chapter 79

Otherwise, what could she do? She couldn't possibly blame Miss Zhan.

Zhan Yunwei realized that once some things started, they were hard to stop.

She had no idea how many hours had passed outside, but she still hadn't closed her eyes. Though she had indeed found enjoyment later on and allowed herself to indulge, wasn't this lasting too long?

Every time she thought it was over, Lord Yue seemed to regain his excitement not long after.

She felt like she was melting, every inch of her becoming unfamiliar to herself.

To be honest, Yue Zhiheng had always been a rather reserved and cold person—at worst, even rigid.

But in this matter, she found that neither of those traits applied to him at all.

All she could hear was his breathless voice, calling her name over and over, "Yangyang…"

She had never imagined that her name could be spoken in a way that made her blush so fiercely, his words laced with coaxing and teasing: "Let's try something different," "It's almost over," "Just one last time," "Yangyang, you're beautiful."

…She wanted nothing more than to cover his mouth. What kind of things was Lord Yue not afraid to say?!

Still, she couldn't deny that she was utterly drawn into this overwhelming affection. Especially because this side of Yue Zhiheng, so starkly different from his usual self, was incredibly rare.

If it weren't for the faint light of dawn creeping in through the window, proving just how unreliable his promises were, she wouldn't have realized the extent of his outrageousness.

The most immediate consequence of all this was that the next morning, Zhan Yunwei couldn't help but bring up the matter with him.

"Lord Yue, I don't think this is a sustainable approach."

At that moment, Yue Zhiheng was engraving runes onto a new bracelet for her. He looked up at her words. "Am I not doing well enough?"

Zhan Yunwei: "…" That's not it. The problem was that he was doing too well. This morning, she had nearly bowed in gratitude to Shi Hu, simply because she had no energy left.

She didn't want to spend every morning lying in bed until the sun was high in the sky.

With a solemn expression, she said, "The days ahead are long; we should show some restraint."

Yue Zhiheng was in an unusually good mood. He liked that phrase—"the days ahead are long"—so he didn't argue, even going so far as to cooperate. "Miss Zhan is right. So?"

Zhan Yunwei was pleased that they could have a reasonable discussion. "Once every three days?"

Before she made this suggestion, Yue Zhiheng had thought she had a point. He had indeed underestimated both his own lack of self-control and the way Miss Zhan completely enthralled him.

But wasn't her proposal even more unreasonable?

Still, Yue Zhiheng didn't refuse. If his Dao partner wasn't happy, he'd be the one suffering in the end. So, after glancing at her, he agreed.

He agreed, but whether things would actually go as planned was another matter entirely.

On the second night, in the middle of the night, it was Zhan Yunwei who accidentally rolled into his arms first. And from there, things went in the exact opposite direction of their agreement.

The next day, as she gazed at the bright sun high in the sky, Zhan Yunwei almost wondered if she simply lacked any real principles.

But now that she was Lord Yue's Dao partner, she couldn't just send him to sleep on the floor when he hadn't even done anything wrong.

Finding fault with Yue Zhiheng was an even more difficult task.

Aside from his cultivation, he spent nearly all his time crafting spiritual artifacts for her. In just a few days, she had received a bracelet, a hairpin, a robe, and even a pair of silk stockings.

He had armed her from head to toe. Perhaps it was his way of making up for how, in the past, when their positions were irreconcilable, he couldn't give her anything at all.

But refining artifacts so frequently inevitably led to injuries.

Sometimes, when Zhan Yunwei traced the fresh cuts on his hands, her heart softened.

Forget it. Lord Yue didn't seem to have many interests, after all.

The greatest artifact master in the world, making her silk stockings by hand—this was something she wouldn't have dared to dream of in her youth.

Not even the most affectionate Dao partners on the celestial mountains did things like this.

And so, on the nights when she managed to hold her ground, they slept peacefully side by side.

But on the nights when she faltered or softened too much, it turned into a siege that lasted until dawn, leaving her resigned to staying in bed the next day.

In this way, they somehow reached a kind of balance.

On particularly pleasant days, Yue Zhiheng even had a swing set up in the courtyard.

When Zhan Yunwei first saw it, she was utterly stunned. With a complex expression, she looked at Yue Zhiheng, speechless.

"Are you insane?"

At first, Yue Zhiheng didn't understand what she meant. But after a moment, he seemed to realize something, and his expression turned strange.

"Miss Zhan, in your eyes… what kind of person do you think I am now?"

Only then did Zhan Yunwei realize she had misunderstood.

Though, truth be told, Lord Yue's image in her mind had always been somewhat… complicated.

At the very least, she hadn't expected that this swing was truly meant for watching the stars together.

Summer was approaching, and it had also been summer when she first married Yue Zhiheng. In Fenhe County, early summer was the most beautiful time of the year.

A sky full of stars, a bright moon, fireflies dancing—everything beautiful seemed to gather here.

Leaning against Yue Zhiheng's chest as they watched the stars, she couldn't help but reminisce.

It had been on a night just like this, years ago, when he had carried her across the empire on his back. They had bickered the entire way.

Why hadn't she realized back then how beautiful that moment truly was?

She could already imagine when autumn came—when the fruits in the manor ripened, when the leaves turned golden—sitting on this swing, watching the falling leaves would bring a completely different kind of beauty.

That was, of course, assuming that she and Lord Yue both survived until then.

Although Zhan Yunwei knew that even if Lord Yue managed to survive in the end, the Minsheng Lotus Mark was consuming his life force too severely for him to live out a long spiritual cultivation journey,

At this moment, however, she still felt utterly happy.

Leaning against Yue Zhiheng's chest while watching the stars—this was something she never even dared to dream of in her past life, one filled with hardship and wandering. Now that she had the chance to make up for it, fate had already been kind to her.

With that understanding, Zhan Yunwei realized why Yue Zhiheng had built the swing.

He wanted to leave her with more beautiful things.

Yue Zhiheng never asked what plans she had for the future. Since his youth, he had been accustomed to living each day as if it were his last.

Back then, it meant indulging in fine food and luxurious comforts. Now, it meant cherishing every moment spent with Zhan Yunwei.

As he ran his fingers through her hair, he thought to himself—when she remembered him in the future, at least it wouldn't just be as "a beast with nothing but that on his mind," right?

Unfortunately, he was destined to be unable to craft spiritual artifacts for his little mountain master for a lifetime.

And then, there was the artifact pavilion she had always wanted to build for him.

As the weather grew hotter, the political landscape of the dynasty also began to shift.

Under intense pressure, Fang Huai had visited Yue Manor several times to complain about his grievances.

With the Crown Prince gone, Qiu Jingshu, still pregnant, had suddenly become a prime target. The Second Prince would never tolerate her existence. Without the Crown Prince's protection, her followers had begun to scatter—some leaving in small groups, while the few who remained loyal still held onto the hope that the child in her womb might one day ascend to the Spirit Emperor's throne.

But before long, that hope was also crushed.

Fang Huai sighed, unable to hide his regret. "The Crown Princess's child didn't survive. They say she had an accidental fall."

But who would believe that? Even a child could guess that the Second Prince had a hand in it.

The Second Prince was unafraid of the Spirit Emperor's wrath. As the sole remaining prince, he had been riding high on his growing influence.

With the day of the Crown Prince's selection approaching, everyone was vying for his favor.

Fang Huai sneered. "He hasn't even ascended the throne, yet he's already purging the Crown Prince's supporters. How impatient." And how utterly foolish.

If even Fang Huai, who didn't know the truth, could make such an assessment, then Zhan Yunwei and Yue Zhiheng—who did—understood even more clearly that the Second Prince's efforts were in vain.

The Spirit Emperor's throne was no blessing—it was merely a vessel for that demonic entity. And yet, generation after generation, princes had fought to the death for it.

This time, however, the Spirit Emperor seemed disinterested in the outcome. None of his sons were exceptional. And with his grand ambition nearly complete, none of them had the spiritual constitution to withstand his Heavenly Tribulation.

"The Qiu family considered taking the Crown Princess back," Fang Huai continued. "But for now, they don't dare act recklessly—they're afraid of bringing disaster upon themselves."

No matter how favored Qiu Jingshu had been as a daughter, she could never outweigh the political shifts of the dynasty. Power dictated all.

She had become nothing more than an abandoned pawn, and her fate was all but sealed.

At this point, Zhan Yunwei wondered—did Qiu Jingshu regret betraying Wen Xun all those years ago, scheming to marry the Crown Prince?

If Wen Xun's Ninefold Spirit Veins were still intact, with his personality, he wouldn't have allowed Qiu Jingshu to be left so isolated and defenseless.

But fate was fickle. No one could ever be certain that the choices they made were the right ones.

Naturally, these political changes also affected Che Tian Manor. Several factions were eager to seize power once the Spirit Emperor dealt with Yue Zhiheng.

Even Shen Ye and other officials in the manor had been suppressed during their routine patrols.

When Yue Zhiheng learned of this, his gaze darkened, a cold smile forming at his lips.

"It's almost time."

Fang Huai assumed he was referring to the Spirit Emperor lifting his house arrest and reinstating his position.

But Zhan Yunwei knew exactly what Lord Yue meant.

The Shadow Army was nearly complete.

That silent, invisible force beneath the sea—an army powerful enough to overthrow the entire Spirit Realm—was taking shape.

Yet just as things seemed to be going smoothly, the very fabric of the dynasty itself began to change.

And not figuratively—but in the truest sense.

Even from Fenhe County, they could see the dark clouds gathering over the capital.

At night, the stars no longer shone.

Every time Zhan Yunwei looked up at the thick clouds, she could almost hear the muffled rumbling of thunder beyond them—an unsettling sound that filled her with unease.

Lord Yue's increasingly rigorous cultivation only confirmed her suspicions.

"The Tribulation Lightning is gathering."

As their Shadow Army neared completion, the Spirit Emperor's power had also reached a terrifying level.

The common people remained blissfully unaware of the looming crisis.

The concept of ascension was too distant—so distant that one would have to look back ten thousand years to find traces of it, a legend spoken of only in myths.

In the past, the Spirit Realm had experienced strange weather patterns before, and while they had startled people, they had only ever resulted in a few complaints.

But the elders of the immortal sects—those revered figures of great wisdom—could sense that something was deeply wrong.

Even the Venerable of Penglai felt his heart sink and sent urgent messages to all his old allies:

A great catastrophe is coming. Prepare for battle.

He did not know the full truth, as the Yue family did.

But he had once set foot in Dujie City, and the ominous premonition he carried was enough to sound the alarm.

Zhan Yunwei couldn't help but wonder—where did things go wrong?

In her previous life, even when she died, the Spirit Emperor had never reached the stage of Heavenly Tribulation. Lord Yue had indeed dealt him a devastating blow.

So why, in this lifetime, had the Spirit Emperor advanced so far?

The greatest variables were likely the Crown Prince's death and Wen Xun's presence in Dujie City.

In her past life, Wen Xun had never left the city, but in his madness, he had shattered the city's barrier, unleashing an outbreak of evil entities.

That catastrophe had been horrific beyond measure. The death toll was countless.

Among those lost were Yue Wujiao and the Lord of Changyang Mountain.

But this time, they had stopped the barrier from breaking. The evil entities had never been released.

…No, there was one more variable.

Zhan Yunwei lifted her gaze—the mute girl's death!

Realizing the gravity of the situation, she immediately shared all her speculations with Yue Zhiheng, along with her final secret.

"I know this sounds absurd. Sometimes, I feel like it's all just a dream or an illusion. But I remember everything clearly, and this isn't some mirage. I died in the winter of Shengping Year 16, and when I opened my eyes again, I had returned to Shengping Year 6, back when the immortal sect had fallen, and we were imprisoned in the dungeons."

She knew Yue Zhiheng would believe her, and he did.

There was no trace of shock on his face. In fact, his tone remained calm as he analyzed where the deviations might have occurred.

Instead, it was Zhan Yunwei who couldn't help but ask, "You're not even surprised?"

"Miss Zhan." Seeing her anxious and uneasy expression, he fed her a candied date. "I've often wondered—where does your inexplicable trust in me come from?"

If he were in her position, standing on such irreconcilable grounds, he would have attempted to eliminate himself countless times.

But Zhan Yunwei never did—not even once.

Surely, she wouldn't have spared him out of mere kindness. Furthermore, her insistence on returning to the Yue family and repeatedly persuading him to leave the dynasty carried an unexplainable strangeness.

Now, everything finally made sense.

Watching her chew on the candied date, her expression carrying a hint of guilt, Yue Zhiheng hesitated for a moment before asking, "Miss Zhan, what exactly did you do in your past life?"

Why did she look so guilty?

Had she killed him? Or worse—had she married Pei Yujing?

Both scenarios flashed through Yue Zhiheng's mind. Surprisingly, the latter was even more intolerable than the former.

Zhan Yunwei remained silent, unsure of where to begin. If she were to talk about regret, there were countless things she felt guilty about when it came to him.

Yue Zhiheng narrowed his eyes and gently turned her face towards him. "Did you really marry Pei Yujing?"

Though that wasn't the case, it was undoubtedly a misstep on her part.

Under his scrutinizing gaze, Zhan Yunwei swallowed the date with difficulty. "If I said yes, would you be angry?"

Yue Zhiheng was silent for a moment before letting out a laugh. "No, I wouldn't be angry."

Zhan Yunwei shuddered and quickly shook her head. "I didn't! I didn't marry him!"

He was already so angry he was speaking in contradictions—Yue Zhiheng hadn't been like this in a long time. She wisely chose not to provoke him further.

Yue Zhiheng could easily tell she was telling the truth. Sometimes, he felt there was something wrong with himself—

He could accept the fact that he might have died inexplicably, yet he couldn't accept the idea of Zhan Yunwei marrying Pei Yujing.

Even back at Jiusi Stream at seventeen, he had convinced himself to accept the most likely outcome, yet he hated the idea of resigning to fate.

But even if it were true, Yue Zhiheng thought, he would probably be angrier at his own powerlessness rather than at her.

He stuffed another candied date into her mouth—what else could he do? It wasn't as if he could blame Miss Zhan for it.

Zhan Yunwei, in turn, fed one to Yue Zhiheng as well.

Seeing him eat it calmly without any gritted teeth, she knew the matter was temporarily settled. The most pressing issue now was understanding what was happening with the Ling Emperor.

"Lord Yue, which possibility do you think is the most likely?"

Yue Zhiheng pondered for a moment before responding, "It should be my sister's death."

Something that seemed inconsequential had altered the course of events. It wasn't that the Ling Emperor's cultivation had accelerated—rather, he had intentionally suppressed the tribulation lightning in the past, and this time, he hadn't.

But the mute girl had also died in both lifetimes. The only difference was that she had died within the dynasty in the past life and while traveling in the mortal world this time.

Could such a seemingly minor change have influenced the Ling Emperor's decision to undergo tribulation?

A certain speculation loomed in Zhan Yunwei's mind. She looked at Yue Zhiheng, seeing that he, too, was lost in thought. It seemed they had both arrived at the same conclusion.

If this was true, was it good or bad news for the Yue family?

For Lady Xuan, however, it was undoubtedly a cruel revelation.

Eliminating all impossibilities, whatever remains—no matter how improbable—must be the truth.

Yue Zhiheng and Yue Qingluo might not be the Ling Emperor's offspring after all; they might be true heirs of the Yue family!

In the past life, this moment coincided with Yue Qingluo's time of death. The mute girl's cause of death remained unknown, but it was highly likely that the Ling Emperor had attempted to seize her body.

Not because he favored her frail physique, but because even he was unsure whether betting on Yue Zhiheng was the right decision—he needed to test it first.

Yet, whether through corruption by demonic energy or bloodline incompatibility, the mute girl was evidently unsuitable.

The Ling Emperor had no choice but to suppress his final step and wait until he no longer needed a vessel at all.

Back then, the Ling Emperor had kept Yue Zhiheng alive for years not because he coveted his body, but because he needed his ice lotus blood to suppress his own condition.

But this time, things were different. The mute girl was dead, leaving the Ling Emperor with no further test subjects or validation. He could only turn to Yue Zhiheng, forcibly taking over his body to transcend the tribulation—placing everything on a single gamble.

It wasn't just impatience. Having reached this level of cultivation, the Ling Emperor could likely sense the workings of fate itself.

For a thousand years, he had premonitions of the sword of destiny finally hanging over his head.

Even you are afraid now, aren't you, Ling Emperor?

This realization left Zhan Yunwei deeply moved.

If it was true, then years ago, with only a door separating them, Yue Linxian had almost taken away his pair of twin children.

Lady Xuan wouldn't have spent all these years lost in grief, living in the past, believing her children to be the offspring of a demon.

Or rather, if she had known earlier—back in the underground palace—perhaps these two children could have given her the strength to hold on.

But now, it was too late.

Even for the old Master Yue, who had lamented countless times over the lost qilin child, it was cruel to finally learn that the boy was truly his descendant, only to watch him sacrifice himself and face an early death.

No one knew the truth of this matter—while the Ling Emperor gambled, they too had no choice but to place their bet.

Tonight was not their scheduled Three-Day Pact, yet Yue Zhiheng was exceptionally silent. If even Zhan Yunwei felt conflicted, how much heavier must his emotions be?

She understood. Gently, she embraced him and patted his back in comfort.

Yue Zhiheng lowered his gaze. "You've thought about it?"

She almost choked, glaring at him. "Who's thought about it!" She had only been worried that he might be lost in sorrow over the uncertainty of his lineage.

But seeing him so calm, almost absentminded, he didn't seem sorrowful at all.

Honestly, with a great battle looming, even she couldn't help feeling anxious—yet as the commander of the underworld army, Yue Zhiheng's composure was almost excessive.

"Hmm, I've thought about it." He reached out and pinched her cheek. "Miss Zhan, don't you think meeting once every three days is a little unreasonable?"

She swatted his hand away, unable to suppress a laugh. Whatever lingering sorrow she felt scattered in that moment. She playfully bickered with him for a while before asking, "Then what were you just thinking about?"

If it wasn't about his origins, what else could make you so silent, Lord Yue?

In midsummer at Fenhe County, even the glow of the fireflies had faded. There was no moonlight outside the window.

Yue Zhiheng's eyes were as pale as ink washed in water, yet within them, faint ripples stirred.

His gaze reflected her silhouette—not with jealousy, nor with any intention of prying into whom she had loved in her past life.

When she met his eyes, a shiver ran inexplicably through her.

"I was thinking… after I died, did they treat you well? When you left this world alone, did it hurt?"

He thought that if he had been alive, no matter how much she rejected or resented him, he would never have let Zhan Yunwei walk that lonely road alone.