Only after becoming emperor did he realize he was in a fantasy world of immortal cultivation.

Meanwhile, in a courtyard in Kyoto.

"Miss, Zhou Ru hasn't returned yet. Should I go to the palace to inquire?"

However, no one spoke for a long time in the main hall, only the sound of tapping on the table.

As time went by, the speed at which his hand fell on the desk became slower and slower until it stopped.

"You?" The owner of the hand slowly opened his eyes and looked at the man in black beside him.

Her gaze swept over the man as he spoke; his once resolute face was now deathly pale, and the bandages wrapped around his body only accentuated his weakness.

"It's Zhou Yan's incompetence," the man said, bowing his head in shame as he recalled why he had been injured.

"Hmph, among the four great immortal clans, the Gong clan is the leader, the Ming clan and my Zhou clan are tied for second place, and the Gongsun clan is last. You actually lost to a disciple of the Gongsun clan. You are indeed incompetent."

"Miss is right."

Zhou Wanwan withdrew her gaze, her slender fingers tapping the table again. Her cold and beautiful face was expressionless, only her voice revealed a few fluctuations: "Zhou Ru is the only high-level spirit beast among the spirit beasts controlled by my Zhou family that has cultivated human form. Although she cannot absorb spiritual energy or cast spells in this illusion."

"But Zhou Ru's true form is a spirit fox, and she wears a magical robe made of fox fur. What difficulty could there be in killing a mere weed?"

As she spoke, Zhou Wanwan seemed to have thought of something, and scoffed, "The illusion set up by the Qingling Sect can automatically erase the magical artifacts and spirit beasts we bring in, but I am a beast tamer at the seventh level of Qi Refining, and I have a blood pact with the spirit fox. No matter how strong this illusion is, how can it eliminate the connection between me and the spirit beast?"

The two are currently in an illusion created by the Qingling Sect, the number one immortal sect in the world. This illusion was casually created by the Grand Elder of the Qingling Sect for the selection of disciples.

There were about a hundred people participating in the selection, but only about twenty were qualified to enter this illusion.

It can be said that those who can enter this illusion are all geniuses from various cultivation families or regions.

However, only one of these people will ultimately become a disciple of the Qingling Sect.

That is the one who broke through this illusion.

"Cough cough—"

"Miss..." Zhou Yan called out with a worried expression.

"The spirit fox form needs to be maintained by Miss's spiritual power. This illusion has cut off spiritual energy. Miss was also seriously injured by Gongsun Yan's sneak attack earlier. Now we have very few spirit stones and pills left to maintain our cultivation."

"Although Zhou Ru is wearing a magical robe, she is still a commoner in the palace. We cannot harm mortals in this illusion. If Zhou Ru wants to make a move, she will have to find an opportunity. But if we cannot deal with that herb soon..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Wanwan forcibly regulated her internal discomfort with her internal energy, got up and slowly walked to the window. Her gaze at the common grass in the courtyard was as cold as frost.

How could she have imagined that what the Grand Elder of the Qingling Sect had said about breaking through the realm by cutting grass would transform grass into a person?

They are indeed as cunning as the rumors suggest.

She spent several years traveling throughout this illusionary realm, using Zhou's unique soul-detecting technique to explore all kinds of plants.

Ultimately, it failed and also consumed a great deal of spiritual energy.

Later, she finally realized something was wrong and began to search for the person as well.

Just a few days ago, I discovered the spirit of a grass that was the same as the small grass that the Grand Elder had invested in.

However, just as they were about to head there, they discovered that they had been followed without their knowledge.

The person tracking him was Gongsun Yan from the Gongsun family.

The other party first cleverly proposed to form an alliance with her, but secretly used magic to ambush her.

Then Zhou Yan was seriously injured.

However, she was ultimately the better strategist, and the spirit fox defeated her.

However, it was precisely because of her battle with Gongsun Yan that her already excessive spiritual energy was further depleted, and spirit stones and pills could not fully replenish the spiritual energy she had lost.

His cultivation level has now even regressed to the fourth level of Qi Refining.

If Zhou Ru doesn't deal with that weed soon, she's afraid she'll lose all her cultivation.

but......

Zhou Wanwan chuckled: "No ordinary person can escape the temptation of beauty. With Zhou Ru's looks, even an emperor would only be able to become her subject, let alone a mere blade of grass."

"It seems that as long as Zhou Ru provides a little temptation, the opportunity to eliminate that weed will come easily."

"Miss is right."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhou Yan saw Zhou Wanwan suddenly vomit blood, her expression one of astonishment. She muttered to herself, "How could this be!"

"It...it actually failed!"

Zhou Wanwan had just used her spiritual power to sense the situation on Zhou Ru's side.

Unexpectedly, the emperor transformed from that wild grass was able to sever Zhou Ru's robes with a single sword strike.

How could an ordinary sword...?

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration seemed to appear in Zhou Wanwan's mind.

"Is it... the destiny of humanity?"

Zhou Wanwan suddenly remembered that before creating this illusion, the Grand Elder of the Qingling Sect had said that everything in the illusion was based on reality. She had been cultivating immortality for twenty years and paid little attention to worldly affairs, so she had forgotten that the emperors of the mortal world possessed human destiny.

If that's the case, then it's not surprising that he was able to cut Zhou Ru's robe.

"Heh, only emperors who are recognized by the Heavenly Dao can obtain the fortune of humanity. I really didn't expect that a blade of grass could become so difficult to deal with."

After saying that, Zhou Wanwan gritted her teeth and said to the person beside her, "Go and find Gongsun Yan for me. Tell him that I want to form an alliance with him."

"Yes."

......

Imperial Palace Prison

In the dim light, the burning coals in the stove hissed, and in the center of the pulsating embers, a pair of fire tongs was firmly positioned.

Just then, a thick, powerful hand took the red-hot tongs out of the furnace and slowly moved them until the tongs finally landed on a woman whose limbs were tightly bound by iron chains.

However, the woman's expression remained unchanged despite being treated this way.

Even though her face was pale and weak, Lin Ye, who was standing in front of the woman, Zhou Ru, clearly knew that the fire tongs had not caused her any pain.

The fire tongs did not leave any marks on Zhou Ru's body.

"This old minister failed in his duty and brought evil spirits into the palace. I beg Your Majesty to punish me." Upon seeing this, Prime Minister Gao Ren, who was standing behind Lin Ye, suddenly knelt down, his lips trembling uncontrollably.

He never expected that the woman he had gone to so much trouble to find was not only an assassin, but also a demon.

She can't be whipped, nor burned by fire tongs, and with such beauty, she must be a vixen.

As the prime minister of the country, he actually found a vixen for His Majesty.

They deserve to die.

Lin Ye stood with his hands behind his back, his expression remaining calm upon hearing this.

Evil spirits?

This woman is definitely not human, but she's not a demon...

"Considering you were also deceived, this time you will only be fined three months' salary. Get up."

The Prime Minister wiped the sweat from his brow. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"That's right, I am the demon. If you know what's good for you, release me now. Otherwise, you'll be sorry." Zhou Ru said to Lin Ye with a mocking tone.

Lin Ye, of course, would not believe Zhou Ru's claim of being a demon, but instead became even more certain that she was not a demon.

However, what he was more concerned about now was what Zhou Ru said when she was captured by the armored soldiers: "When you were captured, you called me a weed. What is your basis for that?"