Chapter 735 – Sitting Beyond the Heavens, Watching Life and Death Play Out Below - Part 1

"The Southern Dipper governs birth, the Northern Dipper governs death. But neither creates something from nothing. Only by taking can one give. Longevity, the gift of Yin and Yang, the very source of life itself. But if the world can no longer sustain the balance of Yin and Yang...then the stars above will fade into eternal silence.

“If by that time, you and I are still here, standing on the earth and gazing up at the night sky, we will see only emptiness. If we roam the cosmos, exploring from world to world, not a single living soul will be found. Everything will fall into stillness. The starry sky will become a vast, silent graveyard.”

By now, Yan Yu had already redressed herself and was speaking to Li Yuan in the palace hall.

Her elegant azure robe once again covered what had previously been bare.

Surrounded by ten thousand ghosts, no one could now link this commanding Empress of the Underworld with the enchanting woman from before, whose voice had flitted between the softness of a warbler and the call of a crane.

A beauty like her bloomed only once in a hundred, even a thousand years, and only one man would ever truly lay eyes on it.

Li Yuan sat quietly to the side of the hall, watching the Empress of the Underworld seated high above on her ghostly throne.

And though she spoke with solemn gravity, every now and then she would glance his way.

A single look, just one, was enough to break the tension of all that grim seriousness.

At the end of this terrifying Underworld, beneath the oppressive awe of death, the two of them kept sneaking glances at each other.

And when their eyes met, it was like warm honey stretching in the air between them.

Breaking the quiet, Li Yuan asked, “Then what about Polaris, Valley Obscura, and the Four Symbols?”

Yan Yu daintily lifted a small fist to her lips and coughed softly before turning her head away, deliberately avoiding the shameless man’s gaze, and answered.

“Polaris can conceal the power of the world and bestow it at will, shaping generals from the stars.”

Li Yuan nodded.

He remembered this well.

From the mass grave and the General’s Shrine, to Zhu Ban receiving a divine blessing straight from the Great Zhou Treasury, and then the likes of Lu Xuanxian...all of it proved her point.

Yan Yu continued, “Valley Obscura can devour everything and transform it into its own strength.”

Li Yuan pondered that for a moment.

This part he didn’t quite grasp.

But after the Northern Dipper consumed the Southern Dipper, the Southern Dipper’s will vanished completely.

Yet when Polaris consumed Valley Obscura, Valley Obscura continued to influence Polaris. That made it hard to say for sure. Was it really Polaris that had devoured Valley Obscura, or had it been the other way around?

With that in mind, he asked, “You absorbed Valley Obscura. Are you alright?”

Yan Yu shook her head and said simply, “They’ve all become part of me now. Their power is mine. That’s how I was able to so easily devour the weakened Four Symbols.”

“And the Four Symbols?” Li Yuan asked.

Yan Yu paused briefly, then said, “Creation.”

“Creation?” Li Yuan blinked.

“By reversing the laws of Yin and Yang, they reshape life itself, birthing entirely new species,” Yan Yu replied.

Li Yuan asked curiously, “You mean disassembling limbs and rearranging them however you like? Like putting a cat on a tree, or giving a person a hundred arms?”

Yan Yu gave him a look of speechless exasperation, then shook her head and replied, “No. It means using Yang energy to alter the body, and Yin energy to reshape the soul, fusing the two to create an entirely new species.”

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Li Yuan understood instantly.

Yang flames changed the bodies of newly born mortals, turning them into the formidable Ice Folk.

Ghost domains altered the souls of the recently deceased, transforming them into ghost servants.

And the Four Symbols, even while trapped in the Deathless Tomb, had managed to use their lingering powers to corrupt bees, making them grow to the size of pigs; to taint mountain goats, mutating them into four-horned beasts that galloped like war chariots. Just like that, they became living creatures straight out of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Qinyuan and Tulu reborn through contamination.

This was how the Four Symbols reshaped life, by polluting it.

“Can the direction of this creation be controlled precisely?” Li Yuan asked.

Yan Yu shook her head. “Only through trial and error. And many attempts fail, sometimes hideously, resulting in monstrous aberrations. But after enough failures and enough experience, it might become possible to consistently create powerful new races.”

She gazed off into the distance, her expression wistful, as though trying to peer into the future. After a long pause, she murmured, “Now that the Underworld has merged with the Ancestral Land...perhaps I...”

Li Yuan interrupted, “Let me find you some lifeforms. If you're going to create a new and stronger race, you’ll need test subjects. No need to dirty your own hands, I’ll handle it.”

Yan Yu smiled and gently shook her head. “What’s

dirty

about it? If the world is to be remade, then the Six Paths must be remade as well. And among those realms, the one for the gravest sinners, I'll take charge of that one myself. The condemned will pass through my hands and be reborn into unknown forms. They’ll be tested, refined...and in doing so, they’ll pave the way for what’s to come.”

Li Yuan said, “So the sinners will be imprisoned in life and in death. This...is the Hell Realm?”

“Hell Realm?” Yan Yu thought for a moment, then said, “Sounds fitting. If a new realm is to rise, then let it be called that.”

“...” Li Yuan fell silent.

A contemplative light shone in Yan Yu’s eyes. “But there's still much to rebuild. The Underworld is riddled with flaws. Take the cycle of good and evil, for example. That’s a major issue. You can’t just rely on the instincts of ghosts to judge the living. There needs to be true judges, real arbiters, to distinguish the innocent from the guilty, so we don’t end up executing the wrong people.”

“Like me, for instance?” Li Yuan remarked.

Yan Yu stared at him, an obvious look of

This man has no shame

flickering in her eyes.

Strangely enough, ever since reuniting with Li Yuan, her humanity had begun returning at an alarming pace.

She gave a soft cough and forced a stern expression. “Definitely not. You should’ve been dragged off by those ghosts already.”

“Go ahead, I’m right here.” Li Yuan grinned and held out his hand.

Yan Yu ignored him and continued, “The second problem is this. Ever since the Underworld was reconnected with the Ancestral Land, it has begun to expand. Once it encompasses the entire Ancestral Land, then from that day on, the spirits of the dead will no longer pass into the cycle of reincarnation, they will come to the Underworld instead.

“But right now, spirits can only come in. They can’t go back out. Because there’s only one door that leads back, and it’s the Gate of the Beast Path. But I can’t allow everyone to be reincarnated as animals. That’s why I want to find all the other doors still connected to the cycle of reincarnation ahead of time, expand the Underworld outward to engulf those doors, and rewire them so they lead here instead. I just don’t know what problems might arise along the way.”

She continued, “The third issue is how to erase memories and power.”

Li Yuan said, “I’ve seen the Soul Furnace.”

Then he described in detail the scene he had witnessed.

Yan Yu fell silent for a moment before replying, “Heaven nurtures humanity, and in return, humanity must give back to Heaven. That repayment comes in the form of one’s life’s cultivation, offered up as nourishment for the world.”

Li Yuan said, “But no matter who it is, no one would willingly give up their hard-earned cultivation to feed the Heavens, especially if it means having their soul torn apart and rebuilt. If it were me or you, we wouldn’t accept that either.”

Before he could finish, Yan Yu interjected softly, “I would.”

Her words cut him off.

Li Yuan stared at her in surprise. But after a moment’s reflection, he realized...yes, this was exactly the kind of person she was.

So, he said, “Well, I wouldn’t.”

Yan Yu replied calmly, “I wouldn’t go lightly either. The Underworld has only just reconnected with the mortal world. Without me, order would collapse. So from a broader perspective, others can go. But I can’t yet. Still, if one day the world truly needs me to die, I won’t hesitate.

“If the sky is falling and no one will survive, then that includes you and me. Life and death, samsara and reincarnation...these are laws of nature. Why resist them? When disaster strikes, if no one’s willing to step forward, then there must be rules to force someone to bear the burden.”

Li Yuan was quiet for a long time before he said, “If that day ever comes, you’ll have to ask me first.”

Yan Yu asked, “And what if you say no?”

Li Yuan said, “Then you’ll have to beat me into agreeing.”

The air went still after that.

For a long time, neither of them spoke until Yan Yu finally responded in a soft voice, “Alright.”

Li Yuan suddenly stood up.