Chapter 1911: Chaos of the Heart

Having endured countless trials to become the Cloud Emperor, his nature had long grown exceedingly cautious. He would no longer easily overlook even the slightest sense of discrepancy.

With a stir of his profound energy, he projected the image again. This time, his gaze was intently fixed. While a part of his consciousness still followed Yun Wuxin, his eyes and mind were entirely concentrated on the projection within the snowy screen, without a single flicker.

The space of the Azure Cloud Continent trembled, and the crimson divine light from the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword spread rapidly. Finally, at the moment the red light completely engulfed the projected scene, his vision once again captured a faint purple glow. Although it was only a fleeting instant, this time, with his mind intensely concentrated, he saw it clearly; it was no illusion!

His heart suddenly began to pound fiercely. That purple... No... Incorrect... It couldn't be... He pressed his palm to his chest, his heart beating so violently it felt as if it were directly striking his hand. He shook his head vigorously and released the projection once more. His finger, imbued with profound energy, touched the projection before him.

As his spirit concentrated to an extreme degree of tension, the entire world seemed to suddenly fall silent. The flow of time also seemed to become incredibly slow. He held his breath, yet he couldn't suppress his frantic heartbeat. Finally, at a certain moment, the profound energy in his hand abruptly released. As if by a miracle, the projected image froze at that fleeting, light-speed moment. Also frozen were Yun Che's body, face, aura, blood flow, and heart, as if suddenly encased in ice. Only his pupils dilated violently, larger and larger.

The frozen scene in the projection showed the crimson light from the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword engulfing the sky. And on the outer edge of the crimson light, a layer of purple glow was remarkably faint yet profoundly deep.

Between heaven and earth, countless purple power glows existed. Especially among those who cultivated lightning profound arts, the power of thunder almost always manifested as purple light. However, at Yun Che's level of cultivation, even similar purple glows could be easily identified regarding their origin.

And this purple glow, displayed in the projection, was certainly not the first time he had seen it; in fact, he was quite familiar with it. He had been protected by it. He had almost been slain by it. He had fought against it. Every instance it had shone before his eyes, he still remembered clearly. Because this belonged to the Moon God Realm: the Purple Extinction Moon God's Purple Extinction Divine Light! And the Purple Extinction Divine Power was the Moon God Power wielded by the deceased Moon God Emperor, Xia Qingyue!

The wind and snow intermittently slowed and quickened, and imperceptibly, a pure white layer had formed on Yun Che. He remained frozen: ten breaths, a hundred breaths. He might have completely lost sense of the passage of time, as if thousands of thunderbolts were wildly shaking and roaring in his mind. He dared not trust his eyes, yet the crystal-clear, pure purple glow in his pupils was undeniably distinct.

Purple Extinction Divine Power, unique in all the world. This exclusive Purple Extinction Divine Light could not possibly appear on a second person.

What... is... this...?

Before the calamity struck, it was Meiyin who used the power of the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword to transfer the Azure Cloud Continent to the south of the Southern Divine Region. When Yun Wuxin recorded this image, it was on the very day the disaster occurred, and that red radiance was entirely the spatial divine power of the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword. But why, at that very time, was her power's divine light coexisting with this spatial divine power...?

The person who destroyed the Azure Cloud Continent right before my eyes...

What is happening...? What is going on...?

He bit his tongue sharply. A thick, coppery taste spread in his mouth. His thoughts slowly regained clarity from the extreme chaos, but his pupils remained dilated. It was then that several previously insignificant, almost forgotten doubts and inconsistencies suddenly surged into his mind:

"I recently visited the Dragon God Realm and discovered something about Senior Shen Xi... but it's not appropriate to tell you about it now. The reason I mention it is to warn you that there's no need to visit the Dragon God Realm again anytime soon."

These were Xia Qingyue's words to him back then, before everything had happened, when he and Xia Qingyue stood side-by-side before the Wall of Primordial Chaos, preparing to send off the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor.

Outside the destroyed Azure Cloud Continent, the Purple Extinction Divine Sword, enveloped in dense purple light and exuding an aura of death, pointed at him. Xia Qingyue, holding the Purple Extinction Divine Sword, looked at his ashen face with cold, abyss-like purple eyes, and sent a telepathic message that sounded like pity:

"Before you die, there's one thing I might as well tell you. Yesterday, I said there was something I wanted to tell you, but it required the right moment... It seems, however, that such a moment will never come, so I'll just tell you directly. Shen Xi... is dead. Some time ago, I visited the Dragon God Realm and found that the Samsara Forbidden Land had already been destroyed. All its myriad flowers and grasses had withered, no one was in sight, and there wasn't a trace of spiritual energy. Later, in the center of the Samsara Forbidden Land, I found a pool of blood. Although much time had passed, the blood showed no sign of drying... because it possessed a very pure aura of light. Whose blood do you suppose that was?"

After slaying Long Bai, when he re-entered the Dragon God Realm and forcibly broke through the barrier Long Bai had erected around the Samsara Forbidden Land, he felt a surge of doubt. Because Long Bai's dragon soul had always been attached to that barrier. If anyone forcibly broke through it, Long Bai would instantly detect it.

He once asked Qianye Ying'er: "Qianying, is there any way in this world to quietly pass through such a soul-bound barrier?"

Qianye Ying'er replied: "Firstly, there's the Universe Cauldron of the Brahma Monarch God Realm. As the strongest spatial artifact in the current era, it can traverse multiple layers of soul-bound barriers without issue. Secondly, there's the Purple Tenuity Realm's special spatial profound skill, 'Splendid Purple Tenuity.' However, I cannot guarantee if the Universe Cauldron can pass through a soul-bound barrier of Long Bai's caliber without leaving a trace. As for 'Splendid Purple Tenuity,' it seems no one in the Purple Tenuity Realm has mastered it for two hundred thousand years. Thirdly, of course, there's the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword in Shui Meiyin's hands. As a Heaven Profound Treasure, undeniably the strongest spatial divine artifact in the history of chaos, it can even move stars and change moons. Traversing a mere soul-bound barrier is like child's play for it."

"Does the Moon God Realm have any similar spatial secret arts?"

Qianye Ying'er: "I recall you mentioning that Xia Qingyue told you about Shen Xi's death. Are you wondering why Xia Qingyue would know about Shen Xi's death so early, despite the soul-bound barrier personally forged by Long Bai? Hmph, there's nothing strange about it. Every King Realm possesses deeply hidden secrets and trump cards. It's not unusual for them to have such unknown spatial secret arts or profound artifacts."

"But before Senior Devil Emperor departed, she didn't want the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword to leave the cosmos with her forever, so she entrusted it to me... Because the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword was born from the core of the Primordial Chaos, in this era, only my pristine divine soul, born from the Primordial Chaos Qi within me, can gently warm and temporarily awaken its slumbering Sword Spirit... and use my pristine divine soul as a medium to connect with and temporarily awakened Sword Spirit, allowing me to forcefully activate the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword's dimensional divine power with my own strength."

These were the words Shui Meiyin spoke when she revealed the full truth to him. She made him understand that only her pristine divine soul in the world could temporarily awaken the slumbering Sword Spirit and forcefully activate the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword's spatial divine power with her own strength. This was also why the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor had specifically left the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword to her.

However, the records of the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword in the Dragon God's ancient texts showed a subtle but significant difference in this regard:

The Ancestral Divine Canon recorded that the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword's Spirit was born alongside the Primordial Chaos. If the Sword's wielder possessed power derived from the Primordial Chaos, even if the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword's divine power was depleted, they could still use the Sword Spirit as a medium to forcefully activate spatial divine power with their own strength. However, this act would severely damage both the Sword Spirit and the wielder, and should only be performed in dire circumstances.

Power derived from the Primordial Chaos, besides the pristine divine soul, there was also...

The purple glow, appearing in the projection and tightly adhering to the red light, caused the most absurd, most impossible possibility to irrepressibly emerge in his mind. And this very absurd, most impossible possibility, inexplicably and even perfectly connected all these doubts and inconsistencies.

No... wrong... What am I thinking...? How could such a thing be... Absolutely impossible...

His hand slowly clenched, and the frozen projection before him was imprinted into an Everlasting Image Stone.

Just then, he suddenly thought of something. His hand, somewhat disoriented, grabbed four pieces of jade emitting a pale blue profound light. Illusion Heart Glass Jade! These were the four Illusion Heart Glass Jades that Shui Meiyin had secretly imprinted during the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor's return, and which Yun Che used to reveal the truth of that time to the God Realm during his invasion of the Eastern Divine Region.

The projections from these four Illusion Heart Glass Jades were simultaneously released, appearing before him. One scene showed the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor's return; another showed kings and emperors hailing him as the Divine Son of Salvation, praising and bowing deeply to him; a third scene was in the Brahma Monarch God Realm, where the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor announced to the kings and emperors that she would leave the present world, and that it was Yun Che who had enabled her departure and brought peace to the world; the last scene showed the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor speaking to the imprinter (Shui Meiyin). These images were secretly imprinted by Shui Meiyin, so naturally, Shui Meiyin herself was not present in them.

Yet at this moment, as he re-examined these images with a completely different mindset, he suddenly noticed that Xia Qingyue's figure was also entirely absent from all of them! Apart from the fourth scene, which featured only the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor, the other three scenes—the Devil Emperor's return, Yun Che being hailed as the Divine Son of Salvation, and the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor announcing her departure in the Brahma Monarch God Realm—he remembered clearly that Xia Qingyue had been present at all of them!

However, when these images first appeared as Brahma Monarch projections, neither he nor anyone else paid any attention to this detail, and it was utterly impossible for anyone to consider such an extremely absurd implication. Yun Che had personally experienced all these scenes. The footage imprinted in the Illusion Heart Glass Jade was much shorter than the real events, clearly having deliberately excluded many moments. At the time, anyone would have subconsciously assumed this was done to condense the footage, avoid redundancy, and quickly reveal the truth to the world.

But what if those deliberately erased scenes were meant to conceal something...? If these images were imprinted by Shui Meiyin, why would she have removed all footage featuring Xia Qingyue... Was it just a coincidence? But what if these images were...

No... What am I thinking...? How could it be... How could it be... How could it be...? How could I be thinking of something so utterly absurd...? She clearly... Clearly...

"Che'er, what are you doing? Why did you let Wuxin run off alone?"

A clear, cold voice entered his ears, chilling him to the soul. In private, Mu Xuanyin still liked to call him "Che'er," unsure if it was out of habit or if she simply didn't want to change. She and Mu Bingyun slowly descended from the snowy air. As her gaze met Yun Che's, her icy eyes suddenly twitched. Without waiting for Yun Che's reply, she flashed forward as an icy shadow, instantly appearing before him. Her ice-blue brows furrowed deeply: "What happened? Why is your aura so chaotic?"

Yun Che looked up at Mu Xuanyin, his lips twitching into an extremely strained smile: "It's nothing, just... a little cold."

"Cold?" Mu Xuanyin and Mu Bingyun were simultaneously astonished. Her snowy hand gently gripped Yun Che's wrist. Just as Mu Xuanyin was about to speak, her hand was clasped in return by Yun Che. The unusually cold sensation from his palm made her heartstrings tremble.

"Xuanyin," he whispered, "Please look after Wuxin for me first. I need to go do something." With that, the coldness in his palm receded, and Yun Che shot into the air, heading south with a noticeably disordered aura.

But in the next instant, an icy shadow instantly appeared before Yun Che, and his wrist was once again firmly clasped by Mu Xuanyin: "What happened? Either tell me, or... I'll go with you."

Yun Che shook his head, offering a reassuring smile. This smile was much softer than the previous one: "Don't worry, nothing has gone wrong or unexpected. I just suddenly need to verify something. If I can't get an answer to this, I might... not find peace for a single moment."

As his words fell, Mu Xuanyin's hand was gently removed by him. Amidst the wind and snow, Yun Che quickly departed. This time, Mu Xuanyin neither stopped him nor pursued him. Only her icy eyes rippled with lingering unease.

"Sister, what... happened to him?" Mu Bingyun came to her side, watching Yun Che's distant direction with her.

Mu Xuanyin did not reply. After a long while, she murmured, somewhat lost in thought: "What in this world could possibly disturb his heart to such an extent now?"

Yun Che's speed was extremely fast. Wherever he passed, space shattered, and the terrifyingly violent winds even altered the trajectories of small planets. Could what my eyes see also be false...? Could the most impossible thing also be true...?

His figure rapidly traversed the Eastern Divine Region, sweeping past one star realm planet after another. Finally, a strange, watery blue profound light appeared in his sight: the Glazed Light Realm, where he had recently arrived with Yun Wuxin.

All along the way, he wished he could increase his already maxed-out speed tenfold, a hundredfold. But now that the Glazed Light Realm was before him, he suddenly slowed down, becoming slower and slower. His heartbeat, which had finally calmed down, grew violent once more.

Meiyin, all of this is just coincidence and accident, just my unfounded speculation... You can explain all of this perfectly, right?