Western White Tiger Domain, Demon Putrid Domain:

A large mountain suddenly appeared out of nowhere, a fact that baffled not only devil cultivators but also the world. Unfortunately, the Di Clan took possession of the mountain and set up a formation to surround it and prevent anyone from approaching.

For the past few days, the Di family has been doing everything possible to unseal their future patriarch to no avail. Even going as far as mobilizing all 5 of their Emperor Artifacts.

In the end, they even secretly woke up a few of their Dao Ancestors to try to remove the seal. And the answer they got was that it would open on its own when the conditions were met.

Although Di Tian was sealed underneath the mountain, he could still communicate using his Divine Sense, and he could also cultivate. Resources could even be sent to him with no problem.

Wu Hong’s main objective was not to stifle his growth or something but to prevent him from interfering with Wang Wei’s growth. In some way, leveling the playing field.

After all, with Di Tian’s intelligence on par with Wang Wei, his overwhelming strength, unmatched experience, and unrivaled information gathering system in the form of the Sleeper, competing with him was no longer Hell-difficulty.

After taking over the area surrounding the mountain, the Di family ensured that news of Di Tian’s seal did not go out. Meanwhile, Di Tian had just ordered his Shadow, Di Jia, to keep watch on the changes going on in the world and inform him of anything significant before dismissing her.

Di Jia looked at him longingly before leaving. Not long after she left, someone came to see Di Tian again. Oddly though, this person managed to bypass the formation and entered the small space underneath the mountain where he was sealed.

Di Tian suddenly opened his eyes that were closed and a look of shock appeared on his face. His pupil dilated, his mouth sranobes.netplex emotions flashed across his face in just a few seconds.

This was the first time in countless millennia that he displayed so many emotions at once.

“N-Ni-Ning’er, is that really you?”

As he looked at the woman in front of him, he did not dare to believe it was true. He guessed that maybe Wang Wei’s illusion still affected him. And deep in his mind, he did not mind; he wanted to indulge in it for a little longer.

“It’s me, but it is not me at the same time,” replied Qiao Ning.

“What do you mean?” asked Di Tian as he rushed to hold her in his hand. That touch, it was so similar. How long has it been since he last felt it? Although it was countless Eras before, he still remembers it as if it was yesterday, as if it was the first time.

“After I die, my desire to see you was strong enough to create this ghost spirit-like existence.”

“So, you are still gone?” replied Di Tian as he raised his head to look up, tears in the corner of his eyes. With a single thought, they were extinguished the moment they began to fall.

He looked at her again, caressing her hair one more; she looked so real.

“Why didn’t you come to see me?”

“I did,” replied Qiap Ning. “Throughout all your reincarnations, I talked to you in your dreams trying to convince you to give up on me, to forget, to move on. But you never listened.”

“And why would I? You were everything to me. The reason I took a breath every day, the reason I existed.”

Qiao Ning paused for a moment, “Because I do not want to see you in pain. It hurts to watch you constantly suffering, from era to era, from generation to generation.

“It hurts, and I do not want that.”

“Everything will be worth it once you get to see the world once more,” replied Di Tian with great conviction.

“*Sigh* You have to understand that some things are inevitable.”

“Only people who have accepted their destiny would say something like this, and I despise fate.”

Qiao Ning looked at her husband deep in the eyes as if to see his soul. She raised her hand to caress his handsome face. Although he had a few different faces, one thing that never changed ever since that day was his eyes.

Full of hatred for the world, full of sadness and loneliness, yet, always determined to keep moving forward.

“You were always stubborn.”

After sighing one last time, she disappeared from the room, leaving Di Tian with an unquenched longing. After a few seconds, the conviction in his eyes resurfaced and he returned to his cultivation.

 In the distance, Qiao Ning looked deeply at the mountain before muttering softly: “Do you want to see me again because of our love, or because I have become your obsession?”

She did not have an answer, nor did she wants to find the truth. So, she left silently, just like she came.

Heavenly Profound Continent, on the sun:

Wang Wei was happy to see Wu Hong again, at the same time, he was a little embarrassed:

“I did not want you to see me in this state.”

“You know that I don’t mind,” she replied as she caress the old wrinkles on his face. His brilliant luscious gray hair had now lost its vitality, and he was skinnier than a bamboo.

“I know, but I do.” After saying that, he cast an illusion on himself to look like his usual handsome and suave self.

“I know that you men are used to hiding your weaknesses, but you do not have to do this with me.”

“…You’re right.” He dispelled the illusion, then the two sat down; to be precise, Wang Wei laid his head on Wu Hong’s thigh as she caress his hair as usual.

 The heat of the sun did not affect the two of them.

“So, what happened?” she asked. Then, Wang Wei told her about the process of breaking through the Primordial Spirit Realm, his battle with Di Tian, and how he ended up in this situation.

“You’ve had quite the eventful few years.”

“Yes, it was. What about you? How is your investigation?”

The last time they met in the Dragon Tomb Secret Realm, she told him that she was going to investigate something.

“So far, there has been no result and I’m about to give up. If this thing is truly a problem, you deal with it.”

Wang Wei was speechless after hearing this. Of course, Wu Hong was joking as she would leave a clone there to monitor it.

“After that, I sent a projection back home to seal Di Tian.”

Wu Hong then explained what she did and the reason behind this. And after hearing what happened, Wang Wei did not mind as long as he had a chance to fight Di Tian again.

He had long understood that some people were born with privileges, with advantages over others. And Wu Hong was one of his many advantages in life, so, he was more than happy to take advantage of such privilege.

This is one of the main reasons that people have Dao Companions, and also the reason he wanted a powerful one. To support one another in this long and turbulent cultivation path.

Many could argue that this was not fair, but as a cultivator of the Dao of Fate, Wang Wei always knew how unfair the world was, and how unfair fate was.

After hearing Wu Hong’s explanation, Wang Wei was momentarily in a daze.

“What’s on your mind?” asked Wu Hong.

“I’m thinking that Di Tian and I are quite similar in some ways.”

“Oh, how so?”

“If something were to happen to you, I would not hesitate to do the same thing to revive you, and maybe even worse.”

If something were to happen to Wu Hong, Wang Wei knew that he would go crazy. Knowing him, he would not hesitate to tear apart the Cycle of Samsara to revive her or subvert both the River of Time and the River of Fate.

Truth be told, not just her, but all his friends and family, he would do the same. This is the reason that he made his main objective of cultivating to become free and unfettered.

In case something tragic occurred in his life, he will have the ability to either prevent it or revert it without any consequences.

“I’m sure you would,” replied Wu Hong with a beautiful smile. “However, I can take of myself, worry about yourself.”

“True,” said Wang Wei while laughing; he always felt carefree and relaxed around her. “In our situation, the most likely scenario is that something happened to me and you have to revive me.”

“Don’t worry. As my boy toy, I will not let anything happen to you.”

“Boy toy? Hahaha, I never thought in my life I would be eating white rice.”

Wang Wei was truly happy as he was always in a tense state recently. So, he was happy to relax and chat about all sorts of things with Wu Hong. A few hours later, he suddenly remembered a question he wanted to ask:

“Can you tell me about the Duyi Realm? I’ve always wanted to know what it was for.”