“What realm are you in, to be able to overlook the Five Provinces through your power?”
White Dew lay on top of Jiang Huai’s head, her dragon head slightly lowered, eyes closed.
Her divine sense extended along the two black-and-white giant dragons, piercing through the clouds and sweeping over the mountains and rivers.
She could even see the changes within the White Dragon Secret Realm and could transmit her voice through her mind.
Jiang Huai did not answer.
He led the women onto that Void Road. He narrowed his eyes.
Within his pupils, the Two Energies of Yin and Yang flowed without rest. On the road, he saw a faint glimmer of light, carrying a trace of light sword qi.
Above the Void, no tangible wind could be seen, yet formless blade gusts surged from all directions. They specialized in shaving away a cultivator’s Dao Foundation.
Ordinary cultivators would be injured upon contact; those of weaker realms would even have their Dao Foundation shattered and die on the spot.
The women at Jiang Huai’s side were caught off guard and all changed expression.
The spiritual power in their meridians churned, and their Dao Foundations trembled faintly. Instinctively, they pressed closer to Jiang Huai, huddling together.
Jiang Huai furrowed his brow slightly and waved his left hand gently. A barrier woven from the Two Energies of Yin and Yang unfurled with a sound, shielding everyone within.
Su Yingman’s face was still pale. The moment the wind blades had brushed past her, she had clearly felt her Dao Foundation tremble madly.
If she had taken a few more hits, it would probably have shattered on the spot.
She subconsciously glanced at Wu Zhaohua on Jiang Huai’s back, and the admiration in her eyes deepened.
Back when the Five Provinces were in danger, this woman had come alone, treading through the sky filled blade gusts from the Immortal Realm, stopping the Catastrophe of Destruction single-handedly and saving Jiang Huai.
Such solitary courage and resolve—if it had been her, she probably could not have held on.
Jiang Huai carried Wu Zhaohua on his back, walking step by step. With each step, a few tiny specks of light emerged from the Void—the fragments of Wu Zhaohua’s damaged Dao Foundation, shaved off by the wind blades when she walked back from the Immortal Realm to the Five Provinces.
Those fragments were very small; some were like grains of rice, some like grains of sand, and some were barely visible.
Jiang Huai saw them all, picked them all up one by one, wrapped them in Yin-Yang Power, and filled them back into Wu Zhaohua’s body.
Those fragments slowly merged into her Dao Foundation, like puzzle pieces returning to place.
But everything seemed futile. No matter how much Jiang Huai replenished, her body remained ice-cold, devoid of breath.
He picked them up over and over, filled them again and again, but that body never responded.
Time seemed to become very slow.
The women remained silent, no one speaking any other words. In their hearts, they all acknowledged Wu Zhaohua. Without her, the present situation would not exist.
No one knew how long they walked before Wu Zhaohua’s body suddenly emitted a faint layer of translucent white light.
The Dao Foundation cracks that had spread through her meridians finally connected completely at this moment.
The intact Dao Foundation re-covered her immortal bones, flowing with a warm spiritual light, exactly as it had been when she was alive.
Jiang Huai’s steps abruptly stopped. He lowered his gaze to the person in his arms, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly.
He stared fixedly at Wu Zhaohua’s face, holding his breath, waiting for her eyelashes to tremble, waiting for her to open her eyes and call his name as she used to.
But that layer of light only lasted a moment before gradually dimming.
Wu Zhaohua still had her eyes closed, her face pale, not the slightest trace of a living person’s aura around her.
Though her Dao Foundation was intact, her soul had scattered.
Even if a Heavenly Immortal’s body was immortal, she was dead after all.
The divide between life and death was like a chasm stretching across, with no room for reversal.
“Accept it,” Su Yingman stepped forward, raised her hand, and gently patted Jiang Huai’s arm.
Jiang Huai did not turn his head nor respond. He stood silently in place, carrying Wu Zhaohua on his back, and looked ahead.
At the end of the Void Road, an ancient and heavy gate stood quietly.
The stone gate was engraved with patterns of sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, and plants.
No one knew how many years it had stood in this nothingness.
“There’s actually a gate here?” Ao Yao, in human form, approached the gate, looking left and right, her eyes full of curiosity.
She couldn’t help asking, “What place is on the other side of the gate?”
No one answered.
From ancient times to the present, few people could cross the Void Wind Blades, let alone reach the end of this road and stand before this gate.
“The Immortal Realm,” Jiang Huai’s voice rang out calmly.
He carried Wu Zhaohua on his back, stepped forward, freed his right hand, and pressed it against the cold stone gate. He exerted a slight force from his palm.
With a low rumble, the heavy stone gate slowly opened.
The moment the gate opened, ten thousand rays of Immortal Radiance poured out from behind it, like a Milky Way hanging upside down, filling the entire Void.
Thousands of auspicious vapors rose, and spiritual mist swirled.
The rich immortal spiritual energy rushed toward them, seeping into their meridians.
Tang Zhaoxue excitedly grabbed Su Yingman’s arm and said in a low voice, “I never thought I’d actually be able to go to the Immortal Realm!”
She had once been the Sect Leader of a Small World. Back then, entering Divine Transformation had been her limit. How could she have ever imagined that one day she would set foot in the Immortal Realm?
The women all looked at everything with curiosity.
Jianjia looked left and right, wagging her tail excitedly, her dragon body spinning back and forth atop Jiang Huai’s head, as if she wanted to examine every single cloud.
White Dew smiled bitterly.
She had sealed herself in ice for ten thousand years to fight the Extraterrestrial Demons again. She never thought that one day she, too, would ascend to the Immortal Realm.
A place she had once disdained.
Jiang Huai stepped through the gate in silence, leading the women forward.
They saw a world beneath their feet. Mountains, rivers, and lakes were all there; they could even see two dragons coiled upon it.
White Dew stared at the world below and blurted out, “This is… this is the Five Provinces?” Jiang Huai said in surprise.
This was the Five Provinces. At this moment, there were not many Extraterrestrial Demons left in the Five Provinces.
The areas once eroded by Demonic Qi were recovering; greenery was spreading again, and city lights were rekindling.
Everyone followed Jiang Huai as they continued forward, and the world below slowly changed.
The mountains and rivers of the Five Provinces gradually faded, human presence dissipated, replaced by an endless pitch-black chaos.
No sky, no earth, no sun, moon, or stars, not the slightest breath of life. It was as if nothing had ever existed.
“This should be the world before the birth of the Five Provinces, empty of everything,” Jiang Huai said slowly, looking at the chaotic world before him.
The world beneath their feet resembled a surging river, flowing slowly along the direction of time.
The group advanced little by little, skimming over that world, as if they were skimming through history.
They watched as, in the chaos, a point of spiritual light suddenly flared, then clear and turbid separated, the heavens high and the earth wide, with mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas taking shape.
Then plants sprouted, birds and beasts multiplied, living beings gradually learned the methods of cultivation, establishing sects and dynasties.
Conflicts arose, wars spread.
Then, from prosperity came decline, calamities descended, all things withered, and heaven and earth returned to extinction, sinking once more into boundless darkness.
Born and then destroyed, destroyed and then reborn, cycling and repeating, no one knew how many epochs had passed.
Jiang Huai stood before the River of Time, staring blankly at the cycle of birth and destruction.
The Yin-Yang Spiritual Power within his body suddenly boiled, echoing in resonance with the rhythm of heaven and earth from afar.
“So that’s it…” he murmured softly.
“The meaning of my birth was this.”
He looked up. The Two Energies of Yin and Yang spun rapidly in his eyes, the Xuan and White colors merging and shifting.
“I bear the Yin-Yang Body. I have yin and yang, life and death. I was not born to save all living beings, but to harmonize this world.”
As his words fell, he raised his right hand, palm facing the River of Time.
All the scenes rushed straight into Jiang Huai’s brow. Jiang Huai closed his eyes, his soul sinking into his Recognition Sea, reviewing the birth-and-destruction memories of those epochs over and over.
The roar of the world’s creation, the warmth of ten thousand lights, the tragedy of war spreading across the land, the silence of returning to nothingness—countless images flashed through his mind.
He confirmed them one by one and indeed discovered that in all the previous cycles, a Yin-Yang Body had never descended.
Only in this epoch, it was born in response to the Calamity of Heavenly Balance.
But throughout history, no Yin-Yang Body had ever walked before this River of Time and seen through this ultimate truth of heaven and earth.
Because the aura was too vast, two figures from the Immortal Realm arrived here early. A black dragon carried a flame figure racing over.
The black dragon landed and transformed into human form; the flame figure also descended.
“Mother!” Zhu Siyao recognized the newcomer at a glance and rushed over with a cheer.
Zhuxin opened her arms and tightly hugged her daughter to her chest.
Her fingertips brushed through Zhu Siyao’s long hair, emotions churning in her heart, and her voice was even a little choked: “Siyao…”
The mother and daughter embraced for a moment. Zhuxin raised her head, her gaze sweeping over the crowd and landing on Jiang Huai, who was suspended in midair.
She had heard the whole story of the Five Provinces and guessed that Jiang Huai must have undergone a transformation, but seeing it in person still left her in a complicated mood.
She slightly adjusted her sleeves and said softly, “Long time no see, Husband Lord.”
More streams of light streaked across.
Figures landed not far away, all Heavenly Immortals and Earth Immortals from the Immortal Realm.
Their gazes held reverence, even fear. The Yin-Yang aura emanating from Jiang Huai was too vast, like an abyss or an ocean.
Even these immortals who had lived for countless years could not help but become cautious.
Qin Qingyue flew to Su Yingman’s side and asked urgently, “What happened? How did he become so powerful?”
She could not sense Jiang Huai’s realm either; she only felt that his aura was vast and unfathomable.
Su Yingman shook her head and said in a low voice, “The Main Wife can’t sense it either?”
She was secretly startled. She had thought it was normal that she could not see through Jiang Huai’s realm, but she never expected that even someone like Qin Qingyue could not fathom his depth either.
In midair, Jiang Huai paid no attention to the surrounding immortals.
The Two Energies of Yin and Yang flickered in his eyes. He raised his left hand, and on his fingertip condensed a mass of pure white, gentle Life Spiritual Power.
He lowered his gaze to the Wu Zhaohua in his arms, and his fingertip gently pressed against her brow.
The white light flowed in through her brow, slowly traveling along her meridians throughout her body.
The originally cold and dead immortal body gradually warmed up. Even the heartbeat that had stopped for a long time transmitted a faint pulse.
Wu Zhaohua’s eyelashes trembled a few times.
After a moment, she slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was a little blurry at first.
She blinked, and when her focus gathered, she clearly saw Jiang Huai’s face. His features were gentle, and he was looking down at her.
“Am I… dreaming?” Wu Zhaohua’s voice was a little hoarse as she murmured.
“From now on, don’t leave without saying goodbye,” Jiang Huai said softly. “I was really sad.”
Wu Zhaohua stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly extended her arms and tightly wrapped them around his neck. The emotions that had built up for so long burst through the dam, tears sliding down the corners of her eyes.
“I didn’t want to go either…” she choked, her voice tearful.
“I couldn’t bear to leave you. I really couldn’t bear to leave you… But at that time… I had no other choice…”
Jiang Huai raised his hand and gently patted her back. “Alright, it’s all over now. Everything is finished.”
As his words fell, he slowly raised his right hand. In an instant, everything seemed to freeze.
The Immortal Radiance around them, the flowing clouds, even the breaths of the immortals all stopped at this moment.
He had seen through Yin and Yang, comprehended life and death, and had now fully grasped the operational laws of this world.
This world was not pure black, nor pure white. Yin contained yang, yang contained yin, life hid death, and death gave birth to life.
Circling and repeating, that was how balance was achieved.
Jiang Huai finally understood: this was the mission the world had given him. When living beings overproliferate and chaos arises, he would lead extinction to harmonize.
When all things wither and heaven and earth fall silent, he would sow life force to aid their revival.
To maintain birth and destruction in a state of balance, allowing the world to endure for a long time.
With a thought, the barrier between the Immortal Realm and the Five Provinces began to slowly dissolve.
“Let’s go. We’re returning to the Five Provinces.” Jiang Huai one arm steadily holding Wu Zhaohua, extended his other hand toward Qin Qingyue.
Wu Zhaohua had just come to her senses and immediately frowned.
She pushed against his chest and turned her face away.
“I don’t want to be held together with her! Put me down!”
Qin Qingyue stood in place, pouted, and muttered softly, “Do you think I want to be with you? I just want to go back to the Five Provinces.”
“Come if you want, who cares about you!”
Jiang Huai’s eyes glimmered with a smile.
He said softly, “Who told you to marry me early? Now it’s not up to you anymore.”
With that, he turned around, facing the immortals standing in the Void.
“Today I have disturbed your cultivation. Jiang Huai takes his leave. Another day when I am free, I will come to visit you immortals.”
The Heavenly Immortals and Earth Immortals present immediately bowed deeply to Jiang Huai.
Jiang Huai said no more. He flicked his sleeve gently.
Everyone only felt light and shadow shift, the world spinning. In an instant, their feet stood on solid ground.
Jiang Huai, with Wu Zhaohua and Qin Qingyue in his arms, stood on a mountain peak, looking down at the mountains and rivers of the Five Provinces.
He said softly, “Everything is over.”