In the endless yellow sand, Huang Rang walked alone.

Along the way, she hadn’t encountered any living thing. Her body was covered in windblown sand, and she had even forgotten where she was going.

Ahead in the yellow sand, black hair was exposed, still seeming to tremble.

Huang Rang rushed over. She vigorously brushed away the yellow sand and turned the person over. But this bit of surprise brought no hope.

The person’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth had already gradually turned to yellow sand. Only the hair was blown by the wind, like a tangle of wild grass.

Huang Rang gently released him.

She walked across this death-filled wasteland, watching all things rustle and melt away.

Huang Rang kept walking forward. She didn’t even know where she was headed.

The road ahead stretched endlessly, and the clothes on her body began to slowly melt. Fine sand rustled down, her ears filled with the sound of shifting sand.

She had walked for too long. The shoes on her feet, unable to withstand the wear and sandification, exposed her toes beneath.

Huang Rang simply discarded her shoes.

Wind blew past the treetops around her, but the most fragile leaves had long since scattered to the ground. Only bare branches remained on the treetops.

The world seemed stripped of its outer garments, revealing its ugly form.

Huang Rang traveled alone through this barren, desolate mortal realm. Half a lifetime, love and hate all empty. This was enough to drive a person mad.

But she still moved forward step by difficult step.

She searched her entire body—this time entering the dream, she hadn’t received a tea needle.

Why not?

Inside the Yuanrong Tower, Di Yiqiu and Xie Hongchen had forcibly broken in. Now she was here—where were they?

Huang Rang had too many questions.

“Di Yiqiu—” She called out this name again. She didn’t know if Di Yiqiu existed in this world, but as long as she held onto this thread of hope, she had the courage to journey through this wasteland.

Huang Rang didn’t know how much time had passed. The world’s sandification accelerated.

She raised her hand and saw fine sand slowly seeping from her fingertips.

—She was beginning to melt too.

Huang Rang stared at her hand. The panic in her heart wasn’t as intense as she’d imagined.

After ten years of torment by the Soul-Coiling Bone-Setting Needle, her heart had been tempered a thousand times over.

She had walked too far, and so her feet began to bleed.

Huang Rang dared not imagine what she looked like now—her long hair hanging in wild disarray behind her, covered in yellow sand, barefoot and bleeding. Her lips were too dry. When she occasionally licked them lightly, her mouth filled with windblown sand.

She was an earth demon. Her vitality was naturally stronger than that of mortals. So even without a water source, she had survived many, many days.

But in a world like this, even she couldn’t hold on much longer.

She had been cast into this apocalyptic future.

And the Yuanrong Tower was still under Shi Wenyu’s control.

Had he done this intentionally?

If he had done this intentionally, then presumably he still wanted to force her to submit.

Where should she search for him?

Huang Rang thought for a long time. Shi Wenyu later became emperor and always hid in the imperial palace in the inner city of the capital. But she had come from the capital, and Shi Wenyu wasn’t there.

Then he might be in… Huang Rang frowned, thinking of a place.

Yuhu Xuanzong, the tomb of the Divine Step of Single Thought!

But Yuhu Xuanzong was thousands of miles from the capital.

And she now had no magical artifacts, and even time was limited.

She could only rely on her feet, following the vague route, traveling on foot.

Huang Rang’s feet gradually wore down until bone was exposed.

And the world’s sandification undoubtedly worsened her injuries. She moved forward step by step, advancing as if on a pilgrimage.

Huang Rang didn’t encounter any living things. Not a single one.

When she reached Yuhu Xuanzong, her clothes were tattered, her feet white bone forest, and even both hands had turned to sand, leaving only bare palms. What did it feel like to watch oneself melt away with one’s own eyes?

Huang Rang dared not touch her face. Sandification wasn’t painful—only an empty numbness.

Heaven knew how much she had once cherished her appearance. This dream had completely destroyed it.

But fortunately, she finally saw the mountain gate of Yuhu Xuanzong.

This former first sect of the immortal sects was now dilapidated everywhere. The world had been destroyed, and remnants of time were scattered everywhere.

Following the direction in her memory, Huang Rang walked step by step toward the sect’s forbidden ground.

The restrictions here had all failed due to lack of spiritual energy.

She saw that towering tombstone. On it, the words “Tomb of the Divine Step of Single Thought” were wild and unrestrained, looking down upon all living beings.

Huang Rang took a deep breath, but unfortunately yellow sand entered her lungs, causing a fit of coughing.

She followed the opened tomb entrance and slowly went inside. Blood dripped with every step.

She had seen the tomb of the Divine Step of Single Thought before. Inside the tomb should be sword intent on all four walls, with a coffin in the middle.

But now, this barrier of stone made Huang Rang freeze in shock!

Inside the tomb wasn’t any coffin—it was, astonishingly, another world!

She saw a river!

The river water was clear and pure, with fish swimming back and forth playing in it.

On the opposite bank, flowers bloomed profusely and green grass formed shade.

She only needed to take one more step forward, just one more step, and she could touch that pure, unblemished water.

Huang Rang stood at the tomb entrance, neither speaking nor moving.

On the opposite bank, Shi Wenyu wore black and white Daoist robes, his steps as if riding the wind as he slowly approached.

Across a river, the world was split in two halves. One half full of vitality, one half withered and decayed.

Huang Rang met his gaze. His voice was unhurried, even carrying a trace of affection: “You’ve come.”

He wasn’t surprised, as if caring for a beloved child.

Huang Rang opened her mouth but made no sound.

Her throat had long been unable to produce any sound.

Shi Wenyu reached out his hand toward her from afar, saying gently, “The Heavenly Dao is dead, and my dao will rise. Will you still not awaken to understanding?”

He spoke of the Heavenly Dao. As he said this, he extended his hand. A gorgeous butterfly fluttered over and landed on his fingertip. He gazed at it for a long while, then said, “You’ve always been a clever child. Those who understand the times are outstanding people, isn’t that so?”

Huang Rang’s bone-white feet slowly stepped into this clear river.

She desperately washed away the yellow sand covering her body, then poured water down her throat. The gentle current moistened her.

And once she stepped into the river, all the old wounds on her body instantly disappeared.

—She had entered another time, a spacetime that hadn’t yet traveled thousands of miles. Naturally, there would be no injuries.

Shi Wenyu finally showed a trace of a smile, saying, “That’s right.”

Huang Rang didn’t know how much water she had drunk. Her stomach had long lost all sensation. She raised her head and after trying for a long while, finally asked in a hoarse voice, “Why me?”

“Hmm?” Shi Wenyu raised an eyebrow.

Huang Rang asked, “The tea needle you bestowed upon me—what exactly is it? I’m already pierced with the Soul-Coiling Bone-Setting Needle, already a dead thing. Why did you take such pains to draw me into dreams?”

Shi Wenyu was very satisfied with her choice and said, “Years ago, when this seat entered the tower to execute Lei Yin Daji, while fighting with him, I shattered a vessel.”

“Vessel?” Huang Rang frowned.

Shi Wenyu smiled, “Yes, this seat accidentally killed a person, originally thinking it was one of Lei Yin Daji’s minions. But later, when I practiced the Lingmo Ghost Scripture and studied the Yuanrong Tower in detail, I discovered that was a… vessel for bearing resentful energy.”

Since Huang Rang had already submitted, he apparently didn’t intend to hide anything, saying, “But once such a vessel is shattered, it’s extremely difficult to find another. It requires possessing powerful resentful energy and tenacious will, yet also needs supreme mental force. I searched for many years.”

His words were deeply meaningful. Huang Rang stared at him fixedly and asked, “Back then, I revealed to Xie Hongchen that Xie Lingbi had abnormalities. Half a month later, I was harmed by Xie Lingbi. Was it you who informed him?”

Shi Wenyu said, “That matter… mm, you did it too indiscreetly. The court installed Nine-Curve Spirit Pupils in Yuhu Xuanzong. Little Eighty-Six cared so much about you—where do you think this Nine-Curve Spirit Pupil was installed?”

Huang Rang didn’t answer. She no longer needed to answer.

Where else? Naturally at Qilu Platform.

Because it didn’t involve any sect secrets, the restrictions there were actually weak.

—The Sect Master’s wife’s residence—who from outside the sect would care? Who within the sect would dare set foot there?

Who would have thought that such a small oversight would become the beginning of disaster?

“You spoke carelessly, and the Yuhu Xuanzong’s scrolls also contained shadow-recording techniques. You had no guard up, so naturally there were flaws everywhere. This seat merely gave a slight hint, and Xie Lingbi found solid evidence of you secretly investigating the scrolls. Who would have thought this actually helped me greatly.”

His words were so cold they were frightening.

Huang Rang said, “So Di Yiqiu being able to find me was also your secret assistance?”

Shi Wenyu smiled, “That, no. I originally wanted to leave you for a few more years, waiting until your resentful energy was deep and heavy before using you. Reversing the Heavenly Dao—how could that be easy? But Little Eighty-Six couldn’t wait. These years, searching for you, he nearly dug up every inch of this mortal realm.”

His tone was casual, but Huang Rang’s heart shook at every word.

All these years, Shi Wenyu had been confined to the Yuanrong Tower. But every movement in the court was under his control.

Huang Rang said, “That tea needle…” She suddenly realized, “It’s precisely because Di Yiqiu found me ahead of schedule that when you used me as a vessel to reverse the Heavenly Dao, you needed to prepare this additional item!”

Shi Wenyu’s eyes showed approval as he said, “Your will is tenacious. After being tortured by Xie Lingbi, you always harbored resentment. Moreover, you’re a renowned seed cultivation expert who received offerings from common people, with powerful mental force. You even had the Soul-Coiling Bone-Setting Needle protecting your physical body and primordial spirit. After so many years, this seat finally found a suitable vessel. Unfortunately, too weak. So this seat had no choice but to find another way, supplementing with this needle. Lest you be unable to withstand the Yuanrong Tower’s resentful energy and have your soul destroyed and bones shattered.”

Mentioning these things, he was like someone introducing his own masterpiece, quite self-satisfied.

“So when the dreamscape shattered, though I died, I was completely unharmed.” Huang Rang murmured, “Because that tea needle bore the backlash for me. Me, Di Yiqiu, your princes and princesses, and even everyone in the world. We’ve all been your chess pieces.”

Shi Wenyu didn’t deny it, only saying, “If there’s a chess game, there must be a player and pieces. This seat has expended countless efforts for you. Now laying everything bare, speaking without reservation—you should believe in this seat’s sincerity.”

Huang Rang asked, “What do you need me to do?”

Shi Wenyu said, “Now that’s the question a clever person should explore.” He beckoned to Huang Rang, “Come.”

Huang Rang slowly stepped out of the river, treading on soft green grass to come to his side.

Only then did Shi Wenyu say, “In this world there are always some obstinate people, but slaughtering living beings is not my intention. Now you have quite a reputation among the common people. Finding ways to persuade and guide them shouldn’t be difficult.”

Huang Rang understood: “Right now these people are still in that sandifying world. They’re all still alive?”

Shi Wenyu said, “This seat said before, killing and destroying the world is not my wish.”

Huang Rang lowered her eyes. After a long while, she asked, “It seems I have no other choice now. But what more can Your Majesty give me?”

“Indeed, worthy of being you.” Shi Wenyu smiled faintly. “That woman who would cultivate Divine Immortal Grass for her own biological father!”

Having said this, he sighed again, “This version of you is even more pleasing.”

Huang Rang neither spoke nor moved. Shi Wenyu drew close to her, his gaze deep as an abyss: “You can obtain new life. Henceforth freed from the Soul-Coiling Bone-Setting Needle.” His voice carried laughter as he used the gentlest tone to speak the cruelest words: “Huang Rang, my great undertaking is the only method that can break the Soul-Coiling Bone-Setting Needle.”