Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Chu Yang suddenly felt shameful.

What Tie Butian said was completely right. And the questions she asked him also made him unable to answer.

Did he like her? Did he love her? Was it only responsibility? Was there anything romantic?

Tie Butian’s lips were trembling. “I like you, Chu Yang, and I like you! I like you so much that I almost no longer have an identity. Every night you appear in my dreams… I can do anything for you, and I can let you do anything to me! But… I don’t want you to think of me as your responsibility, do you get it? Much less your burden, do you get it? And even much less a tool for you to let out your desires! Do you get it?”

“I want to be a complete woman! Even if you don’t like me, my love is still complete! I only hope you will not trample it casually.”

Chu Yang was pale.

“That’s all I’m saying!” Tie Butian exhaled and said apologetically, “Sorry, Chu Yang, I shouldn’t have spoken to you like this. I hope much less for the man that I love to feel bad for me.”

She paused and said, “That’s all. Chu Yang, my love for you is real, but your lack of love is also real. That’s all. If you still want to do something with me, I will not resist; if you insist on taking me, I will let you. I will do all I can to please you. But that’s because I like you, not because you like me.”

She closed her eyes and asked, “Chu Yang, if you wanted to do something, what are you waiting for?”

Chu Yang stumbled back and said with a trembling voice, “Don’t force me.”

Tie Butian stood straight, her eyes closed. Tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes.

“I admit that I’ve never seen you before, and I feel sorry for you after I knew about you, and whatever love there may be was because of guilt. And the way I treated you was, just like you said, because of the common child that we already have. I thought it’s nothing. But I didn’t know that this would hurt you deeply.”

“I was too wrong for what happened today!” said Chu Yang. “I apologize to you.”

“I’ve never loved you before, and I had no romantic feelings for you, I admit that! Right now, I still only have the desires and wish for the conquest of men, I’ll also admit that!”

As Chu Yang spoke, Tie Butian kept her eyes closed in despair. Her heart was as cold as ice.

“But…” Chu Yang looked up at her with clear eyes. “Whatever you say, it is a fact that we are already inseparable. It cannot be changed that you are my woman. It is undeniable that we’ve had a child together.”

“Butian, I will try my best to make myself like you, any aspect of you, to make myself love you!” Chu Yang strode forward and held Tie Butian in his arms gently. He said softly, “I will make you a happy woman, and I will make you feel that your feelings for me are not in vain. Then, you will naturally see whether my heart is right or wrong, it is from my real feelings or because of the child and responsibility.”

“Without achieving that, I won’t even touch your hair. So please give me some time.” Chu Yang held her gently and whispered in her ears, “I am not a good person, but… do you believe that I can be a downright hooligan?”

Tie Butian smiled with tears in her eyes and said softly, “I believe it.”

She looked up, opened her eyes and gazed at Chu Yang. “Are you not a hooligan?”

Chu Yang smiled. “When I fall in love with you, you will realize that I’m such a hooligan that you can’t bear it.”

Tie Butian’s face suddenly flushed, and she bowed her head shyly.

The conversation between the two was serious, but in the last sentences, both adopted a relaxed way of conversation and tacitly eased the tension between them.

Both were smart people and they would never make the relationship between them bad beyond repair. Just like Chu Yang said, what had happened would definitely not change. The existence of the child made the two even more inseparable.

As such, why not face it together and work together to change this situation?

“But, I’m very sorry.” Chu Yang’s voice was filled with pain. “Inside my heart, there’s not only you but also others, so…”

Tie Butian smiled softly and said, “It’s me who should be sorry! There’s been only one in your heart from the beginning till the end. But once you know this, you can’t give up the thought. So you’re going to force yourself to break up your heart?”

Chu Yang took a deep breath and nodded. “You may say that.”

“This is why I didn’t want you to know previously.” Tie Butian smiled and said gently, “If it can be kept a secret, that’s beyond good. If you are unaware, there won’t be any burden on your consciousness and your mind would still be at peace.”

“Since you know it now, I won’t ask you to leave us. That’s another kind of cruelty to you.” Tie Butian smiled lightly. “My position won’t allow me to be a good wife to you.”

She purposefully sighed. “Besides, you, playboy, have yet to fancy me.”

Chu Yang couldn’t help but shake his head and grin.

At this moment, he really discovered Tie Butian’s virtue: this woman was always decisive and controlling in her reign of the world, yet toward him, she was actually immensely thoughtful. She understood absolutely every mood of his, and every word she spoke was trying to avoid embarrassment for him.”

Chu Yang sighed and said emotionally, “Butian, how good it would be… if you weren’t an emperor!”

A brightness appeared at the depth of Tie Butian’s eyes as she received the tender feelings from Chu Yang’s words clearly. She muttered, “Chu Yang, you already like me a little.”

Chu Yang laughed and the two separated. Chu Yang looked at Tie Butian sincerely and said in a soft voice, “About today, I hope you will forgive me.”

Tie Butian looked up at Chu Yang, and her face was a bit flushed. However, she said softly and calmly, “Do you know that your greatest virtue is that when you are actually wrong, you never deny it, or shirk the blame, or find excuses. I like it very much.”

She paused and said solemnly, “I forgive you!”

Chu Yang was relieved. He said gently, “Thank you. You know, we need to start again. I don’t want to leave any… bad impression in your heart.”

Tie Butian’s eyes wandered and she smiled. “And for us women, there’s actually only one person that we like in our whole life. If we don’t cherish them and leave a knot in our hearts… Wouldn’t that be stupid?”

She smiled softly. “A woman has to cherish herself and what she has.”

She said softly, “Life is short.”

Chu Yang laughed and realized another virtue of this smart woman: open-mindedness!

Chu Yang suddenly remembered something. “Oh yeah, how did you know that I’m the Nine Tribulations Sword Master?”

Tie Butian smiled somewhat mischievously. “The Nine Tribulations Pill that you left me, I’ve already taken it.”

She sighed with some melancholy. “It’s a pity… Though there is a Nine Tribulations Sword Master in the world, the timing was one year too late. If Father… could hang on for a while…”

Chu Yang also nodded heavily. Tie Butian was right. When Tie Longcheng died, he had yet to obtain any of the Nine Great Herbal Medicines. In only a little more than half a year, he’d get it. But he wasn’t able to survive that half a year, after all. Chu Yang felt especially emotional now.

Tie Butian was a woman, and his woman. If Tie Butian could live… How good would it be for their family to reunite and go back to the Upper Three Heavens happily?

All the trouble in the Lower Three Heavens would be left for the father-in-law to deal with.

But now… It is too late to say anything.

“So you knew that was the Nine Tribulations Pill? So you ascertained my identity as Nine Tribulations Sword Master?” Chu Yang’s eyes flashed.

“No. It was my master who identified the Nine Tribulations Pill when the child was born. But…” Tie Butian smiled lightly. “Since I know that you are the Nine Tribulations Sword Master, how would I let the news loose? So I alone know your identity for now. And I didn’t tell anyone about who gave me the Nine Tribulations Pill.”

Chu Yang was stunned. “Your master?”

Tie Butian smiled. “My master is called Lan Meixian.” She paused and said softly and slowly, “She’s from Lan Clan of the Upper Three Heavens.”

Chu Yang let out an “oh”, and immediately became a bit dull, and then cold sweat covered his body.

He really didn’t expect that Tie Butian’s master was actually Lan Meixian! And he still left Nine Tribulations Pill back then. Should it not be for the thoughtfulness of Tie Butian, he was afraid… his identity would have been public knowledge in the whole Nine Heavens right now.

Thinking about Lan Meixian’s eventual life or death being unknown after his sword attack, Chu Yang felt a little guilty. “She doesn’t know, right?”

“Am I so thoughtless?” Tie Butian rolled her eyes at him.

Immediately, Tie Butian thought of something and her pretty face flushed red.

“Why are you blushing?” Chu Yang was amazed.

“Oh, well… It seems that your mother was my Senior Sister,” said Tie Butian a little hesitantly.

“Huh?!” Chu Yang was really shocked.

He had never thought of this, and he always thought Yang Ruolan was taught by those from her own clan. Besides, Yang Ruolan had never shown her cultivation in front of him. He really had no idea who her mother’s master was.

It was actually Lan Meixian!

Chu Yang felt a little dizzy: the two people who were the closest to him were both Lan Meixian’s disciples. And the attack that affected Lan Meixian’s life or death… was from him?

Uh… This seemed to be quite a troublesome matter.

“That means I’ll have to call you Senior Aunt?” Chu Yang’s eyes opened wide.

Tie Butian blushed and pouted her lips. “If you want to call me Senior Aunt, you may.”

Chu Yang sighed. “No wonder the ancients said that to be able to learn, you have to sleep with your Senior Aunt…”

In the next moment, Minister Chu was covered by a series of frustrated fist beatings, and then his lower belly suffered a kick and he fell down, grimacing…

This woman was an emperor indeed, so violent…

…….