The moon rose above the treetops. Frost covered the ground. In the little loach’s hands, it seemed she also held a ball of moonlight.

She was using Zhuyin White Snow to shape a small and exquisite phoenix—long tail feathers, magnificent plumage. Around the phoenix’s neck was tied a long ribbon. Liu Sang’s slender, graceful neck had always loved to wear an apricot-yellow ribbon. She thought it quite beautiful.

Shao Yi quietly watched the white snow phoenix in her hands. After a long while, he spoke: “Little loach, you’ve read quite a few of your teacher’s books. Naturally you know that when the divine race is annihilated, even the divine soul dissipates together. Divine body and divine soul both transform into clear energy, not entering reincarnation.”

Xuan Yi concentrated wholeheartedly on shaping the phoenix, only making a sound of acknowledgment.

In truth, he had already been annihilated long ago. In that profound, boundless darkness immune to all magic, the long millions of years had already claimed his life—he just didn’t know it himself. The will to survive was too heavy, entangling with his body and divine soul, preventing them from dissipating and returning to heaven and earth.

Perhaps it was precisely this enormous, persistent thought that gave birth to a trace of turbid energy in the Sea of Parting Regret. Thoughts that were too persistent had never been tolerated by heaven and earth.

In that nearly stagnant time, the moments when he was conscious were actually intermittent. Only later did he realize that when he wasn’t conscious, only his obsession remained, entangled with those mixed turbid energies. Slowly, he could no longer control those obsessions. They merged with the turbid energy, merged with the regenerating divine power, merged with the Zhuyin Darkness, merged with those corpses thrown into the Sea of Parting Regret, giving birth to unprecedented monsters.

What was terrifying wasn’t the Sea of Parting Regret. An ocean, no matter how vast, had boundaries. What was actually terrifying was that obsession entangled with the divine body. It had no boundaries.

The divine power transmitted through the divine soul jewel became less and less. Shao Yi knew this was the evil consequence of his endless demands from the Qingyang Clan’s descendants. But it was already enough. His divine soul had become incomparably powerful over millions of years, nearly indestructible. After severing the contaminated obsession and undergoing nirvana and rebirth, he shouldn’t be completely destroyed in both body and soul.

His divine soul was entirely condensed in the jewel. The moment he severed the contaminated obsession, the divine body felt reluctance and transformed into ten thousand hurricanes. The jewel was swept by the wind to the edge of the darkness. When the divine soul touched the first ray of sunlight from the divine realm, he could no longer distinguish whether it was supreme joy or deep sorrow.

The phoenix bathes in fire, nirvana and rebirth—every member of the Qingyang Clan knew these words, but no one had ever successfully undergone nirvana. Even as noble celestial deities, they couldn’t escape the annihilation ordained by the Heavenly Way. But he had escaped. He was truly and genuinely the Qingyang Clan’s first Emperor.

Borrowing the womb of the current Qingyang Clan Emperor’s wife, he became a young Phoenix Lord once again. When the divine soul jewel was once more fastened to his forehead, he felt deeply moved.

The Phoenix Lord in the bright mirror had refined brows and handsome eyes, lips and teeth containing a smile—no different from the past. His indulgent and joyful career was also no different. Blue sky and bright sun, green mountains and clear waters, endless prosperity—everything was the same. Yet everything was also different. This heaven and earth had changed until he no longer recognized it. He was the only one left behind, carrying memories from millions of years ago, both greedy and indifferent toward everything.

Qiongsang City had become empty and boundless. The prosperity of bygone days left only a frail Emperor and a group of divine officials clinging to survival.

But it didn’t matter. Leave it to him. He would make everything better. This was the obligation he owed for years of excessive demands. The first thing to resolve was the Sea of Parting Regret. It was an enormous hidden danger that must be eliminated as soon as possible. And the only ones who could accomplish this were the Zhuyin Clan.

The phoenix had been shaped. The long ribbon around its neck seemed about to flutter. Shao Yi gently took it from Xuan Yi’s palm. That ribbon seemed to flutter all the way into his heart, tying him down. In that instant, he actually felt sad.

“Truly beautiful.” He praised softly. “Can you give it to me?”

Xuan Yi thought for a moment, then generously nodded: “Since you’ve told me the reason for everything, yes, it’s yours.”

“Thank you.”

Shao Yi gazed at the white snow phoenix for a while before carefully placing it in his sleeve. Xuan Yi used her sleeve to suppress a huge yawn. She was truly exhausted. Her heart wound had flared up again, her divine power was depleted, and she had listened to such a long story. There were still such difficult tasks ahead waiting for her to do. She had to sleep hard for several days.

“Making me enter the Sea of Parting Regret—do you want me to bring that Emperor’s corpse out?” she asked.

Shao Yi shook his head and said lightly: “That body is entangled with contaminated obsession and has already become something similar to the Fangfeng Clan’s twin hands. Right now I can still extremely occasionally communicate with and control the obsession remaining in the Sea of Parting Regret. When I can no longer communicate, it will be time to act. I want to completely destroy that corpse.”

Xuan Yi asked directly: “How to destroy it? I can’t freeze the Qingyang Clan.”

Shao Yi smiled: “Your talent is very good. My two Heart Feathers can’t make you unleash full power. But I gave you a third one. Three Heart Feathers are enough to release all divine power and freeze that corpse. After all, it’s only a corpse, not a true member of the Qingyang Clan. However, I’m afraid there’s more than one monster in the Sea of Parting Regret. Be careful.”

What use was her being careful? If it were truly a simple matter, he wouldn’t need to go through so many twists and turns. Clearly, this trip meant she had an eighty or ninety percent chance of losing her life. Forget it—this life was being sustained by him anyway, and it had caused Qing Yan to live with such difficulty all these years. She’d rather go to the Sea of Parting Regret herself and be annihilated inside. Not seeing their tears, they could still remember her forever. That was better than her staying outside watching them go in, then living on like a fool afterward.

Xuan Yi was dazed for half a day, then suddenly sighed: “Why do I suddenly feel so great?”

She stood up and dusted off her silk clothing, smoothing the wrinkled areas, then turned to return to Yuanzhan Hall. She needed to sleep. Hopefully she wouldn’t dream—that would mean she could probably still survive.

Shao Yi called to her: “Little loach.”

What? She turned her head. Suddenly he opened his arms and hugged her tightly. Her lips felt a burning sensation—he lowered his head and kissed her, then immediately pulled away.

Seeing her bite the tip of her tongue to spray an ice barrier, Shao Yi covered her mouth with his hand. A trace of a smile appeared on his face, and his voice became gentle: “If you had been born in my era, the Sea of Parting Regret would probably still be that beautiful Sea of Parting Regret even now.”

He gently removed the black veil covering her eyes, then stroked her long hair. His voice gained another trace of detachment: “Go sleep. Don’t dream.”

*

The demons’ rampage in the Lower Realm had nearly stopped. The incomparably arrogant Lords, because several Lords and their entire clans had been cruelly exterminated, probably finally realized the deities’ determination and methods in maintaining heaven and earth’s order this time. They all chose to lower their flags and hide their tracks.

Although the war generals wanted to root out the hidden demons, this wasn’t an easy task. They also had to guard against the Lords secretly gathering together for sudden attacks. None of the remaining twelve Lords were easy to deal with. As long as two or three gathered together, it would be an earth-shattering battle.

Precisely because of this, to prevent the war generals from slacking, discipline and punishments were actually countless times stricter than before. When Fucang passed by the war generals’ palace of the Yibingyin Division, he had already seen three or four war generals who had been subjected to the punishment of Solar Radiance Pouring for acting independently without authorization.

Rounding a corridor shrouded in vine shadows, a courtyard flourishing with vegetation appeared before him. Fucang carefully examined the area around the courtyard. Because of this unusual density of vegetation, this place was very suitable for concealing one’s tracks.

He had previously made a trip to the Southern Heavenly Gate and carefully examined the register of war generals coming and going within ten days three times. He hadn’t seen Shao Yi and the Dragon Princess’s names, which meant he either hadn’t returned to the Upper Realm, or he had another route back.

Qiongsang City stood above the Nine Heavens. Even Father didn’t know its whereabouts. Fucang didn’t want to waste time on futile searching. Rather than seeking that slim miracle, it was better to follow the traces Shao Yi had left behind.

Before coming to the Yibingyin Division, Shao Yi had been staying in the Wuchen Division, responsible for guarding the Sea of Parting Regret. After the edict to exterminate demons across all heavens was issued, he had bribed the Qingyuan Great Emperor with a Phoenix Heart Feather as collateral, specifically requesting to come to the Yibingyin Division. This move was truly worth deep consideration.

Fucang slowly pushed open the courtyard gate and walked into the house. Suddenly a light blue figure jumped up from the chair with a startled cry. When Fucang looked carefully, it was Zhi Xi. He was rarely somewhat taken aback: “…Why would Senior Sister be here?”

Zhi Xi awkwardly grasped the corner of her robe: “I… am waiting for Shao Yi.”

Even though Fucang was perceptive, for a moment he couldn’t make sense of it. In his impression, Zhi Xi was proper and diligent—she didn’t seem like someone who would be involved with that amorous deity. He didn’t want to say much and only carefully circled the room several times. Seeing no flaws, he said: “How many days has Senior Sister been waiting?”

Zhi Xi’s embarrassment finally faded somewhat. She said in a small voice: “About four days.”

Fucang’s eyes flickered. He turned back to look at her: “When he left, Senior Sister saw him?”

Zhi Xi had been somewhat slow these past few days. Only now did she react—Shao Yi had forcibly abducted Xuan Yi, so Fucang must have come to pursue and retrieve her. She nodded: “I watched him enter the house. When I chased inside, the Qingyang Clan’s divine official said he had already left.”

Even Qingyang Clan divine officials had come down. He indeed had some scheme.

Fucang pushed open the back courtyard door. Just as he was about to search carefully, he suddenly heard the front door being knocked several times. An unfamiliar war general’s voice rang out: “War General Zhi Xi, open the door.”

He turned back and saw Zhi Xi’s face turn deathly pale. Like someone who had done something wrong, she lowered her head in shame. She hesitated for a long time before finally opening the door. Immediately several war generals from other divisions walked in, clasping her hands behind her back. The one leading seemed to be the commanding general. His expression was full of regret as he sighed repeatedly: “You’ve never made a mistake before. Why did you act independently without authorization at this time? Do you know how much the punishment of Solar Radiance Pouring hurts?”

Zhi Xi remained silent. The commanding general waved his hand, and the war generals pushed her outside. After walking a few steps, she suddenly turned back and called: “Junior Brother Fucang, Xuan Yi she…”

She blurted out wanting to tell him about how Xuan Yi and Shao Yi were unusually intimate, but then immediately stopped herself. Too ugly—that behavior.

She looked at Fucang’s dark eyes, paused, then said: “…Please don’t tell anyone about my punishment.”

Fucang silently nodded, watching her being led away from the courtyard before returning to the back courtyard. His divine power suddenly surged. The flow of clear energy throughout the entire palace entered his vision. He turned and slowly walked along the back courtyard wall, finally stopping before a small pond.

Phoenix trees were planted by the pond. Abundant clear energy overflowed from them. If one didn’t look very carefully, one couldn’t see it—this stream of clear energy, though subtle, lingered without dispersing, leading straight toward the horizon.

He extended his hand, about to touch the very center point of that clear energy, when he suddenly sensed some movement behind him. He didn’t turn around. His right foot lightly tapped the ground, and immediately the earth violently trembled several times. Even the wind seemed to tremble. Cries of pain came from behind. Fucang abruptly turned and saw several Qingyang Clan war generals and divine officials collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Due to bloodline restrictions, no matter how capable war generals and divine officials were, they couldn’t compare to true deities like them. Fucang didn’t continue fighting and only said: “Shao Yi returned to the Upper Realm through this passage?”

The divine officials’ faces were all deathly pale. They clenched their teeth tightly without saying a word.

Fucang took a deep breath and wasn’t in a hurry to enter this passage. This should be an ancient passage. Emperor Baize had mentioned that after Kunlun and Taihang fell to the Lower Realm, most of the ancient passages were infected by turbid energy and had been abandoned by the deities. Later the Southern Heavenly Gate was built, giving those traveling between the upper and lower realms a fixed location.

This matter by now was probably no longer simply about old enmity. Such meticulous planning, such careful preparation—if it was only to exterminate the Zhuyin Clan, that would be making a mountain out of a molehill. Speaking of the origin of the two clans’ enmity, it should be the Battle of the Sea of Parting Regret. The Sea of Parting Regret… The Wuchen Division where Shao Yi had been stationed was precisely the one guarding the Sea of Parting Regret.

Fucang took a step, circling around the Qingyang Clan war generals and divine officials on the ground, actually appearing as if he would return by the original route. As he walked, he asked in a seemingly casual manner: “When are they going to the Sea of Parting Regret?”

A certain war general divine official instinctively blurted out: “Soon…”

Before finishing the words, his complexion had become even more deathly pale. The Deity Fucang could extract information through leading questions now? Who did he learn that from?

Indeed, they were going to the Sea of Parting Regret. Fucang said nothing more. He directly left the war generals’ palace. The Nine-Headed Lion galloped swiftly toward the direction of the Sea of Parting Regret.