Chapter 2206: The Crimson Empress’ Appearance "Do you recognize that man?" Leader Yang asked Xiao Meilin after hearing her mumbling. However, she didn’t respond. "Senior Crimson Emper—?" Without turning to look at him, Xiao Meilin’s attention remained fixated on Yuan as she spoke in a chilling tone, "You’re disturbing a significant and special moment for me. If I hear another peep out of your mouth without my permission, I’ll kill you." Though she exuded no killing intent, Xiao Meilin’s words terrified Leader Yang and the other alchemists more than Yuan’s killing intent, and they no longer dared to open their mouths, even going as far as to halt their breathing just in case that annoyed her. Meanwhile, Yuan continued to fight Sect Leader Zu. Although the other disciples tried to help, the clash between the two of them was so intense that they couldn’t even get close. As the battle dragged on, Sect Leader Zu’s confidence gave way to unease. Initially, he was unconcerned about failing to overpower Yuan outright, given that his seventh-level God Ascension cultivation guaranteed significantly greater spiritual energy reserves. Sooner or later, Yuan should have been exhausted. Yet the expected weakness never came. Instead, with every clash, Yuan seemed only to grow stronger. ’No! He’s not getting stronger! I am the one getting weaker!’ Sect Leader Zu cried inwardly. ’How?! How the fuck does an Immortal have this much spiritual energy?! Or does he have a way to replenish his spiritual energy—’ "Bastard! You must be secretly recovering your spiritual energy with spirit stones! How many do you actually possess?!" Sect Leader Zu roared, misunderstanding the situation. Since he couldn’t sense Chaotic Essence, there was no way for him to realize that Yuan was recovering his spiritual energy with it. "Spirit Stones?" A smile appeared on Yuan’s face as he spoke, "Even if I were using them, so what?" Sect Leader Zu gritted his teeth and suddenly stopped attacking. "Wait! Let’s talk about this!" "What?" Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Think about it. Even if you’re using spirit stones to recover, you can’t have many left. Keep this up, and you’ll inevitably run out of spirit stones and still die by my hands. So why waste them? If you agree to apologize and hand over every last stone, I’ll spare your life and pretend as if none of this ever happened," Sect Leader Zu said with a confident smile. Yuan fell silent for a moment before bursting out with laughter. "Run out of spirit stones? Why don’t you see for yourself whether I’ll run out or not!" Yuan snapped open his spatial ring, releasing a flood of spirit stones that swiftly piled into a glittering mountain before him. The jaws of Sect Leader Zu and the others dropped at the absurd, almost obscene sight. There were thousands—millions of spirit stones, enough to make everyone in the Primordial Realm a cultivator. "Impossible! Why does he have so many spirit stones?!" "They must be fake! There’s no way he has so much!" Suddenly, Sect Leader Zu clenched his fists and muttered, "You... there’s been a rumor of someone from the outside world entering the Primordial Realm going around recently. I didn’t believe it at first, but now... You must be that person!" "What?! He came from the outside world?! Does that mean the Primordial Realm is open again?!" The disciples couldn’t believe their ears, their eyes glued to the spirit stones. However, Yuan quickly stored the spirit stones back inside his spatial ring the next moment. "Now then, let’s see who falls first: you, or I when I run out of spirit stones," Yuan said, his glare sharp as a blade. Sect Leader Zu trembled at the challenge. "I—!" But just as Sect Leader Zu opened his mouth to respond, a surge of killing intent exploded nearby, crashing over the battlefield like a tidal wave. Before Sect Leader Zu could even turn his head to face the source of the killing intent, it appeared behind him like a ghost and— Pop! Sect Leader Zu’s head suddenly exploded like a juicy watermelon. "?!" Yuan’s eyes widened at this sudden development. "Y-You are—! Crimson Empress?! What is the meaning of this?!" Sect Leader Zu, whose head was crushed but still survived as a soul, exclaimed in shock after seeing the identity of his attacker. "Why? Because you ruined such a precious moment for me," she responded in a nonchalant tone. "What?! What nonsense are you—" Sect Leader Zu’s words died in his throat as he felt her cold glare fall upon him. In that instant, he was sure that if he dared to continue, she would shatter his soul. "Crimson Empress..." Yuan muttered as he admired her beautiful and familiar appearance, recalling when Xiao Hua disguised herself as her in the past. Xiao Meilin stopped paying attention to Sect Leader Zu without a second thought, turning instead to meet Yuan’s gaze with eyes burning with passion. Yuan opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a word, Xiao Meilin suddenly charged forward and launched an attack on him. "?!?!" Her unexpected action left Leader Yang and Sect Leader Zu speechless. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚 ’She wasn’t on his side?!’ they cried inwardly. "Since that bastard ruined it, allow me to continue it," Xiao Meilin muttered in a low voice as she retrieved a Mythic-grade sword and swung it at Yuan. "What are you doing?" Yuan asked with a calm expression on his face as he blocked her attack. Despite being attacked, there was no killing intent coming from Xiao Meilin, so he wasn’t worried that she was trying to kill him. "Please excuse my behavior, Master Tian. However, I just cannot contain it any longer—" A crushing pressure swept through the area as Xiao Meilin’s body erupted with the aura of a ninth-level God Ascension cultivator, intertwined with a surge of intense Supreme Sword Aura. "My love and lust for you, that is!" she shouted as she continued her assault. Although Xiao Meilin did not seem to have any desire to kill him, Yuan didn’t dare to underestimate her and instantly used Eternal Essence.