Chapter 1361 - I Won't Allow You to Refuse
When Ye Qingyu heard that, a divine radiance sparkled in his eyes that were wreathed in black mist.
However, he said nothing.
Jiang Xiaohan lifted her fine eyebrows. "Why, don't you believe me?" With her head slightly raised and her chin high, there was a certain power and pride about her. "Though I've gone against you many times, when have I ever boasted about this kind of thing?"
Ye Qingyu remained silent.
He seemed to be thinking about something.
"What do you mean by this?" To one side, King of Sovereigns looked uncertainly at Jiang Xiaohan.
He had discerned that things were not quite right from her words.
There was a strange glow in the Abandoned Fiendgod's eyes as he, too, stared at Jiang Xiaohan.
"I mean, literally." Jiang Xiaohan did not appear at all weak while facing the two King of Sovereigns. Instead, speaking in a frosty, firm tone, she seemed powerful like no other.
"You're testing my patience and tolerance." The King of Destruction was burning with fierce flames all over.
Laughing out loud, Jiang Xiaohan turned her head back to look at Ye Qingyu. "Since you still don't believe me, I'll show you." With that, her face suddenly turned hideous, as if she was enduring some kind of sharp pain, while her beautiful and enchanting body gave a slight tremble before a weird pale expression flashed across her face.
Subsequently, her body abruptly gave off a strange power.
It was a hard-to-describe power.
When it spread, the star fragments floating in the cosmic vacuum suddenly became unmoving and frozen on the spot, as if sealed by ice.
Not only the star fragments, but also all star dust and gray bits... everything became unmoving.
Of course, the King of Destruction and the Abandoned Fiendgod, too, became motionless.
The two supreme experts were like snails mired in a swamp at this time. After struggling for a good while, they became completely motionless, with astonished and disbelieving expressions on their faces. They could not at all comprehend how they had been sealed and suppressed by a woman whose cultivation was so much inferior to theirs. This simply made no sense.
A hint of surprise also flashed briefly across Ye Qingyu's face.
This kind of power...
Has time and space been sealed simultaneously?
He looked to the side at Song Xiaojun, Wen Wan, Little Nine the silly dog, and the rest, all of whom were being protected by the [Cloud Top Cauldron] and were not being suppressed by the strange power. A little further away, the Wisp God of Consciousness was also unaffected, albeit the guzheng music that had stirred up Ye Qingyu's inner demons of homesickness was a lot fainter than before.
"Do you believe me now?" Jiang Xiaohan stared at Ye Qingyu.
The latter nodded.
Jiang Xiaohan laughed and spoke with an overt delight in her voice, "Come, it's time for you to choose. My dear elder brother Qingyu, are your loved ones or your principles more important? Will you sacrifice your loved ones, or the so-called intelligent beings and civilization of the entire Vast Thousand Star Domains?"
Plagued by inner demons, Ye Qingyu's body trembled faintly.
He had never thought deeply about this question before.
He had firmly believed that protecting the Vast Thousand Star Domains was protecting the people he loved.
As the saying went, no egg can remain intact when the nest is overturned. If the Vast Thousand Star Domains ceased to exist, the people he loved would also perish.
But now, everything had changed suddenly. It turned out that there was, in fact, a choice to be made between the two.
"Agree to her, Elder Brother Qingyu..." Song Xiaojun looked tenderly at Ye Qingyu, "I'm willing to die for you."
Jiang Xiaohan laughed grimly. "Such foolish love indeed."
Bai Yuqing, Empress Shui Xiu, and the others looked at Ye Qingyu, suddenly feeling sorry for this man.
Because, as women and also contemporary Martial Empresses, they were more sensitive and clear that, to Ye Qingyu, this kind of choice was the cruelest thing in the world. The civilization of the Vast Thousand Star Domains and his two beautiful confidants were the most important things in his life, yet only one could remain at this time. This was no longer just a test of his human nature but more so a test of his beliefs and principles, or even... a test of his martial heart, a test of his origin heart as the Imperial God Emperor.
This kind of test was even more terrifying than those inner demons.
Time was flowing by in a nearly asphyxiating atmosphere.
About twenty breaths later, a streak of ghastly white flashed across Jiang Xiaohan's face once more. "Have you thought about it? Don't keep me waiting..."
Looking at her, Ye Qingyu asked, "You can't hold out any longer?"
Jiang Xiaohan did not deny this.
Only she knew the price she had to pay for sealing time and space, trapping two supreme experts, and even affecting the Wisp God of Consciousness. Indeed, she could not hold out much longer.
Ye Qingyu asked very seriously, "Why did you do this? Haven't you always wanted to kill me? This is your best chance, so why are you instead helping me now? You'll never get another chance to kill me if you help me this time."
Jiang Xiaohan laughed grimly. "Don't you feel even more defeated having to beg me, as compared to if I'd killed you?"
Ye Qingyu became silent.
This woman is an incomprehensible psycho.
Subsequently, he provided his answer. "I refuse."
"What?" Jiang Xiaohan's countenance shifted.
Ye Qingyu laughed indifferently. "I mean, I refuse your choices. I'm protecting not only my loved ones, but also my friends and followers. I cherish and care about everyone in the Vast Thousand Star Domains, whether they know me or not. However, in protecting them, I've always depended on my own strength rather than waiting for the charity of others. If I'm incapable of doing all this with my own strength, I'll feel no shame even if I die in battle. In any case, I would absolutely not accept such a meaningless choice as exchanging a large number of people for a smaller number of people. Even if the people you want me to kill aren't Xiaojun and Xiaoxing, but two ordinary beings of the Vast Thousand Star Domains instead, I'll also refuse. This is my principle and also my answer, do you understand?"
Jiang Xiaohan's countenance abruptly turned bleak.
She had wanted to use this method to subdue Ye Qingyu, making this lofty and proud man give in to and satisfy her like he did when they played together as childhood sweethearts... However, she failed once more, as if he never had much regard for her ever since, at thirteen years old, she cruelly resolved to leave him after he became worthless. No matter what means she used, he would never accommodate her even once more.
"Great, real great." With a ghastly pale expression on her face, Jiang Xiaohan's body began to quiver frantically as a strange power poured out. "You..." She pointed a slender, jade-white finger at Ye Qingyu, as if wanting to poke her fingernail into the latter's forehead. Looking vicious and brimming with murderous spirit, she had an impulse to kill him right away.
It would be no exaggeration to say that, at this time, she could kill off Ye Qingyu, who was already completely beset by inner demons, with just a lift of a hand.
This opportunity was nearer to success than any of her previous deliberate schemes to kill him.
Moreover, her killing intent was already raging and boiling irrepressibly.
However, at the very instant before she struck out, she suddenly realized that this was impossible.
I can't strike out for real.
She could not do it.
To her anger and grief, she realized that she could not actually do it.
Not long ago, she had felt that she would not hesitate to destroy the man who had made her jealous, sad, and angry, as long as she had the opportunity.
But when such an opportunity actually arrived, she realized that this was only a "feeling", and not the truth.
"I'll give you one last chance. You don't have to kill anyone as long as you promise me that you'll never see Song Xiaojun and Yu Xiaoxing ever again, and will instead remain beside me forever. I can also help you to solve your current distress," she enunciated, unaware of her expression and countenance as she spoke. The only thing she could feel was that the final fortress of pride that she had kept in the very depths of her heart over the years had suddenly begun to collapse while she was speaking those words to this man.
Ye Qingyu took a surprised look at her.
He then looked at Song Xiaojun in the distance.
The Emperor of Darkness, who was seen by countless people to be frosty, powerful, and cruel, had long become teary-faced, looking as weak as a child. Seeing Ye Qingyu's gaze, she hurriedly nodded her head as a signal to the latter to accept this demand.
The people beside her looked at Jiang Xiaohan.
For some reason, a weird feeling formed in the hearts of many at this instant: This woman is kind of pitiful.
However, Ye Qingyu did not hesitate for long this time.
He provided his answer categorically, "I refuse."
The same answer was spoken from his mouth again.
Jiang Xiaohan's figure shook violently.
It was as if an invisible knife was viciously stabbed into her heart at that moment.
With a ghastly snow-white countenance, she shouted fiercely, "You refuse? Hohoho... how dare you refuse? What gives you the right to refuse? You..." Before she finished speaking, her figure suddenly softened and became limp in the void, resembling a weak and helpless girl, while her frosty laughter was filled with sadness and despair.
Ye Qingyu opened his mouth.
But he ultimately did not say anything.
Beneath the [Cloud Top Cauldron], everyone's gaze was centered upon Jiang Xiaohan.
Nearly everyone had some understanding of this woman. In particular, a few people who were born in the Snow Empire had personally witnessed the growth of the conflict between Ye Qingyu and Jiang Xiaohan, and were even clearer about the story between them. The phrase "childhood sweethearts and playmates" might sound simple, but to anyone involved, it was the most heartfelt of memories.
As the saying went, ‘a pitiful person always has a deplorable side’.
Jiang Xiaohan was deplorable but also pitiful.
All of a sudden, she laughed out loud once more and looked at Ye Qingyu with eyes full of mockery and ridicule, and a hint of crazy delight as well. "Hahaha, you refused, you actually refused. But, so what? I won't allow you to refuse. Nobody can stop me from doing what I want to, and that would be to make you unable to refuse..."
With that, a variegated divine radiance suddenly glowed in her body, resembling the burning of flames and the light of the primordial world. It was bright and most gorgeous, much like the most glorious moment of a comet or a shooting star sweeping across the firmament. A magnificent, vast, vicissitudinous, and profound power accompanied it as it diffused across and covered the entire battlefield.
In the void, the guzheng music of the Wisp God of Consciousness came to an abrupt stop.
The third King of Sovereigns was also sealed by this power.
The King of Destruction and the Abandoned Fiendgod, both of whom had originally already begun to struggle, also became hardened, sealed, and suppressed once again.