“Smile for me.”
These words, coming from Su Jinxue's mouth, were colder than ten-thousand-year-old profound ice.
Zhang Mingyuan's body stiffened, turning harder than the altar beneath his feet. He raised his head, staring at Su Jinxue's flawless face.
He wanted to see a trace of playfulness, a hint of a joke, or even just a sliver of malice in those red eyes.
But he saw nothing.
There was only indifference, a sense of absolute matter-of-factness, as if she were ordering a dog to wag its tail.
Zhang Mingyuan's teeth ground together, clicking so hard they nearly shattered.
“A man can be killed, but not humiliated!”
He, the grand...
“Hmm?” Su Jinxue tilted her head slightly, a faint wisp of frost and snow energy swirling around her fingertips.
That terrifying pressure, capable of freezing one's very soul, descended once more.
Zhang Mingyuan shuddered. The towering rage that had just ignited in his heart was instantly doused from head to toe by a bucket of ice water, chilling him to the bone.
He caved.
In the face of absolute strength, all dignity and backbone seemed utterly pale and weak.
He forced his stiff facial muscles to move, attempting to squeeze out a smile.
However, the smile was uglier than crying, his lips twitching like a stroke-stricken puppet.
Su Jinxue didn't seem satisfied, but she didn't push him further.
Because the effect she wanted had already been achieved.
Click!
Click! Click!
Below the altar, up in the clouds where tens of thousands of cultivators stood, thousands of spiritual lights suddenly flashed!
Every single flash of light came from a highly raised spiritual jade!
Countless recording formations were activated simultaneously, capturing this exact scene—
Zhang Mingyuan, the Sacred Lord of Qingyun Heaven, wearing a ridiculous attendant outfit, holding his archrival's immortal sword, with a smile on his face uglier than crying—
—recorded clearly, eternally, and from a full three hundred and sixty degrees with absolutely no blind spots!
Lingxuzi held up the latest model of the Tianyuan Seventh Generation spiritual jade, clicking his tongue in admiration.
“High definition! Uncensored! What a historic moment!”
“Old Zhang, don't you worry. I will definitely keep this footage safe for you. I'll make a hundred copies, and when you get out, we can enjoy them together at our leisure!”
Chu Jinghong and the elders of Qingyun Heaven looked as pale as death.
Chu Jinghong's mind was shaken to the core, the Jinghong Sword in his hand buzzing and vibrating.
【Master! Why... why are you smiling! Your smile is so sorrowful, so humiliating! How could Master's Wife do this to you! Could this be the legendary... love-hate relationship, a deep and tragic sadomasochistic romance?!】
On the cloud platform of Spring-Return Valley, Bai Lumian elegantly set down her teacup. She also took out her spiritual jade, tapped it a few times, and sent the image to a friend named “Xue,” attaching a message:
【Little Xue, beautifully done. The first style, “Destroy the Mind and Heart,” has reached great mastery. You may use the subsequent moves as you see fit.】
At this moment, Zhang Mingyuan felt his world crumble.
He had invented the spiritual jade to facilitate communication in the cultivation world, to bring those far away close together.
He had created 《Secrets of the Immortal Sects》 to satisfy everyone's gossiping souls, and incidentally, to earn some spirit stones for Qingyun Heaven.
But he never expected that the very things he had created with his own hands would one day become the ultimate weapon to publicly execute him and cause his social death!
What was this?
Self-inflicted karma?!
He didn't even need to think to know what kind of bloodbath was currently raging on 《Secrets of the Immortal Sects》.
【Warning! Warning! The number of concurrent online users on spiritual jades has broken historical records! The Heavenly Dao server load has reached ninety-nine point nine nine percent!】
The screens of countless cultivators' spiritual jades instantly froze, and only after quite a while did they run smoothly again.
But that was not important. What was important was—
The entire Xuanling Realm was completely boiling over at this moment!
On 《Secrets of the Immortal Sects》, the trending search list was packed, and every single one was about Zhang Mingyuan:
#Trending! The Greatest Drama of All Time! Sacred Lord Zhang Mingyuan Actually Becomes Immortal Lord Su's Sword-Bearing Attendant!#
#In-Depth Analysis: From Archrivals to Captive Pet—Is This the Demise of Morality or the Twist of Love?#
#Shocking! Will Qingyun Heaven Merge with the Myriad Snow Palace? The Xuanling Realm's Landscape Faces a Major Shift Unseen in Ten Thousand Years!#
Zhang Mingyuan was already dead.
In a social sense, he was thoroughly and completely dead.
He stood on the altar expressionlessly, letting Su Jinxue take the immortal sword from the jade tray in his hands, letting her complete all the subsequent complex rituals.
He was like a walking corpse, having lost all perception of his surroundings.
He saw Lingxuzi's gloating face.
He saw the grief-stricken expressions of Chu Jinghong and the other disciples.
He saw Bai Lumian's smile, which clearly said she loved watching the world burn.
He saw all the prominent figures of the Xuanling Realm—the sacred lords and sect masters who had once called him brother or had been trampled beneath his feet—all looking at him with eyes filled with an indescribably complex mix of emotions.
At this moment, even his enemies felt a sense of closure upon seeing him like this.
This world was completely done for.
...
He did not know how the Ascension Ceremony ended.
Nor did he know how he returned to the side chamber of Su Jinxue's bedchamber.
By the time he snapped out of it, the moon was already high in the sky outside the window, its cold moonlight spilling onto the floor and casting his lonely silhouette.
He just sat there blankly, motionless, like a soul-less statue.
“Sacred Lord Zhang.”
A crisp female voice sounded outside the door.
Zhang Mingyuan's eyes moved slightly, and only then did he realize he was still alive.
It was Nian'an.
He did not respond.
Nian'an did not seem to need his response either, pushing the door open and entering.
She still maintained her dignified and solemn appearance, but as her eyes swept over Zhang Mingyuan, they inadvertently revealed a trace of... pity?
No, that was not pity.
It was the conflict of a shipper whose pairing had actually become real, yet the man was so miserable she didn't know if she should pity him.
Zhang Mingyuan's heart was stabbed once more.
“Sacred Lord Zhang, the Immortal Lord summons you,” Nian'an said, bowing. No emotion could be heard in her voice.
Su Jinxue!
These three words were like a clap of thunder, violently exploding within Zhang Mingyuan's deathly quiet sea of consciousness!
In an instant, all numbness, daze, and despair were entirely replaced by a towering, monstrous hatred!
Yes!
It was all her!
The instigator of all this!
That woman who stood high above, trampling his dignity beneath her feet at her whim!
It wasn't that he hadn't begged her three days ago. He had set aside five thousand years of pride, humbling himself, only asking her to change the form of punishment.
But she refused!
She insisted on using this most humiliating and malicious method to nail him to the Xuanling Realm's pillar of shame!
A Sword-Bearing Attendant!
Haha, a Sword-Bearing Attendant!
He hated her!
He hated her so much his soul trembled!
Zhang Mingyuan roared Su Jinxue's name frantically in his mind. The humiliation and anger built up over the entire day finally found an outlet to vent.
He swore!
He would definitely have his revenge!
He would make this damned woman experience the taste of being ruined and cast into eternal damnation as well!
He slowly stood up from the chair. His eyes, which had been hollow all day, now regained their light.
However, that light was no longer the playful and unbridled look of the past, but a refined, icy hatred of the highest degree.
Smoothing down the ridiculous attendant outfit he wore, he said to Nian'an expressionlessly, “Lead the way!”
Nian'an was slightly taken aback. For some reason, she felt that the Zhang Mingyuan before her seemed different.
But she did not think too deeply about it. She simply bowed in acknowledgement, turned around, and led the way.
Passing through the quiet corridors and walking across the garden shrouded in cold mist, Zhang Mingyuan finally arrived once more before that magnificent and freezing bedchamber belonging to Su Jinxue.
This was where his nightmare had begun.
It would also be where his revenge would begin.
Nian'an stopped outside the palace doors and announced to the interior, “Immortal Lord, Sacred Lord Zhang has arrived.”
No response came from within.
Nian'an made a gesturing motion of “after you” to Zhang Mingyuan, then quietly retreated, leaving the space to the two of them.
Zhang Mingyuan took a deep breath, the hatred and killing intent in his chest practically boiling over.
He raised his hand, just about to push open the grand doors carved from ten-thousand-year-old cold jade.
But the door opened on its own.
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