The Bright Moon Was My Former Self, Part 3

A dark shadow loomed, and Yun Yao was suddenly lifted by the waist into someone’s arms.

Yun Yao: “…”

For an Ascension Realm cultivator, being hoisted like a chick was an unparalleled humiliation.

She stubbornly tried to summon her spiritual energy, but aside from the faint, sluggish thread she’d sensed upon waking, the rest ignored her call, sinking like a stone in the sea. If her spiritual core had been intact, her soul force could have easily erased the runes on these soul-binding chains. But with her immortal seal already damaged and now further strained, recklessly using her soul force might shatter it entirely.

Frustrated by this realization, Yun Yao barely noticed Mu Hanyuan setting down the candle and glancing at her with a teasing look. “Does Master understand her situation now?”

“…”

Yun Yao’s heart clenched. Mu Hanyuan had clearly exploited her weakness, confidently chaining her in this pitch-black cave.

But such a deep, bottomless place, like the underworld…
She recalled that north of Duantian Abyss, the terrain under Vermilion Bird City’s jurisdiction was relatively flat. This was unmistakably a deep mountain.

“Where is this?” Yun Yao probed uneasily with her spiritual sense. “We’re not near Vermilion Bird City anymore?”

“Doesn’t Master know? This is the place you’ve always wanted to come to.”
Mu Hanyuan lowered his head, his fingers brushing the chains dangling from her wrists, as if by accident.
The metallic *clank… clank…* echoed in the cave, and he chuckled with low, delighted amusement. “Oh, I forgot—Master’s just a helpless kitten now, unable to sense what’s outside the mountain.”

Yun Yao: “.”

Mu Hanyuan lifted his gaze, meeting the icy, threatening glare of the woman on the stone bed—a look that screamed, *Keep talking, and I’ll bite you to death.*
She was always like this.

His smile deepened, spreading to his eyes. He raised his hand, his fingers grazing her soft earlobe with a slow, intimate touch. “This is the old site of the Demon Sovereign Hall, Tianyun Abyss.”

“…!”
Yun Yao’s expression shifted sharply.
She didn’t even have time to react to his audacious gesture, her voice turning cold and sharp. “You came to Tianyun Abyss—what are you planning to do?”

Mu Hanyuan lowered his eyes, gazing at her with fascination. “Hasn’t Master already guessed?”

“You’re restarting the Demon Sovereign Hall? You know this will alert the immortal realm’s alliances, sparking another war between the realms,” Yun Yao gritted out, fiercely swatting away his hand as it reached for her again. “Which immortal lord are you planning to kill, so determined to bring about a catastrophe?!”

“Oh, so Master even found out about that. No wonder your immortal seal is so badly damaged.”
Mu Hanyuan, unfazed by her rejection, answered evasively.

“Mu… Han… Yuan!”

Her clear, furious voice echoed through the cave.

He paused for two breaths, then laughed, lifting his eyes. “Instead of that name, perhaps you should call me Endfire.”

“…”

Yun Yao stiffened, slowly retreating to the inner edge of the stone bed.
Clutching her knees, she stared at him. The unyielding resolve in his eyes made it clear—he had already committed to the heaven-defying act of seizing the Wheel of Reincarnation to reshape Qianmen’s temporal order. He wouldn’t change his mind.
To stop him, neither she nor the great monk at the Wheel of Reincarnation Tower would suffice. It would require another—
The one buried deepest in his consciousness: *himself*.

Lowering her gaze, she spoke heavily. “The biggest difference between you and him is that he would never let himself be controlled by fate.”

“…”

Mu Hanyuan stood motionless, as if her words had no effect. But in the shadowed side away from the light, the faint twitch of the demonic mark at his eye betrayed the ferocity he suppressed within.

“That’s because he hasn’t seen the future, hasn’t endured what I did in the immortal realm… If he had, he’d know!”
His voice sank and then rose sharply, his rage soaring to the heavens. “He and I have no other choice!!”

“He would,” Yun Yao met his gaze. “Your obsession blinds you to any path beyond slaughter and destruction. He’s different. I believe, even in the same situation, he’d find another way.”

“…Is that so.”
His voice dropped.
Contrary to her expectations, her words didn’t ignite his fury but instead drew a low laugh.

Her unease deepened. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, just pitying Master.” He leaned closer, gripping the chain around her wrist and pulling her toward him. “…What a shame. In a few days, his soul will be completely devoured by me.”

“—”

Yun Yao’s heart froze, forgetting even to dodge.

After a long moment, she found her voice, trembling. “What do you mean?”

He lifted a strand of her hair, kissing it slowly from the ends upward.
“The Wheel of Reincarnation, which governs cause and effect, lies beneath Tianyun Abyss. Master’s clever—surely you’ve guessed?”
“But you got one thing wrong. The Demon Sovereign Hall is unworthy of my ambition. What I truly seek is to reignite the Endfire Seed to its peak.”
“In a few days, no one in Qianmen will stop me from unsealing the Wheel. Once I wield it, his soul will settle my karmic debts, and I’ll fully seize this body, replacing him!”
“When that happens, this life’s Mu Hanyuan will cease to exist. Past and future, I alone will be Endfire—a completed, closed timeline.”
“After annihilating Qianmen, I’ll take Master back to the immortal realm to enjoy an era of glory!”

“…”

Yun Yao’s heart and soul shuddered. “This was your plan from the moment you returned here? He was always meant to be your sacrifice for the Wheel’s karma?”

“So what?”
His evil aspect laughed softly, caressing her cheek and tilting her chin to force her gaze upward.
“What, Master’s pitying him again?”

This time, Yun Yao didn’t resist. Following his touch, she looked at him with deep, anguished eyes. “Mu Hanyuan.”

His smile chilled. He knew she wasn’t calling to him—not with such gentle, tender tones anymore.
But then he laughed again. “It’s useless. Your good disciple is long asleep in that darkness. Wasn’t it you who taught him? You forbade him from touching the Endfire Seed, remember? Trying to suppress the seed forged from ten thousand sacrificial souls—he’s lucky to merely be sleeping!”

“…”

Yun Yao’s face paled. “Just because I said that, he’s fallen into this slumber?”

“Exactly. I should thank you, Master. Without you, how could I have suppressed him so easily?”

“…”

Her face turned ashen.
Closing her eyes, she felt her already wavering consciousness quake further, her immortal seal burning at her brow, on the verge of cracking.

Mu Hanyuan, reveling in his triumph, suddenly changed expression. “Yun Yao? Yun Yao!”

Seeing her soul trembling and her immortal seal destabilizing, teetering on the edge of possession, he panicked. He pulled her into his arms, pressing his palm to her chest, channeling Endfire Seed power through her meridians into her consciousness—

*Boom.*
Her shaking spiritual core was invaded by a fierce, foreign force, suppressing the unrest.
But Yun Yao’s consciousness plunged back into deep darkness.

—

*“Mother.”*
*“Mother?”*
*“Mother…”*

In the depths of darkness, Yun Yao vaguely heard a familiar, long-lost child’s voice.

After a long haze, as the voice brushed her ear again, she jolted awake. “Little Golden Lotus?”

Sitting up, she froze, instinctively scanning her surroundings—a boundless, chaotic darkness.

*“Mother, you’re finally awake!”*

Faint golden light swirled around her, coalescing under her gaze into the shadowy form of Little Golden Lotus.

“—You’re still alive?”
Seeing that familiar bald head, Yun Yao nearly wept with joy. She lunged to embrace it, but her arms passed through the illusion.
Stunned, she looked at Little Golden Lotus reforming, then at her own hands.
Not only was Little Golden Lotus a shadow—so was she in this darkness.

“Where is this?” Her expression shifted, sensing something strange. “Is this… the underworld?”

—Had that wretched disciple’s evil aspect finally driven her to death?

“Under… world?”
Little Golden Lotus repeated, puzzled, struggling to grasp the term. After pondering fruitlessly, it gave up.
“This is… Father’s… deep consciousness.”

“?”

Yun Yao blinked, stunned.
Recalling the moments before her collapse, the Endfire power that had probed her chest, and Little Golden Lotus’s shared existence with him, she pieced it together. “You brought a thread of my consciousness into the depths of Mu Hanyuan’s mind?”

“Yes!” Little Golden Lotus nodded vigorously, gesturing. “Father’s sleeping. Little Golden Lotus… can’t wake him.”

—Sleeping in the depths of this consciousness could only be this life’s Mu Hanyuan’s soul.

If she could wake him, the evil aspect’s possession would fail, and Qianmen’s apocalyptic crisis could still be averted!

Yun Yao stood quickly. “Hurry, Little Golden Lotus, take me to Father.”

Blinking, it chirped cheerfully, “Okay, Mother!”

“…”

Unaware she’d accepted the title, Yun Yao eagerly followed Little Golden Lotus into the boundless, directionless darkness.
She didn’t know how long they walked or how far.

At last, in the darkness, she saw a single patch of light.

Compared to the all-consuming void, the snow-white glow was a mere flicker.
Within it, Mu Hanyuan, his black hair cascading like a waterfall, slept peacefully, as if lying dead in the snow.

A wave of sorrow overwhelmed Yun Yao.

Her eyes reddened as she stumbled toward the only light.
“Mu Hanyuan!”

“…”

In the endless void of darkness, his long, still lashes trembled faintly, like butterfly wings stirring to life.