The End of the Secret Realm

"But I could not force you into the inheritance space.

You are too strong—so strong that all the guiding arrays I set up were useless against you, and my remnant soul could not affect your consciousness at all.

That is why I chose another path: drawing your disciple into the inheritance space, so that you would enter to find her."

Immortal Emperor Cangwu's gaze fell upon Gu Changyuan. His cyan eyes carried an indescribable emotion, as if he were saying goodbye.

"In that world, I saw you reconstruct the Great Dao of Cangwu.

It was not through learning, not through imitation, and not by following in my footsteps. Instead, using your own methods, your own understanding, and your own foundation, you integrated the four Great Daos and forged a path that is both similar to and completely different from mine.

From that moment on, I knew I had not chosen the wrong person."

Gu Changyuan was just about to ask something.

To ask who that senior was, to ask just how much Immortal Emperor Cangwu actually knew.

But Immortal Emperor Cangwu's figure began to dissipate.

It was not the slow, painful, and struggling dissipation of burning one's life essence, but rather a dissipation of liberation, of relief, of finally being able to let go.

"I have finally waited until this moment."

His voice grew fainter and more distant.

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, as if he were smiling, yet also as if he were sighing.

"I know you have many things you wish to ask, but what I just said is everything I know concerning you.

The person I needed to wait for has arrived, and the final obsession in my heart has been fulfilled. It is time for this remnant soul to disperse."

The wooden table disappeared, the straw mat vanished, and the parasol tree became transparent. The surface of the water began to collapse from the edges toward the center. The entire space started to crumble the moment he dissipated.

Gu Changyuan felt a force push him out of that collapsing void.

He felt the breeze, felt the sunlight, and felt the familiar fragrance of vegetation and the scent of soil in the air—it was the aura of the Boundless Forest Ocean.

Gu Changyuan opened his eyes to find himself standing in a clearing.

At his feet, Jun Anshi was leaning against the trunk of a large tree. Her eyes were tightly closed, her breathing was steady, and the cyan, hair-thin mark on her forehead was still fresh.

Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, as if she were having a very, very long dream, or as if she were just waking up from one.

Gu Changyuan revealed a faint smile. He raised his right hand and gave a gentle wave. The white mask silently slipped from his face, floated in the air, slowly flew toward Jun Anshi, and gently landed in her hands.

The moment the mask touched her palm, her fingers twitched slightly, as if she had grasped something in her dream.

Gu Changyuan took one last look at her before his figure flashed and disappeared from the spot.

The sky of the secret realm underwent a subtle change the moment he left.

With the disappearance of the secret realm's core space, there was a high probability that this secret realm was about to close.

With a mere thought, the Great Dao of Cangwu that Gu Changyuan had comprehended began to circulate within his body.

In an instant, everything within the secret realm space appeared in his perception.

A flash of emerald green light surged from his body, enveloping him.

He flew toward the edge of the secret realm, passing straight through its barrier, and steadily returned to the world of the Nine Heavens Realm.

Gu Changyuan's body entered a state of invisibility the moment he passed through the barrier.

His attire also reverted to its original appearance at the exact same moment. Then, he flew back to his original position and stood with his hands behind his back.

......

When Jun Anshi's divine sense returned from the dream world, she did not go back to the Cangwu inheritance space. Instead, her entire body landed directly in the Boundless Forest Ocean of the Cangwu Secret Realm.

She jolted awake.

The moment she opened her eyes, what greeted her sight was not the emerald canopy of the parasol tree, but rather the overlapping leaves and dappled sunlight of the Boundless Forest Ocean.

She abruptly sat up straight, her gaze urgently sweeping her surroundings.

Not on the left, not on the right, not in front, and not behind.

There was only an empty forest clearing and the unknown large tree she was leaning against.

Just as the panic in her heart was intensifying, she suddenly felt a hint of coolness in her palm.

Jun Anshi looked down and saw the white mask she had looked at for a full century, the one she was incredibly familiar with, now lying quietly in her hands.

Knowing that he was fine, she felt relieved, yet also harbored a trace of resentment.

She clearly knew it was just a dream world, and that even death there would not mean true death, yet her spirit had completely collapsed the instant she saw that scene.

Even the fusion of the Great Dao of Cangwu had been forced out of her under that overwhelming despair. If she could have been a bit calmer and more rational at the time, perhaps she would not have embarrassed herself so much.

Then, she began to sense the changes within her body.

Her cultivation base was still at the late stage of Soul Formation. That was just a dream world; the cultivation base was only attained by her consciousness in that world and could not be fed back to her physical body in reality.

However, it wasn't as if nothing was left behind.

She had already walked that path once.

This meant that her future cultivation would flow naturally, without her needing to take any detours.

It was just a matter of transforming these comprehensions into actual cultivation and cultivating them over again. Her speed would far exceed what it was before.

"Xiao Shi, Xiao Shi! Can you hear me? Xiao Shi!"

Jun Mukong's voice came from the communication artifact.

His voice was hoarse and carried obvious exhaustion, yet it could not conceal his current urgency and excitement.

Jun Anshi blinked. She had almost forgotten that the disciples outside must still be looking for her.

Hearing her brother's anxious and slightly haggard voice, her nose tingled with a sour feeling. She opened her mouth, trying hard to make her voice sound normal.

"Brother, I can hear you. I know you guys must be searching everywhere for me right now. I'm fine, perfectly safe."

She paused.

"But a lot has happened, and it's a bit complicated. I can't explain it in just a few words. Let's meet up first, and we can talk when I see you."

"Good, good, good. We'll come over immediately."

Jun Mukong said good three times in a row.

Jun Anshi stood up and carefully put the white mask away.

She determined the direction and quickly sped toward where Jun Mukong and the others were located.

Soon, the seven teams converged.

Just as Jun Anshi was about to call out Brother, Jun Mukong had already taken a step in front of her, pulled her into his arms, and hugged her.

Jun Anshi froze.

From childhood to adulthood, her brother rarely hugged her like this.

It wasn't that they had a bad relationship, but rather that Jun Mukong was naturally bad at expressing himself.

His care was in his actions, his worries were in his silence, and he never said mushy things.

But at this moment, he was hugging her.

His arms were wrapped tightly around her, as if he was afraid she would disappear again.