A single meeting of golden wind and jade dew surpasses countless mortal encounters.
To Yue Mingkong, this embrace seemed to span countless epochs and ages. She gently buried her head, the familiar, faint, pleasant scent lingering at her nose tip, her flawless jade-like face tinged with traces of rosy clouds and yearning.
Gu Changge quietly held her in his arms, gently stroking her cascading, cloud-like black hair. His abyss-like eyes lightly closed, his heart reaching an unprecedented tranquility.
The softness and warmth before him seemed far more reliable and reassuring than ever before.
The two remained silent. They didn't need to say much; the tacit understanding and rapport they had always shared meant that just a glance or a gesture could convey what was in each other's hearts.
After a long while, Yue Mingkong raised her head from his embrace, looking at Gu Changge's handsome face so close.
Her picturesque, exquisitely beautiful immortal face was full of tenderness and love.
At this moment, she was no longer the majestic, cold, world-dominating empress, but seemed merely an ordinary wife who had warmed the food and wine at home, sewn robes and cotton shoes, waiting for her husband's return.
Gu Changge opened his eyes, gazed at the immortal face before him, and smiled faintly.
On Yue Mingkong's pure, flawless face, rosy clouds rose; her long eyelashes fluttered, and she suddenly lifted her head, her fair, slender jade arms encircling his neck.
Gu Changge lowered his head, responding to her.
"Let's return to the bedchamber..." Yue Mingkong's gaze was dazed, her voice indistinct.
A ripple of spatial fluctuation passed, and their figures vanished from the spot.
After several days, the clouds dispersed and the rain stopped, the spring breeze gradually stilling.
In the palace atop the World Tree.
Immortal mist swirled, curtains drifted, as if in a fairyland.
On the immortal couch, Yue Mingkong casually draped a thin, mist-like gauze and leaned lightly against the headboard, while Gu Changge, with his eyes half-closed, rested his head on her lap.
Yue Mingkong gently massaged his brow as he recounted many things that had happened recently in the Vast Expanse.
Gu Changge's voice was gentle and calm; events that could shake the entire Vast Expanse and terrify countless Dao lineages were described lightly by him, as if not worth attention.
Yue Mingkong knew his strength, so she wasn't worried about his actions. Their conversation seemed like simple chat over tea and after meals.
Of course, to Gu Changge, these things were indeed nothing to talk about, but to reassure Yue Mingkong, he still recounted them one by one.
However, there were many matters with wide-reaching implications that he didn't mention. He only talked about establishing the Heaven-Slaying Alliance in the Vast Expanse and its continuous expansion.
Yue Mingkong knew that Gu Changge had once been the Demon Lord, but she didn't know about his experiences before that.
Thus, regarding Gu Changge's establishment of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, which seemed truly intent on slaying heaven, she still had some doubts and perplexity.
However, whatever decision Gu Changge made, she would support and always stand by his side.
And during these days, Yue Mingkong also told Gu Changge about what had happened during her seclusion, including some doubts in her heart.
Although the Grand Dream Return to Immortality technique was self-created, as her cultivation deepened, she gradually realized that this technique seemed not simply created by her, but had always existed in her memory.
She didn't know why she had this technique, or why during cultivation she would return to the past, wandering and flowing within the River of Years.
In her dreams, she seemed to transform into an ignorant, instinct-driven river. She was born from a void of chaos, and following instinct, she flowed through many places: a land of chaotic slaughter, a peaceful paradise, an ancient battlefield, and an unknown murky era.
Later, she settled in a place whose name she didn't know, no longer flowing, and converged into a marsh.
As her consciousness gradually became clear, she heard someone call her Mengze.
Her branches spread throughout the myriad worlds, converging in every corner of space-time, silently flowing through the dreams of every living being.
And she was like a bystander, experiencing the joy, anger, sorrow, and fear of all beings, their love and hatred, debts and grudges.
She did not know how long this process lasted, until one day, she seemed to vaguely hear a voice—obscure, profound, ancient and eternal—as if chanting some nameless ancient scripture, or as if recounting something.
When she woke up, she only saw an ancient scripture, lying in the middle of the dream marsh.
Thus, relying on the contents recorded in that scripture, she began a muddled, subconscious cultivation.
"My subsequent memories are already unclear, but the only thing I remember is that during that period, heaven and earth seemed undivided, the myriad worlds were all chaos, and the myriad clans of later generations had not yet been born..." Yue Mingkong said softly.
When she became clear-headed again and came to her senses, she had returned to the present era.
And her cultivation had silently broken through to the Dao Realms, without her even noticing at all.
This process left her dazed and confused, and also worried, with an inexplicable unease and fear.
"This might just be your opportunity. Don't worry too much." Gu Changge sat up, gently holding her soft hand, his voice warm.
Though he said this, he could still feel the slight tremble in Yue Mingkong's voice as she recounted everything.
She appeared strong, but she was actually very afraid inside, uneasy about this unknown situation.
As her husband, the only thing he needed to do now was to first put her at ease and dispel her fear of the unknown.
"I'm very worried that after I wake up, I'll become someone unfamiliar to me, no longer myself..." Yue Mingkong gently rested her head against his chest.
"That won't happen. No one will take you away from me. No matter what you become, I will find you and bring you back," Gu Changge said softly.
From what Yue Mingkong said, and connecting it to the anomalies he had detected when probing the Era of Dream's Ashes...
In the era before the Vast Expanse was born and heaven and earth had not yet been opened, someone was already laying out plans. It was also possible that from a past space-time, they saw some uncertain causality and connections, and thus interfered with that era, attempting to change something.
The Land of Truth, the Three Great Progenitors—each of them had such means. To say nothing of merely interfering with a past era, even rewriting entire ancient history, refining chaos again, reopening heaven and earth, and making everything start anew would be effortless.
The only thing Gu Changge could be sure of now was that the other party, from a certain future timeline, might have detected his arrangements and ambitions, and thus countered by making corresponding schemes on the timeline Gu Changge had chosen.
Whether Yue Mingkong, Gu Xian'er, or the many beloved wives and consorts in the Divine Kingdom, they were all weaknesses and soft spots on this timeline.
It could also be said that this would be his only flaw in the future.
Of course, the other party's schemes were also very subtle, as they were laid out based on just one seen timeline and one possibility. What if Gu Changge didn't choose this timeline? Or after noticing something amiss, Gu Changge chose to flip the table, directly erasing this timeline, making everything return to the primordial, and starting over?
No one could determine the future changes and outcomes, especially at their level.
Therefore, these subtle arrangements were actually very hard to detect.
The reason Gu Changge speculated thus was also because he sensed a hint of danger in the unseen, that perhaps a variable would truly appear in the future, and he might fall.
The Three Great Progenitors could not deduce and see through each other, but they could see and discern timelines related to themselves.
Even if countless prodigies and unparalleled existences were born in the Vast Expanse, with qualifications to touch the Land of Truth, in the eyes of the Three Great Progenitors, they were still ants not worth mentioning.
When They wanted to observe and deduce, then no fate of anyone or any creature in the world could escape Their eyes.
Gu Changge was certain that his current arrangements and schemes were flawless, revealing no loopholes.
Even if the other two Progenitors revived and cast their gaze from the Land of Truth, they couldn't see anything wrong with his current identity. First, his current identity was a variable he himself had fashioned, shrouded by a fog. Even if the Progenitors dispelled that fog, the future they saw would be the future Gu Changge had already fabricated.
Unless They had so much time as to keep staring at him, this anomaly, observing every step he took, and comparing that part of the future.
Of course, Gu Changge wouldn't let Them do that.
"Do you still remember the voice that chanted the scripture?" Gu Changge pulled his thoughts back and asked Yue Mingkong.
Yue Mingkong frowned, tried hard to recall, then shook her head. "I can't remember that voice clearly, but my only impression is that it seemed to be a shadow enveloped in hazy clear light, looking somewhat like a woman..."
"A woman?" Gu Changge's eyes flickered slightly. He didn't ask further, gently stroked her back and said, "I've left a mark on you. You needn't worry. As long as something unexpected happens to you, or your soul light has any anomaly, I will detect it immediately. No matter which space-time or era you're in, I'll come at once..."
Although in Yue Mingkong's account, that memory seemed not to belong to her, possibly belonging to someone else, Gu Changge was actually very clear that from beginning to end, her soul light had not changed at all.
She had always been her, never changed.
On the contrary, during this process, her power was indeed increasing, and in a way of returning, as if it had once scattered and drifted through heaven and earth, but with her seclusion cultivation, that power found its source again, flowing back into her body along the River of Years.
Grand Dream Return to Immortality, in fact, was more like using dreams to follow past footsteps, return to primordial times, and retrieve her own power.
If we disregard that scripture and that voice, Yue Mingkong's origins should be traced back to the Innate Era.
"With you here, I won't be afraid," Yue Mingkong said softly.
She knew that after waking up this time, she would soon go into seclusion again, and didn't know how long she would be asleep in between.
Gu Changge also knew this, which is why he had specially rushed back from the Vast Expanse.
"Dao Prosperity True World should also start bordering the Vast Expanse..."
"In my leisure time, in the courtyard where I usually rest, I opened up a world. When the time comes, I will take the entire Divine Kingdom with me. That way, when you go into seclusion, I will always be by your side," Gu Changge said.
This was a plan he had long considered. Although Dao Prosperity True World was a newly born true world, far inferior in foundation and strength to those Ancient True Worlds and even Supreme True Worlds, it had a natural advantage: a single Immortal Dao civilization spark had been left there.
However, this was no longer important to Gu Changge.
He now simply wanted to keep Yue Mingkong by his side, to give her peace of mind.
"I'll listen to you in everything," Yue Mingkong leaned against him quietly, a serene and touching smile on her face.
Suddenly, as if thinking of something, she turned her head and looked at Gu Changge, the corner of her mouth curving into a somewhat playful arc.
"Changge, now that I have the strength of the Dao Realms, can we have a child...?"
Gu Changge was slightly stunned, a bit surprised, not expecting Yue Mingkong to suddenly say this.
Offspring and children... He had actually never considered these, nor had such thoughts.
Seeing Gu Changge fall silent and not respond, Yue Mingkong was not surprised. She smiled and said, "I'm just saying. My body is special right now. Even if I conceived a child, I might not have the time to gestate."
Gu Changge understood what she wanted to say, and sighed softly in his heart.
Yue Mingkong continued softly, "But, Yin Mei and Chuchu..."
Gu Changge shook his head, interrupting her, and said softly, "Let's talk about this later. Now that the Vast Expanse is in turmoil, I don't want my children to live in an era of unrest."
Yue Mingkong nodded, saying nothing more.
Then, as if sensing something, she smiled faintly, "These past few days you've been with me constantly, Chuchu and the others must be getting anxious."
Outside the Divine Kingdom, the news that Gu Changge had returned to Dao Prosperity True World had already spread everywhere, but this time he found it troublesome and didn't let everyone come to pay respects, disturbing the peace between him and his beloved ones.
Jiang Chuchu, Wang Zijin, Yin Mei, and the others all came. The hall was filled with the cheerful chatter of women, very lively.
Beyond the rear courtyard, a clear, vast immortal pool lay. Immortal mountains towered, ancient peaks stood straight. These past days, Gu Changge had been like an ordinary mortal, accompanying them boating on the lake.
And Yue Mingkong personally cooked, her hair tied up, sleeves rolled, preparing many delicacies. At night, the campfire flickered, reflecting on the water and sky, breathtakingly beautiful. Cup after cup of Immortal Emperor wine went down, and soon the women were thoroughly drunk, staggering about.
Gu Changge had no choice but to carry them off to rest one by one.
Only when it was Wang Zijin's turn, she immediately woke up, sitting there with a bright smile, her eyes seemingly full of sparkling starlight. She hadn't drunk much at all, only pretended to be drunk.
This was yet another sleepless night.