Xi Jiuge had been brooding over her humiliation all day, fearing it would become tomorrow’s most talked-about scandal across the heavens. Yet, thanks to Di Hanguang, she suddenly realized she wasn’t the most miserable one after all.
Her relief was short-lived. Anxiety soon crept in, heavier than before. After a moment of thought, she raised her hand. Yu Cong understood and silently withdrew.
Xi Jiuge’s expression was cold as still water. Her gaze fixed on the reflection in the mirror, she methodically untied her hair, placing each ornament neatly upon the table. The only sound within the vast Chonghua Palace was the faint clinking of jade and gold. It was troublesome to put them on, yet effortless to take them off.
No matter how hard she thought, she could not fathom how the Southern Heaven Court could be so incompetent—losing to a single wounded man.
Di Hanguang had been grievously injured in his battle against the Yellow Emperor. He returned to the Southern Heavens without fully recovering. Even with his strength, he should have been exhausted. How could those fools allow him to seize the Red Emperor’s Seal once more?
Thinking this, Xi Jiuge sighed softly. The woman who had disrupted today’s wedding—Chang Ju—and Di Hanguang, the chaos-bringer of the Celestial Realm, were once her classmates.
After her awakening, Xi Jiuge studied in Kunlun. Since the Queen Mother of the West was old and weary, Xi Jiuge was often sent by Empress Xuan to study at Yongtian Palace under the Northern Heavens, alongside Crown Princess Ji Shaoyu.
Yongtian Palace, founded by the Five Celestial Emperors, was the most prestigious academy in all the heavens. A thousand years ago, during a peace negotiation between the Celestial and Demon Realms, the demons had sent two hostages to the gods. The Celestials, pretending benevolence, treated them as royal guests—allowing them to study at Yongtian Palace beside divine heirs.
Those two demon hostages were Chang Ju and Li Hanguang.
Back then, he was not yet the fearsome Emperor Hanguang who now commands the heavens and slaughters gods.
He had taken his mother’s surname, Li. Initially, the Celestials had only demanded Chang Ju as hostage, but Li Hanguang—then already the Shao Siyou of the Demon Realm, second only to Da Siyou—chose to accompany her. Legend said he and Chang Ju were childhood sweethearts, and he could not bear to let her face the Celestial Realm alone. Out of love, he gave up his title and followed her into captivity.
Such deep affection moved even the cold-hearted heavens. Delighted to receive an extra hostage, the Celestial Court accepted.
Despite studying together for a thousand years, Xi Jiuge had never been close to Chang Ju or Li Hanguang. As the daughter of the Creator God, equal to the great deity Fuxi, she stood at the top of Yongtian Palace’s hierarchy. Only descendants of the Five Emperors could approach her. Li Hanguang, a demon hostage, was of another world entirely.
Rumors said that demon hostages lived miserably, bullied by celestial youths. Yet Chang Ju was lucky—Li Hanguang always stood by her side. And Ji Shaoyu, compassionate as ever, would often come to her rescue.
Looking back, Xi Jiuge realized it was likely then that Ji Shaoyu’s pity for Chang Ju had turned into affection.
It was the same old tale—the star-crossed lovers, a divine prince and a demon hostage, defying heaven’s laws. Their love was forbidden, their union condemned. The prince had a noble fiancée, the demon a gentle protector. They were born for others, yet destined for each other. In the end, they defied all, turning their love into rebellion.
Had Xi Jiuge been an outsider, she might have admired such tragic romance. Unfortunately, she was the abandoned fiancée in that very story.
When Ji Shaoyu eloped, she became the laughingstock of the heavens. Outwardly serene, inwardly furious, she withdrew to Kunlun and waited for Emperor Xuan and Empress Xuan to act. But Emperor Xuan grew powerless. Seeing she could rely on no one, Xi Jiuge took matters into her own hands.
Ruthless by nature, she did not care whether Ji Shaoyu still loved her. But an elopement with a demon was not merely a personal betrayal—it was a stain upon the Northern Heavens’ honor. If she allowed it to stand, she would forever be remembered as the goddess whose fiancé ran away with a demon.
That, Xi Jiuge could never accept.
She used her status to force Ji Shaoyu’s return, determined to make things right by any means necessary. The elopement scandal was buried by the efforts of the Celestial Court. Ji Shaoyu’s ten years of mortal exile were brief by divine reckoning. As long as he returned and married her, time would erase the disgrace.
If he fulfilled his duties faithfully, Xi Jiuge would forgive everything. Years later, the world would still admire them as a perfect, divine couple.
It was a beautiful plan—until Chang Ju ruined it.
Xi Jiuge had underestimated her former classmate’s audacity—and Di Hanguang’s ambition. The quiet hostage had revealed himself a monster cloaked in serenity.
If Xi Jiuge was a lunatic—cold, unfeeling, terrifying—then Li Hanguang was the kind who smiled as he destroyed worlds.
Rumors once whispered that those with the surname Li were born evil. Li Hanguang’s father was unknown, his mother disgusted by him from birth. Even the demons despised him. Only Chang Ju’s family had shown him kindness, and he clung to her like a shadow.
At Yongtian Palace, he was the picture of humility. No matter how others mocked or hurt him, he never retaliated. Yet, Xi Jiuge now realized—such restraint was not submission, but calculation.
A demon raised amid cruelty could not have risen so high without cunning. The current chaos across the heavens was proof enough.
And today, Xi Jiuge learned the most shocking truth:
Li Hanguang was indeed illegitimate—but his father was none other than Emperor Xuan himself.
That “lowly demon” was the Emperor’s own son.
Twelve years ago, he turned upon his father, wounded him gravely, imprisoned Empress Xuan, stole the Emperor’s Seal, declared himself ruler, and abolished Ji Shaoyu’s divine title. His rebellion was swift and merciless.
After defeating the Central Yellow Emperor in battle—a feat thought impossible—Li Hanguang seized the second Imperial Seal. Holding two seals made him ruler of both realms. Casting off his surname, he named himself Di Hanguang, Emperor of Radiant Darkness.
A bastard son of demons, now Emperor of Heaven—mocking every god who once scorned him.
Xi Jiuge could not deny it: no one dared laugh at him now.
Even the mighty Yellow Emperor had fallen. The Southern Heavens had fallen next. Three realms conquered—only two remained.
Xi Jiuge suspected he would not stop until all five seals were his.
She clenched her jaw. A madman could not be reasoned with. Whatever Di Hanguang sought—revenge or dominion—it would bring ruin.
There was only one path left: she must go to her brother, the White Emperor.
She removed her remaining jewelry one by one. The palace grew colder. As she took off her last earring, she suddenly froze.
The air changed.
Without turning, she sensed it—someone was here.
Her reflection’s eyes sharpened. A chill spread through Chonghua Palace.
Xi Jiuge clenched the earring in her palm and smiled, graceful and unshaken.
“Noble, elegant, and calm,” she said, voice steady as jade.
“How should I address you… Xuandi, Huangdi, or Chidi?”
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