Chapter 470 - 469: Cool for Less Than Three Seconds

Chapter 470: Chapter 469: Cool for Less Than Three Seconds

Chapter 469: Cool for Less Than Three Seconds

The Empress had a somewhat hazy consciousness. When she heard the voice by her ear, her thoughts stalled for a moment.

For no apparent reason, a strange idea popped into her mind.

If the voice calling itself "this humble minister" were to change its self-address to "this husband", wouldn’t that be rather interesting?

No, wait— how could someone have followed her into this place? Any existence capable of entering here should, at the very least, possess some dragon fortune...

Dragon fortune was the symbol of a nation’s supreme ruler. As the sovereign of the Immortal Nation, she possessed one share. The Netherking ruled the Netherkin Nation as well, so it was hardly surprising that he possessed one too.

But what dragon-fortune bearer would ever place themselves beneath her and address her as "Your Majesty"?

The Empress’s thoughts were in disarray. She could no longer even tell whether the various ideas in her mind belonged to which of her Alter Ego. Perhaps, in this instant, the three similar consciousnesses had already merged into one.

At that moment, however, she felt her free hand being gently held.

"Tsk, this is that thing, right? The one protagonists use when they explode with power... what was it called again? A hidden backup energy source? Cough—anyway, it’s something that costs quite a price to use, yeah?"

"Not bad. Luckily, my spiritual awareness has already reached the Divine Transformation realm... or maybe it should be called divine awareness now? In any case, suppressing it again is still pretty easy."

"Back when I read xianxia novels, there were plenty of plots like this. Aside from the protagonist, male characters usually manage to break out successfully—after the burst they either die or become crippled. As for female characters... they mostly survive? Ah, and in most cases there’s also a healing process afterward—one without clothes in between..."

Even in her less-than-lucid state, there were many words she simply couldn’t understand. Still, listening to the muttering at her ear, the Empress couldn’t help but twitch her exquisitely beautiful face.

What was this guy trying to do? He wasn’t thinking of putting his hand inside her clothes, was he?

Instinctively, she wanted to fling away this guy wandering hand.

In the end, however, she didn’t do it. ℯℯ𝘭.

Not only because the newly awakened power within her was being suppressed by a vast consciousness, leaving her unable to muster even the slightest strength—but also because she had already realized who the person beside her was.

How did he get in? No, that’s not important...

"You... shouldn’t..."

The faint words escaped her lips.

"Hmm... actually, I’m quite interested in how this kind of dialogue unfolds. ’You’ve come.’ ’I’ve come.’ ’You shouldn’t have come.’ ’But I still came.’ It feels like something was said, yet nothing was said at all, but the sheer gravitas is sky-high. Maybe this is the beauty of only saying half of what you mean?"

Empress: "..."

She got stuck on her words.

Somehow, something felt a little off. Has his mouth always been this glib?

"Oh, sorry—seems like the aftereffects are kicking in. As expected of that mischievous loli’s custom-made formation. She said that fusing Immortal Aura together with fragments of the black flood dragon’s soul would cause the divinity in my consciousness to grow too much, so she had to massively strengthen my human side... Feels like I got played. I knew she wouldn’t miss a chance to stir up trouble."

The Empress felt her thoughts grow even more chaotic.

What was a "loli"? Judging by the unit used, was it some special kind of creature? And it didn’t sound like anything good.

No—this was not the time for such things.

Regardless of whether that roc was truly the Netherking, at this point the Immortal Aura was likely completely under its control, with no way left to suppress it.

’His strength is inferior even to my Imperial Alter Ego in its normal state. The situation now is beyond his ability to change. If the Netherkin race were to make a move against him...’

Despite having barely any strength left, the Empress suddenly tightened her grip, clasping the large hand in her palm.

That hand was warm and firm, the exact opposite of her own body’s current weakness and chill.

Within her, the power that had just been suppressed surged once more.

"Hey, stop, stop—took quite some effort to push it back down, you know. Don’t mess around."

"I know what you’re worried about... don’t worry. I can’t say anything about what comes next, but for this battle right in front of us, I still have a bit of confidence."

Before the Empress could figure out what those words meant, she suddenly felt her head grow light.

The imperial crown on her head was removed and stuffed into her arms.

Then a large hand vigorously ruffled her hair.

Stroking it with the grain, against the grain, rubbing along the cowlick, even grabbing the twin ponytails she had tied up—

!

The Empress was about to bristle.

"Don’t rush, don’t rush. No one’s watching anyway, just treat it as payment for me publicly revealing all that original-work intel. Oh right, Your Majesty, didn’t you still owe me a piece of immortal jade from the Ascension Platform?"

"Remember to set one aside. I’ll come looking for you after I revive."

The voice paused, as if thinking whether there was anything else to say. He stopped the head-patting, gently exhaled.

"Then... stay right here and don’t move. I’ll go collect two heads for you."

As the words fell, the Empress felt the person beside her gently let go. Immediately after, a soft power enveloped her—protecting her while also fixing her body in place, and gradually beginning to restore her internal condition.

Her eyes opened hazily. She saw a black-clad figure, strolling forward as if taking a leisurely walk, approaching the radiance in the sky that had already been swallowed by the shadow of a roc.

Compared to that roc shadow blotting out the heavens, the figure was incomparably small—yet it made her want to rely on him more than anything, filling her heart with an intense longing.

Unconsciously, her lips parted.

"Daddy..."

The figure striding toward the firmament, brimming with gravitas, stumbled—and nearly fell out of the sky.

He’s cool for less than three seconds.

The Empress’s lips curved gently upward.

...

On a peak to the east of the Trial of Ascension Platform.

Night Crow stepped out of a spatial formation and made a single motion—

Adjusting the mask on his face.

Sure enough, he should have proposed reinforcing the Six Gate Bureau Golden Ranked member Mask.

At the very least, it needed a high-strength adhesion effect. Otherwise, there was no way to suppress the urge to let it fall off.

"My great-great-ancestor..."

After rubbing his eyes and confirming that what he had just seen was not an illusion, Night Crow silently withdrew his gaze from the sky.

Then he noticed countless figures still standing there dumbfounded, staring upward.

They couldn’t hear the sounds, but they had seen most of what was reflected in the scene at the edge of the heavens with perfect clarity.

Shocking! With the great battle imminent, the Demon Sect Holy Saint actually did that with the Immortal Nation’s Empress!

Night Crow’s state of mind instantly balanced out.

Sure, he figured he had probably looked just as stupid a moment ago, but at least he had a mask.

Look at that guy over there... What was his name, Yang Something, the Daoist Sect’s Divine Transformation elder direct disciple? He probably looked like he was seriously questioning the meaning of life by now.

"But... this really is a bit outrageous."

If they survived the current Netherkin chaos, shouldn’t he start preparing for Her Majesty’s wedding?

No, wait—that’s not right. Even though he really wanted to pair the two of them up, he hadn’t actually done anything yet, had he?

And counting this time, the Demon Sect Holy Saint had only met Her Majesty three times in total, hadn’t he?

What kind of flirting technique was this? He, Night Crow, wanted to learn it too!

Night Crow’s thoughts ran wild, but he quickly cast them aside.

This time, among the Six Gate Bureau Golden Ranked members, only he had entered to check whether something had gone wrong in the Ascension Platform space.

’I really did see something incredible...’

’The battle outside is temporarily holding in a stalemate. That Sword Sect fairy who appeared out of nowhere... yes, she’s the same one who showed up last time in Sword Province. Xuan Ming confirmed it too—she’s Ling Shuangxue, Peak Master of the Frosty Snow Peak of the Sword Sect... but her strength doesn’t match the intelligence at all. Her sword is close to the Dao; she can contend with Divine Transformation without falling behind—terrifying, truly terrifying.’

’She’s clearly closely connected to that kid as well... tsk. Today’s situation is once again extremely unfavorable for Her Majesty!’

A strange glint flashed through Night Crow’s eyes beneath the mask, but he soon looked back up at the sky with solemn focus.

With the outside world locked in stalemate, the changes here had become critically important.

At this moment, everyone’s gaze fell upon the young man who had suddenly appeared within the image in the sky.

No one could clearly see the true form of the black shadow, nor the exact nature of the descending radiance. Yet they could all tell that, in her clash with that shadow, the Empress had ended up at a disadvantage—and that something had already been seized first by the shadow.

And now, the contestants had switched.

The Demon Sect Holy Saint... someone whose strength was inferior even to the Empress—what could he possibly do?

...

Wiping away a bead of cold sweat that didn’t actually exist on his forehead, Luo Wusheng finally recovered from the form of address that had slipped from the Empress’s mouth just moments ago.

Letting out a light sigh, his gaze first swept downward.

The scene below was rather familiar to him.

"The First Heaven of the Ancient Heavenly Gate ruins... Though compared to those ruins—chewed up like a dog’s leftovers—this place has much more of a true Heavenly Gate’s flavor."

Luo Wusheng narrowed his eyes.

When he had entered the Ancient Heavenly Gate ruins last year, he had seen a similar layout.

However, because the ruins had been opened many times, and the First Heaven was always the first layer to be looted and stripped by cultivators, that area no longer possessed anything like the splendor below.

So he hadn’t lingered long in the First Heaven back then... well, mostly because he’d been in a hurry to reach the Third Heaven to manufacture Star–Moon Jade.

The Ancient Heavenly Gate was divided into nine heavenly tiers. Each ascent required higher cultivation and subjected one to greater suppression. With Luo Wusheng’s cultivation last year, the furthest he could manage was the Fifth Heaven.

But none of that mattered now.

Luo Wusheng lifted his head and looked upward.

His gaze met two others.

The aurora-like sword light the Empress had unleashed earlier had already dissipated.

The enormous roc silhouette that blotted out the heavens once again manifested between heaven and earth, though its body now looked somewhat tattered, riddled with wounds—enough to imagine just how terrifying that earlier sword strike had been.

Yet the great roc that had endured that blow merely stared quietly at Luo Wusheng. Its eyes, once concealed by demonic qi, were now revealed—ashen-white, dull, and lifeless.

Instead, it was the small roc, only the size of a human, bathed in radiance, whose crimson-gold pupils carried a chill as it descended indifferently.

Luo Wusheng smiled.

"Looks like you, little bird, are capable of communication?"

The moment the words left his mouth, the air instantly grew several degrees colder.

"I am the Netherking of the Netherkin race. You are nothing more than a lowly human ant. Even with the Buddhist sect standing behind you, showing me disrespect is a capital crime."

Killing intent flickered in the small roc’s bestial eyes, yet it did not make a move.

The posture it displayed was one of absolute superiority—as if the person before it could be slain at any time, with no need for haste.

Luo Wusheng’s smile only deepened.

"I call the real Monarch of the Netherkin race ’little pink fox.’ For a fake Monarch like you to receive the same treatment should be considered an honor."

At this point, his tone abruptly shifted. "And besides... the Buddhist sect backing me? Ha..."

Luo Wusheng let out a snort of laughter but said no more, his gaze once again sweeping over the massive roc.

Within the radiance, the demonic winds flowing around the self-proclaimed Netherking’s spirit roc froze for an instant.

The crimson-gold bestial pupils narrowed slightly.

It was as though, in this very moment, it had finally begun to truly examine the human ant before it.

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Cultivation Realm:

1, Qi Refining

2, Foundation Establishment

3, Golden Core

4, Nascent Soul

5, Divine Transformation (Formerly Known as Tribulation Crossing)

6, Tribulation Transcendence

7, Land Immortal

Note: Link to the character Illustration:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD

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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more Chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.

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Link: <anno data-annotation-id="5982a5b3-908f-ed14-6035-b8349f461fc8" data-title="https://www.patreon.com/u93297024/posts/Chapter-571-to-163855664">https://www.patreon.com/u93297024/posts/Chapter-571-to-163855664¹</anno>