The icy branch melted into vapor and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Huo Poyun turned around and saw Mu Feixue immediately. However, she was staring at the dissipating vapor and not at him at all.

“Fairy Feixue...” Huo Poyun froze in mid-movement, forgetting to withdraw even his own hand.

Mu Feixue appeared in front of Huo Poyun and summoned a surge of frost energy to her fingers. A moment later, the icy branch appeared once more, but the engravings on the leaves were all gone.

“Sorry.” Panic flashed across Huo Poyun’s eyes. “I was so entranced by the plant that I lost control...”

One breath... two breath... the silence lasted for a short moment before Mu Feixue turned to look at him with the icy, emotionless pupils he was all too familiar with. “What business do you have with the Ice Phoenix Palace, Flame God Realm King?”

“This king... I’m just...” Huo Poyun finally regained enough sense and withdrew his hand. “I have business with Realm King Bingyun, and I decided to pass through here before seeing her.”

Although he had gained enough practice and confidence to face any higher realm king like a true equal, for some reason he could never control his breathing or heartbeat in front of Mu Feixue.

“The sect master is in secluded cultivation right now, and she is in no condition to welcome a guest. Please return, Flame God Realm King,” Mu Feixue said.

Huo Poyun gathered his breath and calmed himself. When he recalled the names on the icy branch, his confusion slowly turned into unprecedented determination. Staring straight into Mu Feixue’s eyes, he said, “Truth be told, I’m here to see you. In fact, I’ve—”

“You may return now that you’ve seen me,” Mu Feixue’s answer was as indifferent as ever. Her countenance was exquisite, and her eyes were crystal, but they were completely devoid of any emotion. “You are the Flame God Realm King. It isn’t right for you to lower yourself and visit the disciple of a middle star realm.”

She immediately walked past Huo Poyun and toward the exit after saying that.

“Feixue!” Huo Poyun abruptly turned around and shouted her name directly. “Are you... still clinging to Yun Che!?”

“...” The tranquility in her eyes was slightly disturbed, but she neither stopped walking nor replied to his accusation.

“He never cared about you!” Huo Poyun raised his voice. It was too late to take back his words, so he finally discarded all the hesitation in his heart. “Realm King Xuanyin once tried to wed the two of you as cultivation couples, but he turned down the request, didn’t he... he’s the one who told me this himself!”

“...” Mu Feixue finally stopped in her tracks, but her face remained as expressionless as ever. She said quietly, “If he holds a place in my heart, what does it matter if I hold a place in his heart or not?”

It was her roundabout way to advise Huo Poyun to let go of her.

But fire and ice ultimately weren’t the same element.

“But he’s a devil person! A devil person! A devil person!” Huo Poyun growled three times in succession. “Your sect’s own rule demands you to kill any devil person you meet!”

He dashed in front of Mu Feixue and stared into her eyes. “Not only that, he’s recently hailed as the Devil Master of the Northern Divine Region! He’s now the worst kind of devil person you can possibly think of! All the god emperors of the three Divine Regions think of him as a threat, and there is no place for him in this world besides the dark lands of the Northern Divine Region! So why... do you still refuse to let go?”

“The Devil Master...” Mu Feixue whispered. Her bluish eyes turned hazy for a moment. “As expected of him. He shines like no other even when he is pushed into the darkest abyss.”

Despite standing right in front of Mu Feixue, Huo Poyun still couldn’t see himself in her eyes at all.

Not only that, he saw a look he had never seen in her before when he told her that Yun Che had become the Devil Master. Instead of fear, her eyes were filled with admiration and longing... emotions that he knew would never be his for all eternity.

Huo Poyun’s pupils widened soundlessly as a chaotic flame threatened to burn his whole heart to ash. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t win even a look from her even though he now stood as tall as the stars themselves.

Moreover, she was completely obsessed over a man who had rejected her and had never loved her.

“Do you know how many women he has!?” Mind thrown into a complete disarray, Huo Poyun started losing sight of his own values. “I heard that he had multiple wives and concubines in the lower realms! I even heard that he has a child already! Shui Meiyin, the daughter of the Glazed Light Realm King is engaged to him, the Moon God Emperor is his ex-wife, the Heavenly Slaughter Star God is affiliated with him, and even your master is rumored to share an adulterous—”

He suddenly recalled how much Mu Feixue respected Mu Xuanyin and stopped himself before he finished his sentence.

Again, Mu Feixue walked past him without saying a word.

Again, Huo Poyun turned around and stared at her back. He was an higher realm king, the brightest star in the history of the Flame God Realm, so why was he feeling so helpless and trapped? “Why!? I don’t understand! Why is he so important to you!?”

Why...

Her footsteps were silent, her gaze was unfocused. She whispered both to him and herself, “Because... he is Yun Che.”

Huo Poyun froze. He didn’t move a muscle even after Mu Feixue had completely vanished from his sight and senses.

He didn’t know how long he stayed that way until a cool voice entered his ears. “The women of Ice Phoenix Sect normally do not love, but once they do, they do not let go until they die.”

Mu Bingyun slowly walked up to Huo Poyun. “Flame God Realm King, please put Feixue behind you. It won’t result in anything no matter how hard you try. Someone of your status should be able to find countless women who are a better fit with you, so why do you insist on chasing after a dream that will never come true?”

Huo Poyun finally regained his senses and smiled stiffly at Mu Bingyun. “I’m sorry to have shown you such an unsightly appearance, Realm King Bingyun. I will take my leave now.”

He leaped into the air after saying that.

“Flame God Realm King, were you the one who quelled the unrest of the profound beasts at the southern city earlier?” Mu Bingyun asked.

But Huo Poyun was too engrossed with his own emotions to give her a reply.

————

A year passed by in the blink of an eye.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

It was in fact, a fairly peaceful year.

The Brahma Monarch God Realm had been recuperating after they lost three Brahma Gods to Jie Yuan, and after the Brahma Monarch Goddess had escaped. There was no particularly big news from the realm, and Qianye Fantian hadn’t shown himself in public since.

However, it was rumored that they had found new successors to the Brahma Monarch divine power of the three Brahma Gods.

The Star God Realm was also laying low after their numbers were culled to six Star Gods, and Xing Juekong remained missing to this day. The outsiders thought that it would take at least several generations before the Star God Realm could recover from the Evil Infant disaster, but the six Star Gods knew... that they had no future unless they found the Star God Wheel again. The loss of their god emperor was but a trivial matter compared to this.

The Moon God Realm was as silent as ever. It was rumored that the Moon God Emperor had been cultivating in seclusion and rejecting all visitors.

The Eternal Heaven God Realm still hadn’t reopened their borders since the death of the Eternal Heaven Crown Prince.

It was rumored that they were preparing to coronate a new crown prince, but they wouldn’t be inviting any outsiders to the ceremony.

Although the speed at which the Eternal Heaven God Realm crowned a new prince was faster than everyone expected, it didn’t come as too much of a surprise. It was rumored that the Eternal Heaven God Emperor had been looking to retire for two or three years, and it looked like the coronation was a circumstantial proof to that rumor. Besides that, everyone understood that it was one way for the Eternal Heaven God Emperor to recover from his loss as quickly as possible.

However, another rumor was secretly spreading among the lower and middle star realms.

“I heard that the Eternal Heaven God Realm has been sending people to the borders of the Northern Divine Region rather frequently as of late. I’m not lying! The rumors are spreading from the Eastern Divine Region and the northern realms of the Western Divine Region; the star realms closest to the Northern Divine Region. So it may very well be true.”

“I also heard that the reason the Eternal Heaven God Realm is crowning a new crown prince sooner than expected is because the Eternal Heaven God Emperor is planning to focus all his attention on the Northern Divine Region and massacre the devil people.”

“Ah? But why would he do that?”

“Do you remember that rumor from a year ago? The one that also spread from the Northern Divine Region? Apparently, the Eternal Heaven God Emperor sneakily took Zhou Qingchen to the Northern Divine Region for god knows what reasons. It is even said that Zhou Qingchen was actually killed there.”

“A year ago, that rumor was completely unbelievable, but if we combine that with what we know now... hsss!”

“It can’t be true, right?”

“Did Zhou Qingchen really die in the Northern Divine Region? Has the Eternal Heaven God Realm closed their borders to prepare for revenge all this time?”

“Zhou Qingchen is the son of the Eternal Heaven God Emperor’s first wife. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he viewed him as important as he did his own life. If Zhou Qingchen really was killed by the devil people, then I wouldn’t be surprised by the Eternal Heaven God Emperor’s reaction.”

“Those ugly bastards we call devil people should’ve died a long time ago, but it is pretty difficult to take them out if they do not come out of their ‘dog cage’. Otherwise, the three divine regions would’ve joined hands and wiped out the Northern Divine Region a long time ago.”

“In the end, these are all just rumors. It’s fine as a story, but not much else.”

“Yeah. It’s not like people our level could guess what the Eternal Heaven God Realm is planning anyway.”

Just like before, these “rumors” spread slowly, but were able to reach a surprising number of places. Although each was just as unbelievable as the last one, and it was a fact that most people treated it as gossip material more than anything else, when some of them recalled that forgotten rumor from a year ago... there seemed to be a connection between the two.

————

Northern Divine Region, Bone Sea of Eternal Darkness.

Ancient yin energy could be seen cycling endlessly above the world of darkness.

A couple of hours later, the Bone Sea of Eternal Darkness returned to silence with a boom.

Then, a man covered in tattered black robes and fiendish aura slowly emerged from the darkness.

Rumble!

The moment he appeared beneath the sky, the clouds started rumbling in fear again.

It was because the devil god that was feared by the heavenly way itself had become even stronger.

The moment the three Yama Ancestors guarding at the entrance saw Yun Che, they immediately dropped to their knees and shouted, “Congratulations on your breakthrough, Master!”

Behind them, the Yama Devils also knelt to the ground and shouted loudly, “Congratulations on your breakthrough, Your Magnificence!”

Yun Che slowly raised his hands. Sitting in his palms was deeper, blacker darkness, and crossing his lips was a sinister smile that chilled the entire Yama Imperial District itself.

Thanks to the ancient yin energy of the Bone Sea of Eternal Darkness, he was able to climb up from level eight Divine Sovereign Realm to level nine Divine Sovereign Realm in just a year... and today, he had reached the highest level of the Divine Sovereign Realm, level ten.

He and Chi Wuyao had promised each other that the day he became a level ten Divine Sovereign...

...was the day they raised the curtain on his revenge!

Four years was a very short time.

But to him, he had been delayed for far too long already.

He couldn’t wait even a second longer!