Chapter 902: Nothing But Escape

Chapter 902: Nothing But Evasion

The Great Dao is simple.

The truth was straightforward enough, but how could one truly break free from these shackles?

At the very least, Zhao Changhe could not withstand the passage of time at this moment; his hair had turned completely white.

Yet, he still laughed merrily.

For he was not like Yueyu when she collided with the shamanic curse, aging from head to toe; nor was he like the time he tested the flow of time at the Heavenly River, causing the withered poplar to burst into bloom.

His body withstood the decay of aging, remaining exactly as it was. His face was still young, handsome, and radiant.

It was merely his hair turning white—a sign of partial aging, perhaps, but it did not affect the battle in the slightest. If anything, it made him look cooler. After all, some people dyed their hair white on purpose; everyone in his homeland was a white-hair fanatic, though usually not for men...

That was getting sidetracked. This kind of localized decay meant he could still rest and regulate it back later; it was no big deal. Most importantly, it meant Zhao Changhe could withstand the temporal decay of the Heavenly Dao level.

So it was nothing more than this.

The Other Shore had already pushed open that door, and the first light of dawn was faintly appearing.

As expected, combat was the fastest way to improve. Even if this kind of tier-skipping battle meant hanging his head on his waistband, Zhao Changhe felt all the more passion and joy.

Amidst wild laughter, Zhao Changhe smashed into the ground of the planet, crashing out a bottomless giant crater with a thunderous roar.

The sound of wind flickered in the distance. The descent of this suspected "extraterrestrial meteoric iron" attracted the attention of many cultivators, who came one after another to spy on the site.

Zhao Changhe felt as if every bone in his body was shattered. He coughed up blood with great effort to prop himself up, yet his heart felt even more assured. This was indeed a planet of immortal cultivation—which meant his previous judgment was completely correct. This star domain was a sea of chaotic stars, and the vast majority of planets were immortal cultivation continents.

This was the true sea of stars... The cultivation of a mere small world was nothing compared to this. Now, Zhao Changhe even suspected that the Other Shore was not the highest realm of cultivation, and there might be higher levels above it.

The thought flashed by, and miserable shrieks echoed from above as the cultivators who approached to investigate met a cruel end at the hands of the Heavenly Dao.

Zhao Changhe's heart chilled. This Heavenly Dao was indeed a demonic cultivator, completely unreasonable.

Amidst the screams, he faintly caught words like these: "It's Luo Chuan..."

"Luo Chuan, how dare you slaughter wantonly on Planet Tianxuan! Do you truly think there is no one on this planet?!"

This fellow actually had a name, Luo Chuan... Hearing it suddenly felt a bit unfamiliar, as if an ethereal concept had materialized into a physical entity, falling from the highest heavens into the mortal dust.

But in truth, he had always known it was so. They were just lives of different dimensions; there was no such thing as nihility or the indescribable. Strictly speaking, it actually looked quite decent.

Zhao Changhe was too lazy to ponder over this. Taking advantage of the brief chaos above, he swiftly merged into the earth element from deep underground, soundlessly drilling his way to the groundwater, then merged into the water element, heading straight for the ocean.

The laws of space could not be used carelessly. The Heavenly Dao was more proficient than him; it was better to test other aspects. The greatest difference between being on a continent and being in the cosmos was the presence of earth, water, fire, wind, and the five elements. Since he could not outplay the Heavenly Dao in the mysteries of time and space, he would see if there was any ground to be gained in other areas.

A demonic cultivator like Luo Chuan might very well have a relatively biased understanding of nature. Even if he had no weaknesses, Zhao Changhe's continuous use of space leaps just now would mislead the Heavenly Dao's line of thought.

Sure enough, just after Zhao Changhe left, Luo Chuan appeared at the bottom of the crater where he had fallen, his brow furrowing tightly.

He habitually sensed the surrounding spatial fluctuations but could not detect them for a moment, unsure of which direction Zhao Changhe had fled.

He released his divine sense to cover the entire continent, but there was still nothing.

He continued to expand his search overseas, scanning the ocean first, yet there was still nothing. Soon after, he discovered a trace—Zhao Changhe was already high up in the heavens, on the verge of leaving the planet...

Earth, water, wind.

Zhao Changhe's mastery over various aspects might be inferior to those who specialized in a single element, but his comprehensiveness truly made Luo Chuan click his tongue in admiration. In just a split second, the man had almost managed to escape his pursuit. And this was while he was severely injured...

Years ago, he indeed knew this person had dipped his toes into too many laws, but it should have been impossible to possess such profound accumulation. This thirty-year journey of retracing the path of cultivation was truly a magnificent transformation.

The killing intent in his heart flared even higher. Such a natural-born warrior must absolutely not be allowed to continue growing. Otherwise, even without the Ye sisters, Zhao Changhe alone would be enough to give him a massive headache.

Luo Chuan flashed across space in an instant, giving chase once more, intercepting him outside the atmosphere.

Yet he saw Zhao Changhe twist his body and drop right back down, heading straight for an immortal mountain on an island.

That was clearly the spiritual mountain abode of a powerful cultivator, surrounded by countless restrictions and an incomparably formidable mountain-protecting array, radiating an aura that made one's heart tremble with fear.

Behind him, Luo Chuan's attack arrived once more. Zhao Changhe flashed to avoid it swiftly, and Luo Chuan's attack crashed heavily upon the mountain-protecting array of the immortal mountain. The array rebounded with a roar, and a powerful streak of five-colored radiant light shot straight into the firmament.

"So, Zhao Changhe is also capable of drawing others in to harm the innocent?" Luo Chuan shattered the array's counterattack with a single blow, his voice dripping with ridicule: "Your so-called chivalrous reputation is nothing but hypocrisy."

Zhao Changhe could not be bothered to pay attention to him. He immediately altered his appearance, habitually changing into the likeness of Wang Daozhong. Then, his left hand reached into his robe once more, touching the Heavenly Book.

Falling onto this planet earlier and causing harm to the innocent was an unintentional mistake; he simply had not thought it through so deeply. But this time, drawing out the mountain-protecting array was the result of deliberate consideration.

He had heard someone say just now, "Do you truly think there is no one on this planet?"... The top cultivators of this planet would absolutely not allow an outsider demonic cultivator to act willfully here; they would definitely strike. Zhao Changhe had observed the land and sea, discovering that the spiritual veins converged at this immortal mountain. This place had to be where the true controller of this land resided.

If he didn't borrow their strength now, when would he?

Sure enough, while Luo Chuan was still mocking him, the mountain-protecting array swung wide open. A giant, golden, glittering sword flew out with a thunderous roar, accompanied by an old and indifferent voice: "Planet Tianxuan is no place for you demonic cultivators to act wildly. If Your Excellency does not turn back now, do not blame us for being ruthless and merciless."

Luo Chuan sneered: "This seat is pursuing a mortal enemy. If you know what's good for you, stay out of it. Otherwise, do not blame this seat for showing no mercy."

The person's voice remained indifferent: "This fellow taoist, please return as well. Private grudges shall not enter this planet."

"Boom!" The giant sword collided with Luo Chuan, the violent energy causing the sea and sky to howl wildly.

At the same time, a massive hand slapped down from within the mountain, seemingly intending to swat Zhao Changhe off the planet.

Yet Zhao Changhe did not care about this swat at all. He didn't even make a posture to dodge. The hand touching the Heavenly Book poured in all the strength of his body: "Now is the time!"

...

Right during the frantic flight, the Ye sisters were constantly communicating via their divine souls.

"How is your injury? How much more time do you need?" Ye Jiuyou was burning with anxiety.

"A wound from the Heavenly Dao, though not heavily injured, cannot be healed so quickly," Ye Wuming replied calmly. "But if it is just to suppress it, give me another dozen breaths of time."

"If you suppress it, will it be more troublesome to heal completely afterward?"

"Yes."

Ye Jiuyou asked no more, and Ye Wuming said no more.

What did it matter if healing completely afterward would be more troublesome?

The minds of both women were focused on the outside world, on the scene where Zhao Changhe broke open a path of life and death with a single blade strike, shattering celestial bodies to pieces.

His battles had always been thus... When he was overbearing, he often seemed to decide victory or defeat with one strike, but more often than not, he would end up covered in wounds. Because in the vast majority of his battles, he was wielding his blade against those stronger than him.

Ye Wuming's gaze fell upon the Miaojiang region once more. Countless spirit race shamans were forming arrays and chanting incantations. Ye Jiuyou and Piao Miao both had their eyes closed, performing their techniques, creating a solemn and oppressive atmosphere.

It was useless no matter how anxious everyone was... Not only could her, Ye Wuming's, injuries not be resolved so quickly, but the preparation of shamanic spells on that side was not the same thing as ordinary arrays. It wasn't as if they would take effect the moment they were activated... Some shamanic spells even required things like forty-nine days to take effect. It was precisely because there were so many prerequisites that when they truly erupted, they would be difficult to resist.

Skills with a longer casting animation were naturally more powerful than instant-cast skills; even the games of Zhao Cuo's era knew to set it up this way, which was the law of nature.

Facing an adversary like the Heavenly Dao, there was no room for compromise; otherwise, it would just be a waste of an opportunity.

But the longer the casting animation, the greater the pressure on Zhao Changhe. Ye Wuming had watched Zhao Changhe endure immense pressure on the line of life and death countless times, but this was the first time she watched from the perspective of someone being protected.

This experience gave rise to a very strange feeling in one's heart, completely impossible to describe in words.

The world suddenly trembled violently. It was the moment Zhao Changhe fell onto the planet and slashed back with his blade, completely lacking the leisure to care about maintaining the stability of the world at this point.

Yet no one had the spare time to care about the shaking of the earth and mountains at this moment. Everyone stared blankly at the scene of Zhao Changhe's hair turning white in an instant, falling collectively silent.

Ye Wuming clenched her fists tightly, her fingernails digging into her palms unconsciously, even drawing faint traces of blood.

"So his name is Luo Chuan," Ye Jiuyou muttered to herself, her voice laced with deep, bone-deep hatred. "I know now."

—Gaining a true name by accident provided an additional effect for shamanic spells.

The person Ye Jiuyou hated the most had never been Ye Wuming; it was the Heavenly Dao.

"Almost there..." Seeing Zhao Changhe luring Luo Chuan to attack someone else's mountain-protecting formation, Tang Wanzhuang, who had been observing from the sidelines, caught the hint and said swiftly, "Now."

Ye Jiuyou cut her own finger, and a drop of blood fell onto the forehead of the corpse puppet.

"Rumble!" The corpse puppet sat up, suddenly thrust a hand into its own chest, grabbed a bloody, enormous heart, and crushed it to pieces.

Over there, Luo Chuan was dealing with the giant sword's attack when suddenly a sharp pain struck his heart, as if it were about to shatter. Fortunately, his strength was immense; at the critical moment, he protected his heart meridian from harm. But at that instant, the giant sword swept through him. Luo Chuan dodged urgently, teleporting ten thousand li to escape.

Within the celestial dome beneath the imperial palace, the Four Symbols blazed, and the Night Emperor returned.

The people of the Four Symbols Sect watched helplessly as Ye Wuming vanished into the center, disappearing without a trace, even their aura lost. Their connection to Ye Wuming through the Four Symbols was severed, linking instead to the Night Palace above and the Netherworld below.

—There had never been a Night Emperor; the so-called Night Emperor was merely an order forcibly imposed by the Heavenly Dao. When order returned to chaos, light and darkness united in one body, that was the reemergence of the Heavenly Book's origin, the torn spirit of the Heavenly Book restored.

Ye Jiuyou opened her eyes.

The ethereal figure beside her turned in shock, sensing that Ye Jiuyou's aura had changed. It now carried an order that was not hers, a ritual not hers, a fate and energy not hers.

That aura was familiar—lofty and suspended, the Night Emperor Wuming.

The ethereal one had experience with this feeling... She too had once been entangled with another soul, as if one.

The Ye sisters had merged! And it was Ye Wuming who had voluntarily given up her own existence, merging with Ye Jiuyou as the main body!

Zhao Changhe stroked the Heavenly Book, no longer touching Ye Wuming, but now Ye Jiuyou.

The Heavenly Book opened and closed—time and space, light and darkness, life and death, truth and illusion, the five elements... All kinds of laws converged into one, condensing on the pages into a chaotic shadow like a cosmic black hole, which crashed down with a roar toward the place where Luo Chuan had fled.

The power of the Ye sisters after their merger had truly broken through the power of the Other Shore—not just the initial stage; once fully formed, it would be at least the middle stage.

Luo Chuan, struck simultaneously by the witch's spell, the giant sword, and the Heavenly Book, could no longer hold out. His entire body was torn and shattered, even the heart meridian he had just protected failed, his heart bursting directly. Fragments of his internal organs sprayed out with stagnant blood as he fled without a trace in an instant.

At that very moment, Zhao Changhe was struck by the giant palm from the Immortal Mountain. In the nick of time, Ling Ruoyu in the Night Palace activated its defenses, stars blazing to protect the heavens. The palm smashed through the stars, but most of its power was neutralized, leaving only a fraction to land on Zhao Changhe, sending him flying like a bouncing ball off the planet.

Zhao Changhe drifted through the cosmos like a broken kite, already unconscious, carried forward purely by inertia, wandering toward an unknown place.

In the star domain, many monsters opened their eyes: "That fierce attack just now, like a black hole—what kind of artifact was it?"

"Dangerous." Ye Jiuyou flew out, grabbed Zhao Changhe's body, and dragged him into the Heavenly Book.

A Heavenly Book flipped its pages, shooting like a meteor toward the edge of the star domain.

By the time someone arrived, it was nowhere to be found.

...

At the edge of the star domain, in the void of dimensions.

The Heavenly Book lay hidden there, quietly closed.

Inside the book's world, time was peaceful, and the people still did not know what a thrilling battle had just occurred. They only knew that disasters that had not happened in thirty years—earthquakes, tsunamis—had suddenly struck once, but quickly subsided, and the court was organizing relief efforts.

In the Night Palace, Ye Jiuyou held Zhao Changhe, drenched in blood, her lips tightly pressed.

Her mind was not calm; her head ached as if splitting. Two souls were twisting and tangling, repelling each other.

Even though Ye Wuming had willingly merged, even though Ye Jiuyou could accept it, even though the two were originally one with no obstacles, the mutual dissatisfaction and rejection that had spanned two epochs still instinctively took effect. This was not something one could simply ignore; it did not yield to personal will.

When the dust settled, the two almost simultaneously began to repel each other.

Ye Jiuyou's rejection was stronger: "Get out of me! Who told you to merge with me?"

Ye Wuming said calmly, "If you have the ability, annihilate me, just like how the ethereal one could annihilate Cui Yuanyang at any time. Don't tell me you've gone soft."

"Why don't you annihilate yourself?" Ye Jiuyou sneered. "Is it because Zhao Changhe said you're not allowed to die without his permission?"

Ye Wuming said flatly, "You're overthinking... It's just because he was severely injured again because of me. I must see him recover before I can leave in peace."

Ye Jiuyou said, "Then get out?"

Ye Wuming was silent.

And then Ye Jiuyou fell silent too.

Merging was exhilarating, but separating was not so easy. It was like pouring two different colors of paint together; with their abilities, separating them was possible, but it would take time, as neither had experience.

The one most experienced in this was Zhao Changhe, who was still unconscious, his hair white, covered in bloodstains.

Ye Jiuyou lost the mood to argue with Ye Wuming. She gently stroked Zhao Changhe's face and murmured, "He's always like this..."

Ye Wuming said nothing. Indeed, he had always been like this, from the very beginning of his career, never changing. Only before, it was for others; this time, it was for her, Ye Wuming.

In theory, thirty years ago, it was also the case, but definitely not as direct as this time.

As he had said, that arrow thirty years ago could be seen as his attempt to disrupt Ye Wuming's plan, or as his own desire to scatter his life and cultivate anew—various factors. There was no real emotional impact.

But not this time. This time was clear, purely for her, Ye Wuming. If this time was not, then it proved the last time was not either.

He said it was not just about desire. No one would throw away their life for mere desire.

He was proving his own words, the pages of the book opening and closing, inscribing this heart.

"So what about you?" Ye Jiuyou suddenly asked. "Did you merge yourself for the situation at that moment, or for our enlightenment on the Other Shore, or to escape?"

Ye Wuming quietly looked at Zhao Changhe's hair and replied casually, "Escape from what?"

"Escape from the apology he asked you to make... Escape from the relationship you will eventually have to face with him." Ye Jiuyou said coldly, "From thirty years ago to the very end, your so-called perfect plan was nothing but escape."