The moment Shen Wu Yi stepped out of the barrier, Yun Che’s figure flickered as he followed closely behind.

Beyond his leisurely composure, he carried a hint of satisfaction that he seemingly could not suppress.

"Wuyi!"

Shen Wu Mingque arrived almost instantaneously. Her gaze and profound energy swept over Shen Wu Yi several times; only after confirming she was unharmed did she finally seem to relax.

Shen Wu Yi offered her a faint smile. "Aunt, there is no need for concern. The Abyssal Godchild appears overbearing, but he possesses the inner heart of a gentleman. He has quite exceeded my expectations. This journey was a success; Aunt, let us depart."

"Thank you for the praise. I shall not see you out." Yun Che spoke with a beaming smile, looking like a man who had achieved his heart's desire—perhaps even leaving one with the impression that he wanted more, sparking much room for imagination.

Shen Wu Mingque shielded Shen Wu Yi and did not linger. "We are leaving!"

As the two rose into the air, prepared to fly away at high speed, Shen Wu Yi’s figure suddenly faltered, and she came to a halt.

Shen Wu Mingque turned halfway to look at her, her eyes filled with doubt, yet she did not force her to leave.

Shen Wu Yi turned her eyes slightly, her voice calm and slow. "Abyssal Godchild, the conflict between you and me is, in the end, merely a struggle between juniors. Even if your methods are clever and everything goes as you wish, what of it? Under the rule of the God Emperors, all of this is but a fleeting child’s game."

On the surface, these words were a hidden jab at Yun Che for fighting so hard for a moment of dignity—an act of impulsive, childish behavior that failed to hide its sharp edges. In the Six God Kingdoms, the God Emperors were the heavens; no matter how large a struggle between juniors was, it was still just a game.

But... this was no longer a secluded cultivation space. Her sudden stop to say these words in front of everyone absolutely carried a significant, hidden meaning.

Yun Che’s eyes narrowed slightly, grasping her intent in an instant.

She was saying: Even if you truly succeed in inciting turmoil among the God Kingdoms, what then? If the Abyssal Monarch¹ intervenes, with his supreme prestige that has transcended the world for three million years, even the greatest chaos would be easily quelled.

Yun Che crossed his arms, his leisurely expression fading slightly as he spoke unhurriedly. "The God Emperors are exalted beings; how could they find the leisure to condescend and interfere in the affairs of juniors? I, Yun Che, did not grow up in a God Kingdom. In essence, I am a man of the marketplace—narrow-minded and vindictive. I have never been one to suffer the slightest loss. I advise the Divine Daughter of Evernight, whether of her own will or forced, to provoke me as little as possible."

The hidden meaning: I have my own ways to ensure the Abyssal Monarch has no heart to interfere and no time to look elsewhere.

She looked back, giving Yun Che a deep, lingering gaze.

He said he could turn the Senluo, Zhetian, and Zhimeng Kingdoms against each other; he said he had planted a cognitive suggestion in the Wumeng God Emperor that could be triggered at any time; he said he could incite the Xiaodie God Kingdom to bring calamity upon Evernight...

And now, he said he could restrain the Supreme Abyssal Monarch...

The Emperor of the Eternal Pure Land... the husband to whom I am bound by a marriage contract...

When facing him, those eyes were so clear they allowed not a speck of dust, yet they held a hidden, profound joy and guilt that seemed to have no end...

As well as... a sincerity and cautiousness that made it seem as though he wished he could carve out his very soul to present before her...

She saw it all, and she perceived it with a clarity that touched her soul.

Just what kind of past and secrets did he carry...

And just what kind of grievances and entanglements had occurred between him and her...

Was her completely irrational choice born of her rejection of this world, or... because of him...

A silent surge of complex emotions, unfamiliar and indescribable, rose within her. She spoke no more, her figure fluttering as she silently drifted away.

No one knew, and no one could have imagined, that this seemingly forced transaction—this clash of grievances between God-Inheritors—actually tugged at the threads of fate for the entire Abyssal world.

Yun Che watched Shen Wu Yi leave with Shen Wu Mingque, then turned directly back into the cultivation space.

As for how Shen Wu Yi would explain what happened during their private time to Shen Wu Mingque and the Wuming God Emperor², he didn't need to worry in the slightest.

Standing alone and silent in the cultivation space, Yun Che fell into deep thought for a long time. He extended his right hand, looking at his palm.

After falling into the Abyss of Nothingness, the terrifying sensation of being torn apart by spatial turbulence remained vivid. When he successfully landed in the Abyssal world, even with a body as powerful as his, there wasn't a single intact spot on him. His internal organs were riddled with countless cracks, and he had survived solely by clinging to his remaining profound energy.

How did she, who was gravely injured, on the brink of death, and exhausted of profound strength, safely pass through the Abyssal passage? And where did those missing twenty years go...

He couldn't find even a single possibility that could offer him a modicum of comfort.

Could it truly only be understood as "Heaven's protection"?

Sensing his restless heart, Li Suo³ spoke in a soft, comforting voice: "Perhaps when she fell into the Abyss, she happened to touch a dimensional passage torn open by spatial turbulence, which transported her directly to this world. Perhaps the laws of time in this world have completely lost their order, and the distortion of the time flow by the Time Black Tides is fluctuating violently, resulting in a temporal displacement."

"Or perhaps this world... this place abandoned by the Ancestral God, still hides many unknown secrets. It is difficult enough to know a person, let alone the full picture of a vast world."

"But... as Shen Wu Yi said, the road ahead is extremely difficult. There is no need to be overly distracted by the unresolved mysteries of the past."

"Mhm, I know," Yun Che replied calmly. He lowered his arm and reined in his thoughts, appearing to let it go and no longer dwell on it.

However, a strand of unerasable unease remained coiled within his soul.

Its name... was the Unknown.

The Evernight God Kingdom; a gloom that shrouded the sky.

Clang... scrape... clang... scrape...

Heavy shackles rubbed against the cold sand and stone, each sound heavier than the last. Every step dragged with a sense of powerless defeat—heavy steps, hopeless steps.

A line of thirty people, thirty pairs of shackles nailed into flesh and bone. Every step was accompanied by heart-piercing pain, yet none of them dared to fly, nor did anyone dare to lift their deeply bowed heads.

As the lowest "sin-slaves" of the Evernight God Kingdom—the "livestock" in the words of the Wuming God Emperor—they did not have the right to fly within the kingdom's territory.

Clang... scrape... clang... scrape...

Their footsteps were uniform and silent. Their eyes held no light, and their expressions held no ripples, like a line of mechanical living corpses. The blood-stained shackles locked away not only their bodies but also their broken souls and their trampled faith and dignity.

The man at the head of the line had hair that was half-white and a face covered in filth. The thick sludge of blood on his body emitted a nauseating stench. His coarse features were hidden beneath his messy, long hair, which also concealed a pair of eyes that had once looked down upon all living spirits.

Even a low-level practitioner from the borderlands would avoid him in disgust, not even deigning to cast a glance of pity or contempt.

Yet, they would never dream that this filthy, shackled man possessed a profound cultivation as high as the ninth level of the Divine Extinction Realm.

He was once the Mentor of the Godchild within the God Kingdom, a transcendent existence whose status and power were second only to the God Emperor.

A name that, when mentioned by the experts of the various God Kingdoms today, brought only sighs...

Shen Wu Yefeng.

When Shen Wu Anyey seized the Divine Source and became the Wuming God Emperor, he fell from being the Mentor of the Godchild and the arm of the God Emperor to the lowest sin-slave of Evernight.

Simply because he was a man with the surname "Shen Wu."

His duty as a sin-slave was to lead the men of the Shen Wu clan, who had also been reduced to slaves, deep into the Sea of Mist time and time again to bring back Abyssal Crystals with their blood, wounds, and lives. Sufficient amounts brought no reward; insufficient amounts brought heavy punishment.

Under the Seal of the Polar Night Death-Wish, they only dared to die; they did not dare to flee.

But what truly trapped Shen Wu Yefeng was not the seal, but his wife...

Shen Wu Youluan.

Even with his dignity shattered and suffering every humiliation, he did not dare to die, flee, or resist... year after year, night after night. Only her safety was the comfort and support that kept his light from flickering out.

A flash of light approached from afar. Upon entering the kingdom's territory, its speed slowed, and it drifted slowly over them.

Without looking up, Shen Wu Yefeng knelt and bowed his head, letting out a hoarse voice: "Sin-slave Yefeng greets the Divine Daughter, and greets the Night Patrol Envoy."

The "sin-slaves" all knelt and bowed, creating a series of ear-piercing, tragic clangs from their shackles.

Even if these shackles were ten times stronger, they could easily break free. However, their existence was not for restraint, but for pure humiliation.

Shen Wu Yi and Shen Wu Mingque did not stop, nor did they cast a single glance toward them. Sin-slaves did not deserve a response, nor could they approach any woman of Evernight; they were only fit to be the lowest slaves and tools... In the era of Shen Wu Anyey, it had always been so.

Shen Wu Yefeng remained kneeling and bowed, motionless, until the auras of Shen Wu Yi and Shen Wu Mingque had faded into the distance. Only then did he be the first to rise, then tremblingly moved his feet to continue forward.

Only, the shackles seemed even heavier and more piercing.

The direction of his path seemed to shift slightly until, at a certain moment, his footsteps and his aura touched the space directly beneath Shen Wu Yi’s flight path.

His steps did not stop, and his deathly aura remained... only beneath that filthy, messy hair, a flash of light that shouldn't have been there flickered for an instant.

Inside the Evernight Divine Hall, the "Seven-Coiled Dragon Profound Crystal" floated in mid-air, releasing an incredibly strange aura and Abyssal light... Even Shen Wu Anyey, behind the black curtain, had never sensed such a peculiar Abyssal Crystal aura.

A sharp profound light suddenly shot out, instantly pulling the crystal behind the black curtain. Following this, the surrounding airflow began to surge violently, even causing the entire space to tremble slightly.

Shen Wu Mingque’s fingers tightened slightly, her heart pounding like a drum. She had served Shen Wu Anyey for so many years and had endured her madness and fury countless times, yet never once had her emotions been so disordered... but it was not because of anger, but because of an extremely intense excitement and wild joy.

Sss—Sss!

The black curtain was shredded by the turbulent airflow, revealing a pair of hands so excited that the fingers were completely twisted. No one could understand what this moment meant to the Wuming God Emperor; perhaps even she herself did not fully know.

This terrifying emotional disorder lasted for a long time. When it finally calmed down, Shen Wu Mingque bowed deeply. "Congratulations, Your Majesty, for obtaining your heart's desire. This is Heaven protecting Your Majesty, and Heaven protecting our Evernight God Kingdom."

The world suddenly went silent. In the abrupt breathlessness, the black curtain was violently thrown aside, and a violent gale of air slammed into Shen Wu Mingque, accompanied by a ghost-like, furious shriek:

"You fool!" With a muffled bang, Shen Wu Mingque was sent flying, crashing to her knees as blood seeped from her facial orifices.

"Who gave you the audacity to act on your own!!"

The violent voice almost tore her ears. Shen Wu Mingque did not dare to resist or explain. With a pale face, she bowed again. "Mingque... accepts her fault..."

"Mother!" Shen Wu Yi called out in alarm to stop her. "Please calm your anger. This was not Aunt Mingque’s fault; it was Wuyi who insisted on—"

"Shut up!"

Shen Wu Yi’s voice was directly cut off. Shen Wu Anyey, who had been uncontrollably excited just moments ago, had now turned back into a furious wraith. "Wuyi, your courage is truly growing. For such a major matter, you dared to hide it from this Sovereign and leave the territory privately! To go and beg that Yun Che, who deserves to be hacked into a thousand pieces!"

"Did you think that by bringing back this Seven-Coiled Dragon Profound Crystal, this Sovereign would overlook this matter and even be grateful to you?!"

"No..." Shen Wu Yi shook her head in panic. "Mother’s long-cherished wish is more important than Wuyi’s life. Today’s matter, regardless of the reason or action, is Wuyi’s fault. Please, Mother, hand down your punishment. Wuyi... has no regrets or complaints."

"Punishment?? The ugly deed is done, the humiliation is complete; what use is punishment!"

Shen Wu Anyey’s voice became increasingly shrill. "At the Eden Cloud Summit, you trampled Dian Jiuzhi and received a gift from the Abyssal Monarch, ruthlessly crushing the faces of those lowly men. You finally won a bit of face for this Sovereign!"

"And now, in just two short months, you actually took the initiative to submit yourself to beg a hypocritical, filthy beast..." Her terrifying voice began to tremble even more violently. "You are this Sovereign’s daughter, the God-Inheritor appointed by me! To actually do such a dignity-shattering, filthy thing!"

Shen Wu Yi’s face turned pale. She parted her lips, her voice trembling slightly as if she wanted to explain something, but in the end, she bowed deeply, filled with endless guilt. "Wuyi... was wrong... Please, Mother, calm your anger. Mother’s soul wound has not yet healed... you must not let anger harm yourself again..."

"Mingque!!" Shen Wu Anyey’s voice shifted abruptly. "Speak! How exactly was this Seven-Coiled Dragon Profound Crystal obtained! If you dare to speak a single false word, this Sovereign will tear you apart right now!"

Shen Wu Mingque shuddered. Following the instructions Shen Wu Yi had given her on the way back, she spoke truthfully: "Reporting to Your Majesty... Wuyi and Yun Che were alone for fifteen minutes, and outsiders could not probe. After fifteen minutes, Yun Che handed the Seven-Coiled Dragon Profound Crystal to Wuyi."

Boom—

The space exploded; extreme rage tore through the heart.

The voice behind the black curtain was now twisted like the screeching of an Abyssal ghost. "Wuyi... do you still remember... what this Sovereign hates most!"

"Wuyi... does not dare to forget." Shen Wu Yi whispered. "Mother hates the men of this world most, and hates betrayal and defiance most..."

Bang!

She struck down with her palm, and cracks immediately spread across the Evernight Divine Hall as stone fragments flew. "You remember... since you remember! You still dared to have close contact with that filthy animal! You... you..."

"Mother, Wuyi did not! And I would never do such a thing!"

Shen Wu Yi looked up, her eyes three parts sorrowful and seven parts resolute. "Wuyi has never dared to forget Mother’s teachings for a single moment. No matter what, Wuyi would never let Yun Che... or any man in the world touch her in the slightest."

She extended her hands, directly facing Shen Wu Anyey’s fury. "If Mother does not believe me, you may thoroughly check the aura on Wuyi’s body. It has not even been twelve hours since Wuyi met Yun Che. If there truly was any contact, it would be impossible to hide from Mother’s perception."

Shen Wu Anyey lacked sight, but that indirectly made her other senses incredibly sharp. In particular, she had an extreme, bone-deep rejection and hatred for the aura of men. Even a tiny trace would trigger her spiritual sense and provoke her hatred, leaving nowhere to hide.

In truth, the moment Shen Wu Yi entered the hall, Shen Wu Anyey’s perception had already swept over her entire body. If she truly carried the aura of Yun Che... or any man, her fury would have been far greater than this.

"A man’s flesh and blood are filthy and cheap, and their hearts are the most disgusting and ugly things in the world! You offered yourself up; how could such a beast not have evil thoughts... and how could he easily give the Seven-Coiled Dragon Profound Crystal to you!"

Although Shen Wu Anyey could not see, Shen Wu Yi still looked up at her, her eyes filled only with flawless sincerity. "Reporting to Mother, Wuyi went with the intention of making amends. If I could fulfill Mother’s long-cherished wish, I would not hesitate even if I had to kneel and lose my dignity, but I never once thought of transgressing Mother’s teachings."

"But... when I was alone with Yun Che, he stood far across from me and never made any demands. He didn't even require an apology. He merely said some slanderous and offensive things about Mother, and then gave the Seven-Coiled Dragon Profound Crystal to me."

"Wuyi knows this is difficult for Mother to believe, but every word is true. If there is a single false word, Wuyi is willing to have her bones and body eroded by Abyssal Dust..."

"Slanderous and offensive words about this Sovereign?" The screeching suddenly became shrill... If it were any other God Emperor, they would disdain the words of a junior, but she was the ghost-like, mad Shen Wu Anyey. "What did he say!?"

Shen Wu Yi was slightly startled, then quickly said, "It was just some absurd and filthy talk, not fit for Mother’s ears..."

"Speak!! Word for word!!"

"No lies, no omissions!!"

"...Yes!" Shen Wu Yi helplessly closed her eyes and "repeated" in a very soft voice:

"He said... although Mother is a God Emperor, she is actually nothing more than a... stupid and witless madwoman. He didn't need to do anything; he only needed... only needed to keep me for these fifteen minutes. Even if I returned with the Seven-Coiled Dragon Profound Crystal, Mother would not see it as a merit, but would instead... be furious... insult me... hand down punishment... and then create an unhealable rift. Just like... just like Shen Wu Qing, who approached Pan Buwang back then."

"Such revenge is easy, a bloodless victory." As she reached the end, her voice unconsciously grew softer, and her head gradually lowered, as if she could no longer face Shen Wu Anyey’s imminent, explosive rage.

If sight could penetrate the black curtain, one would see every organ and every fiber of the Wuming God Emperor’s terrifying face trembling violently.

"Yun Che’s words" perfectly matched her mad fury just now. Like a loud slap, it crossed the borders of two kingdoms and struck the Wuming God Emperor squarely in the face.

Shen Wu Yi continued with a voice full of fear: "These absurd words are truly not fit to soil Mother’s ears. Wuyi knows deeply that Mother’s anger is born from her inability to bear Wuyi’s humiliation, and is absolutely not what Yun Che said. Shen Wu Qing committed a great error first and deserved punishment; how could I be compared to her..."

"Get out..."

She spoke in a low, raspy voice, followed by a throat-tearing roar:

"GET OUT!!"

BOOM————

The space turned chaotic, and a terrifying explosion shook the entire Evernight God Kingdom. The figures of Shen Wu Yi and Shen Wu Mingque were blasted away, landing a hundred miles away.

After shielding Shen Wu Yi, Shen Wu Mingque actually let out a long sigh of relief.

Every time she faced Shen Wu Anyey, it was undoubtedly like stepping into a terrifying nightmare.

Shen Wu Youluan’s figure flew over rapidly. Before she even arrived, her voice was filled with concern: "What happened? Wuyi, are you alright?"

Shen Wu Yi smiled and shook her head. "I am fine. It was my poor handling of matters that provoked Mother’s anger."

Seeing that Shen Wu Yi was unharmed, Shen Wu Youluan breathed a sigh of relief. She stole a glance at Shen Wu Mingque and asked softly, "Mingque, Wuyi, did you truly find the Seven-Coiled Dragon Profound Crystal?"

"Yes!" Shen Wu Mingque nodded. "And it has already been handed to Her Majesty."

Shen Wu Youluan’s eyes flashed with a strange light as she said urgently, "In that case, are all the Abyssal Crystals required for the 'Rebirth'⁴ technique Her Majesty mentioned finally gathered? Then... then doesn't that mean..."

Shen Wu Yi slowly shook her head. "Mother’s affairs are for her to decide. We need not speak recklessly; we only need to wait for Mother’s instructions."

Inside the Evernight Divine Hall, where the dust swirled and the tide of anger had not yet subsided, a withered palm slowly turned the pages of an old, Abyssal Dust-shrouded ancient book.

Night-Withered Pearl, Sun-Jade Heart-Tempering Jade, Sea-Soul Stone, Obsidian Evil-Dispelling Crystal, Abyssal-Heart Vine, Seven-Coiled Dragon Profound Crystal...

The six types of Abyssal Crystals recorded in the secret manual that could derive the Rebirth Array had all been found.

She only needed to disperse the final bits of Abyssal Dust to glimpse the full picture of the Rebirth Array...

Finally... at last...

At last...