Chapter 1701: The Grand Finale (4)

Of those who came, only Erya and Little White remained with him.

"

AHHHHH!!

"

Ye Guan let out a furious roar; his Mad Demon Bloodline erupted, soaring into the sky and drowning everything around him. He had gone insane.

In an instant, the True Domain was drowned in a sea of blood. Ye Guan slashed wildly with his sword, again and again charging straight at the silhouette.

At the same time, the figure began to walk toward him, each step summoning an endless flood of True Great Dao from the heavens. It crashed down in waves in an attempt to suppress Ye Guan's bloodline and sword intents.

Their opposing Great Daos collided violently.

Eventually, Ye Guan began to fall behind. Even so, his power only grew more terrifying thanks to the Mad Demon Bloodline. Again and again, he tore through the True Great Dao and reached the silhouette, only to be blasted away.

Just then, Ye Guan had decided to do something no one had expected. He began fusing everything—all his Great Daos, all his bloodline power, and even the faith power he shared with Sang Mei—all of it.

The combined force was too much. Even Erya's powerful fleshly body was starting to crack under the pressure.

Without Erya, he would have exploded on the spot. The combined power was

that

powerful. Separated, these forces were already terrifying, so fusing them was courting death.

However, Ye Guan didn't hesitate. He roared and swung—Guanxuan!

Countless cracks ripped through the entire True Domain. The power of the True Great Dao shattered like glass.

Even the True Domain itself couldn't withstand that strike.

The silhouette began to flicker, its form growing faint.

But just as Ye Guan's sword was about to bring it all crashing down, a massive screen of light suddenly unfurled behind the figure. From within it, an even greater power surged forth and poured into the figure's body.

In the same moment, the shattered True Great Dao rapidly reformed, and then more came, wave after wave of True Great Dao descended from the distant heavens, crashing down toward Ye Guan like divine judgement.

The true body of the circle drawer had finally made its move.

Ye Guan's face twisted with fury. His eyes were blood-red. He was about to strike again when a terrifying energy surged from behind him.

The silhouette turned, looking past Ye Guan.

The spacetime behind Ye Guan collapsed, and a woman emerged.

Long white hair with unparalleled beauty.

Cizhen.

Ye Guan faltered slightly at the sight of her. A trace of clarity returned to his blood-red eyes, even though he had gone truly mad.

Cizhen looked at him and smiled. "You idiot... trying to leave me behind in the Milky Way?"

Then, she turned her gaze toward the distant figure.

The next instant, she transformed into a pillar of light and shot forward. Almost at the same moment, Ye Guan vanished into a beam of sword light and charged after the figure.

There was no time for reunions or words.

Right now, every last ounce of power in Ye Guan was squeezed out. This would be the strongest strike he would ever unleash.

Together, they charged forward.

The True Domain shattered with each step they took.

Off in the distance, the silhouette stretched out its right hand and clenched it tightly.

The True Domain and every trace of True Great Dao within it burst into flames.

Kaboom!

Ye Guan and Cizhen's combined power pierced the inferno and carved open a path.

Just then, the silhouette surged toward them, cloaked in billions of strands of raw True Great Dao Energy. Behind him, an endless wave of True Great Daos came flooding in.

Kaboom!

The True Domain collapsed. Countless sword lights and True Great Daos shattered in a flash. Everything was being reduced to nothingness. The silhouette also began to fade away, becoming increasingly blurrier.

The True Great Daos around it had already been obliterated.

In the chaos, Cizhen began to fall amidst the crumbling Great Daos and flickering sword light. Her body and soul were rapidly dissolving into nothing.

Ye Guan caught her in his arms.

Thanks to Erya, he was able to bear the brunt of the attack, but even so, his fleshly body was in ruins, and blood poured down his shredded form.

He held her tightly.

However, Cizhen's body had already been deeply corroded by the power of the True Great Dao. It was unraveling fast. Unlike Ye Guan, she had no Erya within her. In other words, the True Great Dao could consume her completely.

Ye Guan, half-mad, poured his sword intent and Order around her in desperation.

Cizhen looked at him; his whole body was covered in blood, and he looked more like a beast than a man. She gently stroked his cheek and revealed a pained smile, saying, "Darling, I can't keep walking on this path with you anymore. I won't be able to make you noodles again..."

Cizhen closed her eyes, unable to withstand the torment any longer.

"NO!!!" Ye Guan roared.

He unleashed everything he had to protect her, but her fleshly body and soul were still dissolving away into nothingness.

Just as despair gripped him completely, a light flashed.

Little White flew out from within him and melted into Cizhen's brows.

Cizhen's fleshly body and soul immediately stabilized. She was still fading away, but the process had slowed down drastically. Holding her close, Ye Guan slowly got back to his feet and began walking forward.

After a few steps, he realized there was no road ahead.

"Traitor." A familiar voice echoed.

Ye Guan turned and saw the Great Daoist Brush Master walking toward him.

He stopped in front of Ye Guan and said, "Do me a favor."

Ye Guan didn't respond and just looked at him.

The Great Daoist Brush Master smiled. "When you get up there, tell them that I'm done being a puppet. I'm fucking done. I mean it this time."

"Goodbye, traitor. We will never meet again," he added with a grin. Then, he turned around, and his fleshly body exploded into countless rays of Great Dao lights.

Boom!

The spacetime around them shattered like glass, and a spacetime rift appeared before Ye Guan.

Holding Cizhen, Ye Guan stepped into it and kept walking. He walked for an unknown amount of time until he decided to look around upon realizing that he was in a familiar place.

This was in the Ancient Era ruins. Back then, he hadn't been able to come here, but now, he was fused with Erya, so he could finally withstand the mysterious power of the void.

He continued walking with Cizhen in his arms. As he walked, Time Rivers appeared on either side of him, flickering with hazy scenes, echoes of the Ancient Era.

He realized just then that he was staring at the true Ancient Era. He watched the scenes and finally understood the radiance of that era. And he finally saw where Sang Mei had come from.

She had sealed away her own era with her own hands. He saw her whole life, her pain, her loneliness, and finally, her helpless resignation. Ye Guan turned away and kept walking.

Eventually, he emerged from the rift and found himself somewhere familiar.

A starry sky; the Milky Way.

Ahead of him, a great path led to a stargate.

He was just about to approach it when he felt something and turned.

Beyond the void he had just crossed, he saw a boy.

It was himself.

Looking at his past self, Ye Guan's eyes blurred with tears.

"...You finally made it."

The boy on the other side of the void stopped walking. As if sensing something, he turned and looked at the void with confusion evident on his face.

Ye Guan looked at him and whispered, "Have you ever thought that maybe it's okay to become the King of Relying on Others?"

"Maybe... that's not so bad," he said as bloody tears dripped down his face.

The boy across the void replied, "That's not my path... I want to carve my own."

Ye Guan paused and said, "You're amazing..."

Then, he turned around and walked away.

"If you could return to the past and meet your younger self, what would you say?"

"Don't preach. Just praise him. He's been through enough."

Ye Guan kept walking with Cizhen still in his arms.

Soon, he walked through the stargate and saw a mountain on the other side.

The sky was open with clouds drifting lazily above. In front of him, a towering ancient tree stood near a waterfall, and its waters landed in a clear pool.

A stone path stretched beneath his feet. At the path's end, near the tree, stood a wooden cabin. Outside the cabin, there was a puppy.

Ye Guan walked toward the cabin with Cizhen in his arms.

A man reading some books on a desk was inside the cabin. The man looked up and smiled. "A long, long time ago, when this place was still a stone hut, a woman came to see me. She said something extremely rude..."

"But that was a long, long time ago," added the man.

Ye Guan said nothing.

The man picked up a book and a pen. Then, he stepped outside. As he passed by Ye Guan, he stopped and said, "Ask."

Ye Guan said, "Two friends asked me to pass on a message. One of them said, 'We are not ants. We will resist.'"

The man was silent.

"The other said that he doesn't want to be a puppet anymore. Never again. And he told me to send his regards to your mother."

After a while, the man finally smiled and replied, "You want to build your own Order, right? Congratulations. You've become a Circle Drawer. You can certainly create your Order now."

The man looked at Ye Guan.

"That girl, Sang Mei, said that she wants to drag us down and make us taste the same hardship as her. She wants us to experience slavery and suffering."

"Well then. I'd like to see just how great your Order really is." The man grinned coldly. He untied the puppy's leash and walked away without looking back.

The god leisurely descended the mountain, but he eventually began running.

Ye Guan watched him disappear into the distance. When he turned around, he saw a lady in a plain skirt standing quietly nearby. Ye Guan walked up to her, still holding Cizhen.

Seeing her, he cried. "Aunt..."

The lady in a plain skirt merely looked at him with a calm and unreadable face.

"Aunt..."

Still, she said nothing.

Then, Ye Guan said, "Aunt... I want my order to be bound."

For the first time, a ripple of emotion flickered in the lady's eyes.

She reached out and patted his shoulder. "That's your wish? Then I'll give your Order... my bare minimum approval."

Boom!

Ye Guan's power surged exponentially.

His potential became limitless.

However, it was only a bare minimum approval rather than a faith.

She lightly pressed his shoulder, and the surge in power ceased at once. Then, she turned and walked away. The moment her feet landed on the ground, she had already teleported into the distance.

Meanwhile, a white-robed man was staring at Ye Guan from the skies..

Ye Xuan gave Ye Guan a thumbs-up and grinned. "Not bad, kid. Not bad at all!"

Plain-Skirt Lady looked beyond the horizon and saw two figures—one in blue robes and one in pale white.

Her face turned ice-cold.

Ye Xuan's smile froze, and A trace of worry crept into his eyes.

"Aunt..." Ye Guan's voice echoed.

The lady in a plain skirt turned around.

Ye Guan looked straight at her and said, "Aunt, I want you to help me restrain Order."

The lady in a plain skirt stared at him. "You're sure?"

Ye Guan nodded. "Absolutely."

"You understand what that means?"

"I do," Ye Guan said seriously. "Power must be restrained. Order must be restrained. Otherwise, my Yang family and I will become the greatest evil in the universe."

The lady in a plain skirt was the only one capable of restraining him. This time, he was going to be willingly restrained.

After a moment, the lady in a plain skirt nodded slightly. "You've grown."

Then, she pulled Ye Xuan away and disappeared into the distance.

Ye Xuan turned as they walked, giving Ye Guan another secret thumbs-up while grinning from ear to ear. His son had a great vision. If his Order passed Qing'er's test, it would receive not just a bare minimum approval, but it could end up becoming a faith.

However, it would also be unimaginably dangerous.

Still, Ye Xuan couldn't help being proud and a little worried.

Just then, terrifying divine senses suddenly appeared, watching with boundless rage.

How could ants rise to become humans?

Plain-Skirt Lady glanced at the sky and said coldly. "Scram."

In a flash, all those divine senses retreated like a receding tide, vanishing without a trace.

None dared step foot here again for a thousand years, and it became a forbidden land.

Ye Guan watched her leave, and then he turned his gaze ahead. He walked down the mountain while carrying Cizhen.

He still had so much to do; he had to rewrite everyone's destiny.

He still had the entire Guanxuan Universe, locked inside Little Pagoda.

Many people were still waiting for him.