The beautiful lady in white looked at Zi Xieqing with a complex look, though she stayed silent.

“Do you have any other requests?” asked the Demon Empress.

Zi Xieqing answered, “When the crown prince awakes, I hope the Demon Empress can send someone to escort me to my old home in Jiangnan<

/anno>.”

The Demon Empress frowned. “This is already in the original agreement. I’m asking you what other requests you have.”

“I have no other requests apart from that.” Zi Xieqing lowered her eyes.

“Fine!” The Demon Empress gritted her teeth, tossing out a line. “Since that is the case, then you can die in Jiangnan!”

With a flash, she disappeared from the main hall, her voice drifting over from afar. “During dawn tomorrow, you will save my son. And tomorrow morning, I will send you to separate your soul!”

The beautiful lady in white stood for a while before she said softly, “You shouldn’t have rejected the Demon Empress’ kindness.”

In a low voice, Zi Xieqing said quietly, “Should I owe her today, I won’t be able to return her kindness in the future.”

“I hope you will not regret your decision today.” The beautiful lady in white sighed. “Where is that man now?”

Zi Xieqing bit on her lip. “He… His cultivation is not enough for him to come up here yet.”

The beautiful lady in white was stunned. She looked at her intently before she sighed. “You’re too rash.”

Zi Xieqing smiled quietly. “I’m not. With this, I have cut off all my paths of retreat.”

The beautiful lady in white was taken aback yet again. She chuckled and said, “I see. Zi Xieqing, when you’ve reached Jiangnan, perhaps I will come by.”

Zi Xieqing smiled at her. “I welcome you anytime.”

The beautiful lady in white smiled passively at her. A cloud of white fog suddenly rose from her feet and supported her whole body as she floated out.

Zi Xieqing rose to her feet quietly, a gentle and beautiful smile decorating the corners of her lips.

At dawn the next day.

Zi Xieqing was meditating in the courtyard when she sensed something. The passive voice of the Demon Empress drifted over. “Go to the inner hall, the crown prince’s sleeping chambers. Everything is ready.”

…

When Zi Xieqing exited the sleeping chambers, her face was ghastly pale. Aside, the Demon Empress said somewhat with a sigh, “The burden on your body is too great… Though my son is safe now, only death awaits you if you go on the Soul Separation Platform now. Let’s wait till the afternoon.”

Zi Xieqing replied, “Yes.”

When she returned to her temporary quarters, she retrieved a purple elixir from her bosom. A tinge of tenderness appeared in her eyes and she swallowed it in one gulp.

It was the special Nine Tribulations Pill which Chu Yang had refined for her.

She could only take it now and try to recover a little. Once she entered the Soul Separation Platform, Heartbreak Spring and Demon Forging Cave, she was not to consume any elixirs at any cost. The reason for her going there was to disperse her cultivation. Were she to try to recover, it would defeat the purpose of going there in the first place.

…

The Demon Empress’ patience had clearly improved a lot. She actually waited till the sky was turning dark before she summoned Zi Xieqing over, intentionally leaving her more time to recuperate.

When she saw Zi Xieqing, the Demon Empress didn’t waste any time in asking, “Are you ready?”

Zi Xieqing nodded. “Yes.”

“You have one last chance to change your mind!” said the Demon Empress, though she did not harbor any hope.

“I will never regret this!”

Zi Xieqing’s response was as the Demon Empress had expected.

The Demon Empress shut her mouth and closed her eyes, not speaking anymore.

Then, she commanded fiercely, “Soul Separation Platform, may the heavens and earth open! The heavenly demon’s soul desires separation; the double nine soul separation leads one to pain and suffering; should your heart harbor resentment, do not enter!”

As her hands separated, a tall dark platform appeared before Zi Xieqing at once.

Dark stone stairs stretched all the way till Zi Xieqing’s feet.

“Thank you very much!” Zi Xieqing bowed. Then, she straightened her delicate back and placed her graceful foot lightly onto the very first step of the stairs. She paused for a moment.

A flash crossed the Demon Empress’ eyes, a faint glimmer of hope within.

However, Zi Xieqing’s right foot had already stepped onto it. She walked steadily up the stairs, one step at a time, her white robes unmoving.

At last, she reached the top of the Soul Separation Platform.

The Demon Empress’ eyes were sharp and forceful. With a clap of her hands!

Pitch-black flames rose and blazed with great intensity on the Soul Separation Platform, wrapping Zi Xieqing’s frail and delicate form completely!

In the Middle Three Heavens!

At the side of the Lake of Despair.

A pitch-black hole suddenly appeared in the middle of the icy snow. Then, a man’s head popped out of the hole.

Dressed in full black, Chu Yang jumped out of the hole with a whoosh.

“Lake of Despair?” Chu Yang recognized the place at first glance, mainly because the stone monuments of the two Supreme Martial Artists, Chen Feng and Liu Yun, were simply too eye-catching.

Then, he felt something amiss.

“How come the mountains are shorter now and the water level is higher?”

He had no idea that when he had first gone missing, when his brothers woke up and searched for him, they almost tore down the entire mountain. Every one of them dived to the bottom hugging a huge rock; over time, they actually filled the Lake of Despair with half the mountain. If the water level didn’t become higher… then that would be truly strange.

“Never mind, I’m going to look for them first.” Raising his head, Chu Yang howled to the skies. The volume of his howl shook the earth, causing snow avalanches everywhere in the surroundings. “I’m back!!!”

The surroundings were quiet; only his voice echoed continuously in the valley. “I’m back… I’m back… back… ack… ck…”

As quick as lightning, Chu Yang shot down the mountains.

This area was not far from the Ao Clan and Xie Clan, so Chu Yang was heading to the Xie Clan at his fastest speed right now.

He didn’t forget that he had only three months. Time was tight, so he couldn’t afford to waste any at all. The first thing he wanted to see was how his brothers were doing.

How was their cultivation?

How were the Middle Three Heavens?

He flew the entire way; everywhere he passed by, Chu Yang was surprised to see that the Middle Three Heavens was in extremely good order. Nothing much actually happened during his entire journey.

There were frequently people in cerulean blue clothing hurrying to and fro or going about in groups. Next were people in black robes coming and going…

There was a bamboo sigil on all the black-clad men’s robes; those were no doubt men of Dark Bamboo. But who were those people in cerulean blue robes?

When he was a mountain pass’ turn away from the Xie Clan, there were more and more of these people in cerulean blue robes. Chu Yang finally stopped in his tracks and grabbed someone. “Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?” This was a man over thirty years old. He turned his gaze to Chu Yang.

“What organization are you guys from?” asked Chu Yang.

“You didn’t see this?” The blue-robed man shook his clothes lightly with pride.

“This?” Chu Yang had a bewildered look on his face.

“Can’t you see these robes? What color are they?” The blue-robed man side-eyed him.

“Well, blue.” Chu Yang was extremely bewildered.

The blue-robed man acted like he was looking at an alien. “You don’t know who I am even after seeing this?”

Chu Yang was perplexed. “Should I know?”

The blue-robed man gave him a weird look. The two of them stared at each other before the man suddenly hollered, “Guys! This fellow actually dares to look down on us, the Heavenly Armament Pavilion! Those who look down on the Heavenly Armament Pavilion are looking down on Boss Chu! Men, get him!”

At once, a group of blue-robed men came over rubbing their fists, all ready to fight.

Chu Yang turned tail and fled.

So this big and powerful organization is the Heavenly Armament Pavilion… What the f*ck, looks like those fellows have been pretty busy. To think the Heavenly Armament Pavilion has already developed to such a scale…

Though if that guy had known that this fellow whom he had chased until he had to flee was the ‘Boss Chu’ he was speaking of, how would he feel?

Only when he reached the Xie Clan was Chu Yang informed that Xie Danqiong had already gone to the Ao Clan more than a year ago. It wasn’t just him; Ji Mo, Luo Kedi, Gu Duxing etc had all gone over too. They had already gone into seclusion for more than a year and hadn’t come out even till now.

Chu Yang hurriedly left the Xie Clan and headed to the Ao Clan.

The Ao Clan was also very troubled. Those few had entered the secret base of the Dragon race and hadn’t come out since.

Chu Yang was struck dumb by this.

He went through so much trouble to come down and he didn’t even get to see a single one of them?

When he came to the area where Ao Xieyun etc had gone in from, in a moment of desperation, Chu Yang hurled a punch. With his current level of cultivation, he actually punched through half the mountain.

There was nothing there at all.

Chu Yang turned rather anxious.

What the f*ck, I went through so much trouble to come down. I’ll have to wait till I get the sixth fragment of the Nine Tribulations Sword before I can come down again, but this bunch of fellows actually all went into seclusion at the same time?

“Once they enter the secret base of the Dragon race, an alternate dimension will form on its own. Unless they come out of seclusion by their own will, we won’t be able to find them.” Ao Tianxing also had a look of resignation on his face.

“What is the estimated amount of time until they come out?”

“That’s… hard to say.”

Chu Yang left in disappointment. Before he left, he used his fists to punch out a few words on the walls of the mountain. “Gu Duxing, Mo Tianji, Ji Mo, Luo Kedi, Ao Xieyun, Xie Danqiong! Boss here is very angry! The next time I see you, it shall be special training for all of you!”

When he finished, Chu Yang turned to Ao Tianxing, whose forehead was covered in cold sweat, and asked, “What about my Junior Disciple Tan Tan?”

Clan Leader Ao was still in a state of astonishment.

How did this Chu Yang become so scary? After seeing the huge hole spanning tens of kilometers that Chu Yang had blasted with his fist, Clan Leader Ao felt like even his calves had turned weak.

My god, the whole Ao Clan can totally move into the hole to hide from the blazing summer heat in the future…

“I haven’t seen him at all. He has been missing ever since the battle at the Lake of Despair,” replied Ao Tianxing.

“Missing…” Chu Yang felt extremely repressed.

He actually didn’t get to see anyone during his trip down this time!

Speechless, he bade farewell to Ao Tianxing, leaving behind only one sentence. “I’ll come and take a look in two months.” Then, he disappeared with a whoosh.

He headed to the Lower Three Heavens full speed ahead.

In the Lower Three Heavens, he still had an Emperor wife and a son whom he had never met before waiting for him… Come to think of it, he had never ‘really’ seen this wife of his before either…

What the hell, what’s the meaning of this, really?

Chu Yang’s speed was extremely fast. He entered the tunnel once more and headed straight for the Lower Three Heavens. When he came out, it was in the wee hours.

Chu Yang rode on the wind among the morning dew and finally reached Iron Cloud Citadel just as the sun peeked from the horizon.

Coming back here again, Chu Yang was filled with emotion for a moment. He recalled how he had fought a battle of wits and a contest of strength here back then and fighting amidst endless carnage. For a moment there, he had a kind of feeling as if everything was but fleeting and transient, as if a dream.

He strolled into Iron Cloud Citadel, only to see that inside the Citadel was a scene of exceptional prosperity. Besides, the whole city was almost thrice of what it originally was.

After much effort, Chu Yang finally found the place where the Bu Tian Pavilion used to be. The Bu Tian Pavilion was still the Bu Tian Pavilion.

Chu Yang walked in swiftly but was immediately stopped by two black-robed guards. “Stop right there! Who are you?”

All smiles, Chu Yang asked, “May I know which of the two, Cheng Zi-ang and Chen Yutong, is here?”

“What? You’re looking for our two Pavilion Masters? Who do you think you are?” Enraged, the guard spoke with a thunderous expression.

Chu Yang remained calm. He replied, “Please relay the message that someone of the family name Chu, called Chu Yang, requests a meeting with… err, the two Pavilion Masters.”

Footnotes:

It literally means ‘south of the river’