# Chapter 1673: Suspicion
Qianye Ying’er’s eyes rippled for a long time before she finally reached out and took the Primordial World Pill from Yun Che’s hand... perhaps the last Primordial World Pill of this era, and possibly even of future generations.
Back then, during their journey to the Soul Plunder Realm, she had asked Yun Che about his “trump card” for a reason. After all, they were about to face the most terrifying woman of the Northern Divine Region, along with the full power of her king realm behind her.
Yun Che’s certainty at that time now had its answer.
But now that this trump card was lost, what followed was undoubtedly a tremendous sense of insecurity.
After all, setting aside the Soul Plunder Realm, which was bound together by “cooperation,” what Yun Che and Qianye Ying’er truly possessed had always been only each other.
And Yun Che knew all too well that he was an uncontrollable person. With Chi Wuyue’s temperament and methods, when a certain stage was reached, she would never allow anyone to rise above her... and she likely wouldn’t want anyone she couldn’t control to exist either.
These thoughts had not been part of his short-term considerations before.
But with his trump card gone, he could no longer afford to ignore them entirely.
“Fine.” Qianye Ying’er slowly nodded, her jade hand gripping the Primordial World Pill tightly. “If this allows me to return to my former cultivation level, then all the better. But speaking of which... this time, you aren’t worried that I might surpass you by too much and slip out of your control?”
“I told you, your power... is all mine.” Yun Che frowned.
“Hmph, the power is in my body, and what you say doesn’t count.” Qianye Ying’er turned sideways, her brows tilting slightly. “This sudden confidence of yours is utterly ridiculous.”
Yun Che said nothing.
After years of constant interaction, his understanding of Qianye Ying’er had long since penetrated every aspect of her being.
Her cruelty, her venom... had once made him hate her to the marrow of his bones, vowing to kill her in the most brutal way possible.
But on that Dark Mysterious Ark, those silent, trembling tears... every single one had fallen into the deepest part of his soul.
That place where he thought he had already died.
Seeing a person clearly was truly, truly too difficult.
Xia Qingyue, who he once believed would never harm him. Zhou Xuzi, who he once thought he would respect for life. Qianye Ying’er, who he once believed he would hate to the end of her days...
Their images in his life had all been turned upside down.
“Actually,” Qianye Ying’er suddenly spoke, “I rather feel that you don’t need to be so wary of Chi Wuyue... Of course, this is just a subtle intuition, completely unfounded, and you would never accept it.”
“While cooperating with Chi Wuyue, we must develop strength that belongs only to us.” Yun Che said in a low voice, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes.
“How do we develop it?” Qianye Ying’er asked. “In the Northern Divine Region, we have no foundation, no connections, and barely even know anyone.”
“You will see.” Yun Che said quietly.
Qianye Ying’er was inwardly startled but didn’t press further, pressing her vermilion lips together lightly: “Fine, I’ll wait and see.”
“Go to the Primordial Mystic Ark... go now.” Yun Che said. “Last time, the refinement took half a year. This time, with your current cultivation, it should be shortened to within a month. Coincidentally, this can also help calm your mind.”
Qianye Ying’er turned her face away: “My mind is perfectly calm!”
Yun Che: “...”
The Primordial Mystic Ark appeared. Qianye Ying’er pressed her palm against it but didn’t immediately enter. Instead, she spoke with her back to Yun Che, her voice very soft: “That ‘future’ you spoke of the other day... was it real?”
“Heh...” Yun Che gave a faint smile and closed his eyes. “I just suddenly felt that a plaything as perfect as you dying too early after only a few years of enjoyment would seem far too wasteful.”
“...” She didn’t turn back in anger. Qianye Ying’er’s lips moved slightly, and her figure vanished in a faint red glow, entering the world of the Primordial Mystic Ark.
In the quiet space, the barrier remained in place.
Yun Che didn’t rise. Instead, he called out softly: “He Ling.”
At Yun Che’s call, the Wood Spirit girl’s slender figure appeared before him, her beautiful eyes shimmering as she looked at him: “What are your orders, Master?”
Yun Che said: “Next, I will go to the Yanmo Realm to do something important. After that, there is something I need to ask of you.”
“Please speak, Master.”
The word “ask” made He Ling slightly flustered.
Yun Che raised his head, gazing into He Ling’s stunning emerald eyes, and spoke slowly: “Dual cultivate with me.”
“Eh?” He Ling froze, then her eyes widened, and her body flinched back a small step as she blurted out: “M-Master... what did you... say... say?”
There was no purer creature in this world than the Wood Spirit. Although He Ling harbored hatred in her soul, and her obsession with that hatred was no less than Yun Che’s, her essential nature remained that of the last descendant of the Wood Spirit Royal Clan.
Yun Che was not surprised by He Ling’s reaction at all. He said earnestly: “I need your Wood Spirit aura to deepen my understanding of the Void Law.”
“M-My... aura... Void... Law?” He Ling was both confused and flustered.
Yun Che nodded slightly, still looking into her eyes: “The Wood Spirit race was the first race created by the Life Creation God, Li Suo. Your bodies possess the most primordial life force. And you, being the last royal Wood Spirit, should be able to help me gradually touch deeper levels of the Void.”
“And if I can advance further...”
Yun Che raised his hand, revealing the Burning Moon Demon Source vessel he had seized from the Burning Moon Realm — the Burning Moon Demon Jade.
Upon it, two masses of mist floated amid dim black light. They were the powers slowly returning — the powers of the strongest Moon Devourers, Fen Daozang and Fen Daojun, the Burning Moon God Emperor.
Yun Che’s thoughts and desires transmitted clearly to He Ling’s soul through their life connection. She bit her lip, lowered her head, her emerald long hair veiling her flushed cheeks, and spoke in a very soft voice: “I... I will obey Master.”
Yun Che said: “If you are unwilling, I will not force you.”
He Ling gently shook her head: “From the day I became the Heavenly Poison Spirit, my life has had only two meanings: one is revenge, and the other is Master. As long as it is something Master wishes, I... I am willing.”
Her lips were tightly pressed, and her entwined fingers were nearly twisting her skirt band to shreds.
She was nervous, apprehensive... but in truth, the only thing she didn’t feel was resistance.
After all, although her body was like a blank sheet of paper, what she had seen and heard over these years... was far too much.
Yun Che nodded, then softened his voice: “He Ling, after we return to the Eastern Divine Region, not only will your revenge be fulfilled, but the fate of your people will also change... They will no longer need to hide in the secluded corners of the world.”
“Mm.” He Ling replied softly, lifting her beautiful eyes, but still with timidity: “Master, why... why did you suddenly want to...”
“Because Chi Wuyue is far more terrifying than I imagined.”
Yun Che frowned, lowering his voice as the images of his round trip to the Burning Moon Realm interwove in his mind: “She likely knew beforehand that Qianying had conceived a fetus.”
“Ah?” He Ling let out a soft gasp.
“With Qianying’s temperament, she would never have allowed such a thing to happen. But ever since entering the Soul Plunder Realm, she began to show various abnormal signs. She deliberately did not control herself and allowed herself to conceive... it must have been influenced by Chi Wuyue.”
Yun Che’s brows tightened further: “In the Burning Moon Realm, it was also her who made Qianying engage Fen Daozang in battle.”
“If all of this could still be dismissed as coincidence and conjecture, then the timely appearance of the Soul Heaven Ship at the end...”
Yun Che’s hands slowly clenched, a dark, murderous aura gathering between his brows.
“You mean... all of this was the Demon Empress’s deliberate scheme?” He Ling’s lips parted slightly. “But how could she have known that Master would be able to kill that Burning Moon God Emperor?”
“No, she couldn’t have known.” Yun Che said slowly. “Her move was to provoke my anger against the Burning Moon Realm. This way, she could both expose and waste my trump card while severely wounding the Burning Moon. From her standpoint, it was killing multiple birds with one stone.”
“She probably couldn’t have guessed that I could kill Fen Daojun, but she would believe that under extreme rage, I would unleash my greatest trump card to severely damage the Burning Moon... The Soul Heaven Ship appeared at that moment precisely to reap the benefits.”
This woman’s cunning, her methods — especially her grasp of the human heart — made Yun Che shiver even now. He was increasingly convinced that the eyes hidden beneath Chi Wuyue’s black mist could easily pierce through a person’s soul.
Qianye Ying’er’s change was likely influenced by her invisible interference. And his own series of actions... had also been completely within her plan!
Such a terrifying person — if an ally, she would naturally be an extremely powerful support.
But at the same time, for someone like her, after mutual exploitation was over, she would never allow a threat like him to exist. Not just her — every God Emperor in the world was the same.
Thus, his preparations had to begin early.
“Could it be... could it be that the Soul Heaven Ship was dispatched only because she feared Master might have an accident in the Burning Moon Realm?” He Ling said weakly.
“Heh,” Yun Che laughed faintly. “As the main warship of the Soul Plunder Realm, even the slightest movement would alarm the entire Northern Divine Region. If it intruded into the Burning Moon without reason, it would equate to a full declaration of war.”
“Although the Demon Empress’s power under the Dark Eternal Calamity has completely overwhelmed the Moon Devourers, harming the enemy by a thousand costs eight hundred of one’s own. Once a fierce battle begins, even if victorious, it would damage her foundation and fully alarm the Yanmo Realm. If they stepped in to intervene, the situation would become utterly uncontrollable.”
“Without sufficient calculation and certainty, she would never have dispatched the Soul Heaven Ship! For my sake?” Yun Che gave a cold smile. “As a realm king, one must prioritize the stance of a ‘king’ and the interests of the ‘realm’ — especially her, the Demon Empress! How could she possibly dispatch her main warship at such a critical moment for a mere collaborator who would one day become a major threat in her heart!”
His voice paused, his smile slowly sinking, his gaze growing hazy as he murmured: “No... there is one realm king who would indeed do so for me. But she has already...”
Yun Che violently shook his head, not daring to let his consciousness touch those scenes, that figure, and continued: “Moreover, the only possibility for the Soul Heaven Ship to appear at that moment was that it had already been ordered to depart long before I returned to the Burning Moon Realm... What I was about to do was entirely within her expectations, or rather, her plan.”
His words made He Ling’s heartstrings tighten continuously. The image of Chi Wuyue in her mind suddenly became tinged with “terror.” She stole a glance at Yun Che’s heavy brows and asked: “Then... when does Master intend to...”
She bit her lip, unable to finish the sentence.
“After I return from the Yanmo Realm.”
Yun Che stood up, waved his arm, and changed into a new set of outer robes. “We’ll go to the Yanmo Realm now. This time, I won’t give her any chance to react!”