novel ATTG - Chapter 2040

Chapter 2040 – Alluring Prismatic Heart

After the young lady finished speaking, instead of breathing a sigh of relief as she should have, her heart rate actually quickened, the thumping sound almost filling her entire soul realm.

During her time in the mortal world, she had gained an increasingly clear understanding of her own appearance. She had rejected countless people’s advances and perceived too many infatuated or covetous gazes.

Yet at this moment, it was the first time since entering the Mist Sea that she took the initiative to invite a man, and that peculiar feeling of tension was extremely unfamiliar and complex.

One’s first time in life is always filled with novelty and apprehension, and it will always be an indelible memory.

Unsurprisingly, the man in front of her looked at her in astonishment, remaining silent for a long time.

Hua Caili would not forget that in her previous encounters with Yun Che, he would always leave quickly, completely unwilling to interact with her.

That line “because we are not from the same world” left a deep impression on her. So if Yun Che directly rejected her, she would not be surprised at all. Just as she was about to say something else, she saw Yun Che slightly nod: “Alright, then I’ll take you up on your offer.”

“Really?” Hua Caili did not hide her surprise, then said half-teasingly: “I thought you would refuse. Before, whenever you met me, you would immediately walk away, not even giving me a chance to thank you, as if there was something repulsive about me.”

“How could that be.” Yun Che smiled and shook his head: “For a celestial lady such as yourself, even a chance encounter in one’s life is a great honor. How could anyone possibly avoid you?”

His smile faded slightly, his eyes full of meaning as he said: “As I have said before, we are ultimately people from two different worlds. I know I should not get close to you, so I chose to keep my distance.”

“Why do you feel that way?” She pondered for a moment, then asked seriously.

“Some things cannot be hidden,” Yun Che said in an exceptionally calm tone. “Your noble birth is evident at a glance, my lady. When I first met you in the Heroic City of the Forbidden Abyss Realm, your speech and conduct made it clear that your status is so lofty, it’s beyond what I can even imagine or dare to approach.”

His tone seemed to grow even flatter: “People from different worlds should not intersect.”

Upon these words, Hua Caili’s azure eyes fell upon Yun Che, suddenly becoming misty, a stabbing pain arising in her heart.

She knew that Yun Che was articulating a harsh yet widely unacknowledged truth of reality.

Such words should belong to someone who has endured vast hardship and suffering or gained profound enlightenment through countless trials, not from a person who has not even lived a score of years and should still be innocent and carefree.

Just like Hua Caili herself – she might understand the surface meaning now, but she could never truly comprehend the profound implication behind these words.

“But if you put it that way, since we’re all in a world called the Abyss, how can we not be considered people from the same world?” Hua Caili blinked, disagreeing: “Then why are you willing to travel with me now? I was prepared for you to refuse.”

“Of course I cannot reject a request from the one who saved my life,” Yun Che answered frankly. “Actually, I always thought that for a lady like yourself, there must be someone powerful secretly protecting you during your travels. So I felt that my intervention was uncalled for before.”

Hua Caili’s eyes wavered: No wonder…

“But now it seems you really are traveling alone, my lady.”

Yun Che’s words were reasonable enough. After all, if he had not intervened at the last moment, Hua Caili would have perished under Fan Qingzhou’s sword.

“My aunt said that if one has something to rely on during training, it will be difficult to make a breakthrough, so it cannot be considered true training.” Her long lashes fluttered slightly. She was clearly unskilled at deceiving others, so as long as she did not voice the rest of her thought but let Yun Che infer it himself, it would not count as a lie.

“I see.” Yun Che then asked, “Your aunt?”

“Yes! My aunt is also my master. It was she who urged me to go out and gain experience,” Hua Caili moved her steps, standing beside Yun Che. “So, from now on, we are companions, right?”

Yun Che nodded solemnly, “Yes. For saving my life, I would not consider it too much even if I had to repay with my own life. Until you have recovered, I will do my utmost to protect you completely.”

Hua Caili could hear the clear hint of rational detachment in his sincere words. With her beauty and noble birth, anyone who approached her would inevitably harbor all sorts of intentions.

Yet when faced with Hua Caili’s initiative, Yun Che’s reaction was simply…this must be someone who embodies the luminous profound force. Perhaps the records were right – a luminous soul cannot accommodate any worldly darkness.

“By the way, I don’t know your celestial name yet?” His clear eyes shone with anticipation.

Hua Caili lightly stepped forward, allowing only her back to enter his view. “My name is Qu Yixin.”

Then she added what seemed like an unnecessary explanation, “This is the name my aunt gave me.”

Bang!

A muffled sound, as two early Celestial Beast realm monsters were shattered in midair before they could approach, leaving no trace.

Yun Che’s gaze cautiously swept the surroundings before he slowly lowered his hands.

“So you stayed in the Forbidden Abyss Realm and participated in that Celestial Beast Assembly to repay that favor to the princess?”

Walking beside him, Hua Caili asked without her exuberant mood being affected by the dispersed monsters.

“The sandstorms outside the Scaly Abyss Realm were quite formidable. I was severely injured at the time. If not for Princess Helian’s guidance, I wouldn’t know how long I’d be trapped in the sandstorm,” Yun Che casually recounted. “As repayment, I temporarily joined the Helian Royal Family to win them the qualification to enter the Celestial Beast Realm.”

“I see, I thought you were the princess’s husband at the time,” Hua Caili said with a smile.

Yun Che looked astonished. “Why would you think that?”

“Because you two were very close. The interaction between you gave off that impression, I’m sure many would have thought the same,” she glanced sidelong at Yun Che’s bewildered expression, a teasing look in her eyes.

Since entering the Mist Sea, her heart had never felt so relaxed, even her beautiful eyes seeming to contain myriad twinkling stars.

Traveling alone in the Mist Sea required constant vigilance, even a moment’s rest could invite sudden danger. Every breath and instant felt like being submerged in oppressive, terrifying quicksand.

But with a companion, one could keep watch while the other rested, reducing the burden by more than half.

“How could that be possible,” Yun Che laughed and shook his head. “She is a princess of the royal family, while I am but a rootless drifter swept into the Scaly Abyss Realm by the sandstorm. Were it not for the favor she granted me, we would never have interacted at all.”

“You always place so much importance on favors,” without the pressure, Hua Caili’s steps were much lighter. “So after entering the Celestial Beast Realm, did you see that legendary Celestial Beast in person?”

Yun Che shook his head directly, his face showing no regret. “No. I had no interest in entering the Celestial Beast Realm itself. I only participated in the Assembly to repay Princess Helian’s favor. After the Helian Royal Family entered the Celestial Beast Realm, I only stayed for a short while before leaving and departing from the Scaly Abyss Realm.”

“Ah?” Surprise covered that jade-like face. “You just left directly? Didn’t the princess try to keep you there? Surely she, and they, would have been very reluctant to let you go.”

Yun Che smiled and shook his head. “By helping the Helian Royal Family gain entry to the Celestial Beast Realm, I had fully repaid the favor. With no more debts between us, I naturally had no reason to stay in the Scaly Abyss Realm.”

“As you thought, I did consider that she might insist I remain. If I had refused her in person, it would have hurt her feelings. My master taught that as a man, one cannot hurt a woman’s heart.” Yun Che continued, “So I had no choice but to leave without saying goodbye.”

“I see,” Hua Caili tilted her head slightly, trying to understand Yun Che’s words.
She had so many questions she wanted to ask him, so many that she didn’t know where to start. There were too many novel things about him that piqued her curiosity.
Especially since even her aunt was so curious about him.

After a long silence, the young lady glanced sidelong, “By the way, Mister Yun, where are you from? And why are you traveling alone?”

“My origin?” Yun Che shook his head, “I have no origin.”

“No origin?” Hua Caili could not understand, “How can a person have no origin? For example, where is your home, your parents and relatives?”

Yun Che looked ahead, “In this world, I have no home, nor any parents or relatives.”

His home, his parents and relatives were not in this Abyss realm, but in another world.
He did not lie a single word.

But to Hua Caili’s ears, he spoke the most desolate words in the world in the calmest voice.

Hua Caili turned her head abruptly, the stars in her beautiful eyes seeming to shatter, her voice also suddenly much softer, “Did…did you experience some great calamity?”

Yet the man in her sight shook his head again, his tone as calm as before, “Since coming to this world, I have never had a home. As for parents and relatives, I have never even seen them, let alone have an origin. What you call a calamity is indeed a calamity for others, but for me, I never even had the opportunity to experience such a calamity.”

“To lose is perhaps painful, but at least one once had something. But in this vast Abyss realm, I have no place I came from, nor any destination to return to.”
His voice was as placid as a gentle breeze, devoid of any emotion. But to the young lady’s ears, it made her breath catch, her heart and soul feeling tugged by some heavy weight, a stifling ache.

Yun Che suddenly turned his head, facing the young lady’s misty eyes with a smile, “Does it sound very sad? Haha, but to me it means nothing. After all, it has been this way since I came to this world, I’m long used to it.”

In his laughter, the stars in the young lady’s eyes seemed to gain a few more cracks.
Yun Che inwardly scoffed at her empathy. With such a mindset, was she really worthy to be a celestial maiden of a supreme nation?
Her path of gaining experience would be far too long.

However, this was certainly better for him.
At the same time, the doubt in his heart grew stronger. According to the information he obtained in the Forbidden Abyss Realm and the scattered memories from his dream in Azure Province, the name of the Celestial Maiden Cai Li had existed for at least thousands of years.

In his understanding, those who had experienced thousands of years of vicissitudes would be unmoved facing mountains of corpses, let alone someone’s supposedly tragic life story.

Even if she was extremely sheltered, even if she had never experienced the mortal world before, she should have had thousands of years of life experience. How could her understanding of human nature and the laws of survival be so shallow and naive?

“Or perhaps I did possess something before, who knows,” he casually murmured.

The young lady was struck by his words and asked, “Could it be that you have lost your past memories?”

Yun Che nodded, “When I awoke in this world, I faced endless darkness, and the master who awakened me. My master told me that I was around ten years old at the time, with my body and soul severely damaged. If not for encountering my master, I would have died, body and soul perished.”

“My damaged soul was also healed by my master’s miraculous methods, allowing me to awaken again – already considered a miracle by mortal understanding. As for my past memories, they had long been completely scattered, leaving not a single trace behind, so I could never access my past again.”

His voice was calm and gentle, as if recounting a most ordinary experience. No hurt, no melancholy, no resentment towards fate, not even a shred of longing for his lost past.

Hua Caili looked at him, unwittingly stunned for a long time, before lowering her head and softly saying, “I have never met my mother, but my birthday is the anniversary of her death.”

Yun Che remained silent.

“My father treats me very well, as does my aunt and everyone else. But I still often think about the mother I have never seen, envious of others who can receive a mother’s love and scolding. I always feel regretful about the irreparable flaw in my life.”

She continued, “During this experience journey, I have witnessed countless darkness and miseries I had never imagined before. Especially that one time when I saw with my own eyes several newborn infants cruelly abandoned and denied the chance to grow up due to lacking innate talents.”

Witnessing such misery firsthand was infinitely more heart-wrenching than hearing accounts of it. But in this cruel Abyss realm, the vast majority of beings had long grown accustomed to it.

“It was also during this period that I gradually came to recognize how fortunate my own life is.”

She raised her eyes, looking at him with a comforting gaze, about to speak, but was cut off by Yun Che’s sideways glance, “You’re not trying to console me, are you? I have never felt miserable. On the contrary, I have always believed I am the luckiest person in this world.”

“Being revived from death goes without saying. In this life, to have encountered my master is a blessing that others could never obtain even after billions of lifetimes.”

Mentioning the words “my master”, his body straightened almost subconsciously, his head tilted back slightly, and a profound reverence surfaced in his eyes that rarely showed emotion even in dire situations.

“Your master must be an extraordinary, marvelous person,” Hua Caili lowered her voice cautiously, yet with a hint of probing, “His reputation must be great, right?”

Hua Caili’s attention was instantly focused on Yun Che, scrutinizing every slight change in his expression.

At the late Celestial Master realm, possessing five elemental forces as well as the luminous profound force that only existed in records, she was immensely curious about the supreme identity of Yun Che’s master.
With her vast knowledge, she could not think of anyone capable of being his equal.

Yet Yun Che shook his head slowly and solemnly, “Sister Qu, you have saved my life, I should not hide anything from you. It’s just that the gratitude I owe my master is as vast as the heavens, yet his requests of me are very few. One of them is to absolutely never reveal his identity to others.”

Hua Caili was taken aback and quickly said, “I have overstepped with my words.”

Yun Che showed a hint of embarrassment, hesitating before saying, “My master is actually not a person of this world, in fact…he is not even a person, but a lingering remnant soul. Aside from me, he has no connection to anyone in the present world. So in this era, his name holds no renown.”

“Teaching me was an unexpected act of kindness from his remnant consciousness. What I can tell you, Sister Qu, is only this much. Please forgive me.”

There was a hint of apology in his voice that made Hua Caili’s heart feel both warmth and slight unease. She shook her head, “Of course we must respect your master’s wishes. Then where is your master now?”

Yun Che smiled faintly, “After bestowing everything upon me, my master dispersed into the heavens and earth. Since then, I have entered the world alone, unknowingly for many years now.”

Above the vast sky, Hua Caili’s brows furrowed as she murmured softly, “An ancient remnant soul?”

In the ancient Abyss, innumerable supreme-rulers and demons had fallen. As the Abyss Dust gradually dissipated and life appeared, some began to barely survive, while more perished, leaving behind remnant souls in different forms upon their demise.

In the distant era, ancient remnant souls were often discovered, but became increasingly rare as time passed. By the present day, it had been tens of millions of years since one last appeared.

If Yun Che’s “master” was an ancient remnant soul that had never manifested in this world, then it provided the only explanation for the wondrous and perhaps non-existent abilities he possessed.

The extreme east of the world, the Chaos Wall.

Chi Wuyao, Qianye Yinger, and Shui Meiyin stood before the Chaos Wall, their expressions solemn.

The guides from various Starry Realms towards the sound’s source, the fragments of stars destroyed by the terrifying sound waves – everything pointed to the origin of that dreadful noise emanating from not from some star or realm, but the Chaos Wall itself!

Shui Meiyin stretched out her hand, the crimson supreme light having faded from the World Needle as it touched the Chaos Wall brimming with the force of laws. After a moment, she said softly, “Completely intact. However, even if the Chaos Wall is damaged, it would repair itself instantly. What happened before is impossible to ascertain.”

“This location…” Qianye Yinger exhaled slowly, “Is almost the same as where the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor broke through the wall to return to this world long ago.”

“Could it be that the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor and the demon supreme-rulers under her…”

“That’s impossible,” Qianye Yinger’s words were cut off by Chi Wuyao’s rejection, “The Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor and her demon supreme-rulers were able to survive in the outer Chaos for so many years by relying on the separate space created by the World Needle in the outer Chaos. Their eventual breakthrough of the Chaos Wall also depended on the power of the World Needle.”

“When the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor departed, she left the World Needle in this world. Without the supreme power of the World Needle sustaining it, the protective space in the outer Chaos must have collapsed very quickly. After so many years, the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor and her demon supreme-rulers should have long perished.”

She deliberately avoided mentioning one person – Jasmine, who was struck into the outer Chaos by the Eternal Heaven supreme-ruler Emperor. Her existence was far more fragile than the the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor and the demon supreme-rulers, practically annihilated the instant she was cast into the outer Chaos.

“Even if they did survive, without the World Needle, the the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor herself would be incapable of breaching the Chaos Wall.”

Chi Wuyao spoke of facts within their understanding. Qianye Yinger and Shui Meiyin could not raise any objections.

When the the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor left the World Needle behind, she determined her own demise along with the demon supreme-rulers in the outer Chaos.

“So it seems you already have an answer in mind?” Qianye Yinger asked.

Chi Wuyao nodded slightly, “I tried to access the memories of the Netherworld Emperor. Similar situations have occurred many times in the ancient era, averaging once every six million years. The causes could be impacts from outer Chaos matter or dimensional quakes triggered when outer Chaos spatial vortices touched the Chaos Wall.”

Qianye Yinger pondered briefly, “It does sound like an explanation people would readily accept.”

“It seems there are no other possibilities, unless the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor had another World Needle in her possession.”

Chi Wuyao turned away from the Chaos Wall, “Currently, all beings in the Divine Realms are mired in dread brought by the Abyss. To have calmed to this point is extremely difficult. We cannot cause further unrest.”

She gestured, and an enormously vast dark telepathic formation array unfurled before her, “This sound wave was caused by outer Chaos matter striking the Chaos Wall, and has now completely dissipated with no lingering effects. Quickly convey this explanation to all realms to reassure everyone.”

As the telepathic formation dissipated, Chi Wuyao decisively turned around, “The Chaos Wall is something beyond the laws, no matter how much effort is spent, we cannot gain any insight into it. Since we have found the only possible cause, there is no need to waste further effort on this.”

Qianye Yinger and Shui Meiyin did not say anything more. The three women departed, but each harbored their own lingering thoughts.

Chi Wuyao was not one to make rash judgments. She found the most likely and appropriate explanation for now, but an undercurrent still churned in the depths of her heart and soul, lingering endlessly.

Fusing the remnant memories of the Netherworld Emperor, Chi Wuyao’s comprehension far surpassed any being in the present world.

Even the most powerful ancient Creator Gods and Demon Emperors would be incapable of breaching the Chaos Wall.

According to the Netherworld Emperor’s understanding, the only things capable of breaking the Chaos Wall were the Primordial Demon-Slaying Sword, the Eon-Traversing Wheel of Nihility, and the World Needle with its extreme spatial supreme power!

The Primordial Demon-Slaying Sword had left no trace since ancient times, and the Skyriver Spike in Shui Meiyin’s possession had depleted its supreme power.

As for the Eon-Traversing Wheel of Nihility…
Chi Wuyao’s breath hitched abruptly.

But immediately, that fleeting notion was completely erased.

The Eon-Traversing Wheel of Nihility, along with the Star supreme-ruler Jasmine, had been struck into the outer Chaos. At that time, the Eon-Traversing Wheel had already completely decayed due to the anomalies in the Chaos, becoming the Demonic Jasmine who, despite being able to slay Godlords, was far weaker than the half-God Mobei Chengchen.

In other words, the Demonic Jasmine of this era was vastly inferior to even a half-God realm, essentially like dust compared to the outer Chaos.

Such a Demonic Jasmine could not possibly survive in the outer Chaos, let alone unleash power capable of shaking the Chaos Wall.

Chi Wuyao let out a faint breath, struggling to dispel all aberrant thoughts.

With the Abyss Tribulation looming overhead and Yun Che alone falling into the realm of life and death in this fate-plagued world, she must not allow any other calamities to arise.

On the other side, Shui Meiyin’s hands tightened around the World Needle as a inexplicable tremor rippled through her soul realm.

When touching the Chaos Wall earlier, did the World Needle tremble?

Or was it just an illusion?

She shook her head, not daring to entertain any further conjectures for now. The peace and stability of the Divine Realms was paramount.