“You ruled the Upper Realm for nearly four epochs just so that now you could use it to threaten A-Li and me?”
Chen Yixin held Wenren Li’s hand. With their backs to the Heavenly River, they stared coldly at Dongfang Jin and at the projection of the Upper Realm in his palm. An enormous formation like this must have required an extraordinary amount of time to construct. Most likely, countless Immortal Lords and Immortal Emperors had contributed to it without knowing what they were truly building.
Yet the truth was this cruel and merciless: the person to whom they had pledged allegiance had never regarded either their lives or their homeland as important.
“Times have changed. They betrayed A-Li and me first. Why should we sacrifice ourselves again for traitors no different from you? I’m not stupid. Neither is A-Li.” Chen Yixin narrowed his eyes. He was not merely saying this to deceive Dongfang Jin.
Compared with Wenren Li’s old ambition of bringing blessing to every immortal beneath Heaven, Chen Yixin’s world had always been simple: family, lover, friends. Nothing more. Those who abandoned them had no right to demand Chen Yixin or Wenren Li sacrifice themselves again.
Dongfang Jin possessed none of that generosity himself. What right did he have to demand it from them?
Yet convincing Dongfang Jin of this was difficult. No—more accurately, he had already staked everything on one desperate gamble. If he failed, he intended to drag the entire Upper Realm into death with him. If he could also drag Wenren Li and Chen Yixin along, he would be even more pleased.
His state of mind had already reached the point of utter desperation and insanity.
“Nangong Chuan is a Heavenly Qilin, while Hong Yu is a Sacred Qilin. Only by combining the two can the true Qilin Saint be completed.” As Dongfang Jin spoke, he turned toward Nangong Chuan and nodded faintly, confirming the suspicion already forming in Nangong’s mind.
“That’s right. Hong Yu is your secondary soul. It is natural for the main soul to devour the secondary soul. But Hong Yu developed independent consciousness, refused to return, and cultivated a Sacred Qilin body of his own…”
Dongfang Jin turned toward Wenren Li beside Chen Yixin. A faint look of admiration entered his eyes as he revealed secrets buried beneath time.
“It was him. He used one of his own branches to reconstruct your secondary soul. Only because of that were you later able to use the Soul-Severing Sword to cut through his true body and divide it into three. With that strike, the perfect secondary soul he created for you ceased to be perfect. Of countless possible arts, you ultimately chose the Myriad Transformations Avatar Technique.”
The thing Dongfang Jin had always admired most about Wenren Li was his almost creator-like medical art: bringing the dead back to life and transforming decay into wonder.
“There was always meant to be only one Qilin Saint. It was your misplaced compassion that created every disaster that followed.”
If Wenren Li had been more ruthless back then, erased Hong Yu’s consciousness, and sent him directly to merge with Nangong Chuan, he would never have needed to use his own branch to reconstruct Nangong’s soul. Nor would he later have left such a terrifying weakness in Nangong’s hands, which eventually became the weapon Nangong used while helping Dongfang betray him.
Wenren Li said nothing. Chen Yixin, however, became so furious at Dongfang Jin’s words that flames erupted around his body, as though he wanted to burn both Dongfang and Nangong clean from existence. Nangong Chuan, who had only now learned these buried secrets, looked faintly stunned. His gaze toward Wenren Li became extremely complicated, though he likewise said nothing.
“Lin Yu of the Tianyu Clan, I of the Heavenly Dragon, and Qingruo the Heavenly Phoenix all developed without much trouble, but…” Dongfang Jin’s gaze shifted slightly. Wenren Li, who had shown almost no reaction until now, frowned and pulled Chen Yixin closer.
“Just as there should only be one Heavenly Qilin, there should likewise have been only one Heavenly Phoenix. Yet on the day Qingruo reached maturity, Heaven and Earth produced an extraordinary phenomenon and the void erupted. If I’m not mistaken, Qingruo brought him back from the Heavenly River.”
Dongfang Jin raised one hand and pointed at Chen Yixin. Intense desire gradually appeared in his eyes. “Heavenly Phoenix… Heavenly Phoenix… He only became a Heavenly Phoenix egg after being stained with Heavenly Phoenix blood, didn’t he?”
In other words, Chen Yixin had never originally been a Heavenly Phoenix at all. He had merely been some unknown thing Qingruo retrieved from the Heavenly River that became contaminated by Qingruo’s Heavenly Phoenix aura.
“The Heavenly Book records that whoever controls the sacred object, the Void Origin, is the Guardian of the Realm Gate! Rong’er, you came from the Heavenly River. You came from the world beyond the Realm Gate… Rong’er, this life is the time for your return.” That was the true world of immortality that saints like them desired beyond measure. Dongfang therefore had to obtain Chen Yixin and would tolerate nobody else possessing him.
“Absurd!” Chen Yixin snapped. Yet his hand tightened even more around Wenren Li’s waist. Looking up, his eyes turned fierce as he murmured, “Wherever A-Li is, that’s where I’ll be.”
“A-Rong doesn’t need to worry. We will not be separated. I promise.”
Wenren Li answered quietly, gently rubbing Chen Yixin’s hair. His gaze shifted slightly behind Chen Yixin. He had failed to notice earlier, but now he saw that Chen Yixin’s hair color was changing by tiny degrees, becoming increasingly similar to the color of the Heavenly River.
Yet after everything they had experienced, this certainly was not another scheme created by Dongfang Jin and Nangong Chuan to manipulate them.
“You seem to have omitted Great Emperor’s origins.”
Nangong Chuan’s voice sounded. He raised one hand, revealing a triangular piece of black stone. This was precisely the missing corner of the Three Lives Well. Nangong had accidentally found it on the road here while Dongfang Jin was occupied dealing with the creatures of the Extradimensional Realm and had failed to notice.
Dongfang Jin lied constantly. Even when speaking truth, he selected only the portions beneficial to himself. The missing corner of the Three Lives Well did not record some marriage between Chen Yixin and Dongfang Jin at all. Nor did it record any marriage fate. Instead, there was only an extremely simple little drawing.
Nangong Chuan had studied the drawing for a long time without understanding it, but he suspected it might depict Wenren Li’s origin. When Wenren Li relocated the Three Lives Well back then, his purpose had been to learn more about precisely this issue. Yet after moving it, the well had still failed to reflect Wenren Li’s image.
At Nangong’s words, the triangular fragment flew toward Wenren Li. Dongfang Jin narrowed his eyes and clearly wanted to stop Nangong, but he understood that if he acted now, all three people before him would immediately unite against him. The moment to move had not yet arrived.
Chen Yixin was the one who reached out. He caught the triangular fragment, examined it carefully, then handed it to Wenren Li.
“What kind of drawing of A-Li is this? Why is it so ugly…” Chen Yixin’s words showed that he had understood the little image none of the others could decipher. He wrapped both arms around Wenren Li’s waist and rested his head against his shoulder.
“A-Li was a little tree growing beside the Realm Gate on the banks of the Heavenly River. And I came… I came to find A-Li, didn’t I? Mhm. That should be it.”
The love confession Chen Yixin casually invented struck the three people around him with a sense of realization like a lightning bolt. Anything another person said might be unreliable, but this was Chen Yixin himself speaking.
If the Guardian of the Realm Gate entered the world to search for the tree he had raised, then should he return, the only person he would bring with him was his tree. Every act Dongfang Jin had taken against Wenren Li had therefore been an attempt to replace Wenren Li’s position beside Chen Yixin.
Yet all of it was futile. Even after forgetting everything, Chen Yixin still chose Wenren Li.
Wenren Li held the triangular fragment and had not yet had time to examine it carefully when it transformed into a streak of silver light and became a mark upon his palm. At that moment, the character that had been floating behind Nangong Chuan drifted over by itself and condensed within Wenren Li’s palm.
Chen Yixin raised his own hand and covered Wenren Li’s with the palm containing the other character. Silver light erupted violently from between their palms, forcing Dongfang Jin and Nangong Chuan to close their eyes.
By the time they could see again, Chen Yixin and Wenren Li had moved even closer to the Heavenly River.
Dongfang Jin instinctively followed one step, clearly worried that Chen Yixin might suddenly open the Realm Gate and leave with Wenren Li alone. Naturally, he also knew that with Chen Yixin’s and Wenren Li’s current strength, opening the Realm Gate should still be essentially impossible.
The two stopped on a reef closest to the Heavenly River. The river’s overwhelming roar and pressure gave them the sensation that divine destruction might strike at any moment. Yet even closer to the river than they were floated the Demon Abyss Well.
“Pull it back!” Wenren Li ordered. Chen Yixin understood without further explanation, while the words were also directed at Nangong Chuan. All three acted together. After a long struggle, they managed to move the Demon Abyss Well only slightly.
“Useless. The Demon Abyss Well, just like the Three Lives Well and Myriad Worlds Well, is connected to the Heavenly River. Nothing you do like this will change anything.”
The pale-yellow projection in Dongfang Jin’s palm trembled faintly as he mocked them, yet he still chose not to interfere immediately.
“Three Lives Well, Myriad Worlds Well—pull together!” Chen Yixin suddenly shouted toward the Heavenly River. Through the connection among the three wells, his voice echoed slowly into the bottoms of the two wells in Yuxu Palace.
The two wells had been bullied by Chen Yixin for so long that their spiritual awareness had grown extraordinarily strong. While Dongfang Jin believed success impossible, the Demon Abyss Well suddenly began returning at several times its previous speed.
The three wells were supposed to be nothing but wells. Nobody had ever heard of them producing spirits or awareness. Yet somehow they could understand Chen Yixin’s words… No, perhaps others could not accomplish it, but Chen Yixin could. If he truly came from beyond the Realm Gate, there was very little he could not do.
“Useless…” Dongfang Jin quickly calmed himself again and shook his head. “Still useless…”
“Who told you it was useless?” Chen Yixin reached out and drew the projection of the Demon Abyss Well into his arms. His heart finally settled. Raising his head toward Dongfang Jin, he smiled. “You’re waiting. A-Li and I are waiting too.”
“You’re waiting for your people to activate the formation. A-Li and I are waiting for Elder Brother and Lin Yu to destroy it.”
As the words left Chen Yixin’s mouth, Dongfang Jin stared in horror at his own palm. The pale-yellow projection there was fading. In the outside world, Yuxu Palace under Qingruo and Lin Yu had gained the upper hand.
Chen Yixin lowered his eyes toward the Demon Abyss Well in his arms, his expression turning severe. “Demon Abyss Well, you aided evil and harmed both A-Li and me. Divide again into Demon Well and Abyss Well. Your spiritual awareness is hereby erased!”
At Chen Yixin’s command, the Demon Abyss Well split into two. One became a mass of absolute blackness while the other became a faint gray. Chen Yixin turned and cast both back into the Heavenly River.
Boom! Boom! Two sharp sounds rang out. The stones on Dongfang Jin’s and Nangong Chuan’s thumbs that connected them to the Demon Abyss Well shattered into powder. With the well divided in two, their authority over it vanished completely.
A faint buzz, buzz… drifted from within the Heavenly River. It came from the Myriad Worlds Well and Three Lives Well. After all the various forms of “discipline” Chen Yixin had inflicted upon them, their spiritual awareness had grown frighteningly strong. They were now enthusiastically declaring their loyalty.
“I… I…”
“Don’t believe me?” Chen Yixin interrupted Dongfang Jin before he could finish. He did not want to hear Dongfang’s voice at all. “What does whether you believe me have to do with me?”
At that moment, Nangong Chuan stepped forward and knelt. Dongfang Jin had already lost all his hidden cards. Nangong possessed even fewer.
“I have wronged Great Emperor. I accept any punishment.”
Nangong had always believed he lived clearly and decisively, severing affection and abandoning loyalty so he would never carry the burden of emotion. Yet only now did he discover that from beginning to end, he had been trapped within someone else’s calculations. After kneeling, he transformed back into his true form—a wooden Qilin.
Born of the same source and instinctively close, Nangong too had once looked toward the Great Emperor of Yuxu Palace with pure admiration. He had been proud to enter the world from Yuxu Palace. But gradually, that pride became polluted by arrogance, ambition, and desire for power.
Chen Yixin looked once at Wenren Li, then swept a hand toward Nangong Chuan. “Erase one more soul and four spirits. I sentence you to suppression beneath the Heavenly River. Unless the Heavenly River itself is severed, you shall never return.”
At his words, Nangong Chuan, now left with only one soul and one spirit, threw himself willingly into the Heavenly River.
Chen Yixin turned toward Dongfang Jin. Dongfang’s back remained straight. He seemed to still possess some hope of victory, as though he intended to overturn everything. Yet this place was destined to become his grave.
“It was you. You erased so many Ancient Gods throughout history! Great Emperor, you saw it, you heard it! He killed Father God. He killed every Ancient God you once knew!”
“If you put it that way, then yes. You aren’t entirely wrong.”
Chen Yixin nodded calmly and accepted the accusation. Even if Dongfang had not personally killed them, with his nature, he would never have stopped their deaths or saved them. Compared with many Ancient Gods, he had been an even colder guardian—or perhaps executioner.
“Simply killing you would never repay what you’ve done. Dongfang Jin, reveal your true form!”
At Chen Yixin’s words, the Dongfang Jin in Chen Yixin’s and Wenren Li’s eyes became a golden dragon. His scales were gold, but gray-brown demonic mist surrounded his entire body, and beneath his feet lay a black Divine Crystal.
“One soul shall be suppressed in the Demon Well, eternally suffering the corrosion of ten thousand demons. One soul shall be suppressed in the Abyss Well, eternally suffering madness and confusion. Your six spirits shall have their immortal roots erased and be reduced to mortal insects—unable to die, unable to perish!”
Dongfang Jin desired immortality, so Chen Yixin would grant it to him. Dying again and again without ever reaching a final death was also a form of immortality.
“Your main soul can enter the Realm Gate on behalf of A-Li and me and get itself properly cleansed…”
With every sentence Chen Yixin pronounced, the Heavenly River responded with terrifying force. The complete Dongfang Jin was reduced instantly until only his main soul remained. Every evil karma he had accumulated wrapped around that soul, leaving the divine dragon so filthy it scarcely looked divine any longer.
“Ahhh! I refuse! I refuse! The Heavenly Book cannot have deceived me! The Heavenly Book cannot have deceived me…” The dragon main soul, now less than half its original size, rolled across the Divine Crystal, unable to accept such an ending.
“You mean this?” Chen Yixin placed a hand against his chest and actually drew out his Divine Heart. At its center, within a mass of ice-blue flame, a gray projection pulsed and slowly expanded.
“The Void Origin is the origin of myriad evils. Even the waters of the Heavenly River cannot wash it clean. Only the Realm Gate can isolate it. That Heavenly Book was something it carved for you, wasn’t it?”
“No! No, I still have this! I haven’t lost!”
Dongfang Jin opened his mouth and bit the crystal beneath him. Every epoch, the Void Origin produced a crystal. The price Dongfang paid to refine all those crystals into one was merging his own Divine Crystal into them as well. Only through that could they use the Void Origin to comprehend life and death and the path to immortality, eventually crossing that final step.
“You tried to use the entire Upper Realm to pave your road, but in the end, you were nothing more than a puppet of the Void Origin.”
After speaking, Chen Yixin tightened one hand around the gray projection at the center of his Divine Heart and ignored the nearly insane Dongfang Jin. He turned toward Wenren Li. “A-Li, are you willing to trust me?”
“I trust you. We live together. If we die, we remain together.”
Wenren Li had no obsession with immortality. His obsession had always been Chen Yixin. If Chen Yixin asked for trust, Wenren Li would trust him.
Chen Yixin nodded, rose onto his toes, and kissed Wenren Li’s cheek. Then he stood properly, threw the Void Origin wrapped inside his Divine Heart toward Dongfang Jin, and detonated it before Dongfang could act. At the same moment, Chen Yixin embraced Wenren Li and together they leapt into the Heavenly River.
“Ahhh!” The mist surrounding Dongfang Jin ignited directly. Enveloped by it with nowhere to escape, he stared at Chen Yixin’s and Wenren Li’s backs as they fell and detonated the crystal. But the instant Chen Yixin and Wenren Li entered the Heavenly River, a Realm Gate formed from Heavenly River water appeared before them.
“I’m coming! Immortality—I want immortality!” Dongfang Jin, wrapped in burning black fire, charged toward the Realm Gate. Yet an extraordinarily pure divine radiance erupted from within. Dongfang Jin’s main soul and the projection attached to him were both illuminated into nothingness.
“Ahhh!” This was true agony. Immortality had seemed within reach, yet Dongfang Jin carried the evil karma of the Void Origin and could not pass. The divine light erased him completely.
Within the Heavenly River, Chen Yixin held Wenren Li as they sank continuously downward. Chen Yixin’s eyes remained closed and his expression extraordinarily peaceful. Wenren Li was the opposite. He could not survive within the Heavenly River, and the farther they sank, the worse his condition became.
“This time, perhaps I’m the one who will drag A-Rong down…”
Wenren Li held Chen Yixin. A lock appeared on each of their wrists—the Life-Binding Lock Wenren Li himself had forged. Chen Yixin could not undo it, though naturally Wenren Li himself was an exception. The locks appeared only briefly before fading again.
Wenren Li lifted Chen Yixin’s chin and kissed him, then held him tightly and allowed their descent to continue without resistance. In the end, he could not bear it. Compared with forcing Chen Yixin to live, Wenren Li was even less capable of forcing him to endure the pain of surviving alone.
That pain was too great. Wenren Li had endured it once, and after the upheaval at Yuxu Palace, Chen Yixin had endured it once as well. Neither possessed the strength to suffer it a second time.
The Heavenly River was water even purer than the Sea of Ice Extremity. Almost no living thing could endure its erosion without being destroyed. Wenren Li returned to his true form, a silver tree. Chen Yixin’s body gradually transformed into water as well, and that water completely surrounded the silver tree.
Within the Heavenly River, they seemed never to move, yet also seemed to be carried constantly forward. They knew neither their destination nor even themselves.
Outside, the final battle had long since ended. Once the Demon Abyss Well split in two and lost its divine power, the awakened Immortal Emperors deprived of its protection began falling one after another. The Void-Heaven Battlefield vanished completely with the relocation of the Demon Abyss Well.
Every one of the Upper Realm’s Ten Emperors and Nine Clans eventually submitted. The decisive conflict that had lasted nearly a thousand years finally ended.
Yet nobody within Yuxu Palace could celebrate because their masters never returned. A hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years, a hundred thousand…
Qiu Yi and An Cheng had performed sacrificial rituals before the Myriad Worlds Well and Three Lives Well more than once, attempting to sense them. But both wells remained as dead and unresponsive as ever. Their divine properties gradually weakened, as did the spiritual liveliness they had always possessed whenever Chen Yixin was present.
“Could they have… perished together?” An Cheng finally whispered in despair, then immediately slapped himself across the mouth. “Ptui, ptui, ptui! Impossible! Great Emperor and Sovereign Consort definitely won’t be harmed!”
Outside Yuxu Palace, Qingruo and Lin Yu followed a young boy with two silver whiskers growing from his forehead. “Yinzi, where are you taking us?”
After all these years, Yinzi had finally managed to assume human form. His speed through the void was extremely fast. Qingruo and Lin Yu could keep up, but Jiuyu, who had originally followed too, had long since been left behind.
“This place… is where I brought A-Rong back from.” Qingruo stopped, and Lin Yu halted beside him. Together they stared at the roaring Heavenly River before them.
“Could Great Emperor’s and A-Rong’s battle still be continuing?” This was not impossible. The flow of time where the decisive battle occurred differed from that of the Upper Realm. Perhaps very little time had passed there while thousands or tens of thousands of years passed here.
“Could they be waiting for us to help them? I knew we shouldn’t have divided into two groups back then. The four of us should’ve fought those two together…” Qingruo spoke, but time could not be reversed. No decision could be changed.
“Don’t touch it.” Lin Yu caught Qingruo’s hand and pulled him away from the Heavenly River’s edge. When Qingruo reached maturity long ago, he had flown across the Heavenly River and seen something within it. He reached down and indeed retrieved an egg, but the sight of his own hands covered in streaming blood had terrified him.
“I… I’ll try again. Maybe I can fish A-Rong and Great Emperor out again!” Qingruo pulled his hand free from Lin Yu and returned to the riverbank, his expression serious as he reached toward the water.
Lin Yu frowned at him helplessly but did not stop him again. Qingruo was never someone Lin Yu could truly restrain. More importantly, if he did not allow Qingruo to do something, the man might be crushed beneath the guilt and worry inside him.
Pfft! Before Qingruo’s hand even touched the Heavenly River, Yinzi’s head suddenly emerged from the water. His long whiskers wrapped around Qingruo’s wrist, and Qingruo used the opportunity to pull him out.
Yinzi returned to his original form and collapsed beside the riverbank, looking utterly miserable. He began vomiting water. Ugh, pfft… ugh, pfft…
Nobody knew how much terrifying Heavenly River water Yinzi had swallowed. Qingruo and Lin Yu stared helplessly and were just about to approach when Yinzi’s mouth suddenly opened extremely wide and spat out a silver tree.
“G-Great Emperor!”
The instant the silver tree landed, it transformed into Wenren Li. His eyes remained tightly closed and his body was completely dry. Yet no matter how Qingruo or Lin Yu called to him, he did not awaken.
“Great Emperor’s soul does not appear to have returned to the body yet.” Lin Yu carefully examined him before telling Qingruo, Yinzi, who had returned to human form, and Jiuyu, who had finally caught up. But recovering Wenren Li’s true body at least meant the situation was not as hopeless as they had feared.
“A-Li should return soon. Elder Brother and the others must be worried sick…”
Wenren Li’s soul wore black robes and had black hair. Looking toward a mass of Heavenly River water before him, he gently shook his head. “I’ll wait for you.”
“All right…”
A hundred thousand years later, the Heavenly River of the Upper Realm stirred again. The Three Lives Well and Myriad Worlds Well, silent for nearly two hundred thousand years, began trembling as well.
A streak of black light shot into Yuxu Palace’s main hall. Qingruo and Lin Yu were alerted and hurried there, only to discover that Wenren Li’s true body had disappeared.
Wenren Li arrived at the banks of the Heavenly River and stepped directly into the water. Through the river, he entered the Extradimensional Realm. This was precisely the place where Chen Yixin had taken him into the Heavenly River that day. Today, Wenren Li had come here to bring Chen Yixin home.
“A-Rong…” Wenren Li called, searching the vast Heavenly River.
A chain formed from Heavenly River water suddenly wrapped around Wenren Li’s waist and dragged him into the river. Water covered his vision, and when he could see clearly again, an exquisitely beautiful young man without a thread of clothing was grinning at him.
“A-Li came awfully fast…”
The moment the words left his mouth, the young man eagerly kissed him.
It was Chen Yixin—but he was no longer Chen Yixin the Heavenly Phoenix, nor was he merely the outsider Dongfang Jin had imagined. Chen Yixin’s true form was the Soul of the Heavenly River.
End of Main Story
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