Chapter 275: Leaving the Tianchi Secret Realm

"I don't know," Yun Che neither denied nor fully admitted to Jasmine. After a brief hesitation, he steeled himself and continued, "But I have indeed crossed through cycles of reincarnation. I was first poisoned to death on the Profound Sky Continent, then reborn on the Azure Cloud Continent. At twenty-seven, I fell off a cliff... and when I woke up, I was back on the Profound Sky Continent, having reawakened in my body from when I was poisoned. That's how it's been until now. And Ling'er, she was the most important person to me on the Azure Cloud Continent, and she clearly died!"

Jasmine: "..."

"Something like this happened to you!" Jasmine was genuinely astonished. She had heard legends about the Mirror of Samsara but had never seen it, nor witnessed its power. If what Yun Che said was true, it aligned with the legend of the Mirror of Samsara's power to "traverse reincarnation"! Only the Mirror of Samsara could achieve this!

"Then, in your memory, has there always been something on your person...? If I'm not mistaken, it should be that pendant you've always worn around your neck, right? I remember, when you opened it, there was a mirror inside..." Jasmine said slowly. "So besides the Sky Poison Pearl, you possess another Heavenly Profound Treasure! But where did this Heavenly Profound Treasure come from?"

"I don't know... It's always been on me. The reason I've worn it is because it's my only proof for finding my birth parents." Yun Che shook his head. "Right now, I just want to know, since the Azure Cloud Continent is real, where exactly is it? And how do I get back there...? That was the real Ling'er... I have to find her again!"

"...If I could move freely outside your body, I could find the location of the Azure Cloud Continent in three days at most. But for me now, that's impossible. The Azure Cloud Continent shouldn't be too far from the Profound Sky Continent. Once your strength reaches a certain level, you'll naturally see a wider world... For you, this is the only way to return to that continent."

"Not too far"... That was from Jasmine's perspective, given her power level! If it truly wasn't far, why would the Profound Sky Continent have no records or legends whatsoever about the Azure Cloud Continent? Even if, as Jasmine speculated, the Azure Cloud Continent and Profound Sky Continent were on the same planet, there must be an incredibly vast, almost impossible distance between them.

Jasmine's last statement strongly reawakened Yun Che, whose mind had been confused and lost, bringing him back to clarity.

Yes... that's right! There was no use in overthinking it now! At least, ultimately, Ling'er was still in this world—that was an immense surprise. And the only way to see Ling'er again was to become powerful. As long as he was strong enough, powerful enough to gaze down upon the world, the Azure Cloud Continent would appear in his sight, and he could find Ling'er again!

Yun Che's mind instantly became incredibly calm. He took a deep breath and suddenly asked, "Jasmine, if it truly was a Heavenly Profound Treasure's interference that caused time to flow backward on the Azure Cloud Continent, then will there now be another me and Sky Poison Pearl on the Azure Cloud Continent from that time?"

"That, of course, is impossible," Jasmine said flatly. "And you've misunderstood something. If the Mirror of Samsara's power was indeed activated, then time reversal is only a small part of its interference. Its core interference is 'karma' and 'reincarnation'. The current Azure Cloud Continent will not only lack your and the Sky Poison Pearl's existence, but in fact... they will have never existed."

Yun Che: "..."

"Karma," "Reincarnation"... these were incredibly abstract and mythical terms, concepts that seemed utterly beyond reach. Yun Che had never imagined such intangible existences could be interfered with. He opened his palm, gazing at the dull pendant, and quietly asked, "If it really is the Mirror of Samsara, then who... could have possibly created such a thing..."

"That is impossible to trace," Jasmine said. "But what's certain is that interfering with 'karma' and 'reincarnation' is tens of millions of times more difficult than interfering with 'dimensions' and 'time'. When true gods existed, they could indeed use their divine power to subtly interfere with time, but no true god possessed the ability to interfere with 'karma' and 'reincarnation'. This is because those are the most fundamental laws of chaotic order, and they should never be disturbed. Otherwise, chaotic order could experience unpredictable and uncontrollable disruptions. Yet, the Mirror of Samsara can precisely interfere with these most fundamental laws of chaos... The Sky Poison Pearl's fusion with your body also happened entirely due to this 'karma' interference, allowing something originally impossible to occur. No one knows who created it, or with what power it was created."

"There are many legends about the Mirror of Samsara. Throughout ancient history, it seems to have passed through many hands until its whereabouts became unknown... Yet, for so many years, no one has ever been rumored to have activated its power. But what's even more incredible than a Heavenly Profound Treasure is you... You are clearly just an ordinary, lower-level human, yet you possess two Heavenly Profound Treasures... If I weren't bound to the Sky Poison Pearl, and the Sky Poison Pearl weren't fused with your body, I would undoubtedly choose to kill you and seize both Heavenly Profound Treasures."

"Yun Che, what's wrong?"

A cool voice tinged with deep confusion sounded in his ear. Yun Che clenched his hand, but instead of putting the pendant back around his neck, he put it away into the Sky Poison Pearl. Then, he casually smiled at Xia Qingyue and said, "Nothing, just a sudden rush of emotions."

Having swallowed the Water Attribute Seed left by the Evil God, Yun Che's affinity for water elements now far surpassed Xia Qingyue's, and he felt no cold whatsoever in the icy, snowy environment. He looked at Xia Qingyue with a strange gaze and said, "I'm really looking forward to seeing how astonished your master and everyone else will be when they find out you've already reached the King Profound Realm."

Undoubtedly, once they left the Heavenly Lake Secret Realm and Xia Qingyue revealed her current profound strength, it would cause an indescribably huge sensation. A seventeen-year-old in the King Profound Realm entirely met the standards of the Four Sacred Grounds... For a small Blue Wind Empire to produce a disciple of Sacred Ground caliber, perhaps the entire Profound Sky Continent would be shaken by it.

Xia Qingyue looked deeply at Yun Che, and then suddenly said, "Thank you."

"...Why are you thanking me?"

"Great power is very important to me. It's something I'll pursue my entire life. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have reached my current level. So, thank you..." Xia Qingyue lowered her gaze and spoke softly. Back in Flowing Cloud City, he was just a powerless, helpless youth who, despite enduring endless bullying and being cast out of his home, lacked the strength to fight back. If not for her help, his dearest relatives would have faced misfortune... Now, meeting again, he had begun to grow into a towering tree, and the help he gave her far surpassed hers from back then by tens of thousands of times.

"Hey, we're husband and wife, no need for thanks," Yun Che said with a grin. "If you really want to thank me, well... then smile for me. We've known each other for so long, and I've never seen you smile."

Xia Qingyue gently shook her head. "I can't. Ever since I was four years old, I've forgotten how to cry, and how to smile..."

Yun Che was startled. In Xia Qingyue's eyes, he saw a fleeting trace of sorrow. He thought for a moment, then asked, "Then can you tell me why you're so stubbornly pursuing power?"

When he was little, he was very curious about Xia Qingyue, his betrothed. Whenever he played with Xia Yuanba, he often asked about Xia Qingyue, and Xia Yuanba's answer was always the same... she was cultivating.

She spent almost all her time cultivating profound energy. Yun Che had only seen her a few times by the time he was sixteen, and each encounter was merely a fleeting glance. She possessed an inexplicable obsession with profound energy.

Xia Qingyue was silent for a moment. She extended her delicate hand, lightly cupped the falling snow, and slowly said, "Aren't you the same as me...? What are you so persistent about?"

"For myself, and for everyone I care about around me, so they won't be bullied," Yun Che said without hesitation.

"Not be bullied..." Xia Qingyue's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and her voice was as soft as falling snow. "I only wish for... family reunion."

Yun Che's heart stirred. He looked at Xia Qingyue in surprise, silently pondering the meaning of her words. A moment later, he asked, "Does that 'family' include me? Speaking of family, as your husband, I am... nominally, your closest relative."

Ice and snow slowly accumulated in Xia Qingyue's palm, yet they did not melt for a long time. She gently raised her delicate hand, watching the white snow scatter and drift away in the cold wind. An ineffable sorrow spread silently within her heart. "I am not worthy of having a husband... because I might never be able to fulfill a wife's duties... One day in the future, I will leave this place and go somewhere very, very far away, perhaps never to return..." She closed her eyes and whispered as if in a dream, "You were once as ordinary as dust, causing me only occasional concern. But now, brilliant as a diamond, you fill me, who is destined to have no future, with increasing dread..."

A deep rumbling sound echoed...

A distant rumble sounded, and the ground subtly trembled. Two rapidly expanding spatial vortexes appeared before Yun Che and Xia Qingyue respectively.

"Looks like we're going back..."

Before Yun Che could finish speaking, both of them were simultaneously drawn into the spatial vortexes.