Chapter 18: Bloody Battle at Huai'an, Plunged into Crisis

A jet-black hidden arrow flashed so swiftly it left only a faint shadow behind.

Too fast.

She had no time to react.

Just before the arrowhead pierced her forehead, a figure cloaked in blue suddenly lunged out from the shadows beside her without hesitation, using his back as a shield to block the attack tightly in front of her.

“Pfft—”

The dull thud of a blade sinking into flesh sent a chill through her heart.

The figure trembled violently, a suppressed groan escaping from his throat.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Only when warm liquid splattered onto her face did Ye Qingyan suddenly snap back to reality.

She stiffly raised her hand and touched her face, feeling something wet and sticky.

It was blood.

“Huaian!”

A piercing scream shattered the night, laden with terror and despair.

She hurriedly supported the trembling body before her. The slender youth’s face was pale as death, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

“Miss…” Chen Huaian’s lips quivered. He tried to smile at her but lacked the strength even to twitch his mouth.

Ye Qingyan’s gaze passed over his shoulder, landing on the arrow still lodged in the center of his back, its black shaft faintly trembling. Dark red blood rapidly spread around it, staining half of his blue garment.

That glaring red seared her eyes.

Unbidden, childhood memories surged into her mind.

Her mother, battered by a cruel stepfather, had collapsed in a pool of blood—just that hopeless shade of red.

A sweeping wave of fear and fury engulfed her.

Wang Feifei’s face twisted into a near-maniacal snarl as she shouted into the darkness, “What are you waiting for? Kill them all!”

No sooner had the words fallen than several shadowy figures emerged like phantoms from the edges of the courtyard walls and beneath the trees. Clad in night clothes and wielding gleaming blades, they radiated a deadly aura, rushing straight at Ye Qingyan and Chen Huaian.

The Ye family guards rushed to their aid, but the assailants were well-trained and outnumbered them. The clang of steel and muffled groans filled the air as the guards were tightly engaged, unable to break through to Ye Qingyan’s side.

The matriarch and Ye Chengzong were terrified by the sudden chaos, their faces drained of color. They kept retreating, protected only by a few desperate guards who fought to the death, yet could only watch helplessly as danger closed in.

Blood gushed from the wound on Chen Huaian’s back. Pain drained all color from his face, his body swayed precariously. Yet he forced himself to stand firm, using his last strength to shield Ye Qingyan behind him. His voice was weak from blood loss but carried undeniable resolve: “Miss, don’t be afraid. Even if I die, I will die before you.”

She suddenly lifted her head and looked at the boy who had taken a mortal blow for her.

Revenge.

All her life, deep within her soul, these two words had burned alone. She lived only to make those who had harmed her and her mother pay. She believed herself to be solitary, a lone spirit born solely for vengeance.

But at this moment, Chen Huaian’s words, his thin yet steadfast silhouette, shattered all the coldness and numbness within her heart.

She had someone she wanted to protect.

Her Huaian, her family.

---

A power unlike anything before surged from deep within her body, her eyes blazing with fierce, burning wrath.

She would live.

She would make all who hurt her and her family pay a thousandfold!

“System!” she screamed desperately in her mind. “Save him! If you can’t save him, take my life! Give your empire and grand ambitions to someone else!”

For the first time, Ye Qingyan was hysterical in her plea to the system. She knew what mattered to it, so she threatened it in the most direct way.

She no longer cared about empires or rewards—only that she could not lose Chen Huaian.

She could not lose anyone else important to her.

A brief silence followed.

Then, a cold mechanical voice echoed in Ye Qingyan’s mind.

But this time, the voice was filled with an unparalleled, wrathful fury, as if offended beyond measure—a sound that could tear the heavens and shatter the earth!

“Impertinent!”

For the first time, the system’s voice bore genuine emotion.

“My traitor, my heir—how could mere ants like you dare to move against me?!”

With this roar, an invisible force instantly enveloped the entire Ye estate.

The night wind ceased, the leaves froze midair.

All the death warriors engaged in combat, including the ferocious Wang Feifei, were frozen in place.

They remained poised to attack, their eyes filled with disbelief and terror.

Ye Qingyan clearly felt a mighty power erupting from deep within her, expanding outward in all directions from her very being.

This force was cold and majestic.

She saw those frozen death warriors begin to tremble slightly.

Then, fine cracks appeared on their skin.

The cracks multiplied and deepened like shattered porcelain.

“Ah—!”

A piercing scream shattered the eerie stillness.

It was Wang Feifei.

She watched in horror as her body uncontrollably began to disintegrate.

Her nails, skin, and flesh turned to ash before her eyes.

She tried to scream but no sound came.

She tried to flee but was held fast.

Helpless, she watched herself vanish piece by piece in ultimate terror.

“What… what is this…” Ye Chengzong’s voice trembled as he saw the black-clad death warriors dissolve into the wind.

---

The matriarch was so frightened she collapsed weakly to the ground, lips trembling, unable to utter a word.

Ye Qingyan’s gaze fixed on Wang Feifei.

Once haughty and treating lives like dirt, the woman now marched toward her end in the most tragic way.

Her body finally crumbled into a pool of black ashes, scattered by the wind without a trace.

The surrounding death warriors also turned to ashes.

The entire courtyard was left with only Ye Qingyan, Chen Huaian, the matriarch, Ye Chengzong, and the stunned Ye family guards.

The hidden arrow in Chen Huaian’s back automatically slipped out as the system’s power erupted, and the wound visibly healed in moments, the bloodstains vanishing completely.

He touched his back in surprise, feeling no pain at all.

“Miss, I…” Chen Huaian began.

Ye Qingyan did not answer. She knew it was the system’s doing.

This was the wrath of an emperor.

[Warning: This intervention consumed ten years of the host’s vitality.]

The system’s cold prompt sounded again.

Ye Qingyan’s body shuddered violently.

Ten years of vitality?

Such a cost was heavy indeed.

Yet she harbored no regret.

As long as Huaian was safe, it was all worth it.

She turned to Chen Huaian, her eyes reflecting a complex emotion.

Ye Qingyan had saved him.

And in doing so, had paid a price.

This changed the relationship between her and the system; it was no longer a mere transaction of use and utility.

This time, she truly touched the system’s bottom line and felt its transcendent, absolute power.

Now, Wang Feifei was dead.

In a way beyond anyone’s imagination.

What would come next?

This system, this so-called “Emperor”—what was it truly?

Was its purpose really just to have her “revive the dynasty”?

And how would she face this sudden price of ten years of her life?