Volume 1, Chapter 151 – The Domineering Empress

Empress Lingshuang fell silent.

Gu Han’s words had been blunt, even a little hurtful.

She had given it everything she had, only for Gu Han to dismiss it as “unnecessary.”

And yet, she could not argue.

Because it was the truth.

Throughout yesterday’s battle, Gu Han had remained entirely at ease. The bell she brought forth at the end had revealed a gulf between them so vast that Empress Lingshuang had nearly despaired.

“You’re right, Fellow Daoist.”

Empress Lingshuang suddenly smiled.

The smile was faint, but it softened her entire face, breathtaking as ice and snow beginning to thaw.

“I was too fixated on it.”

She raised her head to look at Gu Han, a complicated emotion flickering in her eyes.

“I cannot compare to either your cultivation or your state of mind.”

The admission was candid, even tinged with defeat, but it also made Gu Han view the Empress of the Northern Region more favorably.

At the very least, she knew how to accept defeat and acknowledge the truth.

“You’re too modest, Fellow Daoist.”

Gu Han shook her head slightly.

Empress Lingshuang naturally caught the hint of goodwill in her tone, and a trace of delight flashed in her eyes.

“The cultivation technique you displayed yesterday was most unusual. It seemed capable of dissolving all arts into nothingness. I find myself… rather curious.”

Her words were forthright, but they also revealed her true intention: she wanted to use this opportunity to probe Gu Han’s secrets.

Gu Han naturally understood, but she did not mind.

She tapped a finger lightly in the air, and a wisp of hazy gray chaos qi quietly emerged.

“I cultivate the Great Dao of Chaos. It is the origin of all things, where all arts return to one.”

“Compared to your Great Dao of Ice, one represents the beginning and the other the ultimate. Neither is inherently superior.”

As she spoke, the wisp of chaos qi slowly circulated, conjuring images of ice crystals forming and snowflakes drifting through the air.

Though they were only illusions, they contained a trace of the true meaning of the laws of ice.

Chaos could transform into all arts… and even reproduce the true meaning of the laws of ice?

This Great Dao of Chaos was even more terrifying than she had imagined!

“Your Dao is indeed profound, Fellow Daoist.”

Empress Lingshuang suppressed her shock and raised a hand. A crystal-clear shard of ice formed in her palm.

“Yet the Great Dao of Ice is absolute in its cold and purity. It freezes all things and preserves them for eternity.”

The ice crystal in her palm suddenly blazed with light. Pure cold spread through the air, lowering the temperature in the main hall by several degrees.

The two streams of Dao Resonance collided and intertwined soundlessly in the air.

The chaos qi evolved into freezing cold, while the laws of ice manifested their ultimate state.

There was no killing intent, no confrontation, only the pure manifestation of Dao laws as the two verified each other’s insights.

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A trace of surprise flickered through Gu Han’s eyes.

Empress Lingshuang’s comprehension of the laws of ice had indeed reached the pinnacle.

Had Gu Han not cultivated the Chaos Scripture, she might truly have been overawed.

“Your laws of ice are already close to their ultimate state.”

Gu Han’s praise was sincere. Chaos qi circulated around her fingertip and began to imitate that true meaning of “eternity.”

“However…”

Her tone shifted slightly. The chaos qi suddenly dispersed into countless fine threads and silently seeped into the ice crystal.

“Even within eternity, there is change.”

“Crack!”

A nearly inaudible sound rang out.

A web of tiny cracks appeared across the surface of the ice crystal in Empress Lingshuang’s palm!

“This…”

For the first time, disbelief appeared in Empress Lingshuang’s eyes.

Her ice crystal contained the concept of “eternity.” In theory, it should have endured through the ages, imperishable.

Yet Gu Han’s chaos qi had unraveled that “eternity” from within without damaging the crystal’s structure!

This was no simple clash of laws. Gu Han had overwhelmed her through a superior understanding of the Dao itself!

“Chaos… encompasses all things, and from it, all things evolve.”

Gu Han withdrew the chaos qi, her voice calm.

“The eternity within your ice is truly exquisite, Fellow Daoist. But if eternity allows no possibility of change, it will ultimately become nothing more than lifeless stillness.”

She paused and looked at Empress Lingshuang.

“Ice can freeze all things, but it can also melt into spring water and nourish all life.”

“Have you ever considered the other side of the Great Dao of Ice?”

Empress Lingshuang froze.

The other… side of ice?

In her tens of thousands of years of cultivation, she had always pursued ice at its coldest and most absolute.

Freezing, sealing, destruction. That was the entirety of her understanding of “ice.”

Melting into spring water? Nourishing all life?

That was simply… unheard of.

“Why can ice not be a source of life?”

Gu Han tapped a fingertip lightly, and another wisp of chaos qi began to transform.

This time, it became neither ice crystals nor snowflakes, but a single crystalline drop of water.

Within the droplet, tiny forms of life could faintly be seen taking shape and growing.

“Beneath the most extreme cold, all things lie dormant. When spring returns to the earth and ice melts into water, it becomes the source of life.”

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Gu Han’s voice was soft, yet her words exploded like thunder in Empress Lingshuang’s mind.

She stared fixedly at the droplet, light flickering violently in her ice-blue eyes.

A crack had quietly opened in the understanding she had held for tens of thousands of years.

Ice… could embody life?

She instinctively raised a hand, cold energy circulating through her palm as she attempted to imitate the aura of life within the droplet.

But her cold was too pure, too bitterly frigid. The moment it gathered, it froze and annihilated that faint spark of life.

Empress Lingshuang’s brows drew together, a flash of irritation crossing her eyes.

Gu Han took in every detail of her reaction and understood at once.

The Empress of the Northern Region possessed a pure Dao heart, but she was also stubborn.

Getting her to accept such a subversive idea as “ice can embody life” would be no easy task.

“There’s no need to rush, Fellow Daoist.”

Gu Han dispersed the chaos qi, picked up the spirit tea beside her, and took a small sip.

“The path of the Dao is ever-changing by nature. My understanding merely differs from yours.”

Empress Lingshuang remained silent for a long time before slowly exhaling.

“I have learned much.”

She raised her head and looked at Gu Han, her expression complicated.

“Your understanding of the Dao truly surpasses mine by far.”

After a pause, she suddenly rose and walked over to Gu Han.

They were now less than three feet apart.

Gu Han lifted her gaze slightly and met Empress Lingshuang’s eyes.

Their gazes locked.

Empress Lingshuang suddenly extended a hand and gently brushed her fingertips over the wrist Gu Han had rested on the cloud table.

The movement was awkward, even carrying a barely perceptible stiffness.

But the chill of her fingertips unmistakably touched Gu Han’s skin.

“This bracelet…”

Empress Lingshuang’s gaze fell on the Profound Heart Bracelets around Gu Han’s wrist, her voice low.

“It suits you.”

Her fingertips lingered on the bracelet for a moment before slowly drawing away.

Her touch was cool, yet unexpectedly… gentle.

Gu Han stiffened almost imperceptibly.

Empress Lingshuang’s gesture had been too sudden and far too intimate.

“What do you mean by this, Fellow Daoist?”

Gu Han’s voice remained calm, but anyone listening closely could have detected a trace of wariness.

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Empress Lingshuang seemed not to notice. She merely stared intently at Gu Han, light shifting in her eyes.

“Qingxuan gave you that bracelet because you earned her approval.”

“Today, I have also gained something from discussing the Dao with you.”

She paused, seemingly weighing her words, before finally saying something that nearly made Gu Han lose her composure.

“I want to give you a gift as well, but I haven’t decided what to give you yet…”

The words were blunt and clumsy.

There was none of Qingxuan’s languid, seductive probing, nor any subtle, veiled suggestion.

Just like Empress Lingshuang herself, they were direct and so candid that Gu Han did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Gu Han fell silent.

She looked into Empress Lingshuang’s eyes, so full of sincerity and candor, and found herself at a loss for how to respond.

Refuse?

But Empress Lingshuang had not explicitly expressed anything. She had merely said she wanted to give Gu Han a gift.

Accept? That was even more impossible.

“There’s no need.”

In the end, Gu Han could only give the most formal response as she unobtrusively withdrew her hand.

“Exchanging insights into the Dao is commonplace. There’s no need for a gift…”

Empress Lingshuang seemed dissatisfied with her answer, her brows drawing together slightly.

“You accepted what that woman Qingxuan gave you.”

She took another step forward, bringing them even closer.

“Why can’t you accept a gift from me?”

At such close range, Gu Han could smell the faint fragrance emanating from Empress Lingshuang and hear the slight quickening of her heartbeat.

“Gu Han.”

Empress Lingshuang lowered her voice, her tone almost obstinately earnest.

“I rarely acknowledge anyone.”

“Longteng was the first. You… are the second.”

Spoken by anyone else, the words might have sounded like flattery.

But seeing Empress Lingshuang like this only left Gu Han feeling even more helpless.

“Fellow Daoist Lingshuang…”

Gu Han tried to make her voice sound calmer.

But the slight backward tilt of her body and the fingers unconsciously clutching her sleeve betrayed the faint panic in her heart.

Empress Lingshuang, however, seemed to have made up her mind. She would not relent until she received an answer.

She leaned even closer, until Gu Han could almost count the tiny ice crystals clinging to her long eyelashes.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

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Her voice dropped to a whisper, tinged with stubborn insistence, and her warm breath brushed past Gu Han’s ear.

Heat crept uncontrollably up to Gu Han’s ears.

This felt far too strange!

She was an Immortal Ascension expert who could shatter a secret realm with one palm and possessed two quasi-immortal artifacts!

How had women managed to corner her into such an awkward position twice in a row?

“This… this is different.”

She barely managed to find her voice, trying to reason with Empress Lingshuang as much as with herself.

“Empress Qingxuan’s bracelet was… was a token of friendship between fellow Daoists.”

“There’s no need for such things between us…”

“Why not?”

Empress Lingshuang cut her off, an imperious glint flashing through her ice-blue eyes that brooked no argument.

“She can give you something, but I can’t? Or is it that…”

Her gaze sharpened like an icicle, as if she meant to pierce Gu Han’s calm exterior and uncover her true thoughts.

“She is different from everyone else in your heart?”

The question was even more direct, and even more dangerous.

Gu Han’s heart skipped a beat, and she denied it almost immediately.

“Of course not! Fellow Daoist Qingxuan and I are merely…”

Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly faltered.

What exactly were she and Qingxuan to each other?

Mere acquaintances? Friends who had once shared tea?

Or perhaps…

Empress Lingshuang instantly caught that flicker of hesitation, and her eyes gleamed even brighter.

Yet her tone abruptly softened, carrying the faintest trace of something almost like hurt.

“Then why do you treat us differently?”

This sudden show of vulnerability caught Gu Han even more off guard than her earlier forcefulness.

She looked at Empress Lingshuang’s exquisite face, now mere inches from her own, and the earnest stubbornness written across it.

Strangely, most of the irritation she had felt at having her boundaries crossed melted away.

In its place came a deeper sense of helplessness and a subtle wavering that even she failed to recognize.

“I…”

Gu Han opened her mouth, but had no idea how to navigate this complicated situation—