# Chapter 1655: Shadow Heart, Cloud Regret
The Primordial Mystic Ark cut through layers of dark space, returning to the Jiehun Realm at a speed far greater than when they had come.
Qianye Ying'er stood at the side of the ark, her golden hair flying and dancing in the endless dark wind that swept toward her. Her eyes, reflecting the darkness, seemed to hold a subtle difference from before.
A shadow flickered, and Chi Wuyue's seductive figure appeared silently.
"Is he awake?" Chi Wuyue came to Qianye Ying'er's side and asked.
It was as if Qianye Ying'er had only just noticed Chi Wuyue's arrival. She replied simply, "Awake. Where did you go?"
"To clean up some traces that shouldn't have been left behind," Chi Wuyue answered. As she thought back to that fleeting aura that had flashed by and yet could no longer be found no matter how hard she searched, her brow furrowed slightly.
This was almost the most bizarre thing she had encountered in the Northern Divine Region.
If the other party's concealment ability was at its peak and she had never detected them at all, that would be one thing.
But even a concealment technique as powerful as Moon-Breaking Shadow Flick, when detected, could not vanish so completely in an instant.
At least, none of the people she knew had such an ability.
"You have something on your mind?" Qianye Ying'er glanced at her sideways.
"Of course," Chi Wuyue said with a smile. "As the Demon Empress of the Northern Domain and the Emperor of Jiehun, I have to take care of so many children. It's far too difficult to ever relax even once."
Qianye Ying'er knew she was lying through her teeth. She snorted coldly and didn't ask further... or rather, her heart simply wasn't in it.
Chi Wuyue looked at the gray sky and said, "In another quarter of an hour, today will pass."
"Right now, I simply don't want to see him," Qianye Ying'er said indifferently, staring ahead. "There are some things I really need to think about carefully."
"So, you've accepted what I said earlier?" Chi Wuyue gave a charming smile, then said lazily, "But some things are better left unthought. The more you think about them, the more confused you become. You only need to determine whether it exists or not."
"If it does exist... what should I do?" Qianye Ying'er lowered her gaze unconsciously. "Given my position..."
Yes, she was asking Chi Wuyue for advice.
She understood the source of her inexplicable hostility toward Chi Wuyue, and she still greatly disliked her. But... it seemed only Chi Wuyue could give her the answer.
"Either completely eliminate it, or follow your heart," Chi Wuyue replied calmly. "Either way is far better than being confused and unaware, mixed with self-denial and mental turmoil."
"However, if something like this could be completely eliminated..." Chi Wuyue shook her head and didn't finish.
"Heh..." Qianye Ying'er laughed at herself. "I once regarded all men in the world as base and unworthy, none qualified to enter my sight or touch a single strand of my hair. And yet I've fallen to such a state. Ridiculous... ridiculous..."
"Chi Wuyue, if you want to laugh, go ahead and laugh."
"Why would I laugh?" Chi Wuyue's soft words carried a hint of faint self-mockery. "If we're talking about ridiculousness, I am far more... ridiculous than you."
Qianye Ying'er had been staring blankly ahead the whole time, so she didn't see Chi Wuyue's expression, nor did she pay much attention to her words.
After all, the legendary Chi Wuyue, who had climbed her way up by stepping on one man after another, was indeed "extremely ridiculous" when it came to matters of love between men and women.
"Clearly, I detest him, I hate him. I placed on him the Buddhist Soul Death-Pleading Seal, which makes him wish for life but cannot live, wish for death but cannot die. He placed on me the Slave Mark, destroying my dignity for a lifetime. Between us, there is clearly the deepest hostility and resentment..."
"Why, in the end, is it like this?"
"Is it really so hard to understand?" Chi Wuyue said. "Even when you hated him the most and wanted to kill him the most, you couldn't deny that he is the most mysterious and unique man in this world, could you?"
"..." Qianye Ying'er didn't deny it.
"For a woman, the most dangerous thing in this world is the secrets of a man. When you want to explore them, you have already stepped to the edge of danger. And you... when you were still the Fandi Shennü, there was probably no one in this world like Yun Che who made you desperately want to know all his secrets."
"..." Qianye Ying'er's lips parted slightly. As scenes from the past replayed in her mind now, they had somehow taken on a different flavor.
"When you were at your most desperate, the person you thought of was him. When you were in the most pain, he was by your side. When you were in the darkest times, the only light was him. Step by step, the two of you walked out of the abyss to this point, and it was him who walked hand in hand with you."
"Without you realizing it, he occupied more and more space in your heart, gradually surpassing the hatred that you once regarded as your entire life... perhaps even to the point where it has started to make you feel that hatred no longer seems so important."
"!!" Qianye Ying'er's pupils shook violently.
The time when she was branded with the Slave Mark and called "Shadow Slave" by Yun Che was originally a stain of shame that she could never wash away for the rest of her life.
But thinking about it now, she could barely feel much shame anymore.
Killing Qianye Fantian was the only obsession that kept her from dying, the only purpose that drove her to desperately flee to the Northern Divine Region. For that, she had sworn to abandon everything, even kneeling before Yun Che and actively asking him to brand her with the Slave Mark again.
She still longed for revenge. But...
If she couldn't have revenge, staying forever with Yun Che in the Northern Divine Region, even if it meant being two lonely ghosts wandering together in the darkness... it wasn't entirely unacceptable.
There was even a faint trace of longing.
"This truly is... the most terrifying thing in the world," Qianye Ying'er murmured.
Once, Tianlang Xisu was willing to take any risk for her, even to throw away his life. All she gave him in return was contempt and ridicule.
Now... she finally understood. She actually understood.
"To you, all this may seem somewhat incredible, but to me, it seems perfectly logical. Not to mention... long before your heart and soul were occupied by him, your body was already thoroughly taken."
Chi Wuyue glanced at her, her voice light as a feather. "The Fandi Shennü, with a beauty that could topple the world, which man, once he had her in his grasp, wouldn't indulge day and night, reveling morning and evening? I'm afraid by now, you've completely taken his shape, and there's no way to get rid of it in this lifetime."
"You... shut up." Qianye Ying'er averted her gaze.
Looking at Qianye Ying'er's profile, Chi Wuyue smiled faintly. "The once venomous and ruthless Fandi Shennü, who looked down on everything, once drove countless Imperial Princes and Divine Sons mad with infatuation. If they were to see you like this now, I'm afraid their souls would fly to the heavens."
"Chi Wuyue." Qianye Ying'er suddenly spoke. "You've seen countless men in your life, so you should understand men best."
Chi Wuyue: "..."
"So, I want to ask you a question."
Even though she was asking Chi Wuyue, her gaze remained fixed elsewhere, and her voice began to falter. "Do you think... do you think Yun Che..."
"You want to ask me whether Yun Che has romantic feelings for you?" Chi Wuyue said bluntly on her behalf.
Qianye Ying'er's gaze shifted even further away as she nodded almost imperceptibly.
"Of course not." Chi Wuyue's answer was even more straightforward.
"..." Qianye Ying'er closed her eyes slightly and smiled bitterly. "As expected."
"The current him wouldn't have such feelings for anyone, and wouldn't dare to." Chi Wuyue said. "After all, in a single night, he lost everyone he loved. Before he truly takes revenge, he cannot allow himself any 'distractions.' And even after revenge..."
"Whether he can ever walk out of that nightmare in this lifetime is unknown."
"Even whether he wants to walk out is..."
Chi Wuyue let out a soft sigh.
The death wish lurking beneath Yun Che's hatred, she believed Qianye Ying'er could feel it.
Qianye Ying'er's gaze gradually grew hazy. For a moment, she didn't even notice... that Chi Wuyue's understanding of Yun Che seemed to be a bit more than it should be.
Qianye Ying'er turned around and walked away, her heart heavy.
"Not going to say 'thank you'?" Chi Wuyue called out.
Her footsteps paused briefly. Qianye Ying'er said coldly, "I still hate you."
Chi Wuyue smiled faintly, completely unconcerned, and murmured something ambiguous: "I, on the other hand, am quite grateful to you."
"??" Qianye Ying'er frowned, but with her mind elsewhere, she didn't stop and soon disappeared from Chi Wuyue's sight.
She was heading in the direction where Yun Che was.
Chi Wuyue looked up at the sky. Even the drifting black mist couldn't conceal the dark, enchanting light in her eyes. She muttered to herself, "As long as Zhou Tian Shen Di still has any reason left, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, he won't recklessly attack the Northern Divine Region out of hatred without considering the consequences."
"But even the smallest possibility must be guarded against."
---
In the deepest room of the Dark Primordial Mystic Ark, it was especially quiet.
Yun Che's body was curled up, wedged into the narrowest corner. In his arms, he held the three-colored Liuyin Stone that Yun Wuxin had given him, his fingers rubbing over it again and again... as he accompanied his daughter through the hour of her eighteenth birthday.
"Wuxin, on the day of your grandfather's seventieth birthday, Su Zhizhan came to offer his birthday greetings and took the opportunity to propose marriage, hoping I would betroth you to his son Su Hanlou, who had just turned eighteen. [1]
At that time, my only thought was to break his legs and throw him out.
As a father, I shouldn't selfishly interfere in your life after you become an adult.
But the thought of someone taking you away from me filled me with fear, anger, dread...
Once upon a time, there was a girl who, at the age of fifteen like you were then, foolishly shouted that she wanted to marry me. Her father flew into a rage and wanted to beat and kill me. At the time, I scorned him in my heart for lacking the bearing of a Realm King, acting like a crazed beast.
Until that day, I suddenly realized that you too would one day marry...
If that day truly came, I would surely... smile through my sadness.
But... but...
I lost even that chance forever.
Wuxin, you are the best daughter in the world. Yet you encountered... the most hateful, the most useless father in the world.
My greatest wish now is that in another world, I may still have the chance to make up for it... even if I have to tread through a blade abyss and swim through a sea of blood.
Wait for me... that day won't be too long."
---
*Bang!*
The door was pushed open, not gently at all, and Qianye Ying'er walked in.
Yun Che lifted his head from his knees. Before he could speak, the familiar scent of her body rushed toward him, and he was heavily pinned to the ground by Qianye Ying'er.
*Shiiip!*
With a soft sound, the black clothes on Qianye Ying'er's body tore apart. Her fragrant shoulders and snow-white skin gleamed with pure, flawless jade light in the dim space.
"..." Yun Che's eyes froze for a moment, then he said coldly, "I don't want to cultivate today!"
"I don't want to either."
Her face veil fell, revealing a countenance beautiful enough to rob all colors and lights in the world of their radiance. In her golden eyes rippled a watery light that Yun Che had never seen before, so beautiful it made him dizzy. "I just suddenly wanted to try... what it feels like to be on top!"
---
On top of the Dark Primordial Mystic Ark, Jie Xin and Jie Ling suddenly sensed something at the same time and quickly exchanged a glance.
"Master, it seems there's a strange sound," Jie Xin said.
"It's Yun Qianying's voice," Jie Ling said. "Could she also be injured?"
"This sound..." Hua Jin listened intently. Suddenly, her jade-white face flushed with an unnatural rosy pink. "It seems like... like..."
Chi Wuyue turned her head, looking at the three Demonesses, each with a different expression, and smiled. "The soul-stirring celestial sound of the Fandi Shennü is not something ordinary people get the chance to enjoy. If you don't concentrate and listen carefully, missing even a moment might be a loss you regret for a lifetime."
"..." Jie Xin, Jie Ling, and Hua Jin's lips parted slightly. After staring blankly for a while, they all fled away as if escaping.
---
[1] Chapter 1501