The Northern Plains were recovering at a visible rate.
The sky turned back to a clear blue, carrying a long-lost fresh aura.
Sunlight spilled through the clouds, falling on the scorched black earth, on the shattered buildings, on the cultivators covered in wounds.
Ao Yao, Chihuang, and the others looked up, seeing that everything seemed to be heading in a good direction.
For a moment, they were all overjoyed.
“So impressive. As expected of a Yin-Yang Body.” Ao Yao hugged her short sword, gazing up at the sky, her emerald eyes reflecting that pure, clear blue.
She was naturally fond of such a vibrant, lively scene.
Earlier, she had felt a bit stifled.
“His advancement speed is this fast? I didn’t expect him to reach the Great Ascension Stage so soon!” Chihuang stood beside her, her red dragon tail gently swaying behind her.
A rare smile appeared on her heroic face.
The crowd cheered and leapt for joy.
Some knelt and wept, some hugged and sobbed, some looked up to the sky and roared with praise.
Voices lauding the power of the Yin-Yang Body rose one after another, echoing across the Northern Plains.
“Long live the Yin-Yang Body!”
“The Five Provinces are saved!”
“Saint Son Jiang Huai is mighty!”
White Dew struggled to prop herself up, breathing heavily, her long hair disheveled, still bearing fresh bloodstains on her face.
Seeing Qin Qingyue weeping while holding Su Yingman, she vaguely sensed something was wrong.
“What’s wrong with him? Hasn’t he reached the Great Ascension Stage?” White Dew asked, her voice hoarse.
Qin Qingyue ignored her, holding Su Yingman, burying her face in Su Yingman’s shoulder, her shoulders shaking violently as she sobbed heartbreakingly.
At that moment, she didn’t want to pay attention to anyone else.
Her Jiang Huai was gone and would never return.
White Dew exchanged a glance with Chi Hong, then nodded to each other.
Chi Hong transformed into a Red Dragon. Her crimson scales gleamed with scorching heat under the sun, her massive dragon body, with a flick of her tail, lifted White Dew up.
Then she swung her tail again, dragging White Dew to chase after Jiang Huai’s retreating figure. Everywhere they passed, patches of blazing flames lingered in the air, dispersing slowly.
“Look at Qin Qingyue’s state. Something must have happened to Jiang Huai.” White Dew sat on Chi Hong, speaking worriedly.
High in the sky, Chi Hong found that even flying with all her might, she could not catch up to Jiang Huai’s speed in reclaiming the Northern Plains.
That figure in black robes was too fast—fast as a beam of light, so fast that her dragon tail whipped up afterimages, yet they fell farther and farther behind.
Jiang Huai swung his sword. Yin-Yang Sword Qi swept through heaven and earth. Black and white sword light cut across, scattering the demon horde as they wailed and turned to ash.
Those Heavenly Demons that had given White Dew trouble before, those at the Soul Formation Stage, the Great Ascension Stage, those strong enemies that required her and Chi Hong to join forces just to barely withstand—in Jiang Huai’s hands, they were like paper. A single sword swing and they vanished into smoke and dust, as if meeting their true natural enemy.
“This… is this really the state of someone in trouble?” Chi Hong murmured.
She felt as if this moment was like a dream. Yin-Yang Spiritual Power of this level didn’t look at all like someone in trouble.
That Sword Qi was so sharp, the spiritual power so vast, far exceeding any Great Ascension Stage cultivator she had ever seen.
“He must be in trouble!” White Dew said with a worried face, speaking firmly. “The Extraterrestrial Demons’ occupied areas have no living beings. Why is Jiang Huai in such a hurry?”
She saw it clearly. Jiang Huai was too hurried.
His speed in reclaiming the Northern Plains was too fast—so fast it felt like he was racing against time, racing against something.
At that moment, Jiang Huai was indeed racing against time. The burning pain inside his body forced him to accelerate, accelerate, and accelerate again.
He had to restore the Five Provinces, to leave his daughter a normal world—a pure land free of Heavenly Demons, free of Demonic Qi, where she could grow up in peace.
Ji, Jue, and Wu floated side by side in the air.
Three humanoid black shadows, entirely pitch-black, with no facial features, only the outline of a human figure, nearly a zhang tall. Their bodies were wrapped in thick Demonic Qi, like three clumps of solidified darkness.
They exchanged glances—though they had no eyes, they could feel each other’s gaze. Without speaking, they communicated directly in their minds.
‘What do we do? Should we give up on the Five Provinces?’
‘No. This is a Male Yin-Yang Body—not to be underestimated. He has just broken through to the Great Ascension Stage. If we let his cultivation climb further, we may not be able to contend with him.’
‘At best, this time will probably end the same as before…’
A rare wave of pessimism washed over them.
What they called “before” meant expending a huge number of Heavenly Demon comrades to annihilate the Yin-Yang Body together, then waiting for the next generation.
From the perspective of living beings, Yin-Yang Bodies were heroes, generation after generation carrying the torch forward. But for the Extraterrestrial Demons, they also paid a massive price to exhaust one generation of Yin-Yang Bodies.
Moreover, the cost was so great that they could only wait until they gathered strength again. But by the time they came back in full force, a new Yin-Yang Body had already cultivated to a high level.
Jiang Huai traveled to the Central State, then suddenly stopped. His expression turned cold, black hair fluttering in the wind, black robes snapping.
Before him stood the three demons hovering in the air. Ji, Jue, and Wu stood shoulder to shoulder facing Jiang Huai. Black currents surged on their bodies as they spoke in unison:
“Yin-Yang Body, the nirvanic extinction and rebirth of living beings is a universal truth. You are obstructing the Dao by acting this way.”
Jiang Huai’s expression did not change. He pointed his sword at the three demons.
On his sword, black-and-white spiritual power began to burn, like flames leaping on the blade, blazing and resolute.
He didn’t even bother to reply. He suddenly swung his sword, the sword light like a rainbow, black and white interwoven, slashing straight at the three demons.
They barely dodged this strike, retreating in unison.
The sword light grazed past Ji’s side, carving a rift in the void behind him.
Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Huai charged up into the sky, raising both hands high, palms facing each other. In front of his chest, he condensed a surge of majestic two energies of Yin and Yang.
Those two energies were clearly separated into black and white, yet they intermingled, slowly rotating between his palms, growing larger and denser, like a small Taiji Diagram, like a heavenly disk about to fall.
The Yin and Yang spiritual power was so vast it made one’s heart palpitate. Spiritual Qi for a thousand li was drained away. Heaven and earth changed color, wind and clouds reversed.
That ball of light grew bigger and bigger—from the size of a fist to the size of a head, from a head to a millstone, finally like a full moon of interwoven black and white, suspended above Jiang Huai’s head.
A pain like being burned alive swept through his entire body. Jiang Huai felt as if he was burning in fire—his meridians burning, his bones burning, his organs burning.
The pain gnawed at his bones and heart, so severe that his hands began to tremble slightly.
“Jiang Huai, you can slow down. Slow down.” Ji Xi looked at the accelerated burning inside the Small World, her face full of distress.
This kid was pushing himself too hard, completely disregarding his own body.
The fire in the Small World grew fiercer. Mountains collapsed, rivers dried up, grasslands turned to ash.
“There’s no time. I have to restore the Five Provinces!” Jiang Huai roared, enduring the burning pain.
Saying that, he held the surging two energies of Yin and Yang and slammed them downward.
White Dew and Chi Hong were far away, watching it all from a distance.
They widened their dragon eyes, witnessing that terrifying sight. It was as if a disk of Yin and Yang descended from the sky and smashed into the ground.
Boom!
That Taiji Diagram was enormous, spanning across the sky above the Central State, blotting out the sun.
It descended slowly. Where it passed, Demonic Qi dissolved, Heavenly Demons turned to ash. The moment it touched the ground, the entire Central State began to shake.
The earth trembled, mountains and rivers shook, rivers flowed backward. The tremors came from deep within the earth, wave after wave, like the heartbeat of a giant beast.
The Central State began to restore its vitality at an astonishing speed. The scorched black earth turned moist again. Withered trees met spring, sprouting new buds.
Dried-up riverbeds began to flow with clear water again, crystal clear to the bottom.
From the ruins of collapsed buildings, green grass pushed through the crevices of stones.
The decaying stench in the air was dispelled, replaced by the fresh scent of earth and grass.
“This…” White Dew stammered, looking at the land reclaiming beneath her feet. For a moment, she was speechless, utterly shocked.
By the time this surge of Yin-Yang Power unfolded, Jiang Huai had already headed toward the Eastern Wasteland, out of sight.
Ji, Jue, and Wu exchanged glances:
‘No. He’s too rushed. There’s something wrong here!’
Before they even reached the Eastern Wasteland, a thunderous roar shook heaven and earth.
The Yin-Yang Power surged again. The light rose from the horizon of the Eastern Wasteland, black and white interwoven, shooting straight into the sky.
The entire Eastern Wasteland began to recover. Heavenly Demons retreated like a receding tide, but there was nowhere to go. Caught in the sweep of the Yin-Yang Power, they turned to ash and dissipated into the air.
“What do we do? Do we still stop him? Seeing his momentum, it will be hard for us to stop him.”
“No. Don’t stop him. We can’t stop him. With someone like this, the Five Provinces are hopeless.”
“Should we extract Mother Tree power from other worlds?”
This time, even the three demons fell silent.
They slowly rose into the air, waving their hands, taking away many Extraterrestrial Demons that had absorbed the essence of the Five Provinces.
The countless black shadows contracted like an ebbing tide, converging behind them, dense and countless, blotting out the sky.
They had made up their minds.
Jiang Huai quickly reclaimed the Western Desert and the Southern Frontier.
In the Western Desert, springs gushed forth from the sand again. In the Southern Frontier, the dense forests sprouted new buds.
He himself was already panting heavily, his chest heaving violently, veins bulging on his forehead. But his mood was extremely cheerful.
“Jiang Huai, do you want to rest a while?” Ji Xi asked carefully.
Jiang Huai shook his head, feeling the searing burning pain inside his body. Suddenly, he asked:
“Senior, your body has already burned up completely, hasn’t it?”
Ji Xi sat on the hillside, watching the burning scenery inside the inner world. She nodded lightly, smiling bitterly:
“It’s already burned away. Not even ashes are left.”
She had nothing left. This remnant soul would soon burn away as well, following the destruction of Jiang Huai’s inner world.
The Five Provinces were restoring their vitality, but what she saw was Jiang Huai’s world burning wildly, losing all life force.
Jiang Huai didn’t say much. He just stood up, looked up at the sky, and murmured:
“Let’s go.”
“I have not been unworthy of the name ‘Yin-Yang Body,’ have I?”
With that, he rose into the air, his robes flapping, flying toward the sky.
Beyond the Five Provinces World, a starry void.
In the endless void, stars dotted the darkness, silent and icy. No wind, no sound—only eternal darkness and the occasional shooting star.
Jiang Huai stood with his sword, facing the three demons. He gave a cold snort.
Ji, Jue, and Wu said to Jiang Huai in unison:
“Jiang Huai, by doing this, neither side will end well.”
They spread open their palms. In their hands, several dim orbs of light pulsed, radiating an aura that made one’s heart tremble.
That was Mother Tree power. Each Mother Tree was condensed by the Extraterrestrial Demons from the worlds they had completely occupied.
Each cluster of Mother Tree power represented the extinction of countless living beings, and also the potential resurgence of life after billions of years.
“These are Mother Tree powers we extracted from other worlds. The so-called Mother Tree is that great tree you encountered in the Secret Realm.”
“Every living being longs for immortality, but every living being must die. There is no reason. This is the truth. No one can defy it.”
“What you are doing is breaking the rules.”
“These Mother Tree powers are the foundation for the rebirth of living beings after billions of years of extinction. Used against you, no living beings will ever be born from them in the future.”
The three demons accused in unison, as if all this was Jiang Huai’s fault, their tone filled with sorrow.
Indeed, from now on, those small worlds from which Mother Tree power had been extracted would never give birth to living beings again.
Jiang Huai felt their overwhelming strength and momentum. Then he felt his own body—like a broken bellows, his small world mostly burned, his meridians shattered, his spiritual power nearly exhausted. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly inside.
‘I protect living beings, protect my loved ones and my child. I’ve done nothing wrong either. It’s a clash of ideals. I no longer have the heart to debate with you.’
Jiang Huai pointed his sword at the three demons, his momentum surging.