Hammer in her left hand, sword in her right, the eldest sister is connected to both worlds.

Chapter 246 Butterfly Dream

After Xue Lan emerged from the cave where he had refined weapons, he cast a divination to determine Xue Tong's location and then headed straight for the Great Shun Dynasty.

The two places are thousands of miles apart, but fortunately Xue Lan still managed to catch up before Xue Tong left.

Not only did they find Xue Tong, but they also saw Xie Lingchao, who had already become the emperor.

The woman jumped down from the top of the wall, her crimson dress fluttering like a maple leaf.

As she fell, Xue Tong saw the golden causal lines on her wrist slowly disappear...

It was as if that fleeting appearance was merely a momentary plucking of a string, and once the lingering sound dissipated, it vanished again.

"Your Majesty, Miss Liu, it's been a long time."

Xue Lan landed on the ground, saying "Long time no see," but her tone was as familiar as if she were a friend she saw every day.

Xue Tong jumped out of the window and landed behind Xue Lan.

Unaware of the resentment the girl harbored towards her, Xue Tong stood behind her and began pinching the soft flesh on the inside of her forearm.

"Why didn't you tell me after you came out? Where were you planning to run off to?"

Xue Lan's smile froze for a moment: "I wasn't planning on going anywhere! Don't pull me!"

Xie Lingchao looked at the immortal in front of him without saying a word, took a step forward first, and took the initiative to break the silence: "It's been many years, and Miss Xue is still the same."

Free and easy, light and carefree.

Xue Lan freed her arm from Xue Tong's abuse: "Xue Lan has elders to protect her in the sect, and fellow disciples to fight on the battlefield of Luoxia Mountain. She lives a carefree life in the mortal world with no worries, so naturally nothing has changed."

Her voice carried a hint of laughter, which Xie Lingchao took as a self-deprecating remark from an immortal.

Given the current situation in this desolate region, all the immortals in the world are probably extremely busy dealing with it.

Although he already knew that Xue Lan was an immortal, and that immortals were immortal and eternally youthful, the sudden sight of Xue Lan's face, which had hardly changed from years ago, still sent a chill down his spine.

The awe that mortals have for immortals stems not only from their magical abilities to fly and escape from the earth, but also from their belief in immortality.

"Being carefree is certainly a good thing." The woman said with a smile, looking at Xue Lan's unchanging gray eyes.

Xie Lingchao grew bolder: "Miss Xue, I have little affinity with immortality. In the more than thirty years I have lived in this world, I have only ever seen one immortal, and you are the only one I have ever met. Now I have a question in my heart and I would like to ask Miss Xue to answer it."

Xue Lan slowly began to speak: "Your Majesty, please speak."

Xie Lingchao's fingers trembled slightly. She let out a soft sigh and looked at the exquisite window in front of her.

This window seemed to completely separate her from Xue Lan; the boundary between immortals and mortals was everywhere.

The woman's voice was steady and slightly deep, perfectly matching Xue Tong's imagination of a decisive and ruthless monarch.

"Miss Xue is an immortal, residing in a celestial mountain cave for a long time. Although she travels through the mortal world, she probably doesn't think about worldly affairs all the time. The Ling Dynasty has been on the throne for eight years and has experienced some things that I would like to tell Miss Xue."

Xue Lan nodded, signaling her to continue.

"In the early years of his reign, the court and the public were shaken. Not only those good-for-nothings, but even the most trusted ministers in the court, such as Minister Qian, whom my father trusted most, openly criticized me in court. He said that I was immoral, had bad intentions, and was trying to usurp the country."

"So I killed the treacherous minister who instigated the trouble, staining the dragon throne with blood. I forced Prime Minister Qian to step down and beg to retire to his hometown. I made this entire Great Shun court my personal fiefdom. My lady, am I a good emperor?"

Xue Lan gently closed her eyes, then opened them again after a moment: "Does Your Majesty regret it?"

Xie Lingchao shook his head.

"What is Your Majesty asking?"

Xie Lingchao smiled and said, "Probably... Xie Xiao is already dead."

Liu Ming also saw that the woman, who was usually as imposing as a majestic green mountain, had lowered her eyes, and a silent sadness was spreading like waves, becoming unstoppable.

Before Xie Lingchao ascended to this position, only Xie Xiao supported her.

Her younger brother, Xie Xiao, said, "You are more suited for that position than I am."

He said, "Once you become emperor, no one will say anything about you."

Unfortunately, Xie Xiao was a man of ill fate, dying on a cold early spring day. Xie Lingchao touched the young man's cold, bony hand. Tears welled up in his eyes, and a mournful cry was stuck in his throat, but no matter what he did, he couldn't let them fall or utter a sound.

A heart full of bitterness was stuck in her chest; she felt a helplessness and bewilderment she had never experienced before.

Xie Tiaotiao was far away at the Long Sword Sect. On that day, in this vast world, she had no family left.

Xue Tong heard Xue Lan sigh softly.

"What His Majesty wants is not Xue Lan's opinion."

The woman raised her hand and began to calculate. A spiritual light flowed from her fingertips, like tangled threads being slowly untangled.

A few breaths later, Xue Lan breathed a sigh of relief: "There's still time."

The woman smiled gently at Xie Lingchao and said, "There are more suitable candidates for Your Majesty's problem."

Xie Lingchao saw a red butterfly resting on her fingertip.

Xue Lan slowly raised her hand, and the red butterfly fluttered its wings and flew slowly to Xie Lingchao's front, flying into her brow and turning into a butterfly-shaped mark there.

"His Majesty will see the person he wishes to see."

"As for Xue Lan, she will set off back to her sect tonight and bid farewell to His Majesty here."

With that, Xue Lan turned and walked towards the courtyard gate, with Xue Tong following behind her. Their figures gradually faded away...

Once the two figures had disappeared from Xie Lingchao's sight.

The woman raised her hand and touched her brow, then chuckled softly.

"Thank you very much, Miss Xue."

Five miles away on the outskirts of the city, Xue Lan and Xue Tong stood atop the clouds. Xue Lan gazed ahead, while Xue Tong looked with some worry at the ever-shrinking capital of the Great Shun Dynasty behind them.

Xue Tong suddenly asked Xue Lan, "She was acting, wasn't she? From the very beginning, she didn't care about your opinion."

Xue Lan chuckled: "You've gotten smarter over the years?"

Xue Tong raised her hand and fiddled with the clouds beneath her feet, her tone somewhat lifeless: "I've known all along... you superiors never care about the thoughts of those who are not in the picture."

Xue Lan disagreed somewhat: "However I say it, I'm not an unrelated person, am I?"

Xue Tong stood up and straightened her clothes: "Pretty much. A suspicious immortal is of no use to her."

Xue Tong thought to herself that Xue Tong's words made sense! For a moment, she felt disliked.

Seeing her lost in thought, Xue Tong prepared to ask the question she wanted to ask: "Now that you're in Da Shun, why don't you go see Zhu He and the others? I heard that the rotation of soldiers in Luoxia Mountain has started, and Zhu He is the one leading the troops back this time."

Xue Lan shook her head: "Let's go back to the Xuanhuang Sect first."

Xue Tong looked at the faint demonic aura emanating from her body: "Do you want to die?"

Xue Lan naturally didn't want to die; she wanted to find her master.

The woman took out a shrine from her sleeve, pointed to the small golden fish statue inside, and said to Xue Tong, "Take a look at this."

Xue Tong followed Xue Lan's finger and looked over. At first, she couldn't see anything, but upon closer inspection, she saw a golden light on the tail of the little fish statue.

Xue Tong asked, "This is... the aura of a demon?"

Xue Lan nodded: "He is my great grandmaster!"

"Which grandmaster do you possess... the Spirit Radiance Tree of the demon race?"

Xue Tong realized halfway through her sentence that Xue Lan's only elder who had some connection with the demon race was the Linghuang Tree behind Xuanling Peak.

Xue Lan gave a cold laugh.

If she hadn't sculpted this small fish statue, which combines divine and demonic auras, to solidify Ling Yuanzi's soul, she probably wouldn't have known that she had been kept in the dark all along.

"I always thought it was my senior uncle Shen Suan who was helping my master, but I didn't dare to contradict him because of his current physical condition. I neglected my grandmaster."

When Xue Lan said this, a wicked glint flashed in her eyes.

Xue Tong asked calmly, "What are your methods of revenge?"

"How about summoning heavenly lightning to temper magical artifacts on his tree canopy?" Xue Lan's eyes lit up.

Xue Tong played along: "Wow, you're so vicious!"

The two continued talking as they rode the clouds straight to the Xuanhuang Sect.

Xue Lan left Da Shun in this way, leaving Xie Lingchao with a peaceful dream.

In the stillness of the night, the woman on the jade pillow frowned slightly, and the butterfly mark between her brows glowed, flickering as if she were breathing.

Xie Lingchao was pulled into a fog, unable to see the way forward or backward.

She walked slowly forward, and her crimson palace dress gradually transformed into a dragon robe.

She heard a soft sound behind her, but she didn't dare to turn around and just kept walking forward.

Until someone behind me called out, "Royal Sister!"

Xie Lingchao suddenly turned his head and saw that the road he had been walking on had turned into a bottomless ravine, and on the other side... stood several familiar people.

It was her father, mother, and Xie Xiao.

They are her family.

But she couldn't get through it, and could only look at the abyss in front of her and shed tears.

"Father...Mother...I can't go."

"Queen!"

Suddenly, Xie Xiao's voice came from the other end of the line. He waved his arm at Xie Lingchao and said, "Let's go back!"

Even with fierce winds and snowstorms ahead... we will still keep going.

"The Great Shun Dynasty needs a monarch."

Xie Lingchao felt as if he had been struck by a heavy blow. The woman smiled brightly, glanced at her family one last time, and then resolutely turned around and walked towards a higher place.

Yes!

Is Da Shun lacking a man?

Is the common people of the world lacking a man?

No, they were wrong. What they lacked was simply a good ruler.

Xie Lingchao looked ahead; the gloom had dissipated, and the path ahead was clear…

And now, she is that monarch.

At the same time, the sleeping woman's expression calmed down, and the mark between her eyebrows transformed back into a red butterfly, which flew outside the palace and turned into three blurry phantoms in front of a white-robed official.

It was Xie Xiao and his two companions.

The official bowed to the three men: "Won't you gentlemen stay a little longer?"

Xie Xiao returned the greeting: "No need."

After speaking, the four figures vanished like wisps of smoke.

The red butterfly guides the soul, bringing together the yin and yang realms—this is the gift Xue Lan left for Xie Lingchao.