The southern sky was shrouded in storm clouds, and the land below trembled as if anticipating the descent of gods.
Amidst a dense sea of bamboo, two figures traveled swiftly—one cloaked in silver moonlight, the other in swirling dragon qi. Shen Ziyan and Bai Yanyue, bound now not only by karma and marriage but by soul resonance and shared defiance, moved as one toward a new chapter of their intertwined fates.
"The Heaven-Spanning Secret Realm..." Ziyan muttered under his breath, voice solemn.
Bai Yanyue nodded. Her long white robes fluttered behind her, her gaze distant. "It appears every five hundred years. Formed from a collapsed divine battlefield where ancient gods once fell. It holds secrets that even the Celestial Tribunal fears."
"Why are we going?" he asked.
She turned her eyes on him. "Because I left something there. A memory. A truth even the heavens failed to erase."
Ziyan didn't speak. He could feel it already—the resonance of destiny pulling them forward, as if something within that realm called to them both. His recent breakthrough to Soul Transformation Early Stage had stabilized his core, but his body had changed since the resonance in the Moonlight Pool. His dragon bloodline had stirred more than ever before, and it now pulsed with violent vitality.
Each step he took felt heavier… stronger.
As if the world was preparing him for war.
And Bai Yanyue…
She was changing too.
Her aura, once cold and distant like a moonflower under snow, now surged with divine fluctuation. Though she remained graceful and controlled, Ziyan could feel the power of a goddess slowly reawakening within her. It was subtle, but even the trees bent away from her when she passed.
Their path led them to the foot of a colossal mountain.
There, hidden beneath layers of illusion, stood a cracked stone monolith etched with ancient runes—its presence barely perceptible unless one had walked the heavens or drank from the pool of fate.
Bai Yanyue raised her hand, placing her palm on the monolith.
It pulsed with light. The runes rearranged themselves, recognizing the divine authority sealed within her soul.
The air split with a deep rumble.
And space twisted.
Before them, a rift opened, swallowing light and air alike. It was not a portal in the mortal sense—it was a rift of forgotten time, linking the present world to a broken battlefield that once belonged to gods.
Ziyan stepped forward, his hand brushing against hers.
"Ready?" he asked.
Yanyue smiled faintly. "Were we ever not?"
They stepped through together.
—
The transition was instant.
One moment, they were on the mountain. The next, they stood atop a desolate plain—ashen and silent. The sky above them was broken, showing fragments of other realms—flashes of battle, screams, collapsing stars.
The Heaven-Spanning Secret Realm… was not a realm.
It was a memory.
A battlefield.
A forgotten piece of reality held together by divine will and lingering hatred.
Ziyan's eyes narrowed. "This… place reeks of slaughter."
Yanyue's expression turned solemn. "It's where I died once."
He turned to her sharply. "What?"
She looked up, her silver eyes reflecting the torn heavens above. "I don't know everything yet… but part of me was slain here. My divine self fell during the War of the Sundering Heavens. My essence, shattered. My soul… scattered."
Ziyan's fists clenched. "So you're saying the Celestial Tribunal…"
"They betrayed me," she said simply. "And they'll do it again if they can."
Before Ziyan could respond, the wind shifted.
From the far edge of the battlefield, a group approached—cloaked figures, each one bearing immense pressure. Among them, a youth with a crimson crown atop his head led the way, his steps light yet leaving craters in the cracked soil.
His gaze locked onto Bai Yanyue.
"So it's true," he said. "The fallen Celestial Maiden has returned."
Yanyue's eyes turned cold. "Prince of Vermilion Flame."
Ziyan could feel the pressure from the man immediately. Mid Soul Transformation. The man's bloodline was also awakened—surging like a tidal wave of scorching heat. Vermilion Phoenix blood. Pure and deadly.
"And who is this?" the prince asked with mocking smile, eyes landing on Ziyan. "Your new consort? A mortal with a borrowed bloodline?"
Ziyan said nothing. He stepped forward slowly.
The earth cracked beneath him.
"I don't need titles," he said, voice calm. "Only my sword."
The prince laughed, but the mirth didn't reach his eyes. "Then die with it."
The two surged forward.
Sword clashed against flame.
The battlefield, which had been silent for centuries, was once again stained with light and death.
Ziyan's blade arced like a dragon's fang, precise and merciless. But the prince was no ordinary foe. His phoenix flames curved and danced, creating mirages, illusions, heat so intense that even space warped around it.
Ziyan ducked under a flaming spear, slashing upward in a cross cut that forced the prince to retreat.
But he was panting.
The difference in cultivation still mattered. The prince had hundreds of years more foundation, and though Ziyan's talent was monstrous, his soul had only recently stepped into its new stage.
"I'll crush your bones, mortal," the prince snarled. "And mount your sword above my palace gate."
Ziyan's lips curled upward. "Try."
Just then, Bai Yanyue's voice rang out.
"Ziyan! Step back!"
He obeyed without hesitation.
In her hand, the lotus bloomed once more—this time a thousand petals deep, glowing with divine fire. She raised it above her head, her body floating inches from the ground.
The battlefield trembled.
And the memory of gods whispered.
"Return, fragment of who I was."
With a soft chant, her aura exploded.
BOOM—
Light cascaded in every direction. The prince and his followers were thrown back violently, their forms flickering as if struggling to maintain shape.
From the lotus, a beam shot skyward—
—and struck the broken sky.
In that instant, a door began to form.
A gate of divine jade, massive and ancient, revealing itself piece by piece.
It was her memory. A seal hidden behind fate. A truth so dangerous that even the heavens buried it.
Yanyue's body trembled as she held the lotus steady. "We don't have much time. This door will close once the realm collapses again."
Ziyan rushed to her side. "Then let's go through together."
But just before they stepped forward—
A thunderous voice roared from the shattered sky.
"HALT."
A pillar of black light descended.
And from it, a figure emerged—taller than a mountain, cloaked in robes forged of starlight and chains of divine law. His face was hidden, but his aura—
—was suffocating.
Even Bai Yanyue stepped back.
Ziyan's eyes widened. "Is that…"
She nodded, voice faint.
"A High Judge of the Tribunal."
The divine chains snapped into place, binding the jade gate.
And then the Judge spoke again.
"Celestial Maiden Bai Yanyue. Shen Ziyan. You are now enemies of the Divine Order. Surrender, and your souls will be reformed in the Furnace of Purity."
The air froze.
Ziyan tightened his grip on his sword.
Bai Yanyue took his hand.
And then she said two words.
"We run."