# Chapter 878: What If He Is Still Alive?
"Anyone who dares to trespass into the Violet Micro Palace shall be killed without mercy."
One of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maidens, Canglan Martial Saint, soared up from the edge of the Heavenly Pond.
Canglan Martial Saint's combat power ranked first among the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maidens, serving as the Empress's personal guard. She wore a Phoenix Flame Sacred Armor, held a Heaven-Burning Sword, and possessed an extremely graceful figure with picturesque brows and eyes, exceptionally beautiful features, and crimson-red hair that blazed like flames. From afar, she appeared like a peerlessly beautiful female war god.
In addition, the various saints within the Violet Micro Palace also made their moves, transforming into towering figures—some gleaming with golden light, some wreathed in blazing flames, some radiating multicolored rays.
Massive palms, sacred artifacts, bolts of lightning—all of them attacked the white-haired woman in the distance.
Someone breaking into the Violet Micro Palace was already a dereliction of duty on their part. Now, they naturally had to do their utmost to remedy the situation, slaying the invading enemy before the Origin Sacred Hall.
She watched calmly as the saints of the Violet Micro Palace launched their attacks, ceasing to play the flute.
A jade-like hand, soft and boneless, gently grasped the bamboo flute and pointed it forward.
With a thunderous roar, the entire world shook violently, as if about to flip over. All the attacks were shattered by an invisible force, scattering in all directions.
In that moment, countless renowned saints within the Violet Micro Palace spat blood and fell unconscious.
Even Canglan Martial Saint was drenched in blood, plummeting from midair, about to fall into the Heavenly Pond.
"Splash—"
Shengshu Cainü extended a slender hand, sending the Confucian Ancestor Sacred Scripture flying out to catch Canglan Martial Saint's delicate body, saving her.
The white-haired woman did not continue her attack. She also stopped walking, her deep, star-like eyes—like two boundless universes—fixed on the Empress seated by the Heavenly Pond.
The Empress appeared extremely calm, without even the slightest ripple in her gaze. She said flatly, "Lan You, it has been a hundred years since you last saw me, hasn't it?"
"It has been one hundred thirty-one years and forty-four days," the white-haired woman replied.
The Empress was silent for a moment before speaking again, "Every hundred years, you challenge me, and every time, you end in failure."
"So what? As long as I am not dead, I will definitely come to kill you again."
A chill emanated from the Empress's body, causing goose-feather snow to fall from the full-moon night sky.
Snowflakes cascaded down like a waterfall.
This showed just how furious the Empress was at this moment.
"The only reason you are still alive is that I have not yet decided to kill you. Last time, I told you that if you came to the Violet Micro Palace again, I would show no mercy."
"Can you still make a move?"
The white-haired woman's long hair moved without wind, swaying like willow catkins.
Throughout the entire world, perhaps only she, standing before the Empress, could be so fearless, so composed, so forceful.
The Empress's red lips curled into a slight smile—a smile breathtakingly beautiful yet carrying a hint of cold sharpness. She said, "You actually believe that I can no longer make a move?"
After a moment, the Empress continued, "Eight hundred years, and I thought you would have become wiser than before. But I never expected you to still be so foolish."
"Is that so?" the white-haired woman said.
"No one in the world dares to storm the Violet Micro Palace, yet you alone dare to come. Is that not foolish?"
The Empress's aura was extremely powerful, surrounded by divine light, with radiant energy soaring to the heavens, as if the entire Central Domain was under her divine radiance.
How could this look like someone hiding from the Heavenly Dao?
The white-haired woman said calmly, "Others dare not come because they fear death. I dare to come because, eight hundred years ago, my heart had already died, and I no longer fear death. The reason I am still alive is that you are still alive. Whether you can make a move or not, whether you are hiding from the Heavenly Dao, today, I will definitely come. Chi Yao, let me ask you this: do you still remember Zhang Ruochen from eight hundred years ago?"
Upon hearing the name "Zhang Ruochen," Shengshu Cainü, standing behind the Empress, trembled slightly. Her beautiful eyes involuntarily looked toward the Empress, and she thought to herself, *Could it be that the Empress truly has an extraordinary relationship with the Sacred Ming Crown Prince from eight hundred years ago?*
After Chi Yao ascended the throne, she had secretly issued an edict to destroy all books about Zhang Ruochen. To this day, records of the Sacred Ming Crown Prince had become exceedingly rare.
Yet the Empress remained composed, smiling as she said, "Zhang Ruochen... such a distant name. If you hadn't brought it up, I would have almost forgotten who he was."
"You are deliberately avoiding it, aren't you? If you truly couldn't remember who he was, why would you personally order the capture of someone with the same name? For eight hundred years, has your conscience been uneasy? That is why you feel fear, feel dread—so much so that you cannot even tolerate someone who shares his name. Am I right?"
The white-haired woman stepped forward, soon reaching the edge of the Heavenly Pond, standing opposite the Empress, separated by the water.
Both were peerless beauties—one the Empress of the Kunlun Realm, the other the Sacred Ancestor of the Bright Hall. Now, they were locked in confrontation, and a great battle seemed inevitable.
The Empress fell silent. After a long while, she said, "Lan You, I do not wish to kill you. After all, few of our generation still live. Leave. Do not force me."
"I came here to avenge him. Dying here would fulfill my wish. If, by chance, I manage to kill you, it would be what you deserve."
The white-haired woman's eyes held a resolute determination, with no thought of leaving the Violet Micro Palace alive. She continued walking forward, stepping into the Heavenly Pond, treading on the water's surface, stirring up fine ripples as she drew closer to the Empress by the shore.
The Empress closed her eyes, revealing only a beautiful eyelid line with long, curved lashes. After a long pause, she said, "What if he is not dead yet?"
Hearing this, the overwhelming aura the white-haired woman had gathered instantly collapsed, and even the resolute expression in her eyes vanished.
She stopped in her tracks, staring intently at the Empress not far away.
However, the Empress had closed her eyes, unable to see the emotional turmoil in her gaze.
"What do you mean?" the white-haired woman asked.
"Nothing in particular. I am simply asking you a question. You may choose to answer me, or you may choose not to," the Empress said, reopening her eyes to meet the white-haired woman's gaze, calm and composed.
"I do not believe you. There must be something behind your words."
The white-haired woman's aura gathered once more, with multicolored rays surging from behind her, forming a peacock phantom thousands of miles long.
In that moment, all cultivators in the Central Imperial City could see the peacock phantom in the sky above, as if an ancient divine beast had arrived, causing many to panic.
Only some old antiques who had lived for centuries guessed the identity of the peacock phantom's master and rushed toward the Violet Micro Palace.
The Empress said, "If you insist on thinking that way, I have no choice. I only ask: do you still dare to make a move now?"
Sometimes, a person needs an obsession to be fearless in the face of death.
When that obsession wavers, one can no longer remain steadfast.
Shengshu Cainü bit her lip gently, staring at the white-haired woman standing in the center of the Heavenly Pond. She could feel that the murderous aura on the white-haired woman was still quite strong. Unfortunately, the resolute look in her eyes had faded.
At that moment, Shengshu Cainü was certain that the white-haired woman would retreat.
The white-haired woman fell into deep thought. Suddenly, a thought struck her, and a piercing light surged into her eyes.
Then, she raised her head again, fixing her gaze on the Empress, and said, "Chi Yao, after I have seen him, I will definitely return."
Her voice still echoed above the Heavenly Pond, but the white-haired woman had already departed, leaving no trace in the world.
"Having cultivated for eight hundred years, yet still clinging to matters of life and death—yours, mine, or his. How is such a state of mind any different from that of an ordinary mortal?"
The Empress murmured to herself, her almond-shaped eyes fixed on the water in the pond, a faint smile curling at her lips—a smile tinged with mockery, though it was unclear whom she was mocking.
Shengshu Cainü asked softly, "From what I know, Wan Zhaoyi has personally gone to Yuan Mansion, mobilizing many experts from the Ministry of War, and is making a great show of arresting the criminal Zhang Ruochen."
"Wan Zhaoyi failed in his task, so naturally, he must do his utmost to make amends," the Empress said. "You will go to Yuan Mansion as well and deliver an oral decree to Wan Zhaoyi: if he cannot capture Zhang Ruochen within three months, I will charge him with the crime of deceiving the sovereign. He may choose his own death."
"Understood."
Shengshu Cainü slightly cupped her hands, then withdrew.
...
...
Yuan Mansion, Qingli Commandery.
Zhang Ruochen used the Sacred Edict to quickly escape ten thousand miles away. Then, he changed directions three times in succession. Even he did not know where he had ended up, but he could no longer hold on and had to stop.
Zhang Ruochen's injuries were extremely severe. His robes had turned blood-red, and he had already entered a semi-conscious state.
Xiao Hei carried Zhang Ruochen into a verdant green mountain, found a cave halfway up the slope, and hid inside.
Once inside the cave, Zhang Ruochen forced himself upright with sheer willpower, sat up, swallowed a healing pill, and began circulating his technique to refine the pill and heal his injuries.
Although Li Min was also heavily injured, she was merely an ordinary person in constitution. After taking a healing pill, she quickly recovered.
The stronger one's constitution, the harder it was to get injured, and even external wounds healed quickly.
However, once a powerful cultivator suffered severe internal injuries, recovery was far more difficult than for ordinary people.
Zhang Ruochen spent an hour refining a seventh-rank healing pill, but he only managed to barely suppress his injuries. (To be continued.)