Tang Yue put away all the remaining higher tier beast meat and collected only the 15 Emperor tier beasts of the island.
"Time to head back to the palace."
Her hiss echoed in the silent tunnels beneath the grand palace and before the echo could die down, she had already reached the place as if she distorted space itself.
"Oh! I am still at the Deity realm but this single evolution managed to change my speed this much?" Tang Yue was pleasantly surprised. She could now move in the blink of an eye.
"I wonder how much more I can push my limits after fully consuming all the Emperor tier beasts?"
Tang Yue eyed the pile of slaughtered beasts with excitement twinkling in her eyes. To her, these were nothing more than refined cultivation pills.
The ghost wryly chuckled. He had already seen all this and to him, this was nothing but history repeating itself.
"Old man, do you think I will now be able to absorb the complete bloodline just from a single beast?" Tang Yue licked her lips. Thick strands of demonic aura seeped out of her.
"Yes, little… I mean… yes, your highness. It should be possible at your current stage."
"Mmm… I will begin then." Tang Yue started with the Lava Salamander Emperor beast whom she had personally defeated.
Her hands moved like a metallic whip and within seconds, the meat was cleanly severed and separated from the hardened scales.
"Wah! Such a spicy and unique flavor!" Tang Yue was in a good mood and she enjoyed her feast, unlike the other times when she had simply gulped everything down.
Eleana walked over to her and she relayed onto her the various things the other snakes had been up to in the meantime, especially, their progress concerning the various ancient arts, including rune crafting and alchemy.
"Not bad, who is this person who managed to achieve such a mastery of rune crafting?" Tang Yue flickered her tongue. "Bring her over. Let me take a look."
Eleana nodded and went to look for Jin Nuhen, who quickly rushed back with her along with another serpentine spirit beast.
"Your highness."
"Your highness." Both Jin Nuhen and the other serpent offered their greetings.
Tang Yue's crimson eyes were a bit too ominous so both of them couldn't help but look at her with a hint of fear mixed with respect in their eyes.
"So you are the one who managed to crack the first layer of the curse?" Tang Yue gently smiled waving them both to take a seat.
Jin Nuhen nodded respectfully and sat down with an aged grace, while the other party grinned like a wild child and plopped onto the seat as if she could barely contain her excitement.
Looking at her behavior, Tang Yue chuckled and asked, "And you are?"
"Your highness! I am Selena." The young woman jumped up again, her voluptuous chest jiggling and she bowed in a somewhat playful manner.
"Idiot! Is this how you behave in front of the Empress?!"
Jin Nuhen was shocked to see the woman being her usual carefree self and wanted to reprimand her right then and there. However, since Tang Yue was there, he simply glared at her and didn't say much.
Selena immediately quieted down and the grin on her face also dulled a little.
"That's alright. You don't have to be so formal with me." Tang Yue smiled. "Come here. Let me take a look at the runes and how you managed to remove the first layer of the curse."
The young woman became cheery once more and she quickly stalked up to Tang Yue.
She looked at the Empress with her big turquoise eyes and then kneeled down, facing her back to Tang Yue so that she could take a look.
There were numerous black runic marks etched onto her back as if someone had engraved them deep into her soul and Tang Yue and Eleana were both about to take a look, when the young woman unexpectedly removed her robe, becoming completely naked.
Both Eleana and Jin Nuhen immediately turned bright red. Tang Yue, however, was too engrossed in the runic markings to notice the wild woman's strange behavior, who smiled brightly and explained. "Just so that her highness can take a better look."
Huh? Eleana shot a meaningful glance at Jin Nuhen and he shook his head helplessly in return. She saw the young woman looking at Tang Yue with big bright eyes and had a bad feeling.
She waved her hand and the two of them walked out of the chamber to talk, so as to not disturb the Empress.
"Nuhen? Who is that person?" Eleana asked.
"Ah! She is just a member of our clan. I apologize, Lady Eleana. She is a bit eccentric. Maybe i shouldn't have brought her over."
"No, it's fine." Eleana sighed. "Figuring out this curse runic pattern is more important." Though the harpy had mouthed these words, it was clear that she didn't quite believe them herself.
She thought that the snake had a pair of crazy eyes as if she was obsessed with Tang Yue.
"No, it's fine. She is after all still in the lower realms. She couldn't possibly harm the Empress." She muttered to herself and the two of them again walked back into the chamber.
However, before they could take another step, they stopped in their tracks. The image from before had completely changed and Selena was no longer kneeling in front of Tang Yue.
Her naked figure was comfortably seated on Tang Yue's lap!
Both Eleana and Jin Nuhen blinked their eyes as if they couldn't believe what was happening. It was not that they were surprised by Selena's actions.
The look in her eyes had long betrayed her emotions. They were just surprised that the Empress had allowed her to do so!
However, things became clearer soon. Once the duo recovered from their initial shock, they took a closer look at the situation and could see the very obvious thing that was wrong with this picture.
While one licked her lips seductively with big bright crazy eyes, the other party was completely focussed on the runic marks which were now broken in several places.