“What did he say?” Wu Zhaohua turned her back, her voice calm, suppressing the surging emotions within, trying hard to appear composed and feigning calm.
Qin Qingyue looked at her back, at the blood-stained white robes, at the solitary, strong figure holding a sword.
For some reason, she unexpectedly felt no jealousy rise in her heart.
It wasn’t a gloating mockery, nor was it jealousy towards this rival who was vying for the same man.
Instead, she felt a deep, genuine sorrow.
This blood-stained white robe had pulled her out of the warmth of the Five Provinces, forcing her to face a cruel reality.
The road ahead was uncertain, fraught with danger and difficulty.
Jiang Huai had not yet cultivated to the Great Ascension Stage, and she and Wu Zhaohua didn’t know if they could truly traverse this perilous Forbidden Zone.
If they could return alive, to see that person again.
“He said…”
She gathered her thoughts for a moment, then said softly:
“He said he misses you very much, and that he’ll come to take us both back once he cultivates to the Great Ascension Stage.”
“He also told me not to lose my temper with you, to get along well… with you.”
Wu Zhaohua’s shoulders trembled slightly.
She tilted her head, revealing half her profile. In her cool, elegant features, surprise was mixed with delight.
Her eyes widened slightly, as if she couldn’t believe what she had heard.
“He really said that?”
“He dared to say that right in front of you?” she said, feigning disdain.
Qin Qingyue walked to her side, shrugged, her tone carrying a hint of helplessness and a touch of indulgence:
“What else could he do? He could only relay the message through me. Could he really just ignore you?”
She paused, her gaze drifting towards the boundless Forbidden Zone in the distance, yet the corner of her mouth lifted slightly:
“Besides, I think his wings have hardened. His cultivation is getting higher and higher. Who knows, in the future he might not even listen to me.”
Wu Zhaohua shook her head with a wry smile, her mood lightening considerably.
Thus, a human and a dragon stood side by side.
They looked out at the endless Forbidden Zone.
Their Divine Sense spread out, and from all directions came signals of danger, as if ambushes lay on all sides, peril everywhere.
But at this moment, between the two of them, there was a strange, rare tranquility.
This was a boundless Stellar River.
Beneath their feet was nothingness, above their heads was vastness.
In the center of this Stellar River, a solitary, aloof figure in green robes hovered.
It was a tall woman.
She stood with her back to the newcomer, her green robes like ink, fluttering slightly in the windless void.
Her posture was straight as a pine tree, carrying an aura that seemed to look down upon the entire world, as if this vast Stellar River was merely dust beneath her feet.
“Father, who is this?” Jianjia coiled around Jiang Huai’s shoulder, her tiny dragon head leaning close to his ear, asking in a small voice.
She instinctively felt a sense of closeness, as if passed down through her bloodline.
The person before her seemed to be the same kind as her and Mother.
…She couldn’t really explain what exactly made them the “same kind,” but she just felt that they were all together.
“Call her Senior,” Jiang Huai whispered to her.
He quickly stepped forward and called out loudly:
“Senior! I’ve brought my daughter to see you!”
The shoulders of the green-robed figure trembled.
Her eyes snapped open, and within them, intense Yin-Yang light suddenly bloomed.
Black and white radiance flowed, like a Taiji diagram slowly rotating within her pupils, illuminating the surrounding void.
She whirled around.
Her green robes fluttered and snapped with the motion of her turn, the sleeves flying like banners.
Her face was handsome and spirited, her features like a painting, carrying a sense of calm and depth born of enduring many vicissitudes.
Her gaze fell on Jiang Huai, then shifted to the little white dragon on his shoulder.
The corner of her mouth lifted into a smile, revealing a grin:
“Congratulations. It seems you’ve obtained the Yin Yuan of the Red Dragon Clan.”
Jianjia shrank back her neck.
She quickly crawled behind Jiang Huai’s neck, only peeking out a tiny head to observe the unfamiliar green-robed woman before her.
She thought the other woman was really tall.
Taller than the Black Dragon woman she had seen before, her eyes carrying a bearing that seemed to look down upon all living beings.
Her black hair drifted, her sleeves fluttered, her entire person seeming to merge with this Stellar River, yet also as if she stood above it.
Jiang Huai was taken aback and asked, “How did you know, Senior?”
She winked at Jianjia behind his head, the action carrying a bit of mischief and a bit of closeness:
“I am originally a dead person. Being able to recover my Divine Sense relies entirely on the mixing of your Essence Blood and mine.”
“So, I know a little about your situation.”
She stretched out her hand, beckoning to little Jianjia, and opened her palm with a smile:
“This is your daughter, right? Come here.”
Little Jianjia felt a chill.
What did she mean by ‘originally a dead person’?
Her little tail covered in white scales wagged uneasily.
She tentatively looked at Jiang Huai, her dragon eyes full of inquiry: Father, can I go?
“It’s fine, go ahead,” Jiang Huai gently reassured her, nodding.
Only then did little Jianjia obediently swim towards Ji Xi.
Her tiny dragon body traced a graceful arc through the starlight, carefully landing in Ji Xi’s palm.
She looked down at that handsome, spirited face. From this angle, the other woman seemed even taller, and also gentler.
She obediently lay down, her little dragon head resting on Ji Xi’s thumb.
“What’s your name?” Ji Xi’s eyes were full of affection for this new life, as if facing a rare treasure.
Little Jianjia blinked her dragon eyes and answered quietly and obediently:
“My name is Jiang Jianjia. I take my father’s surname.”
Ji Xi smiled lightly, not surprised. She gently stroked Jianjia’s dragon horn with her finger and said warmly:
“My name is Ji Xi. I am the previous… to be precise, the one before the previous Yin-Yang Body.”
“Did you know? Actually, there was a Yin-Yang Body like you, half-dragon, half-human before, but she was a senior from the Black Dragon Clan.”
“She…”
Like every generation of Yin-Yang Bodies, she died in battle in the Void at the most dangerous moment, leaving behind descendants to continue protecting the living beings of the Five Provinces.
But all this was too heavy for the little life before her. She might have to face it sooner or later, but definitely not now.
Ji Xi paused, seeing Jianjia’s curious gaze, and couldn’t bear to continue. She said softly with a laugh:
“She was very powerful. You’ll be as powerful as her in the future.”
She lightly tapped Jianjia’s forehead with her finger. Bits of information flowed into Jianjia’s Recognition Sea like a gentle stream.
“These are some Foundational Techniques. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can come ask me.”
Little Jianjia, flooded with a sea of information, had no mind for anything else. Her dragon body went limp, quietly nestling in Ji Xi’s palm, forced to close her eyes.
Jiang Huai chuckled twice and moved closer, rubbing his hands together: “Senior, how come I don’t get any Foundational Techniques? Pass some on to me too.”
“A lot of my techniques were learned by watching your images.”
Ji Xi lowered her head and smiled:
“Well, there’s no helping that. You are a male Yin-Yang Body. The techniques you cultivate require Yin Yuan.”
“The Foundational Techniques for female Yin-Yang Bodies aren’t suitable for you.”
Jiang Huai retreated in defeat, but Ji Xi called him back:
“To be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen three generations of Yin-Yang Bodies gathered together.”
“Have you thought about your future?”
Female Yin-Yang Bodies are not as prone to bearing offspring as male ones.
It seems that from the birth of this physique, all reproductive capability was given to the males, while female Yin-Yang Bodies are weaker in reproduction.
Perhaps the Heavenly Dao thought that males sow seeds quickly, while females gestate extremely slowly.
Jiang Huai looked at little Jianjia in Ji Xi’s palm.
The tiny dragon body rose and fell slightly with each breath, the silver-white scales glowing softly under the starlight.
That was his daughter. His and White Dew’s daughter.
“Senior, I don’t know how difficult this matter is.”
“Hmm?” Ji Xi looked at Jiang Huai.
“I will not sacrifice myself in the Void, letting my daughter watch my blood stain the sky, taking on the heavy burden and destiny of the Yin-Yang Body from my hands.” Jiang Huai said, staring intently at Jianjia, whose body rose and fell with her breath.
Ji Xi’s eyes darkened almost imperceptibly. The corner of her mouth lifted in a faint, insincere smile:
“That’s understandable. After all, we are not of the same generation. Too much time has passed.”
“Only…”
I know I shouldn’t force anyone, nor should I hold anyone hostage.
But when I think that the living beings of the Five Provinces, bought with the sacrifices and sorrows of generation after generation of Yin-Yang Bodies, might be annihilated by the hands of the Extraterrestrial Demons… along with those newly born humans, those Dragon Race members who haven’t yet undergone Transformation… all having no future, perishing under the demonic claws of the Extraterrestrial Demons…
Thinking of this, Ji Xi couldn’t help but feel a sob in her heart, a bitter taste welling up in her mind, making it difficult to say any of this to Jiang Huai.
She had no right to say anything to Jiang Huai.
After all, back then, it was her own premature sacrifice that caused the Yin-Yang Body lineage to break.
What right did she have to demand that later generations continue to shoulder this heavy destiny?
“Senior.” Jiang Huai’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“I will resolve everything alone.”
“What?” Ji Xi looked up at Jiang Huai in disbelief, her emotions turning upside down in that moment.
“I said, I won’t let my daughter shoulder this kind of destiny anymore. No matter how difficult it is, I will resolve the Extraterrestrial Demons in this generation.” Jiang Huai’s voice grew more solemn, as if making a vow to the previous generation’s Yin-Yang Body.
There were too many people standing by his side. There was Qin Qingyue, there was Wu Zhaohua, there was White Dew…
He couldn’t stand by and watch them sacrifice themselves. He couldn’t accept anyone leaving him like that.
“I have people I cannot part with, reasons I cannot give up.”
“The Extraterrestrial Demons are using a Grand Array this time. They must be throwing their full force into this, wanting to annihilate the Five Provinces in one battle.”
Jiang Huai said seriously: “I believe if the Five Provinces are destroyed, the Immortal Realm cannot remain unscathed either. Otherwise, so many Great Ascension Stage cultivators wouldn’t be forced to ascend.”
“So, Senior, please rest assured. I will definitely, in this generation, achieve final victory in one campaign. Bring peace to heaven and earth.”
Ji Xi stared blankly at the man before her.
Her slender hand couldn’t stop gently stroking little Jianjia in her palm. The motion was soft and mechanical, as if only this could keep her calm.
She stood there for a long time, not knowing how to respond.
Starlight fell, on her green robes, on the little white dragon in her palm, and on Jiang Huai’s young, resolute face.
Three generations of Yin-Yang Bodies, gathered together.
One had already sacrificed, leaving only a remnant soul.
One was growing, shouldering a vow to end the destiny.
One had just been born, not yet knowing how long the road ahead would be.
After a long while, Ji Xi smiled gently.
That smile held comfort, bitterness, hope, and finally, a sense of relief that she could let go.
She didn’t speak.
She just lowered her head and gently kissed the forehead of little Jianjia in her palm.
The action was exceedingly tender.
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