204: Chapter 204 The Empress Breaks Through! Me, the mighty Empress, can't even handle someone who's just lying down?

On the way back, the Void Realm rippled.

The Empress's gaze uncontrollably drifted again and again toward the white-robed figure standing with hands behind his back up ahead.

This man's strength had completely exceeded her understanding of Cultivators in the Lower Realm and even the Upper Realm.

Setting aside the fact that he reached the Seventh Stage Golden Immortal in ten years, what was even more terrifying was that he had actually grasped the mystery of the "Immortal-Demon Dual Body" before reaching the Saint Realm!

He could even perfectly fuse the Great Dao of Time and Space with the Destruction Origin!

"This kind of power, even in the Major Thousand Worlds, is a rule-Fusion power that only top-tier powerhouses above the Saint Realm could touch."

The Empress felt a secret chill in her heart. "It seems I have always underestimated him. This Su Feng's origin is definitely not simple. After returning, I must ask Su Yuan about him properly."

Despite her wariness, the pride in the Empress's heart had not been completely extinguished.

"So what if your combat power reaches the heavens? In the path of cultivation, what matters more is perseverance and speed!"

Thinking of this, a confident arc curved at the corner of the Empress's mouth.

"In just one year, I broke through to the Heavenly Immortal Realm in that extremely harsh environment of the Demon Race! With this Heaven-Defying cultivation speed, even if that Tantai Mingyue has countless resources to support her, she could never catch up to me!"

"Once I return and hand in the mission, those eight top-grade immortal cores Su Feng promised me will naturally fall into my hands."

A fanatical light flickered in the Empress's dark golden eyes: "As long as I collect nine immortal cores, I can directly begin fusing a complete Great Dao Origin! Mastering a Great Dao Origin just after entering the Heavenly Immortal Realm—once successful, the time for me to return to the Jidao Realm will be significantly shortened."

However...

The Empress never expected that the slap to the face would come so unexpectedly and so brutally.

When the group returned to the Small World inside the [ancient star chart]...

The Empress didn't even change her clothes before rushing straight to Su Yuan's Pavilion Master's Great Hall, stretching out her small hand: "Mission accomplished! The Demon Clan Goddess Yunas has also been captured by you. Give me those eight immortal cores!"

Su Yuan was sitting in a chair, counting the massive amount of resources extorted from the Demon Race.

Hearing this, he looked up, casually placed a Storage Pouch filled with ten thousand Divine Crystals in front of the Empress, and said in a relaxed tone:

"Oh, the immortal cores. They're gone."

"What do you mean gone?!" The Empress's willow-like brows shot up, and a demonic might of the Heavenly Immortal Realm erupted instantly.

"Su Feng is a dignified Grand Unity Golden Immortal, is he going to break his word?!"

"Big sister, don't get excited yet."

Su Yuan shrugged helplessly. "Of course my brother won't break his word. But his condition back then was that you would only get the eight immortal cores if you broke through to the Heavenly Immortal Realm earlier than Tantai Mingyue."

"Exactly! I am now at the First Stage Heavenly Immortal Realm!" The Empress puffed out her chest proudly.

"What about that Little Girl from the Star Clan? I'm afraid she's still spinning around in the Immortal Realm, right?"

Su Yuan looked at her as if she were a fool and slowly spat out a sentence:

"Sister-in-law... she just broke through to the Seventh Stage Heavenly Immortal Realm last night."

"Ha! Just as I thought!" The Empress was ecstatic in her heart and sneered.

"I knew she couldn't possibly... wait, what Realm did you say she broke through to?"

Su Yuan held up seven fingers: "Seventh Stage Heavenly Immortal Realm."

"You... what did you say???!!"

The Empress's eyes widened suddenly, and those eyes, which were usually as calm as an ancient well, were filled with extreme shock and disbelief.

Even when Su Yuan stuffed those ten thousand Divine Crystals into her hand, she no longer had the slightest desire to absorb them for cultivation.

"Seventh Stage Heavenly Immortal?!"

"This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!!!"

This was the first time the Empress had completely lost control of her emotions since her Rebirth through Possession!

Facing the pressure of the three Golden Immortal Old Ancestors of the Demon Race, she hadn't lost control.

Witnessing Su Feng's Divine Power casually annihilating the Realm Demons, she hadn't lost control.

Because that was a high-Realm crushing a low-Realm; she could understand that.

But!

Tantai Mingyue's overtaking completely shattered the "Overachiever's pride" she took so much pride in!

On what basis?!

She had fought desperately against those disgusting monsters in the demon dens every day, without rest for a year, only to barely break through to the first level of the Heavenly Immortal Realm!

That delicate Little Girl of the Star Clan stayed in a celestial paradise all day living in luxury—on what basis could she cross six Realms overnight?!

Is there no justice left?!

"I don't believe it! I'm going to see for myself!"

The Empress didn't even bother to take the Divine Crystals, her figure instantly vanishing from the spot.

After a long while.

The Empress drifted back to Su Yuan's hall like a wandering ghost, looking lost and dejected.

Just now, she had secretly hidden her figure and gone to Tantai Mingyue's courtyard. She saw with her own eyes the Star Celestial Maiden sitting on a Star River Jade Couch, her whole body exuding the pure pressure of the Seventh Stage Heavenly Immortal Realm, and there was even a faint fluctuation of Life Origin in her lower abdomen.

The facts were before her eyes; she had no choice but to believe them.

"How... how is it possible..."

The Empress slumped into a chair, murmuring with vacant eyes, "I, a dignified Jidao Empress, actually lost to a rootless Little Girl in terms of cultivation speed..."

Seeing the Empress's soul-searching state, Su Yuan casually picked up a spirit fruit, took a bite, and said nonchalantly:

"What's so strange about that? Any woman who follows my Brother Feng will break through rapidly."

The Empress suddenly looked up, grabbed Su Yuan's collar, and stared at him intently: "Wait! You just said... any woman who follows him will break through rapidly? What does that mean?"

"Literally."

Su Yuan slapped away the Empress's small hand, straightened his collar, and explained with a face full of pride:

"My Brother Feng was born with a [Pure Yang Sacred Body] and has an extremely Heaven-Defying Dual Cultivation Technique at his side."

"Tantai Mingyue was already the legendary Star Body, and with my Brother Feng now at the Seventh Stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal Realm, is it strange for her to break through?"

Su Yuan paused, his eyes looking up and down at the Empress's not-yet-fully-developed figure with a strange expression, and sighed:

"To be honest, with your talent and drive, I originally thought you could have become one of my sisters-in-law. It's just..."

Su Yuan's words did not continue, but the meaning was already more than clear:

The reason you couldn't out-compete Tantai Mingyue wasn't that you didn't work hard, but because you didn't even have the qualification to "take a shortcut."

"He didn't take an interest in me..."

The Empress bit her pale lip tightly. Her rock-solid Jidao Dao Heart experienced a violent tremor for the first time at this moment.

She wasn't worried that Su Feng really wouldn't take an interest in her. As long as she revealed some ancient secrets known only to Saints of the Major Thousand Worlds and showed her foundation as a former Extreme Dao Great Emperor, Su Feng would naturally look at her differently, or even treat her as an honored guest.

But the problem was... she was the high and mighty Jidao Empress! She was a Jidao expert with "independence and self-reliance" etched into her bones!

Relying on surrendering herself to a man to become stronger through Dual Cultivation completely went against her Dao Heart and her personality!

"Forget it... slow is fine."

The Empress forced herself to find comfort in her heart. "At most, I'll just walk the path of my previous life again. With my Aptitude, in just a thousand years, I will surely reach the Peak again..."

But...

The Empress felt as if tens of thousands of ants were crawling in her heart; the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't calm down.

As soon as she closed her eyes, the tragic scene of the Jidao Star Domain being torn apart by Realm Demonss would appear in her mind.

The miserable deaths of her countless loyal Divine Generals being swallowed alive by demons, and the helpless wails of the billions of slaughtered subjects...

As the Jidao Empress, she carried the blood feud of an entire Star Domain on her back!

With her great vengeance unavenged and the shadow of Realm Demonss potentially descending upon the Three Thousand Upper Realms at any time, how many "thousand years" did she have to slowly squander?!

"As long as I can quickly gain power for revenge... is dignity really that important?"

An extremely dangerous thought quietly sprouted in the depths of the Empress's heart.

"The physical body, in the end, is just a vessel to carry the Divine Soul and cultivation."

"If... if I just treat that Su Feng as a human-shaped Heaven And Earth Treasure, or a top-grade human-shaped cultivation cauldron to harvest?"

"This isn't relying on a man... this Empress is called enduring humiliation for a heavy responsibility, this is called reverse plundering!"

The Empress's eyes gradually brightened as she found an extremely perfect excuse for herself.

"No!! What am I thinking!!!"

The next second, the Empress shook her head vigorously, her pretty face turning bright red.

As a dignified Empress, she was actually seriously considering how to be a "cauldron" for a man?!

Truly crazy!

Su Yuan looked at the Empress, whose face turned from green to white as she fell into extreme conflict, and smiled, patting her shoulder to comfort her:

"Jiu You, don't be discouraged. Actually, you are already very impressive. You don't need to compare yourself with those sisters-in-law of mine. To be able to break through to the Heavenly Immortal Realm on your own in just one year, you are definitely the fastest woman I've ever seen at cultivating alone!"

"Oh, right."

Su Yuan seemed to remember something and pulled out an ancient Storage Ring from his robe, handing it to the Empress.

"This is what my brother just instructed me to hand over to you privately. Let's get this straight, I didn't peek; I don't know what's inside."

After Su Yuan finished speaking, he waved his folding fan and left the hall humming a little tune, continuing to count his Demon Race spoils.

The Empress took the Storage Ring in confusion.

"He didn't take an interest in me, so why did he suddenly give me something? Could it be that he saw I was pitiful and gave me some scraps?"

With a hint of doubt, the Empress probed her Divine Sense into the Storage Ring.

However...

When she saw clearly what was quietly floating in the ring's space, her dark golden eyes instantly widened to the extreme, and even her breathing completely stopped at this moment!

"This... this is?!!!"