You, a tyrannical ruler, roam the heavens; you cannot understand my joy.

"What is it that Your Majesty finds strange?"

Upon hearing Lu Zuo's words, Li Qingmei's heart tightened, but she showed no sign of it on her face. Instead, she pressed her soft body even closer to him.

She raised her eyes, which were as clear as autumn water, filled with confusion, and said in a soft voice, "Could it be that there are troubles in today's official duties?"

Lu Zuo chuckled softly, his hand slowly moving up from her waist, tracing the curve of her back, and finally resting on the vulnerable spot on the back of her neck.

"What I find strange is..."

"My beloved concubine, who exactly are you?"

Li Qingmei's breath hitched almost imperceptibly, and her heart pounded like a drum.

She furrowed her delicate brows slightly, her eyes filled with even deeper confusion, and turned her head to speak, her red lips almost touching his chin: "Your Majesty's words..."

"I don't understand."

"Isn't a concubine just a concubine?"

"It is His Majesty's Consort Wan."

As she spoke, Li Qingmei stretched out her hand. It softly wrapped around his neck.

Lu Zuo shook his head and chuckled, "Now that things have come to this, is my beloved concubine still going to play dumb with me?"

"Your pure and chilling icy true energy..."

"This is not something an 'ordinary woman' should have."

"Do you really think I'm completely unaware that you practice breathing exercises in this Wanyi Pavilion every day?"

Li Qingmei's gentle smile froze instantly, and the arms around his neck stiffened.

She slowly released her grip, stepping back slightly. Though she didn't leave his embrace, the coquettishness in her voice had vanished, replaced by coldness and wariness: "You…"

"When did you figure it out?"

Lu Zuo laughed and said, "After I dealt with Shi Wenqing."

It was already from that time...

He actually saw through my true nature so early on?

A wave of shame and indignation swept over me!

For the past few months, she had carefully played the role of a gentle and obedient concubine in front of him, painstakingly concealing her inner strength, pretending to practice martial arts, and even...

Even in the intimate moments and physical contact between him and others!

Those acts she once thought were just charades, now seem like a carefully crafted joke, a joke that belonged only to her!

He clearly knew all along!

They know I'm not some innocent Consort Wan, they know I possess martial arts skills, they know I have ulterior motives!

But he remained unmoved, watching coldly as I performed for him like a clown on a stage!

He enjoyed my flattery, perhaps even...

They were secretly laughing at my stupidity and arrogance!

How hateful! How infuriating!

Li Qingmei felt a burning sensation on her face, as if she had been slapped hard in public.

A sense of humiliation at being utterly fooled and manipulated, mixed with anger at being deceived, gripped her heart tightly!

Damn it!

Now that the pretense has been completely torn off, let's perish together!

Before the thought was even finished, the true energy within his body suddenly erupted, and the temperature inside the bedchamber plummeted!

Li Qingmei's jade-like hand condensed into a visible, chilling white frost, which, with a sharp, piercing aura, went straight for Lu Zuo's throat!

However, Lu Zuo seemed to have anticipated her reaction. As soon as she made her move, he had already formed a sword finger and pointed it at her wrist.

Bang!

A deep, muffled sound echoed, the aftershocks of two powerful energies colliding fiercely.

Li Qingmei felt a powerful force coming from her wrist, which not only shattered her icy finger strength, but also penetrated her body through her meridians, causing her blood and qi to surge and half of her body to go numb!

How is that possible?!

An incredulous look of horror crossed Li Qingmei's eyes.

Although she acted hastily, she was confident in her skill, believing herself to be unmatched among those of the same level.

But Lu Zuo's casual grab was not only incredibly precise, but the true energy contained within it was also vast and incredibly refined, far exceeding her understanding of "opening the world from within"!

Didn't he just break through to the Inner Heaven and Earth Realm not long ago?

Why is their strength so overwhelming?!

In a flash, Li Qingmei made a decisive move, using the force of Lu Zuo's shock to float backward like a weightless snowflake.

At the same time, with a flick of his other sleeve, dozens of fine, bluish-green ice needles shot towards Lu Zuo's face, not to injure him, but to delay him for a moment!

hiss hiss hiss...

The ice needles pierced the bed curtains, instantly freezing the brocade into solid blocks.

Li Qingmei spun around like a ghost, her toes touching the cold pillar behind her, and her whole body transformed into a white blur, crashing into the tightly closed carved wooden window!

Whoosh!

Wood chips flew everywhere as Li Qingmei burst through the window and landed in the courtyard outside Wanyi Pavilion.

After landing, she was about to take a leap when she was abruptly stopped by the scene before her.

The moonlight was cold and clear in the courtyard.

Her personal maid collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Zhu Yuyan, dressed in purple with a graceful figure, stood smiling to the side, a wisp of lingering demonic energy still clinging to her fingertips.

Li Qingmei's heart trembled, but at this moment she could no longer care about the unconscious maid.

She gritted her teeth, pushed her lightness skill to its limit, and sped towards the outskirts of the palace, disappearing into the vast night.

……

The night was as dark as ink, and the surroundings were silent, save for the rustling of the wind through the withered grass and the occasional hooting of owls from the distant mountains and forests.

A crescent moon hung in the sky, casting a pale, pale light that barely illuminated the rugged path and the shadowy trees.

In the distance, a figure in pure white was seen running swiftly across the wasteland.

Li Qingmei used her lightness skill to its fullest extent, the wind whistling in her ears, the scenery on both sides blurring into a blur, as she desperately flew away from Jiankang City.

However, after running for more than ten miles, she gradually realized that something was wrong.

At first, only a slight warmth was felt in the dantian and dantian...

But soon, the heat flow spread rapidly along the meridians like a wildfire.

Wherever it passed, it brought waves of strange and unfamiliar tingling sensations, as if countless tiny electric currents were flowing and leaping through the meridians and flesh.

This is……

What happened?

Li Qingmei's heart skipped a beat, and she slowed down a bit.

She tried to circulate her icy true energy to suppress this sudden anomaly.

However, the moment the icy true energy came into contact with the quietly spreading heat, it not only failed to dispel it, but instead acted like a spark splashed into a pot of oil!

"Well……"

A muffled groan escaped from her throat.

She felt an indescribable soreness and weakness permeating every bone in her body, and the flow of true energy in her meridians began to stagnate. She then stumbled and almost tripped over a protruding tree root on the ground.

It's that tyrannical ruler!

It was that little bit he just touched!

Li Qingmei suddenly realized what was happening, feeling both shocked and furious.

Lu Zuo's seemingly casual touch injected some kind of strange and insidious "thing" into my body?

She forced down her panic and gritted her teeth to keep going, but fine beads of sweat had already appeared on her forehead, and her breathing gradually became rapid and unsteady, with the scenery in her eyes sometimes clear and sometimes blurry.

A wave of weakness and longing, unlike anything she had ever experienced before, surged deep within her body...

After struggling for several more miles, Li Qingmei finally could not hold on any longer. Her legs gave way, and she fell forward, landing awkwardly on the dry, cold mud.

She tried to sit up, but her arms were too weak to obey her commands, and she could only gasp for breath.

The moonlight shone on her flushed face, her temples damp with sweat, and her usually cool eyes were now shimmering with tears...

Just then, a gentle male voice rang out: "My beloved concubine, are you not going to run away anymore?"

Li Qingmei looked up and saw Lu Zuo walking calmly against the wind.

"What exactly did you do to me?"

"It's nothing, just a little trick."

Lu Zuo walked up to Li Qingmei and asked in a deep voice, "I still have the same question: who exactly are you?"

Li Qingmei took a deep breath: "Never mind..."

"There's no point in hiding it now, so I'll tell you everything."

Immediately, Li Qingmei met his gaze and said, word by word, "I wonder if Your Majesty has ever heard of the 'Secret Clan'?"

Lu Zuo's eyes flickered slightly. The secret tribe in "Legend of the Borderlands"?

He hadn't read the novel, but he knew a little about it; it seemed to be about an assassin organization that served some important figure.

"Are you from the Mystic Clan?"

Li Qingmei nodded, readily admitting it.

Lu Zuo pressed on, "Then what were you planning to do, infiltrate the palace, become one of my concubines, and endure this until now?"

"Could it be that you truly admire my talent?"

Li Qingmei rolled her eyes at him and snorted, "Two targets."

"Firstly, it's you."

"Or rather, you who have cultivated the Imperial Path Ultimate Scripture."

"The supreme martial art of my clan is called the 'Guanghan Technique'."

"This technique is extremely yin and cold, and the conditions for cultivation are extremely harsh. It requires drawing in a wisp of extremely yang and strong 'Imperial Dragon Qi' as a guide to harmonize yin and yang in order to break through the final barrier and reach the pinnacle."

"And you, who possess the Imperial Scripture, are the best candidate to assist me in my cultivation."

"Secondly, the Imperial Seal of the State."

"The Imperial Seal?"

"That's right." Li Qingmei nodded: "Because the people of my secret clan were controlled by some kind of secret method back then, they are born with extremely short lifespans."

"No one in the entire Mystic Clan has ever lived past forty!"

"The only way to counteract this is through the pure energy contained within the Imperial Seal of the State."

"But I've been in the palace for a long time and even obtained the imperial seal before, but that seal was fake..."

What you lack, you get!

Knowing the whole story, Lu Zuo almost couldn't help but cheer in his heart.

I was just racking my brains trying to figure out where to find more experts at the Three Realms Realm or even the Inner Heaven and Earth Opening Realm...

In the blink of an eye, a secret clan that might be full of experts has been delivered to our doorstep!

When the Imperial Seal of the State was mentioned, Lu Zuo suddenly remembered something from the original novel.

After the fall of the Southern Chen dynasty, this object was suppressed by the Buddhist community under a Buddha statue in the Pure Land Chan sect.

The reason given seems to be that the Imperial Seal of the State contained ominous elements, representing desires, sins, or something similar, which is why it needed to be suppressed and purified with the peaceful energy of Buddhism.

The divine artifact that carries the destiny of the Central Plains of China needs to be purified by a foreign foreign religion?

Those bald nuns in Buddhism really dare to say things!

"I can help the Secret Clan."

"But you, and the Secret Clan, must also serve me."

"I don't need your absolute loyalty, nor do I need you to work for me forever. Three years is enough."