Chapter 3467 - Story

House Yumo had lost their senior madame, a widely respected figure in their house. This was a wound that simply couldn't be mended.

"Either way, that should be enough to stop them in their tracks and keep them from doing anything reckless." Never had the valley lord felt so cornered. He stood up and left Qitian Cave with his tiny dragon and headed toward the Myriadpath Sourcespring. Qitian Muyu and Qitian Muyue could only exchange awkward glances as they sighed.

"The Yin-Yang World's legacy got us good. The coming days will be tough for us," Qitian Muyu said.

"Fortunately, House Yumo lost a major-zenith foundationeer and House Suishen lost one that has the potential to become one. They’ll fear us, thinking that we've obtained that legacy," Qitian Muyue said.

"We have to convince ourselves that we got it. If we show even the slightest hesitation, we'll accidentally let it slip. If that happens before Father recovers, it'll truly be over for us." There was still the Myriadpath Sacred Code to worry about, which could be used against them. The two of them sighed again, feeling an awkward tension that no words could resolve.

***

"Yin and Yang embody the way of heaven and earth. They make up the essence of all things. They take form as father and mother, birth and death, beginning and end, housing godhood...."

The giant's booming voice resounded nonstop in Tianming's ears. It had been ten years! During that time, he was only conscious a part of the time, but he didn't know what was going on. Over the past blurry decade, the warmth he felt hadn’t stopped for a single moment.

They seemed to be being schooled in the ways of the Yin-Yang World. They were within some kind of secret realm that they simply couldn't describe. Violent battles transitioned into a comfortable act of becoming one. After ten years of deep contemplation, the two of them seemed to have truly become a single unit, considering each other a part of themselves.

Tianming slowly gained more and more awareness. He knew that Eminent Jiguang didn't have any evil impulses, like he did, but she still seemed to take more initiative. They were under complete control of the giant, after all, and they had no choice but to reenact his sacred ritual. Resisting was completely futile.

When the stars clashed tens of millions of times, they reached the foundational mysteries of the cultivation of the Yin-Yang World. Differently colored astrons containing different manifestations of order blended together in a mix of black, gold, and pink light, forming a new kind of energy that nourished their bodies. Both of them clearly felt their bodies completely transforming through the process of cultivation.

Tianming was in a dreamlike state for ten whole years. In his dreams, Eminent Jiguang gently smiled at him and told him story after story. The stories were deep and contained profound truths. Every time she finished a story, he would fall asleep in her arms like an innocent child. Once he woke up, he would hear a brand new story.

The storyteller even changed from time to time, taking the form of Feiling, Lan Yun, Moran—and her forty-nine sisters—Xiaoxiao, Zi Zhen, Suishen Yao, and even some strangers. He knew that it was merely an illusion.

The stories were so wondrous that he could stay immersed in their deeper truths forever, unable to free himself. They made him forget the passage of time and all his worries. Perhaps it was what paradise was truly like. It was even more enchanting than the red dust could ever be.

As his awareness grew, he started getting a clearer picture of the elder sister that was telling him all the stories. Her lips, lashes, and cheeks had a shade of pink. The hair that was strewn all over the ground looked like a pink rose in full bloom and she had a youthful vitality that was simply unforgettable. Even now, he couldn't be certain whether he was dreaming or not.

"Auntie...." When he fell asleep for the last time in Eminent Jiguang's embrace, he knew that his orders had grown by leaps and bounds. Her precious Suishen Blood had long fused into his bane-rings ten years ago, triggering yet more changes to his totems' simulacra.

But he felt so fatigued that he didn't bother properly inspecting exactly what ways he had grown. All he knew was that it was a big deal.

He didn't know how long his final sleep lasted, but when he woke up again, everything had come to an end and the black space was deathly quiet. He could still feel the presence of the astral giant, but his hands were no longer cupped around the two. Instead, they were floating in the void.

The giant was no longer lit and seemed to have returned to its dormant state like before. It no longer exuded the pressure it had ten years before; everything seemed normal.

"I'm... still alive...." Tianming's mind was still a mess. His body felt completely hollow and soft, as if he had been emptied out countless times. His vision was still as blurry as before.

Wasn't that giant alive? I thought Auntie and I were at its mercy. Why’s it quiet all of a sudden?

At the thought of that, Tianming had a sudden realization.

Don't tell me that every time in the past ten years Auntie told me a story, I was actually doing that with her....

Tianming palmed his forehead at the implication. Eminent Jiguang was someone he deeply respected, which was why he had held on despite seeing her in such a compromised state when he’d rescued her. Who knew that an astral giant, of all things, would ramble on about the profound philosophy of the Yin-Yang World and force them to put it into practice. He had thought that both of them would end up dead after all of it.

Things... are starting to get troublesome.

He knew that she was right behind him, but he simply didn't know how he should face her. He reached out to his face and was thankful that the purple mask was still on.

She probably doesn't know who I am, otherwise it’d be even harder to accept because Yaoyao would be involved....

Eminent Jiguang didn't know that Tianming and Suishen Yao had an agreement to only pretend to be a married couple. She thought that he was actually his nephew-in-law. As for the matter with Lan Yun, that was also an accident of circumstance when his desire for vengeance and evil impulses had caused him to lose control. He had chosen to forget her, but he knew that from this day onward, there was yet another woman that he would never be able to forget for the rest of his life.

As a man, I have to take responsibility now that it's happened. I have to admit it and be accountable.

Even though neither of them could have predicted what had happened, it didn't change the fact of the matter. At the very least, Tianming had tried his best to hold back in the very beginning before giving in and starting to listen to the stories he was told.

After taking a deep breath, he felt the reverberation of energy throughout his body. He finally decided to turn around, only for his eyes to be greeted with pink starlight in the shape of a rose. Within it was a beautiful figure with flowing pink hair clad in a dress that perfectly draped over her.