Upon hearing Xiao Yuyan's words, Xu Wanci froze for a moment.
Days earlier, she had observed the unrest within the polar regions. Even if every Transcendent Realm cultivator in the entire cultivation world were to mobilize, they could likely only suppress it for another half-month.
How could there possibly be ten years of stability?
Seeing the calm yet resolute expression on the face of the man before her, she finally realized:
It was him. He had forcibly suppressed the chaotic spiritual energy in the four polar regions with his own power.
Xu Wanci stared blankly at Xiao Yuyan.
He had never once discouraged her actions:
When she pursued strength and cultivated day and night, he never urged her to slow down. Instead, he helped her find methods suited to her cultivation and sought out rare treasures to enhance her power.
When she chose to hunt ferocious beasts, despite knowing the dangers, he never protested. He simply stayed by her side, ready to protect her in moments of crisis.
And now, faced with the beastly unrest that could only be quelled by her ascension, he once again silently resolved the predicament for her, allowing her to cultivate in peace—even at great cost to his own spiritual energy.
He had always given her everything, without reservation.
Xu Wanci felt a lump rise in her throat and slowly clenched her hands.
She softened her breath, and a thought suddenly surged in her heart:
Was the difference between her and Chu Qingchuan truly time, status, or fate?
Or… was it the heart?
She cared too much, unlike the selfish and single-minded Chu Qingchuan.
Xu Wanci lowered her head, coldly dissecting her own emotions.
She dredged up everything she had forcibly ignored—her cultivation, Xiao Yuyan, and… the lies.
She lifted her gaze and earnestly called out the name of the man before her:
"Xiao Yuyan."
Seeing the sudden gentleness in his expression and the unwavering focus in his eyes, she forced herself not to look away and whispered:
"What if… I deceived you when you didn’t know? What if I used your status to my advantage?"
The passage of time had turned her lies into truth, but it couldn’t change her original intent.
She had done it to survive.
That was why the lie existed.
Xiao Yuyan watched her stubbornly waiting for his answer, as if forcing herself to endure his judgment. But he didn’t ask what she had lied about.
He only wanted to know one thing:
"Wanwan, do you love me?"
Xu Wanci didn’t hesitate. "I do."
That question had already been answered in the "dream."
Hearing her reply, Xiao Yuyan’s eyes filled with a brilliance that eclipsed all else.
He didn’t care about the deception she spoke of. To him, as long as she loved him, as long as he could still see her and touch her, that was all he had ever sought in this life.
He reached out and pulled her tightly into his embrace, his voice firm and unwavering:
"Everything I have was always yours. How could it be ‘using’ me?"
"Wanwan, as long as you love me, even if you tear me apart limb by limb, it wouldn’t count as exploitation."
He paused, then added with a soft laugh:
"At most, it would just mean our way of being together is different from other Dao companions."
Xu Wanci heard the absolute conviction in his voice—and the undisguised possessiveness beneath it.
This was an answer she had never imagined, yet it effortlessly soothed all her lingering fears.
The last hardened corner of her heart crumbled completely at his words.
To him, she was someone he would never let go, even if it meant his own destruction.
To her, he was the one uncontrollable variable in this world—one she embraced willingly.
At this moment, she fully accepted Xiao Yuyan’s presence in her heart.
Xu Wanci blinked away the sting in her eyes and the redness threatening to spill over. This time, her voice carried more trust and closeness than ever before:
"Then… if one day, we were forced to part—"
She lifted her head, bracing her hands against Xiao Yuyan’s chest, staring straight into his eyes:
"Xiao Yuyan."
"What would you do?"
She had sorted through all her emotions and recognized her own irreversible surrender.
So she wanted to confirm it once more.
The moment her question left her lips, Xiao Yuyan’s aura flared uncontrollably for the first time. A frigid spiritual energy surged, as if threatening to freeze everything around them—even the Ascension Platform trembled under its influence.
He forcibly reined in the wild energy, but the darkness in his eyes remained.
Some things, even in imagination, surpassed the limits of what he could endure.
His power coiled tightly around her, binding her in place.
Xiao Yuyan cupped her face, his voice rough:
"Wanwan, my spiritual energy shares its origin with the Heavenly Dao. It is endless and indestructible."
Calmly, gently, he revealed his only weakness to her:
"The only way to kill me is to gather the Heavenly Dao’s power from across the world and destroy my spiritual core."
"Only then would I truly perish, with no chance of revival."
He hadn’t answered her question directly—yet he had given her his answer.
He would allow her to leave… but only if he was reduced to scattered ashes, with no hope of return.
His heart had always harbored boundless desire, but Xu Wanci’s love had tamed it all.
The beast within had willingly leashed itself—so long as she remained by his side.
Xiao Yuyan expected to see discomfort, even fear, in her expression.
Instead, he was met with clear, radiant joy.
Xu Wanci smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons, as if she welcomed every dark impulse in his heart.
She had once thought his love for her was too gentle—so tender it bordered on caution, so careful it left her faintly unsettled.
But now, all her doubts had vanished.
More than his vulnerability, what moved her most was his refusal to let her go, even in death.
If it were anyone else, such possessiveness would have driven her away.
But with him, she embraced it willingly.
Because she would never let go either.
Xu Wanci rose on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek:
"Xiao Yuyan, I have a secret."
"If you discover it one day, I’ll promise you one thing."
"Anything except us parting—I’ll agree to everything else."
The words seemed to lift the last of her hesitation.
As soon as she finished speaking, a dense surge of immortal qi erupted across the Ascension Platform.
The Welcoming Immortal Blossoms, swaying in the wind, finally bloomed after twenty-three days.
Then, their petals, wreathed in pale immortal mist, swirled around Xu Wanci, lifting her into an unfamiliar space—a vast, endless void.
From the depths of the emptiness, a voice of immense authority echoed:
"Xu Wanci, you are the only one to ascend in a thousand years."
"I can grant you one wish."
"If you desire it, you may become the most powerful existence in the upper realm. Even if others ascend from the lower realm, none shall surpass you."
"You shall possess boundless cultivation and supreme status."
Xu Wanci recognized this voice.
The same voice that had once tried to incite all tribulation-crossing cultivators to kill her in the Qiyie Desert.
The Voice of Heaven’s Will.
The Heavenly Dao.
Yet she also knew that, regardless of past conflicts, what this realm’s Heavenly Dao desired most was for someone to successfully ascend.
Thus, it would not harm her now.
Thinking this, she relaxed slightly—though her wariness remained.
Calmly, she tested its sincerity:
"Can your words truly be trusted?"
"After all, once, you sought my death with all your might."
The Heavenly Dao’s power sensed the sudden intensifying pressure around it. Though lacking full sentience, it still perceived danger.
Suppressing its instinctive fear of Xiao Yuyan, it declared with solemn authority:
"I swear upon my nature as the Heavenly Dao—every word is true."
Xu Wanci’s current cultivation allowed her to commune with heaven and earth.
She felt the resonance of cosmic rules affirming this oath.
Remembering Xiao Yuyan’s words, her fingertips twitched imperceptibly.
She had once believed the Heavenly Dao’s power was elusive, nearly impossible to control.
But in this world, even the slightest chance mattered.
Lifting her gaze to the surrounding void, she spoke deliberately:
"I wish for your pledge."
"Swear that all Heavenly Dao’s power in this world, no matter who wields it, shall never harm Xiao Yuyan—not even slightly."
The Heavenly Dao had never anticipated her wish would be for another.
Unaware of the dissipating spiritual pressure nearby, its voice carried genuine surprise:
"Are you certain?"
"Will you truly forsake this chance to surpass all future ascendants in power?"
"Was strength not your heart’s desire?"
Xu Wanci studied her hands, resolve unwavering:
"If I seek something, I’ll strive for it with my own strength."
"I need no shortcuts."
Without such conviction, she would never have stood here today.
The Heavenly Dao persisted:
"Xiao Yuyan’s cultivation already transcends ordinary immortals. He outshines countless ascendants."
"Even if one could command the Heavenly Dao’s power, none could harm him unless he allowed it."
"Will you waste this rarest of opportunities on an impossibility?"
"Had you not been the sole ascendant in millennia—had you not saved the cultivation world—this boon would never have been yours."
Feeling the spatial barriers weaken, Xu Wanci turned to leave:
"Not even the faintest threat should exist."
Before the Ascension Platform, Xiao Yuyan heard her words echoing through the void. Emotions surged within him—so overwhelming they melted into an ache that nearly brought him to his knees.
Her wish… was for him.
Motionless, he watched as her figure reappeared atop the celestial platform.
A vast wave of immortal qi erupted from its center, rippling across the realm.
Every cultivator sensed this energy.
They looked up as the mist around the platform finally parted.
The Gates of Ascension had opened.
Beyond them stretched a jade staircase leading to the upper realm.
Xu Wanci stood at its base.
Rather than ascending, she turned and extended her hand behind her:
"Ah-Yan, it’s time we left."
Step by step, Xiao Yuyan approached. He placed his hand in hers, fingers intertwining tightly.
Side by side, they climbed the jade stairs.
Their figures—one moon-pale, the other lake-blue—merged into a vision etched into every witness’s memory.
Watching this, the entire cultivation world bowed in unison, their voices shaking the heavens:
"We bid farewell to the Divine Venerable Lingxiao!"
Thus, the cultivation world found its completion.
And the legend of Divine Venerable Lingxiao and Immortal Venerable Qingyan—sealed in this moment—was engraved upon all hearts.
A tale that would endure for millennia.
