ABHL 02

Chapter – 02

Zhuo Ying, who had been keeping her eyes lowered, also slowly lifted her gaze.

When the crimson-clad figure passed by, her steps faltered slightly. Seeing Zhuo Ying’s frost-coated lashes and bloodless face, Zhao Cui showed a trace of guilt. But she quickly hurried toward the hall.

Seeing her daughter’s clothes damp with snow and rain, the Empress quickly stood and brushed her off:

“You child, in such freezing weather, why didn’t you bring an umbrella? And why are you running around like this…”

“I only came because I heard you punished Sister,” Zhao Cui said anxiously, clutching the Human Emperor’s sleeve. “Father, going to the Desolate Sea was my own idea. I begged Sister last night to agree to it. You’ve wronged her.”

The sky was gloomy, and the east wind howled.

Zhuo Ying’s hands and feet were so frozen they had lost all feeling. But she had always been good at enduring pain. Aside from the lack of color in her face, it was almost impossible to tell the intense suffering her body was enduring.

When the pain became unbearable, she did what she used to do as a child—find something else to distract herself.

For example, counting the money in her storage pouch.

By the time she counted the twentieth spirit stone, the Empress was still earnestly advising Zhao Cui not to let romantic feelings cloud her judgment.

The Human Emperor spoke even more bluntly:

—The Upper Pure Heavenly Palace chose your sister. Do you think I risked everything to send you under her name for no reason? Wasn’t it all so my precious daughter could live a long life and become an immortal?

By the seventy-fourth spirit stone, Zhao Cui used her most effective tactic—crying pitifully:

—What’s the point of living a long life! Ever since I was little, all you did was stuff me with fine clothes and luxury food. You never cared about what I truly wanted!

By the one hundred twenty-third spirit stone, the Emperor and Empress began to waver.

Zhao Cui pressed her advantage, lavishly praising Shen Ye, the Young Lord of the Desolate Sea—how extraordinarily talented he was, how promising his future would be. Perhaps one day he might even unify the four seas and stand equal to the Upper Pure Heavenly Palace.

Soon, all two hundred fifteen spirit stones in Zhuo Ying’s pouch had been counted.

Just before she could start counting them again, a palace servant finally came to summon her inside.

“Zhao’er says that Young Lord Shen Ye also studied under Sage Zhiwei. Do you know him? What is his character like?”

The hall was filled with warm incense, and the charcoal fire crackled from time to time.

Zhuo Ying was about to answer when a violent coughing fit suddenly erupted from her chest. A sickly flush appeared on her pale face.

After kneeling in the snowstorm for an hour, the sudden warmth made her stiff limbs itch painfully.

A trace of complicated emotion flickered in the Human Emperor’s eyes, but he ultimately said nothing to comfort her, only ordering that she be given a seat.

After sitting down and catching her breath, Zhuo Ying’s cold face—so similar to the Emperor’s—remained expressionless as she calmly stated:

“Senior Brother possesses exceptional talent in cultivation. His temperament is steady and reserved. His appearance is refined and handsome. Though he is the youngest son of the Desolate Sea Lord, he is highly favored. Two years ago, he accomplished several major deeds that greatly impressed his father and was granted the title of Young Lord. His future is limitless.”

Hearing this, the Emperor and Empress both relaxed slightly.

“If she could truly marry the Young Lord of the Desolate Sea, that would indeed be far better than going to the Upper Pure Heavenly Palace as a hostage.”

“But what about the Desolate Sea’s stance…”

“My precious jewel, the legitimate princess of Great Yong—how could they possibly reject her? Once the war officially ends, we will build hundreds of temples in the human world dedicated to the Desolate Sea Immortal Clan. They’ll be delighted.”

The human race received protection from the immortals, while the immortals relied on human faith offerings to stabilize their spiritual foundations and advance their cultivation.

Hundreds of temples was indeed a substantial dowry.

Seeing the Emperor and Empress relent, the snow-skinned, flower-like girl finally smiled through her tears.

The Human Emperor pretended to scold her:

“A grown daughter really can’t be kept at home.”

Zhao Cui wrapped one arm around her father and the other around her mother, smiling sweetly:

“I knew it. I have the best parents in the world.”

The three of them standing together did not look like rulers of a deep palace, but like the most ordinary family. The usually stern Emperor gently patted his daughter’s head with the indulgence of any loving father.

But Zhuo Ying knew—

He was Zhao Cui’s loving father.

Not hers.

No father would neglect his five-year-old daughter so completely that she had to learn to bribe the maids just to get food.

Nor would any father, out of fear of his daughter’s intelligence, secretly poison her from childhood so she would remain a sickly, useless cripple all her life.

By the charcoal brazier, Zhuo Ying, chilled to the bone, tried to move a little closer to the warmth.

A spark landed on the back of her hand, instantly burning a red mark. She lowered her eyes to look at it, but did not pull her hand away.

The hundred-day snowstorm in the human realm would soon end with the peace talks and the princess being sent away as a hostage.

But from birth to death, she would probably never know what warmth felt like.

It was nearing noon. The sky remained dim.

Outside the Great Yong palace city, the immortal envoys from the Desolate Sea had already arrived and were waiting.

Standing on the city wall, Zhao Cui showed not the slightest reluctance or sorrow about leaving as a hostage. Instead, she stood on tiptoe, eagerly searching the crowd for Shen Ye’s figure.

Soon.

Very soon she would get what she wanted.

Wasn’t that why she risked her life to steal the sacred treasure of the Immortal Clan and reverse time to return to the past?

In her previous life, after replacing her sister and going to the Upper Pure Heavenly Palace, she had not lived the life her parents had hoped for.

The endless daily cultivation brought her no hope. She had no interest in cultivation to begin with. During her long years as a hostage, only the appearance of Shen Ye, the Young Lord of the Desolate Sea, brought even a small glimmer of hope into her painful and hopeless life.

But the Immortal Realm was vast. The Upper Pure Heavenly Palace stood in the Ninth Heaven, while the Desolate Sea Immortals lived deep beneath the ocean.

Every day separated from Shen Ye by heaven and earth, Zhao Cui regretted listening to her parents. She constantly fantasized about getting another chance.

By chance, she learned that the Upper Pure Heavenly Palace possessed a sacred artifact capable of reversing time.