The Demon Concubine of God

Chapter 502 As if Waking from a Dream

The sky above the capital, which was about to be torn apart by divine power, gradually calmed down after a period of darkness, and then the darkness receded and daylight returned.

People are once again busy making a living under this bright and clear sky.

Chu Yanqiu, who had already ridden back to the palace gate, pulled on the reins and dismounted. He swaggered through the city gate, but was stopped by the commander of the Imperial Guards.

Chu Yanqiu reined in his horse and looked at the newly appointed Commander Zhan from his horse, saying, "You dare to stop me? In this palace and in the countryside, who doesn't know that I, Chu Yanqiu, have been granted special permission to ride a horse to court since my first day there?"

Although Commander Zhan stopped Chu Yanqiu, he harbored a great deal of resentment towards him. However, how many people in the court and the public were not afraid of this cold-faced killing god? Commander Zhan maintained a smiling face and explained, "It's not that I deliberately stopped you from entering the palace gate. It's just that after Lord Chu and his men left through this palace gate, His Majesty issued a special imperial edict to our Imperial Guards, forbidding anyone from entering the palace gate again, especially naming you, Lord Chu Yanqiu... You are not allowed to enter or leave the palace gate."

Chu Yanqiu then dropped the question and asked, "Just now, a bolt of lightning struck from the sky, clearly aimed at the palace. Didn't you imperial guards notice? How many people were protecting His Majesty at that time? Was His Majesty safe and sound?"

Commander Zhan said, "No lightning struck. Perhaps Lord Chu is worrying too much about His Majesty? Our men have been patrolling outside His Majesty's palace and haven't seen any lightning strike. Moreover, I just sent someone to inquire, and they said that His Majesty went out of the palace to show them. They were relieved after carefully checking that His Majesty was unharmed."

But he was still uneasy; the first half of the statement was a lie, and the second half was also embellished.

The lightning really struck, hitting the roof of His Majesty's bedchamber. Immediately, people rushed into the bedchamber to provide emergency care. Through the bed curtains, everyone saw His Majesty lying in front of the bed, his belly rising and falling, his nose snoring softly, fast asleep. The favored lady, Miss Shen, sat by the bed and chatted with them for a few words, telling everyone that it was a false alarm. Moreover, a royal physician who had been serving them came out from a side hall to testify. Only then did everyone leave.

Chu Yanqiu looked at the palace gate, his doubts growing one after another, and his unease intensified. But after surveying the heavily guarded city gate, he had no choice but to suppress his thoughts and decide to retreat first and make further plans later.

So he said, "If that's the case, and Your Majesty is truly alright, then I will not go in any further and will return now."

Commander Zhan immediately gave Chu Yanqiu a warm send-off.

Seeing Chu Yanqiu nudge the horse, it turned around, stood still, and was about to carry Chu Yanqiu and gallop away.

Just then, a heavy object suddenly fell from mid-air above the city wall. This unexpected incident left the guards on duty on the city wall speechless with fright.

He stammered, pointing at the heavy object falling downwards, "A...person...is...a...person!"

But they reacted too slowly; by the time they realized it was a person who had fallen, the person had already landed on the ground.

The position was just right in front of Chu Yanqiu's horse.

Chu Yanqiu quickly reined in his horse and created some distance before looking at the person on the ground.

At first glance, I couldn't see who it was, and I realized that the person wasn't falling down in a bloody mess as I had imagined.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the person was dressed in a plain Taoist robe, and was actually a woman.

Because she was just lying on the ground, I didn't see her face.

Then something amazing happened.

Chu Yanqiu suddenly heard someone relaying a message, just like a martial arts master using the skill of transmitting sound over a thousand miles.

The woman's voice said, "Take your immortal ancestor away. This time, out of respect for her divine master, we'll spare her life. The next time we meet, it will surely be her death day."

Upon hearing this, Chu Yanqiu immediately dismounted and approached the man with a heart full of doubt, gently turning him over to examine him.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be their immortal ancestor.

However, this immortal ancestor was in a rather pitiful state. The immortal ancestor, who had always been immaculate in his memory, now looked like a victim who had been brutally beaten by thugs in the marketplace. His face was covered in bruises and disarray, his hair was disheveled, and his upper clothes were in disarray, clearly showing signs of a beating—palm prints and footprints were all visible. His lower body was even worse; both trouser legs were covered in black and white dust. The white dust stains were clearly identifiable as… glutinous rice ash from the wall?

Just as he was lost in thought, Yu Chi Lian, who had been keeping her eyes closed, suddenly opened them and sat up from the ground. She took a deep breath as soon as she sat up, her expression extremely dejected and frustrated.

She never expected that this would almost ruin her cultivation. Her cultivation, which should have reached the Great Perfection stage, had fallen to the lowest level.

"Immortal? Immortal Ancestor, you? You can sit up? Your legs are completely unharmed?"

Chu Yanqiu couldn't help but blurt out the question to her.

Only then did Yuchi Lian regain a little vitality from her dejection. She didn't explain, but simply nodded slightly, then stood up from the ground and said, "Let's go back to your Duke Ji's mansion first."

Chu Yanqiu was still incredulous, his eyes fixed on Yuchi Lian's legs.

That's strange. Could he have guessed wrong? Judging from the crime scene description, these marks clearly indicate that the lower body was stuck in the wall due to a strong impact. He had seen people die like this before. Although there was no bloody mess, he couldn't be wrong. This was the situation.

However, the Immortal Ancestor was a cultivator, so it seems the legend is true; she possesses an invincible body.

Chu Yanqiu moved his horse over and gave it to the Immortal Ancestor. At this moment, the servants who had been chasing after him quickly gave one of their mounts to Chu Yanqiu, and everyone rode back to the Duke of Ji's mansion.

When Yu Chi Lian returned to the Duke of Ji's mansion, she did not wait for the younger generation of the Duke of Ji to come and pay their respects. She pointed to the northeast and asked Chu Yanqiu to find a secluded small room for her to cultivate and recover.

Chu Yanqiu was quick to act. On his way to the small house in the northeast, the servants who had been tidying up the house came to report that it was already ready.

Chu Yanqiu escorted Immortal Ancestor Yuchi Lian to the door of the hut. The Ji family members who followed hurriedly arrived and finally saw the true face of this Immortal Ancestor. After they all knelt down to pay their respects, Yuchi Lian sent them away and went into the hut to go into seclusion.

Before she stepped inside, Chu Yanqiu finally couldn't help but ask about the situation in the palace. Yu Chilian withdrew her right foot from the door, turned around and said to Chu Yanqiu, "You want to ask about Shen Wen, right? That otherworldly soul is dead. I'm telling you this now to warn you. If you ever encounter that woman in the future, you must run away if things turn bad. That woman is now vicious and ruthless, and her strength is comparable to mine. Now that I'm weak, she will definitely take the opportunity to hunt me down and kill me completely."

Chu Yanqiu didn't understand what she meant at all, or rather, when he heard the words "that otherworldly soul is dead," he simply didn't want to accept the fact.

His previously aloof demeanor instantly turned agitated, and he even took a few steps forward to ask again, "What exactly happened in the palace? Who did you say died? And which woman is trying to kill me?"

But the only response he received was a loud slam of the door shut.

Chu Yanqiu stood there, stunned, not even noticing his parents coming over to comfort him.

His parents pulled him, who was in a daze, and walked towards his yard, while the others went back to their own yards.

In that half-cup of time spent in a daze, he figured out many things. Just thinking about the moment he personally sent her away made Chu Yanqiu's heart ache so much that he couldn't help but clutch his chest.

A cold sweat broke out instantly; I could see his neck was soaked with sweat.

The parents kept calling him "son".

He was in even more unbearable pain, and his body swayed and he almost fell. Fortunately, his parents held him up. His iron-like body suddenly became as weak as a willow in the wind.

"What's wrong with me? How could I have done such a beastly thing? Did I personally put her in danger?"

Chu Yanqiu seemed to have just returned to reality from a dream, his mind filled with memories, muttering to himself.

“Son, what’s wrong with you? You did the right thing! A wife should take a backseat to one’s closest relatives. Anyone else would make the same choice. I know you’re too obsessed with her, but this is… this is your fate. She has her karmic debts from past lives to repay, and you have your destiny to live. Since things have come to this, son, you should relax and not be obsessed and go crazy again!”

Grandma Ji wiped her son's sweat while comforting him.

Hearing his mother's words, he struggled to lift his deathly pale face, his eyes filled with hope as he asked, "Mother, you said she's still alive, right?"

Ji's mother's heart also trembled.

Since the son said so, does that mean that woman is dead?

Ji Mu was unable to answer for a moment.

Chu Yanqiu went even more insane.

"She definitely won't just die like that. After all, she's so powerful. She can conjure up such powerful weapons just like that. She's just that amazing. She always manages to escape danger in time. That palace is no challenge for her. She... before she left, she said that she wouldn't act rashly. She would help me complete this task, and she would come back."

Madam Ji stroked her son's head and chimed in, "Then it must be her. That girl is very clever. Don't think too much about it. Why don't you go back to your room now, rest and get some sleep? Maybe she'll come back on her own after you've had a good night's rest."

Chu Yanqiu's mind was sluggish. The intense stimulation had left him mentally exhausted. He was like a strange baby at this moment. He nodded and was helped up from the ground. Everyone hurriedly put him into the sedan chair that had arrived and returned to his own courtyard. He was put to bed and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Until this point, no one realized that Chu Yanqiu's illness was inextricably linked to the immortal ancestor in the hut.

Yu Chi Lian, who was already sitting cross-legged in the small house, could not suppress the smugness in his eyes.

These are the weaknesses of human beings. As long as a person has weaknesses, they will generate inner demons. How could her clever scheme of leading inner demons into the illusion and bringing the illusion into reality not easily succeed on Chu Yanqiu, a mortal who has already been trained into a puppet?

The blame lies with him and Shen Wen, this couple. They have too many conflicts. Forget about their unbreakable bond; even in their daily conversations, a single wrong word can become a sharp thorn, piercing each other's hearts and difficult to remove.

It's just a bit of a pity.

That otherworldly soul was so fragile; she couldn't even endure the game arranged by the palace and simply vanished from the mortal world.

Her soul-searching technique was correct; there was no trace of her left in the world, neither in heaven nor on earth.