“Why?” Yue Yang couldn’t suppress his fury, and shouted harshly at the white-clad maiden holding the silver grimoire: “Why did it turn out this way? Give me an explanation!”

“Her strength was already close to the divine realm to begin with. It was only that she’d been carrying an unhealed wound, hadn’t fully recovered, and lacked one moment of sudden enlightenment. Now that both were in place, of course she’d automatically ascend to the divine realm and leave Human Valley.” The leading white-clad maiden explained calmly: “Over this past year, she gained a great deal from her tempering in Human Valley. In truth, after the battle with the evil god, she could well have had her enlightenment and advanced then, leaving Human Valley — it was only that her heart couldn’t bear to part, and so she held on so bitterly, staying behind to keep you company. But you ought to understand: self-sealing has its limits. It can’t be maintained forever, and for her personally, forcibly suppressing herself was a most inadvisable regression against the current, of no benefit to her cultivation. Now that she’s followed her comprehension, ascended to the divine realm, and left Human Valley — is that not a good thing?”

“You could at least have given us a little time to brace ourselves — we had no mental preparation whatsoever!” Yue Yang felt he still had a thousand words, ten thousand, that he’d had no chance to say to her, and to watch her leave like this, powerless to do anything at all, was a hard thing to bear.

“The truth is, the one I meant to enlighten was not her, but you.” The leading white-clad maiden suddenly smiled faintly.

“Her sealing ability was very strong, but in fact she couldn’t have held out more than a few days. The divine power was already beyond her present command — whether or not we appeared, she might have suddenly lost control at any moment, broken through her self-seal, and left Human Valley.” The valiant white-clad maiden felt Yue Yang had no business complaining about this. Put that way, Yue Yang did recall that these past few days “Young Lord Mingzhu” — this girl — had been especially good to him, breaking from her usual manner, and last night’s behavior had been all the more “out of character.” It seemed she’d known all along that the seal could no longer be held.

“Ascending to the divine realm is a good thing. You should be happy for her.” The sweet round-faced one consoled Yue Yang.

“Cast out of Human Valley — where will she return to?” Yue Yang asked.

“To her own grimoire world. Before her divine nature is fully formed, she’ll still need a very long stretch of time to grow familiar with these powers and strengthen them. It isn’t that ascending to the divine realm makes you a god just like that — there’s a great deal that still has to take shape in between: the divine body, the divine consciousness, the divine nature, and so on, as well as the mastery of divine intent, divine power, divine techniques, and the rest. And finally, the forming of an independent ‘divine realm’ within the grimoire world. Without all of these, how could one be called a true god? As for fully embodying godhood — then her majesty and power fully revealed, she can go wherever she wishes; that’s for her to decide, a single thought a thousand miles, a single thought ten thousand miles, no barrier or restriction left anywhere in all the realms!” The leading white-clad maiden softly painted for Yue Yang everything that came after ascension.

“Just tell me straight — how long before I can see her?” This was the question Yue Yang most wanted answered.

“Some need several thousand years to truly reach full attainment; some need only several hundred; and some reach it in a few decades.” So the valiant white-clad maiden explained.

“A few decades at the very least…” Yue Yang was thoroughly at a loss for words.

Come to think of it, Empress Vivienne had spent no small amount of time turning the black-hole space into a world of ice and snow. Granted, transforming a black-hole space was a bit difficult, but a world of ice and snow didn’t just form at a word either. Seen that way, hoping to meet again anytime soon that little moonlight who’d disguised herself as “Young Lord Mingzhu” was going to be hard.

He’d finally, with such difficulty, gotten to see the beloved again — and who’d have thought, before he’d so much as teased her a few days, the pitiless Law had flung her away, the two of them parted across separate places. Maddening, truly!

Most helpless of all: she’d returned to her grimoire world, not to the Heaven Realm, so even sending her a love letter was out of the question.

Yue Yang stewed alone in his gloom for half the day, then pressed on, unwilling to give up: “If I want to see her — is there really no other way?”

The sweet round-faced one nodded, mm-hmm, giving him a shred of hope — but her next sentence dropped him right back into speechlessness, for the round-faced maiden said, all smiles: “As long as you too ascend to the divine realm, then after you reach full attainment, you can link your divine intent to hers, receive her guidance, and then enter the divine realm inside her grimoire.” That nearly sent Yue Yang toppling headfirst to the ground. Good grief — ascending to godhood, easier said than done; right now there wasn’t even the first stroke of the character on the page!

Yue Yang was out of options, so he could only ask again: “Then how do I ascend to the divine realm as fast as possible?”

The leading white-clad maiden smiled faintly: “Others I can’t speak for, but you’re something of an exception. Perhaps you could try a special sort of trial… See this silver grimoire in my hand? It is itself a small heaven-and-earth. Inside it is boundless nothingness and boundless reality. If you believe it to be false, then everything in it is illusion; if you believe it to be true, then everything in it is fact.”

Yue Yang had long suspected that the silver grimoire in this girl’s hand was in fact the true entrance to the three Valleys — Heaven, Earth, and Human.

Hearing this now, he was all the more certain.

He did want to go in and give the trial a try, but Yue Yang was no reckless sort. Naturally he asked more about the conditions inside the silver grimoire — else, what if he got taken for a ride? Of the three white-clad maidens, the sweet round-faced one surely wouldn’t “swindle” him, and the valiant one probably wouldn’t either, but this leading one, all smiles and gentle as water — she’d absolutely swindle a man to death and not pay with her life for it. Not clearing things up first simply wouldn’t do.

Yue Yang thought it over again and again, and cautiously raised his doubts: “I’ve been through the Gate of Life and Death — that trial of reality within illusion and illusion within reality. Can you tell me how they’ll differ? And also: are there conditions to entering the boundless world of the silver grimoire, and once inside, what conditions must I meet to successfully return?”

“Once you enter, if you don’t succeed, you can never return.” That single sentence from the leading white-clad maiden brought cold sweat out on Yue Yang’s brow. Your sister — that’s harsh!

“The boundless world inside the silver grimoire has no concept of time or space. Live in there for ten thousand years and outside not even a single second will have passed. Spend a million years, ten million years in there reaching your goal, and when you return outside, the time will be no different from the one second when you went in.” So the valiant white-clad maiden explained.

“As long as you succeed, you can come out. It’s very simple.” This from the sweet round-faced one.

“And what counts as succeeding?” Yue Yang badly wanted to retort, easy for you to say!

“Surpassing the self, and comprehending the true meaning of destruction and creation.” The leading white-clad maiden slowly spoke the condition for passing the trial.

“That — isn’t that the condition for clearing the three Valleys of Heaven, Earth, and Human?” Yue Yang hadn’t even the strength left to retort. Sure enough, the true Heaven, Earth, and Human Valleys were in the grasp of these three white-clad maidens all along. Every warrior in the world was a fool, scrabbling and scrapping in this cursed, counterfeit Human Valley, fancying they’d pulled it off — when in fact it was fools scheming against fools, and the true Heaven, Earth, and Human Valleys were something they’d never so much as brushed the edge of.

No wonder they said no one had obtained a Divine Codex in ten million years. If these three girls didn’t produce the silver grimoire and let a person into it to clear the trial, then that Divine Codex could be forgotten for this lifetime — the trial had never actually been cleared at all!

Why, even those so-called evil gods had been taken in, swindled bitterly by these three girls. They’d fancied themselves formidable, strutting about in the three Valleys of Heaven, Earth, and Human — never dreaming it was all fake, that the real three Valleys were being held right there in someone else’s hands!

Yue Yang badly wanted to give himself a hard slap across the face. Let’s see you go on underestimating these three girls…

Whether to go in and take the trial was a question for later, but asking the reasons was necessary: “Ahem, ahem. I’d very much like to know — why are you telling only me?”

The valiant white-clad maiden rewarded him with a don’t-flatter-yourself roll of the eyes: “We invite in those who might possibly succeed, all right — not just you. Fifteen years ago, a certain someone very much connected to you walked this road ahead of you, and she cleared the trial successfully — only she left without going on to the tenth gate. Possessing a Divine Codex as she did, perhaps she wanted to leave the opportunity to you!”

The sweet round-faced one nodded in agreement: “It must have been that!”

Yue Yang’s jaw hit the floor. Possessing a Divine Codex? This was the first time he’d ever heard of anyone possessing such a thing as a Divine Codex… He truly couldn’t believe it — the one possessing a Divine Codex was, of all people, the fourth sister’s elder sister, his own nominal “Mother.”

“Empress Vivienne and the Prison Emperor Zhanfeng — did they pass the trial?” Yue Yang pressed down his shock and asked again.

“The Conquering Empress passed, but Zhanfeng didn’t take the challenge. He hoped to enter and temper himself only after Heaven Valley — but at the Earth Valley gate, his heart rose in resistance against the true meaning of destruction, and he withdrew from the trial. He said he’d come challenge it again, but once gone he never returned!” The valiant white-clad maiden seemed to have a fairly clear impression.

“He died — of course he never returned!” Yue Yang couldn’t bear to imagine just how terrifying that “boundless world,” which even the Prison Emperor hadn’t dared challenge, must be.

Come to think of it, Her Majesty Empress Vivienne really was something — clearing even a place as terrifying as the boundless world. No wonder she wouldn’t say a word whether he asked or pried; so there was a secret like this behind it.

Yue Yang paused, hoping to draw a comparison: “Empress Vivienne and my Mother — which of them passed the trial faster?”

The sweet round-faced one propped her chin on her soft, delicate little hand and thought for a good long while, then knit her brows with a touch of adorable befuddlement: “The Conquering Empress’s time was too long ago, I’ve half forgotten — but it should have been more than three thousand years. Though she had a very hard time of it in the boundless world, taken all together her pace was still fairly quick!”

Yue Yang pressed on: “And that Mother of mine?”

The sweet round-faced one very decisively held up three jade-scallion fingers.

“Three hundred years?” Yue Yang asked, testing.

“Dummy.” The valiant maiden gave a cold snort.

“Then three years? No way — that fast?” Yue Yang cried out in alarm.

“Three days! She was the fastest to pass the trial in all of history. With her great wisdom, there was nothing in the world that could stump her. In fact she could have left in three hours — but out of respect for the forebear who’d spent three days creating the boundless world, she stayed the three days.” The instant the leading white-clad maiden gave the answer, Yue Yang got such a fright he toppled headlong to the ground, cold sweat drenching him head to foot.

Incredible — this “Mother” was simply unrivaled under heaven! Empress Vivienne still needed three thousand years to clear it, and she reached it in three days, and while paying homage to those before her, no less. This — what kind of wisdom was this?

Yue Yang’s head spun for a good long while. In the end he figured that if he went in and came away with the slowest record, it would be too humiliating — he wouldn’t even be fit to call himself the son of the “most incredible Mother.” So he asked one more question: “What’s the slowest record?”

The valiant white-clad maiden gave the answer with displeasure: “It’s an idiot called Molong — took a full million years! My sister and I wanted to just chuck him straight out of the boundless world several times over; it was only that our little sister was soft-hearted and insisted on giving him a chance…”

An idiot called Molong?

Yue Yang couldn’t help bursting into roaring laughter. So that scoundrel had a day like this coming too — next time he laid eyes on him, let’s see where he’d hide his face!

Now he felt reassured. Yue Yang figured that however much of an idiot he was, there was no way he’d temper for a million years in the boundless world. What in the world kind of record was that — enough to leave the teeming masses of the world dead in an instant.

If only he had Molong at his side to ask what it felt like to be shut in the boundless world for a full million years!

No wonder that when the Dragon God Supreme sealed him away for a hundred thousand years, the Molong who came out was so unruffled. Turned out he’d long since gotten used to it!

Yue Yang laughed himself silly, and at last waved a hand at the three white-clad maidens: “I’ll go in. But let me think it over first and make a few preparations… Oh, right — if I break the fastest record, is there any reward?”

“There’s no way you’ll break the fastest record!” The valiant white-clad maiden flat-out wrote him off.

“…” Yue Yang felt this girl really did look down on people far too much. Did she have to put it so absolutely?

“Surpassing your Mother’s record truly is impossible. But I think you’ve got the roots of wisdom in you — perhaps it won’t take very long, certainly not a million years. I believe in you!” The sweet round-faced one kindly consoled Yue Yang.

“…” Yue Yang was speechless. Don’t tell me my intelligence is on the same tier as that clown Molong?

(End of Chapter)