"Your Highness Xuanyuan truly is extraordinary. No one found this secret realm space for so many years, yet you glimpsed its mysteries as soon as you arrived. Wanwan is impressed." Luo Wanwan stood in midair, graceful as an immortal, with not the slightest hint of anything amiss on her delicate face.
Ning Xuanyuan looked at Luo Wanwan with a smile. "You flatter me, miss. I only found this place by a lucky coincidence. But you're different. You knew the secret of the Thousand Mysteries Secret Realm from the start, didn't you?"
Luo Wanwan's bright eyes flickered, a ripple appearing in their depths. She pondered briefly, then nodded gently. "Since Your Highness has seen through me, Wanwan will speak plainly."
Luo Wanwan lifted her head slightly and gazed into the distance, her eyes settling on the figure of the empress standing atop the Green Lotus. "To tell the truth, Wanwan came here to retrieve the Green Lotus beneath Empress Qianxun's feet."
"Empress Qianxun?" Ning Xuanyuan's eyes flickered as he glanced at the distant figure of the empress. "Was she from your Moon Spirit Palace?"
Luo Wanwan shook her head, turned, and bowed solemnly and reverently toward the figure of the empress.
"Empress Qianxun was not a member of the Moon Spirit Palace, but she had some connection with our founder."
Luo Wanwan straightened and glanced at the devil god's figure. A flash of killing intent passed through her beautiful eyes, then quickly disappeared.
"Everyone says that an ancient inheritance lies within the Thousand Mysteries Secret Realm. In fact, there is more than one inheritance here."
"That man was called the Evil Emperor Xuantian. Like Empress Qianxun, he lived in ancient times, and he was also her mortal enemy."
Ning Xuanyuan said nothing and listened quietly, but realization dawned on him. So that was where the name Thousand Mysteries Secret Realm came from.
"The two of them fought an earth-shattering battle back then, and in the end, they perished together." Luo Wanwan stepped forward, her gaze falling on the Green Lotus beneath the empress's feet.
"Before Empress Qianxun fell, she sent a spiritual message to the founder of the Moon Spirit Palace, telling her that if she had the chance, she could send her descendants here to retrieve her inheritance. All these years, the Moon Spirit Palace knew where this secret realm space was, but the seal here was left by the Evil Emperor Xuantian back then, and we had no way to break it. That is why we never retrieved Empress Qianxun's inheritance."
Luo Wanwan turned to face Ning Xuanyuan. "Your Highness Xuanyuan, there are two inheritances here, and I will take only one. As for the one left by the Evil Emperor Xuantian, I will leave it to you. What do you think?"
Ning Xuanyuan stood with his hands behind his back, quietly watching Luo Wanwan. Then he nodded slightly and said, "That was a nice story. Very pleasant to listen to."
Luo Wanwan's expression changed slightly. Her brows knit as she looked at Ning Xuanyuan and asked, "What do you mean by that, Your Highness?"
Ning Xuanyuan shook his head and gazed deep into Luo Wanwan's eyes. "Should I call you Fairy Wanwan, or should I call you Your Majesty the Empress?"
Luo Wanwan's body trembled violently. She jerked her head up, unable to hide the shock that welled up in her eyes.
"You!"
A storm of towering waves surged in Luo Wanwan's heart. How could Ning Xuanyuan possibly know her greatest secret?
"You have a spatial treasure on you, and you've also cultivated a spatial-attribute treasure art. Under normal circumstances, there's absolutely no way I could have detected your presence." Ning Xuanyuan let out a soft breath and spoke calmly.
Luo Wanwan's gaze gradually sharpened as she stared straight at Ning Xuanyuan. That was what puzzled her too.
"You were following me before, and I never noticed you at all. But your mistake was entering this space with me. Of course, without me, I'm afraid you would have had to pay quite a price to get in here."
Ignoring Luo Wanwan's piercing gaze, Ning Xuanyuan continued.
"As you said, the Evil Emperor Xuantian and Empress Qianxun were sworn enemies. I have no interest in how their enmity began, and there's no need for me to know."
"But after you entered this place, both the Evil Emperor Xuantian and Empress Qianxun would have sensed you. And I..." The devil god wings behind Ning Xuanyuan fluttered gently, making his meaning clear without words.
The devil god wings had taken shape from the seal left by the Evil Emperor Xuantian. Through him, Ning Xuanyuan had discovered Luo Wanwan's presence.
"After Empress Qianxun and the Evil Emperor Xuantian perished together, she didn't actually fall. A fragment of her Primordial Spirit escaped and probably hid in your Moon Spirit Palace."
"I won't guess at exactly what happened. Too tiring. In any case, all these years, the Moon Spirit Sect never entered the secret realm to retrieve the inheritance for no other reason than that they were waiting for you. They also knew that no one but you could possibly uncover the true secret of the Thousand Mysteries Secret Realm."
"What you didn't expect was an unexpected variable like me."
Ning Xuanyuan wore a smile, his expression relaxed. Luo Wanwan, by contrast, had power surging around her, and her gaze grew sharper and sharper, piercing to the soul.
"You said I could take the Evil Emperor Xuantian's inheritance, but in truth, if you obtained that Green Lotus, the first thing you'd do would be to kill me. The Evil Emperor Xuantian chose me as his inheritor. How could you possibly let me leave alive?"
Luo Wanwan remained silent, but the usual calm and coldness had vanished from her peerlessly beautiful face, replaced by thick killing intent.
"No wonder the Asura Emperor chose you as his next successor." Luo Wanwan lowered her eyes, hiding the murderous intent in them, but the presence spreading around her grew colder still.
Luo Wanwan stepped forward, a terrifying presence bursting from her slender, graceful body. In an instant, Ning Xuanyuan felt an incomparably dreadful pressure bear down on him. This seemingly delicate beauty was ferocious beyond measure, as though she would suppress and crush everything in the world.
"But you were wrong about one thing. I never intended to kill you. I came here only to reclaim everything that belongs to me and to settle all old grudges once and for all."
"Leave now. I won't make things difficult for you," Luo Wanwan said coldly, stepping forward to pass Ning Xuanyuan.
But Ning Xuanyuan flashed backward, blocking Luo Wanwan's path once again. With his back to the two figures, he looked straight at her.
"You want to stop me?" Luo Wanwan's brows drew together slightly, and her gaze turned icy. The presence pouring from her grew fiercer, suffocating in its intensity.
Ning Xuanyuan's white robes fluttered as he gazed at Luo Wanwan. This young woman was hailed as the most gifted person in the Moon Spirit Palace's history, its strongest divine maiden, and possibly even the reincarnation of the empress.
"Actually, I don't want to stop you either. But we're both old Chinese physicians, so don't bother writing me a prescription." Ning Xuanyuan lowered his hands from behind his back to his sides. His smile remained unchanged, but his sharp edge was laid bare. "You're only letting me go because you're not confident you can kill me right now. Once you actually obtain the inheritance, there's no way you'll let me off."