Transmigrated into a heretical cultivator, leading all the villains to ascension.

Chapter 288 The Demon Emperor Emerges from Seclusion

At midnight, two dark figures silently slipped out of the fox clan's dungeon.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ying lowered her voice. "What if we anger Huo Huo..."

“She will not get married.” Zhong Hanshang’s voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, his right eye swirling with blood. “Absolutely not.”

The two of them moved like ghosts through the courtyards and headed straight for Lanyue Pavilion, where Gao Huohuo lived.

But when they climbed over the courtyard wall, they found the house completely dark, without a trace of life.

"Huo Huo isn't here? Could it be that she's already with that damn young master..."

"Cough!" Zhong Hanshang suddenly coughed violently, and a mouthful of blood splattered on the stone steps, instantly freezing into ice.

Ying quickly tried to help him up, but he pushed her away.

"Go to Fenglan's courtyard." Zhong Hanshang wiped the blood from his lips, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

As they silently slipped into Fenglan's bedroom, the soft light from the luminous pearl inside shone through the gauze window, casting two figures on their silhouettes.

Zhong Hanshang's pupils suddenly contracted—the tall man was reaching out to touch the woman's shoulder!

"Zheng——"

A sword light pierced through the window, and the cold blade precisely pressed against Feng Lan's throat.

Zhong Hanshang's figure appeared in the room like a ghost, his sword tip remaining motionless: "Try touching her again."

The air solidified instantly.

Feng Lan stood frozen in place, and in the moonlight, a bead of cold sweat could be clearly seen sliding down his temple.

When he recognized the intruders, his fox ears trembled involuntarily: "You... how did you get out of the dungeon..."

Ying also flashed in, a ball of dark blue demonic fire gathering in her hand.

At this moment, the woman who had been mistaken for Gao Huohuo turned around—it was Manman!

The little flower fairy turned pale with fright and smashed the medicine bowl in her hand on the ground with a "thud".

"Sister Huo Huo went to see the Demon Emperor..." she stammered, "You...you all ran out like this..."

"Demon Emperor?" Zhong Hanshang's sword tip trembled slightly, drawing a line of blood on Feng Lan's neck. "Wasn't the wedding supposed to be tomorrow?"

Feng Lan carefully pushed the blade away with two fingers, and the fox tail curled up nervously.

"We are indeed getting married... but not in the way you think."

Seeing that the bloodshot color in Zhong Hanshang's eyes had intensified, he hurriedly added.

"It was after the Demon Emperor Yao Ye emerged from seclusion that he specifically requested to marry Her Highness the Princess!"

"What?" The demonic fire in Ying's hand suddenly surged. "Wasn't that old monster in seclusion for a hundred years?"

Zhong Hanshang's sword fell to the ground with a clang.

He staggered back two steps. A demon emperor in the Tribulation Transcending stage... even if he and Ying joined forces, they had no chance of winning.

Ying suddenly realized, "So you pretended to get married... to protect Huo Huo?"

Feng Lan nodded with a wry smile, her fox ears drooping limply.

"My father said that the fox clan is, after all, an ancient and powerful clan, and the Demon Emperor should at least give them some face..."

He touched the bloodstains on his neck. "Who knew that Her Highness, not wanting to implicate our fox clan, went to the Demon Emperor's banquet alone tonight..."

Zhong Hanshang suddenly looked up, his right eye bloodshot: "Where?"

---------

The Demon Emperor's palace, a thousand miles away, is adorned with a bright pearl.

Gao Huohuo sat upright in front of the jade table, seemingly calm, but in reality, every nerve in his body was taut.

She could feel the gaze from across the room—like the forked tongue of a viper, licking her skin inch by inch.

What should I call you?

The Demon Emperor Yao Ye leaned lazily on the gilded throne, his silver hair cascading down like a waterfall.

He looked to be in his early twenties, but his golden vertical pupils held the weight of a thousand years of vicissitudes.

"Gao Huohuo? Bai Qiang? Chen Wan'er? Or... Princess Muling?"

Gao Huohuo's fingertips trembled slightly.

These names were like keys, stirring up echoes deep within her mind, yet fleeting in an instant.

She sneered, and the Ghost Blood Vine on her wrist moved silently.

"His Majesty the Demon Emperor is indeed well-informed; he even knows about my amnesia."

Yao Ye chuckled, and a golden light flashed as he raised his hand.

Gao Huohuo suddenly found herself unable to move, her spiritual power dissipating like the receding tide, and even the Ghost Blood Vine shrank back to the shape of an ordinary vine bracelet.

"No need to be nervous." The Demon Emperor stepped down the jade steps and picked up a strand of her hair with his fingertip.

"I simply admire you... I wonder if the position of Empress would be worthy of your attention?"

"Empress Dowager?" Gao Huohuo suppressed his nausea. "Why don't you lift the restrictions first, Your Majesty, and we can have a fair fight?"

A hint of interest flashed in Yao Ye's golden eyes: "Interesting."

He flicked his sleeve to remove the restriction, but as Gao Huohuo stood up, he gently tapped it—

The palace gate was clearly only ten steps away, but no matter how fast Gao Huohuo ran, the distance remained the same.

The Law of Space! This is a divine power possessed only by powerful beings at the Tribulation Transcending stage.

"Yao Ye!" She turned around abruptly, her eyes blazing with anger. "Is this what you call 'upright and honorable'?"

The Demon Emperor suddenly appeared in front of her, so close that she could smell the cold ambergris on his body.

"I only said I wouldn't force you..." He lightly tapped her brow with a finger, "but I never said I'd let you go."

Gao Huohuo's vision went black, and in her last moments of consciousness, she heard Yao Ye's smiling voice.

"Tomorrow is our wedding day, I look forward to seeing how you do... my princess."

When Gao Huohuo woke up the next day, he found himself sitting in front of a carved bronze mirror.

A strange face was reflected in the mirror—wearing a gilded and kingfisher feather hairpin and a red wedding dress embroidered with phoenix patterns.

Several maids were surrounding her, carefully applying rouge to her face.

She tried to get up, but was shocked to find that her body was as if bound by invisible chains, and she could not even move her fingertips.

"Where is Yao Ye?" Gao Huohuo asked coldly.

The maid beside him was startled upon hearing this and hurriedly lowered her voice to reply:

"Your Majesty, the Demon Emperor is entertaining guests in the front hall. Once you have finished dressing, you will be able to see him."

Greeting guests? Did he call all the demons here?

"Who's outside?" she pressed.

"Reporting to the Demon Queen, all the tribes of the demon race have arrived and should be waiting in the front hall at this moment."

They're all here? Yao Ye's prestige among the demons is so high? Doesn't anyone covet his position?

"Alright, go and see if the fox clan chief has arrived yet?"

The maids respectfully withdrew.

They weren't worried that Gao Huohuo would escape—the restrictions personally set up by the Demon Emperor were not so easy to break.

As the auspicious hour approached, Gao Huohuo was helped to the main hall by the maids.

Yao Ye seemed intent on showing off to the entire demon race that he had married the Wood Spirit Princess, and didn't even prepare a red veil for her.

Gao Huohuo scanned the guests in the hall with an expressionless face, her gaze lingering briefly on a few people who claimed to be her senior brothers and sisters.

She frowned slightly—someone with only the cultivation of the Void Refinement stage dares to come to a place like this?

She mechanically completed the ceremony and was then sent back to the inner sanctuary.

After the maids withdrew, another "Gao Huohuo" suddenly emerged from behind the screen in the inner hall.

Just as she was about to leave, she discovered that a barrier had already been set up around her.

If they force their way through, they will inevitably alert the guards outside.

After a moment's thought, Gao Huohuo left the puppet in place while his main body silently disappeared into the shadows.