...

Gazing at the breathtakingly beautiful, traditionally aloof Empress Lin Shuwang right before his eyes.

Seeing her pout her delicate lips, looking so thoroughly obedient and entirely at his mercy, Chu Chen fell into a momentary daze.

Heaven and earth be his witness.

Chu Chen had only mustered his courage to tease her.

He never expected the icy Empress to be so utterly cooperative.

This...

Should he actually go through with it?

If he did, would she kill him the moment she snapped out of it?

Taking advantage of her in this state... wouldn't that make him no better than a beast?!

But if he didn't...

It felt like he'd be worse than a beast!

How would they face each other later? Just the thought of it was excruciatingly awkward!

Faced with the choice of being a beast or being worse than one, Chu Chen's internal struggle was remarkably brief.

Damn it all!

Was this the time to hesitate over a kiss?

As if he were some upright gentleman of orthodox virtues.

Before the Empress's slightly dazed and flustered eyes could regain their absolute clarity.

Before she could fully process the gravity of pouting her lips to let him have a taste.

Before she could press her crimson lips together and dart backward like a startled rabbit...

...

Pushing his ninth heaven Essence Condensation Realm cultivation to its absolute limit, Chu Chen flushed red, mustered every ounce of strength in his body, and fiercely pressed his lips against Empress Lin Shuwang's vibrant crimson pout.

With their hands intertwined, the distance between them was already negligible.

Merely a hairsbreadth apart, the kiss should have connected in a flash.

But in the eyes of a peak ninth heaven Great Saint, even that fleeting fraction of a second was an eternity-more than enough time to slip away.

The Empress's eyes completely cleared. Registering his rapidly approaching figure, she instantly panicked. Like a frightened rabbit, she threw herself backward, simultaneously invoking her spatial Dao to stretch that hairsbreadth into an unbridgeable chasm.

What the hell?!

You could use spatial arts for this?!

Watching the space between them violently expand, his guaranteed kiss was about to evaporate into nothingness.

Even worse...

Chu Chen actually caught a fleeting glint of sly mockery in the Empress's beautiful, wide eyes~

It was as if she were saying: I gave you a chance, boy, but you were too slow~

You only have yourself to blame~

Damn it all, she was bullying him purely based on cultivation realms!

How the hell could he swallow this indignity?!

"Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon, Heaven-Swallowing Magic Jar-suppress her!!"

Chu Chen frantically mobilized every drop of Qi in his Dantian, ruthlessly burning through hundreds of Top Grade Spirit Stones in a single breath.

A torrential flood of pure energy poured into the Heaven-Swallowing Magic Jar, causing the Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon to erupt with an unprecedented, blinding radiance.

Simultaneously, a mysterious resonance within the jar actively aided him. Against all heavenly laws, a mere Essence Condensation cultivator managed to draw out a ten-thousandth of the artifact's true might.

Even a mere ten-thousandth was the authentic Pressure of the Extreme Dao. Symbolizing the absolute dominion of an ancient Great Emperor, it was enough to crush the very heavens.

Boom!!

A terrifying burst of Imperial Pressure erupted from the Empress's bedchamber. A pillar of scorching light, rivaling the blazing sun, shattered the clouds and shot into the firmament.

Geng Yan, Bai Yu, Chou Rang, and Tuoba Ye.

Qi Lao'er, and Weng Su.

These six terrifying Saint King realm experts represented the absolute zenith of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace's combat strength.

Below them were dozens of Elders, hundreds of Great Saints, and hundreds of thousands of disciples.

Beneath this apocalyptic Imperial Pressure, every single soul trembled. Finally, all lingering doubts regarding the Empress's command over the Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon were thoroughly annihilated!

Meanwhile, inside the palace, the spatial distortions invoked by Empress Lin Shuwang instantly dissolved like snow cast into a furnace beneath the jar's Imperial Pressure. The chasm between them rapidly snapped shut...

As the Empress's eyes widened in absolute panic...

Smooch~

Chu Chen contentedly secured his prize~

First intimate contact: successfully completed.

"Mmph~ mmph~"

With her crimson lips forcefully sealed, the Empress instinctively writhed, struggling to break free.

Yet, whether it was her profound spatial Dao or her peak ninth heaven Great Saint cultivation, everything was brutally suppressed by the Heaven-Swallowing Magic Jar. Resistance was entirely futile.

Ultimately, as Chu Chen devoured the Empress's lips, his arm snaked around her impossibly slender waist. Feeling her frantic squirming against him, a wave of unprecedented euphoria and satisfaction washed over his soul.

"R-release this Emperor~"

Only when they were both on the verge of breathlessness did Chu Chen reluctantly pull away. However, his arm remained firmly glued to the Empress's waist.

Blushing furiously, the Empress weakly hammered her small fists against Chu Chen's chest, continuing her futile struggle.

"Chu Chen, you... you deployed an Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon for this! You... that's cheating!"

The kiss was already his.

Cheating?

What of it?

After all, fortune favors the bold-especially when it comes to the Empress~

Watching the usually imperious Empress throw such an adorable tantrum, Chu Chen's heart hammered against his ribs.

Damn, so this is the feeling of true romance~

"Then how about... I put away the Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon, and you let me steal one more?"

Smiling brightly, Chu Chen retracted the jar's Pressure, tightening his grip on her waist as he shamelessly leaned in for seconds.

"I-insolence! This Emperor... this Emperor has absolutely no interest in worldly desires."

Feeling his handsome face draw near, the Empress's flawless complexion flushed an even deeper shade of red. She hastily broke free from his grasp, whipped her head away, and began spouting dignified nonsense.

"This Emperor only... it is only because you risked your life for me... because you helped me deceive the five branch Palace Masters and sustained injuries in the process... that is the only reason..."

"Your... your profound disrespect... this Emperor shall magnanimously overlook it. Now... leave at once!"

Her face was a portrait of flustered panic as she awkwardly issued the command.

But the second the words left her lips, she deeply regretted them.

An inexplicable fear gripped her heart... a sudden dread that Chu Chen might actually walk away.

Creak~

Sure enough, after a brief beat of silence, the heavy thud of the palace doors closing echoed through the grand hall. The Empress froze, violently snapping her head toward the entrance.

She... she never expected him to actually listen and leave...

"Wife, do you actually want me gone, or are you just playing hard to get?"

The moment she turned, Chu Chen's utterly shameless voice drifted into her ears. Before she could react, he snatched her soft, delicate hand and dominantly pulled her right back into his chest.

And this time, he hadn't relied on a single trace of the Heaven-Swallowing Magic Jar's power~

"You..."

The Empress's face burned. She averted her gaze, lacking the courage to meet his eyes.

With her innermost thoughts completely seen through, she was hopelessly caught in his palm~

Trapped tightly in his embrace once more, she offered only a few token struggles before melting into him.

The grand, untouchable Empress of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace, a majestic peak ninth heaven Great Saint...

Had actually been thoroughly played by Chu Chen~

The old adage held true: care breeds chaos in the heart.

Otherwise, how could a ninth heaven Great Saint possibly fail to realize that he had never stepped foot outside? He had merely opened and shut the doors before stealthily creeping back!

"Cease calling me 'wife.' This Emperor... this Emperor has not married you."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Call me Empress."

"Whatever you say, wife~"

"..."

Empress Lin Shuwang shot him a withering glare but gracefully dropped the subject. After all, he had just laid his life on the line for her at the palace gates.

A mere Essence Condensation cultivator, standing tall to block several Saint King realm experts.

Even with the Heaven-Swallowing Magic Jar, it was a gamble of nine deaths and one life.

Had it not been for Chu Chen, Geng Yan and the traitors would have breached the hall. She had been at the absolute nexus of her breakthrough to the ninth heaven of the Great Saint realm. A single disruption would have triggered an irreversible Qi Deviation, shattering her Dao heart.

Entrusting one's very life to another... if that wasn't profound devotion, what was?

Though she reigned supreme as the Empress of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace, no one in her entire life had ever treated her with such absolute, reckless sincerity...

"Earlier, while I was in Secluded Cultivation... did you enter my bedchamber?"

The Empress nestled deeper into his chest. Her pride was fragile, but thankfully, Chu Chen possessed skin thicker than a city wall.

Dealing with someone entirely shameless made the vulnerability significantly easier to bear.

Chu Chen nodded easily, idly twirling a strand of her silky hair around his finger.

"When this Emperor awoke... why was there a metallic tang in my mouth? What exactly did you do to me?"

Chu Chen blinked, immediately jumping to clarify.

"Don't let your imagination run wild. That was my Chaos Blood. It contains pure Chaos Qi, which I fed to you to stabilize your cultivation and mend the foundation damage from losing the God Phoenix Feather."

"I bled myself half-dry just to help you recover fast enough to suppress the rebellion~"

Hearing the casual admission of such a massive sacrifice, a profound tenderness melted the ice in the Empress's wide eyes.

Resting quietly against his chest, her remaining resistance vanished, replaced entirely by a crushing wave of heartache.

"You... you and I have crossed paths but a handful of times. What is it... what is it that you even like about me?"

As if suddenly plagued by insecurity, Empress Lin Shuwang craned her swan-like neck, gazing up at him with visible tension.

Everything had transpired far too quickly. It felt ephemeral, like a surreal dream.

She was genuinely terrified that the moment she opened her eyes, the illusion would shatter into mist.

What did he like about her?

Chu Chen paused, looking down into Empress Lin Shuwang's flawless, breathtakingly picturesque features.

An old memory instantly surfaced in his mind, and he blurted out the truth without hesitation:

"I like your deep, unwavering devotion!"

The Empress stared at him blankly, utter confusion painting her features.

"Devotion? I... am deeply devoted??"

...