Transcending the World

Time passed silently. Three more springs and autumns had come and gone since that night under the moon when they embraced and made their vow of everlasting love.

Counting the initial ten years, Ye Xuan and Ying'er had now been living in seclusion in the peaceful, isolated Green Ox Village for thirteen full years.

During these three years, Ye Xuan had not even touched the rusty iron sword leaning against the courtyard wall.

Every day, aside from splitting firewood and fetching water for Ying'er, he would take a small wooden stool and sit beneath the ancient locust tree at the village entrance. Holding an ordinary piece of peach wood in his hand, he would take the carving knife—the very one that once gleamed coldly under the moonlight—and carve, slowly and with focused precision.

No one knew what he was carving.

At first, passing villagers thought it looked like a miniature sharp sword. Later, they thought it resembled a steep, solitary peak. Eventually... it no longer seemed to resemble anything at all—just a smooth, unremarkable piece of wood, utterly devoid of edge or form.

This continued until the deep autumn of the year.

Falling leaves painted the dirt paths of Green Ox Village with a thick layer of crushed gold.

Ye Xuan sat in the courtyard, gently blowing away the last wisp of dust from the wooden block in his hands.

It was a wooden hairpin.

Its form was utterly simple, without any flattering ornamentation, and even its surface shone with the faint roughness of natural wood, as if barely polished at all.

If it were tossed into the market of a town several dozen li away, probably no one would offer even three copper coins for it.

But at this moment, if some supreme ancient master at the Great Vehicle or even Tribulation Transcendence stage were to stumble into this humble courtyard, they would surely be shaken to their core by this unremarkable hairpin, falling to their knees in awe.

Because every single grain of the wood's texture perfectly followed the principles of heaven and earth; each seemingly clumsy carving mark contained the ultimate sword intent, enough to sever the stars and rivers and tear the void itself.

Return to simplicity; the greatest skill resembles clumsiness.

"Husband, you've been sitting in this draft all morning—aren't you cold?"

Ying'er walked out of the inner room carrying a freshly sun-dried cotton quilt.

Time seemed especially kind to her. The thirteen years had left no trace of frost at the corners of her eyes; instead, they had gently shed her initial girlish shyness, settling her into a calm and serene beauty that brought peace to the heart.

Ye Xuan looked up, quietly gazing at the woman who had accompanied him through two lifetimes.

Thirteen years of mortal life had thoroughly washed away the last traces of chill in his bones and smoothed the fierce anger left over from his previous life.

At this moment, his eyes were clear and warm, like a newly polished jade shard, and his body radiated not the slightest hint of spiritual energy. To any onlooker, he was simply a gentle, refined scholar, utterly powerless.

"Ying'er, come here."

He beckoned to her with a slight, warm smile.

Ying'er put down the quilt with its scent of sunshine, walked obediently to his side, knelt, and looked up. "What is it?"

Ye Xuan raised his hand, gently removing the old thorn hairpin she had worn in her bun for years, and slowly inserted the newly carved peach-wood hairpin into her flowing black hair.

The movement was solemn, reverent, as if he were crowning a empress who ruled the nine heavens.

"Is it beautiful?" Ying'er touched the wooden hairpin at her temple, her bright eyes full of expectation.

"It's beautiful. The most beautiful in the world."

Ye Xuan gazed deeply into her eyes, his affection nearly overflowing. Then his voice became gentle but carried an unshakable resolve:

"Ying'er, go pack your things."

Ying'er froze, her hand pausing mid-air as she touched the hairpin. "Pack things? Husband, are we going to stay in town for a few days?"

Ye Xuan smiled and shook his head. He slowly stood, his gaze passing over the low earthen wall to the endless, mist-shrouded mountains beyond the courtyard.

His voice remained calm, but it began to reveal a majestic, battle-ready power:

"No."

"We are leaving this place."

"Returning to where we truly belong."

Ying'er's body trembled slightly.

Though she had indulged in the dream of thirteen years of their lives as a simple farming couple, her heart was always clear as a mirror.

Her husband was the Young Sword Emperor, the peerless master whose sword once shone cold across nineteen provinces.

This tiny Green Ox Village could never hold a sleeping true dragon.

That day was bound to come.

She didn't ask where they were going, nor did she show the fear or tears of an ordinary mortal woman.

She simply straightened herself, nodded firmly, and gave a brilliant smile:

"Good! Then I'll bring the crispy pickled bamboo shoots I prepared yesterday—the ones you love best with your porridge. And your two green cloth robes, which I've washed and mended, I'll pack those up too..."

Watching her slender back as she turned and ran inside, busily preparing, joy filled Ye Xuan's eyes like the countless stars across the sky.

This was his path.

Not cutting off the ties of love, not avoiding the mortal world.

As long as she stood behind him, his sword would never break.

On the morning of their departure, the mist hung like a thin veil over Green Ox Village. The couple did not disturb many people.

Only Granny Wang, an early riser from next door fetching water, happened to see them holding hands, carrying simple bags, and walking to the bamboo fence.

"Oh, Scholar Ye, you and your wife are going on a long journey?" Granny Wang wiped her hands on her apron, her face full of warmth.

"Yes, Granny." Ye Xuan stopped, and with a gentle, flawless demeanor, made a slight bow as befitting a younger generation. "I've been buried in books for thirteen years. It's time to take my wife on a study tour and see something of the world."

"That's good, that's good! Young people should go out and explore." Granny Wang bustled into her kitchen and came out with a paper bag of freshly fried chestnuts, pressing it into Ying'er's arms. "Be careful on the road! People outside can be ruthless. If things get tough out there, you can always come back. I'll sweep your courtyard for you every day!"

"Thank you, Granny."

Ye Xuan accepted the heavy kindness with a smile.

Just before turning onto the village path, he paused, took one last look at the shabby little courtyard he had called home for thirteen years, and the bare locust tree.

His long fingers, hidden in the loose green sleeve of his scholar's robe, casually flicked.

An extremely faint golden ripple, invisible to mortal eyes, spread outward from the small courtyard like an inverted translucent glazed bell, gently enveloping the entire Green Ox Village—and then faded into the fabric of the world.

"Let's go."

Ye Xuan withdrew his gaze, intertwined his fingers with Ying'er's, and stepped onto the path, walking on the morning frost toward the village boundary stone.

The moment the soles of their feet fully crossed the boundary marker—

The wind stopped without warning.

The easygoing, scholarly mortal aura that had clung to Ye Xuan was wiped away like duckweed swept by a sudden storm.

What replaced it was not the fierce, piercing sharpness that tore through the sky from his past life. It was a terrifying pressure, deep as the abysses of the nine netherworlds, heavy as the great mountains of ten thousand eras.

He was now like a peerless divine sword, honed through the ages of eternity. Though hidden in its ancient scabbard, the latent, unspoken power it radiated was enough to make the very laws of heaven and earth tremble and bow before him.

Ye Xuan cast one last look back at the peaceful, tranquil village behind him, then slowly turned his gaze toward the vast, turbulent world of immortal cultivation beyond the mountains.

A faint, long-lost smirk curled at the corners of his lips—a smirk that belonged solely to the Peerless Sword Emperor, wild and arrogant.

"Thirteen years."

"Those crazy women must have already turned every corner of the Three Thousand Dao Provinces upside down by now, right?"

"It's time I gave them a nice little surprise."