Chapter 471: Fate

The universe was boundless.

The Saint's stone Buddha, covered in cracks, stretched across the sky, ancient, massive, and solemn. A colossal black python rapidly ascended the stone Buddha. Its body was as long as a great river, yet it still couldn't compare to the Saint's stone Buddha. The scene was more like a slender wisteria climbing a stone Buddha sculpted from a mountain.

The black python was the Divine Lord Quanlin.

Quanlin's scales, gleaming with an iron-like dark luster, rippled. She slithered past the cracked stone Buddha, moving to a position near its summit.

The Saint's stone Buddha still emanated golden light from its summit, a manifestation of the Longevity Authority. He was like someone holding up a bright lamp, blocking out the darkness above.

The stone Buddha had created a bright barrier externally. Its body, however, was devoid of light, appearing lifeless and stone-gray.

Quanlin's body coiled in the shadows, straightening to gaze forward. Before them, the atmospheric rift originally opened by the Saint had been resealed by the Dark Lord, leaving no trace of an opening. Quanlin felt rage, letting out a silent roar at the darkness ahead.

Then, her body wrapped around the stone Buddha, every scale closing in an instant. Had it not been in the void, a deafening collision would have erupted. She coiled around the Buddha, her body tightening little by little, as if to strangle it.

After many years, Quanlin truly looked down upon the world once more.

She originated from underground, her initial life form condensed from a unique and dense spiritual energy. For years, she devoured spiritual energy deep within the earth, her body becoming increasingly dense and refined, giving rise to instincts and rudimentary intelligence. Subsequently, she crawled into the earth's layers, living among a group of lava pythons. After a millennium, she convergently evolved into a snake, beginning her journey toward the surface.

At that time, Hades, one of the Six Primeval Deities, constructed two underworld palaces. One was the Ancient Netherworld Kingdom, hidden in the Sea of Reincarnation above the Void Realm. The other was the Earthly Abode, concealed within the earth, used to mislead and obscure the true Netherworld.

By chance, Quanlin stumbled upon and broke into the Earthly Abode, draining an entire Yellow Spring's essence. This created an irreconcilable enmity with Hades, and she was thus forced into the Divine War.

Quanlin couldn't recall how many people she had killed; she only knew that every one of her scales was saturated with blood.

"Has it come to this?"

Quanlin looked upward; beyond the stone Buddha, she could vaguely discern a boundless, sky-obscuring presence. She knew it was the Dark Lord, the entity they revered as a true deity. This was the first time Quanlin had been so close to it.

Following her serpentine instincts, Quanlin's body subconsciously recoiled slightly.

Her departure from the Divine Kingdom was not by choice; rather, her Divine Kingdom had been instantly destroyed. She knew this was because her star had been obliterated.

Only the Dark Lord could destroy her star.

Yet, for some unknown reason, that destroyed star did not fall upon this world; its whereabouts were unknown.

After leaving the Divine Kingdom, Quanlin immediately used her omniscient abilities to learn everything that had transpired over the years. She was profoundly shaken; during her last slumber, she had never imagined waking to find the Divine Kingdom in decline, nearly all its inhabitants annihilated.

As Quanlin gazed down at the earth, she felt immense fear. She knew the Dark Lord had abandoned her. Now, humanity had been sharpening its swords for over seven years, all awaiting the final decisive battle. If she were to go to the human world now, they would likely not accept her surrender but instead use her as a whetstone to test their blades.

After a brief moment of thought, Quanlin made an immediate decision, flying into the sky and coiling around the Saint's stone Buddha.

With the Saint's stone Buddha now covered in cracks, even if they wanted to kill her, they would be hesitant to act, fearing damage to it.

She now had two choices.

One was to wait for humanity to defeat the Dark Lord. She would then escape from the unrestrained sky amidst the chaos. From then on, she would roam freely in the Great Void, searching for the next habitable star.

The other was to accelerate the crushing of Jufu's stone Buddha, allowing the Dark Lord to infiltrate the human world more quickly. She could feel that after seven years of preparation, the Dark Lord had become a bow drawn to its absolute limit. As soon as the stone Buddha collapsed, the power unleashed by the Dark Lord would be unimaginable. The atmospheric layer it had been unable to penetrate might be shattered instantly, initiating the myth of the Dark Sun's descent.

The Dark Lord had been entrenched for four millennia; it was time for its descent...

Regardless of the choice, she would have a chance to survive.

She just wondered when that damned boy would awaken... So many years had passed, why was he still haunting her?

It was late January of the eighth year, a time of swirling heavy snow. The promised date was less than four months away.

Apart from the Netherworld Kingdom, with which it was closely related, the Three Thousand Worlds were also among the first to sense it.

When Quanlin's Divine Kingdom shattered, Baizang was asleep, covered by a scarf. Soon, her ears perked up, and she jolted awake from her dream, rushing out with bristling fur. As she ran out of the great hall, Baizang saw that Zhao Xiang'er was already standing outside, holding her umbrella sword and gazing into the distance.

Baizang looked at Zhao Xiang'er, who had moved faster than her, and felt a surge of unidentifiable annoyance. She bared her teeth at Zhao Xiang'er's back.

Zhao Xiang'er paid her little mind, merely gazing indifferently ahead and asking, "What exactly happened?"

The restraints on Baizang were lifted, and she transformed into her human form. The silver-haired girl in a snowy gown knelt behind her, tilting her head slightly, her snowy cheeks unable to conceal her anger.

Zhao Xiang'er turned her head, her distinct black-and-white eyes silently fixed on her.

Baizang felt a chill and reluctantly said, "One of the Divine Kingdoms must have exploded. At this critical juncture, it's not surprising for the Dark Lord to make a move."

"Which one?" Zhao Xiang'er asked.

"Which else could it be?" Baizang replied. "It's either Quanlin or Tishan."

Zhao Xiang'er hummed in acknowledgment, conjured a water mirror before her, and her gaze swiftly scanned within it.

Baizang said indifferently, "Whichever Divine Lord appears now, it has nothing to do with you. Your primary concern should still be Vermilion Bird. Ye Changong isn't here now; if the Vermilion Bird Divine Kingdom suddenly opens, you might not be able to handle it."

"No need for your concern," Zhao Xiang'er said.

"Don't get too smug," Baizang said, somewhat annoyed. "If I hadn't underestimated you in that battle, how could I have lost?"

"How many times have you lamented that over the years?" Zhao Xiang'er asked coolly. "Haven't you had enough beatings?"

Baizang's slender shoulders trembled slightly as she bared her tiny tiger fangs and glared at Zhao Xiang'er.

"Hmph, listen or not, I don't care." Baizang stopped bothering with her.

Zhao Xiang'er's gaze settled on the water mirror, which reflected the Void Realm. Outside the Void Realm, a colossal black snake was faintly coiled.

So that's where it hid...

Zhao Xiang'er confirmed Quanlin's location and dispelled the water mirror.

She turned, bending her slender legs to gaze levelly at Baizang. Narrowing her eyes, she asked, "What did you just call me?"

"I..." Baizang stared at her, her expression slowly softening. "Uh... mas-master."

Zhao Xiang'er smiled and nodded.

Baizang turned her face away, transforming back into a small tiger.

Zhao Xiang'er gently rubbed the little tiger's ears and playfully held its long tail in her hand. "Go to a place for your master."

Baizang let out a whimper.

After whispering a few words into her ear, Zhao Xiang'er embraced Baizang. Baizang, as a tiger cub, was significantly larger than an ordinary cat. With Zhao Xiang'er holding her, the girl's figure appeared even more slender and delicate in contrast.

Zhao Xiang'er carried her to the edge of the Three Thousand Worlds and tossed the little white tiger out.

Baizang's soft paws touched the snow, and her figure vanished in a flash, streaking southwards.

The place Baizang was sent to was Baicheng, in the Zhao Kingdom.

When Ning Changjiu came to the Three Thousand Worlds, he had told her that Vermilion Bird had arranged for a fragmented immortal to wait for her in the Void Realm and convey Vermilion Bird's message.

But she couldn't leave the Three Thousand Worlds and didn't want to waste the world's shifting power there. She was unsure if the so-called Vermilion Bird's message was merely another form of interference for her.

But with Quanlin's appearance today and the impending chaos, a subtle premonition arose in her heart.

Ultimately, Zhao Xiang'er decided to listen and find out what Vermilion Bird had to say to her.

Quanlin's Divine Kingdom exploded with a thunderous roar. A colossal illusion slowly disintegrated in the sky, crashing down towards the human world.

The cultivators of the human world suddenly awoke. Cultivators from various sects quickly gathered, following their usual drills. Across the Central Plains, thousands of sword lights glowed like bright lamps being lit one after another.

As the foremost among all sects, the Sword Pavilion was naturally alarmed at once. Lu Jiajia, Siming, Shao Xiaoli, and others emerged from their seclusion almost simultaneously, gathering on the snow-covered sword training ground.

They rode their swords into the air, surveying the world. They quickly identified the source of the upheaval: Quanlin's Divine Kingdom.

But for a time, they couldn't find Quanlin's whereabouts.

"Why did Quanlin's Divine Kingdom collapse today? Did someone shatter it? Or..." Lu Jiajia wondered, perplexed.

"Quanlin's star shattered," Siming said with certainty.

Having served as a divine official in the Divine Kingdom for a millennium, she naturally understood it better than they did.

"Quanlin's star shattered?" Lu Jiajia quickly understood; it must have been the Dark Lord who personally crushed Quanlin's star. She immediately asked, "Is a falling star coming?"

Siming looked up at the sky, her icy gaze sweeping across the universe.

She shook her head and said, "No signs."

"Strange, why would Quanlin's star shatter at this very moment?" Shao Xiaoli murmured to herself.

"This moment?" Siming asked, "What time is it now?"

Having been in seclusion for a long time, their concept of time had become somewhat blurred; they only knew that the long wait was soon coming to an end.

Shao Xiaoli once felt a connection with calendars, so she insisted on buying one every year and tearing off a page daily.

"Today is January thirty-first," Shao Xiaoli said.

"January thirty-first... what about it?" Lu Jiajia didn't quite understand.

Shao Xiaoli counted on her fingers, then confirmed, saying, "Logically, Quanlin's Divine Kingdom should have opened in January this year, but why on the very last day..."

Siming quickly understood her meaning. "The Dark Lord typically chooses the last day of a month to open a Divine Kingdom to simultaneously open the next month's Divine Kingdom, creating an era of chaos ruled by two Divine Kingdoms. But after Quanlin is Tianji, and Tianji was killed eight years ago..."

Not only was Tianji dead, but its star had also been destroyed along with it.

Shao Xiaoli rubbed her cheeks, frowning, feeling as if she had missed something.

Looking back over these past seven years, the Dark Lord beyond the firmament had made no moves whatsoever. The development of the human world had also been exceptionally smooth.

The Dark Lord still held four Divine Kingdoms, his last four chess pieces. He would surely use them with utmost caution. So why did the Dark Lord choose today to make his move?

Or rather... what had the Dark Lord been doing all these years? It must have been preparing, too... So what had it been preparing?

Shao Xiaoli was deep in thought.

Unbeknownst to them, time had passed midnight.

Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble again.

Siming and Lu Jiajia simultaneously lowered their heads, looking down.

"Is this... an earthquake?" Lu Jiajia vaguely sensed something amiss.

"No!" Siming said, "Another Divine Kingdom has opened!"

"Another Divine Kingdom..." Shao Xiaoli's eyes lit up, and she immediately said, "I understand! The stars have shifted! The Dark Lord's authority is over the stars; over these seven years, it has imperceptibly altered their positions!"

Her words jolted them awake.

Lu Jiajia and Siming exchanged glances, quickly grasping Shao Xiaoli's meaning.

Siming pondered for a moment and said, "Eight of the twelve Divine Lord stars are gone. If the Dark Lord wanted to adjust the positions of the remaining stars, it wouldn't be difficult with his authority. But... what would be the point of doing so? Is it just to open Quanlin and Tishan Divine Kingdoms simultaneously? The world as it is now certainly cannot be thrown into chaos by just two Divine Lords."

"Is the Dark Lord... at the end of its rope?" Siming quietly asked herself.

Lu Jiajia didn't agree; she vaguely felt a sense of unease.

Shao Xiaoli also felt that things wouldn't be so simple, but the incessant roar of the earth made her head throb.

They exchanged quick glances; their immediate priority was to stop Tishan's destruction of the world.

Siming stepped into the void, rising higher, as silver tattoos gleamed on her dark divine robe.

The goddess descended, gazing down upon the world, and Siming quickly pinpointed Tishan's location.

"In the Snow Kingdom!" she announced.

Without hesitation, the three stunning women transformed into arcs of rainbow light, streaking northwards.

Outside, the tremors had begun to ripple outwards.

In the Realm of Eternity, time continued as usual.

In the time that had passed, Ye Changong had ridden a small deer, traversing forests and seas of flowers. She always liked to press her soft body against the deer, holding its neck with both hands, gently leaning on it. She would let the little deer carry her anywhere, as if drifting into a dream.

But such days did not last long.

Because the deer was shrinking little by little.

Soon, the tiny golden deer could no longer carry her. The little deer could only nuzzle intimately in her arms, expressing its regret.

And Ye Changong continued to daily groom the deer's soft fur with her hands. The little deer would kneel beside her, like a lamb suckling, allowing her to gently caress its body.

The little deer grew smaller and smaller, eventually becoming as small as a kitten. Ye Changong could now easily hold it in her arms.

The little deer slept peacefully in Ye Changong's arms.

Ye Changong looked at the deer and said, "You'll be able to leave soon."

The little deer seemed not to understand her words, continuing to sleep peacefully in her arms.

Ye Changong softly spoke to herself, recounting the plan that had been laid out eight years prior.

"Although Uranus and the Mother Star both revolve around the sun, their speeds are different..." Ye Changong said softly. "In fact, by last year, the Authority of Life had already fully restored your body. However, the Thunder Prison Star is the prison of the Thunder Prison, and I needed to wait for the Divine Kingdom to open before I could send you out. This February, Uranus should be able to pass by the Thunder Prison Star."

As long as the Thunder Prison Star was lit, they could leave the Divine Kingdom.

Even if the Dark Lord, in a fit of rage, destroyed the Thunder Prison Star and the Thunder Prison Divine Kingdom, they would still be able to leave.

As long as there were no unforeseen incidents on Baize's side, their departure from the Divine Kingdom should happen this month.

Unfortunately, Ning Changjiu could not understand her words now.

Who knew eight years would pass in the blink of an eye...

She recalled the little moments of these past years. As she had imagined, their time together was remarkably peaceful. Even if another ten thousand years passed, there likely wouldn't be any disturbances.

But she also very much liked such days.

Ye Changong looked at the adorable little deer in her arms, gently caressing its body. The little deer whimpered, being incredibly cute.

Ye Changong plucked a flower from beside her and brought it to the little deer's lips. The little deer instinctively ate the flower.

This was the last flower the little deer would eat.

After he revealed a satisfied smile in his semi-sleep, his already extremely short thread of life was cut even shorter.

The little deer suddenly woke up, thrashing wildly in her arms. The girl gently covered her chest, lowered her head, and pursed her lips, tapping him with her finger as if chiding his restlessness.

The thread of life snapped; the little deer could no longer shrink and transformed into a butterfly.

The butterfly hovered around her, as if searching for a familiar scent. Ye Changong watched it calmly, extended her hand, and the butterfly landed on the delicate joints of her hand, opening and closing its golden wings.

Ye Changong gently held the butterfly, lingering with it among the sea of flowers.

The butterfly sometimes rested on her hand, sometimes flew into her sleeve. More often, it settled on her beautiful hair, transforming into a true golden butterfly hairpin. Thus, framed by the hairpin, she subtly shed her air of seasoned maturity, becoming pure and delicate, like a young fairy in her innocent youth.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Ye Changong, with the butterfly, entered the Daoist hall and came amidst the white gauze.

Although Ye Changong's myriad white gauze partitions held no special features, it was a very private place for her. Previously, when Ning Changjiu tried to trespass, she had sent him flying with a single palm strike.

Ning Changjiu had never imagined his first time here would be in such a state.

Ye Changong stepped through the pond, reaching its center.

Within the sleeves of her moon-veil robe, her fingers moved lightly, calculating the time.

The time... should be here.

Ye Changong looked up, waiting for a moment.

According to the plan, at this moment, Baize on Uranus should have led the demon horde to ignite the Thunder Prison Star.

But...

The world was silent.

The plan had gone awry again.

Ye Changong's delicate brows gradually furrowed. She looked at the dome of the divine hall, guessing what had happened.

Half a month had passed in the blink of an eye since Quanlin's star shattered and Tishan's Divine Kingdom opened.

Over those two weeks, countless swords journeyed northward to collectively slay Tishan.

These cultivators were all grand practitioners who had entered the Five Paths. Eight years ago, Divine Lords were still exalted beings to them, requiring immense reverence. Yet, eight years later, they now possessed the qualification to confront a Divine Lord directly.

Had it been any other Divine Lord, surrounded by the world's top cultivators, their spirit and soul would likely have been utterly annihilated.

But this one happened to be Tishan, a Tishan with nearly absolute defense.

And Tishan lived up to its name; it was truly a mountain, a colossal, unbroken mountain range!

Facing the world's challenge with swords, it offered no resistance. It merely retracted its body like a turtle, allowing streams of sword energy to wash over its form.

Although it boasted absolute defense, the world's power ultimately had its limits. Under the cultivators' siege, Tishan's outer layer was being ripped away and peeled off by sword energy, a process that was accelerating. Its only reliance was its immensely massive body.

But no matter how massive a mountain, there would always be a day it was destroyed. Tishan's destruction was predictable.

Zhao Xiang'er stood within the Three Thousand Worlds, watching everything unfold across the globe.

Today, her mood was not good.

Because Baizang had been gone for a full half month, with no message returned.

Even if she had sent a donkey, it would probably have completed the task by now. And Baizang was once a Divine Lord!

*Sigh*, is that white cat's fur itching again...

Zhao Xiang'er was already contemplating how to punish her.

Finally, on this day, Baizang sent back a message.

Above Baicheng, in the void, Baizang, with her snowy hair and silver gown, stood suspended, wrapped in a scarf. She conjured a water mirror before her, using it to connect with Zhao Xiang'er's water mirror.

"Why did it take so long?" Zhao Xiang'er immediately demanded an explanation.

Baizang was also angry; she clenched her fists, holding the water mirror, and turned aside, saying, "Zhao Xiang'er! How dare you say that! Didn't you tell me there was someone in Baicheng? Is *this* the person you spoke of?"

Zhao Xiang'er looked at the blurry mass of fragmented white paper-like material displayed in the water mirror, and fell silent for a moment. Her eyes shifted, and she said coldly, "Baizang, you dare to speak to me like that now?"

Baizang had been bullied by Zhao Xiang'er for several years. Although intimidated by Zhao Xiang'er's authority, she was currently in a fit of pique. "Hmph, a general outside the capital is not bound by the sovereign's command! You're asking for my help now, so speak to me properly, or else I'll close this water mirror right now and turn that paper-thin immortal into pulp!"

"You..." Zhao Xiang'er's chest rose and fell, her dark hair stirring without wind. She glared coldly at the water mirror, her thin, upturned lips slightly bitten.

She silently swore to herself that once she tricked Baizang back, she would definitely use the leftover hair cream to brush her into a colorful cat.

"Mhm, my tone was wrong just now. Little Baizang, don't act impulsively." Zhao Xiang'er gave a slight smile.

Baizang saw this smile and felt a chill in her heart. She thought, *This wicked woman, a hundred times worse than Siming, must be plotting something evil again!*

"Please move the water mirror in front of the immortal," Zhao Xiang'er said softly.

Baizang hummed and complained softly, "This immortal really isn't sturdy. It was shattered by the cosmic upheaval, and it took me many days to piece him back together."

The water mirror moved to face the immortal's fragments.

Zhao Xiang'er's reflection appeared in the water mirror.

"I am the one Vermilion Bird told you to wait for," Zhao Xiang'er said, looking at the immortal through the void. "You may now relay Vermilion Bird's words to me."

The immortal's fragments began to stir, as if waking.

The immortal confirmed Zhao Xiang'er's identity, and its slightly numb voice genuinely spoke.

"Lord Vermilion Bird instructed me to inform Your Highness of two matters."

"First, the Authority of World can create worlds and is also the key to all realms."

"Second, the Three Thousand Worlds are a relative space."

The immortal said no more.

"Is that all?"

Zhao Xiang'er quietly asked.

She didn't understand the first statement for now. But the meaning of the second statement she had understood eight years ago.

The Three Thousand Worlds was her innate power, containing the supreme force of space.

Baizang was also displeased with the immortal's two statements. "I went through all that trouble to piece you together, and this is all you have to say? Say more!"

The immortal ignored Baizang, its voice still flat. "Empress Vermilion Bird, my mission is complete. May I now ascend?"

Baizang listened to its words, thinking that this immortal was clearly just a puppet. Yet, it longed for ascension even unto death; how pathetic.

Baizang turned around, intending to dispel the water mirror, but her hand suddenly froze.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Xiang'er asked.

"Xiang... you... behind you..." Baizang's pupils contracted to pinpricks.

"Hm?"

Zhao Xiang'er was still puzzled and was about to turn her head slightly. Just then, a bone-chilling voice softly echoed behind Zhao Xiang'er's neck:

"It is done."