The mad princess forces love upon him, and the aloof imperial advisor trembles every night.

Chu Qingyue suddenly smiled when she heard him say "there is no difference".

She laughed wildly and insanely, tears streaming down her face, leaving cold marks on her pale cheeks.

"Seven years ago, I already knew... In the eyes of the Imperial Advisor, I was no different from dust."

"The Imperial Advisor doesn't need to emphasize this all the time; my memory is excellent."

She straightened up and approached him step by step.

"But I don't understand—on what basis does the Grand Preceptor so confidently assert that the empire will inevitably perish if it is handed over to me?!"

She screamed, her eyes flashing with a terrifying light, a mixture of madness and reason:

"Imperial Advisor, produce some evidence! Otherwise, it's because you, Si Chen, have...biased...against...this Empress!"

Si Chen looked at the increasingly dense black dragon's aura of evil between her brows, and felt a chill run through him.

He opened and closed his thin lips a few times, but in the end he could only say in a cold voice: "The Great Chu has been established for more than four hundred years, and I have chosen the kings of each generation. I have never made a mistake."

"If I say a princess is unsuitable to be emperor, then she is unsuitable."

The last glimmer of light in Chu Qingyue's eyes went out.

She looked at him as if he were a stranger.

No, strangers still have warmth, but he is just a statue that has been worshipped for four hundred years.

After a long silence, she said softly:

"OK."

"Then I need not worry about anything anymore."

Before she finished speaking, a golden chain suddenly flew out from her sleeve!

The chain, no thicker than a finger, moved with lightning speed, instantly wrapping around Si Chen's wrist.

Si Chen used his inner strength to resist, but was shocked to find that Chu Qingyue's inner strength had doubled compared to before—

Could it be that her internal energy surged after the poison took effect last night?! — Was it a case of destruction followed by reconstruction?

Before he could think it through, Chu Qingyue took root in her feet and pulled hard with her hands!

Si Chen lost his balance and crashed straight into her arms.

"Chu Qingyue, you... how dare you!" He was furious, and his spiritual power surged as he tried to shake her off.

The moment the spiritual energy touched her body, it vanished without a trace, like a clay ox sinking into the sea.

Just like every time before—

His internal strength was no match for hers, and his spiritual power was useless against her.

It's like... she is his only nemesis, the only flaw in his Dao heart.

"Is this what you call being presumptuous?" Chu Qingyue chuckled, pinching his lean waist with her other hand.

"Then I will show the Imperial Advisor what true audacity really is!"

She lightly tripped herself, causing her internal energy to swirl.

The two of them fell to the ground together.

Si Chen's back slammed against the cold ebony floor, and he let out a muffled groan.

Chu Qingyue flipped over and straddled his waist. The golden chain in her hand coiled like a serpent, instantly binding his hands above his head. The excess golden chain wrapped around his neck, locking him firmly in place.

She leaned down and lifted his chin with her fingertips.

Starlight fell on her face, making her half radiant and enchanting, half sinister and devilish.

"I'll ask one last time," she whispered, yet every word was venomous, "Why are you so certain that I will destroy this empire?"

"So... what exactly did the divination you performed seven years ago say?"

Her voice softened, as if she were coaxing a disobedient child:

"Ah Chen...be good...let me see the divination, okay? I want to know...what did you foresee seven years ago that made you willing to send me away? Hmm?"

Si Chen turned his face away, his silver hair disheveled and scattered.

"The divination results are a state secret; I would never show them to you."

Chu Qingyue was amused by his stubbornness and indifference.

Her fingertips traced his tightly pursed lips, which were pale in color but now tinged with a breathtaking red from his anger.

"Si Chen, I crawled through hell for seven years before returning," she said softly, each word seeming to be ground out from between her teeth.

"Seven years, more than two thousand five hundred days and nights, I fought on the icy plains of the Northern Sea, risked my life among wolves, and struggled in the poisonous miasma... I have plenty of strength and means."

"I want this empire to bow down to me—"

Her fingertips slid down and landed on his heart.

"I also want you, Si Chen... to bow your head before me."

"If you refuse to bow your head..." Her eyes were bloodshot, "then I will break your pride and fuse it into my very blood... for all eternity, never to escape!"

Before she could finish speaking, she grabbed the hem of his purple robe—

"Sizzle—!"

The exquisite ice silk brocade tore like paper in her hands!

With a surge of her inner strength, her purple robe instantly shattered into countless fragments, which fluttered down from the sky like a purple snowfall, landing on the two of them, on the ebony wooden floor, and on the swirling star map.

Si Chen roared in fury: "Chu Qingyue, how dare you! You've defied the Heavenly Order—!"

He had never been so out of control, never been so...desecrated.

Four hundred years of cultivation shattered completely in this moment.

She ignored him, hooking her fingertips around the sash of his undergarment and giving it a gentle tug.

Her clothes were loose, her inner garment was open, revealing her fair and jade-like chest.

"Si Chen, the divination is in your heart, and you are in my grasp..."

She leaned down, her lips almost touching his ear, her breath hot:

"You...can't escape."

"So I'll ask again—"

"That divination... will Ah Chen grant it or not?"

She propped herself up, looking down at him, her eyes blazing with an eerie, hellish light:

"Tonight, I will either see the divination from seven years ago, or I will sleep with the aloof and abstinent Imperial Advisor."

"Ah Chen...be good, choose one yourself?"

Si Chen closed his eyes.

He recalled that spring afternoon fifteen years ago.

Five-year-old Chu Qingyue was hiding behind the bookshelf, peeking at him as he lectured. When he discovered her, her almond-shaped eyes widened, like a frightened fawn.

He punished her by making her copy the "Qingjing Jing" (Classic of Purity and Tranquility), but she muttered something under her breath behind his back:

"Your Excellency, why must immortals sever all emotions and love? That's so boring."

What did he answer back then?

He said, "Heaven is impartial because it is ruthless. Only by being selfless and without desire can one approach the Way."

The little princess tilted her head and thought for a moment, then asked, "What if... someone insists on going against the will of Heaven?"

He didn't answer.

Looking back now, she realized that she had already sown the seeds of today's situation back then.

After a long silence, he spoke hoarsely, his voice broken and unlike his own:

"Chu Qingyue, your relationship with me has always been... a karmic entanglement."

"It's destined to be fruitless. Forcing it will only lead to a bitter end, like a moth drawn to a flame, so why cling to it?"

Chu Qingyue laughed wildly and seductively upon hearing this.

She leaned forward, her silver hair falling down like a curtain, enveloping the two of them.

"A karmic entanglement is still a karmic connection, and a bitter fruit is still a fruit."

"But... I will not be a moth drawn to a flame—"

"It will only rise from the ashes."

She looked at his trembling eyelashes, his clenched fists, and the veins bulging on his neck from his desperate attempts to control himself.

"Since Ah Chen is unwilling to choose..."

She chuckled, her eyes reaching the peak of madness:

"Then I will choose for you."

"I... want both."

She looked into his suddenly opened eyes and saw her own mad reflection in that glacier.

"It is as if the Imperial Preceptor, this radiant moon of the heavens, must descend to the mortal realm, tainted by the impurities of worldly life."

"It was also seven years ago, with that divination that sentenced me to death."

She used her inner strength, and her inner garment instantly turned into fragments, just like a purple robe.

Si Chen struggled violently, but the golden chain tightened even more, digging into his flesh.

"Chu Qingyue...you're so presumptuous...let go of...this lord!" His voice was hoarse, and his calm mask finally shattered completely.

Chu Qingyue smiled.

Instead of letting go, she used her knee to pry open his legs, which he was trying to close.

This action is too presumptuous, too excessive, too...blasphemous.