105: Chapter 14 Your Majesty, I am at Your Service

"...I took the Opportunity from the Sea of Illusory Dreams,"

She regained a bit of seriousness and briefly explained the effect of the [Dream Entry] Divine Ability. "In the future, if anyone loses their mental focus, I can pull them directly into a dream."

She paused, her peripheral vision glancing toward Chu Ye.

"If Your Highness would like to try, your servant awaits at any time."

Chu Ye: "...No need."

Su Qingyue gave a soft "humph" and stopped pestering him.

She looked around and saw that the master and disciple pair, Li Yue and Cold Moon, occupied a quiet spot by the stream, the Witch Queen had claimed a bluestone for herself, and the Empress was beside Chu Ye with her eyes closed, adjusting her breathing. Thus, she walked to Chu Ye's other side without hesitation and naturally sat down within three steps of him.

Her nine tails retracted, she spoke no more, simply adjusting her breathing quietly to consolidate her gains.

Another half-hour passed.

The sky above the mountain stream tore open one last time.

When Madam Hua Yu stepped out of the Void Realm rift, everyone opened their eyes in unison and looked at her.

It wasn't because of her True Immortal cultivation, nor because of her status as the Sect Master of the Myriad Spirits Heavenly Sect.

It was because of the phantom layer surrounding her.

That forest.

That peaceful, fertile ancient forest full of vitality.

The Witch Queen opened her eyes, revealing a rare look of surprise. Su Qingyue let out a soft "eh," and even the master and disciple pair, Li Yue and Cold Moon, couldn't help but take a few more glances.

The Empress opened her eyes, her Phoenix-like eyes narrowing slightly.

Then she looked at Chu Ye.

Chu Ye didn't speak.

He just watched Madam Hua Yu quietly, observing the deer drinking water, the birds building nests, and the flowers blooming and falling freely within that phantom image.

Madam Hua Yu stood still before him, her eyes slightly lowered.

"The Ancestor has acknowledged me," she said, her voice very soft. "It wasn't a Legacy, it was... acknowledgment."

Chu Ye nodded.

He didn't ask "what was acknowledged," nor did he press for the specific value of that Ancestor's aura.

He just looked at her, his gaze calm and gentle, as if he weren't looking at a powerhouse of the True Immortal realm or the Sect Master of the Myriad Spirits Heavenly Sect, but rather...

...an old friend who hadn't been seen for a long time and had finally returned.

Madam Hua Yu didn't look up to meet his gaze.

But she didn't retreat either.

After a moment, she silently walked to the other side of the stream, found a bluestone not far from the master and disciple pair, Li Yue and Cold Moon, and sat down quietly.

The mountain stream returned to silence.

Chu Ye's gaze slowly swept over the six people present: the Empress, Witch Queen Jiu You, Su Qingyue, Madam Hua Yu, Li Yue, and Cold Moon.

They were each adjusting their breathing, consolidating, or resting their spirits, each with a different demeanor. Some were lazy, some solemn, some cold, and some gentle.

But they were all here.

Those who had been scattered had all returned to their places.

Chu Ye withdrew his gaze.

He looked up toward the endless Void Realm deeper within the Heavenly Road, wondering what he was thinking.

At the same time, the seventh layer of the Heavenly Road.

Xuanji stood alone before an abandoned teleportation Formation.

This Formation had been abandoned for untold tens of thousands of years, its inscriptions incomplete and its spiritual energy depleted; no one could reactivate it through conventional means.

But Xuanji just watched those broken patterns quietly, a very faint strand of Sword Intent condensing at her fingertip.

[Sword of Illumination].

The Sword Intent fell into the Formation patterns, not to activate them, but to "reflect."

She wanted to see what this Formation looked like when it was complete, where it led, and whether that "where" was related to the majestic Luck that was about to condense in her prophecy.

The Sword Intent was like mercury spreading over the ground, seeping into every crack.

Then—

Xuanji's pupils suddenly contracted.

She saw it.

What that Formation led to was not some Secret Realm, ruin, or place of Legacy.

It was a door.

A door that was entirely snow-white, without a gate or leaves, with only moonlight flowing over it.

There were no decorations or writing on the door, only an extremely ancient sword mark slashing diagonally across it.

It was exactly the same as the one on the stone hall door in the Sword Immortal's Ruins.

Xuanji stood still for a long time.

Then, she withdrew her Sword Intent and turned around.

Her plain white sleeves fluttered gently in the wind, but the light veil covering her face remained motionless.

She looked toward the deeper Void Realm of the seventh layer of the Heavenly Road, where some ancient existence was slowly awakening, like a beast that had slept for ages finally catching the scent of prey after a long hibernation.

It wasn't the Sword Immortal, nor the Poison Dragon, nor the Ancestor of Myriad Spirits.

It was an existence older, more powerful, and more dangerous than all of them.

Xuanji gently closed her eyes.

In her palm, that ancient bronze coin that had once shattered into two halves had quietly healed at some point.

The crack was still there, but it was no longer spreading.

She opened her eyes and looked down at the restored ancient coin in her palm.

The front of the copper coin was "Heaven," and the back was "Secret."

The hair-thin crack in the middle was slowly expanding.

The eighth layer of the Heavenly Road.

Deep in the unknown Void Realm.

A scroll floated quietly.

That scroll was almost identical to the gift sent by Elder Shuiyue of the Goddess Palace, with the same pale silver silk, the same scene of a Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, and the same faint but pure world Origin power within it.

Except this painting was complete.

On the scroll, the Phoenix leading the hundred birds was slowly opening its eyes.

It looked toward a certain point in the Void Realm, as if piercing through the eighth, seventh, and sixth layers of the Heavenly Road... looking all the way to a black-clothed young man resting his eyes in an unnamed mountain stream.

The Phoenix's eyes were calm and waveless.

Then, it spoke.

The voice was ancient and androgynous, exactly the same as the voice deep in Chu Ye's consciousness:

"Soon."

"Very soon."

The scroll shook slightly.

In the next instant, it vanished into the depths of the Void Realm, as if it had never existed.

The unnamed mountain stream.

Chu Ye suddenly opened his eyes.

He jerked his head up, looking toward the direction of the seventh layer of the Heavenly Road—there was nothing there, only a void, deep, and eternal Void Realm.

But he had clearly sensed something just now.

It wasn't a fluctuation of spiritual energy, nor a Divine Thought probe, nor anything he could clearly describe.

It was a gaze.

A gaze that had traversed endless Void Realm, long years, and countless Karma.

That gaze held no hostility, no killing intent, not even curiosity.

It was simply "watching."

Like a person who had slept for ages finally opening their eyes to confirm if their wait was worth it.

The Empress noticed his abnormality and opened her eyes. "What is it?"

Chu Ye was silent for a moment.

"...It's nothing."

He withdrew his gaze without explanation.

The Empress looked at him but didn't press further.

The mountain stream returned to silence.

Only the gurgling stream, the gentle night breeze, and seven auras—some solemn, some deep, some cold, some gentle—flowed quietly in this small world.

The Heavenly Road was still very long.

Opportunities were not yet exhausted, powerful enemies had not been removed, and the "Death Tribulation" in that prophecy still hung over his head.

But for now, for now...

Chu Ye slightly closed his eyes.

He didn't want to think about anything.

In the distance, at the edge of the mountain stream.

Li Yue watched Chu Ye's direction quietly.

She watched for a long time.

Then, she withdrew her gaze and looked down at her hands.

Those hands had played the zither for a hundred years, cold and self-contained, untainted by dust.

Those hands still played the zither, still cold, still untainted by dust.

But that zither music was no longer the Guanghan Nirvanic Sound.

Instead, it was the out-of-tune music, understandable only to each other, that she had played while gasping beneath him on that night when her wedding dress was as red as fire—

...something that had never been named.

Cold Moon gently took her hand.

Li Yue didn't look up.

She simply held it back, gripping it tightly.

the master and disciple pair sat side by side under the moonlight, neither of them speaking.

The stream still gurgled.

The night breeze still blew gently.

The ancient existence deep within the Heavenly Road was still slowly and steadily awakening.

But that was a matter for tomorrow.

For now, the night was still long.