In the vast sky.
Xiao Yuyan stood silently, his body nearly transparent, on the verge of fading into nothingness.
This time, the consequences of altering the past were too great—his body had reached its limit, and even the Heavenly Dao power within him showed signs of dissipating.
As one wanes, another waxes.
Where one weakens, another grows stronger.
In another corner of the sky, the once-suppressed Heavenly Dao, which had been rendered powerless, slowly began to solidify again.
Amidst the endless void, the chaos surrounding Xiao Yuyan seemed to sense something, hesitantly drawing closer but daring only to linger at his side, unwilling to act recklessly.
The azure sky above appeared veiled in a layer of hazy mist.
Not far away, the vortex capable of traversing time and space remained, unlike the last time when it had vanished. Instead, it stood quietly, as if luring something closer.
Compared to before, the temporal energy around it had diminished slightly, and the vortex itself had grown a shade paler.
Each journey through this temporal vortex could only follow the timeline of the previous one.
And with each crossing, its energy would deplete further until it vanished entirely from the world.
This was a rule even the Heavenly Dao could not defy.
Xiao Yuyan’s gaze lingered on the vortex for a fleeting moment before he indifferently averted his eyes.
The only one who could ever make him pause, the only one who could ever hold his gaze, was but a single person.
Looking down at the figure slumbering beneath the Joyous Blossom Tree, a trace of warmth finally surfaced in his eyes.
When a deity has something to cherish, strength becomes a necessity.
Xiao Yuyan lowered his lashes slightly, feeling the dissipating Heavenly Dao energy around him. Without hesitation, he unleashed every last drop of his nearly exhausted spiritual power.
In this moment, his ruthlessness toward himself surpassed the limits his body could endure.
The surrounding Heavenly Dao energy was seized, scorched, and assimilated by his spiritual power, forcibly dragged into his body.
No destruction, no rebirth.
His body was ravaged by the chaotic fusion of Heavenly Dao energy and spiritual power, only to be remade in the next instant.
Through repeated cycles of destruction and rebirth, his form gradually solidified, and all the Heavenly Dao energy around him was once again brought under his control—transformed into spiritual power that belonged solely to him.
Yet, a long time would still pass before he fully recovered.
In the courtyard.
A leaf from the Illusory Blossom Tree drifted on the breeze, landing softly on the back of the slumbering figure’s hand.
Xu Wanci stirred at the touch, finally awakening from her dream.
She lifted her head, taking in the familiar surroundings, all emotions tightly suppressed beneath a mask of calm.
Sitting up, she circulated her spiritual energy as if nothing were amiss. When she sensed the faintly divine aura within her dantian, her fingers stilled, and the flow of her energy ceased.
As a cultivator at the Divine Transformation stage, she no longer needed sleep.
Her recent drowsiness could only be attributed to that strange spiritual mass.
Xu Wanci brushed the fallen leaf from her hand and exhaled slowly.
The Realm Within a Realm was a place where an immortal sovereign had once undergone tribulation, leaving behind traces of their spiritual energy.
Her soul had been nourished by the Three-Petal Lotus forged by that same sovereign—perhaps that was why she could resonate with the remnants of their power.
And so, this… dream had come to be.
A thought flickered through her mind, and her hands, resting on the dark jade table, clenched briefly before relaxing abruptly.
She rose to her feet, suppressing every stray emotion.
She had neglected her cultivation for too long.
Divine Transformation was far from enough.
Only with greater strength could she truly take control of her own fate.
Everything else paled in comparison to cultivation.
In the days that followed, Xu Wanci returned to her former relentless routine, training without rest.
Her spiritual awareness was already on par with a Tribulation Transcension cultivator, and with the aid of that mysterious spiritual mass, her progress soared at an astonishing pace.
Yet, unlike before, when she had been wholly focused, her gaze would occasionally falter for the briefest instant.
She had always been disciplined in restraint, so even Jiang Qiuning, who frequently visited the courtyard, failed to notice those fleeting moments of distraction.
Except… for Xiao Yuyan, watching from the heavens above.
The Heavenly Dao was not meant to feel, nor was it permitted to possess a sense of self.
And he—he was but an incomplete incarnation of it.
What this world needed was the Xiao Yuyan of a century ago, the one who had sacrificed himself to nourish the entire cultivation realm.
And so, the moment he showed the slightest weakness after gaining consciousness, everything in the void—the chaos, the laws, even the Heavenly Dao energy he had absorbed and nearly fully assimilated—began to conspire… to destroy him.
To force him back into nothingness, to become that emotionless, thoughtless entity, willingly drained dry to sustain the cultivation world.
To nourish the true Child of Destiny, ensuring their ascension and the ultimate fulfillment of this realm.
None of it wished to leave Xiao Yuyan even a sliver of hope.
Never mind that without him, the cultivation world would have crumbled into ruin a century ago.
Yet, despite it all… they were powerless to act.
Even in his severely wounded state, Xiao Yuyan, who forcibly tempered his body, remained so powerful that they could do nothing against him.
Until they noticed the pause in his gaze.
They couldn’t harm the person he cared about under his watch, but they could influence him—amplifying the turmoil in his heart.
Once a god harbored emotions, they gained vulnerabilities… and desires.
The spiritual energy in Xiao Yuyan’s meridians, not yet fully assimilated, coiled upward like venomous whispers, seizing his fading consciousness to provoke the malice buried deep within:
"If not for your two reversals through time, how would Xu Wanci ever have crossed paths with the ‘you’ of the past?"
"You planted the seed in her heart, only for her to fall in love with the version of you from a century ago."
"How pitiful."
"You sacrificed your body twice to turn back time, only to pave the way for another."
The icy spiritual energy, as relentless as before, surged through his meridians, obliterating these taunting voices.
Yet as long as Xiao Yuyan continued tempering his body, the whispers fueling his desires would never cease.
His mind magnified every fleeting hesitation, every distant look Xu Wanci had in the mortal realm:
"Tell me, what is she reminiscing about?"
"Is it the you she met only twice in this era, or the ‘you’ she shared life and death with a hundred years ago?"
"Do you think they stood together under the same blooming rainflowers? Did they admire the moon just as they did that night?"
"Did they whisper promises, their hearts inseparable?"
Xiao Yuyan’s spiritual energy coldly refined every trace of heavenly power in his meridians, yet a shadow gradually darkened his once-impassive eyes.
The voice in his heart persisted:
"Go to her. Find her in the past. Stop their meeting."
"Trap her. Let her eyes, her heart, hold only you—no one else."
"Make her love only the you of now."
His gaze swept indifferently over the swirling vortex of time nearby, still ruthlessly drawing in every wisp of escaping heavenly energy.
A sliver of clarity within him remained, a constant reminder:
He could not see her.
Not when he was teetering on the edge of losing control.
A god who descended into the mortal world finally understood desire—and now fought against it.
In the Taiqing Sect, after days of cultivation, Xu Wanci finally shattered her bottleneck, ascending to the Mahayana stage.
Her tribulation bore no thunderous clouds, no dreaded lightning.
Instead, the deity above, suppressing the restlessness in his heart, gifted her a sky alight with gentle, radiant phenomena—a blessing forged from the spiritual energy he had tempered over time.
The entire Taiqing Sect basked in the spectacle, every cultivator receiving fragments of its grace.
Xu Wanci, feeling the vast Mahayana-level energy swirling within her, should have been overjoyed. Yet an inexplicable melancholy lingered—one she refused to examine too closely.
The wisp of immortal essence in her dantian had dwindled further.
If her guess was right, its complete disappearance would mark the end of… those dreams.
A breeze stirred her hair as she faced the congratulatory gazes around her. She offered a perfunctory smile before turning away, declining all celebrations.
In the days that followed, she cultivated as relentlessly as before, indifferent to the uproar she had caused in the cultivation world.
While many had expected Xu Wanci to reach Mahayana eventually, none predicted she would achieve it in less than three months after breaking through to the Divine Transformation stage.
Such speed surpassed even the most prodigious talents of this era.
And then there was her fortune.
Countless cultivators had perished under the ruthless lightning of the Mahayana tribulation.
Yet for Xu Wanci, the heavens bestowed only a sky painted in twilight hues—a scene so breathtaking it stoked envy in many.
Under the favor of the Dao, she ascended to the rank of Mahayana’s revered prodigy with effortless ease.
Still, some genuinely rejoiced in her breakthrough.
Jiang Qiuning, for one.
More than anyone, she wished for Xu Wanci’s eventual ascension.
But seeing her friend cultivate even more obsessively after her advancement, Jiang Qiuning could only sigh and drag her out of the Sword Peak for respite.
Overexertion would only backfire.
This time, Gu Yunqi joined her efforts.
After their journey to the demon realm, Gu Yunqi had not only obtained the Qi Cloud Pill to hasten her cultivation but also gained enlightenment from Xu Wanci’s celestial phenomena.
Though her cultivation progress was modest, her mastery of formations had reached new heights—even crafting an illusionary array rivaling ancient relics.
So when she learned of Xu Wanci’s relentless training, she allied with Jiang Qiuning without hesitation.
The straightforward Third Elder of the Taiqing Sect, who had never been one for subtlety, spent half the day poring over cultivation manuals, citing classic texts, and digging up numerous examples of practitioners who had recklessly forced their cultivation—only to end up severely injured—all in an effort to persuade Xu Wanci.
In the end, the three of them walked together along a secluded, winding path.
Xu Wanci moved forward quietly.
To her left, Gu Yunqi carefully brushed aside the branches of a spirit tree that encroached upon their path.
To her right, Jiang Qiuning held a spirit fruit in her palm, offering it to Xu Wanci’s lips.
Just then, as Xu Wanci took in the surrounding scenery, a thought seemed to strike her. She lifted her gaze through the foliage of the spirit trees, peering into the distance—only to find nothing there.
Gu Yunqi noticed her gaze and abruptly stilled her movements.
As an elder of the Taiqing Sect, she was one of the few who knew the location of the immortal sovereign’s spiritual peak.
In that direction lay a hidden peak, concealed by a barrier—Luoyu Peak.
Her voice carried a note of caution. "Wanci, do you want to go see it?"
Though the barrier around Luoyu Peak was tied to the immortal sovereign and impenetrable to anyone else, given Xu Wanci’s status, she would likely face no resistance at all.
At Gu Yunqi’s words, Xu Wanci snapped out of her thoughts.
Realizing her lapse, she subtly averted her gaze.
No matter how hard she tried to suppress it, the remnants of her dreams still affected her.
This was a mistake she shouldn’t have made.
Some things, if left unspoken, would escape most people’s notice.
For instance—why, in all these hundred years, had she never visited Luoyu Peak?
But once the question was laid bare, the overlooked details might suddenly come to light.
Fortunately, by now, the vast majority believed her lies without question.
All she needed was to craft a plausible excuse.
Naturally, it couldn’t be tied to her. The blame would have to fall on someone else.
At this thought, Xu Wanci gave a faint shake of her head. Pressing her lips together, she smiled helplessly.
"He seems… to dislike going near that place."
Gu Yunqi, having witnessed countless instances of the immortal sovereign’s devotion to Xu Wanci, wasn’t surprised by her words. Instead, she sighed softly in resignation.
To keep Xu Wanci’s existence hidden from others, the immortal sovereign had indeed gone to great lengths.
She attributed everything to his protectiveness over Xu Wanci.
High above in the sky, the darkness in Xiao Yuyan’s eyes deepened, his rationality slipping away inch by inch.
A single sentence from Xu Wanci had silenced all the whispers that had plagued him these past days.
Watching her brush it off with nothing more than a resigned smile, the air around him grew heavy.
If she wished, he could show her every wonder this world had to offer.
Everything under heaven—he would lay it all at her feet.
A hundred years ago… had "he" truly treated her well?
Just a single spiritual peak…
She should have been free, utterly unbound, never… restrained.
