Chapter 3: Senior Sister! Sword, come!

Seeing Chu Yuan slit his own throat, the Black Dragon Emperor’s face filled with astonishment.

“My minister, why are you so resolute? Dealing with these ants doesn’t require you all to sacrifice yourselves…”

Before she could finish, countless streams of blood-colored light poured into the Black Dragon Emperor.

Her sky-covering body began to glow with red light, contracting and condensing into a sphere high in the air.

Within the light sphere, a dragon-human form seemed to be gestating.

With a flick of her dragon tail, she shattered the sphere. A graceful three-meter-tall enchanting figure made her dramatic entrance.

Her dragon might was vast and overwhelming, pressing so heavily that countless righteous path cultivators below vomited blood and knelt on the ground.

Even Li Shixue felt her breathing stagnate, as if the entire sky was collapsing toward her.

Forcing herself to steady her jade body, Li raised her eyes to look.

The elegant, ink-haired Dragon Emperor stood high above, looking down disdainfully upon the world.

When her gaze landed on Li Shixue, who was holding Chu Yuan, the dragon woman bared her fangs.

“This is this Sovereign’s minister. Do not touch him with your filthy hands!!!”

As soon as her words fell, blood light surged violently within her vertical pupils.

“Roar~!!!”

Her dragon tail whipped out, carrying blood-infused demonic flames as it smashed straight toward the distant snow-haired beauty.

Li Shixue’s expression changed drastically. She raised her sword, unleashing brilliant azure light, and slashed out with a strike that could freeze a thousand li!

However, that extreme sword intent capable of freezing rivers only managed to pause the demonic flames for a moment before they shattered it apart.

The violent force transmitted through the sword. Li Shixue groaned.

In the next instant, she was sent flying backward like a broken kite, smashing heavily into a pile of broken walls and ruins. Dust and smoke billowed.

“Fairy Li!”

“Form the array! Quickly form the array to resist!”

The righteous alliance fell into chaos. Several elders hurriedly tried to organize a defense.

Yet the Black Dragon Emperor, empowered by the sacrificial force, was simply too ferocious. A single sweep of her dragon breath broke arrays and killed cultivators. There was no way to stop her!

Meanwhile, Chu Yunlan inside the army camp shouted with feigned grief and indignation.

“Fellow Daoists, hold on! Fairy Li will definitely slay this demon!”

Even as he said this, he slowly led his elite forces toward the edge of the battlefield, positioning the righteous alliance cultivators in front of him like a shield. He clearly intended to sit back and watch the tigers fight.

For Chu Yunlan, preserving strength and waiting for the right moment to deliver the final blow to the Dragon Emperor was the best strategy.

His goals were not only to suppress the Demonic Alliance but also to use this merit to marry the Female Emperor and secure his position as Holy Lord.

Although he had already ascended the throne, his status as a fake young master was ultimately illegitimate.

Within the Holy Domain, the Supreme Protector faction—supporters of Chu Yuan’s bloodline—opposed him at every turn.

To silence that thousand-year-old fox, Chu Yunlan desperately needed external force to stabilize his holy position.

In the True Emotion Realm, the only power that could rival his Grand Void Holy Domain was the Female Emperor Ji Xuanyuan’s Xuanyuan Immortal Dynasty.

Recalling the bet he had made with the Female Emperor before the war:

If Chu Yunlan could personally execute the Black Dragon Emperor, the Female Emperor would agree to marry into his family.

If he failed, he would have to hand over fifty percent of his Holy Domain’s resources.

Thinking of the Female Emperor’s peerlessly charming face and alluring figure—

Just one glance had made the experienced Chu Yunlan salivate with desire.

To obtain power, status, and beauty all at once, he could only let that distant Li Sword Immortal suffer.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

Li Shixue rose from the ruins. Her white robes were stained with dust and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

She looked up at the sky once more. Her junior brother Chu Yuan had already been taken back by the Black Dragon Emperor.

Sensing Li’s gaze, the Black Dragon Emperor hugged Chu Yuan possessively into her ample bosom.

Her dragon tail lashed out again, sending another surge of demonic flames hurtling toward the snow-haired figure on the ground.

This time it was faster and far more powerful than before.

Li Shixue raised her sword to block, but her heart had already turned ice-cold.

The gap was too vast. This Black Dragon Emperor’s power far exceeded expectations…

Could it be that she would truly fall here today?

Just as the situation reached a critical juncture—

“Buzz!”

The warm sun jade pendant at her waist suddenly erupted with a gentle, warm glow.

In the blink of an eye, it expanded into a protective shield, enveloping her within.

“Bang!”

The demonic flames slammed viciously against the barrier. The shield shook violently but stubbornly withstood the fatal strike!

Li Shixue was stunned.

She remembered this jade pendant—

It was something her junior brother had given her shortly after she became a disciple, claiming it could nourish her meridians. She had coldly rejected it back then.

When had this jade quietly returned to her body?

Before Li Shixue could figure out the answer, the dark-colored hairpin securing her hair also lit up with starry light.

A cool, gentle spiritual energy immediately poured into her nearly dried-up meridians, even clearing her chaotic mind.

Li Shixue was shocked.

This hairpin… wasn’t it the anonymous one sent to the storage room???

This familiar spiritual energy fluctuation…

Wait! Could it be???

Countless previously ignored scenes hidden deep in her memory burst forth like a dam breaking.

When her cultivation hit bottlenecks, breakthroughs would sometimes come inexplicably, as if someone had cleared the obstacles for her in advance.

When she was injured from sword practice, suitable healing medicines would always appear timely on her cave mansion’s windowsill…

It was never coincidence.

It had never been coincidence.

It was him.

It had always been her junior brother.

Why… am I only realizing this now???

“Ugh—!”

While Li Shixue’s mind was shaken, the Black Dragon Emperor in the sky suddenly let out a muffled groan.

Her expression twisted in pain as she sensed something rampaging wildly inside her body.

“What is happening?! This Sovereign’s power… Chu Yuan! What did you do to me???”

The Black Dragon Emperor roared in shock and fury, her dragon cry shaking heaven and earth.

Hearing this, Li Shixue looked toward Chu Yuan in mid-air with disbelief.

Could it be that her junior brother’s sacrifice earlier… was to plant a seed of backlash inside the Dragon Emperor?!

He had used himself and many demonic cultivators as offerings, entering the trap with his own body… all to slay the demon???

Crack… crack…

Li Shixue murmured to herself as the fissures on her Heartless Dao heart widened dramatically.

She found it hard to believe that someone would go to such lengths for her.

Looking down at the wavering snow-haired figure, the Black Dragon Emperor in the sky revealed a resentful expression as she gazed at the youth in her arms.

“You blockhead. Even now, you still side with that ugly piece of wood? In what way am I inferior to her???”

Chu Yuan’s face was deathly pale. With his last breath, he smiled weakly.

“Emperor, you are mistaken! This subordinate has always been loyal to the righteous path. How could mere romantic feelings compare?”

As he spoke, he raised his head and mobilized the last trace of vast righteous energy in his body, roaring loudly.

“Senior Sister! Sword, come!!!”

The roar echoed across the heavens.

Years of mutual understanding allowed Li Shixue to instantly grasp her junior brother’s intention.

This was the opportunity her junior brother had traded his life for. She could not fail him.

Despite her immense reluctance, she resolutely gathered all her cultivation, gripped her long sword tightly, and hurled it like a spear.

Thud!

The long sword streaked across the sky like a daytime meteor, instantly piercing through the Black Dragon Emperor and Chu Yuan—who were embracing high above—along with the dark clouds pressing down on the world.

“Ugh ah—!”

The golden vertical pupils of the Black Dragon Emperor rapidly dimmed. She looked toward the snow-haired figure with an extremely complicated gaze and laughed bitterly.

“So much for loyalty to the righteous path. In the end… you still chose her…”

Chu Yuan smiled bitterly and sighed.

“Emperor above, if there is a next life, Chu will surely come again to serve you loyally…”

The Black Dragon Emperor’s red lips uttered only one word.

“Scram!”

Even as she spoke, she held Chu Yuan tightly in her arms.

Though her dragon body crashed to the ground and shattered like glass before dissipating, she still protected his broken form from harm.

“We won!!!”

The righteous alliance erupted in earth-shaking cheers.

Yet Li Shixue in the distance heard none of it.

She staggered forward, step by step, running toward where her junior brother lay.

The moment she saw Chu Yuan’s broken body, she collapsed to her knees as if her own heart had been pierced.