Zhi Xuan stared at the Primordial Yin Chaos Lotus, now named Qingyin Xuelian, with a blank expression.

  “Qingyin Xuelian,” he murmured, his lips forming the words with an inexplicable familiarity. He had never heard the name, yet it felt like a melody from a distant past. This sense of familiarity, this resonance, transcended the mortal realm.

  He did not care about all those grand titles, but the story of That Person and the familiarity he felt towards this Lotus felt like a mystery he once knew, a knowledge he seemed to possess, yet he did not feel he ever recalled an understanding of something beyond the limits of his comprehension.

  Zhi Xuan let go of the Lotus; his trembling hand now felt recovered, no longer feeling the sting of absolute cold. He walked slowly around the Dull Lotus, ignoring the pain still radiating through his tattered body. The red rings in his sapphire pupils, which were now fading, radiated a deep reflective light, digesting every strange piece of information he had just received.

  Zhi Xuan glanced down, seeing his robe ripped and missing down to his waist. "Damn it, this robe was just given to me." Zhi Xuan muttered, his face feeling weary because his sect robe was now torn. His rough and cold exhaled breath was a sign that he must immediately find a way out.

  Zhi stepped back towards the primordial stones surrounding the place; the stars in the distance felt close and so transcended everything he had ever imagined about stars. He touched one of the Primordial Stones that had ancient script on it. The touch felt cold and heavy, carrying a different vibration of the Ancient Will from the rotten aura outside.

  RUMBLE!

  As soon as the touch occurred, the suppressed Ancient Will vibration inside the stone immediately resonated with the blood flowing in Zhi Xuan’s body. The ancient script etched on the stone surface, which previously looked only like random scribbles, suddenly emitted a dim, piercing light.

  It was not a bright light, but a dim silver glow that seemed to carry the infinite weight of fallen eras. The ancient script that Zhi Xuan saw was not the language of the Nine Plains, but a form of cosmic hieroglyphics that could only be understood by the Will. It was something where something that had once touched, returned to touch.

  Zhi Xuan clenched his jaw. The dim silver glow radiating from the cosmic runes did not hurt his eyes, but pierced directly into his Sea of Consciousness, excavating a memory he did not possess. A dizziness far more intense than before struck him. He could feel his Devil Tree of Life trembling wildly, and his essence churned brutally, as if simultaneously rejecting and embracing the weight of the ancient script.

  He did not try to interpret the script. Just staring at it felt like touching countless eras. The script was not about cultivation techniques or Martial Laws; it was the remnants of the Supreme Law etched at the dawn of creation. As Zhi Xuan tried to force his divine sense to comprehend, a soft and subtle voice resonated in his Sea of Consciousness.

  “Master,” the Will of Qingyin Xuelian called, its tone now filled with the gentleness of farewell. “You are not the you I see, yet you are the same you. The River of Time has changed. The Grand Will of the Great Beginning. Farewell Master, I, Qingyin Xuelian, shall always worship Master.”

  Zhi Xuan frowned, his head spinning more violently. “Wait! I don't understand what you are—”

  Suddenly, the dim silver light from the Primordial Stone exploded, not outward, but inward. The entire realm of scattered stars and creeping primordial stones collapsed with unimaginable speed. Zhi Xuan felt no physical tremor, but he felt the infinite weight of the heavens and earth pushing him out of existence.

  He felt the cold yet pure Taiyin essence from the Lotus bathe his body for the last time, a restoration that healed all the wounds and tears on his body.

  WHUSH!

  For a moment, everything went pitch black, a total void.

  BUM!

  Zhi Xuan staggered, knelt, and gasped for breath. He found himself back on the same ancient stone tower peak, exactly where the Essence Gathering and Attraction Formation still lay, the Formation now looking intact and radiating a peaceful spiritual essence aura.

  Bone-piercing coldness immediately greeted him; the rotten smell of the Dead Mist and the pressure of the Primordial Will struck him again with brutal force. He felt the surrounding essence spinning with greater intensity than before, an indication that other cultivators were unaware that he had just vanished and returned in the blink of an eye.

  "Hey you," shouted one of the cultivators in the air, his brow furrowed as he saw Zhi Xuan's torn robe and his tattered body bare-chested down to his waist. "You just jumped into the Taiyin Holy Pool, and you were suddenly thrown out of there in just one breath? Are you playing, kid?"

  "Yes! Are you practicing a technique?" said another, a man in a black robe sitting on his flying artifact. "I saw you jump into the pool, then jump up again in one moment!"

  Zhi Xuan forced himself up, ignoring the sting in his ears caused by the mortal cultivators' shouts. He looked at the cultivators in the air with the red rings pulsing wildly again in his sapphire pupils. He stared at them with a pale gaze filled with shock.

  “How long was I inside the Taiyin Holy Pool?” Zhi Xuan asked, his voice hoarse and weary. He coughed because of the pervasive Dead Mist. "I just met something strange inside there!"

  The man in the black robe hovering in the air laughed out loud; his laughter sounded harsh and filled with mockery. "Met something strange? Kid, you jumped into the Taiyin Holy Pool and were thrown out even before one stick of incense could burn! What did you expect, a warm welcome from the Primordial Lord?"

  "Right! Everyone here saw you, Thousand Heavens Sect disciple!" the cultivator who shouted earlier added, his tone filled with amazement. "You suddenly shot down from the tower peak, jumped into the Taiyin, and jumped out again in a matter of breaths. We thought you were practicing a technique for jumping to your death!"

  Zhi Xuan frowned, his tattered and bare-chested face now showing genuine confusion. "One breath? That's impossible! I just spent a very long time in there. And where is the little girl? Where is Mei Hua?"

  He turned around frantically, his sharp eyes sweeping around the tower peak, looking for the Small Ape Statue or the Lulu doll. He looked for Mei Hua, the small figure he hugged until the last second before they sank into the Taiyin core. He even channeled his divine sense, but there was nothing. The mocking laughter of the cultivators in the air grew louder.

  “Little girl? Doll?” The man in the black robe shook his head with false pity. "Thousand Heavens Sect disciple, it seems the pressure of the Primordial Will in that Pool has frozen your brain. We only saw you alone shooting like a crazy arrow! No little girl, no doll!"

  “I saw her! I hugged her! She is Mei Hua! She jumped first!” Zhi Xuan hissed, his voice now containing a sharp frustration and unusual turmoil. He could accept the strangeness of the hidden realm, but he could not accept that he had lost Mei Hua again, as if the girl was just an illusion.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  He looked down, at the ice-blue crystal disc surface of the Taiyin Holy Pool. The pool radiated a peaceful and cold light, as if there had never been a commotion. "She jumped with her rag doll, Lulu! You must have seen her!"

  The Solitary cultivators in the distance exchanged glances, their eyes filled with pity and mockery.

  “What a pity,” one of the cultivators in the air muttered, his soft voice clearly audible amidst the cold silence. “Maybe that was his daughter. This man has lost his daughter out there and has gone mad because of the pressure of the Ancient Tomb.”

  “Of course,” the man in the black robe replied, nodding in agreement. “Be careful, gentlemen. Don't go near him. This man might be on the brink of his Dao's collapse. Let's leave him to his crazy delusion. The position of that tower peak has been consumed by his madness!”

  "You are blind!" Zhi Xuan hissed, his voice filled with cold annoyance. The red rings in his sapphire pupils briefly flared, a manifestation of the essence turmoil within him. "I swear by my Dao, there was a little girl with me! She sat behind me and she jumped into this Pool! I grabbed her!"

  The man in the black robe, hovering high with a mocking smirk, shrugged casually. “Dao Oath? Interesting, Young Master of the Thousand Heavens Sect. But we only saw your sky-blue robe, not your daughter, and not her rag doll. If there was a girl or a doll that touched the Taiyin Holy Pool, do you think this Pool would be as calm as it is now? You are lucky to come out alive after jumping into it!”

  "Right! Maybe you are possessed by the spirit of the Flying Lion School disciple you killed!" another shouted, spreading mocking laughter in the cold air.

  Zhi Xuan clenched his jaw; the shock on his face was not directed at the mortal cultivators' mockery, but at the impossibility of the situation. He was not crazy. He hugged Mei Hua. He felt warmth that contrasted with the coldness of the hidden realm. He heard Qingyin Xuelian's voice calling him Master. He spent a very long time in the silence.

  "Xiao Die," Zhi Xuan staggered and sat down on the tower peak, his gaze blank. He called Xiao Die's name in the silence of his soul, a question directed at the only remaining living creature who shared his secrets. "You... You saw her, didn't you?"

  Within the folds of his sky-blue robe, which was now torn to his waist, the Thousand Feathered Moth, Xiao Die, finally moved. Its beautiful rainbow-emitting wings rustled softly, emitting a subtle pulse of light. The resonance produced by the Heavenly Moth now felt weak but full of pure vitality, as if it had just returned from a long and heavy sleep.

  The pulse of light, although faint, felt like warm water washing over Zhi Xuan's soul, breaking the remaining silence that enveloped him during his time in the hidden realm. Xiao Die slid out from the folds of the robe, flying slowly around Zhi Xuan's head, emitting soft rainbow dust onto his jet-black hair.

  Chirp… chirp…

  The chirp of the Thousand Feathered Moth sounded, a melody full of satisfaction and confusion. Zhi Xuan felt Xiao Die's will touch his Sea of Consciousness. The will was a blurry image: an image of absolute silence, an image of an unbearable cold aura, and an image of a sacred white light that pulled. But amidst all that, there was no image of a little girl.

  Zhi Xuan closed his eyes. He was not surprised. If Qingyin Xuelian—the Primordial Yin Chaos Lotus—which originated from an era beyond the Nine Heavens, was confused by Mei Hua's existence, then the Thousand Feathered Moth, bound to the Lower Realms, surely would not be able to comprehend her. Mei Hua was like something he should not have met, a spiritual trace or consciousness that could not be seen, sensed, or preserved in mortal memory.

  “You didn’t see her either, did you,” Zhi Xuan muttered. He held out his left hand, and Xiao Die perched on his palm, its gently vibrating wings radiating a strange yet soothing warmth.

  However, Xiao Die sent one more resonance, a very clear will: Pure Taiyin. The Heavenly Moth sensed great benefit from the Taiyin Holy Pool. Its pure vitality had increased drastically, as if it had absorbed enough essence to offset a hundred years of cultivation. This confirmed that, although his experience felt like one breath in the outside world, the time he spent in the hidden realm—meditating with Qingyin Xuelian—had purified his essence and strengthened Xiao Die.

  "Are you... Are you going to sleep in a cocoon?" Zhi Xuan muttered, his previously blank eyes now slightly shining. He had never seen the Heavenly Moth return to a cocoon since the moth's reincarnation decades ago. "Your aura... you are almost reaching the peak of the Verdant Titans, Xiao Die."

  Zhi Xuan waved his hand and the Divine Furnace whirred beside him, radiating a subtle Four Seasons Law resonance. In the Ancient Devil's Memory, an Ancient Beast from the Ancient Insect lineage always cultivated themselves in cocoon form. And, this Divine Furnace was the perfect catalyst to sustain the cultivation, surrounded by the breath of the Four Seasons.

  This was not only about Xiao Die having abilities equivalent to a Five Element cultivator who had mastered all five Elements, but also the first step towards soul solidification that would transform them into the initial stage of Ancient Insects' adolescence. They could begin summoning the Will of Nature starting from Thunder, Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water, just like Five Element cultivators who had mastered the Five Elements.

  Zhi Xuan stared at the Thousand Feathered Moth in his palm. Xiao Die's chirp, which now contained deep satisfaction, was the only thing that broke the crazy tension in his mind. The experience in the hidden realm might have felt like only one breath to the outside world, but for Xiao Die, it was an unimaginable harvest. The subtle aura it radiated now felt solid, its foundation hardened, as if it had leaped past several layers of purification at once.

  “Of course,” Zhi Xuan muttered, his lips curling into a cold smile that reached his eyes. Zhi Xuan patted his waist again; the heavenly herbs inside the jade ring given by Zhu Qinglan slid out in front of him. "Take what you think can help you, Xiao Die."

  There were only three heavenly herbs given by Zhu Qinglan: Soul Droplet Flower, Heaven Vein Root, and Sky Tear Seed, which were supposed to focus on healing and enhanced spirituality. However, Zhi Xuan did not want to use them because he had already swallowed the Heaven Breath Grass, which made him stable in the Consciousness Transformation realm. Now, the unexpected blessing was that Xiao Die was the most likely to need them.

  Xiao Die rustled softly. Its chirp, which now sounded stronger and heavier, radiated will towards the Soul Droplet Flower. The flower, with petals seemingly carved from transparent jade, had an aura that focused the soul and spiritual essence. The Heavenly Moth was not greedy. It only needed a catalyst to bind the newly absorbed Taiyin essence.

  But Zhi Xuan did not feel that only one was needed for the Heavenly Moth to enhance its cultivation; for him, these three heavenly herbs were a suitable price for his spiritual beast's advancement, especially since they were a gift from Zhu Qinglan. Thus, he could utilize this for something else, and one day at a Dao guidance meeting, he could leverage Zhu Qinglan to obtain rare heavenly herbs.

  "Xiao Die," Zhi Xuan called calmly, he waved his hand and the three heavenly herbs floated into the furnace. "Go in, take them all. They are a gift from Holy Fairy Zhu, it's not a problem to take advantage of her."

  The Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron floated in the air, radiating a soothing and powerful Four Seasons aura. Inside it, the Soul Droplet Flower, Heaven Vein Root, and Sky Tear Seed floated. Zhi Xuan flicked his finger and gently channeled the Azure Holy Flame, igniting the Divine Furnace's refinement. The spiritual power of these three heavenly herbs churned, ready to be melted.

  Xiao Die did not hesitate. The Thousand Feathered Moth slid from Zhi Xuan's palm, entering the Divine Furnace with a subtle speed. As soon as it was inside, the Furnace whirred, and the Four Seasons aura tightened, creating a stable essence cocoon around the Heavenly Moth.

  Inside that essence cocoon, Xiao Die began to emit a brighter and thicker rainbow dust. The Heavenly Moth did not absorb the heavenly herbs directly, but used them as a foundation. The pure Taiyin essence it had just harvested began to spin, binding the spiritual power of the three herbs.

  The three heavenly herbs melted, creating a viscous puddle of spiritual essence, not to be consumed, but to become a maturation catalyst. Xiao Die spun in the middle of the puddle, and its small body began to enlarge. Its rainbow-emitting wings slowly shrank, and its skin began to harden, wrapping itself in layer after layer of silk that radiated a dark purple and ice-blue light.

  Zhi Xuan looked at the Divine Furnace with cold satisfaction. This was an unexpected blessing. With cultivation supported by a Heaven-Grade Artifact and heavenly herb catalysts, Xiao Die would surely leap past the peak of the Verdant Titan and achieve a solid foundation, granting it power equivalent to a Five Element realm cultivator at the peak of the realm.

  He retrieved the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron back into his Sea of Consciousness, placing it under the shade of the Devil Tree of Life. The Tree, having just received a wash of pure Taiyin essence from the hidden realm, now radiated stronger vitality, its dark roots gripping firmly.

  Zhi Xuan turned to the Thousand Heavens Sect Formation he had previously halted, channeled essence into the Formation, and re-ignited the core of the formation. He still had enough time to be here and divert the Taiyin Holy Pool into the formation to complete the mission. After looking around and ensuring there were no disturbances from other cultivators surrounding him, he closed his eyes and sank into his sea of consciousness.