CHAPTER 119: CHAPTER 119 - YU XIANG’S LIFE AND FRUSTRATION

He gave her a soft nod, warmth spreading through his chest at her apparent loyalty.

Unaware that internally, Yu Xiang’s thoughts were racing in entirely different directions.

’That woman is far more beautiful than I thought,’ she observed, watching the figure still seated in lotus position with her beautiful face and body.

But more importantly, ’And the Emperor... gods above and below.’

Her original plan had been simple—use her beauty and cunning to seduce a powerful but lonely old man, gain his favor, and ride his ascension to the upper realms.

But now, seeing the reality...

That man wasn’t old.

He wasn’t some desperate widower seeking comfort.

He was a predator in the truest sense—someone so handsome that even Zhao Chen looked like a squid.

And worse, he already had that beautiful woman beside him.

’Handsome people have a problem,’ she realized with growing desperation. ’They don’t fall for beauty easily.’

It was human nature—people craved what they couldn’t have.

And right now, that man had his own natural magnetism plus that stunning woman?

Beauty alone would never be enough to catch his interest when he already had that goddess.

But on her way here, she had watched Zhao Chen’s reaction to Tianlong.

The way Chen’s jaw clenched whenever Tianlong’s name was mentioned. The clear anger radiating from him despite the obvious power differential.

The wounded pride of someone who had been told he was special only to meet someone who was actually special.

’Why not show how close I am to Zhao Chen?’ she thought, her lips curving into a subtle smile.

’Become a woman whom Chen seems to fall for. And naturally, to win me over—just to make Chen feel inferior—Tianlong would definitely try to conquer me.’

It was perfect psychology.

Men’s eternal competition, the fantasy of claiming what belonged to their enemies.

She had seen it countless times in the cultivation world—powerful men going to absurd lengths just to prove they could take whatever they wanted from their rivals.

So she deliberately moved closer to Chen, her hand still resting on his shoulder in a gesture that could be read as either comfort or intimacy.

Her violet eyes gazed at him with carefully crafted affection, the perfect picture of a woman who had chosen her champion.

Then, with the subtlety of a master actress, she lifted her gaze toward Zhao Tianlong, clearly expecting him to notice their closeness.

’I bet you will be—!’

But as her eyes found his figure, they widened in shock.

He wasn’t even looking at her.

His eyes were set on the seated woman with that gentle smile of a man deeply in love.

She blinked, her carefully constructed performance faltering for just a moment.

’N-no, it’s impossible...’ Yu Xiang felt her heart sink as she realized the man who was that strong and could have any beauty in the world was simping for just a single woman?!

And there, as if her hidden nature was triggered—the one that hit her pride and her ambitious nature—she inwardly yelled,

’I-Idiot... y-you could have all the women you want!’

Yu Xiang’s violet eyes burned with a fury that had nothing to do with romantic rejection and everything to do with wounded pride and a shattered worldview.

She had seen emperors throughout history—men drunk on power, surrounding themselves with harems of hundreds, treating women like trophies to be collected and displayed.

That was the natural order of things. The strong took what they wanted, claimed what they desired, built monuments to their own appetites.

It was how the world worked.

But this... this man who could reshape reality with a gesture, who commanded power that made entire sects kneel, who radiated authority that pressed down on cultivators like the weight of mountains...

He was simping for a single woman like some lovesick boy who’d never touched female flesh.

’What is wrong with him?’ Her hands clenched unconsciously on Chen’s shoulder, her perfectly manicured nails digging through the fabric of his robes.

’He could have everything. Any beauty on this continent would spread her legs for him willingly. Princesses would beg to warm his bed. And he’s... he’s staring at one woman like she’s the only person in existence?’

The sight made her blood boil in ways she couldn’t fully articulate.

Yu Xiang closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe deeply, to center herself in the cold calculation that had carried her this far.

Her grip on Chen’s shoulder tightened further before she slowly released it, leaving his robes slightly wrinkled from the force of her frustration.

She kept her gaze fixed on Tianlong, watching as he moved with that casual confidence of absolute power, and inwardly she seethed.

’How can someone be so pathetic and so strong at the same time?’

It defied everything she understood about power and ambition.

He should be hungry—for territory, for resources, for women.

That’s what strength was for.

To take what you wanted, to indulge every desire, to prove your dominance over those weaker than yourself.

But instead, he was... what? Playing house with his little cultivation wife?

A sudden thought struck her, and she found herself observing him more carefully, noting the way his golden eyes softened when they fell on the seated woman, the unconscious protectiveness in his posture.

’Unless...’ A calculating gleam entered her violet eyes. ’Maybe he’s into naive, innocent maidens? The pure, untouched type?’

It would make sense, in a twisted way. Some powerful men developed tastes for corruption, for being the first to claim something pristine and perfect.

Maybe that was his weakness—the fantasy of deflowering virgins, of being their first and only.

Though even as the thought formed, she dismissed it with a shake of her head.

That woman sitting in lotus position, even though young, had a voluptuous body like that of a mature woman—naturally impossible for her to have chastity to begin with, unless she was one of those bookworms stuck with celibacy and such.

And no naive maiden could achieve the Void Returning Realm like that... for that one needed centuries of intense training.

Remaining untouched for so many years was nearly impossible unless someone had conditions like hers.

Indeed, Yu Xiang was a virgin, but simply because her cultivation technique was trained for being used as a conduit.

There was a reason why she hated men and saw them as just tools.

The reason was simply because her master, acting all kind and such, had taught her a cultivation technique through which, even though she reached the Early Core Formation Realm, she subtly realized—due to her ambitious nature—that her master was investing too much in her compared to other disciples, even feeding her high-quality herbs that should have cost an entire sect’s wealth.

For her, who had seen the world where nothing is free, even kindness had its price—like self-satisfaction and such.

She instantly realized something was amiss.

And after thorough investigation, she discovered he had trained her into becoming a conduit, cultivating a technique where, with the first man she lost her virginity to, all her cultivation would be transferred to him.

’Fools... all men are fools.’ She uttered in her mind, recalling how that idiot master had been killed by her—manipulating him into believing she knew what he had done to her, just to confirm it, then making him believe that she would willingly submit to him.

The last thing she remembered was feeding him the strongest poison she could find and killing him in a way that left not even bones as proof.

She was Fairy Yu Xiang, who had reached this point through her own efforts, and now when she had the hope to reach the upper realm and become far stronger than she was right now, she met and saw that ladder was reserved for a single woman?

’But he...’ She lifted her head, looking toward that man who was truly far stronger than anyone she had ever met in her life, yet he had that strange weak heart. ’How can a man like that even reach the Great Vehicle Realm—’

But suddenly she noticed that man turning in her direction, instantly causing her to lower her eyes, lips trembling, eyes softening as if she were the most innocent woman there was.

Whatever innocence she projected was clearly an act, or perhaps something that had been trained into her.

Yu Xiang straightened slightly, preparing to put on her most demure, maiden-like expression, when Tianlong began walking in their direction.

Her heart jumped, triumph flaring in her chest.

’Finally!’ He was coming to—

’Huh?’