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At dawn, the sky was just beginning to lighten.
Yao Yin woke up from her dream, still startled.
She recalled last night’s dream, thinking she had cried all night, but upon waking, she found that she didn’t have the expected tear-stained eyes. A sense of wistful loss flowed in her heart, inexplicable and unclear.
The surrounding air was cold, yet a subtle warmth emanated from her left middle finger, bringing her a sense of peace. She lowered her head and looked at the silver ring. She found that with this ring, her heart suddenly felt less anxious and more secure. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the ring itself, or because of the power it represented, which could even override Ghost Monarch Shiyan... But either way, power and security were directly proportional. In the Heaven of Six Desires, she was like a frog in a well, even worse than an ant. Now, improving her strength was the top priority.
Of course, before cultivating, she had to first find that nest of small Bashe snakes and report back, otherwise, if she was thrown off the Immortal Executing Platform, only a wisp of smoke would remain... Yao Yin shivered, forced herself to stand up, and took her outer robe from a nearby wooden rack to put it on. Her outer robe had reverted to its previous unremarkable, coarse grey robe. She walked to the riverbank to wash up and saw her reflection in the water. Unsurprisingly, her face had also returned to its former features. The goddess in the red cloak from last night felt like a dream. A dream leaving no trace.
“This must all be Shiyan’s illusion, what exactly is she trying to do?” Yao Yin was very confused, but with her mind, she couldn’t figure out a logical explanation. In the end, she could only helplessly comfort herself, “Don’t think about it. Take it one step at a time. After all, the boat will straighten itself at the bridge, and a fortune lost can always be regained!”
Yao Yin smiled, and set off with renewed vigor.
The morning air was always incredibly fresh, carrying the scent of snow, making one feel peaceful and wonderful. It was very quiet, with only occasional bird chirps. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, hovering just above the horizon. Behind the dawn glow were twinkling stars, and opposite the Ziwei Star, the Emperor Star flickered, as if it were about to fall at any moment.
Just as Yao Yin was wondering why the Emperor Star was dim, she heard two consecutive loud “rumble” sounds.
The immense roar shook the mountains and forests, and a dazzling white light burst forth in response, engulfing the Nine Heavens, Ten Earths, Four Seas, and Eight Desolations.
Yao Yin was dazzled, unable to open her eyes. Before she could adjust to the blinding white light, an impenetrable darkness immediately descended. This made her briefly wonder if she had been blinded by the white light.
After a long while, the darkness gradually receded, and peace returned to the mountains and forests.
“Why has the sky suddenly changed?” Yao Yin frowned, feeling that strange things happened every day, and especially many recently, particularly those happening to her, appearing one after another in a life-threatening performance, leaving her flustered and at a loss.
But thankfully, this massive cosmic upheaval didn’t cause her any substantial harm, and she always believed that the sky wouldn’t fall. Even if it did, there would be taller people to hold it up. Her worries were just overthinking.
Yao Yin adjusted her mindset and continued flying downstream.
Below the Abyss Waterfall was a natural spring pool. It was said that the area around the pool was picturesque, with clear waters, green mountains, singing birds, and fragrant flowers, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Three Realms, often frequented by couples for sightseeing.
Upon arriving, Yao Yin found that it was entirely different.
The area beneath the Abyss Waterfall looked as if it had suffered a catastrophe. Large swathes of forest had been incinerated by fire, leaving behind only scorched earth.
Where were the birds? Where were the flowers? There wasn’t even an intact spot to stand!
And the Abyss Waterfall itself was originally a large pool, but now it seemed as if something had smashed an even larger hole into it. The water in the pool had mostly evaporated, and scorching marks were everywhere, shaped as if a huge meteorite had fallen from Lihen Heaven and struck it.
The water flowing from the waterfall continuously poured into the gigantic pit, but it wasn’t enough to fill the riverbed, indicating that this pit had formed not long ago.
“Which great deity from Lihen Heaven is throwing things around again?” Yao Yin wondered, slowly landing at the edge of the enormous pit. She carefully examined the pool and saw a large mass of black filamentous material floating in the center of the water, tangled and quite horrifying.
As she stared, the filamentous mass drifted to her feet.
In this border city of the Heaven of Six Desires, teeming with mountain spirits and ghosts, Yao Yin, operating under the principle that curiosity kills the cat and that self-preservation is key, was about to leave when a pale hand suddenly emerged from the filamentous mass and grabbed Yao Yin’s ankle.
Yao Yin was startled and instinctively tried to run, but she underestimated the strength of that hand. Not only did she fail to escape, but inadvertently, she was pulled into the water pit.
A water ghost!
That was Yao Yin’s first thought.
“Save me...” A weak male voice whispered in Yao Yin’s ear. At the same time, she felt a pair of hands constantly pushing her downwards. Yao Yin was originally a strong swimmer, but startled by him, she accidentally choked on several mouthfuls of water, almost being drowned by him there.
Once Yao Yin regained her senses and took control, she retaliated by kicking the man several times, even stomping on him at the bottom of the pool. But soon, she discovered that the other party was actually a powerless mortal who couldn’t swim and was on the verge of drowning... Yao Yin was shocked and immediately grabbed his collar, flying him out of the pool.
Yao Yin laid him flat on the ground and checked his breath, only to find that he had no pulse!
“Sigh, I guess you’ll have to do.” Yao Yin mused, then bent down and, mouth to mouth, breathed a puff of immortal energy into him. At that moment, the man’s tightly shut eyes suddenly widened, and the next moment, with a loud “slap,” his raised right hand, swift, accurate, and firm, left a palm print on Yao Yin’s face.
“Presumptuous!” The man’s cheeks were flushed, and he gasped, shouting, his eyes seemingly holding some grievance and indignation, as if he were the one who had been hit.
Yao Yin was stunned. It took her a while to recover, and she furiously said, “I’m your benefactor! How can you be so ungrateful?” As she spoke, the man remained relentless, raising his right hand again. Seeing that he was about to slap her again, Yao Yin, quick as a flash, grabbed his pulse point. With a “clack,” she crippled his right hand.
Yao Yin raised her chin, not without pride, “They all say mortals are ungrateful, and it’s truly true. This is a small lesson for you...”
“Slap!” Before Yao Yin could finish speaking, her right cheek received another solid slap from him.
“You!” Looking at his raised left hand, Yao Yin was completely enraged. She flipped over and straddled him, holding both his hands with her left hand, pinning them above his head, while her right hand delivered dozens of slaps to his face in quick succession.
“This girl has been vexed by inexplicable annoyances all night, and now I’m taking it out on you!” Yao Yin cried as she slapped him, lamenting, “This girl mercifully saved your life, and this is how you treat me? Do you know how cold it is? Do you know how difficult it is to use spiritual power to resist the cold?! If you’re going to be this ungrateful, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
The man had been struggling furiously, but upon seeing Yao Yin’s face, he stopped resisting. He stared blankly at Yao Yin’s face, and after a while, even Yao Yin herself felt a little embarrassed. She had been hitting him like a punching bag for a long time, and facing someone who wouldn’t resist, she herself felt rather uninspired.
“Fine, I’ll let you off for now.” Yao Yin sighed, rolled over, and lay down beside him. This was the first time she had hit someone until she was breathless.
Just then, the man turned his head, staring at her profile, and asked in a testing tone, “Ye Jiu?”
“What Ye Jiu, Ye Ba, I don’t know them!” Yao Yin rolled her eyes impatiently, “It’s truly inexplicable. Why does everyone I meet act like they’ve encountered an old lover? The names they call out, I’ve never even heard of! I am an immortal fruit, a rootless immortal fruit!”
“Oh.” Upon hearing that she was an immortal fruit, the enthusiasm in the man’s eyes instantly receded. He turned his head and said nothing more.
Yao Yin secretly glanced at him a few times and found that although his face had been swollen into a bun by her, and his eyes were ringed with dark panda circles, his eyes were truly beautiful. They were like flowing starlight, vast as the sea, clear and deep, with an indescribable sense of antiquity, and at first glance, even a hint of aristocratic temperament. Such a temperament was rare even among immortals, and for a mortal to possess such beautiful eyes truly surprised her.
Sensing Yao Yin looking at him, the man glared back at Yao Yin fiercely.
“Do you think I’m eager to look at you?” Yao Yin rolled her eyes, turned her head, no longer looking at him, and instead looked at the sky.
Just as the sky was growing brighter, a bizarre thing happened—the Emperor Star emitted an eerie red glow and then completely disappeared from the star chart.
Yao Yin rubbed her eyes and stared intently—that’s right, it had really disappeared.
Then the sun emerged from the horizon, and the sky instantly brightened. The stars faded.
“Did you see that?” Yao Yin asked in surprise.
“I saw it.”
“You saw it too?”
“Mm.”
“What did you see?”
“The Emperor Star disappeared.” The man’s face was calm, seemingly unaware of what the disappearance of the Emperor Star meant.
Yao Yin was a little stunned, silent for a long time.
Yao Yin’s expression was somewhat solemn. The man noticed her unusual demeanor and asked, “Are you sad?”
“Sad?” Yao Yin was startled by the question, then burst into laughter: “Do you know what the fall of the Emperor Star means? Hahahaha—Haoyue is dead! The Celestial Emperor has ascended! Hahahaha—” Yao Yin laughed, for a long time. But as she laughed, she found herself unable to laugh anymore. She whispered, “This kind of thing, it shouldn’t happen, right?” Her voice sounded like a question, yet also like a certainty.
“What, you like him?” The man turned his head, looking at her with a hint of amusement.
“What if I like him? What if I don’t?” Yao Yin glanced at him and said, “Across the Three Realms, isn’t it normal to like the Celestial Emperor?”
“It’s very normal,” the man nodded, then asked, “So, do you like him or not?”
Yao Yin snorted coldly and said proudly, “Although many people like Haoyue, this great deity disdains him.”
“Is that so?” The man chuckled lightly, then turned away and said nothing more.
Yao Yin was provoked by his obviously disdainful look and repeatedly said, “What do you, a mere mortal, understand? Does this great deity need to explain anything to you?” Although Yao Yin said she wouldn’t explain, she soon blurted out, “Besides, he’s just an ungrateful person who relied on women to rise to power. What’s so great about him?”
Upon hearing this, the man’s face suddenly darkened, a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he said coldly, “Where did you hear that?”
“Do you really want to know?” Yao Yin’s eyes held a playful look.
“Mm.”
Yao Yin cleared her throat and said earnestly, “I’m Haoyue’s ex-girlfriend, do you believe it?”
Upon hearing this, the man glanced at her sideways, then turned his body away, no longer paying her any mind.
Yao Yin also put away her jesting and stopped teasing him. As she patted her soaked clothes, she distractedly asked, “What’s your name?”
The man thought for a moment, then finally said, “Zichen.”
“Does a name need thinking about?”
“...” Zichen did not reply.
Yao Yin laughed, “Your name is truly imposing. ‘Purple qi coming from the east,’ ‘stability in all directions’ - words exclusively for emperors. Only an uneducated mortal like you would dare to use it.”
“...”
“My name is Yao Yin.” Seeing that he didn’t speak, Yao Yin wasn’t annoyed. She turned to look at the sky, deep in thought.
“Legend says Celestial Emperor Haoyue is omnipotent, so nothing serious should have happened, right...” Yao Yin said, worriedly.
“Don’t you dislike him very much? You should be happy if something happened to him,” Zichen replied distractedly, his eyes fixed on Yao Yin’s face, as if contemplating distant memories.
“Can you stop looking at me like that? You’re looking at me like your great-grandmother came back to life from her grave...” Yao Yin glared at him. Seeing his strange expression, she grew angry and snapped, “Still looking? Try looking again? If you do, I’ll dig your eyeballs out!”
Zichen ignored Yao Yin’s warning and continued to stare at her unmoving. Yao Yin’s patience ran out, so she pounced on him again, giving him a thorough beating. Zichen tried to resist, but how could a mortal be a match for an immortal? He struggled twice then stopped moving, simply closing his eyes and letting her vent.
“Why aren’t you resisting?” Yao Yin asked, confused.
“Is resisting useful?” Zichen smiled wryly.
“Oh, what’s this?” Just then, Yao Yin felt a blood-red jade stone on his waist. She unfastened it and held it in her hand, admiring it. The jade was crystal clear, warm, and auspicious, clearly a valuable treasure.
“You’re a mere mortal, how can you have such high-grade beautiful jade? Tell me! Where did you steal it from?”
“It’s not stolen.”
“Then where did it come from?”
Zichen thought for a moment, then said calmly, “An ex-fiancée gave it to me.”
“Fiancée?”
“Something like that...” Zichen nodded and continued, “At that time, I was a woodcutter on Mount Kunlun and coincidentally met a celestial maiden who had descended to the mortal realm. She brought me up to the heavens, but her family disapproved of the marriage and drove me out of the immortal mansion. When I left, she gave me this jade as compensation.”
“Is there a woodcutter who dresses so luxuriously?” Yao Yin grabbed Zichen’s collar and dangled it in front of him: “Although most of your clothes are burnt, the undamaged parts are all silver-gilded! Would you wear something like this to chop wood? It’s too extravagant even for a wedding! And would a woodcutter be named Zichen? That’s a bit too cultured!”
Zichen’s mouth hung open, and he didn’t reply for a long time, but under the threat of Yao Yin’s man-eating gaze, he still braced himself and continued, “My name was given by my ex-fiancée. She’s the legitimate daughter of a prominent immortal family. It would have been disrespectful not to dress me properly when meeting her father, so she got me this new outfit. But her father, seeing I was a mortal, immediately drove me out. I guess it was a false hope.”
“That’s absolutely despicable! Love shouldn’t be about background. Forcibly separating lovers will bring retribution!” Yao Yin was indignant upon hearing this. She angrily said, “Which young lady was it? I’ll go help you get justice!”
“...” Zichen was speechless, seemingly completely unprepared for her reaction. He thought for a moment before saying, “Her name is Yaozheng.”
“The eldest daughter of the Azure Emperor Taiyi’s residence, Princess Yaozheng?” Yao Yin’s eyes widened.
“Mm.”
“Azure Emperor Taiyi is a prominent immortal family from Lihen Heaven! His title isn’t ‘High Immortal,’ it’s ‘High God’! Do you know what ‘High God’ means?”
Zichen shook his head.
“Sigh,” Yao Yin sighed, patting his shoulder, “The Azure Emperor is a divine monarch, second only to one, above ten thousand! Brother, please accept my condolences. A toad cannot eat swan meat!”
“Oh,” Zichen replied absently.
“Alright, it’s getting late. I’ll be going now. We’ll meet again if fate allows.” Yao Yin stood up and dusted off her clothes.
Upon hearing this, Zichen quickly grabbed her arm: “What about me if you leave?”
“How would I know what about you? In this Heaven of Six Desires, there are only four kinds of people: immortals, demons, ghosts, and kept mortals. But you’re none of them. You should quickly return to the mortal realm.”
“Why don’t you keep me then?” Zichen looked bewildered, seemingly not finding being “kept” disgraceful at all.
Yao Yin chuckled wryly, “Firstly, I don’t have the ability to keep anyone. Secondly, you don’t have the qualifications to be kept by anyone.” As she spoke, she led him to the water and pointed at his reflection in the water, saying, “With your appearance, anyone who’d keep you would either be blind or an idiot.”
“This...” Zichen was stunned to see his reflection in the water. “Condo—” Before Yao Yin could finish her word of commiseration, she heard him burst into laughter: “This appearance is perfectly suited for me right now!”
Yao Yin was startled by his reaction, wondering if she had somehow made him crazy.
“I’m leaving now. You take care of yourself.” Yao Yin said, then turned to leave.
“You can’t leave!” Zichen grabbed her foot, saying, “I don’t care, you have to take responsibility for me!”
Yao Yin was shocked: “Why do I have to take responsibility for you? I saved your life, do I also need to take care of you for life?”
“I don’t care! I only know you here. If you leave, I’ll surely die. Can you bear to watch me die?”
“...”
Yao Yin thought for a moment. It seemed... she probably... wouldn’t feel bad at all?
“High God...” Zichen looked at her eagerly, pleading, “You surely can’t bear it, right?”
“Sigh, fine. Considering you’ve just been heartbroken, you can follow me for now. But I have three rules for you. First, you’re not allowed to annoy me. Second, you’re not allowed to make demands. Third, once my task is complete, you must seek your own survival and not pester me.”
“Okay!” Zichen readily agreed.
Yao Yin continued, “After I’ve completed my mission, I need to report back. I can’t protect you forever, do you understand?”
Zichen listened, nodding like a chicken pecking rice.
“Then this blood jade will be your protection fee,” Yao Yin said, immediately taking off his jade pendant.
“...” Zichen was speechless, a hint of reluctance in his eyes.
“What, you’re unwilling?” Yao Yin narrowed her eyes.
Zichen quickly shook his head: “As long as High God likes it, High God can take it!”
“Good boy.” Yao Yin happily tucked the blood jade into her sleeve, then took Zichen with her and flew away on the wind.
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