Chapter 354: A Hard Road to This Day

“Don’t you think it’s strange? The end of the forbidden zone is a door.” Wu Zhaohua took a step back, her beautiful eyes scanning the enormous stone door up and down, her tone cautious.

Qin Qingyue looked left and right, then said softly, “I don’t think the end of the forbidden zone is a specific space anymore. It’s more like a secret realm within the forbidden zone.”

“Look at the lands of the Five Provinces we just passed over. Clearly, they are generations of alternating life and extinction. This place might symbolize the Cycle of Five Provinces.”

Wu Zhaohua hesitated for a moment, then reached out and gently pushed the door open.

Light bloomed from behind the door.

The scene was like layers of void stacked together, boundless and infinite.

Wu Zhaohua looked around. The scene behind the door reminded her of the passage Bai Lu had used long ago to take them from the Five Provinces to another world.

They had seen something like that on their way to rescue Jiang Huai.

She gazed into the distance.

The nearest thing seemed to be a world, but it was already dim and covered in a thick, viscous black ink.

That blackness slowly writhed, like a living thing.

“Do you see anything?” Qin Qingyue was about to step inside when Wu Zhaohua stopped her.

“This place seems to lead to the Five Provinces, but the road ahead is difficult.” Wu Zhaohua sighed.

Qin Qingyue’s heart leaped with joy.

‘So the end of the forbidden zone really can lead to the Five Provinces Continent? We can actually go back?’

If both of them returned, with their Heavenly Immortal-level cultivation, wouldn’t they be able to protect Jiang Zhun as he advanced to Great Ascension and make him the first Immortal-level Yin-Yang Body?

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go.” Qin Qingyue was about to step through the door again, but Wu Zhaohua stopped her again.

“What are you doing?” she asked, puzzled.

Wu Zhaohua stared at the starry path and murmured, “We can’t go together. No one can be sure this road truly leads to the Five Provinces.”

“You have a secret technique to contact the Black Dragon Clan. It’s best for you to stay in the Immortal Realm.”

“If I can reach the Five Provinces, all will be fine. If I meet an accident along the way, then you can find another way back later.”

Between the two of them, they had to leave one person as a safety net.

Qin Qingyue bit her red lip.

“But how do I contact you? How will I know where you are? There are too many variables.”

Wu Zhaohua shook her head.

“Things can never be perfect.” She tossed Qin Qingyue a Jade Sword Pendant.

“If I die, this jade will shatter.”

“Then, through the Black Dragon Secret Art’s Soul Descent to Five Provinces, you will naturally know my whereabouts.”

With that, she gave Qin Qingyue a deep look and stepped resolutely into the starry path.

The door slowly closed behind her.

“Qin Qingyue, don’t think that just because you allow him to have a harem, take concubines, and marry wives, that means you love him more or are better suited for him than others.”

Wu Zhaohua’s voice faded away, and the door shut tightly.

Qin Qingyue stared at the sealed stone door in front of her.

She flicked her dragon tail lightly, shook her head a few times, and felt bewildered.

‘She had to say a few words to me before leaving. Why? Didn’t we make up?’

In the starry sky, Wu Zhaohua stood in the void.

After the door closed, she suddenly crouched down, clutched her chest, and panted heavily, feeling immense pain.

Wu Zhaohua guessed that this path from the Immortal Realm to the Five Provinces was defying the heavens.

How could anyone return in the flesh after ascending from the Five Provinces to the Immortal Realm? Any act of defying the heavens requires a price.

She felt as if invisible knives in the starry sky were slashing her Dao foundation—cut after cut, strike after strike—leaving this Celestial Immortal Body covered in invisible “sword wounds.”

“Forget it. Let me first see if I can reach the Five Provinces.” Wu Zhaohua exhaled deeply, muttering to herself.

‘Unlike Qin Qingyue, who only cares about Jiang Huai, I have more on my mind: my own sect and my junior sisters.’

She stood up and walked forward step by step.

Using the Sword Seal engraved on Jiang Zhun, she sensed the direction and pressed on with difficulty.

After that night, Jiang Zhun’s seclusion became completely peaceful. No one disturbed his cultivation anymore.

Once the Five Dragon Marks were gathered, his cultivation speed became astonishing.

Spiritual energy poured in, and his cultivation surged. He broke through a level almost every few days.

Jiang Huai occasionally used his Essence Blood as a medium to communicate with Ji Xi’s lingering soul and seek her guidance on the essence of the Yin-Yang Body’s Gongfa.

He handed the Nine Heavens Palace entirely over to Su Yingman and Bai Lu, letting them choose residences for Cang Ling, Cang Jing, Ao Yao, and the others, but forbade anyone from coming to disturb him.

As time went by, the outside world was not peaceful.

Perhaps sensing Jiang Huai’s rapidly growing cultivation, or perhaps realizing the horror of the male Yin-Yang Body, the Extraterrestrial Demons somehow summoned a massive number of Heavenly Demons from somewhere, exhausting their resources to launch a fierce attack on the Northern Plains.

“Clan Leader, the grand array is about to break.” Bai Tan gasped.

The sky over the Northern Plains was stained purple-black by demonic Qi.

Countless Extraterrestrial Demons surged in like a tidal wave, emerging from the ground and the air, dense and endless.

They howled and roared, charging at the already crumbling defensive grand array.

Human cultivators, the Dragon Race, and other Monster Race clans fought and died before the array.

Sword light, flames, frost, lightning—all kinds of spiritual light exploded in the darkness, grinding wave after wave of demons to dust.

But there were too many. They couldn’t kill them all. For every batch that fell, more surged forward.

When living beings fell, they would turn into new Extraterrestrial Demons, instinctively attacking the grand array.

The grand array’s light grew dimmer, and cracks multiplied.

Bai Lu, covered in blood, slowly descended from the sky.

Her white dress was soaked through with black blood, her long hair disheveled, her eyes icy.

“When the array breaks, take them and retreat one more line of defense,” she said softly.

This was not the first line of defense the Extraterrestrial Demons had broken.

They had retreated three times already, each time paying a heavy price.

With that, Bai Lu shot into the sky, carrying a blizzard with her.

Yin-Yang Power swirled around her, white ice crystals and black Dragon Essence intertwining, forming a sharp sword light that swept in all directions.

Large swaths of Heavenly Demons were frozen into ice sculptures, then shredded by the sword light.

But even more demons surged from every direction, surrounding her.

The leading demonic shadow sneered, “Clan Leader Bai, long time no see. I really didn’t expect you to still be alive.”

“Ji Xi is already gone.”

Bai Lu’s mind flashed with the countless blood feuds from the Primordial Era.

Those clansmen who died horribly, those old friends who vanished, those lives that should have lived but were devoured by the demons.

She gripped her long sword tightly and said coldly, “I won’t close my eyes until I’ve wiped out all you evil fiends.”

Bai Lu’s aura exploded violently. Yin-Yang Power churned wildly within her.

White Dragon scales emerged one after another on her body, and her dragon horns glowed with white light on her head.

The aura was so vast and fierce that it forced the surrounding demons back several zhang.

The leading demon’s expression changed slightly, and it shook its head repeatedly.

It hadn’t expected Bai Lu to be even stronger than in the Primordial Era.

That Yin-Yang Power was so pure and profound it could almost stand shoulder to shoulder with Ji Xi back then.

This was all thanks to the male Yin-Yang Body’s feedback.

Unfortunately, today’s Extraterrestrial Demons were far more powerful than in the Primordial Era.

They had developed for too long, and they had pulled in all the Heavenly Demons from the Immortal Realm’s Forbidden Land, just to annihilate this male Yin-Yang Body.

The demon sighed. “Bai Lu, how about we negotiate?”

“If you just hand over the Yin-Yang Body, we can withdraw from the Five Provinces and return the entire Five Provinces to you.”

“From now on, the Five Provinces belong to you, and the other worlds belong to us. Peaceful coexistence, what do you say?”

Bai Lu sneered in disdain. “Has our Five Provinces ever taken the initiative to attack you Extraterrestrial Demons in the past? Do you think I’m senile?”

“Your nature of Nirvanic Extinction probably wouldn’t allow you to do that, would it?”

Jiang Zhun had long since told her about the nature and mission of the Extraterrestrial Demons, so she naturally wouldn’t believe such nonsense.

Bai Lu raised her hand and began her form. A blizzard howled through the sky, condensing behind her into a massive white dragon shadow.

The dragon’s roar shook the heavens, and ice crystals spun wildly.

She thrust her sword forward and charged into the enemy formation.