Volume 1, Chapter 158 – Where Does She Want to Hit Me?

Night had completely enveloped Yaochi Immortal Palace. The commotion outside had long since faded, leaving only the faint chirping of insects and the distant sound of water from Yaochi.

There were no lights inside the palace. Only the simulated starlight across the domed ceiling and the faint Dao Resonance flowing around Gu Han provided any illumination.

Just as all sound had faded into silence…

“Tap.”

An exceedingly faint, crisp sound echoed through the main hall.

Gu Han’s long lashes trembled almost imperceptibly, but she did not open her eyes at once.

Her divine sense, however, had already spread throughout the entire main hall like an invisible spiderweb.

She “saw” her.

Right by the main hall’s entrance.

A figure in purple sleepwear, her dark hair cascading like a waterfall, stood there without a sound.

It was Empress Qingxuan.

At that moment, she wore nothing but a thin purple silk nightgown. Its design was simple, yet it perfectly outlined her breathtaking curves.

Her long dark hair hung loose, spilling smoothly over her shoulders and down her back. A few playful strands brushed against her delicate collarbones.

She stood barefoot on the smooth, cool spirit jade floor, her slender, fair ankles seemingly carved from jade.

A lazy smile rested on her stunning face. Her eyes gleamed beneath the starlight as she studied Gu Han, who was supposedly “in meditation” on the cloud couch.

Alarm bells rang in Gu Han’s mind.

This woman! What was she doing sneaking into Gu Han’s bedchamber in the middle of the night dressed like that?!

Hadn’t she flirted with her enough during the day?!

Gu Han forcibly suppressed the urge to open her eyes. Maintaining her meditative posture, she waited to see what Qingxuan intended to do.

Empress Qingxuan did not seem in any hurry to approach.

She stood there for a while, her gaze slowly sweeping over Gu Han’s serene, beautiful profile and her long, snow-white hair.

Then it moved to the slender waist wrapped in her moon-white palace dress, rising and falling gently with each breath.

Then she moved.

Her bare feet made no sound against the spirit jade floor. She was like an elegant cat prowling through the darkness.

She strolled slowly around the cloud couch, her gaze never leaving Gu Han.

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That gaze held undisguised appreciation and curiosity, along with a trace of… playfully predatory intent.

At last, she stopped beside Gu Han and bent down slightly.

She was so close that Gu Han could clearly smell her distinctive natural scent, laced with a faint floral fragrance.

Warm breath gently brushed Gu Han’s cheek and neck.

The fingers of the hand resting on Gu Han’s knee curled almost imperceptibly.

She could feel Qingxuan’s gaze settle on her lips for a moment before slowly drifting lower…

“Little Sister Gu…”

Empress Qingxuan spoke in an extremely low voice, slightly husky as though she had just awakened and suffused with a seductive languor.

In the stillness of the night, her voice sounded especially clear and especially intimate.

“It isn’t nice to pretend you’re asleep.”

She raised her fingertips as though intending to touch Gu Han’s cheek.

Yet just before making contact, she turned her hand toward a strand of silver hair hanging over Gu Han’s shoulder.

She hooked the strand around her fingertip and twirled it gently. The movement was tender, yet unmistakably teasing.

“I could sense that someone’s emotions here…”

With her other hand, she pointed through the air at the Profound Heart Bracelet on Gu Han’s left wrist, her smile deepening.

“Have been in turmoil for quite some time. What is it? Were you thinking about what happened during the day?”

“Or… were you thinking about me?”

Gu Han: “…”

She could not keep up the pretense any longer.

If she continued, there was no telling what more outrageous thing this woman might do.

She slowly opened her eyes. Clear and composed in the dimness, they fixed on Empress Qingxuan’s face, which was only inches away.

“Qingxuan, barging into someone else’s cultivation chamber in the middle of the night hardly seems like proper conduct for a guest.”

Far from being startled to see her open her eyes, Empress Qingxuan only smiled more broadly.

She released the strand of silver hair she had been playing with, but did not draw back.

Instead, still bent over, she braced both hands against the edge of the cloud couch, partially trapping Gu Han between herself and the couch.

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Their faces were barely more than a chi apart, close enough to hear each other breathe.

“Proper conduct for a guest?”

Empress Qingxuan tilted her head. Her dark hair slipped over one shoulder, revealing a flawless stretch of collarbone.

“I followed all the proper formalities during the day and came in openly. But now…”

Her red lips curved, and a trace of cunning flashed through her eyes.

“The night is long, and I remembered that Little Sister and I still have a few old scores to settle. So I thought I would come and have a private chat with you.”

She enunciated the words “old scores” with particular clarity, her suggestive gaze traveling over Gu Han’s body.

Gu Han’s heart skipped a beat.

She knew it! Qingxuan still remembered that slap!

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Gu Han edged backward without betraying any emotion, trying to put some distance between them while keeping her voice steady.

“Little Sister truly has such a short memory!”

Empress Qingxuan chuckled and pressed forward by the same amount, keeping the distance between them dangerously narrow.

“Back in my bedchamber, that slap of yours was so crisp and decisive. It left quite… a lasting impression.”

Her gaze slowly drifted downward.

It finally came to rest on the pert curve of Gu Han’s backside beneath the skirt of her palace dress, her expression turning deeply suggestive.

Gu Han’s scalp prickled as she instantly understood Qingxuan’s intention!

She wanted to slap her back?!

This woman truly wanted revenge by smacking her bottom?!

“That day… I acted too rashly. In the heat of the moment, I behaved somewhat improperly.”

Gu Han immediately tried to explain herself, though the words sounded feeble even to her.

At the same time, she leaned back even more warily, one hand quietly bracing against the inner side of the cloud couch.

“Rashly?”

Empress Qingxuan laughed softly as though she had heard something amusing.

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“At the time, my interest was merely piqued, and I only wanted to tease you.”

“But Little Sister’s reaction was quite unexpected…”

As she spoke, she slowly lifted one of the hands braced against the edge of the cloud couch, poised to bring it down.

“But you see, I’m someone who holds grudges. I’m also extremely fair.”

Her eyes locked firmly on Gu Han, her intentions unmistakable, along with a hint of eager excitement.

“Little Sister slapped me that day. Today… shouldn’t you let me reclaim a little ‘justice’?”

Before she had even finished speaking, her raised hand was already descending toward Gu Han’s backside!

Her target was clear. She intended to return the favor in kind!

Gu Han moved the instant Qingxuan raised her hand!

Her figure blurred, and in the next instant, she appeared in the middle of the main hall, three zhang away.

The motion was smooth and fluid, swift as a phantom.

Empress Qingxuan’s palm struck nothing but the soft cloud couch, producing a muffled thump.

Unperturbed, she slowly straightened and turned toward the wary Gu Han in the center of the hall, her interest intensifying.

“Fast reflexes.”

She stepped barefoot toward Gu Han again.

“It seems Little Sister is rather resistant to my idea of ‘justice’?”

“Qingxuan, enough!”

Gu Han’s face flushed slightly, whether from anger or embarrassment she could not tell, and her voice turned cold.

“Everything that happened that day had its own cause and effect. Why cling to it?”

“If you insist on this, don’t blame me for being discourteous.”

“Discourteous?”

Empress Qingxuan paused, the smile at the corners of her lips deepening as a cunning glint flashed through her eyes.

“And how does Little Sister intend to be discourteous? Do you plan to suppress me with that bell? Or…”

She tilted her head slightly, her eyes shimmering as she lowered her voice into an almost seductive murmur:

“Slap me again, just like last time?”

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Gu Han was momentarily at a loss for words.

If they truly fought, Qingxuan would undoubtedly lose against Gu Han’s current cultivation and the Donghuang Bell.

But the problem was that there was no deep hatred between them. There was no need whatsoever to take things that far.

Besides… Gu Han did not think she could actually bring herself to do it!

This woman was clearly just being shameless and making trouble!

“What exactly do you want?”

Gu Han drew a deep breath and suppressed the faint, almost imperceptible flicker of mortified irritation in her heart, doing her best to keep her voice calm.

At her words, the amusement in Empress Qingxuan’s eyes intensified.

She stepped forward, closing the distance between them once more until they could almost feel the warmth radiating from each other’s bodies.

“I already told you. I only came to reclaim a little ‘justice.’”

She reached out and gently brushed a strand of silver hair beside Gu Han’s cheek with her fingertips.

“However…”

Her tone shifted as her gaze settled on Gu Han’s slightly pursed red lips, her eyes growing deep and heated.

“Since Little Sister is so resistant, then perhaps…”

Empress Qingxuan lowered her voice even further, her tone languid and almost coaxing.

“I could ‘overlook’ that slap.”

“I could even promise never to mention it again.”

“But…”

She bent closer, her warm breath brushing Gu Han’s ear as she spoke each word with perfect clarity:

“Only if Little Sister gives me a kiss.”

“Just one. A gentle one, and I’ll forgive you.”

“What do you think? Fair, isn’t it?”