A mound of yellow earth, a thousand years of green mountains

As the immortals in the Imperial Decree Divine Palace had proclaimed, the origin of that heaven-piercing pillar of golden light was indeed the Origin Divine Palace beneath the Ninth Heaven.

Infinite divine light now blazed throughout the entire hall.

A golden robe embroidered with divine beast patterns trailed from her shoulders. The crown representing the holy rank of a Saint bound her long hair.

The cloud-patterned floral hairpins were exquisitely carved, with silver silk tassels flowing from their tips like stars descending upon a wilderness, veiling her ink-cloud hair.

Atop the holy throne, Yun Yao opened her eyes, the divine light within them receding.

At the center of her brow, a lifelike golden butterfly slowly solidified.

The head of the Three Saints, the Saint Origin, had returned.

The brilliant gold radiance in the Origin Divine Palace gradually dispersed, returning to a hushed gloom.

In the darkness.

Someone suppressed a low, muffled cough.

Yun Yao snapped back to her senses.

Stepping down from the holy throne, she turned and ran toward the depths of the hall, into a chaotic darkness so dense that even divine power could not pierce it.

“Mu Hanyuan!”

Yun Yao knelt on the ground, catching the figure that was collapsing toward the floor.

Her hands met something slick and viscous, and the air around her was filled with a scent of blood so heavy it felt like it would submerge her.

Yun Yao’s heart tightened instantly, tight enough to suffocate.

She hurriedly raised her hand, intending to conjure a divine flame to illuminate this small space—a place of destruction swallowed by the power of the End where not a sliver of light could penetrate.

But before that spark could illuminate Yun Yao’s eyes, her vision was covered by a hand that had been raised with great effort and tenderness.

“Don’t look…”

She heard his breath, weak like dandelion fluff that would scatter with a single puff of wind, yet he still struggled to speak with a smile.

“…Don’t look. It’s too ugly.”

“Mu Hanyuan, Mu Hanyuan—what happened to you? Tell me!”

Yun Yao desperately wanted to hold the person who had fallen powerlessly before her in the darkness. His body was covered in so many wounds, and blood was gushing out as if it would all drain away.

He was so light, light as a feather, seemingly ready to be blown away in an instant.

Yun Yao’s heart hammered with panic, her hands trembling slightly.

She wanted to stir her divine power to stop his bleeding, but then she remembered that the person before her possessed a demonic body that suffered extra heavenly punishment for every day spent in the immortal realm.

Immortal power, divine power—everything in this Immortal Court was a slow, lethal poison to him.

She could do nothing.

Yun Yao could only hold him tighter in helpless despair. “Mu Hanyuan, what should I do?”

“Do not fear… It is merely the backlash from restraining the power of the End.”

Mu Hanyuan’s voice was faint, yet it carried a smile. “Once my Saint Origin displays her holy might and erases it from the immortal realm, I shall be fine.”

“Alright, alright…” Yun Yao fought back her tears. “I will do it, I will. Just wait for me here, okay?”

“…I have always been waiting for you.”

Mu Hanyuan closed his eyes, leaning against her shoulder and laughing softly.

But in his laughter, he frowned slightly, as if enduring some unbearable pain.

The way he looked when he frowned was just like the handsome and stubborn youth who had lingered day after day outside her secluded grotto all those years ago.

The setting sun had stretched his shadow long, falling beneath that quietly withering April Snow tree.

His silhouette grew taller by the day; the youth had many dreams under that tree, but the Master he awaited never came out.

“I will keep waiting forever, Master…”

Yun Yao suppressed her tears and lifted Mu Hanyuan, propping him against the couch behind him.

His clothes were damp and ice-cold; Yun Yao did not dare to imagine what state he was in right now.

“In the Immortal Court… there is a Universe Primordial Array in the Immortal Court. As long as the power of the End is purified and returned to nothingness, you will definitely be fine,” Yun Yao said with a trembling voice, forcing a smile as her hand brushed past Mu Hanyuan’s temple. “You will… you will definitely be fine.”

Yun Yao spoke with a wavering voice and stood up.

Before she could turn away, she felt a force so light it was almost negligible tugging at the hem of her robe.

“…”

It was a low call, filled with extreme reluctance, longing, and restraint.

Yun Yao’s figure froze there.

Before she could turn around, the voices of the gathered immortals outside the Origin Divine Palace rose in a collective chant:

“Yu Zhiyue of the Hundred Flowers Divine Palace seeks audience with the Saint Origin!”

“Liang Lanfeng of the Green Wood Divine Palace seeks audience with the Saint Origin!”

“Wen Ruoxi of the Water Divine Palace seeks audience with the Saint Origin!”

“The power of the End is about to converge, the Immortal Court cannot hold, and the three realms are in imminent peril, Your Holiness!”

“We respectfully invite the Saint Origin to emerge! Cleanse the power of the End and resolve the calamity for the three realms!”

“We respectfully invite the Saint Origin to emerge! Cleanse the power of the End and resolve the calamity for the three realms!!”

“We respectfully invite the Saint Origin to emerge! Cleanse the power of the End and resolve the calamity for the three realms!!!”

The majestic divine voices echoed throughout the desolate palace.

The fingers gripping her robe slowly let go.

Yun Yao heard the man behind her speak in a voice as fragile as shattering glass:

“I wish the Saint Origin… success and a triumphant return.”

“…”

Yun Yao’s eyes were blank and stiff as she looked toward the palace exterior.

She took one step after another toward the outside.

Yun Yao did not dare to look back.

She was the Saint of the Immortal Court, the head of the Three Saints, the only support currently able to oppose the power of the End in this vast realm.

She could not have selfish desires; she could not abandon the common people.

…She could not look back.

She feared that if she glanced at that person one more time, she would never again have the heart to leave him in this boundless darkness.

It’s alright…

Mu Hanyuan.

It’s alright.

That long night from which one never wakes, the end of that darkness—that shall be the place of eternal rest where you and I return together.

“Yun Yao.”

Before she took the final step out of the hall, the person in the darkness behind her, leaning against the couch, slowly propped himself up.

In that darkness, Mu Hanyuan gazed at the golden silhouette connected by the Soul Pact.

In the shadows, blood flowed down from his seven orifices.

Like cracks upon shattered jade.

Mu Hanyuan spoke softly with a smile.

“When the matters here are finished.”

“Shall we go back to Qianyuan together… okay?”

Yun Yao froze at the palace gate.

After a long time, she said with a trembling smile, “Okay.”

High atop the Ninth Heaven.

All the immortals of the court who had not been tainted by the power of the End now gathered in the air to form an array. Countless strands of immortal power intertwined like rings, creating infinite star maps.

Yun Yao alone resided at the very center of the stars.

Beside her, starlight lines pierced through the chaos.

At a certain moment.

Yun Yao suddenly opened her eyes at the core of the array.

“Universe Primordial Array—OPEN!”

Accompanied by a thunderous roar of energy that shook heaven and earth, the Universe Primordial Array gathered a pillar of light so majestic it was hard to behold, instantly connecting the upper and lower heavens.

The shadow it cast spread across the entire Immortal Court, penetrating the power of the End that had engulfed the eight directions. Many threads of heaven and earth’s energy intertwined and reflected in the gloom, resembling a vast sea of stars in the night, boundless and infinite.

Under the wash of immortal energy, vast as a sea of stars, the power of the End was sliced apart piece by piece by the star maps, beginning to melt away like snow.

Light and night vied for dominance.

As one ebbed, the other flowed; black and white cycled.

Daylight slowly rose throughout the dark Immortal Court.

And at the core of the Universe Primordial Array, within that pillar of light capable of neutralizing everything, Yun Yao closed her eyes.

The price for activating the Universe Primordial Array was the sacrifice of the presiding Saint’s soul—a Saint’s Death.

This was an unchangeable law of the Heavenly Dao.

She had already left all the actions and words of Calamity as a divine message; once Transcendence returned from his tribulations, he would naturally understand and deal with it.

Now, the crisis of the three realms was resolved.

Her end had also arrived.

Born as a Saint for tens of thousands of years, a life as vast as a sea of mist, a mayfly between heaven and earth. As this true end arrived, her only regret was that one single thing.

She could save the common people, but she could not save him alone.

‘So be it.’

Yun Yao smiled with regret. A tear she could no longer suppress—and no longer needed to suppress—slid down her cheek and fell into the boundless sea of clouds.

‘To return to the void together with you… that should be the greatest fortune of my life.’

Yun Yao closed her eyes, her consciousness finally submerged beneath the majestic power of the Heavenly Dao.

Yet even the Heavenly Dao did not notice—

On her drooping wrist, there was still a tiny soul chain hidden within the infinite golden pillar of light.

It was concealed between light and shadow, linked to another soul beneath the Ninth Heaven.

The Origin Divine Palace, Main Hall.

Light slowly rose from outside the palace gates.

Like morning radiance parting the dawn mist.

Mu Hanyuan’s gaunt figure, draped in a thin cloak, sat solitary and isolated in the hall. Beneath him was a pool of blood, and he had long since become like a blood-stained jade statue, barely hanging on to his last thread of strength, refusing to shatter.

The Soul Pact manifested in his palm. He lowered his eyelashes and smiled, looking almost transparent.

“—Demon Lord!”

The Green Wood Divine Lord knelt on one knee, his eyes blood-red as he looked at the demon who had nearly drained all the blood from his body.

“The Saint Origin and the power of the End have perished together. You were supposed to become a Saint; that was the intent of the Heavenly Dao… Why, why did you use your soul to swap positions, to return to the void in her place?!”

“The gods love all sentient beings.”

“But I want the mortal world where she exists… to have its sparks of light endure forever.”

Mu Hanyuan curled his palm.

The Soul Pact shattered in his hand, inch by inch, turning into golden dust and dissipating.

He curved his lips and closed his eyes.

“Look, the sky is bright, Master.”