Chapter 1173: Determination
Night fell, and the Zhou Tian Realm was shrouded in silence.
The first round of the Divine Seal Competition had come to an end. Tomorrow would be the first battle of the Divine Seal Group and the first battle of the Loser's Group. In this battle, among the thirty-one Divine Seal Sons, seven from the Loser's Group would be eliminated, while eight from the Divine Seal Group would fall into the Loser's Group.
Compared to today's battle with no eliminations, tomorrow's battles were destined to be even more intense and nerve-wracking. And which eight people would remain in the Divine Seal Group was the focus of the entire Eastern Divine Region's gaze.
This night, the other Divine Seal Sons were either conserving their strength or recovering their profound energy and injuries within the "Time Wheel Pearl." Only Yun Che sat quietly by the pond for the entire night.
In his mind, he endlessly replayed every piercing, soul-stabbing word Mo Li had said, as well as… Mu Bingyun's light, breeze-like words.
Even if I get to see her as I wish, even if I have a farewell that is as complete as possible…
Would I truly be satisfied and have no more regrets…
Would I really…
…………
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Why did I come here in the first place…
The reason I so desperately want to see Mo Li… is it because of the incompleteness and regret I always thought I had to make up for…
Or…
Has it been this way from the very beginning… from that day to now… that I simply cannot accept the fact that she left me…
…………
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A faint glimmer of dawn scattered, and morning arrived. The sky gradually began to brighten.
The door creaked open, and Mu Bingyun stepped out with silent footsteps. In her line of sight, Yun Che was still sitting in the same spot as yesterday, having barely moved at all.
Mu Bingyun's ice-cold eyes narrowed slightly, but she said nothing. Just then, however, she saw Yun Che slowly stand up. He turned his gaze, his eyes clear as water, no longer clouded and turbid like yesterday.
"It seems you've figured out what you want." Mu Bingyun's lips moved slightly, a faint smile appearing and disappearing, yet it rippled with a charm that made one's heart stop.
"Not entirely, but at least I know what I need to do next." Yun Che smiled. All the gloom seemed to dissipate like smoke and clouds in that smile. His eyes appeared even clearer than yesterday. He said gratefully, "Palace Master Mu Bingyun, all this time, I've not only relied on your various forms of help but also made you worry time and again. Yesterday, I must have disappointed you once more."
"…" Mu Bingyun gently shook her head: "No, you are, after all, just a young man in his twenties. If at this age you were already completely free from confusion, panic, loss of reason, and impulsiveness, that would actually be a great tragedy."
"Moreover, to have someone for whom you are willing to be like this, isn't that a blessing in itself?" Mu Bingyun lifted her snow-white face and said softly, "Back then, if not for my elder sister, I might have been unable to hold on a thousand years ago."
Yun Che straightened his body and let out a long breath of the foul air in his chest. He closed his eyes for a moment, then asked, "Palace Master Mu Bingyun, you're right. She couldn't possibly be that ruthless to me. Even if our statuses are worlds apart, the eight years we spent together… every moment, every instant, was utterly real… Although she is a Star God, she is actually younger than me… Eight years… that's a third of her life. How could she so easily erase that from her soul?"
Mu Bingyun: "…"
"Moreover, I always feel that she must be about to face something very important. After yesterday, this feeling is even stronger… Palace Master Mu Bingyun, in these past years, have you heard of any particularly significant event concerning the Star God Realm?" Yun Che asked for guidance.
Mu Bingyun shook her head: "Matters at the level of the Star God Realm are beyond what the Yin Xue Realm can touch."
After a moment, she recalled something and continued, "However, if it's just rumors, about twenty years ago, there was a strange rumor about the Star God Realm that caused quite a stir."
"…What rumor?" Yun Che immediately perked up his ears.
"It seemed to be called the 'True God Plan.'"
"True God Plan…" Yun Che immediately remembered where he had heard that name before: "Two years ago, when I was in the Heiya Realm, I think I also heard something about it."
"However, it is clearly a false rumor."
"False? Why?"
"Very simple." Mu Bingyun spoke slowly: "Many king realms across the various divine regions are trying to find the path of a True God. If the Star God Realm truly had such a method concerning the 'Path of a True God,' it would inevitably be the greatest secret of the entire Star God Realm, and not a shred of it would be leaked. Yet this rumor spread widely back then, not only among king realms and upper star realms but also among many in our middle star realms and even lower star realms. Based on this alone, it is almost certainly untrue."
"And in the years that followed, the other king realms made no moves against the Star God Realm, and that rumor has mostly dissipated."
"Aside from this, the only 'major events' concerning the Star God Realm were the successive 'falls' of the Celestial Wolf Star God and the Heavenly Slaughter Star God back then. And you should know more about that than anyone else."
"…" Yun Che was silent for a very, very long time, then said, as if talking to himself, "What use is it for me to try to know anything now? Mo Li was absolutely right. As I am now, I don't even have the slightest qualification. If that is a major event for her, what good would it do me to know? What could I possibly do?"
He took another deep breath, and his mind became several degrees clearer. He suddenly said, "Palace Master Mu Bingyun, didn't Huo Poyun say yesterday that my match today… is a bye?"
"Indeed." Mu Bingyun nodded: "In the first round of the Loser's Group today, your opponent was supposed to be that demon named Wei Hen. But he was annihilated yesterday, and his name was erased from the Divine Seal Competition. Therefore, on the battle rankings released yesterday, you had no opponent and directly received a bye, meaning you've advanced directly to the second round of the Loser's Group."
"Perhaps this is also a kind of divine will." Yun Che tilted his head slightly, and at that moment, truly made his decision.
"Palace Master Mu Bingyun, I want… to return to the Yin Xue Realm," Yun Che said.
"Alright." Mu Bingyun nodded without the slightest hesitation: "I'll go back with you."
"No," Yun Che shook his head, a strange light flashing in his eyes: "I plan to go back alone. And… I'll return very soon!"
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As the sky brightened, experts from all realms had begun to rush towards the Feng Shen Platform.
Yun Che walked alone, unhurriedly, but the direction he was heading was vastly different from everyone else.
His steps were so slow, as if he were silently pondering something, but his gaze was clear, and his heart was like a lake untouched by a gentle breeze, without any of the excitement, anxiety, or confusion he had felt when he first arrived at Zhou Tian. There was only a quiet stillness.
So quiet that even he himself found it surprising.
"Heh! Oh ho ho ho! Who do we have here? Isn't this that trash from yesterday who was so scared by me that he didn't even dare to step onto the Feng Shen Platform!"
A voice, extremely grating to the ears, suddenly reached him.
Luo Changan, who had appeared from who knows where, was squinting at Yun Che's back, his face full of deep contempt and mockery.
Yun Che paid him no heed, not even pausing in his steps.
"Hahahaha," from behind came Luo Changan's unbridled, wild laughter: "Yesterday you didn't even dare to set foot on the Feng Shen Platform, and now you're so scared you don't even dare to turn your head. As expected, trash is trash, hahahahaha…"
"Tch, letting trash like you into the Divine Seal Competition is practically dragging us, the true Divine Seal Sons, down with you in shame." Luo Changan seemed to thoroughly enjoy the thrill of bullying the weak. Seeing that Yun Che didn't even dare to utter a single word in rebuttal, he felt even more elated. Half-squinting his eyes, he made an extremely contemptuous gesture towards Yun Che's back: "Hey, trash, listen up. A real man fights to the end, even if it means death. Only the lowest scum grovel and surrender like spineless dogs, hahahahaha…"
Yun Che's footsteps suddenly stopped. He slowly turned around, his gaze finally shifting to Luo Changan, but still perfectly calm.
"Your name is… Luo Changan, right?"
"Oh?" Seeing that Yun Che actually had the nerve to speak to him face to face, Luo Changan narrowed his eyes, showing an expression of interest.
"Heh," Yun Che's face did not show the humiliated expression Luo Changan wanted to see. Instead, he smiled faintly: "Remember the words you just said… Don't forget a single one of them!"
"…" Luo Changan was stunned for a moment, then, as if something had poked his funny bone, he burst into frenzied laughter, laughing so hard he bent over: "Pu hahahaha… hahahaha…"
Yun Che didn't look at him again, nor did he pay any further attention to his taunts. He walked directly towards the exit of the Zhou Tian Realm.
People like Mu Bingyun and Huo Rulie, though invited guests, might not be able to re-enter the Zhou Tian Realm if they left at this moment. But the Divine Seal Sons enjoyed the freedom to enter and leave the Zhou Tian Realm's restrictions at any time during the Profound God Convention.
As for the time, the Divine Seal Competition for that day had already begun. Yet being one of the Divine Seal Sons, he had already stepped out of the Zhou Tian Realm's restrictions and, following his memory, found the special spatial profound formation he had arrived through.
Fortunately, the profound formation leading to the Yin Xue Realm happened to be open at that moment.
Exiting the profound formation, he was greeted by a world of white snowflakes. Yun Che summoned the Ice Phoenix Mysterious Ark that Mu Bingyun had given him and flew towards the Binghuang Realm at top speed.
"Sigh, Master is definitely furious and completely disappointed in me right now… I'll probably get a good beating from her." Standing on the Mysterious Ark, Yun Che muttered gloomily to himself. He had figured out what he needed to do next, but he hadn't figured out at all how to face Mu Xuanyin.
Disobeying his master's orders, forcibly exposing himself to danger, and dragging her down with him to be ridiculed…
Sigh… Yun Che let out a long breath.
Thinking back now, at the Zhou Tian Realm, where he was just a step away from Mo Li, he had indeed, in his eagerness, done too many things he shouldn't have, even things he wouldn't normally do.
But if he had to choose again, he might still do the same.
Returning to the Binghuang Realm, he entered the sect and went straight to the Binghuang Sacred Domain. As soon as he entered the Sacred Domain, he knelt heavily on the ground and said with shame: "Master, your disciple has returned. I know I have committed a grave mistake… Please punish me."
The only response he got was the sound of flying snow.
He did not move, kneeling there for nearly an hour, but received no response from Mu Xuanyin at all.
"Master?" Yun Che tentatively called out again. Still no one answered.
Could it be that Master wasn't here?
With Mu Xuanyin's cultivation, the moment he returned, she would know immediately without him needing to make a sound.
"Master!"
Yun Che stood up and entered the Sacred Hall. The Sacred Hall was empty and silent. In the pool at its center, whose water never froze, floated an Ice Feather Spirit Flower that seemed never to wither, shimmering with an exceptionally brilliant light.
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[Let me tell everyone a ghost story: It's… the… end… of… the… month…]