The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 474 - 382, Princess: The subordinate is willing to serve the lord loyally (5000 words)
We meet again...
Zhao Douan lay on his back in a "big" character shape in the desolate winter mountains, with a pile of withered branches and fallen leaves beneath him, and towering trees piercing into the gray sky within his sight.
A cold wind blew, and a few leaves twirled down from the branches.
He smiled peculiarly as he gazed at Princess Lu, who pointed a sword at him.
The moment he caught sight of the silver mask, he understood the source of that indescribable "familiarity" from their meeting that day.
It was the aura.
Princess Lu possessed a unique aura he had only ever seen in Pei Niannu—difficult to articulate, yet undeniably present.
A faint recollection: On Linfeng Road, when he had met the Shadow Guard known as "Hong Ye," there was a vague similarity, but nowhere near as close as Lu Yaner and Pei Niannu.
Prince Jing's Princess, a powerful sorcerer? Not too unexpected.
But that she was the heir to Pei Niannu's legacy truly surprised him.
"I ask, you answer, not for you to spout nonsense."
The gentle Princess clad in a cyan dress and a silver mask spoke coldly, the tip of her sword lowered by an inch:
"How did you recognize me? If you don't answer, I won't mind making you taste the agony of being dismembered before you die."
What a cruel woman... Pei Niannu cracked my skull open, and now you want to dismember me. Indeed, like master, like disciple... Zhao Douan inwardly cursed, his smile spreading on his face:
"When I first saw the Princess, I felt as if she were an old acquaintance, leaving a deep impression. Indeed, when I asked the Princess that day if she was cultivating, you were deceiving me."
Princess Lu's face showed contained anger, feeling she had been played:
"Facing death and yet still in the mood for flippant remarks, you indeed deserve to die."
As she spoke, she was about to draw her sword and behead the Zhao thief.
"Pei Niannu... Princess, the legacy you cultivate belongs to this lineage, doesn't it?" Zhao Douan said calmly.
The sword halted once again!
Behind her mask, Princess Lu's eyes suddenly flashed with a fierce light: "How do you know?"
Zhao Douan replied with a smile:
"I once encountered a Shadow Guard of the court, also masked like you. Do you know her?"
A Shadow Guard? Lu Yaner paused, slightly puzzled.
Six hundred years had passed; the once-renowned Pei family had branched out, with countless bloodlines diverged, let alone the legacy of the Magic Door; any with the aptitude could cultivate.
Therefore, it was no surprise to find others in the court cultivating the same Magic Door.
Lu Yaner wasn't even sure if the person was a relative, even if related, likely removed by more than five degrees.
"It seems you're not familiar," Zhao Douan sighed with regret, "Could the Princess enlighten me on the origin of this mask's legacy? And how did you become involved with Prince Jing?"
Princess Lu pressed her sword further, the tip now directly against Zhao Douan's chest, her voice cold:
"Are you interrogating me? Spill everything you know about Pei Niannu, and if you utter another irrelevant word, I'll sever one of your arms!"
Zhao Douan sighed helplessly, thinking how difficult it was to communicate with a woman of such a cold disposition.
He closed his eyes, envisioning the "Six Chapters Scripture" in his mind, murmuring softly:
"Please descend, ancestor."
In an instant, in the depths of his mind's palace, amidst a dilapidated old temple that flickered in and out of view, the bored female sorcerer sitting on the rooftop looked up, her gaze seemingly piercing through the barrier between illustration and reality.
Zhao Douan distinctly felt a vast, yin energy suddenly descend into his sea of consciousness, rapidly diffusing throughout his body.
In the Divine Chapter Realm, one could summon the deities they cultivated to descend to the mortal realm.
At this moment, Pei Niannu, like a vengeful spirit, enveloped him with surging mana, merging with Zhao Douan as one.
In the woods.
Princess Lu suddenly felt an intense unease; without hesitation, her delicate palm pressed on the hilt, thrusting the sword fiercely downward!
However, Zhao Douan's right hand, now enveloped in a faint red glow, silently grasped the tip of the sword.
Calmly...
He grasped it.
Gripped it?
Princess Lu froze, her face suddenly changing, looking towards Zhao Douan's face.
His eyes abruptly opened wide, pupils swirling with a plasma-like red, seemingly devoid of human emotions, like a deity provoked to wrath.
"You've angered me," Zhao Douan uttered, his body abruptly standing erect.
Princess Lu was profoundly shaken, horror-struck to see the sword in her hand dissolving into droplets of molten iron under the searing red aura.
In her haste, she managed to wrap herself in three layers of magical armor; then, she saw Zhao Douan throw a punch.
"Boom!"
The overwhelming mana, accompanying the force of the punch, in an instant, tore through the armor as if it were paper, propelling Princess Lu's figure backward like a cannonball, howling through the air.
The powerful magical force created a gale, sweeping up countless fallen leaves in the forest like tiles tossed into the air.
The Princess's silver armor flickered uncertainly, nearly splitting open with a crack.
A mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips, tumbling and smashing forcefully against a distant boulder, her bones nearly shattered, her eyes filled with indescribable shock!
In her perception, Zhao Douan's mana was not much stronger than hers, still within the bounds of this "World."
Logically, a mana clash at the same level should not have left her completely powerless to retaliate.
But, as Zhao Douan made his move, Princess Lu discovered in terror that her entire cultivation seemed suppressed by a power akin to blood power.
As mortal beings faced with a fierce tiger in the mountains, shaking and unable to move.
At this moment, she saw Zhao Douan as a dreadful tiger.
Her cultivation rendered useless, so diminished it was almost to the point of a mortal.
