126: Are you kidding? A person at the peak of the Golden Core stage personally kills the foundation-building cultivator?

"The Great Jiang Empress? How is that possible?"

Yan Xiao looked up in surprise, and after seeing what the other party was wearing, he was completely taken aback.

As the son of a small Family's Clan Chief under the Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty, Yan Xiao had naturally heard of the Empress and knew about her iconic crimson Dragon Robe. It had a five-clawed crimson Dragon on it, with flames adorning its edges. Legend had it that staring at it for too long would cause one to be consumed by fire.

In recent years, the Empress's actions had become increasingly outrageous. It was said that she had taken many Qi Refining male consorts, and her Cultivation had also stagnated, unable to Breakthrough to Nascent Soul. There were even rumors that the Empress was about to perish.

But for someone at Yan Xiao's level, the Empress was still an unattainable Peak expert.

And now, this Peak expert had suddenly appeared before him, her Qi locked onto him, even openly revealing undisguised hostility.

Not only was Yan Xiao stunned, but all the other Cultivators in the surrounding area also stopped in their tracks, staring blankly up at the Empress.

The native Cultivators were either completely shocked and frozen in place, or they quickly activated their movement techniques to escape the area at top speed.

However, the Soul- Crossing Players were different. After their initial shock, they all showed expressions of watching a show.

"Holy cow, that person is wearing a Dragon Robe and walking on air. She must be the Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty's Empress, right?"

"Good heavens, that's a Golden Core Peak expert, someone who could Breakthrough to Nascent Soul at any moment!"

The Empress was a very mysterious existence. There was very little information about her among the Player community. But thanks to Soul- Crossing Players like Old Potato, everyone had obtained a lot of indirect information, knowing that the Empress's usual attire was her iconic crimson Dragon Robe.

Furthermore, although the other three countries also had emperors, they were essentially just hunting dogs for the Sects, herding Mortals, and had no Cultivation whatsoever. So, the Empress was still very easy to identify.

After recognizing her, everyone was even more shocked.

"Why would she appear here?"

"Didn't those three Golden Core Cultivators and that monk already take all the good stuff? Can the Green Emerald Mountains still attract a Golden Core now?"

"Yeah, at that time, that monk almost moved the entire Green Emerald Heaven, but he found that it had merged with the Spiritual Vein here. Moving it, even for a Golden Core, would take several months and might damage the treasures within, so he gave up."

"To put it bluntly, only us poor slobs come to the Green Emerald Mountains to seek treasure now. Not even the Outstanding Talents of the Three Great Sects would come. What is the Empress doing here?"

"Hey, didn't you notice? The person in front of the Empress is Yan Xiao!"

"What? The Empress came for Yan Xiao?"

"Oh, right. Yan Xiao offended Murong Shusu. Above Murong Shusu is the Twelfth Princess, and above the Twelfth Princess is the Empress. It's perfectly reasonable for the Empress to personally suppress Yan Xiao."

"Reasonable my foot! Do you know what a Golden Core Peak means? Didn't you see the Golden Core Cultivators from the Three Great Sects before? Immortal Foundations were like little chicks in front of them. If they wanted to, they could even move an entire mountain range directly. Would someone of that level personally come to capture a tiny Foundation Establishment Cultivator who just Broke through?"

The Players discussed animatedly. It seemed impossible for a Golden Core Peak expert like the Empress to come and capture Yan Xiao over Murong Shusu's matter.

But besides this reason, what other reason could there be?

"Wait, I just thought of something. This Time Bu Ge and Li Changfeng both said that once you become a Golden Core, you'll try to suppress others from becoming Golden Core."

"In other words, is it Yan Xiao's displayed talent and future potential that made the Empress feel threatened, which is why she's personally suppressing him?"

"That does make sense..."

"Makes sense my foot! This is a Golden Core Peak! Again, do you know what a Golden Core Peak means?"

"It's like the CEO of a top food industry listed company in reality hearing that someone in a rural area is selling hand-grabbed pancakes at a stall, and then personally going there to flip over their stall?"

"Didn't This Time Bu Ge make a mistake in his evaluation of Yan Xiao before? So I think his previous analysis is also flawed. Do you really think Golden Core Cultivators are that idle?"

The Players gradually turned their discussion into a debate, each with their own opinions.

They simply couldn't understand why the Empress, a Golden Core Peak expert, would come here.

The only possible reason was to personally deal with Yan Xiao, but that reason was simply too absurd.

It wasn't just them who found it absurd; the soul body within Yan Xiao also felt a bit surprised.

"Tsk tsk, times have changed. These days, as long as you show talent, with even a tiny bit of potential, it will attract a Golden Core Peak expert to personally suppress you? This era is truly... bleak."

The soul body's voice was full of emotion, as if the Cultivation World was not like this in the era he was active.

Yan Xiao looked at the Empress warily and asked his teacher, "Teacher, what do we do now?"

Yan Xiao wasn't stupid. He thought for a moment and found the problem.

With the Empress's strength, if she attacked from a distance, he would have no chance to retaliate, and might even be instantly killed without realizing it.

But the Empress had deliberately approached him and chosen to reveal her true face, which indicated that she probably didn't intend to kill... Just then, the Empress under the crimson Dragon Robe suddenly changed her Aura. A terrifying Aura spread out, and the next moment, the entire Green Emerald Mountains were locked by her Qi. All the Cultivators who hadn't escaped were unable to move.

And Yan Xiao suddenly heard his teacher's voice in his mind: "Leave it to me."

Yan Xiao didn't dare to say anything more. Facing a Golden Core Peak, his own strength was too weak. He could only place his hopes on his mysterious teacher.

He saw blue-white cold flames erupt from his entire body, and his Aura suddenly surged, rising from a level comparable to Foundation Establishment, steadily upwards, finally bursting forth with the Aura of a Golden Core.

Ice-blue flames appeared in his eyes, and his body movements became more agile. In the nick of time, with extraordinary speed, he dodged countless streams of spell light, then hovered in mid-air, supported by flames, and stared coldly at the Empress.

"Fellow Daoist, is it really appropriate to involve the innocent?"

Yan Xiao spoke in a mature voice, his Spiritual Sense spreading out, scanning the surroundings.

He saw that the entire Green Emerald Mountains had been swept by a terrifying force. The Cultivators who were previously standing still, fleeing, or discussing, had all vanished.

And the mountain range, which had gradually regained vitality due to the fall of Green Emerald Heaven, once again turned into flat ground, with no terrain to obstruct. Golden light even flowed through it. Demonic Beasts from Green Emerald Heaven, which had fallen from the void, instantly turned to dust upon touching this golden light.

In just a blink of an eye, the Empress had completely transformed this place into her hunting ground. Yan Xiao had no space to hide and could only choose to confront her head-on, meeting force with force.