498: The Palace of Heartless Love

In light of the accident at the North Domain Star Palace, Chen De was much more cautious this time, even without any premonitions.

He did not charge straight in to influence everyone into becoming holy disciples.

Instead, he followed his previous method and quietly sneaked in alone first.

If he could handle it, Chen De would strike directly.

If he couldn't, he would collect more donations... Entering the hall, Chen De saw a woman in red with a face as cold as frost sitting on the main seat.

There was no one below her, and even after a long time, her eyes remained devoid of joy or sorrow.

After carefully checking the surroundings and environment to ensure safety, Chen De walked out openly.

Seeing the figure that appeared out of nowhere, there was not the slightest fluctuation in the red-clothed woman's eyes.

Instead, she responded mechanically, "Who goes there, daring to trespass into my Heartless Hall?"

Chen De sized up the red-clothed woman; he had never seen this style of cultivation before.

Cultivating to the point where one's own emotions were completely cultivated away.

Chen De had seen people cultivate a certain trait to the extreme, like his own Great Love, Benevolence, and Morality... the East Sea Sword Saint's singularity and purity, Wang Teng's obsession with becoming an immortal, and Myriad Gods'... he had also seen those who cultivated all their traits to a state of indifference, but that was emotionless, not heartless.

The emotionless still have a sliver of obsession remaining.

As for the heartless, Chen De didn't know what supported them.

No matter how long one cultivated or how ancient an existence they were, there would inevitably be a tiny trace of emotion.

Without emotion, what difference was there between a person and a cold stone in the universe?

However... the red-clothed woman before him, though heartless, didn't seem stupid; she didn't immediately attack Chen De.

He had been able to enter silently and was only discovered after showing himself voluntarily.

It was obvious that there was a gap in strength between the two sides.

A normal person would certainly take different actions due to wariness or suspicion toward Chen De.

But can a heartless person, devoid of emotion, feel fear or wariness?

Could it be that so-called heartlessness is absolute rationality?

Chen De would not cultivate such a path; otherwise, how could he face the people of the world?

From the very beginning, he understood that in this life, he never lived for himself.

The red-clothed woman looked at Chen De and slowly stood up from her seat, "Sect Master Yuan, it has been a long time."

Chen De responded, "Yes, it has been a long time, Yinger."

Qi Ying, the current Hall Master of Heartless Hall, was also the previous Holy Maiden of Heartless Hall and Yuan Chen's former lover.

Regarding the current Qi Ying, Chen De didn't feel the slightest bit of unusual emotion from her toward him.

Was it because he had given up, or was the Dao of Heartless Hall truly that powerful?

Chen De didn't have a definitive answer to this.

But it didn't matter; once Qi Ying was influenced, he could naturally study it slowly.

Chen De didn't believe that a truly heartless existence existed in this world.

Where there is thought, there must be emotion; aren't thoughts the product of gathered emotions?

Chen De smiled and called out in a gentle voice, "Yinger, don't you remember me? Remember when we used to..."

"Sect Master Yuan, please behave yourself!" Qi Ying's cold voice came, without a hint of fluctuation.

Instead, Chen De walked toward her, saying with deep emotion, "Yinger, have you really forgotten? The happy and beautiful times we spent together."

At this moment, the aura of fluctuating power emerged from Qi Ying's body; clearly, she was ready to strike.

"Sect Master Yuan, the past is in the past. Now I am not your Yinger, but the Hall Master of Heartless Hall—Qi Ying!"

Chen De seemed not to hear Qi Ying's words and continued to approach her, "How can you say that, Yinger? You're breaking my heart."

"Fine, fine, fine. It was my fault for abandoning you back then. Look, haven't I come personally to admit my mistake to you now?"

Bang!

A sound rang out as an area by Chen De's feet was reduced to nothingness.

But the force was well-controlled, with not a single bit of power leaking out.

"Whoops." Chen De acted as if he were startled, quickly patting his chest and saying in a doting and relieved tone, "Yinger, you really gave me a fright just now."

"But I knew it; you still love me and can't bear to hit me, right?"

Facing Chen De's affectionate gaze, Qi Ying said, "Sect Master Yuan, that was my final warning. Leave."

Chen De rubbed his hands together while looking around, "Yinger, after all these years, your feelings and mine—how could you still not understand?"

"I know you're the Hall Master now, so it's normal to feel a bit embarrassed. I'm a Sect Master too, so I understand you."

He pretended to think for a moment, then suddenly had an epiphany, "How about this, Yinger? I'll set up a barrier, and while there's no one here, let's have a good roll in the hay."

Chen De patted his chest, "I promise, in all these years we've been apart, I've been saving it all up for you. I'll give it all to you now."

"Don't be mad at me anymore, okay~?"

This coquettish act made Chen De himself feel a little bit nauseated.

But fortunately, for someone as experienced as him, it was only a little bit.

However, that lecherous gaze looked incredibly real no matter how one looked at it.

This was Chen De; after experiencing all walks of life, he could play any role perfectly.

No, it wasn't acting; Chen De simply was whatever he chose to be.

Namo... Supreme Holy Mother!

This time, Qi Ying finally stopped enduring. She drew her weapon and charged at Chen De.

Then, she was knocked to the ground by Chen De in a few moves, captured, and successfully influenced.

With such a huge gap in strength, if he could still fail, Chen De might as well go eat dung.

Courage, determination, unyielding spirit—if these things were useful, what would be the point of having strength?

However, what Chen De didn't expect was that although Qi Ying had cultivated for a shorter time than Yuan Chen, her strength was actually close to the peak of the Immortal Law Realm First Transformation, like Shi Li.

Did she eat some kind of power-up? Her combat power had actually increased so quickly.

Even Chang Qi, who was called the Legend of the Xichen Domain, was at most only slightly stronger than Yuan Chen at her age.

There's a secret; this Qi Ying definitely has a big secret, and perhaps the entire Heartless Hall does as well.

For example, how did the previous Hall Master die? As a grand Immortal Law Realm expert, no matter how trash they were, they couldn't have died of old age, right?

So, without hesitation, Chen De began to read all the secrets of Qi Ying's life.

This included her birth, how she joined Heartless Hall, how hard she cultivated, how she became the Holy Maiden of that generation, her meeting with Yuan Chen, their flirting, Yuan Chen's abandonment... and most importantly, how she broke through to the Immortal Law Realm and the reason her strength increased so rapidly.