As soon as Ye Guan's figure disappeared before them, Shen Qi's eyes flickered with a complicated mixture of emotions.

"The next time we meet, I'm sure his strength will surprise us by then."

The Daogu Tree nodded thoughtfully. "His talent and insight are truly remarkable."

“Are you planning to settle down here?"

"Yes."

Shen Qi smiled warmly. "That's good."

The Guanxuan Universe was undoubtedly the safest place throughout the vast expanse at the moment.

The Daogu Tree inquired, "And what about you?"

Shen Qi paused for a moment, and then she decisively replied, "First, I'll achieve full divinity, and then I plan to make a trip back to my hometown."

"Are you sure about striving for full divinity?"

"Yes."

"Don't you have feelings for Master Ye?" asked the Daogu Tree.

Shen Qi was caught off guard by the question.

The Daogu Tree stared intently at Shen Qi. "You have feelings for him right now, but once you achieve a hundred percent divinity, those feelings may fade away. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I understand."

The Daogu Tree nodded in approval. "Your resolve is strong."

Shen Qi gazed up at the dimming array in the sky and whispered, "Miss Daogu, I do feel something for Master Ye, but it's just that—a feeling. He hasn't pursued me at all, and neither have I pursued him. So we'll stay friends. Romance isn't really that important to us, anyway. Is it important to you?"

"Not at all." The Daogu Tree shook her head, but after a few moments of silence, she added, "However, it's very important to some people—even more important than their own lives."

Shen Qi fell into a contemplative silence.

The Daogu Tree added, "The path of martial arts is a solitary one. It's not just temporary loneliness. Should you choose to embark on it by yourself, you might face perpetual loneliness... Shen Qi, you have to be prepared for that."

With that, the Daogu Tree turned around and walked away.

Left all alone, Shen Qi was lost in thought. Eventually, she smiled to herself and left.

Meanwhile, Ming Jun merely shook his head. Having lived for so long, he had long become indifferent to certain emotions. This was why he felt no resentment over the destruction of the Forest Civilization.

He'd be satisfied as long as he was still alive.

Everything else was insignificant before the Great Dao.

A cultivator's pursuit of the summit was akin to a mortal's pursuit of wealth in the secular world. Just as mortals were prepared to sacrifice anything for wealth, cultivators were prepared to do the same for the Great Dao.

***

Ye Guan fell into deep contemplation as he examined the multicolored walls around him.

This spacetime tunnel was vastly different from what he was familiar with, and the main difference was the passage of time.

The flow of time inside this spacetime tunnel was different compared to the flow of time in the outside world.

The unique spacetime tunnel shared a resemblance to the spacetime laws inside the tiny pagoda, but it wasn't as profound.

Time...

Ye Guan was suddenly reminded of Yue Gushi’s attack, which contained the essence of spacetime.

Ye Guan was entranced by the attack at the time, but before he could dive deeper into it, Yue Gushi was killed by his aunt.

"Master Pagoda, I need to do a deep dive into the concept of time,” Ye Guan remarked.

Little Pagoda responded, "I also think that you should focus on time from now on."

Ye Guan nodded and gazed into the endless starry sky.

Little Pagoda suddenly asked, "Have you felt anything strange since touching upon divinity?"

Ye Guan paused briefly before shaking his head. "I haven't sensed anything unusual."

"That suggests your divinity isn't completely pure," said Little Pagoda in a serious tone of voice.

"I just entered the Divine Dao Realm. I still have much to understand about this realm, especially when it comes to the concept of divinity..."

"It is okay; take your time," Little Pagoda reassured.

Ye Guan nodded again and went silent. Moments later, he was reminded of something, and he opened his palm, revealing a scroll.

The Stellar Sword Scroll!

He had been nurturing the Stellar Sword Scroll with his own sword intent.

Little White had previously enhanced the Stellar Sword Scroll as well, so the scroll had become even more formidable.

Ye Guan couldn't help but feel curious about its current power.

In addition to the Stellar Sword Scroll, Ye Guan had been diligently cultivating the Phantom Edge as well. It was his bread-and-butter sword technique, after all, and he would never neglect it.

Ye Guan's strength had improved significantly since he reached the Divine Dao Realm, but he had yet to fight in an actual fight.

When he came out of cultivation to face the Forest Civilization, his aunt and grandfather had arrived to help him face the Forest Civilization. He couldn't fight anyone at all.

While Ye Guan was engrossed in his own thoughts, a light screen suddenly materialized in the distance.

Ye Guan snapped out of his thoughts and asked aloud, "Are we there?"

Just as his words fell, he was propelled at the speed of light into the light screen.

Boom!

A blinding white light that seemed capable of crushing just about anything in the vast expanse swept across Ye Guan. Startled, he unleashed his sword intent to shield protect himself.

After an unknown period of time, Ye Guan finally felt that he had come to a halt. He opened his eyes and found himself in an unfamiliar starry region.

Ye Guan shook his head vigorously, dispelling the dizziness. He turned to assess his surroundings and found that he was surrounded by suspended towering buildings and palaces.

He had definitely arrived at his destination.

Swoosh!

A man suddenly appeared not too far away from Ye Guan. He eyed Ye Guan warily and asked, "Who are you?"

"Are you from the Forest Civilization?"

The man stared at Ye Guan and questioned, "Who are you? How did you use our teleportation array?"

Ye Guan pondered briefly before saying, "I'm from the Forest Civilization."

The man was taken aback. "You're... one of us?"

Ye Guan nodded. "Yes."

The man hurriedly asked, "Do you have any instructions for us? Can we go back now?"

Ye Guan glanced at the man, noting that his cultivation realm wasn't that high. He was only a Human Dao Realm expert.

Ye Guan also sensed many weak presences nearby; they were the denizens of the Forest Civilization.

Staring at the man's hopeful face, Ye Guan couldn't help but ask, "Do you not want to stay here?"

The man immediately shook his head. "This place is too dangerous... the people of the Asura Civilization can also come here at any time. We stayed here to handle some affairs that had to be handled one last time. When we were finally done, we tried to contact you guys on the other side, but we haven't received any responses..."

"I see." Ye Guan nodded slightly. "You can all go back now."

The man was overjoyed. "Really?"

Ye Guan nodded.

The man quickly ran into a distant building, and he soon returned with tens of thousands of people. They all looked delighted. They could finally go home!

Ye Guan swept his gaze across the crowd.

These people were much weaker than the deceased members of the Forest Civilization.

It seemed that they were the "ordinary people" of the Forest Civilization.

Ye Guan felt a pang of emotion.

Ordinary people were always the ones to suffer the consequences of a war or a disaster.

Ye Guan snapped back to reality and contacted Little Ai, instructing her to reactivate the teleportation array on the other side. When the teleportation array came to life, the denizens of the Forest Civilization cheered. Some of them even hugged each other, while others were crying in relief. They had lost hope upon knowing that the higher-ups had left them behind. The fact that they had been abandoned meant that the higher-ups had no intentions of taking them along. Their hearts had been filled with nothing but despair and worry since then.

Fortunately, the people of the Asura Civilization hadn't found them yet, or they would have been all corpses by now.

Ye Guan stared at the man at the helm of the group and said, "Once you're on the other side, go and find Ming Jun. He'll make the necessary arrangements for all of you."

The man respectfully responded, "Understood."

"Go."

The man bowed deeply to Ye Guan and then led the people of the Forest Civilization into the teleportation array.

Once inside, the leader, Gu Ye, let out a heavy sigh of relief.

An old man noticed that and asked, "Elder Gu Ye, what's wrong?"

Gu Ye turned and muttered, "He's not from the Forest Civilization."

The old man was stunned.

"Something must have happened to the higher-ups," Gu Ye remarked.

"What...?" the elder muttered in disbelief.

Gu Ye shook his head and said, "It's fine. He didn't seem to be hostile toward us, so let's just go back and see what happened to them."

***

Left all alone, Ye Guan took out the map that Ming Jun had handed over to him.

As soon as he opened the scroll, it turned into a beam of golden light that melted into his glabella.

An image appeared in Ye Guan's sea of consciousness.

After a while, Ye Guan opened his eyes and looked around. Just as he was about to leave, the distant starry region abruptly trembled.

Ye Guan turned and saw a hundred-man-strong army streaking across the starry skies.

A lady clad in black armor with three fiery red feathers on her helmet stood at the helm of the army. The lady's eyebrows were sharp, and her eyes emitted a cold light.

The army’s advance made the starry skies tremble violently.

Although he was tens of thousands of kilometers away, Ye Guan felt like millions of mountains were pressing down on him, making him feel suffocated.

Ye Guan spread his palm, releasing his Invincible Sword Intent, which immediately helped him withstand the pressure.

Ye Guan instantly identified the army. They were from the so-called Asura Civilization, and they were indeed strong.

The lady in black armor at the helm of the group was just a Divine Dao Realm expert with ninety percent divinity, but she was the most terrifying cultivator whom Ye Guan had encountered so far at that level.

The army showed no signs of stopping, rushing toward Ye Guan's direction like a torrent.

Ye Guan stared at the lady in black armor without moving, and their calm gazes collided in midair.

And that was when Little Pagoda exclaimed, "Erya isn't here!"

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Ye Guan's figure immediately trembled, and he teleported a thousand kilometers to the right.

A real man knew when to advance and retreat. Why fight when it was unnecessary?