Zhi Xuan fell silent, his body tensing for a moment before finally softening completely like snow melting under the morning sun. He wrapped his still-human right arm around Zhu Qinglan's shoulder, pulling the woman deeper into a protective embrace.

  In this pavilion, time seemed to stop ticking; the roar of the wind outside and the thunder of destiny awaiting him in the Yao Gu Plains faded, replaced by the sound of Zhu Qinglan's steady breathing. He looked down, staring at Zhu Qinglan's hair draped over his blackened robe.

  The contrast was painful, yet in Zhi Xuan's eyes, it was the most honest form of beauty. He kept his dark left hand still at his side, not wanting to mar this sacred moment with a touch that still contained remnants of the aura of death. However, as if able to read that hesitation, Zhu Qinglan shifted her head, seeking Zhi Xuan's black palm to serve as a pillow for her cheek.

  "You think too much," Zhu Qinglan whispered without opening her eyes. The warmth of her skin seeped into the black color of Zhi Xuan's hand, sending a tranquility that forced the Slaughter Pillar on his forehead to fall into a deep, suppressed sleep.

  Zhi Xuan took a long breath, an exhale that carried the remaining burdens from the Ruins of the Heavenly Light Sect. "I am just afraid, Qinglan. Afraid that one day, even this pavilion will not be enough to hide me from myself."

  "Then I will build a larger pavilion," Zhu Qinglan replied with a tone that almost sounded like peaceful drowsiness. "Or I will freeze the entire world so that you have nowhere else to go but to me."

  Zhi Xuan smiled thinly—a pure smile, without a trace of the coldness of a slaughterer cultivator. Under the dim light filtered from the pavilion window, his face appeared softer. He looked at the Devil Tree of Life within his soul; thanks to the energy resonance with Zhu Qinglan, the black lines creeping on its trunk began to fade, replaced by a silver glow that shone brightly again.

  The scent of sandalwood mixed with cold lotus filled the air, creating an atmosphere so intimate that both their heartbeats began to pulse in the same rhythm. Zhi Xuan felt an immense sleepiness strike him—not sleepiness from physical exhaustion, but sleepiness from a soul that had finally found a resting place after enduring an endless storm. He leaned his back against the sandalwood pillar, letting his head rest on the cold wooden support while Zhu Qinglan remained curled in his lap with full trust.

  In this intentional seclusion, they were no longer the Silver-Haired Devil or the Holy Fairy from the Xing Luo Empire; they were merely two sparks of light trying to warm each other in the midst of a progressively freezing universe.

  However, that tranquility was disturbed by a subtle vibration at the center of his soul. Deep within the Sea of Consciousness, the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron, now mutated with Xuan-Huang Energy, suddenly gave a low chime. The sound resembled an old temple bell echoing in the distance, reminding Zhi Xuan that even though his soul rested, his destiny moved forward.

  "Divine Furnace," Zhi Xuan murmured to himself, looking down at Zhu Qinglan who had fallen asleep in his lap. Then, he closed his eyes again and submerged into his Sea of Consciousness.

  There, the Divine Furnace chimed lowly near his Tree of Life; on the other side, Ao Sheng and Xiao Die were meditating, or more accurately, sleeping in meditation, leaning against the trunk of the Devil Tree of Life. Meanwhile, Ruo Xianxue stood with her nine tails fluttering near the Divine Furnace.

  "Great Saint, what is happening?" Zhi Xuan asked calmly, stepping across his Sea of Consciousness to approach.

  Ruo Xianxue did not turn; her double eyes of gold and silver remained fixed on the vortex of Xuan-Huang Energy creeping across the furnace's surface. Her primordial aura, usually sharp and dominating, now felt heavier, as if she were holding the weight of a collapsed sky on her shoulders.

  "This furnace is breathing, Zhi Xuan," Ruo Xianxue answered, her voice echoing low like muffled thunder. "Xuan-Huang Energy is not mere matter; it is the 'will' of the earliest earth. When you brought it into your Sea of Consciousness, you did not just bring a weapon, but you brought the anchor of the world."

  Zhi Xuan stopped exactly beside the Divine Furnace. He saw the brownish-yellow veins now glowing dimly on the bronze-gold walls of the furnace. Every time the furnace chimed, a subtle shockwave spread, brushing against the Devil Tree of Life and providing primordial nourishment that made its silver leaves vibrate with vitality.

  "Anchor?" Zhi Xuan frowned, feeling the weight now settling at the base of his soul.

  "Correct," Ruo Xianxue turned, her nine tails sweeping across the calm surface of the Sea of Consciousness. "Your half-blackened body is a result of the accumulation of uncontrolled slaughter karma. However, this Divine Furnace... with the Xuan-Huang Energy inside, acts as a counterbalance."

  "It pulls the overflowing devilish air from your Slaughter Pillar and purifies it back into essence that can be accepted by your Tree of Life," Ruo Xianxue continued with a warning, stepping closer, her transparent finger pointing toward the roots of the Tree of Life which were now beginning to recover. "You have the ability to suppress that darkness. The problem is..."

  "The problem?" Zhi Xuan interrupted, his eyes narrowing.

  "This burden will cause your heavenly cultivation to slow down," Ruo Xianxue exhaled, a rare sight for someone of her strength. "You carry the weight of a world within your soul. Now, your threat is not only from the Devil Seed, but the weight of Xuan-Huang and the Evil Energy within you."

  Zhi Xuan stared at the Divine Furnace which now appeared far more majestic, realizing that every inch of power he gained always came with an equal balance. He clenched his right hand inside the Sea of Consciousness, feeling the weight Ruo Xianxue meant—a burden that made every rotation of his spiritual essence in the Heavenly Samsara Wheel feel like moving a giant, rusted wheel.

  "Slow down?" Zhi Xuan murmured coldly, staring at the Heavenly Samsara Wheel. "I have reached the perfection of the Five Elements, only one step away from Soul Transformation. That opportunity, I will utilize by winning this competition."

  "Oh?" Ruo Xianxue replied with a raspy laugh, shaking her head without exaggeration. "You think the Heavenly Path will let you tread upon Soul Transformation with the weight of your evil energy?"

  "You still need Heavenly cultivation," Ruo Xianxue continued, her voice now as sharp as a blade cleaving the silence of the Sea of Consciousness. "If you succeed in winning that competition and the chance to enter the second Great Constellation opens, I will teach you one way..."

  "What? Tell me what is next?" Zhi Xuan hissed impatiently as Ruo Xianxue left her sentence hanging.

  Ruo Xianxue shifted her gaze toward the endless horizon of the Sea of Consciousness, where silver, orange mists, and black auras intertwined. A thin, enigmatic smile played on her lips, an expression containing forbidden knowledge from thousands of years ago.

  "You think this is a technique? How naive," Ruo Xianxue's voice purred with a hint of mockery, floating closer to Zhi Xuan. "I have stared at the future thousands of times, trying to carve a path before you. However, everything is empty and seemingly erased. I can only plan what I know, not what your destiny will become."

  "My future?" Zhi Xuan murmured, looking strangely at Ruo Xianxue who was again speaking about fate. "I know. Devil, God, and Heaven are within me. But what do you mean by my future being empty?"

  Ruo Xianxue reached out her hand, trying to catch light particles dancing in the air of the Sea of Consciousness, but the particles passed through her fingers like an illusion. "Empty, Zhi Xuan. Usually, the thread of fate for a cultivator is clear to me—like a river flowing toward an estuary. Some lead to the peak of glory, some end in a pile of bones."

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  "But you..." Ruo Xianxue stared sharply into Zhi Xuan's sapphire pupils, pointing her index finger at his eye. "The dead star in your eye always gives me the feeling that you are the person I sought before. I can only give you the way and the goal, but I do not know what the result will be."

  The silence inside the Sea of Consciousness felt far more oppressive than the quiet of the pavilion in the outside world. Zhi Xuan stood frozen, letting Ruo Xianxue's cold finger almost touch his pupil. The words of the Fox of Darkness—that his fate was an emptiness—felt like an abyss suddenly opening beneath his feet.

  "The person you sought before?" Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice trembling with an uncertain echo. "Even the Lotus we once met always spoke as if I were merely a shadow of someone who had long since vanished."

  Ruo Xianxue withdrew her hand, her nine tails fluttering slowly, creating silver ripples in the air thick with the weight of Xuan-Huang. She laughed, but the laugh contained no joy; it was a bitter symphony about eternal loneliness.

  "That Lotus... she sees what she wants to see," Ruo Xianxue replied, her voice now sounding like the whisper of wind passing through ancient ruins. "All entities that have lived beyond the cycle of reincarnation always seek a harbor for their hopes, and everything..."

  "Alright, alright," Zhi Xuan interrupted with a hint of annoyance, his forehead furrowing as he waved his hand toward Ruo Xianxue. "Stop with your enlightenment; my head hurts every time I hear you ramble about that."

  Ruo Xianxue instantly fell silent, her largest tail vibrating violently; it seemed she had almost delivered a spiritual slap to Zhi Xuan's face. However, instead of exploding, the Fox of Darkness merely rolled her eyes, an expression highly unsuitable for a Great Saint who had lived for thousands of years.

  "You insolent brat," Ruo Xianxue grumbled, folding her arms across her chest, her nine tails fluttering in a sulking manner. "I was trying to build a majestic and profound atmosphere, giving you a revelation about fate that could make high-level cultivators bow and beg for mercy, and you call it 'rambling'?"

  Zhi Xuan merely snorted, massaging his temple with his right hand. "Because every time you start talking about the river of fate or dead stars, my head feels like it is being hit by a sledgehammer."

  Ruo Xianxue snorted loudly, until the cold air from her spiritual breath caused the surface of Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness to freeze slightly. "Then that hammer should be as large as the universe so you crumble into stardust," she snapped.

  She then put her hands on her hips, staring at Zhi Xuan with a judging look. "Do you know, Zhi Xuan? In ancient times, Saints would sacrifice half their territory just to gaze upon my face which possesses this charm!"

  Zhi Xuan rolled his eyes, looking completely unimpressed. "Yes, yes, the great Great Saint. Such a noisy charm. You almost woke Zhu Qinglan with your voice that sounds like thunder."

  "I am speaking inside your head, idiot! She won't hear unless you yourself scream like a madman!" Ruo Xianxue lashed one of her tails toward Zhi Xuan's feet, though it only passed through as a threat. "Listen, your victory is certain. In the second Great Constellation, you will obtain an eternal artifact from that competition."

  Zhi Xuan fell silent for a moment, letting Ruo Xianxue's childish anger pass like a ripple on a pond. However, the fox's last words about the eternal artifact and the second Great Constellation reignited the spark of ambition that had been briefly dimmed by Zhu Qinglan's tenderness in the real world.

  "Another eternal artifact..." Zhi Xuan murmured. He stared at his own palm. "I just find it strange, does the Hongmeng Empire truly promise Soul Transformation within a hundred years? That feels like the fantasy of a cultivator not from an Ancient Clan."

  Zhi Xuan shifted his gaze again, looking outside his body to see Zhu Qinglan still sound asleep in his lap. "Qinglan reached Soul Transformation within a hundred years. As for me in these hundred years? I must struggle with the achievement of Five Element perfection and even face the threat of my cultivation slowing down. Are you sure the Hongmeng Empire will be able to determine that hundred-year destiny?"

  Ruo Xianxue fell silent for a moment, her gaze which was previously full of jest now turned as cold as the ice on the peak of the Tianluo Mountains. She looked at the figure of Zhu Qinglan through Zhi Xuan's eyes, observing the silvery light surrounding the woman's body—pure evidence of a talent blessed by Heaven.

  "The Hongmeng Empire is merely a grain of sand on the shore, Zhi Xuan," Ruo Xianxue's voice returned to a low tone, carrying a suffocating authority. "They do not determine fate. They only try to imitate existing laws. However, you ask about a hundred years? A hundred years for humans is a lifetime, but for those who stand in the Great Constellation, it is merely a blink of an eye."

  Ruo Xianxue stepped toward the shadow of the Heavenly Samsara Wheel spinning slowly within Zhi Xuan's soul. "Zhu Qinglan reached Soul Transformation because she is a direct descendant of the Great Emperor, blessed by Heaven. Her path is so majestic, her energy is pure, and she is supported by all the resources of the Ancient Zhu Clan without blemish. Whereas you?"

  She pointed toward the black mass on the left side of Zhi Xuan's consciousness. "You carry a thousand Slaughter Seals, a rebellious Devil Seed, the Kun Peng pearl, and now the weight of Xuan-Huang. You are not walking on a clean path; you are climbing a collapsing mountain. It is natural that you feel you are struggling."

  Zhi Xuan clenched his fist, feeling the weight of his meridians forced to work many times harder than ordinary cultivators. "If this continues, the distance between me and her will only grow wider. By the time she reaches the Weaver Transformation or even Divine Transformation stage, I might still be trapped at the gates of Soul Transformation."

  "That is why this competition is not merely a stage to show off strength," Ruo Xianxue narrowed her eyes, a primordial cunning glint appearing there. "The second Great Constellation stores remnants of Eternal Law. Do you know what Eternal Law is? It is the Law required by a Soul Transformation cultivator when reaching the peak of the realm."

  Ruo Xianxue then flew in circles around Zhi Xuan, her tails brushing against the shadow of the pillar on the youth's forehead. "That Zhu girl's cultivation is very fast; I could even say she is one of the best geniuses I have ever seen. A woman who can even soothe the slaughter aura within you is not something easy to handle and defeat."

  "You haven't seen her fight, have you? Because she can make the fight non-existent before it even begins," Ruo Xianxue continued, her voice now containing honest recognition. "You are lucky she softened for you, even if it is due to karma; if not, you would be a puppet for her lofty games."

  Zhi Xuan fell silent, feeling the bitter truth of Ruo Xianxue's words piercing his heart. He stared at Zhu Qinglan who was still asleep, a face so calm yet storing power capable of freezing the horizon.

  True, all this time he had only seen the cold, calm, and soft side of the woman, the side reserved only for him. He had almost forgotten that outside this pavilion, the woman leaning on his lap was the Holy Fairy, a figure feared and respected by thousands of geniuses from various plains.

  "Beautiful women are always dangerous, aren't they?" Zhi Xuan murmured with a low chuckle, exhaling slowly and smiling thinly. "Regardless, she is my only home after the year I left the Star Village."

  Zhi Xuan severed his consciousness connection, slowly opening his sapphire eyes to return to the silent real world. The scent of sandalwood and cold lotus that had briefly faded now filled his senses again, feeling more real and warming his soul.

  He looked down, staring at Zhu Qinglan's face while she still slept. In her sleep, the woman who bore the dignity of the Xing Luo Empire appeared so fragile, as if the burden of being a Holy Fairy had been left at the door of the pavilion.

  Zhi Xuan felt a subtle vibration in his chest—an unspoken promise that he would remain a harbor for this woman, even if he had to drag the entire weight of the world on his shoulders.

  Zhi Xuan raised his right hand, moving with great care so as not to disturb the Fairy's sleep, brushing away a strand of Zhu Qinglan's silver hair covering her forehead. The touch was light, yet it carried all the remaining humanity he possessed.

  "Soul Transformation..." Zhi Xuan murmured almost inaudibly. "If Heaven gives you a smooth path because of your purity, then let me dig a path underground with my devil claws to remain beside you."

  The dawn sun began to crawl up, its streaks of light piercing the pavilion window cracks, creating golden dust particles dancing in the air. The light fell exactly upon the blade of the Heavenly Sword on his back, reflecting a cold glint that seemed to remind him that their time of seclusion had ended.

  Zhu Qinglan moved slightly, her long eyelashes fluttering before she finally opened her eyes slowly. The gray eyes that were usually as cold as a frozen lake now appeared clear and warm as they caught the shadow of Zhi Xuan's face looking at her.

  "You are awake?" Zhu Qinglan whispered, her voice raspy yet melodious, typical of someone who had just escaped a long dream. She did not move immediately, but rather tightened her grip on Zhi Xuan's robe, as if wanting to steal a few more seconds of this peace.

  "Do not leave so soon," Zhu Qinglan murmured again, staring at Zhi Xuan with a demand. "Tonight, there will be an annual mortal festival in the Emperor Dragon City. The Three Plains Competition can wait two more days."

  Zhi Xuan was stunned for a moment, staring at the sparkle in Zhu Qinglan's gray eyes that rarely showed such a simple desire. Amidst the storm of cultivation and the struggle for power between plains, a request to visit a mortal festival sounded like a crazy luxury, yet at the same time, it was very tempting to his weary soul.

  "A mortal festival?" Zhi Xuan repeated, his voice softening. He felt Zhu Qinglan's fingers still clutching his robe, a small anchor holding his departure toward the battlefield. "And where is this Emperor Dragon City? I have never heard of it."