Chapter 272

“Heh!” As Empress Yan spoke, a bitter smile appeared on her enchanting face, as if mocking her past failures.

Yang Chen immediately comforted her: “Don’t worry. Your enemy is my enemy. In the future, I’ll help you take revenge!”

“You’ll help me?” Empress Yan’s lips curved slightly. “From what I’ve investigated recently, that old bastard has likely reached the Tribulation Crossing Realm now! You, a mere Void Refining cultivator, dare to oppose a Tribulation Crossing cultivator?”

“So what if it’s the Tribulation Crossing Realm? Within a hundred years, I’ll slay him like a pig or dog!” Yang Chen said nonchalantly, exuding the swagger of a chosen one. Lately, he’d been pushing the limits around Yu Yourong, a Tribulation Crossing cultivator, every day.

He even casually dual-cultivated with her primordial spirit for days at a time. He had no fear of the Tribulation Crossing Realm whatsoever. Moreover, having learned secrets like the Immortal Realm and the Heavenly Dao Immortal Palace, his vision had broadened significantly.

With the system in hand, his strength would grow rapidly—it wouldn’t be long before he could match the combat power of a Tribulation Crossing cultivator.

“Tch, keep bragging! The Tribulation Crossing Realm stands at the pinnacle of the Kunlun Realm. One step further, and they ascend to the Immortal Realm. And you say you’ll slay him like a pig or dog!” Empress Yan’s lips curled in disdain, but her eyes held more emotion and deep affection brewing within them.

Having cultivated for thousands of years, she had always been alone, with revenge as her sole motivation to keep going. She had never experienced romantic feelings.

Once, she had even viewed such emotions as poison. But now, experiencing it firsthand, it actually felt pretty nice. It even sparked an impulse in her to abandon revenge and just stay with the man beside her forever.

“Empress Yan, did you know—” Yang Chen gently stroked her tender back, about to tell her about the Immortal Realm and see if she knew anything.

But Empress Yan pinched his waist lightly and scolded softly: “You’re still calling me Empress Yan?”

Hm? Yang Chen’s expression froze slightly.

In Empress Yan’s beautiful eyes, affection shimmered like rippling water. Her charming face was covered in a blush, tinged with shyness.

She said softly: “From now on, don’t call me Empress Yan! That was a title I gave myself after reaching the Dao Integration Realm! I have a name—it’s Yan Honglian!”

…

“Yan Honglian (Fiery Red Lotus)?” Yang Chen’s brows slightly furrowed.

He really couldn’t figure it out—how could someone as enchanting and peerless as Empress Yan have such a tacky name?

Perhaps thousands of years ago, the name Red Lotus was more popular. Moreover, with Empress Yan’s outwardly enchanting and peerless appearance, often wearing a red dress, she indeed resembled a red lotus.

But Yang Chen didn’t quite like this name.

After thinking for a moment, Yang Chen said: “How about I call you Yan’er from now on? From Empress Yan to Yan’er—it rolls off the tongue a bit more smoothly!!”

“Yan’er?” The blush on Empress Yan’s cheeks instantly deepened a few shades. Suddenly, she felt a little regretful about discussing this with Yang Chen. After all, she was an elder who had lived for thousands of years.

Yet here she was, being called Yan’er by a young guy.

It felt so embarrassing.

But in the end, she still nodded.

“Mm! Fine, fine, call me Yan’er then!”

“Then should I call you Chen’er?” Empress Yan asked tentatively.

“How could that work?”

Yang Chen’s face immediately stiffened, and he gave her plump backside a firm smack, saying sternly: “From now on, you’ll call me Brother Chen. I like that title! Some rules can’t be broken!”

“Ch-Chen … Brother Chen?” Empress Yan’s beautiful eyes widened slightly.

A trace of reluctance flashed in her gaze.

She couldn’t help but curse inwardly: This little brat, he’s got some thick skin. Me, someone thousands of years your senior, calling you Brother Chen?

“I’d rather call you Chen’er, or … or even ‘Husband’ would do! Brother Chen—I really can’t bring myself to say it!” Empress Yan said in a low voice.

“Can’t say it?” Seeing her troubled expression, Yang Chen’s lips curved into a slight smirk. “No problem. I’ll just have you say it a few hundred times first—then you’ll be able to say it naturally!”

Outside the cave, the sound of orioles chirping among the willows rang out once more.

A few hours later, Yang Chen and Empress Yan emerged from the cave.

Empress Yan wore a red dress, her figure enchanting and peerless. Her cheeks carried a flush, and her beautiful eyes shimmered with emotion.

Compared to when she first entered the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm, she was now even more alluring and captivating. Yang Chen’s gaze turned to the distance.

The Fallen Immortal Secret Realm—this world was vast, completely different from the small worlds behind the Ice and Snow City or the Xuantian Sect’s back mountain.

Even with his current soul power and grasp of the Dao of Space, he couldn’t sense the spatial boundaries of this world.

At that moment, Empress Yan beside him spoke: “Brother Chen, the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm is an ancient battlefield of true immortals! I once read some records about the ancient era in the Yan Clan. In ancient times, a earth-shattering war broke out in the Kunlun Realm. Countless true immortals fell, and it even shattered a piece of the Kunlun Realm, this great world! Because of that, the Kunlun Realm became a broken great world!”

“After the ancient era, for cultivators in the Kunlun Realm at the Tribulation Crossing Realm to pass the Three Tribulations of Immortal Transformation and become true immortals, the difficulty increased significantly. This also caused the Kunlun Realm, once teeming with true immortals, to produce only one true immortal every ten thousand—or even tens of thousands—of years since the ancient era!

“And the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm is that shattered piece of the Kunlun Realm. In terms of vastness, though it’s not as large as the Central Continent, it’s not far off either. This shows just how brutal that earth-shattering war in the ancient era was!”

Empress Yan spoke slowly, her voice slightly hoarse. Her way of addressing Yang Chen had unconsciously shifted to “Brother Chen.”

In the cave, she had called it out thousands of times until her throat grew hoarse.

Now, she had fully accepted the title “Brother Chen.”

“So that’s how it is!” Hearing Empress Yan’s explanation, Yang Chen felt a bit shocked.

The Central Continent’s lands were boundless, spanning millions of miles at every turn.

For a war in the ancient era to shatter a vast land comparable to the Central Continent—it truly lived up to the phrase “a realm teeming with immortals.”

“Though the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm is vast, the areas we can actually explore are just a small fraction! There are too many regions here we can’t set foot in. One careless step, and we might be obliterated by the lingering ancient arrays of true immortals! My father once left me an ancient map. It was drawn thirty thousand years ago by an ancestor of our lineage after exploring the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm!

“That ancestor discovered an ancient tomb in the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm, likely the resting place of a true immortal from our Yan Clan in the ancient era! I came to the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm this time for that very reason. Only by obtaining that true immortal’s inheritance do I have any hope of revenge! Brother Chen, I don’t have much confidence on my own. Can you help me?”

As Empress Yan spoke, her beautiful eyes looked at Yang Chen, full of hope.

Without any hesitation, Yang Chen nodded directly: “Of course!”

How could he refuse?

An ancient map left by a Yan Clan ancestor from thirty thousand years ago, detailing a true immortal’s ancient tomb—this was a golden opportunity delivered right to his doorstep.

Refuse?

He’d have to be out of his mind!