Outside the Yuanrong Tower, He Xijin and the others had already attempted to storm the tower several times.

But the situation inside the tower was even more chaotic. Black resentful energy pervaded the Yuanrong Tower, and everyone who forcibly entered was injured by the resentful energy.

Everyone had no choice but to remain outside the tower, watching and waiting.

Suddenly, Zhang Shujiu asked, “Do you hear the sound of flowing water?”

Flowing water?

Everyone held their breath and listened carefully. The sound of flowing water gradually drew closer. Suddenly someone pointed ahead and said, “Look quickly!”

Everyone stretched their necks to look and saw in the distance surging rivers and streams coming toward them. The waves seemed about to submerge the capital, but stopped here.

Wu Zichou hurried to the riverbank and saw across the river a patch of fresh green, full of vitality.

Looking back at his own surroundings—yellow sand pervaded everywhere, like the end of the world.

“What’s happening?” People around whispered in discussion.

More and more people came to the riverbank, hesitating and lingering.

Huang Rang followed Shi Wenyu like this. She gradually realized that this river kept flowing, gradually connecting head to tail, encircling a circular world.

This was a brand new heaven and earth.

The air was fresh, all things growing.

To the naked eye, it didn’t seem much different from the previous world.

And Shi Wenyu slowly came to the riverbank. He watched the people across the river, watching them cross in twos and threes.

From time to time people drowned in the river. His gaze remained calm. Huang Rang asked, “People are dying painfully before Your Majesty’s eyes—how can Your Majesty remain so calm?”

Shi Wenyu said indifferently, “The rising and setting of the red sun, the flourishing and withering of all plants—these are merely one kind of the Heavenly Dao’s order.” He turned to look at Huang Rang. “The life and death of people is the same.”

Huang Rang fell silent.

Cheers came from the riverside—some had successfully crossed.

The successful ones ran barefoot on the riverbank, celebrating their escape from the sea of suffering. This encouraged even more people to swim toward the opposite bank.

But the river current was turbulent. Of those competing to cross the river, not one in ten survived.

Huang Rang stood on the bank, watching silently.

Shi Wenyu said leisurely, “The chaos of the Yuanrong Tower has not yet settled. Follow me.”

Having said this, he took the lead walking along the river.

Immortal cultivators always traveled much faster on foot.

Huang Rang followed behind him, able to see the world on the opposite riverbank. Perhaps because of the Heavenly Dao’s repairs, the world opposite wasn’t turning to sand very quickly. But even so, one could see the pervasive dusky yellow.

Huang Rang stared at Shi Wenyu, seeing his hurried steps as if rushing somewhere.

—Could it be that he actually hadn’t completely controlled this world?

Huang Rang grew suspicious, but this was also explainable—right now Di Yiqiu and Xie Hongchen were nowhere to be seen. These two must still be in the Yuanrong Tower. Di Yiqiu’s physical body had already matured, Xie Hongchen carried the bloodline of Lei Yin Daji, and he himself was exceptionally talented with profound cultivation.

They must still be resisting.

Right now Shi Wenyu looked as if a deity had descended, but after all, he still hadn’t seized a perfect physical body.

Those people struggling to survive in the river all became sources of his resentful power.

Therefore, he desperately wanted to entice everyone to cross the river. First, to make them submit to him, and second, to strengthen his resentful power and stabilize the Yuanrong Tower.

Many thoughts flashed through Huang Rang’s mind. Ahead, many figures gradually appeared. Huang Rang immediately saw a familiar person.

—Qu Manying!

So the opposite riverbank was already the capital!

In the dusky thin sand, the Yuanrong Tower was still faintly visible. Qu Manying and the others stood on the opposite bank, shading their eyes with their hands, gazing toward this side.

Shi Wenyu smiled and said, “With your abilities, persuading them to surrender shouldn’t be difficult.”

“Very difficult,” Huang Rang said. “Not everyone in this world fears death. Especially people like my uncle and aunt.”

Shi Wenyu nodded and said, “You’re right. But they likewise don’t know the truth, do they?”

Huang Rang froze. Shi Wenyu said slowly, “Their world is about to collapse—you’ve seen it too. As long as you get them to cross the river first, in the long days to come, they’ll eventually accept reality.”

He stared into Huang Rang’s eyes and smiled. “With their cultivation level, crossing the river poses no danger. You see, the people you want—I’m keeping them all for you one by one. I believe you also have sufficient wisdom to repay me.”

Huang Rang didn’t refute him. She naturally had countless methods to persuade the people on the opposite bank to cross the river.

Up to this point, things didn’t seem too bad for her.

—What could be worse than being pierced with the Soul-Coiling Bone-Setting Needle?

Huang Rang thought for a long time and smiled self-mockingly. “What’s there to hesitate about?”

She slowly approached the riverbank, just one step away, almost stepping into the water.

And on the opposite bank, Qu Manying looked into the distance and finally recognized her.

“Ah Rang—” she shouted loudly. “Ah Rang, is that you?”

More and more people gathered, all eyes meeting, all focused on her alone. These faces, one by one, some familiar, some strange.

Huang Rang looked for a long while. Suddenly, she turned and said, “If you want me to speak, you need a voice transmission artifact so they can hear me, right?” Her voice carried sarcasm. “Do you expect me to shout with my voice?”

Shi Wenyu didn’t argue with her. He took out a voice transmission conch from his bosom and handed it to her.

Huang Rang raised the conch to her lips and coughed a few times.

Sure enough, her voice clearly transmitted. Even those at a great distance could hear clearly.

“Everyone, I am Huang Rang.” Huang Rang looked down and discovered her dress was disheveled. She tidied it up, then said seriously again, “I now stand in another world, speaking with you all.”

She observed left and right. Shi Wenyu stood right behind her, closely watching her every word and action.

This wouldn’t work—if her words were even slightly off, she would immediately be controlled by him.

The words weren’t easy to say. Huang Rang found it difficult.

But just at this moment, in this world of clear wind and bright sun, dust and sand suddenly rose.

Before Huang Rang could see clearly what was happening, she heard Shi Wenyu say in a deep voice, “It’s you?! You actually broke through the temporal prison?!”

What was a temporal prison?

Huang Rang didn’t know, but when she saw clearly what was in that cloud of black mist, even her blood surged with warmth.

—In the black mist was a giant serpent.

Its scales were azure-green, eyes like copper bells, and it hissed with its forked tongue from its gaping maw.

And the snake patterns at the corners of its eyes were bewitchingly beautiful.

“Di Yiqiu!” Huang Rang called out this name, and then she seemed to possess boundless courage.

In this world, there were people who were sunlight in困境, armor in danger.

Sure enough, as soon as the giant serpent charged over, it immediately positioned itself between Shi Wenyu and Huang Rang.

For the first time, Shi Wenyu’s always calm expression showed a trace of astonishment. “You truly are… unexpected.”

The giant serpent bore wounds. Like a high mountain, it stood upright behind Huang Rang.

Huang Rang didn’t look back. She no longer worried about Shi Wenyu. She patiently arranged her hair, then wetted it with water and wiped her face clean too.

Finally, holding the conch, she said word by word, “In the name of the Third Dream, I beseech you all not to cross the river! Shi Wenyu has been bewitched by the demonic tower. Using the resentment and suffering of countless people as spiritual energy, he forged this world. Because of the Yuanrong Tower’s destruction of the Heavenly Dao’s order, the original order became chaotic. Your crossing will only strengthen his power!”

Her voice, through this voice transmission conch, resounded across the entire land.

Those people desperately wanting to escape this desperate place finally began to hesitate and waver.

Huang Rang’s words might not carry much persuasive power. But Mr. Third Dream’s influence among the common people was too great.

Using this name, countless people began to doubt.

“Wretched creature!” Shi Wenyu was finally enraged. He held his whisk, and with one move a thousand threads moved. Countless afterimages came toward Huang Rang!

But the viper that Di Yiqiu had transformed into swung its tail, stirring up a hurricane. The hurricane collided with the whisk—a thunderous boom. Earth and stone flew everywhere, the river surged, but Huang Rang still stood perfectly fine on the riverbank.

There was no panic on Huang Rang’s face. She didn’t pay attention to the fierce battle behind her, only staring at the opposite bank.

Someone shouted sharply, “Huang Rang! You keep saying someone is doing evil, yet why are you yourself on the opposite side?”

This was naturally what many people wondered about. Immediately people questioned and echoed this.

Huang Rang suddenly realized this was actually her glorious moment to show off!

She straightened her back, her expression pained, and said, “I could not bear to see the people suffer, so I came specifically to investigate the truth.”

—Seeking fame and reputation was something this old lady excelled at most. Hmph!

Word by word, she began persuading the crowd: “The Heavenly Dao clothes and nourishes all things without claiming to be their master. But Shi Wenyu is different—he presumes to transform himself into a god, controlling all living beings. This person’s heart has entered evil, his crimes unpardonable. How can the masses of common people beg him for shelter?”

Her righteousness was formidable, a vast pure wind.

Blue veins jumped at Shi Wenyu’s temples. He wanted nothing more than to slap her dead and be done with it.

But the viper that Di Yiqiu had transformed into firmly entangled him!

Shi Wenyu’s heart filled with extreme hatred. Someone wanted to seize his body! He suddenly transformed into a cloud of black mist, about to firmly wrap around Di Yiqiu’s serpent body. But how keen was Di Yiqiu’s reaction?

The instant Shi Wenyu transformed into mist, he also became a cloud of black mist.

—The Lingmo Ghost Scripture—he originally knew it too.

Although this evil cultivation method recorded the secrets of body seizure, it probably never imagined how two Lingmo Ghost Scripture practitioners could seize each other’s bodies.

Sure enough, Shi Wenyu could do nothing with him and could only battle with him again.

On the opposite bank, someone asked, “Huang Rang… no, Mr. Third Dream! Now the world is turning to sand. If we don’t cross the river, aren’t we just waiting to die?!”

Huang Rang stood by the flowing river, holding the conch, and said, “The Heavenly Dao can repair itself, but because of the destructive power of the Yuanrong Tower, its strength is insufficient. As long as we execute Shi Wenyu and destroy the Yuanrong Tower, the Heavenly Dao will certainly return to its proper course.”

Right behind her, Shi Wenyu and Di Yiqiu were in fierce battle.

But Huang Rang didn’t turn around. She faced the crowd, separated by a long river, and said, “Among you are quite a few people who were resurrected from dreams. Now that the Heavenly Dao’s power has weakened, it can no longer correct errors. But your existence causes the Heavenly Dao to stagnate and human dao to become chaotic.”

She didn’t continue speaking. From among the crowd, she saw Xi Yin, and also saw Huang Yang.

She saw many, many who had already passed away.

These people likewise watched her.

Someone shouted sharply, “What do you mean? Do you want us to kill ourselves? We finally survived—why should we…”  Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by even more intense voices.

In the Third Dream, because of Mr. Third Dream’s appearance, the seed cultivation clans’ concessions, and the abundance of quality seeds afterward, far too many people had survived.

For example, Shi Wenyu’s princes and princesses all survived because they hadn’t tested the viper blood.

“You escaped yourself but urge us to go to our deaths?!” Someone cursed angrily. “In my view, the evil demon isn’t His Majesty—it’s you!”

“You can’t say that—she’s Mr. Third Dream…”

“What Third Dream! Maybe she’s the culprit…”

The crowd was noisy and chaotic. For a moment, all kinds of voices could be heard.

Huang Rang didn’t mind at all—people who liked seeking fame and reputation had thick skin.

Back then, relying on her status as a daughter of the Huang estate, she had forcibly gained the beautiful reputation of “Xuandu Fairy.”

She said, “I suffer the torture of the Soul-Coiling Bone-Setting Needle and am already a neither-living-nor-dead废person. This matter, I presume everyone knows.”

“Soul-Coiling Bone-Setting Needle?” Such a torture device was naturally known to everyone. People discussed it among themselves.

Huang Rang said slowly, “Remaining in this place, I could be resurrected. But even so, I still cannot remain.”

Silence surrounded them. Huang Rang finally turned her head and glanced at Di Yiqiu, who was tightly coiled around Shi Wenyu.

She smiled and said, “My husband is using his own strength alone to fight the chief evil. Right among you is my mother who died and was resurrected, my foster son with whom I share a bond across two lives. We all have countless people we cannot bear to abandon. But restoring righteousness to the Heavenly Dao is ultimately to prevent more and more people from experiencing the same human tragedies as us.”

Among the masses, people naturally couldn’t be persuaded by these few casual words.

But Huang Rang discarded the voice transmission conch in her hand. Light flashed in her hand—the Heart Sword appeared again!

Everyone saw a burst of intense light splash out. She had already headed toward the battlefield of Shi Wenyu and Di Yiqiu.

Shi Wenyu’s physical body was originally weak. In terms of current combat power alone, he simply couldn’t match Di Yiqiu.

But Di Yiqiu was also severely wounded, which allowed him to delay. And now Huang Rang joined the battle. Even though her cultivation was insufficient, her sword dao was profound. Shi Wenyu immediately struggled to cope with both sides.

Finally, Huang Rang’s Heart Sword cut through his robe sleeve. His blood dripped down from his fingertips.

Inside the Yuanrong Tower, all the black mist sensed this weakness and began to stir restlessly.

Taking advantage of Shi Wenyu’s weakening power, Xie Hongchen finally found the array heart of this formation!

In a patch of black mist, he saw a blue rune.

The array was like a disk. Within the disk, twelve scales were evenly arranged. Among them were red, yellow, and blue needles—the red needle longest, yellow second, blue shortest. At this moment, the three needles were moving at a uniform speed with the circle’s center as their pivot point.

The array’s runes flickered from time to time. Xie Hongchen also knew formations deeply. After looking carefully for a long while, he immediately understood. The three colored needles represented year, month, and day respectively!

Xie Hongchen compared it to the present day and slowly moved the hands.

His five fingers dripped blood. The black mist stirred restlessly around him.

On Huang Rang’s side, the river water seemed startled by wild wind, surging in towering waves. Di Yiqiu hissed. While Huang Rang fiercely attacked Shi Wenyu, she said, “What are you saying? I don’t understand!”

Di Yiqiu no longer tried to speak. But Huang Rang had a flash of inspiration and said, “Xie Hongchen! He’s trying to control the Yuanrong Tower!”

The giant serpent nodded, its chin nearly knocking into Huang Rang’s head. Huang Rang’s fighting spirit soared. “Kill him first, then we’ll talk!”

At this moment, Shi Wenyu had nowhere to retreat. He suddenly transformed into black mist, feinted before the giant serpent, then immediately lunged toward Huang Rang!

He was actually trying to seize Huang Rang’s body!

Huang Rang only felt her head grow dizzy, barely able to stand. But immediately, another cloud of black mist rushed over. The skeleton that Di Yiqiu had transformed into frantically tore and bit at Shi Wenyu. Shi Wenyu had planned to seize Huang Rang at the fastest speed, but he underestimated the crazed Di Yiqiu.

The black mist he had transformed into was devoured by Di Yiqiu in an instant until almost nothing remained. He let out a muffled groan and suddenly transformed back into human form, collapsing to the ground. Blood covered his entire body, as if wearing red silk.

In the tower, the pressure on Xie Hongchen suddenly decreased!

After Shi Wenyu became extremely weak, the Yuanrong Tower finally recognized him as master! He forcefully moved the three colored needles, making them return to their positions one by one.

Outside, heaven and earth reversed. Everyone felt a dizzy spell in their heads.

Shi Wenyu rushed into the Yuanrong Tower, wanting to seize control again. But at this moment, the time between the Yuanrong Tower and reality was misaligned. He stepped into empty air, his whole person as if falling into the void, disappearing on the steps of the Yuanrong Tower.

The world he had created suffered violent fluctuations and finally slowly melted like wax.

Huang Rang felt this melting. She turned and firmly embraced the giant serpent before her.

The viper’s face was ferocious and terrifying. Yet she smiled.

“Di Yiqiu.” She called softly. The giant serpent gazed quietly, its eyes gentle.

Huang Rang lightly kissed the snake patterns at the corners of its eyes and said softly, “Shi Wenyu said that maintaining this world is the only solution for the Soul-Coiling Bone-Setting Needle. I believe he didn’t lie to me.”

The giant serpent lowered its head. In those vertical pupils, Huang Rang saw her own face. She gently stroked the serpent’s head and said, “After breaking the dream, if I’m still alive… please… remove the golden needle from my head.”

Di Yiqiu suddenly raised his head. He no longer had the strength to transform back into human form. And his serpent body couldn’t speak. The corners of his eyes grew moist, the vertical pupils bright as pools of water.

“I’m actually not that strong. I like fine clothes and good food, freedom and ease. Being by your side is wonderful, but such companionship is still too painful for me.” She tried to smile, maintaining her most beautiful form. “Di Yiqiu, let everything end.”

The giant serpent silently watched her, until she too melted with the world.