I alone am the Honoured One!

Hearing a little rustle outside, Zhou Hanyue stood up from the couch and walked to the door.

She slightly opened the door and peeked into the hallway to see what was happening.

There she saw Zhao Tian and Lan Shuqin entering her room and Lan Shuqin is also wearing fancy clothes.

A trace of annoyance flickered in her eyes...

She wasn't entirely sure why she is annoyed, but it disappeared as quickly as it came, replaced by a heavy sigh that escaped her lips.

"Seems like they have finished their small date..."

She returned to the couch, sinking into its familiar comfort.

Her fingers absently traced the edge of a small, worn pendant hanging around her neck—a keepsake from a time long gone.

"He seems like a good guy,"

Her lips curved into a faint, bittersweet smile. "Too good, maybe."

Her fingers tightened around the pendant, the sharp edges pressing into her skin as memories flooded her mind.

Faces flashed before her—smiling, vibrant faces that had once brought her joy.

And then the pain followed, as she remembered how each of them had faded away, leaving her with nothing but guilt and sorrow.

"It's better this way," she said, her tone hardening as if trying to convince herself.

"It's better if I don't get close to him. Or else…"

Her voice faltered, her gaze dropping to the pendant.

The faint glow of the light reflected off its surface, but she could almost see the bloodstains it had once bore...

"Or else he'll die too."

Zhou Hanyue leaned her head back against the couch, her eyes closing as she tried to push the thoughts away.

For a brief moment, she allowed herself to wonder what it might feel like to be free from her curse.

To walk beside someone like Zhao Tian without the fear of losing him.

To laugh and share moments as Lan Shuqin had done tonight.

But the thought was fleeting, and she shook her head, as if trying to banish it entirely.

"No,"

"It's not worth the risk. It's better to stay away."

And yet, despite her resolve, she couldn't stop the small, fragile part of her heart from wondering...

What if?

...

After leaving Lan Shuqin in her room, Zhao Tian stepped outside, walking through the courtyard 'The presence stopped following me when I came near to the palace. So Palace is a safe place...'

'If I go to a place where no one else is there, I can lure them out...'

With such thought, he quickly dashed into the air and continued his small walk through the streets in the evening.

'There it is...'

Suddenly his gaze narrowed and he looked towards a building's roof.

There he saw a silhouette of someone but in the next instant, it disappeared.

Without hesitation, he changed direction and flew toward a more isolated part of the city.

This area was different. The buildings here are destroyed and crumbling ruins.

Weeds pushed through cracked stone, and the air carried a faint scent of decay.

Zhao Tian landed softly, his feet touching the ground without a sound.

His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings...

The broken windows, and the jagged edges of collapsed structures—this is an abandoned part of the city.

'Now whoever it is will show up and no one will get into the crossfire.'

*slessh* In the next instant, something dashed toward Zhao Tian and he instinctively moved his neck as the sharp object missed his neck by mere inches.

The red blade brushed past him and struck a ruined building behind, blasting the building to pieces. *thoom*

Hearing faint footsteps, he turned his gaze to look at the cloaked figure walking towards him.

Zhao Tian felt his nerves tingling and his gaze squinted 'Strong... Stronger as Shenyi? No. maybe stronger than her...'

"You have been stalking me for a while now... are you the one killing the people close to Hanyue to make it look like a curse?"

The figure tilted its head and let out a soft chuckle "Hanyue? That Cursed Princess? What about her?"

Hearing the voice, the frown on Zhao Tian's face deepened 'A woman?'

The woman took two steps forward as she spoke coquettishly "Well, I have been wanting to meet you... but you are always within the palace, so I didn't get the chance to meet you."

As Zhao Tian opened his lips to speak, he quickly dove under another attack and saw the red blade drizzling past his face.

He quickly jumped back, creating a small distance between them.

'Fuck... I got no choice but to use my domain, Arcane Enclave.'

As he spoke, he used his domain and the space and time 10 meters around him shifted.

Huh? The woman's gaze squinted 'The aura around him... changed; it is denser now.. what happened and I can feel a weight on my body.'

'Is this some kind of gravity technique?...'

Zhao Tian's breathing steadied as the faint glow of his Arcane Enclave enveloped the space around him and he took a sword from his storage ring.

Dust particles froze mid-air, their movement sluggish as if time itself were resisting.

A faint shimmer of light bent around the edges of his domain, marking its boundaries with a distortion.

The cloaked woman stood at the edge of this altered reality, her crimson eyes narrowing in curiosity.

She flexed her fingers, and thin tendrils of blood began to flow from her fingertips.

"Impressive, but let's see how well it holds up."

Without warning, the tendrils of blood, shot forward, twisting and converging toward Zhao Tian like a storm of crimson whips.

*sleesh* *sleesh*

Zhao Tian reacted instantly.

His domain slowed the incoming tendrils, their movements appearing as if they were fighting against time.

With a swift motion, Zhao Tian sidestepped the first tendril, his sword flashing as he severed it mid-air.

The tendril dissolved into droplets, which evaporated before touching the ground.

But more followed.

The woman's laughter rang out. "Hahahaha... Not bad... but you're not fast enough to dodge them all."

Three more tendrils came at him simultaneously, interweaving through the air in erratic patterns to confuse him.

Zhao Tian's eyes glowed faintly as he focused.

The spatial distortion of his Arcane Enclave enhanced his perception, allowing him to read their trajectories with precision.

*sleesh* With a sharp movement, he spun his blade in a wide arc, cutting through two tendrils while narrowly avoiding the third, which grazed his shoulder.

The fabric of his robe tore, and a faint line of blood appeared on his skin.

His gaze flickered around at the blood technique she just used "I see now. You are... a vampire?"

The woman smiled, stepping deeper into his domain. "You don't like vampires?"

She raised her hand, and the ground beneath them began to tremble.

Pools of blood seeped up from the cracks in the earth, forming a crimson haze that covered the area.

Zhao Tian felt the weight of her aura press against his own domain, creating a clash of energies that sent sparks of red and gold crackling through the air.

*sleesh* Suddenly, spikes of hardened blood erupted from the ground beneath Zhao Tian, aiming to impale him.

He jumped back, flipping mid-air to avoid the attack, but more spikes followed one after another.

They seemed to anticipate his movements, forcing him to twist and contort in the air to dodge.

Landing with a *thud* Zhao Tian drove his sword into the ground, channeling his domain's energy.

A pulse of spatial distortion rippled outward, shattering the spikes nearest to him.

'Haa... My body is light and I can move much better now. This feels good...' Read latest chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

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I hope you guys liked this chapter!