Chapter 18: The Empress Can Get Jealous Too?

The Northern Frontier was not only the northern gateway of the Great Yan Dynasty, but also extremely close to the Imperial City.

Once it fell, the northern barbarians could charge straight down and head directly for the Imperial City.

This was why, when the Barbarian Sacred Master made his move, Zi Ruoyan couldn't sit still. She led a battalion of elite soldiers on a forced march, reaching the Northern Frontier battlefield in just seven days.

At the Northern Frontier border, atop the city wall.

Empress Zi Ruoyan wore golden armor with a black robe and red sleeves underneath. Her hands clasped behind her back, she gazed into the distance.

Beside her, Zhong Lishuang, clad in heavy armor, also looked toward the barbarian encampment ahead.

The barbarian camp was constructed from giant logs and animal hides, with faint light flowing around it, as if blessed by the heavens.

That was the work of the Barbarian Sacred Master, representing his presence within the camp.

Since Her Majesty arrived here, she had fought the Barbarian Sacred Master three times, winning every battle.

"This old bastard is really stubborn." Zhong Lishuang was utterly confused. She couldn't understand why this guy kept hanging around when he clearly couldn't defeat Her Majesty.

"No matter what he's plotting, before absolute strength, it's all meaningless." Zi Ruoyan spoke softly, her voice clear yet carrying a hint of killing intent.

"Last time we fought, he was already wounded by my sword qi. If we fight again..."

At this point, a fierce gleam appeared in Zi Ruoyan's cold eyes. "I will definitely slay him!"

"Heh, naturally! Your Majesty is the peerless genius of this generation. How could a decrepit old fool like him possibly stop you?" Zhong Lishuang laughed heartily.

Fighting in the Northern Frontier with Her Majesty present, she felt hardly any pressure at all.

"Grand General!" A messenger climbed up the city wall and presented letters. "From the Imperial City."

The sudden correspondence surprised Zhong Lishuang. She took them and discovered there were two—one was even a family letter.

Counting the days, it had indeed been quite some time.

Zhong Lishuang opened them and read. Upon seeing the first paragraph, her expression changed slightly. "The Blood Cloud Tower's branch in our Great Yan Dynasty has been annihilated by an unknown expert!!"

"Your Majesty, this..."

Zi Ruoyan looked surprised and turned to glance at the letter in Zhong Lishuang's hand.

The letter was from Imperial Guard Commander Liu Yan. This matter should be true—she wouldn't fabricate something like this.

"To think such a thing happened. This is troublesome." Zi Ruoyan frowned. She immediately realized that the Blood Cloud Tower headquarters would likely take action.

Just as Zi Ruoyan worried over this outdated intelligence, she suddenly noticed something off about Zhong Lishuang's aura beside her.

"General Zhong..." When Zi Ruoyan turned her head, she was shocked to discover that Zhong Lishuang's spiritual qi was raging violently, her body trembling, her heavy armor clanging loudly.

Her gaze was fixed intently on the two letters in her hands.

One from Liu Yan, one from Zhong Yangming.

With Zi Ruoyan's cultivation level, her eyesight was extraordinary. With just a glance, she could clearly see the contents of the letters.

"Obsessed with Xiao Tian's male beauty... dresses up carefully every day... willingly stays by his side?" Each piece of information shocked even Zi Ruoyan.

It couldn't be. How could that girl Zhong Ling...

"Does Xiao Tian really have such great charm? I didn't notice it back then." Zi Ruoyan recalled that morning and nodded slightly. "Though he is quite handsome."

Zi Ruoyan truly hadn't expected that her nominal husband would have such ability.

An ordinary person, yet able to tame that little wild horse Zhong Ling.

"Really..." Thinking of this, Zi Ruoyan let out a soft snort, feeling a tiny bit of displeasure in her heart.

And this small emotion was precisely the subconscious reaction of this Empress to someone touching what she considered her private property.

"That damn girl! When I get back, if I don't spank her bottom until it blooms, I'm not her mother!" Zhong Lishuang was even more furious. Her spiritual qi shattered the letters, and she slapped her palm on the wall parapet before her.

Boom boom boom!

With that palm strike, the entire frontier city wall trembled slightly.

"..." Zhong Lishuang froze. Did her palm really have that much power?

But soon, she realized it wasn't just the city wall shaking—the ground outside was trembling too.

In the distance, a dark line continuously rolled forward.

Barbarians with bluish skin covered in black totems roared and charged toward the city gate, wielding large blades.

Above this horde of barbarians, an old man wearing animal hides and a white bone mask hovered in the air, gripping a bone staff.

He channeled his spiritual qi into it, chanting continuously. It transformed into ignited light that fell into the bodies of the barbarian warriors below.

Each barbarian warrior glowed with light, their charging speed continuously accelerating.

The barbarians were attacking!

"Your Majesty, leave defending the city to me. You deal with that old bastard." Zhong Lishuang released her aura, gripping her giant hammers with both hands, staring at the barbarian army ahead.

"Be careful!" Zi Ruoyan nodded and shot into the sky, launching herself toward the Barbarian Sacred Master.

Her entire form seemed to transform into sword light, with piercing cold qi spreading around her. The temperature itself seemed to drop.

In an instant, Zi Ruoyan swept past the foremost barbarian battle formation, heading straight for the hovering Barbarian Sacred Master.

Where she passed turned snow-white. The charging barbarian warriors' movements seemed frozen, frost forming on their bodies.

They ultimately became ice sculptures, shattered by their comrades charging from behind.

"Jia Xu, do you truly have a death wish?" Zi Ruoyan raised her sword and slashed. Her sword qi was frosty, as if it would freeze even space itself.

An aged voice came from beneath the bone mask. "Great Yan Empress, this old one is merely fighting for a future for our barbarian nation. Before that's accomplished, I dare not die."

"How unfortunate. The barbarian nation's future will be ruined by your own hands." Zi Ruoyan's sword light cascaded like a waterfall, forcing the Barbarian Sacred Master Jia Xu to retreat continuously.

That frost sword qi made his movements increasingly sluggish. He could only endure Zi Ruoyan's offensive head-on.

His previous injuries flared up. He coughed blood, staining his graying beard red.

Zi Ruoyan's face was cold as frost, the sword in her hand radiating chilling intent.

It wouldn't take long before she could slay this Barbarian Sacred Master!

Zi Ruoyan slashed out another sword strike. The terrifying ice-blue sword qi cut across the sky. "You shouldn't have left the barbarian nation. Without the protection of your national formation array, you're no match for me."

Facing the sword qi before him, Jia Xu sighed with complex emotions. "Truly worthy of being the Great Yan Empress—absolutely peerless, the supreme genius of the Southern Wildlands' younger generation."

And he stopped in midair, neither dodging nor evading.

Bang!!

The sword qi didn't land on the Barbarian Sacred Master.

A burning red barrier suddenly appeared, blocking that terrifying sword qi.

The chillingly cold sword light shattered like ice crystals, drifting through the air.

And this red barrier abruptly appeared on all sides around Zi Ruoyan, sealing her tightly within.

Burning blood-red threads extended from the barrier's nodes, connecting to Jia Xu's bone staff.

"A sealing formation?" Zi Ruoyan looked around, her expression grave. "I see. Your coughing blood was to draw the formation."

Jia Xu continuously channeled spiritual qi from within his body into the bone staff in his hand. "Correct. With me personally maintaining this Blood-Burning Spirit-Sealing Array, Great Yan Empress, if you want to break free, it won't be possible in less than ten days to half a month."

"What's the point of trapping me? You still can't break through the Northern Frontier." Zi Ruoyan's willow-leaf eyebrows knitted together as she stared at Jia Xu.

She didn't understand what meaning this had.

"Great Yan Empress, the Black Soul Hall offered a price this old one couldn't refuse—to make a move and hold you here." Jia Xu coughed while speaking. "By now, the Black Soul Hall's Poison Swamp Elder has probably already entered Great Yan territory."

"How pitiful for the common people of the Great Yan Imperial City..."

"Unfortunately, you can't return now."

Zi Ruoyan's expression darkened. The spiritual qi within her body became completely violent, stirring up a raging blizzard within the burning blood-colored barrier.

And her icy voice, filled with terrifying killing intent, rang out.

"Jia Xu, if the people of Great Yan suffer, I will make your entire barbarian nation pay with their lives!!!"