My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion-Chapter 102 - 85: The Queen Appears

"It is often said that ancient emperors bore the Great Dao upon their shoulders. Now I understand... The ancients truly never deceived me."

Taichua Goddess murmured to herself, her ethereal presence becoming even more otherworldly.

Suddenly, her shoulder was tapped.

The unexpected sensation jolted her thoughts momentarily away from the stele.

The female crown turned around and saw Chen Yi.

"Distracted?"

Chen Yi mocked.

Taichua Goddess, however, smiled serenely and replied:

"Not at all... But thank you."

Chen Yi looked at the female crown in disbelief.

Thank you?

Was this really something the daughter of King Jing would say?

"If not for you, I might have fallen deeply into it, like the endless chess game of decayed wood."

Taichua Goddess’s voice was calm and gentle, as she intoned a Daoist chant:

"Blessings of Infinite Heavenly Venerable, inconceivable virtue."

Chen Yi squinted at her.

This woman, who had tried to kill him several times, suddenly seemed to have returned to her pure and otherworldly demeanor from when they first met.

"You’ve changed. The old you would never have said thank you to me."

Chen Yi remarked bluntly.

"Changed? It’s just that... I care less now."

Taichua Goddess said softly.

"Oh? No longer care that I took your Dao companion? No longer care that I refused to accompany you up the mountain?"

Chen Yi asked curiously.

"Indeed.

Even if you were to tell me now that Min Ning is a woman, it wouldn’t matter much to me."

Yin Weiyin responded, casting a glance at Chen Yi, her heart rippling ever so slightly, but soon returning to calm.

The Dao of Heaven subtracts the excess and replenishes the lacking. Everything is predestined, and a cultivator should align themselves with destiny.

He had left an inexplicable mark on her heart, but compared to the Heavenly Dao, what did it matter? As long as she pursued the Goddess’s inheritance, she would be able to forget it.

"I have gained enlightenment."

"Enlightenment about what?"

The female crown lightly nodded, as if holding a horsetail whisk in her hand, and smiled:

"Must I... Yin Weiyin, have a Dao companion to achieve immortality?"

Chen Yi was thoughtful.

He could see that her Heart Lake was becoming tranquil.

"Without relying on the golden boy and jade girl method?"

Chen Yi asked.

"Here lies the Goddess’s inheritance, sufficient to... ascend step by step."

The female crown responded.

Chen Yi looked at the Daoist before him, his expression subtly shifting.

The overly thin-skinned daughter of King Jing seemed to be disappearing further, as her gaze returned to focusing solely on the path to immortality.

Sometimes, he would idly wonder what it would feel like to see an emotionless Immortal roll their eyes.

"Let’s go. I’m pursuing... the Goddess’s inheritance."

The female crown took the initiative to speak, seemingly interrupting his thoughts.

Chen Yi narrowed his eyes slightly. It seemed the female crown had formed some sort of connection with the Goddess’s inheritance.

He genuinely wanted to see what this so-called inheritance was.

Taichua Goddess turned to walk. Occasionally, she glanced at the pits on either side, and found that the previously incomprehensible golden inscriptions suddenly became easy to understand.

Chen Yi followed behind her.

The two walked across several burial chambers. Chen Yi noticed they hadn’t encountered any strange beasts along the way, traveling safely as if Yin Weiyin was being guided by an unseen force.

As they delved deeper, the Yin Qi grew heavier. Chen Yi vaguely saw faint flickering lights, some green, some blue, hovering in the air. Upon closer inspection, they resembled human shapes, like wandering souls.

He followed Taichua Goddess’s footsteps and watched as she turned a corner, then stopped before a burial chamber.

Chen Yi frowned deeply, hearing faint gasps from within.

He drew his blade from its sheath and pushed open the long-sealed door of the burial chamber, prepared to strike at any moment.

As the blade was raised mid-air, it stopped, and he froze in shock.

"Madam?"

A woman dressed in a disheveled palace gown of red and yellow, her hair styled into a towering cloud coiffure, possessed a graceful hourglass figure. She was slumped on the ground, her cheeks pale, but the dignity of her brows remained.

The empress dowager An Shi panted painfully, and Chen Yi noticed nine tails occasionally flickering behind her. The chamber was in disarray; her eyes alternated between clarity and muddiness.

"The Empress Dowager... it seems like she’s... being possessed."

The female crown furrowed her brows slightly.

As the words fell, An Shi’s body suddenly twisted unnaturally straight, her hands clawing out like a white fox hunting, and lunged at Chen Yi.

"My child... Why would you kill me?!"

The air was filled with piercing sounds, Chen Yi parried with his blade, the claws striking against his weapon caused a violent shudder. With just one clash, blood sprang from Chen Yi’s tiger’s mouth, forcing him to retreat several steps.

An Shi spun around, gathering an intense concentration of Yin Qi into her claws. The surrounding cold intensified further as she delivered another powerful strike toward Chen Yi.

The claw, as swift as a thunderbolt, came too fast for Chen Yi to react even with the Shangqing Heart Method. His Brocade Spring Blade was sent flying, and in the mere moment after, her sharp claws extended toward his throat.

In the next instant, blood was about to gush from Chen Yi’s neck.

An Shi abruptly stopped. She staggered and collapsed softly into Chen Yi’s arms. Amid her messy palace gown, a corner of her phoenix-flower embroidered underbodice peeked out, but couldn’t fully conceal the beauty underneath.

"My child... Mother cannot bear to kill you."

An Shi muttered in a daze, tenderly stroking Chen Yi’s eyebrows.

He had narrowly escaped death, his forehead covered with cold sweat.

"What... is going on here?"

Chen Yi took several deep breaths, glancing at the empress dowager curled up in his arms. Her phoenix-like eyes drooped, as if in a shallow slumber, and he turned to look at Yin Weiyin.

After the initial upheaval, the female crown regained her composure and spoke in a mellifluous tone:

"The empress dowager is protected by the Great Yu’s dragon veins. Right now, the Tushan Clan is attempting to possess her, but has yet to succeed entirely. The intermittently visible nine tails are proof."

"But why did she say..."

Chen Yi swallowed hard.

Throughout history, the empress dowager had always been revered as the mother of the realm. To the emperor, loyalty and filial respect were paramount; toward the empress dowager, it was doubly so. However, being from another world, Chen Yi did not hold such convictions in his heart.

"The Tushan Clan is consuming her. Gradually, she cannot distinguish between herself and Tushan, so she mistook you for her child."

The female crown explained softly. Even for her, this was the first time witnessing such an extraordinary phenomenon.

Chen Yi felt overwhelmed.

Gradually, he began to piece together the events.

The empress dowager had gone to Chunbo Temple, likely aware that the Lin Residence planned to suppress the Great Yu’s dragon veins. Thus, she sought possession by the Tushan Clan to shatter the merit and destroy Elder Lin’s Golden Body to ascend to immortality. But she hadn’t expected the Tushan Clan’s terrifying nature, which caused the underground palace to emerge and had nearly fully possessed her.

After some time, Chen Yi cooled his thoughts and said:

"If the empress dowager is completely possessed, we’ll be trapped in this underground palace forever."

The female crown nodded slightly:

"Indeed."

"Is there any way to stop the Tushan Clan’s possession?"

Chen Yi asked Yin Weiyin.

"You previously said the Tushan Clan’s remnants are scattered throughout the underground palace. Therefore, for now, we must find and seal them again. This way, the Tushan Clan won’t be able to complete the possession of the empress dowager... though this will require an unknown amount of time."

Taichua Goddess pondered deeply before responding softly.

"What should we do then?"

Listening to Chen Yi’s query, the female crown paced the chamber and said:

"Possession hinges on making the host forget who they are. Conversely, if the host begins to realize their true identity, the process can be delayed."

Chen Yi took a sharp breath, looking at the limp empress dowager in his arms, and asked:

"So, we need to make her understand she’s the Empress Dowager, not the Tushan Clan."

"Precisely. She needs to recognize what’s off about her."

The female crown replied.

Chen Yi mulled it over, glancing at the empress dowager in his arms, feeling a headache coming on.

So now... does he have a new "mother"?