Chapter 831: Experiencing the Heaven's Collapse with You

Chapter 831: Experiencing the Collapse of Heaven With You

Seeing Zhao Changhe immersed in silent cultivation and comprehension amidst the river waters, Piaomiao kept a quiet, ethereal vigil by his side, propping her chin on her hand as she gazed at the man's handsome face. The more she looked, the more pleasing he became, to the point where she could not even be bothered by the slight annoyance lingering in her heart.

The annoyance stemmed from Zhao Changhe's current direction of cultivation and his present aura, which was simply too reminiscent of the Night Emperor... a male version carved from the exact same mold.

Of course, he was originally meant to be the Night Emperor of the next era, and he had even stolen the Four Symbols, so it seemed quite natural. This irritation was purely resentment directed toward Ye Wuming, hating the house and its crows alike.

But looking at it from another perspective, the fact that he could steal the Four Symbols from her, could that not also be considered a form of revenge?

With that thought, the annoyance dissipated further, and she felt she should offer her full support instead! That was right; when they returned, she would help him deal with the White Tiger as well, thoroughly snatching away everything that belonged to the Night Emperor!

She only wondered what kind of future Zhao Changhe was seeing at this moment... this type of cultivation was far too difficult; at least, Piaomiao did not know how to do it and could not help at all.

At this moment, Zhao Changhe could see nothing.

Reflecting on the trigger from his previous dream where he had lingered intimately with Piaomiao in the river, it seemed to have occurred during the sleep after that act had dispelled his inner demons. That time, he had felt as though he had already been with Piaomiao, and in the dream, he had caught a glimpse of this night, her first truly voluntary time... it was likely his subconscious wondering "when will it be truly voluntary," thereby catching a glimpse of this future, making the cause and effect quite clear.

In other words, without a distinct thread, trying to foresee any future by merely pinching one's fingers out of thin air would leave one completely without a clue, making it impossible to see.

Zhao Changhe strained to focus his thoughts on the matter of "returning," attempting to trace upstream within the long river of time and space, but with nothing to rely upon, he truly could not perceive a thing. Instead, a sensation of spiritual backlash washed over him, causing a splitting headache.

Panting as he broke out of his meditative state, Piaomiao was already holding him gently, murmuring in a low voice, "What is wrong? Do not force yourself too hard; cultivation cannot be rushed."

Sustained by the gentle intent of the rivers and mountains, Zhao Changhe's pain receded, and he exhaled softly, "Thanks... to be honest, the protective support you provide me is far stronger than I imagined, almost all-encompassing..."

Piaomiao said, "What is there to thank me for? You and I... well, beneath the heavens, all land belongs to the king, and the rivers and mountains are all for use."

"...The way I hear it, it sounds more like every inch of your body belongs to me."

Piaomiao pushed him away in mock anger, "Can you not show a little propriety for once?"

Zhao Changhe laughed, "There have been many emperors, but who among them could command everything to be used? This requires being husband and wife."

Piaomiao countered, "There are many husbands and wives in the world, but how many truly share one heart?"

Zhao Changhe tilted his head to look at her, her expression perfectly blank.

"Are you saying my heart is not like yours?"

"I did not say that, you admitted it yourself."

"Fine, fine, fine." Zhao Changhe held her in a reverse embrace, whispering into her ear, "We still have a very long time to prove it."

Piaomiao smiled faintly, offering no answer.

In truth, this was her third day away from her physical form; if she did not return for any longer, something might go wrong. Without a vessel for her divine soul, she might become a wandering ghost. Yet when Zhao Changhe said he wanted to remain here to comprehend time, she raised not a single word of objection, as if the one who might face disaster were not herself.

Zhao Changhe understood this perfectly. Seeing her smile without answering, he could not help but ask, "You... are not in a hurry?"

Piaomiao said calmly, "It is nothing... I told all of you long ago, my revival was a mistake. Dissipating is also a form of destiny; there is nothing worth forcing."

Zhao Changhe felt that Piaomiao was starting to slip back into that state of a sage devoid of desires or demands, as though having exacted a portion of her revenge after stealing the lotus pedestal, her obsession was no longer so dense, causing her to return all the more to the detachment of her earlier years.

"The present is nothing like the past." Zhao Changhe scraped her nose, "The meaning of your existence now is not merely hatred."

Piaomiao smiled softly, "Is it for you as well?"

"Yes, is that alright?"

"But I see you are not in a hurry at all, still possessing the mind to be improper."

"You misunderstand me; it was only the backlash from earlier causing a headache, a momentary rest." Zhao Changhe laughed, "However, the fact that there was a backlash proves my direction is correct. I simply lacked a basis for divination; it was too illusory and boundless, to the point that my divine soul could not endure it."

"What kind of basis do you need?"

"You are my basis, and it is not me being improper."

Piaomiao: "?"

While she was still bewildered, Zhao Changhe had already pressed his lips against hers.

Piaomiao pushed at him in vexation, thinking to herself how this man had changed into this state the moment he obtained her... she truly did not know whether to blame him for being heartless, or to be delighted by his utter infatuation...

Yet she quickly discovered that as Zhao Changhe kissed her, he had actually entered a meditative state once more.

Piaomiao: "..."

Previously, it was because of Yangyang that he had obtained Piaomiao, thereby foreseeing this night where Piaomiao was voluntary... so, using the Piaomiao of this moment to foresee her truly first time once she possessed a physical body, would that not be a complete line of cause and effect?

With this, there was something to rely on, following the thread to unravel the rest.

In a blur, a dark abyss appeared, devoid of light and shadow, silent and profoundly cold.

At the deepest part of the abyss, the breath of life from a blooming lotus pedestal faintly stirred, infused with the wondrous aura of celestial creation, and within the lightless depths, an atmosphere resembling Genesis began to grow.

Could this be... the Nine Nether Abyss? The domain of Ye Jiuyou?

Piaomiao's body needed to be reshaped here, did it...

Very well... tracing backward from this point, could he see the critical node of how they arrived?

The images rewound at breakneck speed, only to suddenly reveal the flash of a sword blooming at an unknown location. The brilliant light occupied his entire field of vision; it was a sharp incisiveness that destroyed everything, a tyrannical dominance that shattered time and space.

The Sword Emperor?

At another position, a blood-colored blade-light soared into the sky, furiously slashing at the firmament.

Lie.

A pair of delicate hands pressed squarely into the center of the vault of heaven, and the Four Symbols of the night sky suddenly collapsed.

Ye Wuming... had personally destroyed her own Four Symbols.

There should be something more... a rise of various heroes, pointing their fury toward the heavens.

Amidst the scene of world-ending destruction collapsing everywhere, there seemed to be a confrontation at the very core, blurred and impossible to spy upon, with only thunder flashing, incomparably violent. A strange voice echoed: "It is useless... none of you can escape..."

"Rumble!" The image turned black, the entire realm vanished, the firmament crumbled, and the Celestial Realm perished.

The Heavenly Gate shattered, and the laws dispersed, turning into various book pages that scattered down to the lower realm. The scene shifted to the mortal world, where the Heavenly River hung upside down, pouring into the human realm, and all the shattered spaces entered the human realm to become secret realms.

At this moment, the scattered pages looked precisely like seals, locking down a realm-wide prison.

The topmost page flashed with golden light, recording eight large characters: "The Heavenly Dao ceases to exist; the Human Dao reopens."

This was the title page of the Book of the Troubled Times.

Because Zhao Changhe was only divining how to return, his perspective was restricted to his immediate surroundings; things in the distance could not be discerned clearly at all, making it difficult to judge what exactly had occurred. Yet he truly knew what he wanted to know... the method of return was not some Soul-Absorbing Mirror at all; it was simply remaining within this Heavenly River, falling along with it from the Nine Heavens to enter the mortal world.

The Heavenly River was originally a river of time and space. Taking advantage of this moment of celestial collapse and spatial-temporal chaos, he could utilize the path of time to traverse back to the point he wished to reach. As Piaomiao had said before, the ones traversing time and space were themselves...

The location of return would also be where the Heavenly River scattered, becoming an unknown secret realm in the mortal world, and the direction indeed felt to be on Kunlun's side...

Fortunately, he had taken a glimpse; if he had run off to the Soul-Absorbing Mirror, it would have been an entirely wasted trip. The entire matter had absolutely nothing to do with the Soul-Absorbing Mirror; the correct method was to stay in the Heavenly River and go nowhere else.

The time... was tomorrow!

Zhao Changhe snapped awake, feeling that his physical body left behind in the temple was already drenched in sweat, and even his spiritual body at this moment was subconsciously trembling slightly.

Tomorrow, heaven would collapse!

That sensation of heroes rising together and the world crumbling was simply too alluring for a martial artist; he desperately wanted to take a look at that core place of battle to see what exactly had happened.

Moreover, this was absolutely something he could attend, as long as he did not interfere.

With his current strength, observing from a distance was entirely feasible; he could at least watch the opening act, and once it was nearly finished, he could just return to the Heavenly River.

"What... is wrong with you?" Piaomiao asked curiously, "Did you find the path?"

Found it, right here.

Piaomiao was quite puzzled: "Why would it be here... and suddenly I feel your battle intent surging, as if you've met a long-desired opponent."

Zhao Changhe said: "Tomorrow the sky will collapse... the time and space will be most chaotic; we just need to trace ourselves within the river of time."

Piaomiao fell silent.

"Tomorrow the sky will collapse"... these four words actually have another translation: tomorrow is your day of death.

Zhao Changhe wanted to witness the ancient battle of heroes rising together; how could Piaomiao not want to see the moment when Ye Wuming ambushed and killed herself?

Actually, if it weren't for the ambush, in a frontal battle Piaomiao wouldn't have resented being killed so much... but one couldn't blame Ye Wuming for using an ambush; her battle in the celestial realm was somewhat exaggerated, probably she was already at the end of her strength at that time. An unsolvable problem.

The two were silent for a moment, then said simultaneously: "Want to go?"

Then they paused again, and once more in unison: "I cannot go."

After saying that, they fell silent again.

Zhao Changhe looked at the complex expression on Piaomiao's face; his battle intent was gone, his curiosity gone—what were his own feelings compared to this... Piaomiao's state of knowing that tomorrow she would be killed, yet stubbornly restraining herself from interfering, that was truly agonizing.

"It's... it's nothing." Piaomiao said reluctantly: "I'm alive and well, aren't I... When we go back, I still have a body, but Ye Wuming doesn't."

Zhao Changhe: "..."

Piaomiao said: "As for you... why can't you go? If you want to see what exactly happened, you can go... just be careful... I'll wait here for you to return."

Zhao Changhe gently stroked her face: "I'm not going anywhere, I'll stay here with you."

"Why?"

"Because tomorrow will be the hardest time for you, and you need someone to accompany you through it. My curiosity is nothing compared to that."

Piaomiao stared at him fixedly.

Zhao Changhe smiled: "Besides, the future we glimpse is only the most likely among many possibilities; it's also possible that our return might fail. I must always be by your side, never separated at any moment. If we truly can't go back, then we'll perish together with this world."

Piaomiao looked at him for a long while, then also smiled: "Alright."

"Come, let's cultivate. Cramming at the last minute is better than giving up." Zhao Changhe took her hand and walked toward the riverbank.

When he used the word "cultivate" rather than "dual cultivate," Zhao Changhe was quite proper. Piaomiao watched with interest as he walked on the waves toward the shore, thinking to herself: Not to mention time, but in terms of space alone, Zhao Changhe had already entered the hall—every part of the Heavenly River was actually a distant space; ordinary people couldn't see an inch ahead, but Zhao Changhe walked in the water without any sensation, as if it were an ordinary river.

There were many celestial plants by the river; Zhao Changhe couldn't identify them and didn't bother to.

He casually pressed on an unknown flowering tree; due to the omen of the sky's collapse, these trees had long withered—everyone in the celestial realm knew that a heavenly change was coming, stemming from these decaying signs.

Looking at the future through time, some of these trees would completely disappear in the future, while some surprisingly still existed and even bloomed... Zhao Changhe's mind stirred slightly, and before him, a tree's flowering season arrived.

Piaomiao watched with her own eyes as buds emerged on the branches, then burst into full bloom, the tree covered in flowers, their fragrance overwhelming.

Zhao Changhe spent a long time, and Piaomiao quietly accompanied him, until along the river for over ten li, all the withered trees had blossomed; as far as the eye could see, it was a breathtaking sight.

Some were flowers from the future, some were blooms from the past. The flowers were a riot of colors, and the methods used were varied. Though it was cultivation delving into time, it felt like decorating a bridal chamber.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Zhao Changhe turned and smiled: "For you."

"This is your cultivation?"

"Killing two birds with one stone. I explore time and also express my feelings."

"Time..." Piaomiao's eyes were sharp: "These flowering seasons—some are past, some future?"

"Yes, whether past, present, or future, it's all with you."

Piaomiao said: "Why give flowers?"

Zhao Changhe scratched his head: "Uh, because they're beautiful... Besides, we've had moments under the moon, but not before flowers... I'm making it up to you."

Piaomiao found it amusing: "You're such a mortal. Do you know what these flowers are?"

Zhao Changhe shook his head: "I don't know... They can't be flowers with a bad meaning, right? At least they bloom by the Heavenly River, with strong energy. Making them bloom is much harder than ordinary flowering trees. Are they some kind of celestial treasure..."

Piaomiao couldn't help laughing: "What celestial treasure would grow so cheaply by the river unattended... This is the Milky Way, where the Cowherd and Weaver Girl meet. These are Magpie Bridge flowers. If a lover picks one and gives it, it means unwavering devotion; if they exchange, it ties a red thread forever, each holding one that never withers... You've given me a stretch of over ten li—what are you trying to do?"

Zhao Changhe also laughed: "Isn't that great? You pick one and give it to me too."

Piaomiao casually picked one and directly stuck it in Zhao Changhe's conjured hair, leaning back to look: "Wearing flowers and carrying wine is the romantic style of worldly scholars—doesn't quite suit you... Makes me want to laugh."

Zhao Changhe also picked one and made as if to put it in her hair bun: "Have you decided? Once this is on, the red thread is tied forever—you won't be able to run away."

Piaomiao said softly: "It's fine... Consider it as you bringing me from the era where I should have existed to the place where you are. It's not about Yang Yang, nor about Ye Wuming or Ye Jiuyou—just you and me."

As the words fell, the earth shook and the mountains trembled.

Even as Piaomiao spoke, she had already felt the arrival of the apocalypse.

"Boom!" Thunder roared in the distance, mountains collapsed, nearby trees all withered, some snapped at the roots.

The two did not look; hand in hand they stepped back into the river and walked all the way to the riverbed.

"Hold tight." Zhao Changhe held Piaomiao tightly and whispered: "Trust me, I will bring you back."

The riverbed began to shake; the once calm water suddenly roared and surged, explosions sounded wildly everywhere, the Heavenly River poured down, plummeting from the nine heavens.

If the river water were compared to time, it was as if the quietly flowing time had suddenly been fast-forwarded through a progress bar.

"Boom!" The Milky Way fell into the mortal realm, crashing into an alternate void, transforming into an independent secret realm within the mortal world's alternate dimension.

The secret realm passed through tens of millions of years, never opened by anyone.

The trees along the riverbank lay scattered, some turned to ash, some stood as withered stumps; over the long years, they gradually grew.

Unnoticed, two buds emerged and gradually bloomed.

Two ethereal souls floated up from the river water, eyes tightly shut, drifting on the surface with the wind, like ancient spirits revived after an entire era.

Yet they were always embracing, with the same flowers in their hair buns, identical to the two on the shore.

The two ethereal souls opened their eyes at the same time, glanced around, and simultaneously revealed smiles of survival after calamity.

"If someone were to break into this 'secret realm' right now, wouldn't we be mistaken for ancient revived demons?" Zhao Changhe blinked: "This experience is quite interesting; I might have a chance to pretend once."