He was gravely injured; many times, even when he saw the palm strike coming, he was powerless to dodge.

Additionally, three protectors stood firm, overseeing the battle, even launching covert strikes.

Like cunning hunting dogs circling their master, growling and terrifying their prey,

The clash between Anhou and Chen Yi continued. Though his Sword Intent had not yet depleted, the flow of True Qi within him was sluggish. His once-incisive sword techniques were repeatedly neutralized, leaving him barely able to defend himself, seemingly incapable of retaliating at all.

The Buddha Light was extinguished by one sword after another, only to rise again repeatedly. Amid one such strike, Anhou seized an opening, leaned down to evade an attack, then immediately spun and delivered a palm strike into Chen Yi's abdomen.

His abdomen trembled instantly, forcing Chen Yi backward several yards, groaning a muffled cry.

Anhou stared at him blankly. Seeing his blood-covered form and dazed expression, she asked instinctively:

"Does it hurt? Is the injury serious?"

Her face trembled again, then she couldn't help but add:

"Beg me, and I will grant you a swift death."

Chen Yi made no reply. He twirled his sword, sending sword blossoms flying to shatter the approaching Buddha Light. Without turning his head, he dashed away in a frenzied run.

Anhou, moving as though shrinking the earth beneath her feet, stepped upon lotus shadows, leaping straight after him.

Almost in the blink of an eye, she was before Chen Yi, delivering a palm strike aimed at his heart from behind.

The Buddha Light shimmered dazzlingly in the pitch-black night. Chen Yi reacted in time, halting his steps and turning back, raising his sword to block the terrifying palm strike.

The gust from her palm swept across his face with a booming roar, reminiscent of the crashing sound of massive temple bells.

Chen Yi staggered back several steps, his figure swaying. The wound on his chest seemed to tear open anew, yet he still held his sword before him in defense.

He gazed at Anhou intently, clearly seeing the hatred in this woman's eyes—hatred that not even the Buddha Light could conceal. She wanted him dead, pursuing him for four days without leaving him any room to survive. Yet at this moment, her phoenix-like eyes seemed tinged with a trace of sorrow... tinged with heartbreak.

Anhou suppressed countless emotions, once more closing the distance between them.

Her palm strikes were fierce, unrelenting; torrents of Buddha Light surged forward with every strike, each sweeping like a violent storm, shattering dead leaves, tree bark, and jagged rocks into fragments. The buzzing sound of cracking was unending. Chen Yi struggled to fend off her blows with his sword, and the two gradually pushed closer to the edge of the cliff.

One strike after another—endless and formidable—yet several times they narrowly missed lethal points, instead landing on his arms or abdomen. Between intervals of her strikes came her questions.

"Why are you leaving?"

"Have I not given you enough?"

"Why did you commit an act of rebellion?"

Her palm strikes oscillated between light and heavy, merging truth and deception. Her hands overlapped, and finally, with both palms, she heavily struck Chen Yi's sword. The collision sent both their figures flying back from the recoil, their fists splitting open and fresh blood seeping out.

Chen Yi still did not respond. He stood upright, sword planted before him, facing her head-on.

Anhou retreated several steps, stopping at the edge of the cliff, suddenly falling silent. Her eyes brimmed with murderous intent.

She fixed her gaze sharply on Chen Yi and asked coldly:

"On this day, at the Heavenly Altar, do you regret saving me?"

He answered with only three words.

"I need not."

He stood alone, still holding his sword forward.

Neither "I regret" nor "I wouldn't," but simply that phrase. Anhou paused for a moment, her expression somewhere between tears and laughter.

This woman seemed to have gone mad. Since emerging from the Tushan Underground Palace, she had already gone mad.

The underground palace had served as a turning point. Because of that moment, she had invested far too much emotion in Chen Yi—a childless grievance, the sorrow of palace widowhood, the thirst for vengeance, and even an indistinct longing. It was only today that she grasped the truth...

And with it came boundless hatred.

Hatred born of love denied, a depth that was terrifying.

"Have I treated you poorly?"

She suddenly asked again.

Anhou's anger had reached its peak, seemingly overwhelmed with grief and fury. She could not understand why, after all the grace she had bestowed, Chen Yi still refused to acknowledge her kindness.

"Heaven and earth, the laws of the universe—let alone granting you a marquis title or bestowing you a marriage, even if a ruler commands a subject to die, you must obey! I am the Empress Dowager of Great Yu, the mother of the realm, not merely your mother. For the sake of this bond, I have yielded so much, yet you persist in such outrageous rebellion.

I tell you, after your death today, not only will your bones be pulverized and scattered, but you will also bear a posthumous title of ignominy, letting the world know you are a treacherous man with neither loyalty nor kin!"

Anhou's scolding was fierce, her words cutting to the heart.

Chen Yi sneered coldly and said, "Do I care?"

As if purposely provoking her, his words cut deeper than her heart-wounding ones.

Anhou's gaze was filled with disbelief. From these few short words, she seemed to hear something she had never encountered in her entire life—something that existed outside the ruler's decree of "A subject must die" and contradicted the will of the masses.

"You don't care..."

In that instant, her eyes widened.

"How dare you not care?!"

Anhou's ten fingers were trembling lightly. She seemed to finally understand that this subject had never obeyed her, not even for a single moment.

He was only ever doing what he wanted to do—unrelated to divine grace, unrelated to imperial favor, unrelated even to her.

Anhou's eyes brimmed with fury as she screamed hoarsely, "Traitor! Rebel! Even now, you dare defy me—you shall not..."

"Shut up!" Chen Yi planted his sword before him, shouting fiercely to interrupt: "Empress Dowager! You think you've granted me much, you think you've yielded for me, but from the very start, I have never needed your grace! You unilaterally saw me as a blade, and unilaterally saw me as a son. A blade, a son—only your whim separates them! 'A subject must die'—have you ever truly sought right or wrong?! Just because you think you've treated me well, I must obey you? I must willingly kill those I don't want to kill?! The only thing in your eyes is 'loyalty,' but today I declare, I am NOT loyal! You can bestow me countless titles of infamy, and I will remain a traitor! I was born with a disobedient heart, even if my death is wretched, I am loyal to my own will—NOT loyal to you! And when the day comes, I will wield my blade and enter Luoyang, risking my very life, to crush Jingren Palace and drag you from the golden throne, letting you witness firsthand the fall of this grand empire!"

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