't be any lower. I really can't remember any trash techniques lower than that."

The Empress said this very seriously, because in her memory, Heaven Rank techniques were indeed the lowest level of junk used to prop up table legs or reward to errand boys and gatekeepers in her past life.

However, when these words reached Dark Seven's ears, they sounded like a massive joke.

"Pfft... Hahaha!"

Dark Seven was directly amused, laughing so hard that even the Faceless Mask he wore trembled.

"You Little Girl, you probably just happened to pick up some fragmented corpse-refining Demonic Technique in some mass grave and used it to quickly boost your cultivation by sucking people's essence and blood. How dare you speak so arrogantly, mentioning a Heaven Rank technique the moment you open your mouth?"

Dark Seven looked at the Empress as if he were looking at a little lunatic who didn't know the heights of the heavens or the depths of the earth.

"You should know that even those high and mighty cultivation masters of this Qianji Realm, or even the Immortals rumored to have ascended to the Upper Realm, could at most produce ultimate techniques of this level!"

"You're just a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl who has only reached the fifth level of Qi Refining. How dare you talk about bestowing Heaven Rank techniques? Has hunger really rotted your brain?"

Dark Seven shook his head, feeling that he had actually been intimidated by a little beggar just now—it was simply a disgrace for a professional assassin.

"You!!!"

The Empress's breath hitched, and a trace of uncontrollable shame and fury finally surged in her eyes, which were usually as calm as an ancient well.

In the past, when she sat high above the Nine Heavens, who would have dared to speak to her like this?!

Even those Saints and Demon Venerables who ruled over entire Star Domains didn't even dare to breathe heavily in her presence!

Had she not been so focused on seeking the Dao and forsaking love in her past life, the peerless prodigies lining up to lick her toes would have stretched from this Small World all the way to the end of the Major Thousand Worlds!

Now, the dignified Jidao Empress was actually being mocked to her face by a measly Golden Core Cultivator from the Lower Realm who didn't even deserve to have a name!

And he was mocking her for not being able to produce a Heaven Rank technique?!

How could she endure this?!

"Humph! A frog at the bottom of a well with such short-sightedness!"

The Empress suppressed the urge to slap him to death and coldly flicked her sleeves. "Hmph! You're the one who said you didn't want it! My bestowal of techniques is hard to come by even in ten thousand eons. In the future, even if you kneel and beg me in tears, I will never teach you again!"

Dark Seven looked at the Little Girl's tsundere posture—dressed like a beggar yet insisting on acting like a peerless master—and laughed heartily again, finding the Little Girl truly quite amusing.

As a minor leader of the Shadow Pavilion and possessing a Spiritual Root, he didn't lack resources for cultivation while working with the Shadow Pavilion.

But as for Heaven Rank techniques, those were things only legendary Immortals possessed. Naturally, he wouldn't be envious of the boast made by a little beggar.

At this point, he felt he completely "understood" why this Little Girl still had such composure in the face of Golden Core pressure.

"Not bad, not bad. Little Girl, you really have the style of our Shadow Pavilion!"

Dark Seven stopped laughing and looked the Empress up and down, nodding in appreciation. "Just based on your thick-skinned nature and boasting skills—keeping a straight face even if Mount Tai were to collapse before you—you indeed have the excellent potential to be an assassin for our Shadow Pavilion."

The Empress was stunned by this evaluation.

She reached out a mud-stained little hand and pointed at her nose in confusion:

"Me? Thick-skinned? Boasting?"

Did this minor Golden Core Cultivator, who hadn't even touched the threshold of true immortality, have any idea what kind of being he was speaking so insolently to?!

"Exactly! That's the feeling!"

Dark Seven was even more satisfied seeing the Empress's bewildered expression. "Your face is clearly thicker than a city wall, yet you can still put on an innocent look as if you don't understand what I'm saying! You're a born master of disguise and assassination!"

Dark Seven stepped forward and, without any guard, reached out his large hand encased in an iron gauntlet. With a "slap," he patted the Empress's thin shoulder heavily, his tone carrying the condescension and promotion of a superior to a subordinate:

"Little Girl, consider yourself lucky. From now on, follow me, Dark Seven! If you can break through to Qi Refining Perfection within a year, I'll take it upon myself to gift you a Foundation Establishment Pill! At the same time, I'll recommend you to join my Shadow Pavilion as an honorable outer sect assassin!"

In Dark Seven's view, being able to join the Shadow Pavilion was a great honor for a commoner with Severed Meridians and no background in the Qianji Realm—it was as if their ancestral graves were emitting green smoke.

However.

The Empress's face was now as black as the bottom of a pot.

With a look of disgust, she suddenly exerted force and slapped away Dark Seven's large hand from her shoulder with a "smack."

"Give me a Foundation Establishment Pill? Make me an outer sect assassin?!"

The Empress laughed out of extreme anger, her thin chest heaving violently. Her dignity as an Emperor had suffered unprecedented trampling at this moment.

"Hmph! Open your dog eyes and look clearly!"

A tangible demonic light suddenly erupted from the Empress's deep eyes.

Without another word, her small body twisted suddenly, and she bypassed Dark Seven like a blur. Like a moth to a flame, she sprinted without hesitation toward the Blood Pool in the Blood Spirit Sect Branch that had not yet dried up.

"Didn't you say it would take a year to reach Qi Refining Perfection?"

In the wind came the Empress's tender yet infinitely arrogant and cold voice:

"I will establish my foundation right now for you to see!!!"