Tian You didn’t know why. The woman in red was clearly delicate and beautiful, with a gentle, soft aura, yet his heart stirred not at all. It was as calm and clear as still water.
He pressed down the doubt in his heart, looked at the shy woman with her head lowered, and asked, “Big sis, may I ask how I should address you?”
“If Young Master doesn’t mind, just call me Zhaoxue...” Hua Zhaoxue gave Tian You a graceful curtsy. Her figure was naturally elegant and lovely. But her eyes still didn’t dare meet his face.
“Hehe, Big Sis Zhaoxue, you’re really strange.” Seeing how she kept her beautiful eyes lowered, Tian You couldn’t help but laugh softly. “Am I really that scary? Why won’t you look at me?”
“...”
After hearing the boy’s words, Hua Zhaoxue finally gathered her courage and raised her eyes, ready to meet his gaze.
But the moment she looked up, she met a pair of strange purple-gold eyes, clear and vast.
At that instant, Hua Zhaoxue’s heart trembled. Those purple-gold eyes held an innocent kind of confusion, yet also a soul-stirring charm.
As if bewitched, Hua Zhaoxue stared at him blankly for a long while. Her gaze turned hazy, like she was drunk, utterly lost in those purple-gold eyes that seemed to hold a sea of stars...
Seeing that Hua Zhaoxue was staring at him in a daze, Tian You didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. He simply repeated his earlier question in confusion.
“Big Sis Zhaoxue, where exactly is this place?”
Hua Zhaoxue slowly came back to herself at the sound of Tian You’s voice. Her face was flushed red. But after hearing his question, she answered with some surprise, “This is a small border region of the Shengwu Empire...”
“The Shengwu Empire?” Tian You repeated the name Hua Zhaoxue had spoken, still wearing a puzzled expression.
Seeing how full of confusion he looked, Hua Zhaoxue grew even more astonished. She tested the waters and added, “That’s right. This is the Shengwu Empire, ruled by the Empress Sovereign.”
“The Empress Sovereign?”
Looking at Tian You’s face, he truly seemed to know nothing at all. There wasn’t the slightest trace of pretense in it. Hua Zhaoxue was completely dumbfounded.
Could he be from another country? But that didn’t make sense either... On the Qisheng Continent, maybe someone might not know the Shengwu Empire. But Hua Zhaoxue believed that even if someone didn’t know the Shengwu Empire, they would definitely know the Empress Sovereign!
This was the faith she held toward the “god” in her heart.
“Young Master really doesn’t know?”
Hearing Hua Zhaoxue’s doubt, a bitter smile appeared on Tian You’s peerless face.
“Big Sis Zhaoxue, I have no reason to lie to you, do I?”
Seeing the lost light flickering in Tian You’s vast purple eyes, Hua Zhaoxue’s heart softened at once, and she hurriedly comforted him.
“Young Master, Zhaoxue believes you’re no ordinary person. You’ll definitely find your past.”
At that point, Hua Zhaoxue still chose to hide the miraculous scenes of silver light taking human form and dead wood blooming back to life. She was afraid that saying it aloud would only trouble this celestial-looking boy even more.
Tian You smiled lightly, then walked to Hua Zhaoxue’s side and sat down. The soreness in his body still lingered a little, but it didn’t affect his movements.
“Big Sis Zhaoxue, you still haven’t told me what kind of place this is.”
Big Sis... Zhaoxue?
Hua Zhaoxue’s reaction was a little slow. Only now did she fully realize that Tian You had been calling her big sister this whole time. For a moment, the impact hit her head-on. Her heart trembled violently, and even her delicate body stiffened. A captivating blush spread across her entire pretty face. She hurriedly used the Prayer Aura within her body to forcibly calm herself down. Only then did she avoid embarrassing herself in front of Tian You.
After calming down, she took a deep breath and slowly said, “Tian... You.” Somewhere deep in her subconscious, after realizing the boy truly knew nothing of the world, she wanted to draw a little closer to him. It was a completely unconscious act.
“The place we’re in is called the Qisheng Continent. The continent is divided into five nations: Shengwu, Qi Demon, Qi War, Qisheng, and Qi Blade. They occupy the east, south, west, north, and the continent’s central heartland respectively. Among them, the strongest overall is the Qisheng Empire, the empire named after the continent itself. It controls the central lands, commands the elemental veins, and its might shakes all directions.”
When speaking of the Qisheng Empire, there was no admiration in Hua Zhaoxue’s eyes. Instead, there was a trace of resentment, mixed with helplessness. The strongest empire on the continent had wounded her far too deeply.
Shengwu?
Tian You was a little curious about the one empire whose name didn’t begin with “Qi,” so he asked, “Big Sis Zhaoxue, why do all the other empires start with ‘Qi,’ but Shengwu is the exception?”
Hua Zhaoxue fell silent for a moment after hearing his question. Then, as if sinking into memory, she spoke softly.
“Ten years ago, there were only four empires on the continent. And one of the most important ways to judge whether a nation was strong was by the number of high-level Qi Cultivators it had.”
“Qi Cultivators?” Tian You asked curiously.
Hua Zhaoxue nodded lightly and continued, still immersed in her recollection.
“No one knows exactly how a Qi Cultivator is defined. People only know that as long as one possesses Qi Energy, one can communicate with elements or concepts, and through that connection perform all kinds of things. Each nation specializes in different elements and concepts. But one thing has always been the same since ancient times: among those who can obtain this power, women vastly outnumber men. Even so, women were still little more than sharp spears in the hands of those tyrants...”
Hua Zhaoxue paused there for quite a while. Unconcealed admiration and longing appeared on her stunning face.
“The one who completely changed all of that is the current Empress Sovereign of the Shengwu Empire. Ten years ago, when the Empress Sovereign was still just a young girl, she appeared before the world with a completely unprecedented form of Qi Energy. Through dance, she achieved a deeper unity with nature, allowing her to produce many different effects. With this new form of Qi Energy and her heaven-defying talent, the Empress Sovereign founded the continent’s fifth empire in just ten short years!”
“...”
Tian You said nothing. He simply listened quietly to Hua Zhaoxue’s story.
After speaking of how the Empress Sovereign founded her nation, Hua Zhaoxue did not continue. She was afraid that if she spoke of the policies the Empress Sovereign had put in place, this breathtakingly beautiful boy would feel upset...
That was right. For reasons unknown, the Empress Sovereign deeply loathed men. So after founding her nation, she began promoting a doctrine of female supremacy.
The Huanan they were in was only a small border region of the Shengwu Empire, so for now, those policies had not yet affected life here.
