Reward for Saving the World

Pay attention, this young man is called Little Li, who just saved the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands with his wit.

The ice block (Ying Bing) sniffed around his neck but detected no unusual scent. The wariness in her lifted eyes faded, and her delicate brows gradually relaxed.

Just as she turned away in satisfaction, she felt two arms wrap around her slender waist.

"What are you doing?"

"Aren’t you supposed to recharge me?"

"...Hmm."

Seeing Little Li’s confident, earnest yet somewhat silly expression, Ying Bing pressed her lips together. She couldn’t outright say she was checking for the scent of other women’s makeup, so she let him have his way.

Li Mo was absolutely justified—this was his reward for saving the world!

People always joked about having "saved the world in a past life," but now it was literally true for him!

Holding her waist, he felt her cold, delicate body gradually melt like ice turning to water in his embrace. Mimicking her earlier action, he nuzzled and sniffed at her neck.

The icy fragrance of orchids in a secluded valley—elegant yet overwhelming.

Li Mo’s mood suddenly relaxed.

Dealing with those high-ranking officials, even with Uncle Zhong shielding him from their imposing aura, and given his own status and wealth that made them fawn over him with perfectly practiced smiles, he still felt uncomfortable deep down.

To be more precise, it was downright nauseating.

But now, holding the ice block, all those emotions vanished. Without even needing the Moonlit Soul-Calming Art, her presence alone cleared his mind.

"?"

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Li Mo felt her fingers curl slightly against his shoulder. The figure in his arms shivered faintly, and the blush that had lingered on her neck spread to where he had just nuzzled.

Her ears tinged pink.

"Found another weakness of the ice block?"

Little Li’s lips curled unconsciously, though he held back the urge to let out a sinister chuckle—his mouth had other uses.

Like sealing those ears with a kiss.

Squish—

A cold, slender hand pinched his nose.

Ying Bing seemed to have caught onto his intentions, her eyes flashing with warning:

"Keep fooling around, and I won’t let you hold me anymore."

She didn’t even realize how childish her "threat" sounded—like a kid’s "I won’t play with you anymore."

Was childishness contagious?

But her exasperated tone made it clear: the Frost Fairy was slowly getting used to humoring this immature fool.

In her past life, she only knew how to command the Great Dao and make others revere her like a deity.

She’d never imagined she’d learn tenderness and indulgence so quickly.

Perhaps it was because she, too, felt Li Mo’s subtle, nurturing influence...

Li Mo took her hand and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Your hair’s messy."

"Enough nonsense. If we delay any longer, the Moon’s essence won’t be optimal."

"Don’t worry, my pocket dimension has its own moon. Speaking of which, the moon there should be usable for meditation too."

His tone carried a hint of disappointment, but he was genuinely curious.

The moon in his pocket dimension was formed by the future version of the ice block. If she meditated on it herself, what would she perceive?

"We can try."

"Let’s go! Should we bring snacks?"

Li Mo opened the gateway to his pocket dimension and led her through the barrier between worlds.

The flow of time matched the outside world. Above the Ten Thousand Phenomena Immortal Sect hung the same serene, radiant moon, quietly illuminating all things.

To the untrained eye, it was no different from the outside world’s moon—unless one had an exceptionally sharp sensitivity to lunar essence.

"I’ve always wondered what made your pocket realm unique. Now I know."

Ying Bing stared at the sky for a long moment, her dark hair tinged silver under the moonlight.

"What?" Li Mo asked.

"Time."

She turned to him, her gaze piercingly serious.

Last time she entered, it had been daytime—this was her first glimpse of the moon in his world.

Li Mo froze.

Now that he thought about it, when his pocket realm was still a seed, did time even exist there?

It was only after the moon appeared that time began flowing... As the world’s master, he could sense this clearly.

"Then why can’t I project my pocket realm into the outside world yet?" He squeezed her hand.

Ying Bing withdrew her gaze and sighed. "Because it’s incomplete. Right now, your realm only balances the two polarities (Yin-Yang). To project it outward, you’d need at least..."

"The Four Symbols?"

"No, that’s the folk term. In truth, the heavens hold thirty-six principles, and the earth seventy-two."

She spoke with gravity, yet even she found the idea of refining a complete world as an inner realm utterly fantastical.

It meant Li Mo would need to master 108 divine intents just to reach the Inner Realm stage.

Ying Bing herself had mastered the Jade Phoenix Divine Intent, but in her eyes, Li Mo was different—he was starting from scratch.

"The earthly number... You do have a secret art that matches it."

"We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. We didn’t finish that anime last time."

"Instead of wasting time, you should study the revised Thousand Forms Scripture I prepared."

"Plenty of time for that tomorrow."

Li Mo projected Violet Evergarden into the night sky, cracking open a bag of chips. Strangely, his heart felt lighter now.

From the ice block’s tone, he realized he was walking a path no one had tread before.

But Brave Little Li feared no hardship!

What truly troubled him wasn’t difficulty—it was the uncertainty of not knowing the way forward.

---

The next day, in a carriage bound for the Eternal Spring Court.

Morning light filtered through the fluttering gauze curtains, illuminating the desk inside.

Time-management expert Little Li opened Ying Bing’s revised Thousand Forms Scripture alongside the original.

"The original version devours other divine intents, absorbing them into one’s soul, allowing the soul to break free from divine diagrams and forge its own unique intent..."

Reading this, Li Mo’s DNA twitched.

So it’s the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands Devouring Flame Tome?

Start with a low-tier divine intent, keep devouring others, and gradually evolve it into mid-tier, high-tier, and eventually a supreme divine form, huh?

Oh, Old Xiao’s surname is Xiao? That explains it.

People with surnames like Xiao, Ye, Chen, or Xu used to be his prime suspects.

But so far, only Old Xiao fit the bill.

After mentally roasting the trope, he flipped to Ying Bing’s version.

Compared to the original’s brute-force approach, her revision emphasized assimilation—either merging all into one unified intent or maintaining harmony between separate intents. It was exquisitely balanced: any more would be excess, any less would feel lacking.

Even divine arts had tiers.

After seeing her version, the original now reeked of shoddy craftsmanship...

"Did I waste a lot of my Heaven’s Script Seals before?"

Little Li fell into deep thought.

Now that he had the ice block, aside from the Gold and Silver Heaven’s Script Seals, were the others basically useless?