◎The Millennial Wu Wu and the Eternal Turtle◎
After the great war ended, the three realms were all adapting to this new world.
The passages between the three realms reopened, and the long-severed connections between the demon race, the human race, and the monster race were reestablished. In this process, nearly everyone treated these renewed ties with caution and appreciation.
The Turtle Clan, stationed in the Yunning Great Marsh, finally reconnected with their ancestral branch in the monster realm after three thousand years.
Three thousand years may seem like an eternity, but for the long-lived Turtle Clan, many of the old-timers from back then could still be found if one looked hard enough. Thus, on the very first day Yan Luoyue returned home, she heard some news.
With no duties guarding the hatchery during the summer, Yan Yu was pulled in by her clansmen to lend a hand.
The moment she saw Yan Luoyue and Wu Manshuang return together, the elder sister’s heart swelled with joy.
Aside from personally cooking their favorite deep-fried little yellow croakers, Yan Yu immediately introduced Yan Luoyue to the hottest competition form circulating among the clan.
"This is a traditional Turtle Clan competition we’ve been invited to participate in after reestablishing ties with the monster realm’s Turtle Clan."
Yan Luoyue was intrigued. "Oh? What kind of tradition is it?"
"The Millennial Wu Wu Competition—are you joining, Luoyue?"
At first, Yan Luoyue didn’t quite grasp the meaning. She asked, bewildered, "What’s a ‘Millennial Wu Wu’ competition?"
The name sounded like it had something to do with Wu Ti’s flames.
But as soon as Yan Yu explained, Yan Luoyue realized her mistake.
Yan Yu said offhandedly, "As the saying goes, ‘A Wu Wu lives a millennium, a turtle lives ten thousand years.’ So, the ‘Millennial Wu Wu’ competition is naturally about seeing who can live the longest."
Yan Luoyue: "…"
Even though she was now incarnated as a member of the Turtle Clan, Yan Luoyue couldn’t help but think—wasn’t the original proverb something like "A king [censored] lives a millennium, a turtle lives ten thousand years"?
Twisting the proverb like this made it hard not to suspect the Turtle Clan was deliberately being cute.
Still, the competition format was so novel that Yan Luoyue couldn’t help but grow curious. She probed further, "If I were to join… how would it work?"
Yan Yu promptly pulled out a registration form and handed it to her.
"Fill this out and pay ten low-grade spirit stones as the entry fee. If you’re confident, you can even place additional bets."
Yan Luoyue took a closer look at the form and immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
For example, in some sports events, humans divide children into age groups—like under ten, under fourteen, and under eighteen for the toddler, junior, and youth categories.
In these groupings, the age gap between, say, a ten-year-old and a fourteen-year-old is smoothed over by the category divisions.
In the Millennial Wu Wu Competition, the Turtle Clan had similarly divided participants into brackets—but each bracket spanned a hundred years.
Yan Luoyue: "…"
Good grief. A single bracket covering a whole century? Turtle Clan, you never disappoint.
Reading further into the fine print, Yan Luoyue soon discovered that the rules of the "Millennial Wu Wu" competition were absurdly simple.
—All you had to do was stay alive!
After all, the competition truly lived up to its name in the most literal sense:
Every turtle who signed up had to pay ten spirit stones as an entry fee. Those feeling particularly confident could place additional bets on themselves.
A thousand years later, when the competition officially began, every turtle still alive would get their entry fee back and split the prize pool according to their original betting ratios.
Yan Luoyue: "…"
What kind of ridiculous competition had an entry requirement of surviving for a thousand years?!
Stunned, she asked, "Even if someone does live that long, who’d remember signing up for this competition a thousand years ago?"
Yan Yu looked equally shocked. "This is the biggest event in our Turtle Clan! It’s held every hundred years—how could anyone forget something this important?"
Yan Luoyue: "…"
The two sisters stared at each other, each seeing their own bewilderment reflected in the other’s dark eyes.
After a long silence, Yan Luoyue finally covered her face and let out a soft groan.
"So… this is our clan’s signature event?"
She’d heard about the Tibetan antelope clan’s marathon, the crane clan’s singing contests, the pigeon clan’s "flaking-out" competitions, and even the anglerfish clan’s forehead-glowing contests.
Yan Yu thought it over. "If you think this one’s too sedentary, the monster realm’s Turtle Clan supposedly holds a hibernation contest every winter. I could suggest reviving that tradition to the clan elder…"
Though they’d have to be careful about the judges. The Grand Elder was definitely out of the question.
He slept so deeply every year and woke up so slowly that he’d probably monopolize the championship for the next thousand winters.
Both competitions sounded so lazy, so laid-back, so perfectly in line with the Turtle Clan’s slow-and-steady way of life.
Yan Luoyue: "…"
She’d been naive to think the Turtle Clan might hold something like an "Iron Shell Kung Fu Tournament."
Still…
After a moment’s thought, Yan Luoyue suddenly smirked, took a blank registration form from Yan Yu, folded it, and tucked it into her sleeve.
Yan Yu asked, concerned, "Luoyue, aren’t you joining?"
Yan Luoyue waved a hand with a smile. "Nah, I’ll let everyone else keep their spirit stones."
Logically speaking, the Luoyue Tree was a divine entity, as eternal as heaven and earth.
If Yan Luoyue entered this competition, there probably wouldn’t be any other "Millennial Wu Wu" winners for the rest of time.
Still, she’d keep this form for later.
Once they’d left the courtyard, Wu Manshuang could no longer contain his curiosity. He pointed at Yan Luoyue’s sleeve.
"Luoyue, why’d you take that form?"
Yan Luoyue grinned mischievously. "Once we’ve established a stable connection to the modern world, I’m going to start a gaming company and use this as a team-building activity!"
Wu Manshuang: "…"
Not long ago, Wu Manshuang had also split off a strand of his consciousness to enter "Convergence of Ten Thousand Realms" and interact with those modern-era souls.
Though the main purpose had been to guide Ji Qinghong’s consciousness into the Luoyue Tree, Wu Manshuang had taken a quick look around.
Recalling the modern folks’ attitudes—especially their deep resentment toward "team-building" and "outdoor training" that ate into their holidays and might even cost them money—he nodded solemnly.
"They’d probably love it."
Since the modern world had come up, it was only natural to ask about Yan Luoyue’s current progress.
Though the Puppet-Web of Consuming Passion had been destroyed, the body it left behind—along with its countless silvery, unbreakable threads—was the perfect material for piercing through dimensions.
Yan Luoyue had already extracted some of those threads to use as crafting materials.
Under Yan Luoyue’s ingenious refinement, the silver threads functioned like steel rebars embedded firmly within concrete, providing structural support for the spatial passages connecting multiple realms.
Over the past half-year, she and Wu Manshuang had traveled tirelessly between the human world, the demon world, the fiend world, and the spirit world—all for this very purpose.
Now, dozens of newly constructed spatial passages linked the four realms.
These grand, smooth, and interwoven pathways bridged distant shores like archways, mirroring the interconnected hearts of different worlds.
Only after stabilizing these multi-realm passages did Yan Luoyue turn her attention to studying the peculiar spatial properties of the Puppet Love-Devouring Threads.
These threads, inherently endowed with extraordinary spatial attributes, were an evolved ability of the Puppet Love-Devouring Net.
Coincidentally, the three divine artifacts of this world each embodied extreme yin, extreme yang, and the harmony between them.
This spatial lineage of the Dao granted the trio insights beyond their innate talents.
Beyond contemplation, Yan Luoyue also attempted to refine the Puppet Love-Devouring Net’s core.
Once the three realms regained their freedom, Wu Ti—the fire spirit confined for millennia—could no longer suppress its playful, wandering nature.
Leaving a wisp of its flames for Yan Luoyue’s crafting, it flapped its wings and soared off to revel in liberty.
With the flame in hand, Yan Luoyue meditated for days over the net’s remains, drafting countless blueprints before finalizing her first refinement approach.
Recalling the havoc this artifact had wreaked in the cultivation world, she initially considered naming the refined tool "Waste Recycling."
Everyone: "..."
Ahem. Since they’d won, perhaps it was better to be magnanimous and avoid desecrating the defeated.
After some persuasion, Yan Luoyue reluctantly renamed it "A Thousand Miles of Fate, Bound by a Single Thread."
Everyone: "..."
Well… it was still an improvement over the previous option.
Using residual spatial imprints on the silver threads as coordinates, Yan Luoyue recently reverse-engineered the locations of several worlds the Puppet Love-Devouring Net had visited.
Counting on her fingers, she listed, "One modern world, one with the Rolling Fiends, the Puppet Love-Devouring Net’s homeworld, and another that birthed the Timid Fiends…"
Among these, all except the modern world warranted close monitoring.
If one puppet master could evolve into a spatial puppeteer, then otherworldly fiends might someday return.
But by then, invaders would face a cultivation world united, prepared, and armed with exhaustive knowledge of their kind.
When Wu Manshuang inquired about her progress, Yan Luoyue grinned. "We’ve pinpointed four worlds the net visited, but we can’t yet distinguish which is which."
"I’m currently refining the identification function of 'A Thousand Miles of Fate.' Once I differentiate their spatial signatures, we can label them properly."
The modern world, of course, was a potential ally.
If willing, the cultivation world could establish diplomatic ties, mirroring its spirit-world friendship pact, and even construct a passage between realms.
Yan Luoyue also planned to escort certain souls—who’d aided the Moonfall Tree and this world in their darkest hour—back to their homeland in due time.
The other three worlds, however, required vigilance.
And beyond these four, countless realms awaited exploration.
Perhaps one day…
Yan Luoyue swung Wu Manshuang’s hand playfully, her eyes sparkling with boundless curiosity. "The worlds are vast. Maybe someday, we’ll visit them all?"
Her smile was lively, her gaze alight with endless whimsy.
Whether as the Moonfall Tree gently shaking the world’s first blossom onto the Frostfull Stone or now, fingers interlaced with Wu Manshuang’s, swaying his arm like a pendulum—
Every version of Yan Luoyue, her every word, expression, and thought, Wu Manshuang adored beyond measure.
His gaze softened as he brushed a stray lock from her forehead.
"Alright."
Their eyes met, emotions entwining like threads, lingering in silent communion.
After a long moment, Yan Luoyue suddenly frowned.
"Wait, Manshuang… did we forget something?"
"What?"
She pondered deeply before gasping in realization.
"Let me think… Oh! Right. If we go honeymooning in other worlds someday, what about Wu Ti?"
Wu Manshuang: "..."
He replied slowly, "Your earlier question was…?"
"...Did we forget something?"
Wu Manshuang nodded with absolute certainty. "Rest assured. We forgot nothing."
Yan Luoyue: "..."
