Feng Yaoyue pouted her lips, but the spark in her eyes revealed an ever-deepening interest. She could feel that although Zhi Xuan’s body had become so pure, the man’s sharp tongue and ingenuity remained unmatched. With a graceful stomp of her foot, Feng Yaoyue shot into the air, leaving behind a trail of fragrant golden flames.
"Yaoyue will wait for you near the Ascension Fruit, Senior! Don't get lost and miss me too much!" she cried out with a laugh before her figure was swallowed by the darkness of the palace gate.
Zhi Xuan exhaled, feeling the silence that now truly enveloped the courtyard. He was in no hurry. To him, the Heavenly Ascension Fruit was merely a single pawn on the chessboard of destiny. What he sought was his own opportunity to find the pure energy within this palace—energy that might allow him to break through to the middle stage of Weaver Transformation.
He stepped across the threshold of the gate. As his feet touched the floor of the main hall, his vision was greeted by a breathtaking grandeur. The room was so vast that the ceiling was invisible, replaced by an expanse of slowly rotating constellations. Zhi Xuan closed his eyes for a moment, sharpening his spiritual senses to catch every vibration.
In the distance, he felt a massive clash of energy. Opening his eyes, he looked far ahead; it seemed the Holy Sons had reached the hall said to house the World Tree, which bore the Heavenly Ascension Fruits. If Zhi Xuan went there, he would surely come away empty-handed, as the fruits undoubtedly belonged to the Holy Sons and Daughters of the great clans.
Zhi Xuan turned his steps, turning his back on the main hall where the echoes of the Holy Sons' battle were beginning to shake the palace pillars. For him, chasing the Heavenly Ascension Fruit amidst a crowd of dragons and phoenixes was unwise for a newly formed body. His current essence was like pure marble but still thin; he needed something to stabilize his split essence.
Zhi Xuan drifted like a shadow through the palace's surroundings, occasionally encountering depictions suggesting this palace was once a place within the Immortal Realm. He re-emerged at a long corridor, dark and seemingly empty. Zhi Xuan stood there, staring at two statues that appeared to be a man and a woman.
"What is this?" Zhi Xuan murmured, looking at the two statues and a mural behind them. He read the ancient characters he mapped through the inheritance of the Ancient Heaven Memories. "The Sun is me, the Moon is you. Even after the Emperor imprisoned me in the void, I shall continue to shine upon your Moon, even as the stars point their swords at me."
Zhi Xuan was stunned before the mural, which radiated a profound sorrow and a timeless majesty. These sentences were not merely ancient characters; they were a seal etched into the laws of nature so deeply that time could not erase them from these ruins. Beneath the silver light of his body, the dust clinging to the ancient characters slowly fell away, revealing deeper carvings.
"A vow made beneath the Nine Heavens, under the canopy of stars and all beloved beings," Zhi Xuan murmured, continuing to read the ancient carvings until, unknowingly, he felt the weight of the sorrow within them. "Yet for us, the distance is so close, yet feels like crossing thousands of endless kalpas. Moon, I can see you. Yet even this reach does not allow me to stand by your side."
Zhi Xuan touched the cold surface of the mural, his fingers, now almost as white as marble, crawling over the carved characters that held ancient grief. As his skin touched the stone, a subtle vibration rippled from the base of the palace, as if the entire crystal structure was let out a long sigh because someone had finally read its secrets.
Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled into the painting. His hand pierced the dimension, and he vanished from the corridor in an instant. He reappeared above a star-studded sky, where time seemed frozen in an ageless sorrow. Zhi Xuan stood motionless atop an infinite horizon, treading upon a void decorated with shimmering silver stardust.
Before him, two giant celestial spheres—a Sun burning with a calm golden fire and a Moon radiating a cold silver light—were positioned very close, as if about to touch, yet separated by a transparent barrier that was cracked but refused to break. There, Zhi Xuan received a glimpse of a vision.
A violent spiritual shock hit Zhi Xuan’s sea of consciousness as the vision pierced his soul. He saw a giant man with muscles like intertwined ancient dragons, standing atop a mountain that had been reduced to ash. The man raised a bow made from prehistoric god bones, pulling the string until the surrounding space shattered into pieces.
One by one, arrows of light shot out, piercing the dome of the sky and extinguishing the giant fireballs that had roasted the earth for thousands of years. However, as the bow was drawn for the ninth time, Zhi Xuan saw a silvery light stop the archer’s hand—it was the Moon, holding back with all its sorrow and fragility. It was as if she wanted to protect the Sun that was about to be shot by the archer.
But the archer’s eyes only flashed with a rage that seemed to scorch the battlefield. He saw with his own eyes how his Moon was instead protecting the Sun. The Moon was said to be protecting the Sun from the fury of its true owner. In the end, the Moon surrendered and floated into the void, separating herself from both the Sun and the archer.
The archer stared with bitterness and a surging sense of regret. Ultimately, he shot into the void, forming an arrow that separated the Sun and the Moon. The Sun, on the other hand, looked at the cold Moon that now felt so distant. At that moment, the universe around them began to glow into day, and eventually turned into night. Theirs was a love told as a forbidden thing for the universe.
Zhi Xuan stood frozen, allowing the grains of light from that vision of the past to pierce his heavenly practitioner body. Within his now-stainless inner clarity, he felt a resonance far more painful than when he still possessed the Devil Body. Without the protection of the Devil Body that had sharpened his heart, the archer’s sorrow, the Sun’s regret, and the Moon’s sacrifice—all of it flooded his meridians like an unstoppable rising tide.
"A love that separates day and night," Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice trembling in the silence of the painting's dimension. "The Moon consigns herself to loneliness; the Sun stares at himself with a sense of loss."
Zhi Xuan closed his eyes, feeling how thin the line was between love and a curse under the Nine Heavens. Within the painting's dimension, the laws of time seemed to slow, allowing every drop of sorrow to crystallize within his soul. Yet, amidst this siege of melancholy, the Divine Wheel on his back suddenly spun, absorbing the Laws and traces of time, emitting a silver light that merged with the Moon's glow before him.
"Those are Bo Shu and Chang'e," Ruo Xianxue said in a low tone, full of recognition for what Zhi Xuan saw. "Long ago, beneath the magnificent Nine Heavens, they were said to orbit the Nine Heavens. I only saw them once before the Guanghan Palace was destroyed during the collapse of the Immortal Realm."
"The Archer is Hou Yi," Ruo Xianxue continued with a subtle clicking of her tongue. "He was Chang'e's partner. With his hand drawing the bow, he shot down the Nine Suns, who were the offspring of the Heavenly Emperor and the Sun Goddess. But well, Chang'e and Bo Shu can be said to be a forbidden love."
Zhi Xuan remained silent, his sapphire-blue eyes staring sharply at the transparent barrier cracking the space between the two celestial spheres. Ruo Xianxue's explanation cleared the fog of ignorance clouding his mind. The story of Hou Yi, the master archer who challenged the order of heaven for his love, and the betrayal that split the universe into day and night, was not merely a bedtime story for mortals. In this place, these ruins, the traces of their energy still pulsed.
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"So, this palace... is a part of the fallen Guanghan Palace?" Zhi Xuan asked in a low voice.
"More accurately, this is a small fragment of the Guanghan Palace, a place where even their paintings were separated," Ruo Xianxue appeared beside Zhi Xuan, her spiritual body looking more real within the painting's dimension. "Long ago, Hou Yi used the remnants of his power to imprison the remains of that love in the Sky, so that the Nine Heavens could never reunite them. Tragic, isn't it? A hero who shot the suns, yet was unable to shoot his own destiny."
Zhi Xuan stared blankly at the pale Moon on the painting's horizon. Under the guidance of Ruo Xianxue's words, he now understood that unrequited love, separated by heavenly destiny—even a dead love—could not cause the suppressed feelings to be buried and forcibly extinguished. This story was eternal, even within a painting.
"Life and Death, Reincarnation," Zhi Xuan murmured. He suddenly stood up, and the Six Paths of Reincarnation Domain appeared on his back. "If the belief in something can freeze a soul without it being able to reincarnate, then the unspoken feelings, the feelings that can never be erased, will form a Law of Nature."
Zhi Xuan floated in the middle of that void; he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. The Six Paths of Reincarnation Disk behind him glowed in six colors, absorbing every understanding and pure energy formed from the Law of Nature, sitting right in front of him like a Yin-Yang conception. This was what he sought to forge his path toward the middle stage of Weaver Transformation.
A massive spiritual tremor began to radiate from the center of Zhi Xuan's Reincarnation Disk. The pure golden and silver light he absorbed from his heavenly practitioner body now began to mix with the spiritual energy of the painting's dimension. Before him, a Yin-Yang vortex forcibly manifested; the burning Sun represented the pure Yang energy from Bo Shu’s memory, and the cold Moon represented the Yin energy from Chang’e’s sorrow.
"Understanding the endless cycle, passing through thousands of reincarnations," Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice now resonating with the heartbeat of the hidden palace. "Only to find that destiny, sometimes, indeed cannot be changed even if one sacrifices the entire universe."
Around him, the spiritual energy of the Ocean Chaos Secret Realm, which was originally wild, began to be tamed by Zhi Xuan’s aura of purity. Every vein of his marble-like skin began to emit light, which was the final spiritual impurity he carried from the bodily separation. Within his sea of consciousness, the Weaver Transformation, which was originally at the early stage, began to surge. The bottleneck of the peak early stage was surpassed as he broke through to the middle stage.
Zhi Xuan waved his hand, throwing the thousands of remaining Heavenly Jades given by Zhu Qinglan without a second thought. "Break!"
DUUAAARRRR—!
Thousands of Heavenly Jades exploded simultaneously, releasing a mist of spiritual essence so dense that the painting's dimension momentarily turned a blinding white. Zhi Xuan inhaled deeply, and the veins of his marble skin opened wide like thousands of tiny mouths hungry for nourishment. The pure energy was filtered through the Six Paths of Reincarnation Disk.
"Ugh—!" Zhi Xuan groaned, stifling a cry, yet his face remained calm like the surface of a frozen lake.
Within his blood vessels, the spiritual essence flowed fiercely like rampaging golden dragons, pounding against the cultivation barrier that had locked his potential at the early stage. The silver light on his heavenly practitioner body condensed further, radiating a much heavier and more authoritative aura. The Heavenly Samsara Wheel in his chest spun rapidly, absorbing the laws manifested from the Sun and Moon before him.
"The Sun is Yang, the Moon is Yin. Reincarnation is the bridge that connects the two across the void!" Zhi Xuan’s mind cried out.
Suddenly, the Reincarnation Disk exploded in a six-colored pendar that merged into a single circle of holy white light. The vibration rippled out of the painting's dimension, shaking the entire crystal palace corridor. The barrier that had felt as solid as a steel wall—requiring hundreds of thousands of Heavenly Jades at every stage—shattered into pieces under the pure law.
WUUUNNGGG—!
Zhi Xuan’s aura surged drastically. His spiritual essence overflowed, filling every corner of the painting's dimension before finally being drawn back into the center of his heart. The silver glow on his skin now had a texture resembling holy jade, radiating an authority that can only be possessed by those who have stepped onto the path of Heaven's truth. He opened his eyes. His sapphire pupils were not only clear but held a sharp depth. He had succeeded. Middle Stage Weaver Transformation.
"The Sun and the Moon," Zhi Xuan murmured, taking a final look at the painting's dimension before turning back, carving a formation rune that shattered the dimensional barrier. "We are going out."
Zhi Xuan stepped out of the tear in the painting's dimension, landing lightly on the cold floor of the crystal palace corridor. As his feet touched the stone tiles, a ripple of transparent energy spread from beneath him, dispelling the corridor's darkness for dozens of fathoms. His heavenly practitioner body now felt more solid; if before he was like a mist that easily dispersed, he was now a deep and boundless river current.
Zhi Xuan stood tall in the silent corridor, yet his inner senses were now able to catch thousands of previously hidden melodies. Within his white body, the Middle Stage Weaver Transformation cultivation base pulsed steadily, providing a law power far more synchronized with the essence of the universe. He glanced once more at the mural. The ancient characters that previously radiated grief now seemed dimmer, as if part of the burden of regret from the past had been absorbed by his cultivation process.
Zhi Xuan clasped his hands, giving a final respect to the fragment that had helped him break through his limits. He turned his gaze back, moving like a shadow and heading out of the corridor. He sharpened his Divine senses, seeing that at least the Holy Sons and Daughters seemed to be working together to obtain the Heavenly Ascension Fruit.
"Oh? They seem to be getting along," Zhi Xuan thought coldly, stopping right at a palace path still far from the fruit tree hall. "Several of them have left; the Ancient Zhu Clan, Ancient Hua Clan, and others have obtained the fruits."
Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes, analyzing the remnants of energy fluctuations left in the palace air. The scent of Feng Haoyue’s burning Phoenix fire and the sharp chill of Chen Jianyun’s sword still lingered in the air, but their intensity was moving away. Apparently, the first stage of the scramble was over; the most dominant great clans had succeeded in picking their share from the World Tree and immediately moved toward the deepest parts of the palace to seek greater secrets.
"However, that frozen ocean aura still remains there," Zhi Xuan murmured. He could feel the piercing cold coming from the direction of the main hall—a sign that Han Shanshan and the Han Clan had not moved. Simultaneously, the clear lute melody of Qin Meiling still vibrated there.
Zhi Xuan no longer crawled in thick darkness as he did when he still had the Devil Body. Now, his movements were more like the refraction of light reflecting off crystal walls. With the middle-stage cultivation base he had just achieved, every step he took was in harmony with the spatial laws of this place.
He arrived at the threshold of the World Tree hall. The scene before him was one of structured chaos. The legendary World Tree towered in the center of the hall, its branches made of silver light radiating ancient life essence. However, most of its fruits were gone, leaving only the last three fruits glowing dimly on the highest branch.
Beneath the tree, Han Shanshan stood with his giant Divine Soul still manifested, his six ice giants ruthlessly surrounding the area. Opposite him, Qin Meiling stood calmly, but her lute strings were pulled taut, radiating a purple aura ready to explode into a melody of death if Han Shanshan tried to cross the line.
"Qin Meiling! Move!" Han Shanshan growled, his voice booming against the hall walls. "You've already gotten one fruit for your clan! Why are you still blocking me from taking the rest?"
"Brother Han," Qin Meiling’s voice sounded clear yet held an unshakable firmness. "This World Tree is currently under pressure due to the instability of your domain. If you force yourself to take the last three fruits roughly, this tree will explode and destroy the core of this dimension. I am only trying to maintain harmony so that we are not all buried here."
"To hell with your harmony!" Han Shanshan stomped his foot, and one of his ice giants took a step forward, creating a large crack in the hall floor.
Zhi Xuan stepped out from behind a crystal pillar, his white robe glowing softly under the light of the World Tree. His sudden presence, with an aura much stronger and more authoritative than a few moments ago, instantly drew both of their attention.
"Holy Son Han truly never learns patience," Zhi Xuan said, his voice calm yet possessing a pressing power that caused the ripples of water in the air to stop churning.
Qin Meiling turned, her clear eyes widening for a moment. As a practitioner of the path of sound, she was the most sensitive to a person’s soul fluctuations. "Brother Zhi? Your cultivation base... you managed to break through to the middle stage in this short amount of time?"
"Just a bit of enlightenment, Holy Maiden," Zhi Xuan replied while walking closer. "I came here because I felt the Ancient Qin Clan, who made me an esteemed guest, was slightly under pressure."
He looked at the three fruits atop the tree, then shifted his gaze to Han Shanshan, whose face was turning increasingly red with rage and jealousy. "Holy Son Han, if you wish to collect the blood debt of the Southern Yao Gu region caused by me, then I challenge you now."
