The Sky Stairway. The World Tree. The millionth step.

The Luminous Moon Goddess spread her arms, palms raised to the sky. Gathering everything she had and shutting out every stray thought, she let the divine power she had cultivated, and that the Supreme had poured into her, seep out drop by drop. It filled the whole space the way a bright moon bathes the earth, blending into everything and enfolding the Supreme and Yue Yang within it.

The moonlight divine power she ran and commanded was extremely gentle, gauzy as a dream, hazy and faint.

There was no way this divine power could harm the Supreme or Yue Yang, but she kept it as soft as she could all the same — lighter than the breeze, paler than moonlight.

At this moment the two of them, their minds immersed in a wordless, resonant harmony, could not withstand the slightest disturbance. Even a cough, or the faintest footstep, might pull them out of the world where their hearts had merged, and break the harmony that made them, for now, like one person.

In this resonance, where heart and wisdom flowed together as one, the Supreme could see all of Yue Yang’s cultivation, and Yue Yang read the Supreme little by little, coming to know all of her, more deeply and more truly.

There were no secrets left.

At this moment the two of them were as close as twins in their mother’s womb, flesh and blood intertwined.

Two hearts beat together. Two minds — of opposite sexes, yet open to each other — drew ever closer without end, forming a strange union in which each was within the other. Two comprehensions from two different realms, two wisdoms pushing into two different fields, two souls born separately and different in nature, accepted each other without limit, until they were wholly one and could no longer be told apart.

At some point, the two of them, foreheads pressed together, had begun to kiss.

There was no lingering of lips and tongues. There was no teasing, no flirting, no taking. There was no element of desire in it at all — only an unconscious drawing near, the way of nature, using the intimate touch of lips to reach a fuller, higher communion.

It was the same for the Supreme and Yue Yang in the world of the soul. They held each other close, with no clothing to bind them, their golden souls utterly pure. They embraced completely — lips joined, hands joined — until one soul’s body and the other’s had nearly fused into a single whole that could no longer be told apart. Until now, only the lovers who loved Yue Yang most deeply, such as Xue Wuxia and Princess Qianqian, had ever reached a realm of dual cultivation like this, a perfect union in which they gave everything. Others, like the Southern Wilderness Demon King, Hailan and Bi Lv, even after becoming Yue Yang’s wives and joining with him in the fullest way the body allows, still fell a little short, unable to fully and perfectly reach this state of true union of souls… Besides Xue Wuxia, Princess Qianqian and the beautiful Luohua, the only others who could reach this state through the soul alone, without dual cultivation of the body, were Yue Bing and Yue Yu.

Yue Bing could reach it because her brother had purified her body and elevated her soul countless times. She was ethereal and crystal clear through and through, her heart bright and her mind wise. Add to that her boundless trust in her brother: when she trained, she never thought about anything else, and her mind was entirely free of stray thoughts. That was what let her reach this level of cultivation.

As for Yue Yu, she knew perfectly well what this kind of cultivation meant. But to help her little brother grow through one hardship after another, she had cast aside her shyness and the world’s conventions, and gave everything for him from her own true nature.

Now the Supreme, who had never dual-cultivated with Yue Yang before, threw herself into the world of the heart for the first time and released herself without holding anything back — and reached the true and wondrous realm of soul dual cultivation, flawlessly.

So that Yue Yang could master the power of fate in the shortest possible time, she did not hesitate to lead him with her own consciousness and pass on to him every comprehension of her whole life.

In that transmission, the joys, angers, sorrows and pleasures of her life, every private thing and everything in her subconscious, were shared with him as well. There was no avoiding it.

The Supreme knew what would come of it — and poured herself into him all the more, without looking back…

As for the future — how things would turn out between them once they had dual-cultivated — she had no time to think about it. Or perhaps she chose not to think about it at all.

Through this cultivation he read her bit by bit, and in the process she came to know all of him more and more. Apart from certain things that were guarded and could not be touched, everything in his life and his daily living, his loves and lusts, his feelings and his hatreds, now stood clearly before her eyes as if she had lived them herself.

“BOOM!”

The Sacred Codex’s “World” suddenly expanded countless times over, stretching outward without end with Yue Yang at its center.

When it reached the edge of a boundless sky — a far limit that even Yue Yang’s own wisdom, as its master, could not fully see — it rushed back in at high speed, condensed again, and returned to surround his body, forming something like a ring of light.

Yue Yang and the Supreme, their minds immersed in the world of dual cultivation, had no idea what was happening. All they could do was quietly “watch” and sense the change.

A supreme divine power — invisible to everyone, yet truly there — suddenly appeared from who knew where, and with uncanny skill set a portion of the Fate Giant’s power upon “World”… Not a bit more, not a bit less. Half a measure more and World might have collapsed on the spot; half a measure less and it would have fallen short of what World could bear, causing a backlash beyond reckoning.

Yue Yang and the Supreme had not expected this power of fate to be placed upon “World,” and could only look on quietly as it happened, with no way to stop or control it.

When the placing was done, World and the Fate Giant power it could at most bear stood in an exquisitely perfect balance.

That alone sent shock after shock through both their souls.

What kind of deft hand could make a division like that? What kind of ability could cut away a portion of the Fate Giant power that belonged to Yue Yang, without him even noticing, and set it upon World to bear in its master’s place?

Who had divine power and wisdom like that?

Before their hearts could ask any more, before they could unravel any more of the mystery, the two of them were shaken again — this time by how much World could bear.

If the Fate Giant power Yue Yang finally needed to command was a height of one thousand meters — enough to turn the battle and reverse heaven and earth — then World, which ever since its birth had been a glutton that almost never did anything impressive, had now, incredibly, taken on three hundred meters of Fate Giant power for Yue Yang!

Three hundred meters!

A thousand meters of Fate Giant power was enough to ignore Dongfang and the rest of the Heavenly Realm’s conquerors and reverse the whole war. And this glutton of a World had borne three hundred meters of it for Yue Yang. That a thing with no wisdom, not even a divine beast, could bear three hundred meters of the power of fate was nothing short of an unimaginable miracle!

The next placement went to the phantom, which had been with Yue Yang ever since his first grimoire contract and had always been there.

The phantom bore two hundred and fifty meters of the power of fate for Yue Yang.

His first war beast. His first life-guardian war beast.

The life-guardian war beasts that had grown out of it — A-Man, Hong, the shadow giant and the rest — had every one of them been Yue Yang’s greatest help in battle. Yet even the phantom, as strong as it was — the phantom beast born at the moment of his contract, his first life-guardian war beast — could bear at most two hundred and fifty meters. Which showed just how terrifying World, bearing three hundred meters a moment before, really was!

Of course, if not for what happened next, the shock to their hearts would not yet have reached its peak.

“I’m ready too. Please let me bear a share as well! A thousand meters of the power of fate — if we split it between us, we will surely succeed!” The Luminous Moon Goddess had been gathering herself all this time for exactly this: a mysterious guidance carried to her from some unknown world.

She too would bear the power of fate for Yue Yang. Even if it was only a hundred meters.

So long as the power of fate was divided up, with everyone bearing a little for Yue Yang, a thousand meters was not impossible.

World had borne three hundred meters and the phantom two hundred and fifty, and also present was little Wenli, who had only just come out and was gathering all her will to take on the crushing weight of the power of fate… If everyone shared a part of the thousand meters, Yue Yang would have that much less to bear himself, and three days of comprehension and mastery could turn the impossible into the possible.

The Supreme and Yue Yang could not move. Their hearts were joined in the wondrous realm of soul dual cultivation. But through their bond, both of them could “see.”

This time, the unknown, invisible, wondrous hand placed a mere hundred meters of the power of fate upon the Luminous Moon Goddess’s head… What shook Yue Yang and the Supreme most was that the Luminous Moon Goddess, bearing a hundred meters of Fate Giant power, gave a piercing scream and could not even straighten her back from the pain. Her protective divine power nearly shattered. In an instant she could not even stay in the space of the millionth step; her divine power rumbled and roared until it blew apart the space of the millionth step, and she plunged straight down the World Tree.

A mere hundred meters, and a Luminous Moon Goddess who had comprehended Sovereign Intent and had been divine tier for a long time could not hold it up.

Under that crushing weight, she very nearly fell and perished on the spot.

This terrifying might nearly made the Supreme’s and Yue Yang’s minds explode. Was the power of fate really that monstrous? If the Luminous Moon Goddess, a divine tier, could not hold up even a hundred meters, what kind of monsters were the phantom, holding two hundred and fifty, and World, holding three hundred?

Then little Wenli’s tender little hands held up three hundred and eighty meters of Fate Giant power, and even Yue Yang could not stay calm.

He and the Supreme were both jolted out of the dual-cultivation realm at the same moment. They stared, dumbstruck, at what was happening in front of them.

So this adorable little serpent-demon loli was the real monster all along!

When the two of them came to their senses, they discovered, to their horror, something else. By the heights borne so far, the total was already past a thousand meters. World’s three hundred, plus the phantom’s two hundred and fifty, plus the Luminous Moon Goddess’s hundred, and finally little Wenli’s three hundred and eighty — wasn’t that one thousand and thirty meters? Since it had reached a thousand meters, Yue Yang ought to have been able to follow the flow of heaven, gradually take control of it, comprehend and draw it in, and transform himself. So why was nothing happening?

If the bearing were useless, the invisible, wondrous hand would surely never have done this. But if it was useful, why was it not taking effect?

Yue Yang and the Supreme exchanged a look. Without a word, both of them had thought of the same terrible possibility…

BOOM!

The Luminous Moon Goddess kept falling — the five-hundred-thousandth step, the hundred-thousandth, the ten-thousandth, and in the end she could not even stop at the thousandth. Only when she had fallen all the way to the very starting point of the Sky Stairway, at the roots of the World Tree, did she grit her teeth and hold steady under the hundred meters of Fate Giant power she bore!

The Supreme, who shared one heart and one sense with the Luminous Moon Goddess, could not help changing color.

Just as she and Yue Yang were at a loss for how to react, a heavenly voice, as if carried from the world of dreams, sounded softly in their ears. “Are you listening? Listen carefully. You must hear clearly every word A-Xian is about to say, and then do exactly as she asks!”

“San’er, and the Clear-Heart Sect Master — by now you may already know that bearing a thousand meters of Fate Giant power alone can never reach the final realm of the Sacred Sovereign, who masters all things perfectly, eternal and without end. Because, San’er, you hold more than one grimoire. You also hold the Divine Codex you won in the Trial Grounds. Even with only one grimoire, to reach Sacred Sovereign you would need to create an eternal world. Otherwise, once you ascend to the divine tier, you will stand still forever at your current rank of the divine tier, with no further progress possible. Long ago, Big Sister left me a charge: if one day San’er needed everyone’s help, then and only then could I tell the truth… What I must tell you now is that what needs bearing is not only a thousand meters of the power of fate. That is only what you have earned so far, San’er. What will truly lay your foundation and make your future is meeting what your grimoires need to give birth to eternal worlds. Only what is left over beyond that becomes your potential to grow in the divine tier in the future!” Fourth Mother’s voice reached the world of Yue Yang’s and the Supreme’s hearts through Her Majesty.

“Oh my God!” Yue Yang very nearly passed out. He did not hold two grimoires. He held three! And one of them was a Divine Codex he could not even enter himself, its own master. Heaven only knew how much power of fate it would take to build an eternal world inside it.

This time, he really was done for.

What Yue Yang was thinking about now was no longer how to beat Dongfang.

With more than a thousand meters of the power of fate borne for him, so long as he settled his mind, absorbed it and mastered it completely, the reversal in this war was a sure thing. But if that was all, then in the future he would be a divine tier with a thousand-meter Fate Giant at most… Never mind any potential beyond the divine tier — even the Sacred Sovereign he had longed for all this time would brush right past him and slip out of reach.

So becoming a Sacred Sovereign was this hard!

No wonder so few had ever become Sacred Sovereigns in all the countless ages. No wonder the true gods who had climbed to the divine tier stayed fixed at their original ranks. Advance, my ass! Who could build an eternal world and still have divine power left over to make potential out of? Who had what it took to bear such a huge — you could even say ocean-sized — amount of divine power?

With Fourth Mother’s words of truth, the Trial Grounds’ Divine Codex, which Yue Yang had won but could never summon, came out.

Its spirit told Yue Yang and the Supreme that to build inside it an eternal trial world belonging wholly to Yue Yang and commanded by his will would take at least three thousand meters of Fate Giant power…

That blow alone was enough to make Yue Yang want to keel over.

Next came the Sacred Codex, Yue Yang’s first contracted grimoire and the greatest help of his life and of his battles. It needed even more: at least five thousand meters of Fate Giant power. Yue Yang was speechless. Where was he supposed to find people to bear eight thousand meters of Fate Giant power? The Luminous Moon Goddess, a divine tier, could not even hold up a hundred meters. If not for the phantom, World and little Wenli pulling their weight, even one thousand meters would have been a tall order!

The Supreme had wanted to comfort Yue Yang. But when that unfathomable Sacred Grimoire came out and declared it needed at least ten thousand meters of Fate Giant power, even she did not know how to comfort the boy.

It was a number to drive anyone to despair.

The Divine Codex Yue Yang had fought and bled so hard to win in the Trial Grounds was nothing but a passing cloud next to this unfathomable grimoire that had never once appeared in front of anyone. It alone needed far more than the Trial Grounds’ Divine Codex and his first contracted Sacred Codex put together. And what drove Yue Yang craziest was that he had contracted this grimoire and had hardly ever used it! How could it demand that much power of fate from him? Was there no justice in the world? World might be a glutton, but at least at the important moments it would pop up and stop by to buy soy sauce. This grimoire could not even be summoned on an ordinary day!

It was over!

Yue Yang’s head felt three sizes too big. What was he supposed to do now?

The Supreme felt a little dizzy too, but she did her best to comfort him. “There is no barrier in the world that cannot be passed. We will face it together and work at it together, and we will surely succeed! This is the greatest barrier of all, but once it is passed, everything given will be repaid!”

“Cultivation, trials, advancement — on the surface it looks like one person’s effort, but behind it, it is never just one person’s business. Big Sister made her arrangements long ago. I could not help you grow before, San’er, but at this barrier, Shuang’er and I will both stand behind you. And — Huaxian calls out now to all of you who hear my voice: family, friends, and the elders, subordinates, peoples and races whose fate is bound up with San’er’s. If you are willing, please step forward and help San’er bear the power of fate that is his, but that is also bound up closely with all of your lives… So long as enough people step forward, however hard and however grueling this barrier is, we will get past it. This is my San’er’s future, and it is everyone’s future glory too! If you hear me and are willing to step forward, please follow the secret method Huaxian is about to give you, and with your own will and your own strength, bear one share of the power of fate — even if it is a very, very small share! Huaxian thanks you all in advance. Everything is in your hands!” When Fourth Mother’s voice rang out once more, it was not only in Yue Yang’s and the Supreme’s hearts this time. Every friend and family member who knew Yue Yang, every people and race that stood behind him — whether in battle, in meditation, or even asleep and dreaming — heard every word Fourth Mother said with perfect clarity.

It was Fourth Mother’s plea, and the guidance of Her Majesty’s power.

Yue Yang was so moved he nearly wept. He clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut, fighting to keep his feelings from breaking down under the weight of it…

The Night Empress, Princess Qianqian, the beautiful Luohua, the Drunken Cat Imperial Lady and the others, all in the middle of battle… Duoduo, Jiangying, Yika and Weilai, hurrying on their way, and Gray Wolf, madly devouring the Heavenly Realm legions’ rank-and-file… Sea Fatty, Ye Kong, Xue Tanglang, the Tianra Prince and the Liqie brothers, collapsed on the ground in exhaustion, and even friends like Valentine the Minotaur girl, Leo, Lynn and the others… Old Fox, Jun Wuyou, Elder Yuehai, and, far off in the Heavenly Realm, Tianzhu — gripping the divine sword Lihen as he comprehended it — and the Dragon Emperor and the Underworld Emperor…

In that moment, countless family and friends whose fate was bound up with Yue Yang’s all heard Fourth Mother’s call.

Now it all came down to their choice.

Would they choose to stand behind him? Or would they sit by and watch Yue Yang fail at the barrier?

To bear the power of fate for someone else, to make someone else’s future — what was that, if not a choice of one’s own fate in life?

(End of Chapter 1290)