Siming and Nüyuan, both decisive, immediately began their preparations once they had made their decision.
This was the only time Nüyuan would abuse her power as the City Lord, and it was to destroy both Wuji Wasteland City and herself.
Nüyuan’s task was simple—open the city gates and guide Siming. The real challenge lay in finding the entrance to the formation eye within the barrier outside Wuji Wasteland City. The last time Ershen and Changyuan fell in, it was pure coincidence. This time, if Siming couldn’t find the formation eye’s entrance, she would never find the way out, forever lost within the city’s barrier.
The entrance to the formation eye was obscure—how could it be easily found? Siming’s attempt was truly a life-risking venture.
“Open the gates,” Siming said, looking at Nüyuan with a faint smile, as if merely heading to an appointment, her eyes showing no hesitation.
In truth, Siming was afraid deep down. If she failed, she would be trapped like Changyuan in endless darkness for tens of thousands of years. But she thought, if she couldn’t rescue Changyuan, she might as well stay in the darkness with him, sharing his endless solitude—another form of companionship.
At least… she wouldn’t fail to reciprocate his deep feelings.
Nüyuan summoned a small girl’s head and chanted incantations with it. The city gates creaked open.
Siming straightened her back and walked firmly into the darkness, step by step. The darkness in the massive gates was like an open tiger’s mouth, engulfing Siming’s white robes. Her silhouette appeared increasingly thin and small, but Nüyuan felt that even if the harshest winds of the Wasteland City were to blow against Siming now, her steps wouldn’t deviate even slightly.
This woman knew her purpose so clearly, walking forward with unwavering determination.
In this world, the “unknown” is what people fear most. Nüyuan prided herself on having a temperament that, no matter how cold it had been ground down to be, could not remain unmoved when facing the unknown alone. Some forms of strength aren’t about appearance or intellect, but rather an inner resilience that commands respect through its indomitable nature.
Nüyuan suddenly grew curious. Before Siming’s figure completely disappeared into the darkness, she asked, “Why do you want to break the Wasteland City?”
“For peace of mind.”
Actually, since Siming’s memories had been erased, she could have taken the easy path and fulfilled her previous wish to marry the Heavenly Emperor and become an imposing Heavenly Empress. The reason she deceived the Heavenly Emperor, hid from everyone, and even essentially betrayed the Heavenly Realm to risk her life in Wuji Wasteland City was simply because her heart knew no peace day and night.
For Changyuan, and more importantly, for peace of mind.
The white figure completely vanished into the darkness beyond the Wasteland City. The city gates closed, sealing in a city of yellow sand.
The girl’s head fell lifelessly to the ground without the support of magic. Nüyuan paid it no mind, merely touching her own heart gently, lost in thought as she murmured, “Peace of mind? How does one find peace?”
In the darkness, Siming hadn’t even opened her eyes as she searched for the faintest traces of energy. She had previously studied many ancient formation texts in the Heavenly Realm. The formation eye was the heart of any formation, containing both vital energy and killing intent.
Thus, within the barrier of Wuji Wasteland City, there should be two locations—one containing only vital energy, which led to the mortal realm, and another containing both vital energy and killing intent, which was the true path to that place overgrown with ancient orchids. Siming carefully searched for these energies in the darkness.
The energies of life and death were faint and difficult to detect, requiring complete focus and concentration, not letting even the slightest fluctuation escape notice…
After walking in darkness for an unknown time—perhaps several hours or even days—Siming’s nose twitched slightly. Her eyes suddenly flew open, filled with sharp light. Using her divine power as a medium, she stomped forcefully and strode directly to the right.
In the vast darkness, a barrier resembling Buddha-light suddenly appeared, offering slight resistance to Siming’s intrusion.
Having come this far, Siming was prepared to kill anyone or anything in her way. She drew her Scale Sword and struck at the Buddha-light before her. Divine power clashed violently with the Buddha-light, and amid Siming’s low shout, light scattered into the boundless darkness. Gradually, all that remained before Siming’s eyes was dazzling white light.
Slowly, the white light dimmed, and Siming began to feel her feet touching solid ground.
She sheathed her sword and rubbed her dazzled eyes. As the pain in her eyes gradually subsided, she looked up to see endless ancient orchids swaying in bloom.
At this time, while Siming was fighting desperately to save Changyuan, the wedding celebration for the Heavenly Emperor and Empress was about to begin in the Nine Heavens.
Lanhua was a clever spirit, and having been personally enlightened by Siming, no one had yet seen through her disguise.
But this was only because she hadn’t yet met the Heavenly Emperor. The Emperor’s divine power matched Siming’s, perhaps even slightly surpassing it. If he were to detect during the ceremony that Lanhua wasn’t Siming, she would likely be crushed to death before she could even make a sound.
Lanhua thought she had reached what Siming called the “truly unbearable” point.
That night, holding her true form in her arms, she prepared to flee to War God’s Victory Heaven to seek political asylum. However, her plan was thwarted the moment she opened the door. Two door gods stood outside, and when they saw Lanhua emerge, their naturally fierce faces nearly scared the young Lanhua into wetting herself.
However, having served under her unruly master, she had witnessed many of her master’s mischievous acts since childhood, so putting on an act was child’s play.
She immediately stepped back, and curved her lips into a smile, successfully suppressing the panic on her face. She calmly looked at the two-door gods and frowned, asking, “What are your intentions, standing here in the middle of the night before this Divine Lord?” Her sideways raised eyebrow and cold mockery perfectly mimicked Siming.
The door gods immediately bowed in apology, explaining, “Forgive us, Divine Lord. We two minor gods are here on the Emperor’s special orders. With the wedding approaching, we must ensure no impure elements taint Star Lord Siming’s body. That’s why we’ve been so presumptuous. Though I believe fairy servants already informed you of this today.”
There might have been something like that, but Lanhua couldn’t remember. Her mind was completely occupied with thoughts of escape, leaving no room for anything else.
“Divine Lord, what urgent matter brings you out at this late hour?” the door god asked.
Lanhua looked up at the full moon in the sky and said rather melancholically, “The moonlight is perfect for my orchids to bask in.”
That night, Lanhua spent the entire night letting her orchids bask in the moonlight, and the two-door gods spent the entire night watching her do so. The next day, while Lanhua was still pondering methods of escape, the legendary Emperor himself arrived on the last day before the wedding.
Lanhua’s face turned ashen.
The moment the Heavenly Emperor saw her, his usually calm eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Where is Siming?” he turned to ask the two door gods.
The door gods felt utterly confused, looking at ‘Siming’ sitting in the chair, then glancing at the Heavenly Emperor, their faces full of bewilderment.
The Heavenly Emperor let out a cold snort, waved his sleeve, and Lanhua tumbled directly from her chair. Her features shifted several times before the illusion finally shattered, returning her to her original form.
The two-door gods were shocked. The Heavenly Emperor coldly looked at Lanhua and asked in a deep voice, “When did you switch places? Where did your master go?”
Under the pressure of divine power, Lanhua’s face looked extremely unwell. Sitting on the ground, she said with trembling lips, “Just… switched yesterday. Master said with the wedding coming, she’d lose her freedom, so she wanted to go down to the mortal realm one last time…”
The Heavenly Emperor moved his finger, choking Lanhua from afar: “If you don’t want to tell the truth, I have no use for keeping you alive.”
Lanhua closed her eyes tightly in fear, biting her lip hard. Despite her fear of pain and death, at this moment she didn’t make a single additional sound. Orchids, after all, had their pride. As stubborn as Siming…
The Heavenly Emperor stared at her with cold eyes for a while, then released his finger, letting her go. Lanhua clutched her throat, breathing heavily. The Heavenly Emperor’s gaze swept around the room, finally settling on a corner of the outer chamber where the betrothal gifts he had ordered lay in disarray, the red silk on the boxes still untouched—she hadn’t even looked at what was inside. The phoenix robe woven from cloud brocade hung lonely to one side.
His breath caught slightly, and suddenly he found all the red in the room painfully glaring.
“Qinghe.” Unable to stay a moment longer, his anger peaked. As he turned, his robes whipped across Lanhua’s face. He called for his attending crane immortal, “Confine this woman. Deploy three thousand celestial soldiers to search the mortal realm.”
The crane immortal had been outside the door and didn’t know what had happened inside. He was slightly startled: “Who does the Emperor seek?”
“Siming.”
These two syllables were spoken through gritted teeth. The crane immortal was greatly shocked, his expression suddenly changing. Tomorrow was the wedding, yet Star Lord Siming had run away at such a time—this wasn’t just a resounding slap to the Emperor’s face, but a slap to the entire Heavenly Realm.
At this moment, the crane immortal suddenly recalled rumors that had recently begun circulating in the Heavenly Realm, saying the Heavenly Emperor’s temperament had become increasingly unpredictable, and that he delighted in torturing people, especially Star-Lord Siming…
Could it be that Siming had run away for fear of the Emperor’s torture after marriage… The crane immortal broke into a cold sweat at his thoughts. Having attended the Heavenly Emperor for many years, he knew well that although the Emperor’s nature was cold and sometimes rigid, he governed with benevolence and had no interest in violence or torture. Otherwise, the Heavenly Realm wouldn’t be as free and nearly unruly as it is now.
But even the crane immortal, who knew the Heavenly Emperor so well, had such thoughts upon hearing this news—other immortals would surely make the same assumption.
The crane immortal sighed inwardly. Star-Lord Siming’s move had not only struck at the Heavenly Emperor’s face and ruined his reputation but had also played all the gods of the Heavenly Realm for fools—truly ruthless. He glanced at the Heavenly Emperor’s expression, not daring to say more, and hurriedly accepted the order and left urgently.
The Heavenly Emperor stood before the Observatory Palace doors, tightly gripping a phoenix hairpin in the hand hidden within his wide sleeve. In the golden phoenix’s mouth was a tiny white pearl—Siming’s stolen memories condensed into form.
His fingers tightened, deforming the phoenix hairpin.
A bitter and helpless smile gradually formed at the corners of the Heavenly Emperor’s mouth: “Even with no memories, you still seek revenge on feeling alone? As expected of my Star-Lord Siming…”
Ancient orchids danced through the air, floating past Siming’s nose. Upon contact with vital energy, the orchids turned to ash, and Siming inhaled some, causing her to sneeze from the irritation.
Rubbing her nose carelessly, she climbed over a small hill to see the lake of yin and yang halves lying quietly there, red orbs still rotating as before on the surface. A huge smile spread across Siming’s face; she was so excited she could hear her heartbeat.
She took out the silver bell she had taken from Ershen, which she had kept close to her chest, and slowly infused it with divine power.
Without any unnecessary moves, she shouted and leaped forward, forcefully striking the red orbs with divine power through the silver bell.
In that instant, all winds ceased their movement, as if the world had been frozen in place. With a light “crack,” a one-inch crack appeared on the surface of the orb above the black lake water. An identical crack appeared in the same position on the orb above the other half of the lake. The earth suddenly trembled, the lake waters churned, and the frozen air seemed swept by great winds. All the ancient orchids prostrated themselves on the ground as the wind seemed to take on physical form, rippling outward in layers with heavenly Buddhist sounds, growing increasingly intense.
The larger the crack grew, the more violent the backlash became. As tearing pain spread through her chest, Siming gritted her teeth, disregarding the severe damage to her heart meridians, recklessly channeling all her divine power into the silver bell.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Siming and Ershen was that when doing something they wanted to do, Ershen would do it roughly, while Siming would first make a plan and then do it roughly. The essential difference between the two was simply that one had lived longer, and time had ground her more cautious.
Between the two opposing forces, the silver bell turned to ash, and at this moment the red orbs collapsed with a rumbling sound, sinking into the black lake and turning into red ash. The orb on the white lake water similarly sank in.
The world froze for an instant, and Siming heard a tremendous sound. Looking up, she saw the sky slowly beginning to collapse, and all the ancient orchids on the ground turned yellow, dying in large patches.
The formation eye was broken.
Siming’s eyes lit up brilliantly, her heart overflowing with indescribable joy and excitement.
The lake water below her feet roared into a whirlpool, and looking down, she could see a curled-up figure becoming increasingly clear in the deep darkness. Her lips curved up involuntarily. Having overused her divine power earlier, she had injured her heart meridians, and now with such great joy, blood surged up her throat, causing her to cough up a mouthful of blood.
She paid it no mind, casually wiping it away, staining her pure white mourning clothes. She steadied her steps, walking one by one into the darkness like a proud general returning in triumph.
Changyuan, Changyuan, Ershen has come to save you.
From now on, we’ll measure the world together with our feet, I’ll accompany you to see all the mortal realm’s splendor and the mundane world’s prosperity, and I’ll accompany you to taste all of human nature’s warmth and coldness, all the world’s aspects…
We’ll never be apart again.