# Chapter 1288: Immortal Palace Cloud Moon
The moment this thought occurred, Yun Che's heart grew heavy. He said softly, "Qingyue, I'm sorry. If it weren't for me..."
"It's not your fault." Xia Qingyue shook her head slightly. "This was my choice."
"But why didn't you tell me this? Back then, if you had just sent me a sound transmission, perhaps... perhaps..."
Perhaps what? Yun Che did not finish.
"Perhaps you would have accepted it?" Xia Qingyue said.
"At the very least, I would have known that you weren't really marrying Yue Shen Di." Yun Che tilted his head back and closed his eyes, his heart filled with turmoil.
"You would have known, but would the world know?" Xia Qingyue said softly, speaking words almost identical to her mother's: "From that day onward, the world would know me as the Divine Empress of the Yue Shen Realm. Even if it was just an empty title, even if Xing Shendi hadn't publicly revealed our marriage, even if this matter would never be exposed... could you really accept it?"
"..." Yun Che could not answer.
Xia Qingyue shook her head gently. "You are an extremely prideful person. I knew this from the very first day I married you. Today, you beat his two sons in front of your adoptive father, all so that I could see the anger and resentment in your heart. Wasn't it?"
"Qingyue... I..."
"You don't need to feel guilty, and you certainly don't need to feel that you owe me anything. If you weren't here, being 'Divine Empress' would be nothing more than an empty title for me—one that allowed me to fulfill my adoptive father's expectations and my own wishes. But since you are here, I am your wife..."
On one side were her adoptive father and mother; on the other was Yun Che, who had suddenly appeared...
Everything could have proceeded smoothly, but just like when Yue Wugou suddenly regained her memories back then, heaven had played a joke on her—whether kind or cruel—by making Yun Che, whom she thought she had lost forever, appear before her again.
She chose Yun Che... without thinking, because at that moment, her mind was filled with nothing but endless chaos, unable to think about anything.
Even now, she didn't know why she had chosen Yun Che.
With the entire Eastern Domain in attendance, this wedding ceremony could no longer be cancelled or stopped. After requesting the Dun Yue Immortal Palace from Yue Shen Di, she had originally planned to leave alone, to escape the title of "Divine Empress," and to return later to explain and seek forgiveness once Yue Shen Di's anger had subsided.
But then the marriage contract was publicly exposed by Xing Shendi, and Yun Che also admitted it openly. So she had no choice but to take Yun Che and leave together. Otherwise, in Yue Shen Di's rage and loss of control, he would surely kill Yun Che, regardless of who he was.
Yun Che's heart trembled violently... He had just silently asked himself: Xia Qingyue had not truly married anyone. It was a completely false title and identity. He really shouldn't have been unable to accept it entirely. But on the other side were his adoptive father's dignity and most important expectations, as well as his biological mother's dying wish...
Yet she had chosen him... betraying her adoptive father, who had shown her great kindness; betraying her biological mother; and betraying the Yue Shen Realm.
Her moon-colored robe was stained with the heart blood she had coughed up, even more piercing and eye-catching than before.
They were husband and wife—had been since she was sixteen...
But looking back over these years, what had he ever done for her?
He had acquired one confidante after another, and had even married Cang Yue and Xiao Yaohou later... Had he ever asked for her consent as his principal wife? Had he ever once considered her feelings?
He had always thought that Xia Qingyue was only obsessed with the path of the profound, deliberately keeping her distance from him, disregarding the bond between them as husband and wife.
It was only today that he realized... the one who had truly been disregarding it... was himself.
A suffocating pressure weighed on his chest. Yun Che stepped forward and gently embraced her from behind.
Xia Qingyue trembled slightly... but did not break free.
Her body was still cold. The heart-devouring torment of betraying her adoptive father and mother still pained her unbearably. But, feeling Yun Che's real presence, her heart gradually began to calm, little by little, at this moment. She closed her eyes and spoke as if in a dream: "All these years, I thought I was living in an illusory dream... until I saw you again..."
After the calamity that befell her sect, in the blink of an eye, she had arrived in a completely unfamiliar world.
Alone, with no one around—every person, every thing, every wisp of air, every grain of sand—all were strange. She knew no one. No one accompanied her, no one helped her... Everything from the Tian Xuan Continent seemed like a memory she could never return to.
That faint, brief sentence conveyed endless loneliness and desolation. Even though she had found her mother here, she was still accompanied only by solitude.
It was only when Yun Che appeared that she felt as if she had awoken from her "dream." She even felt that she was still "alive."
"Qingyue, from now on... I will be with you." Yun Che held her a little tighter. "As for what happened this time, I will go back with you to apologize to Yue Shen Di and your mother."
"No," Xia Qingyue shook her head. "I told you, it's not your fault. I will go and apologize to them myself."
"If you still recognize me as your husband, then when it comes to seeking forgiveness, we should do it together as husband and wife." Yun Che said with a gentle smile.
Xia Qingyue still shook her head. "My adoptive father might forgive me. He might no longer hold it against you. But... he will never forgive you. Your presence will only provoke his rage."
Xia Qingyue's words made Yun Che freeze. Then he fell silent.
Xia Qingyue was Yue Wugou's daughter and his adopted daughter. Even for a grave mistake, Yue Shen Di might forgive her. But what was Yun Che to Yue Shen Di?
As the "root cause" of everything, it was already the limit for him not to be hunted down by the entire Eastern Divine Region. Why would Yue Shen Di ever forgive him?
Even though he had done nothing at all...
"Twenty-four hours will be enough for my adoptive father to calm his anger." Xia Qingyue's voice softened slightly, and she let out a sigh that Yun Che could not hear. "After twenty-four hours, I will send you to the Zhou Tian Realm. Then I will return to the Yue Shen Realm to apologize to my adoptive father... Don't worry about me. My adoptive father treats me like his own daughter. He will not be too harsh on me."
"Focus on your cultivation in the Zhou Tian Divine Realm... It is truly a once-in-ten-thousand-years opportunity."
Although she hadn't been following the Profound God Convention, she knew about the thousand chosen ones entering the Zhou Tian Pearl.
Just as Yun Che was about to reply, the Dun Yue Immortal Palace suddenly shook violently, and even the light flickered for an instant.
Yun Che's brow furrowed, and he quickly released Xia Qingyue. "What's happening?"
The moment the words left his mouth, he saw on the massive light screen in front of them—within the vast cosmic space—a figure covered in dazzling gold charging straight toward them.
The Dun Yue Immortal Palace was incredibly fast. Yet this golden figure was steadily closing the distance between them.
The tremor just now was clearly caused by his profound energy attack!
"It's the 'Golden Moon God,' Yue Wuji." Xia Qingyue looked at the light screen, no panic on her jade-like face. "He is the fastest among the Twelve Moon Gods, second only to my adoptive father."
"But he won't catch up."
As she spoke softly, Xia Qingyue turned her snowy hand. With a flash of moonlight, the already swift Dun Yue Immortal Palace seemed to accelerate even further.
Immediately, the distance stopped closing. In a moment, it even began to gradually increase.
Sensing this, the golden figure seemed to grow enraged. A sky-covering beam of golden profound energy suddenly burst forth, directly enveloping the Dun Yue Immortal Palace.
After all, the Dun Yue Immortal Palace was one of the top-tier profound vessels in the entire Divine Realm. Even against power at the level of a Moon God, it had considerable defensive capability. Under the golden profound light, the Dun Yue Immortal Palace shook and veered off course. But in just a few breaths, it regained its balance, and its speed was almost unaffected.
Meanwhile, the recoil pushed the golden figure even farther away.
"I hope he doesn't chase for too long."
Xia Qingyue's soft words had barely faded when they saw the golden figure suddenly stop... In an instant, it completely vanished from sight.
Xia Qingyue was slightly startled. Her chest heaved, and she murmured absentmindedly: "Has my adoptive father already calmed his anger?"
A flicker of profound light flashed on her hand, and the Dun Yue Immortal Palace slowed down slightly. Maximum speed would greatly increase energy consumption. The Golden Moon God suddenly stopped chasing—likely only because Yue Shen Di had ordered him to. That meant the "crisis" might have been resolved early, so there was no need to fly at maximum speed, preserving enough energy for at least twenty-four hours of flight.
The tense atmosphere had lasted less than ten breaths before completely dissipating. They looked at each other, momentarily silent.
Yun Che was the first "old acquaintance" Xia Qingyue had encountered in the Divine Realm. And Xia Qingyue was also the first "old acquaintance" Yun Che had met in the Divine Realm.
They had been married for twelve years, yet they were often apart, sometimes close, sometimes distant. Every meeting was hurried, and every separation lasted months or even years. There had even been a separation that felt like life and death.
If not for that wedding ceremony and that marriage contract, perhaps there would be nothing to prove they were husband and wife.
But strangely, they always seemed to intertwine in each other's lives. At the Tian Jian Villa, it ended with a battle between husband and wife. When she stayed in the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, Yun Che became the first male disciple in its history. When she was sent to the Divine Realm, they were separated by "life and death," only to reunite again in this vast world.
It was as if they were bound together by invisible threads, countless in number.
"Back then, how did you survive on the Primordial Mystic Ark?" Xia Qingyue spoke first. "And why did you come to the Divine Realm?"
"At that time, I was certain I was going to die..."
The events on the Primordial Mystic Ark were somewhat distant to Yun Che now, but his memories were extremely clear. He began to tell Xia Qingyue everything from that time. He told her about Mo Li's existence, about how he followed the Primordial Mystic Ark to the Huan Yao Realm, found his biological parents, and met Xiao Yaohou... After that, he returned to the Tian Xuan Continent, saved Bing Yun from disaster...
He spoke of himself, of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, of Xia Yuanba's growth, of the calamity of Xuanyuan Wentian, of the changes in the Tian Xuan Continent's power structure... all the way to following Mu Bingyun to the Divine Realm and joining the Bing Huang God Sect.
For the first time, he opened his heart so completely to Xia Qingyue. Perhaps it was because her "choice" had deeply moved him.
"I never thought that the Bing Yun ancestor was still alive. And that the Bing Yun Fairy Palace has such a connection with the Yin Xue Realm." Xia Qingyue sighed in wonder.
In her first year in the Divine Realm, Xia Qingyue had learned from Yue Shen Di that the Ice God Divine Art she practiced was clearly the Ice Phoenix God-Sealing Canon of the Yin Xue Realm.
But naturally, she could never have imagined such a miraculous connection.
"If there's a chance in the future, I'll take you to meet the Ice Cloud Palace Master." Thinking of Mu Bingyun, Yun Che's heart warmed involuntarily. "At first, I thought the Ice Cloud Palace Master was the kind of person who was utterly cold and indifferent. Later, I discovered that she isn't cold-hearted at all. Instead, she is the purest and gentlest person I have ever met. This time, I'm sure she's worried about me again."
Without realizing it, the Dun Yue Immortal Palace had already flown out of the Eastern Divine Region, arriving in a vast, boundless unknown space.
A brief calm before the storm. Poor young couple—prepare to tremble under the claws of the great demon king Qianye!