At dusk, the scattered white snow on the peak of Zhongshan was reflected by the sunset glow, appearing exceptionally dazzling.

Since Zhongshan Dijun’s injury had healed, this towering and majestic mountain that had once been frozen and buried in snow and darkness finally revealed its true appearance—like a sharp jet-black dagger thrust upside-down into the firmament. Precipitous peaks layered upon each other, ten-thousand-zhang cold abysses, occasionally dotted with masses of accumulated snow, with very little greenery, creating a stern and forbidding feeling that inspired awe.

Qi Nan was pacing circles at the mountain gate absent-mindedly when he suddenly felt the barrier outside Zhongshan being broken through. Immediately following, a pale blue figure slowly stepped out from the drifting clouds and mist. The newcomer had a tall and slender build, with two jet-black pearl earrings swaying ceaselessly at his ears—it was Qing Yan.

He nearly pounced forward as if he’d found a savior: “Xiaolong Jun has finally come! Quick! Quick!”

Qing Yan was pulled by him all the way up the steps, somewhat torn between laughter and tears: “Qi Nan, she’s only going through the Thousand-Year Dream and is about to wake up. Don’t be so startled and alarmed—nothing will go wrong.”

Qi Nan himself found it amusing, yet he couldn’t stop worrying: “Dijun is not at Zhongshan. I have no confidence I can safely protect the Princess until she wakes. Xiaolong Jun, please hurry.”

Qing Yan was dragged by him as they flew swiftly to Zifu and broke through the cloud barrier. Inside Zifu was a scene of refreshing autumn beauty. The eternally unfading empress mulberry rustled in the slanting sunlight. Above Yuanzhan Hall, pure energy flowed horizontally like breathing—sometimes drawn into the hall, sometimes expelled again, repeating continuously. This was indeed a sign that the Thousand-Year Dream was about to end.

Qing Yan gently pulled open the moon window and glanced into the room. Through the layered gauze curtains, pure energy coiled like a massive cocoon above the dragon-tooth bed. Xuan Yi’s figure was wrapped within it, quiet and motionless.

“No rush, it will be a while yet.” Qing Yan spoke in a low voice to comfort Qi Nan beside him who was so anxious he practically wanted to fly. He pulled over a crystal stool. “Sit down quickly and calm yourself. It’s not like she’s giving birth.”

Qi Nan let out a long breath. Xiaolong Jun’s arrival steadied him considerably. He immediately said softly: “The Princess has been asleep for one thousand five hundred years. I originally thought she would wake within a thousand years.”

The duration of the Thousand-Year Dream was closely related to one’s qualifications. In the past, the longest Thousand-Year Dream was that of the previous generation’s Qingyang Clan Dijun, who slept for a full three thousand years. That the Princess slept for one thousand five hundred years indicated her qualifications were excellent. On this point, Qi Nan was truly rather surprised—he really couldn’t see what talents the Princess had.

Seeing his lingering fear with his complexion still pale, Qing Yan smiled and said: “I slept for two thousand years, yet I didn’t see Qi Nan this alarmed. Truly quite partial.”

Qi Nan smiled with some embarrassment at his words: “Xiaolong Jun has Xuanming Dijun protecting you, so naturally I don’t need to worry. Dijun is currently in the mortal realm exterminating demon clans. In so many years he has rarely had time to return. If the Princess had some mishap at this juncture, I truly would… ah.”

This little ancestor—she would wear out his old life sooner or later with worry.

Qing Yan pulled over a crystal stool for himself and sat across from him, taking out a stack of letters from his sleeve: “I just returned and saw these letters flying outside the barrier like falling snow—all sent from Yuhua Hall. Why aren’t you accepting them?”

Qi Nan shook his head and sighed: “They’re all urging the Princess to go to Yuhua Hall early to assume the position of Wangshu. Accepting them would be useless.”

Qing Yan unfolded a letter and glanced at it, his brows furrowing tightly: “These old folks have gone mad—A Yi is only thirty-three thousand years old!”

Qi Nan’s expression was grave: “You know this too. Two thousand years ago, Divine Lord Feilian fought with Grand Lord Fuquan in the mortal realm, was defeated and perished. Since then, Goddess Wangshu has also been severely injured. She has been recommending the Princess to Yuhua Hall all along. Now I’m afraid there are no other suitable goddesses capable of assuming this position.”

Qing Yan’s brows furrowed even deeper: “Having Feilian and Wangshu go contend with Grand Lord Fuquan was absurd to begin with. Grand Lord Fuquan was originally the most war-loving among the ancient demon clans. Now that he’s fallen into demonic ways, he’s naturally even more unfathomable. How could those two be his match?”

Feilian and Wangshu’s divine positions originally had nothing to do with being war generals. It was only because the matter of the Sea of Parting Regret caused demon clans to proliferate in the mortal realm and too many war generals perished—they really couldn’t arrange enough—that Yuhua Hall simply classified all divine beings who knew some martial skills as war generals. This caused panic throughout the divine realm. Even those divine beings who weren’t skilled in fighting had no choice but to begin training their skills in preparation for unexpected needs. This made the atmosphere in the divine realm increasingly favor martial prowess over scholarly pursuits.

“I think Yuhua Hall shouldn’t be so rash as to have the Princess immediately assume the position.” Qi Nan glanced at the pure energy above Yuanzhan Hall. “The Princess is still in the Thousand-Year Dream. Moreover, over these years I’ve heard the Princess has consistently refused to learn combat skills or sword arts and has remained at Zhongshan. Yuhua Hall probably wants to bring the Princess over and have the dijuns train her.”

This was an extraordinary period for the divine realm, vastly different from the leisurely and casual atmosphere of the past. Among the dijuns of the myriad divine halls, all those with decent martial skills had gone to the mortal realm. Those who remained in the upper realm not only advanced the age for accepting disciples to ten thousand years old, but each dijun had to accept several times more disciples than before. Even Baize Dijun had no choice but to relax restrictions and recruit disciples widely.

Once disciples entered the school, they began being taught techniques and combat skills. Yuhua Hall frequently dispatched divine officials to inspect. Those who didn’t comply often received punishment. If it weren’t for the fact that they were the Zhuyin Clan, the Princess would probably have been punished ten thousand times over by now.

Qi Nan sighed long and deeply again. It was all the disaster caused by that Sea of Parting Regret.

It had been twenty-three thousand years since the Sea of Parting Regret fell. From the time it fell, it had continuously expanded, troubling the gods immensely. Who could have known that eighteen thousand years ago, the expansion suddenly stopped. Not only that, but it actually began converging toward the center each year, finally reconverging eight thousand years ago to its original size.

The situation that followed was not an improvement—instead, it made the gods’ hearts break. The Sea of Parting Regret began splitting into countless fragments of black mist that treated all grand formations, techniques, and pure energy barriers as invisible, floating and ricocheting freely in the mortal realm. Mortals who touched them died immediately. Demon clans who touched them transformed into demonic beings. The chaos in the mortal realm was no less severe than when Grand Lord Chiyou had wreaked havoc in the past.

At least back then there had been Chiyou as a target. This time the situation left all the gods completely baffled. Everyone knew the root lay in the Sea of Parting Regret, but no one could approach it. They could only work the divine realm’s war generals hard, running around daily to exterminate demons transformed from demon clans.

Fortunately, the terrible situation improved slightly three thousand years ago. The Sea of Parting Regret suddenly stopped fragmenting and reconverged in one place. To this day, there had been no new developments for the time being, yet the gods still didn’t dare relax their vigilance. Under the proposal of the two dijuns Taizhang and Zhenwu, the dijuns of the myriad divine halls advanced the age for divine beings to obtain divine positions to forty thousand years to cope with the endless stream of demon clans in the mortal realm—there were too many causing havoc, and war generals were truly insufficient.

Speaking of valor and skill in battle, naturally one thought first of the Zhuyin Clan. Since Zhongshan Dijun’s injury healed six thousand years ago, even though Zhongshan was covered by a barrier, letters arrived daily like snowflakes, all urging him to descend to the mortal realm to exterminate demon clans. In the end, even the Heavenly Emperor issued two decrees.

Left with no choice, Zhongshan Dijun had to accept the decree and descend to the mortal realm. Once he left, he never had time to return to Zhongshan, unable to come back even for such a major event as the Princess entering the Thousand-Year Dream.

Xiaolong Jun hadn’t yet reached forty thousand years old, but he had long been targeted by those old folks at Yuhua Hall. Every one of them was waiting for him to reach the age so they could drag him to the mortal realm. Who’d have thought they were also eyeing the Princess. Ah, the Princess… with her nature of only knowing a few showy moves, she would definitely lose all face for the Zhuyin Clan.

Qi Nan was about to speak when he suddenly saw the fluctuations of pure energy above Yuanzhan Hall become extremely intense. Immediately following, as if swallowed by a giant mouth, the pure energy was entirely consumed into the hall. He immediately pulled open the moon window and saw that the cocoon-like pure energy from before had all disappeared. Inside the gauze curtains, Xuan Yi rolled over, yawned heavily, pulled the blanket over her head, and began sleeping again.

She’d already slept for one thousand five hundred years—still sleeping?!

Qi Nan was about to call out loudly to wake her when Qing Yan hastily stopped him: “Don’t call her. Breaking through a realm boundary is no ordinary matter. She still needs to sleep another two or three days before she can recover. Let her sleep.”