Chapter 832: Catching Adultery in the Long River of Time and Space

Chapter 832: Caught in the River of Time and Space

Both could fully determine that this was the time they needed to return to—everything was perfect except for their drained energy, not even a soul wound, only a bit of shock.

Piaomiao bit her lower lip, her soul flushed pink: “Now... shall we shape a body?”

What she really meant was that now they could truly do what they longed to do, and she was willing.

On this day of heaven’s collapse, Zhao Changhe had abandoned all ancient explorations, spending the day solely for her mood, offering ten li of flowers tied with red strings. Piaomiao knew she was no longer merely “moved.”

She was unable to leave.

There was no longer any need to doubt whether his heart was like hers; his words had been proven.

Zhao Changhe said, “From what I saw, shaping the body was something we did in the Abyss of Netherworld. I don’t know why it had to be there—pitch-black, deathly still and icy, enough to make one’s hair stand on end. Even the life-breath blooming from the lotus platform couldn’t mask that stillness.”

Piaomiao leaned against his chest, thinking: “If it’s the Abyss of Netherworld, perhaps the reason is that it’s the boundary between life and death, or what might be called the underworld... This is no different from a rebirth for me, and maybe I need some of that place’s aura.”

“Maybe.” Zhao Changhe held her, lowering his head to kiss: “Following the guidance of what we saw should be fine. There’s no rush anyway; right now we’re both exhausted. Let’s recover first.”

Recovery, of course, meant dual cultivation—no need for further words.

Piaomiao obediently closed her eyes and yielded, letting him undo her sash again and toy with her soul form.

The touch of a soul often felt more intense than that of the flesh; before long, she was lost in passion.

Piaomiao drifted in a daze as if floating on clouds. She had truly never imagined that she would one day willingly let a man play with her like this—no shyness, no feigned reluctance, only joy that he was so captivated, even wanting to shape a body for him. Not for the completeness of her own soul and body, but to satisfy him.

The feelings of the mortal world were truly strange.

...

While Zhao Changhe and Piaomiao struggled within the Demon Illusion Realm, Ying Wu was launching a massive campaign against the western kingdoms.

As he had said, whenever he wished, he could transform from a bandit into a lord of a region. Since Zhao Changhe wanted it, he did it.

A few days later, the war-torn western lands welcomed a group of special guests. Watching the distant battle, they all scratched their heads.

They had come specifically to seek Ying Wu’s help, but they never expected to find him in the middle of a war—and a low-level mortal one at that, which he seemed to be enjoying immensely.

“Is that Ying Wu at the head over there?”

“Looks like it...”

“A Transcendent Realm expert bullying a mortal battlefield—aren’t you Bandit Brotherhood types ashamed of yourselves?”

“What do you mean ‘you’? If you’ve got the guts, spit out the money I and Fifth Brother have traded privately over the years! I ate sand in Yellow Sand Market for so many years, slaving away to earn money—for whom?”

“You were in Yellow Sand Market, weren’t you waiting to seduce my husband?”

“How is he your husband? Back then you weren’t even together yet; he was my subordinate, the Fire Pig. Doesn’t the honorable Vermilion Bird have her own subordinates? Why poach from me?”

“Bang, bang, slap, slap...” The mortal battle was still raging, but a divine battle had already erupted here.

“Stop fighting!” Someone stamped their foot: “Ying Wu has inexplicably joined the western conquest, and the situation is unclear. It might be detrimental to our Great Han. How can you two have the leisure to fool around here?”

The two women wrestling turned their heads and glared: “That’s a matter for you, the emperor, to consider. What does it have to do with us?”

Yue Hongling stood far off, hugging her sword, watching in silent exasperation.

This was why she had always preferred traveling alone—look at this leaderless team, clearly doomed... And they called it an imperial expedition? The emperor could only stamp his feet, unable to control anyone.

Come to think of it, this might be the smallest imperial expedition in history. Calling it a incognito inspection would be more fitting... But along the way, Xia Chichi had been quite cheerful. Having been cooped up in the palace for too long, she was itching for a fight.

Yet even she didn’t want to fight at a time like this—when the situation was unclear and they should be hiding and observing. Once a fight broke out, nothing could be concealed. Over there, Ying Wu had already abandoned his own battle and was flying toward them.

Yue Hongling and Xia Chichi simultaneously drew their swords, ready for battle.

Sensing their tense vigilance from afar, Ying Wu raised his hand and stopped: “Friendlies.”

Xia Chichi looked at him suspiciously.

“What if I said I’m conquering the western lands as a gift for Your Majesty? Would you believe me?” Ying Wu couldn’t be bothered to say more, waving his hand: “Hey, Sanniang, stop fighting. Want to go for a drink?”

Sanniang abandoned Huangfu Qing and scurried over: “What kind of good wine?”

“I wiped out a small kingdom a couple of days ago. Their king’s treasured wine—grape wine. Interested?”

“Let’s go, lead the way.”

Xia Chichi fumed: “Uncle Master, we came to find the White Tiger, not to go on a pleasure trip!”

Ying Wu found it amusing: “You didn’t head straight for Kunlun but came to me first. Weren’t you planning to ask me to help find the place? Why be so guarded? To be honest, Zhao Changhe left my place just a few days ago, and I helped him find the place he went to.”

The four women spoke in unison: “Where is he?”

Watching the four women instantly unite, Ying Wu sighed slightly and waved his hand: “Zhao Changhe has already told me about your intentions. I’ve had people search these past few days and have some leads. Come with me.”

With a wave, space twisted, and they were all transported into his great hall—the same place Zhao Changhe had visited before.

Xia Chichi hesitated: “You and Zhao Changhe...”

“What do you think our relationship is? Don’t worry, I’m not going to compete with you for your man.”

“...”

“You can ask him about the details yourselves later. If you don’t trust me, at least trust Sanniang, even if she seems unreliable...” Ying Wu picked up a booklet from beside him and tossed it to Xia Chichi: “Here.”

Xia Chichi opened it and was stunned.

A letter of surrender.

Wait, is this how you present a letter of surrender? Anyone would think you were issuing a declaration of war.

“I surrender to my brother, and you are my sister-in-law.” Ying Wu said casually, too lazy to explain further. He stood up and poured them another round of wine: “Mortal affairs are like this. Aside from the Netherworld’s attempts to stir chaos and division, the rest is inevitable. No need to pay attention. If you want to unify the land, deal with the Netherworld. Govern the rest well.”

The women exchanged glances, bewildered. How had their husband’s brief outing turned everything so simple?

Before they could recover, Ying Wu cut to the chase: “I’ve already checked the records for you... It’s said that at the end of the last era, the White Tiger vanished mysteriously. The Night Emperor once issued a decree to search for him, but it seems he wasn’t found.”

Sanniang said, “I know the White Tiger went mad and disappeared. Did you find anything else, Fifth Brother?”

“Based on my judgment of the various spaces in the celestial realm, if even the Night Emperor couldn’t find a place, there are only a few possibilities. Either it’s hidden in Night Netherworld’s Abyss of Netherworld, where chaos makes it impossible to investigate; or it’s in an extremely special place where time and space flow like a river, making it hard to find—like the very typical Heavenly River.”

Huangfu Qing said, “We actually thought it might be in the Heavenly River... The Night Emperor himself probably thought so too. But places like the Heavenly River—even if you got there, you might not find someone hidden within. The Night Emperor was pressed for time back then, so he found nothing... Let alone us now; we can’t even find the Heavenly River.”

“If nothing unexpected happens, the Heavenly River of this world should still exist. After all, such a special place is unlikely to dissipate completely.” Ying Wu handed over a jade slip: “Take a look at this too.”

Huangfu Qing took the jade slip: “What is this?”

“This is a personal imprint record from a guard of the Night Palace. It says that two nights before the Heavenly Change, the Night Palace was burgled...”

“The Night Palace could be burgled?”

“Not only was it burgled, but the Night Emperor was even present at the time. It’s said that a very important lotus platform was stolen. The guards thought they would be implicated and executed, but strangely, the Night Emperor didn’t punish them.”

Everyone exchanged glances, incredulous. Xia Chichi said, “Could it be that the Night Emperor had a lover and gave it to them, claiming it was stolen?”

Yue Hongling said irritably, “Do you think the Night Emperor is an emperor like you?”

“That’s hard to say...” Xia Chichi stiffened her neck: “What’s wrong with an emperor like me? I haven’t done anything on the road, and my imperial husband has already conquered the western lands for me.”

Yue Hongling ignored her. Your imperial husband? You’re the only one here who hasn’t had a wedding ceremony—you’re on the same level as Baoqin.

Ying Wu laughed: “The thief disappeared after stealing the lotus platform, and it was a full day before the Heavenly Change. During that day, someone went to look and found a riverbank that had inexplicably bloomed with flowers. When he was about to report to the Night Emperor, the sky collapsed on the road, and everything was too late. But precisely because of that, if he had returned to the Night Palace, we wouldn’t have gotten this record. It’s only because he died on the road that it fell into our hands.”

Xia Chichi stood up abruptly: “Whether or not this matter is related to the White Tiger, we can trace that riverbank through this record. At least we can find a segment of the Heavenly River!”

“Right...” Ying Wu said with a grin: “Based on my treasure-hunting experience, we might even find where the thief was back then, and possibly the precious lotus platform. As for whether we can find the White Tiger, we’ll need to use this river segment to search for other segments.”

“No time to lose, let’s go now.” Huangfu Qing snatched the wine cup from Sanniang’s hand. “Stop drinking—go drink from the Heavenly River instead.”

“Who knows whose bathwater that is; if you like it, you drink it.” Sanniang rose reluctantly. “Thought I could catch some sleep first… oh well, let’s go.”

The group followed Ying Wu to the spot where he had found the jade slip. Sensing his surroundings, Ying Wu teleported toward the Heavenly River.

Outside the spatial barrier, Ying Wu pressed a hand against it and mused, “There’s an energy reaction inside—possibly an ancient remnant soul… be careful entering.”

“It might be the White Tiger.” Huangfu Qing clasped her hands to Ying Wu. “Many thanks, Fifth Master… The White Tiger is mad, and there could be trouble. I’d hate to drag you into this; we’ll go in ourselves.”

Ying Wu smiled faintly. The Four Symbols Sect valued secrecy, naturally unwilling to let outsiders witness a raving ancient Four Symbols beast, which might also leak many sect secrets. He didn’t dwell on it and withdrew with ease. “Call me anytime if you need help—I’m off to war.”

Huangfu Qing watched Ying Wu leave and asked Sanniang in puzzlement, “Was Ying Wu ever this close to us before? Even though you’re part of his Brotherhood, he’s always been somewhat aloof…”

“Of course—my heart’s with the Four Symbols Sect after all.” Guigui scratched his head. “I don’t know why Fifth Brother is so familiar this time, treating us like his own people.”

“Could there be a trap behind this space?” Huangfu Qing said. “I keep getting a bad feeling.”

“Fifth Brother definitely isn’t that kind of person… but I do have a vague unease too, and I don’t know where it comes from.” Sanniang sighed. “Maybe it’s just the discomfort of not knowing what lies ahead across this space…”

Yue Hongling said, “We’re fine—at worst we’ll face something like the White Tiger. Changhe has it harder; he went alone to meet Jiuyou and Piaomiao. I worry about how he’s doing now.”

Xia Chichi added, “That bad feeling might just stem from worry for Changhe… It’s fine—the Book of Chaos hasn’t flashed, so he’s safe. Let’s handle our own business first, then go help him later.”

The group exchanged glances and said in unison, “Let’s enter together—don’t split up.”

With their current strength, entering in formation, they feared no trap unless the Night Emperor himself appeared.

On high alert, as if facing the strongest foe, they braced themselves and broke through the barrier.

No trap seemed present… but as their four powerful energies burst into the space, a remnant soul in the river instinctively triggered an attack.

A faint purple aura rushed toward them, along with a psychic force that seemed to accelerate their life force toward death.

The four formed their formation and struck out simultaneously. “Which ancient senior is here? We mean no harm…”

From the river came a woman’s surprised voice: “Eh… the Four Symbols Formation…”

The voice was lovely, but with it, the time-accelerating force frantically shifted to block the purple aura, as if the formation had terrified the other party into internal conflict.

Indeed, the Four Symbols Formation was formidable.

From the river came the same woman’s soul-voice, pleasant to hear: “Changhe, what’s wrong? Why did you block me…”

The four in formation stared wide-eyed in shock, desperately redirecting the formation’s power to blast the river beside them, sending up a spray of water.

The river splashed loudly, and through the mist, their husband was carrying another naked woman, frantically conjuring clothes as he fled.

“Zhao Changhe, stop right there!” The Four Symbols Formation spun wildly, unleashing power comparable to the Imperial Realm’s third level, blasting without mercy toward the man ahead.

Zhao Changhe slammed on the brakes and floated backward.

“We come to a secret realm and catch you cheating! Zhao Changhe, go die!”

“We were worried about you, thinking to help you, and you’re here sneaking around with some strange fox spirit! Tell us, where did this fox spirit come from?”

“Boom!” The formation exploded on all sides, and Zhao Changhe huddled miserably in the center, crouching with his head in his hands.

Piaomiao finally realized what was happening and folded her arms, saying nothing. Romance was fun in the moment, but she’d forgotten he had a family—more than one.

What kind of fate was this, to be caught in adultery even in a place like this…

Amid the splashing water and swirling mist, four stunning women drifted over, eyeing Piaomiao with hostile expressions.

Xia Chichi was startled. “She looks a bit like a grown-up Yangyang.”

Before the words faded, the four spoke in unison: “Piaomiao!”

Piaomiao sighed. “You know that feeling of being barged in on in a secret realm and mistaken for an ancient demon lord? How does it feel now?”

With a “poof,” Zhao Changhe canceled his human form, turned into a white ball, and floated away.

Sanniang grabbed him back, tossed him up, and kicked him out of sight.