Chapter 19 Hard Candy Part 2

*****

Ye Bing Shang was sewing the Little Crown Prince’s clothes.

She looked at the flowering Chinese crabapples1 outside the window and was somewhat lost in thought. The palace maid beside her angrily said, “Niangniang, the Emperor rested in that b*tch’s palace again last night. You are the main wife, but the Emperor is treating you more and more coldly now. Even we maidservants feel troubled to see it.”

The needle in her hand pierced her finger. Ye Bing Shang put it in her mouth and lowered her gaze.

“Niangniang!” the palace maid shouted in panic.

“It’s alright.” Ye Bing Shan’s complexion was pale, but she forced a smile, “Bear in mind that you must not speak of the Emperor this way in the future. The Emperor sits on the imperial throne, no matter thunder or rain, all are within the Emperor’s grace.”

The blood on her finger had spread onto the silk cloth. The palace maid tended to her wound and muttered, “Niangniang, you are just too kind and don’t have any temper.”

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“Z-uswa Yyflpvu…… Tkp Tktbdlpp Uasod Vakdnl, bl…… oyp jkzzle!”

Gp pssd yp vbl osaep olal swv, Zl Jkdt Fbydt’p lmralppksd eaypvknyzzu nbydtle. Fbl vbalo esod vbl nzsvblp kd bla bydep yde pyke kd y eygl, “Ebyv eke usw pyu?”

“Mbkp plahydv pyo kv okvb bla sod lulp, aktbv yv vbl Rxrlakyz Qyaeld……”

Zl Jkdt Fbydt blze wr vbl blx sq bla pjkav yde ayd swv, yaakhkdt aktbv kd qasdv sq Mydvyk Kkd yde vbl alpv.

The palace maid trembled and said, “It-it’s them……”

Tantai Jin took a glance at Ye Bing Shang and directly said, “Read it out.”

A little eunuch unfolded the imperial edict and read out the edict of the abolition of the Empress.

Ye Bing Shang’s legs felt weak, and her face paled. Xiao Lin’s feet moved, but in the end he still managed to restrain himself from comforting her.

Being abolished as the Empress, her husband falling out of love with her, her son dying…… all these things were an enormous nightmare for any woman.

Ye Bing Shang closed her eyes and her eyelashes kept fluttering. Su Su kept looking at her, afraid that Ye Bing Shang wouldn’t be able to take it and would attempt suicide, but Ye Bing Shang was much stronger than she thought.

She received the edict and said softly with tears in her eyes, “This concubine…… obeys the edict.”

Su Su felt strange inside.

She had almost crumbled when she saw Fuya die and disappear, and her sect in imminent danger. She had even wanted to transform into the Mountain Guarding Formation to protect the sect.

But Ye Bing Shang had suffered such a great blow, yet she was still able to calmly accept the imperial decree.

It was as if she was a totally submissive woman that would accept whatever the “Emperor” did to her.

Su Su had not met such a meek woman before. She thought to herself, if it was my own child that was harmed, don’t mention anything else, even if I die, I’ll blow off that person’s dog head.

The red butterfly flew in front of them. Now, only the tips of its wings hadn’t turned red yet. It was almost dawn.

Xiao Lin helped Ye Bing Shang up and said in a warm voice, “Bing Shang, wake up, this is all a dream, it’s all fake.”

Ye Bing Shang pushed him away. She shook her head and said, “No, this is not a dream. It’s reality.”

Xiao Lin frowned.

Su Su had always felt that something was wrong and turned around, “Where’s Tantai Jin?”

Xiao Lin also saw that Tantai Jin, who was originally watching from a short distance away, had disappeared at some point. Su Su couldn’t care less about Tantai Jin and ran to Ye Bing Shang, “Wake up, if you’re still not willing to leave, everyone will die here. In such a situation, why are you still willing to stay in this fake dreamland? As long as you leave, everything will be fine. The Sixth Highness is waiting for you in reality!”

Ye Bing Shang bit her lips, not speaking.

How could it be a dream when for six years, she was the most loved and respected Empress of the Great Xia Kingdom? Her husband loved her, and she also had a lovely royal child. Although something had happened to the Little Crown Prince, but…… if by any chance His Majesty had a change of heart, they will still have children again.

Ye Bing Shang’s indecisiveness made Su Su extremely anxious.

Seeing the last bit of white on the butterfly turning red, not to mention Su Su, even Xiao Lin’s expression looked heavy. Is everyone going to be trapped in this dreamland?

In the next moment, a lump of black fog laughed sadistically as it appeared behind Ye Bing Shang. The time had come for the nightmare devil to collect the last fruit.

Its fog had just touched Ye Bing Shang when a man with a deathly pale complexion appeared out of nowhere behind the nightmare devil.

Tantai Jin’s hand pierced through the position of the nightmare devil’s heart and held onto a black coloured devil core.

Su Su helplessly watched the devil core leave its body, and the black Qi from the nightmare devil rushed towards Tantai Jin. He didn’t hide or dodge, and surprisingly took it all in.

Tantai Jin observed the devil core that he had just taken and curled his lips.

Su Su: …… !

It turned out that the reason he had insisted on entering the dreamland wasn’t just because of the person in his heart, but also for this devil core. No wonder he was so cooperative. It turns out it was to draw out the nightmare devil’s original body.

The nightmare devil was not a normal evil creature. Its devil core wasn’t weak. What Tantai Jin wanted was supreme power. He hadn’t been able to practice martial arts since he was young and was mocked for it. He enjoyed the thrill of killing and bullying people, but his own strength was not enough.

He had unexpectedly been a cultivation maniac since he was a mortal! If someone were to tell him that, if you died, the seal would be lifted, he would surely kill himself without hesitation.

Su Su was no longer relieved.

She quickly reacted and jumped over, “Give it to me!” 

Tantai Jin looked at her coldly. This time, as precaution, he took a few steps backward as the dreamland shattered.

The last thing Su Su saw was him swallowing the devil core without the slightest hesitation. 

She was so angry that she wanted to punch a wall. He still ate it! He ate it! Ate it!

Hey, spit it out!

Once the nightmare devil died, the black fog went on a rampage. Su Su couldn’t touch him and was ejected from the dreamland.

In the woods, the sky had turned strikingly bright. The tree branches were split by Su Su’s Thunderbolt Talisman last night, and a burnt odour filled the air.

Su Su got up from the ground and saw Tantai Jin, who had fainted on the other side.

She touched her back. Since she had left “Hong Dou’s” body, the wounds had disappeared and didn’t hurt anymore.

Su Su grabbed Tantai Jin’s clothes and said with gritted teeth, “B*stard, wake up!”

The pale young man beneath her slowly woke up from her shaking. His eyelashes were long and black, tinged with early morning vapor, making him look somewhat weak and innocent, totally unlike his mad dog temperament in the dreamland. 

Su Su shook him, “Where’s the devil core? Did you really eat it? Spit it out, you freak!”

Tantai Jin touched the skin that she had touched. It was a very strange feeling. The young girl leaned too close, the cold scent from her body wrapped around him, making him uncomfortable. That suffocating feeling came back again.

He raised his hand, that’s right……kill her, I should kill her. He had a feeling that if he didn’t kill her, she would surely ruin his future plans.

Thinking of the nightmare devil’s power that he’d now gained, his gaze turned cold. He raised his hand and the black fog appeared at his fingertips.

However, the black fog only condensed on his fingertips for a very short time, then immediately dissipated before it could take shape.

Naturally, Su Su also saw this, “Eh?”

Tantai Jin’s face stiffened. How could this be? Why am I still useless when I clearly swallowed the nightmare devil’s power?

Su Su was stunned too. Regardless of being immortal cultivation or demon cultivation, it was indeed possible to seize other people’s power and turn it into your own. Even though this method could make rapid progress, it was dishonest. Very few people chose it as they would be condemned by Heaven when they crossed the tribulation. The cycle of karma was endless. Only crazy devil cultivators would step on this path no matter the cost, without fear of karma.

Originally, Su Su was also afraid that after he swallowed the nightmare devil’s devil core, he would become as unscrupulous as he was in the dream. However, the black fog on his hand had subsided2 before it could coalesce.

Su Su looked at the young man’s gloomy eyes below her and suddenly felt like laughing.

This…… 

Being born with an evil bone, even if he was born with supreme power, it was still sealed. The Devil God that had not awakened couldn’t cultivate, couldn’t practice martial arts, didn’t have spiritual roots, and looked extremely useless.

Tantai Jin took the crooked path, but he didn’t know that he already had the world’s strongest evil bone inside his body.

He was supposed to be the most powerful being across tens of thousands of years. The power of the nightmare devil flowing into his body was like a drop of water entering the sea, it couldn’t even raise a ripple. As long as the evil bone did not awaken, there was no way for him to turn into the terrifying Devil God, and it was useless to obtain any more devil cores.

Su Su revealed a bright smile as she pinched his face, “Your Highness hostage prince, you want to kill me, don’t you? Hurry up and do it!”

He gripped Su Su’s wrist. Su Su could feel his resentment even through the early morning mist.

She purposefully didn’t let go and frantically rubbed her dirty little mud-covered hands on his face.

She complained as she rubbed, “Who asked you to insist on entering the dreamland! Who asked you to think of another person’s wife! Who asked you to covet the evil creature’s devil core!”

Tantai Jin’s eyes stared daggers at her.

The young man said in a hoarse voice, “Ye Xi Wu! Get off of me!”

Su Su pressed her palm on his forehead. “Do I have to listen to what you say? Yesterday, I asked you not to enter the dreamland, why didn’t you listen to me? Did you know that all of us were almost exterminated in the nightmare devil’s dreamland!”

He coldly said, “You were the one who followed me. What’s it to do with you if I die?”

Su Su paused her action of rubbing his face. She let go of her hands, and the smile on her face faded away as she stood up by holding onto the tree. She didn’t say anything else and headed out of the woods.

Tantai Jin watched her back and pursed his lips.

Su Su wasn’t angry. She just felt like it was quite boring to argue with Tantai Jin about what was right and wrong. You couldn’t expect anything from a person who was born with the inability to distinguish between good or evil.

The early morning was strangely cold, so she hugged her arms tightly. She knew Tantai Jin was following behind her from the sound of his footsteps.

After disappearing for an entire night, she had to rush back to the residence. Ye Bing Shang and Xiao Lin must have woken up by now. This incident wasn’t an empty harvest. At least she had seen part of Tantai Jin’s past and also learned that he couldn’t gain power.

Tantai Jin walked behind Su Su in a terrible mood. This incompetent body of his gave him the urge to destroy everything. 

The sun was rising, and the young girl in front of him was wearing a gold-coloured ruqun3. The sunlight shone on the golden thread of the hem of her skirt, displaying its vibrancy.

She hugged her arms, seemingly a little cold. Her figure was slender, and there were grass and leaves pathetically stuck to her ink-black hair. 

He was staring straight at her, but she didn’t turn around to look at him even once. He inexplicably raised his hand and touched his dirtied face, his pupils darkening.

Just wait till I find a few more devil or immortal cores. I’ll make sure she disappears!

*****

Before returning to the residence, Su Su saw a familiar silhouette on the street.

A man in white kept his head down, his footsteps hurried. 

Ye Chufeng? Why is he outside?

Su Su suddenly recalled the words of the little beggar some time ago——

“Second Young Master goes out every morning, stays in a house, and only leaves when it’s dusk…….”

And also the familiar smell on his body, exactly what was it?

Su Su pondered for a moment, then followed him.