Chapter 81: Love the Country, or Love Me?

My butt!

My poor waist!

Heavens above!!

Su Bai woke up early, clutching her rear and crying out in pain. That little brat last night was nothing short of a little demon—he didn’t know a thing about cherishing beauty, pouncing on her like a fierce little puppy. Worst of all, he forced her to swallow a Ten-Thousandfold Sensitivity Pill.

Even now, just thinking about it made her head feel like it was boiling over, full of those shameful, blush-inducing memories.

At long last, the soreness faded little by little. Spotting the little brat sleeping soundly while hugging her thigh, Su Bai ground her teeth in fury. She wanted nothing more than to kick this little scoundrel off the bed, but then she remembered the price she’d paid for kicking him yesterday.

In a fit of anger, all she did was fume.

“Ahm~ Mother, why are you up so early? Why not sleep a little longer?” Su Xiao Zhengtai rubbed his bleary eyes, looking up at Su Bai, who sat at the bedside with a sullen face.

Mother.

Su Bai’s lips twitched.

Not only does he want to rebel against his master, now he wants to turn the world upside down as a filial son! This little monster—she should have given him a beating… No, she should never have picked him up in the first place!

“Had enough sleep,” Su Bai replied irritably.

“I see~”

Su Xiao Zhengtai’s eyes spun mischievously as he looked around, finally settling on the Female Emperor dressed in a resplendent green imperial robe.

After last night’s…activity, the usually aloof and dignified Female Emperor now looked like any ordinary woman, her long black hair spilling over her chest like a waterfall. On closer inspection, faint love bites could be seen on her graceful neck…

“Master~ you’re so beautiful~”

“Go away!”

“Master, do you like little Black in this cute, adorable form?”

“Scram! I’m not into men.”

“My XP is b…”

He slammed on the brakes, realizing he’d almost let something slip. Su Bai quickly stopped talking, her face frosty, putting on an air of non-violent resistance.

Though Su Xiao Zhengtai was curious, he knew he’d get nothing out of her now. If he wanted to pry open his mother’s mouth, he’d have to wait until they found that Truth Stone which could make people tell the truth regardless of cultivation.

Suddenly, Su Bai felt a weight at her waist. Looking down, she saw the little brat hugging her and rubbing his little head against her. He looked up with pitiful eyes:

“Mother, Mother, can you make Black some Peach Blossom Soup? Black is hungry.”

Su Bai almost spat out a “scram,” but something occurred to her and she changed her tune, saying lightly, “Fine, but take me to my library afterward.”

“Yay! I get to drink Peach Blossom Soup!”

“Mother is the best~~”

The little brat bounced excitedly.

The movement was so familiar that Su Bai couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu. So familiar~ Where had she seen this before~?

She quickly shook off these random thoughts. For now, her priority was to get her blood clone the cultivation technique she needed—she was counting on raising the next generation through her blood clone to carry out her rescue plan.

In her previous life, she had endured humiliation and waited for her chance, then turned the tables at the last moment! With just a Golden Core cultivation, she killed three Nascent Soul cultivators!!

In this life, she could do it again!

The recipe for Peach Blossom Soup was not complicated: a handful of peach blossom petals, some glutinous rice, a bit of rock sugar, and enough clear water. Boil it all in a pot for a little more than fifteen minutes, and it’s done.

As soon as she ladled the steaming Peach Blossom Soup into the expectant Su Xiao Zhengtai’s bowl, Su Bai grabbed him and hurried toward the Azure Emperor Divine Palace’s Library Pavilion.

From the very founding of the Azure Emperor Divine Palace, there had been plans to build the Library Pavilion.

On one hand, after becoming emperor, Su Bai wanted to unify thought and write her own history, keeping the power of public opinion firmly in her grasp.

On the other hand, through exchanges of interest, coercion, and threats, she collected many top-level cultivation techniques, intending to gather the knowledge of a hundred schools and forge a supreme technique of her own!

However, when Su Bai, full of anticipation, stepped into the library with its carved railings and antique grandeur, the sight before her left her utterly dumbstruck.

“Mother, don’t run so fast~ Black can hardly keep up.”

The little brat hurried after Su Bai, clutching his bowl of Peach Blossom Soup, his chubby little legs working hard to catch up.

Only when he reached the library and heard the commotion behind her did Su Bai snap out of it. Ignoring the rows of empty bookshelves, she spun around, grabbed the little brat by the shoulders, and glared at him in fury and disbelief, shouting, “My books! My histories!!”

“My cultivation techniques!!!”

The little brat trembled in fright, sloshing some Peach Blossom Soup out of his bowl as he shrank his neck in fear.

“I burned them.”

“Who told you to burn them!?”

“Wasn’t it you, Mother?”

The little brat looked pitifully at the spilled soup on the floor, his big black eyes full of heartache. “It was you, Mother, you even told me the story about the first man to unify the world burning all the books.”

Su Bai:

….

I told that story to explain how burning books and burying scholars paved the way for unified Confucian thought later, and who told you to actually burn the books? And without distinction, at that!

Take the essence, discard the dross—wasn’t that the point?

Handing the Azure Emperor Divine Palace to you is a waste… Oh, wait, now the Five Regions and Two Heavens have all become your personal livestock pens, all turned into power supplies for the [Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Sealing Formation].

Never mind leading the next golden age of cultivation—the entire Immortal World’s civilization is probably going to regress millions of years in your hands, at least.

“All burned?”

“Not all, some of them were put in the Myriad Dao Pavilion.”

“Myriad Dao Pavilion?”

“Black built it, and stored almost all the techniques and offensive divine spells from the Five Regions and Two Heavens inside, to make it easier for cultivators to manage.”

“Oh?”

A sharp glint flashed in Su Bai’s eyes.

Half a month later, in the breeze at a small pavilion.

“Why has Master been in such a cultured mood these last fifteen days, seeking me out for a game of chess every day?” Zhou Xuan twirled a white piece in his hand.

“Nothing pressing today, just playing chess to relax.” Su Bai played a black piece, capturing one of Zhou Xuan’s, the sound crisp and clear.

“Master is at ease, unlike me, constantly busy with the affairs of the Azure Emperor Divine Palace… Recently, a group of remnants even dared to blow up a sub-array of the [Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Sealing Formation]. Such audacity.”

“Oh? So there are still such righteous heroes in the world. I am not alone on my path.”

“They’re just autumn locusts—easy to crush at a whim.”

“Report!!” A [Divine Emperor Soldier] hurried in from outside, kneeling, “Reporting to the Heavenly Venerable, a Golden Core cultivator has attacked the Myriad Dao Pavilion. The garrison requests reinforcements.”

“Courting death.”

Zhou Xuan snorted, flicked his robe, and was about to leave when a melodious female voice called from behind: “Disciple, finish this game with your Master before you go.”

He turned and met those beautiful, smiling eyes—half smiling, half challenging.

They seemed to say: Do you love the world, or do you love me?

“With Master’s invitation, how could I refuse?”

“But Master always says, ‘Family matters before state affairs’—yet now, it seems I can’t be both loyal and filial.”

Zhou Xuan sighed softly and shook his head. Just then, from the shadows behind him, a white-robed little brat emerged and took the seat Zhou Xuan had just vacated.

“Mother~ I’ll play with you.”

“No!”

“But I want to play with you.”

Su Bai’s tone was calm but carried an unquestionable authority. Still, she knew that to win over this monstrous disciple, she had to attack his heart.

“If you win…”

She stretched out her long, beautiful legs wrapped in the green imperial robe and rested them beside the chessboard. With a wave of her jade hand, the lower hem of her imperial robe began to swirl like a dream, and threads of blackness unfurled like mysterious mist, gradually weaving themselves into sleek, silky black stockings.

The black silk slithered up her legs like a spirit snake, winding tightly around her long, straight legs. In the interplay of light and shadow, an irresistible allure radiated from her, every line speaking of luxury and majesty.

“I’ll give you…”

The Female Emperor’s red lips parted slightly, uttering two words—words no man had ever heard before, yet they somehow ignited a blazing fire in his heart.