Chapter 3236: Eternal Soul

Xu Wang.

Ye Chen and Nü Di stood side by side.

The ancient battlefield outside the universe was not far away, and occasional roars could be heard—likely from supreme beings who had died in battle, their obsessions turning into lingering remnants after being buried for so long.

Ye Chen's heart was not at peace. Outside the universe, how many secrets were still hidden? How many beings surpassed Huang Di? Like those gods, any one of them entering the cosmos of the various heavens would bring apocalyptic catastrophe, reducing not just mortals but even the Heavenly Dao to ashes.

Nü Di's thoughts were similar. She was puzzled, wondering why so many beings beyond Huang Di were fighting. It must involve Yong Heng Xian Yu. This guess was something she and Ye Chen both shared.

After some time, the two turned and left. They still needed to find Xiao Wa and recover that segment of time. The matters outside the universe were beyond their involvement or qualification; for now, they had to overcome the crisis. The common people needed a Huang Di-level guardian before the Tian Mo Chong Qi Sha.

This search took another hundred years. The two delved deep into Xu Wang, supporting each other, their backs cast in a glow of blood. Xu Wang was full of pitfalls. More accurately, pitfalls were everywhere. As quasi-Huang Di, they were far from sufficient. Encountering unknown and extremely terrifying life forms, they were basically just targets to be hammered. Wherever they went, embarrassment followed.

Once again, Ye Chen suddenly stopped and pulled out his wine flask. Nü Di stood gracefully, glancing sideways at Ye Chen almost unintentionally. After another hundred years, she hadn't found Xiao Wa, but she could sense his determination. It was a risky gambit, a life-or-death wager. It took her several hundred years to figure out what Ye Chen meant. She had to admit, that method was indeed feasible. As Ye Chen said, it was a risky gambit and required wagering their lives. If they won, they might seize back that segment of time; if they lost, Xu Wang would be their grave.

"Why isn't it working? What's missing?" Ye Chen murmured to himself, having played Yong Heng many times without summoning Xiao Wa. In his view, something must be lacking, or perhaps Yong Heng had no ling hun.

"If it comes, wake me." Nü Di said softly, sitting cross-legged for what seemed like the umpteenth time and gently plucking the strings of her zither. The melody of Yong Heng was you yang and ancient. The Female Emperor of the Heavenly Court became unconscious once more.

Zheng!

Ye Chen also sat down and took out his plain zither. His zither music seemed to tell another story, filled with even more sorrow. Unfortunately, it still didn't summon Xiao Wa. Xiao Wa didn't appear, but unknown life forms did, including some ferocious ones. This kind of scene was something they had experienced many times. Each time, they chose to evade rather than fight. It wasn't that they couldn't provoke these beings; they just didn't want to waste more time. Xu Wang was full of illusions, and there were many things they couldn't afford to provoke.

The path ahead grew even darker. Since leaving the cosmos of the various heavens, several thousand years had passed, and both appeared exhausted.

"The common people—do they still have hope?" Nü Di murmured to herself. They had come so far on this road, and the two epochs above and below had lasted too long. Even she, who had once been a Huang Di, felt weary enough to collapse and sleep for ten thousand years.

"Yes." Ye Chen's words were firm. He had never given up and never would. The light of hope hadn't been extinguished yet; they still had a chance to turn things around, just missing one stroke of fortune.

Nü Di smiled but said no more. In the previous epoch, she had been as resolute as Ye Chen. But in this epoch, she couldn't hold on anymore.

Hee hee hee!

Suddenly, a childish laugh echoed through Xu Wang. Without thinking, the two rushed deeper in. Regrettably, it wasn't Xiao Wa, but a flower—a vibrant red flower like fire. It had no soil, yet it grew in Xu Wang, or perhaps Xu Wang itself was its nourishment. The giggling sound came from it.

"Bi An Hua?" Ye Chen said in surprise.

"It's the Xu Wang Flower." Nü Di confirmed, also with petals but no leaves; however, this red flower had an additional ethereal petal.

"Such a flower truly exists in the world." Ye Chen murmured. He had heard of it before—it only grew in Xu Wang. As long as Xu Wang endured, so would it. It could be refined into pills or integrated into the body, a favorite of Huang Di because it naturally carried the dao marks of Xu Wang. Inscribing them into one's physique offered hope of breaking through to even higher, more vast realms.

Hee hee hee!

As they watched, the Xu Wang Flower laughed again. But both knew it was the dao marks within the flower laughing. The childlike quality proved it hadn't been born long—relatively speaking, in terms of eternity. How many ten-thousands of years had passed, only the Xu Wang Flower itself would know.

"What a pity, no fate to take it." Nü Di sighed helplessly and turned away lightly.

Ye Chen also left. With their current cultivation, they couldn't take the Xu Wang Flower.

"That's not right." After a few steps, Ye Chen suddenly turned back.

"What is it?" Nü Di frowned.

"It's not just a flower; it's a god." Ye Chen narrowed his eyes into slits. That wasn't wrong. He saw it clearly, though not entirely accurate. It was undoubtedly a flower, but calling it a god was because the Xu Wang Flower must have transformed into human form before and attained the dao in its flower body. Now, it had returned to its flower state, likely in the midst of nirvana, like an elderly person reverting to youth to recultivate their dao fruit. Indeed. No life outside the universe was simple.

Ye Chen reached out toward the Xu Wang Flower. But the Xu Wang Flower was part of Xu Wang; his hand passed right through, touching nothing solid. Ah! He sighed and turned away for the second time. Even knowing the secrets of the Xu Wang Flower, it was useless; his cultivation was too low.

The two gradually walked farther away. What they didn't notice was that the Xu Wang Flower swayed gently, its meaning unknown. Only that its petals were covered in a string of dew—or perhaps tears—like one could hear a sobbing sound.

Zheng!

The melody of Yong Heng soon rang out again, ancient and full of vicissitudes. Nü Di was unconscious, quietly playing the zither. Ye Chen's gaze shifted between light and dark. As he played, he occasionally looked up at the vast Xu Wang. Outside the universe, it was clearly not the end of the dao. If his guess was correct, Yong Heng Xian Yu must tower beyond the universe. This should involve civilizations; Yong Heng Xian Yu was a god-level civilization.

When he lowered his eyes, he pondered for a long time. Listening to his own music, he focused on Nü Di's zither. The unconscious Nü Di had tears at the corners of her eyes, crying for reasons unknown, for whom unknown—her beauty evoking pity.

Like this, he watched for a hundred years and listened for a hundred years. In those hundred years, he was likely the only audience. No unknown life forms came to disrupt, and this part of Xu Wang seemed exclusively theirs, with a unique romance.

"I understand now." At the end of the hundred years, Ye Chen murmured to himself, his eyes showing enlightenment. The Yong Heng melody was indeed missing something. That something was Yong Heng's ling hun. Nü Di played the zither but couldn't summon the Xing Zi Xiao Wa because she had no ling hun; her consciousness was blank.

Thinking of this, he vanished in an instant. More precisely, he entered Nü Di's dream. Since it lacked a ling hun, he would supply one himself. Whether it would work depended on fate.

Nü Di's dream realm was still vague and ethereal. Ye Chen said nothing, walking all the way to the dream's end. There, he sat cross-legged and took out his zither. The zither music rang out, echoing through Nü Di's dream, perfectly harmonizing with her melody. The two zither sounds told two stories yet merged into one.

This time, the music was different from any before. The fused Yong Heng, the fused melody, was so sorrowful that even Ye Chen shed tears. Looking at Nü Di, she had gained consciousness, her eyes misty with the moonlight of Xu Wang, condensing into frost. Every tear was a tear of Yong Heng.

Hee hee hee!

After several hundred years, that childish laugh echoed in Xu Wang again. Right, this time they had found the correct method. Though it was many years late, the immortal melody of Yong Heng hadn't arrived too late. It truly summoned Xiao Wa.

The little thing stood not far away, its eyes full of confusion, quietly listening to Yong Heng. Even without intelligence, its large eyes reflected tears, and it was crying.

"Senior, can you return that segment of time?"

Nü Di didn't stop, and neither did Ye Chen. This line was spoken by Nü Di, yet also by Ye Chen, laden with hope, wishing only to reclaim the lost time.

Xiao Wa didn't answer, remaining a faithful listener. Accompanying the music, a starry river suddenly manifested, stretching between them. The river was illusory, but the starlight was dreamlike and brilliant, separated by Yong Heng.

"Senior, can you return that segment of time?" On the other side of the starry river was the near-humble plea of Ye Chen and Nü Di. Yet, Xiao Wa still gave no response.

Ye Chen took a deep breath and finally stopped his zither music, stepping out of the dream. Strangely, this time Nü Di was awake and also stopped her melody.

"Senior, can you return that segment of time?" Ye Chen spoke slowly—it was the third time he asked. With each word, his aura climbed inch by inch. Sacred patterns etched on his forehead, along with divine patterns, and even his Yong Heng bloodline activated in that instant.

Nü Di did the same. The two quasi-Huang Di were driven to desperation, resorting to force. Escaping armor characters floated around them, engraved on their Yong Heng armor, and even their Yong Heng swords resonated with markings. Only like this could they have the power to fight.

Zheng!

Ye Chen attacked first, stepping across the starry river with a sword that could destroy heaven and earth. Nü Di followed suit, her sword infused with the eternal dao laws.

Their offense angered Xiao Wa, or perhaps the Yong Heng melody had dispersed its enjoyment. It had been crying but suddenly showed fury.

Zheng!

Ye Chen's sword arrived, but it was useless. Xiao Wa ignored it, taking the sword head-on and swatting him away with a slap.

Pfft!

Ye Chen spat blood, his emperor body cracking mid-flight, sacred bones exploding inch by inch, each dyed with emperor blood. Even his Yong Heng bloodline was scattered.

Pfft!

Nü Di fared no better, her eternal emperor body stained with a splash of brilliant emperor blood. The once-mighty Female Emperor of the Heavenly Court was equally helpless.

Ah!

Today's Xing Zi Xiao Wa was abnormal, changing form on the spot. In Ye Chen's memory, it only did so when it couldn't win, growing stronger each time. Now, despite absolute dominance, it was changing. Perhaps Ye Chen didn't understand it well enough; or perhaps they had provoked it. Either way, it was extremely dangerous. Even without changing, Xiao Wa could hammer Huang Mo; changed, it was even more terrifying.

Boom!

With a boom, a pitch-black vortex centered on Xiao Wa, spinning rapidly with devastating swallowing power. Substances in Xu Wang were swept up in sheets, pulled piece by piece into the vortex. It was still the same gluttonous Xiao Wa. Only now, the vortex was another way of eating.

"The various heavens—I leave them to you." Nü Di said softly, glancing back at Ye Chen with a smile, then dispelling her Yong Heng armor. Like a beam of immortal light, she plunged toward the black vortex, clearly volunteering to be swallowed.

This was the risky gambit. Since they couldn't get that segment of time back, they had to go into Xiao Wa's belly to find it. If they could find it and escape, the common people of the ten thousand domains would still have hope. Indeed, this was wagering their lives. No one knew what entering Xiao Wa's belly would bring—possibly instant death and soul dissipation, dooming the cosmos of the various heavens to epochal destruction. If there was a turnaround, they could recover that lost time. This was a grand gamble, staking their lives.

It took Nü Di several hundred years to see through Ye Chen's plan. This little Sheng Ti had likely been aiming for this method from the moment he left the universe. That was why he had attacked Xing Zi Xiao Wa without warning—to force it to swallow him and search for the lost years inside. Honestly, she admired Ye Chen's courage. But now that she understood, she couldn't let him try it. He was the Sheng Ti, the commander of this epoch's common people, destined to battle the heavens. He couldn't die—no matter who did. If someone had to wager their life, it would be her. Anyone else would do the same, willing to shatter into pieces for him.

"This time, it's my turn." Ye Chen smiled. He used Yong Heng's heaven-swapping technique, exchanging positions with Nü Di just as she was about to fall into the vortex.

This scene was eerily familiar; it had played out once before. Back on the Taigu Road, in the Taigu's Xu Wang, to save Ye Chen, Nü Di had swapped positions with him, willingly being pulled into that vortex. Only this time, the roles were reversed. Back then, Nü Di had the upper hand; today, Sheng Ti's Yong Heng was eternal.

"No!" Nü Di's scream was heart-wrenching, unsure if it was Nü Di shouting or Chu Xuan and Chu Ling weeping in agony. She had been prepared, yet Ye Chen still swapped them back. It must be his Yong Heng, which had already surpassed hers.

"Wait for me." Ye Chen smiled warmly and was pulled into the vortex, vanishing instantly. In the moment before, he had invoked Yong Heng and performed a supreme immortal art, activating a brand etched in Nü Di's body long ago, precisely for this day. It was this brand that carried away the Female Emperor of the Heavenly Court. The tenth emperor of Da Chu was truly a master of divine abilities. With just one Yong Heng brand, he sent her away, across endless Xu Wang, back to the Taigu Hong Huang.

Whoa!

On the mountaintop of Taigu Hong Huang, a miserable yell rang out. It was from Xuan Di. He had been guarding the formation all day, bored, so he stepped out for a walk. No sooner had he reached the mountaintop than he was smashed flat by the returning Nü Di.

Shen Zun appeared in an instant. The various emperors gathered, rising collectively. It was still that Nü Di, still radiantly peerless. But by her side, one person was missing.

"Where's Ye Chen?" This was what everyone wanted to ask. The two had left the universe together, so why had only Nü Di returned? What about the tenth emperor of Da Chu? The supreme of the Sheng Ti lineage?

Nü Di said nothing, her eyes tearful. In the end, she had been one move short. From beginning to end, it was Ye Chen fighting on.