# Chapter 1925: Choice (Part 2)
A faint glimmer of light flickered in the palm stained with tears, revealing the Cosmic Thorn.
She slowly lifted the Cosmic Thorn, and in her mind, the words spoken by Jie Tian Mo Di before his departure echoed:
"You have already seen my choice. What your final choice will be, let my Cosmic Thorn bear witness!"
She knelt there, for an entire day and night.
Finally, the wind gradually ceased, carrying away the desolation that had wrapped around her. She slowly rose, her eyes now devoid of tears and sorrow, and the boundless grief was deeply buried at the bottom of her soul.
Facing the Cosmic Thorn, she spoke slowly: "Senior, I have made my choice."
"I have already failed my parents, failed my sect, failed Yuan Ba... Since it has come to this, he and I were husband and wife after all. At least, let there be one person in this world toward whom I can truly have no regrets."
"However, what I am obeying is not fate, but my own heart!"
The Cosmic Thorn disappeared from her hand. The one who had previously fallen into the greatest collapse of her life now had eyes clearer and more resolute than ever before.
"When the 'final act' draws near, I will naturally resist in my own way! But until then..."
The Cosmic Thorn vanished from her hand. She turned her gaze northward, the distant sky reflected in her deep purple eyes.
"I abhor this pitiable fate, yet... I cannot refuse this sorrowful 'wish'."
"Yun Che, now that you are in the Northern Divine Realm, you no longer have weaknesses or attachments, only hatred that will force you to grow quickly... Before you return, I will, bit by bit, pave the way for you."
"I only pray that when you return, you can stand proudly at the pinnacle of this world, reclaim everything you deserve, and no one will ever be able to destroy or harm you again..."
"Even if only for... to not let down... my life that is about to meet its end."
.............
Afterwards, the Yue Shen Realm was far less peaceful than it appeared on the surface.
The Zhou Tian Divine Realm was making every effort to search for traces of Yun Che, and the Yue Shen Realm seemed to be taking similar actions, with people coming and going far more frequently than before. But in truth, their mission was not Yun Che, but intelligence.
The core memories of successive Yue Shen Dis naturally included all the secrets of the Yue Shen Realm... as well as the secrets of various realms secretly under their control.
Even the fact that the Fan Di Divine Realm was hiding the Primordial Chaos Life-Death Seal had long been discovered, which shows how formidable the intelligence capabilities of the Yue Shen Realm had always been.
These secrets were only ever used to control and intimidate when necessary, and Yue Wuyai had rarely used them in his lifetime. But in Xia Qingyue's hands, they were fully deployed, step by step, planting time bombs ready to explode at any moment in various star realms of the Eastern Domain.
.............
She discovered that the place where Yun Che had briefly hidden back then was the Liuguang Realm, so she proactively made it public, then severely punished Shui Qianheng and took Shui Meiyin away.
At the bottom of the Moon Prison, she took out the Cosmic Thorn, explained everything to Shui Meiyin, and asked her to use her Stainless Divine Soul to gradually establish affinity with the Cosmic Thorn, until she became its new master and inherited everything she had done back then.
"Meiyin, death is the choice I must make, and also the best ending. For me, perhaps everything in this world can be changed, but this one point, I will never waver."
"Let him hate me forever as he does now. That way, after I die, he will not grieve, and there will be no void left in his soul... That must also be the result you don't want to see, right?"
"Don't be sad for me. At least, there is still you who remembers everything I have done. At least, you will accompany him in my place and watch him become what he most deserves to be."
.............
After he killed the Guardian of Zhou Tian in the Tai Chu Divine Realm, corrupted Zhou Xuzi, and took away the Void Cauldron, she once made a special trip to the Tai Chu Divine Realm to investigate the traces he had left.
But after that, she did not immediately leave the Tai Chu Divine Realm. Instead, she came to the Abyss of Nothingness.
And there, at the edge of the Abyss of Nothingness, she stayed for a very, very long time.
Before leaving, the corners of her lips lifted slightly into a faint smile.
Because she had found the best destination for herself.
.............
That day was Yun Wuxin's eighteenth birthday, as well as the scheduled meeting between Yun Che, Chi Wuyue and Zhou Xuzi, Zhou Qingchen.
From a distant space, she witnessed Yun Che brutally killing Zhou Qingchen in front of Zhou Xuzi... the ferocious grin on his face, the hate-filled roar—these were sides of him she had never seen before.
In the end, Zhou Xuzi withdrew in hatred, and Yun Che fainted with blood still on his lips. Her presence was sensed by Chi Wuyue's perception.
Using the Cosmic Thorn to instantly return to the Yue Shen Realm, Xia Qingyue sighed to herself: "As expected of the legendary Demon Empress of the Northern Domain—her strength and methods live up to her name. With her by his side, it seems I need not worry too much."
.............
The Northern Domain shook as Yun Che was crowned, becoming the supreme Demon Lord who stood above the Northern Domain's royal realms and led the demon race.
The dark barrier of the Soul-Plundering Holy Domain naturally could not block the Cosmic Thorn's spatial divine power.
From an exceptionally distant sky, she watched as Yun Che, clad in a dark brocade robe emblazoned with crimson demonic patterns, his night-like long hair dancing with the demonic wind, received the Eternal Calamity demonic light from Jie Tian Mo Di, turning his eyes into dark demonic abysses that could instantly devour a person's soul.
The three royal realms bowed low, and all the dark profound practitioners paid homage... In merely three years, he had become the supreme emperor of the Northern Divine Domain.
"Yun Che, this is how you should look."
She watched from afar, a faint and exquisite smile on her lips. "It's worth the great risk I took to come witness this moment of yours."
The dark erosion surged quickly, and she knew she could not stay long. Turning around, she said: "I look forward to the day of your return."
Only now did Yun Che learn that back then, she had made a special trip across the divine regions to witness his coronation as the Demon Lord of the Northern Domain.
.............
"Reporting to Master, news has come from the Western Divine Domain. There have indeed been movements on the Dragon God Realm's side regarding what you mentioned earlier." Lian Yue reported intelligence from the Dragon God Realm to her.
"Specifically?"
"The Dragon God Realm has been secretly investigating the existence of 'Light Profound Force.' Their stated purpose is to find profound practitioners with Light Profound Force aptitude for the Dragon Queen, possibly to train them as successors. This effort seems to have been ongoing for several years. The true purpose is unknown."
After a brief silence, Xia Qingyue instructed: "Send word there to stop investigating this matter. Divert that portion of intelligence resources to tracking the movements of the various Dragon Gods."
"Yes."
As Lian Yue left, Xia Qingyue murmured to herself: "If that's the case, Shen Xi is likely still alive... and Long Bai doesn't know her whereabouts."
In the Reincarnation Forbidden Land, there was only one trace of destruction.
No matter how powerful Long Bai was, he couldn't have killed Shen Xi in a single strike.
The news from the Dragon God Realm was a strong indication that Shen Xi might still be alive.
.............
Time flowed on, gradually approaching the fourth year since Yun Che entered the Northern Divine Domain... the moment when the curtain of war would be drawn.
One after another, overt and covert maneuvers were silently unfolding. The Zhou Tian Realm announced that a new crown prince would soon be appointed, and dark clouds of anger gathered over the Northern Divine Domain, their spearhead pointing directly at the Zhou Tian Realm, which had supposedly used the Void Cauldron to destroy Northern Domain star realms.
"So fast." Gazing at the dark clouds in the north, Xia Qingyue murmured softly.
This day had arrived far earlier than she had anticipated.
"You have walked through true hell, so you surely will not allow yourself to fail. And with the Demon Empress at your side, I believe this is not a hasty and reckless step." She said to herself. "Then, I will pave the first step of the path for you."
.............
In the Tai Chu Divine Realm.
She placed a drop of Shen Xi's blood, obtained from the Reincarnation Forbidden Land, onto the gray earth.
Not far away, the Azure Dragon God was approaching this area.
The blood slowly sank into the ground, but a faint light aura remained.
Using the Cosmic Thorn to teleport, another drop of blood sank into another distant Tai Chu space.
Then, she took out that bamboo slip, and following the handwriting on it, used a stone to lightly carve the character "Xi" on the ground.
Then, her figure appeared in another space.
Fifteen spatial transfers, and she placed sixteen drops of Shen Xi's blood into sixteen spaces of the Tai Chu Divine Realm, in a manner that would make it difficult for Long Bai to find them quickly, yet eventually would catch his attention.
And at the last location, she left behind handwriting indicating that she would return in a few months.
This arrangement had a purpose and flaws that could be easily seen through... but Xia Qingyue believed that, given Long Bai's twisted obsession with Shen Xi, as long as Shen Xi was involved, even if he was ninety-nine percent suspicious, he would never let go of that one percent possibility.
That would be enough.
Witnessing with her own eyes the Azure Dragon God discover the first trace of light aura and then rush away urgently, Xia Qingyue turned and vanished from the Tai Chu Divine Realm.
.............
In the Southern Divine Domain, above an imperial palace of Nan Wansheng in the western region of the Nanming Divine Realm.
She watched a young girl who had hidden her aura to the extreme silently place a soul crystal onto the body of Nan Wansheng's personal attendant.
The soul crystal recorded the secret of the Fan Di Divine Realm hiding the Primordial Chaos Life-Death Seal.
"Hehehehe, trying to use this king as a pawn... But! This king willingly takes the bait!"
"The temptation of immortality—who can resist it? Hahahaha!"
Amid wild laughter, the young girl faded away into hiding.
Xia Qingyue's figure also moved away.
"The rumored Seventh Demoness, Hua Jin? Truly worthy of her reputation." She murmured softly. "It seems I need not intervene."
"Her ability to conceal her aura is unmatched in the world. And despite bearing dark aura, there is no sign of leakage... Could this be the 'Dark Eternal Calamity' that Mo Di senior mentioned? It seems the core forces of the Northern Divine Domain have all been transformed because of him."
"The step he has taken will surely catch the Eastern Divine Domain off guard."
"This method surely came from Qianye." Her purple eyes flickered with complex light, and her figure vanished into the air.
At the same time, one by one, the time bombs that had long been planted were silently detonated as the curtain of war in the Northern Domain was about to rise.
"Give this blood-stained sword to the Realm King of Ming Xin Realm. He will then know that the one who killed his youngest son back then was the Realm King of Yi Yang Realm."
"Give this soul crystal—one to Luo Changsheng, one to Luo Shangchen—and leave no trace."
"The shameful deeds of Wu Sanzun, the Realm King of Shen Wu Realm, are recorded in this. Use it to order him to close his realm for the next three months and not send a single person out, on pain of ruining his reputation."
"Place these seven Tai Chu Poison Vines into the seven seas of Jiu Huang Realm. The turmoil among the seven sea tribes will be enough to keep Jiu Huang Realm busy for a while."
.............
.............
The first step of the dark invasion was to trample the Eastern Divine Domain.
This step went smoothly, especially with the upper star realms that posed the greatest threat—most of them remained extremely quiet throughout.
When blood stained Zhou Tian, the surrounding upper star realms also did not come to its rescue.
This was the result of the careful planning by Chi Wuyue, Yun Qianying, and the others.
However, none of them had imagined that behind this unexpectedly smooth progress and far smaller-than-expected losses, there was another layer of invisible assistance.
Especially the fact that the greatest threat, and also the biggest variable—Long Bai—had been lured away.
Without the Dragon Emperor's command, the Dragon God Realm, and indeed the entire Western Divine Domain, entered a prolonged state of watching from the sidelines.