Back in the Grimoire World.

When Yue Yang spoke of entering the silver grimoire’s “small heaven-and-earth” to take the trial of the boundless world, Yue Yu — who had always backed her little brother a hundred percent — was firmly opposed.

It was Princess Qianqian, of all people, the one forever contradicting Yue Yang, who was first to voice her support. Fengxian and the others, meanwhile, held that silence was golden. Of course, besides these three camps there was also the muddle-headed faction — Inan, Yue Bing, and their like — who had absolutely no idea whether to support or oppose, blinking their big eyes and waiting for everyone else’s opinion, ready to follow the crowd with no view of their own. Only, with everyone else keeping quiet, they were left in an anxious lurch.

Support or oppose — someone had to make a sound, surely! All of them sitting there wordless — what kind of business was that?

“The identities of the three envoys are unclear, and what’s more, entering the small heaven-and-earth trial in their hands — if some accident happens, what then? Besides, surpassing the self is already hard enough, and now you have to comprehend destruction and creation too. This… if it really does take a very long time, how will you, little Third, endure it in there all alone? You’re not someone who can bear loneliness and isolation. Make you stay in there a full million years by yourself, and you’ll go mad — I can’t watch you become like that! And there’s one more thing: even if you do comprehend it fully, you might immediately ascend to the divine realm, and then, just like Mingyueguang, you’ll be flung out of Human Valley to some place or other to congeal your divine nature and reforge your divine body — and who knows how long again before you can come back… Little Third, the reason we wait here for you day after day is that we know you’ll surely return. Now you want to take a risky trial like this — have you thought about how we feel? Why not go step by step? We don’t need to reach the heavens in a single bound; it’s enough for us all to progress together. United in heart, advancing hand in hand — that’s what’s best. You don’t have to shoulder everything alone, and we don’t want to see you worn out like this!” Yue Yu’s stance was very firm; she didn’t want Yue Yang entering the small heaven-and-earth to take the trial.

“There’s sense in that. You ought to think of us a little.” The gentle, water-soft Sick Beauty added her kind counsel too.

“I also feel there’s no need to take such a risk just now.” Princess Luohua voiced her support.

“…” Inan and Yue Bing looked at Princess Qianqian’s little face. If Qianqian said nothing more, they’d decide to back Sister Yu.

After all, Yue Yu wasn’t wrong — none of them could bear to part with him, and to watch him go in and take the trial alone, only for it to trap him for ten thousand years, would be too cruel! The present Human Valley hadn’t collapsed yet; there was still time enough, no need to act at once.

It wasn’t yet the final hour of the evil god’s assault. There was no need to go into that terrifying boundless world of the small heaven-and-earth!

Once you went inside, no one could help you anymore. That was what everyone least wanted to see.

Seeing that things were going badly, Yue Yang hastily allowed that his own grasp of the problem wasn’t deep enough. How about he go and confer with Xiao Wenli and Duoduo first? Everyone should keep discussing; whether or not it went ahead was theirs to decide. The time-crosser’s attitude was most democratic!

The more they saw him act this way, the more everyone’s hearts ached. They’d meant to help him — how had it turned into standing in his way?

Princess Qianqian suddenly drew herself up and stood. First she made a bow to Yue Yu, then swept her starry eyes across the whole gathering: “The truth is, I feel just as all of you do — from the bottom of my heart I don’t want him going in to take the trial alone, don’t want to see him shoulder the whole thing by himself. What pains me most is that, at the very moment when someone must step forward to lend him a hand, I haven’t the strength to stand out and hold a front on my own. Now the evil god is attacking, and the only one who might possibly help him is Wuxia — but sadly she’s still deep in slumber, without a single word of certainty!”

As everyone listened, rapt, Princess Qianqian raised her small fist and pressed her point with weight: “Precisely because of that, at a time like this, all the more must we find a way to do something for him — even to share just the smallest part is better than doing nothing at all! This isn’t only a trial for him in Human Valley. It’s a trial for us as well!”

The Southern Wilderness Demon King asked, as if grasping at something: “Qianqian, do you have some good idea?”

Princess Qianqian shook her head: “No!”

Just as everyone sagged in disappointment, she added another line: “But I do have the dumbest of ideas!”

This time, before she could even give the answer, Fengxian had already caught on and laughed openly with relief: “The Gate of Life and Death — we use the Gate of Life and Death to simulate the boundless world of the small heaven-and-earth. And as it happens, this kid has the Creation Domain… If he can surpass the Gate of Life and Death, then perhaps he can comprehend the true meaning of destruction and creation. And if he can comprehend the true meaning of destruction and creation, then everything becomes simple!”

“Creation isn’t my strong suit. I think I’ll take charge of comprehending the destruction side!” Princess Qianqian looked toward Yue Yu, plainly meaning to hand the comprehension of creation to her and the Sick Beauty.

“We’ll take charge of comprehending the creation side.” Princess Luohua directly drew Inan — whose spiritual power and creative force were exceptionally strong — over to their side. And, of course, Yue Bing too, who drew boundless living vitality from the runes of the “Ancient Forest.” This little lass wasn’t skilled at creating people or objects, but where plants were concerned, she was a lopsidedly gifted little prodigy.

“Destruction, creation — aren’t they one and the same thing?” The Southern Wilderness Demon King felt this was her own strong suit, and elegantly plucked at her jade pipa.

“I agree!” Fengxian, the Divine Punishment Empress, naturally felt the same.

For the two of them, destruction sometimes equaled creation, and creation sometimes equaled destruction. Take the Southern Wilderness Demon King, this dragon-girl princess: the moment she created beautiful music, it might mean the destruction of enemies — or it might be that some lives needed destroying, compelling her to create wondrous, heaven-sent melodies… As for the Divine Punishment Empress, needless to say, both creation and destruction lay in her hands. Ordinarily she wielded destructive power more, striking fear into the world — but there was no doubt she possessed an equally formidable creative power.

Xia Yi and Liuye felt a little awkward. They wanted to lend a small hand and be of some use, yet feared their own abilities weren’t enough and that the Divine Punishment Empress and the others would look down on them. Of the same mind were the sea-parrot Hailan, the Emerald Lord Bi Lv, and Corps Commander Lieyan.

As for Bao’er, Tianzai, and the other little girls, who knew they couldn’t help and were terrified of causing trouble, they were putting on their good-child act, sitting primly and properly, the very picture of little schoolchildren concentrating in class.

“What are you all still sitting there for? Come help!” Princess Qianqian barked out loud.

“But we don’t know how to do anything!” Bao’er felt that if it were a matter of eating steamed buns, she could at least help polish off a couple.

“You don’t need to do anything. Just stand there — you’ll be responsible for the part that’s eternal and unchanging.” Princess Qianqian personally arranged their tasks.

“I don’t get it!” Bao’er’s head shook like a rattle-drum.

“You don’t need to get it, you little dummy — you’re a hundred years too early to be getting it…” Princess Qianqian rewarded her with a scorching knuckle-rap to the skull. Getting bonked, the pitiful Bao’er cradled her little head, big eyes brimming with tears, wanting to play pitiful and win someone’s sympathy — but who’d have known that at this tense juncture, no one had the leisure to pay her any mind, letting her cutesy fake-crying performance go to utter waste.

“What’s the matter with Bao’er? Don’t cry, don’t cry!” Yue Yang, who’d just gone to confer with Xiao Wenli, Hong, Aman, Duoduo, Jiang Ying, and the Yao-Yu sisters, had returned. He stroked the little head of Bao’er, who came flinging herself coquettishly into his arms, giving her a chance to air her grievances.

“It hurts so much…” Bao’er acted coquettish in front of Yue Yang — but the instant Princess Qianqian came back, she sprang up and stood at attention, straighter than a rifle barrel.

She was one to fear neither heaven nor earth — not Yue Yang, and not Fengxian either. She feared only two people. One was the fourth mother; the other was Princess Qianqian. The fourth mother’s maternal smile could turn this little imp soft as thread wound round a finger; Princess Qianqian, not so — one glare of those rouge-tiger eyes, and would Bao’er dare act up in front of her? Not unless she didn’t want her hide anymore! Never mind her — even Tianzai, that lord of destruction who gave every last member of the Heaven Devil Hall a headache, would take a detour around Princess Qianqian when he saw her. Especially when Princess Qianqian was in a bad mood, every girl in the whole Grimoire World was guaranteed to outdo the next in good behavior.

Princess Qianqian laid out the idea that might help Yue Yang: “We’re thinking whether we might try using the Gate of Life and Death method… and once we’re truly sure of it, then we’ll go. What do you think?”

She had no absolute certainty it would succeed — after all, the one with the Creation Domain was Yue Yang, not her. Granted, everyone here had already surpassed the Gate of Life and Death. But surpassing it, versus taking a further step of transcendence within the Gate of Life and Death to comprehend a higher destruction and creation, were difficulties that couldn’t be spoken of in the same breath. Just as they’d been tempered by the Gate of Life and Death and Yue Yang too had been tempered by it, their attainments and gains were entirely different.

Yue Yang nodded in agreement: “Just now, with Xiao Wenli and the others, that’s exactly what we discussed as well. To help me, Jiang Ying and Duoduo even came back on purpose, giving up their own cultivation!” Jiang Ying smiled faintly and gave a light wave of her hand to tell Yue Yang it was nothing, while Duoduo nodded toward Princess Qianqian, her whole body giving off a wave of fresh fragrance, petals filling the sky, conjuring a beautiful world of flower petals, and kindly consoled them: “Your Highness the Princess, because of my selfishness I’ve made you all worry. In truth, the three of us — Jiang Ying, Xiao Wenli, and I — have already made progress in our cultivation; it’s only that we feared affecting your mood, and so didn’t say so outright…”

Xiao Wenli said nothing, only holding tight to Yue Yang’s arm, just as ever.

Jiang Ying, however, waved her hand again: “I’ve made progress, but I’m still a long way off — I can’t compare to Xiao Wenli, still less to Duoduo. Duoduo ascended to the divine realm long ago; she’s simply not someone I can measure against.”

“Duoduo has already ascended to the divine realm?” Princess Qianqian listened, dumbstruck.

“If Xiao Wenli hadn’t held down her cultivation, insisting on staying by our master’s side all this while, she’d have reached the divine realm faster than I. In truth, reaching the divine realm isn’t anything much fun — it’s congealing the divine nature and the like that demands such a long span of time, and one can’t just casually leave the Grimoire World, which is stifling beyond words.” Duoduo was quite modest — but Fengxian and the others, who’d only just hurried over at the news, were rendered outright speechless hearing it.

“When did you ascend to the divine realm?” Even Yue Yang, that muddle-headed master, hadn’t known.

“Around the battle with the Solar King I was already about to break through, and later I broke through on the strength of master’s own advancement… In truth, I didn’t want to ascend to the divine realm so early — that way cultivation slows down. Better to be like Xiao Wenli, holding down the breakthrough, continuing to cultivate step by step, continuing to enrich myself and accumulate, so that later growth is all the grander and farther-reaching!” Duoduo’s face bloomed into a smile toward Yue Yang: “Don’t worry — just let me, this little thorn-flower, lend you a hand. Think back — you cultivated me with your own hands, turning me from the weakest thorn-flower in the world into today’s Flower Goddess, foremost of the world’s hundred blooms, sovereign of its ten thousand flowers. You, as master of this little thorn-flower, have never once had my support before, have you?”

She gave a gentle wave of her hand, and the whole Grimoire World instantly turned into an ocean of flowers.

Creation! This was creation! In the space of a single thought, ten thousand flowers sprang forth, ten thousand things grew…

And as Duoduo’s outflung hand slowly drew back, all those flowers in full bloom breathed out their last fragrance, then withered, and set into one fresh, tender fruit after another… Could this be destruction? And yet this destruction seemed to stand for new life! The flowers all faded and fell, but the fruits of life had already congealed… Could it truly be as Fengxian and the Southern Wilderness Demon King said, that destruction and creation were in fact one and the same?

Fengxian and the Southern Wilderness Demon King exchanged a glance. Their own comprehension wasn’t deep; they’d only been talking a moment ago. How could they be like Duoduo — a wave of the hand and a hundred flowers spring forth in riotous purple and crimson; another wave, and all things wither, achieving a whole field of clustered, laden fruit?

Was this the power of a god? It was too formidable by far!

Duoduo, as if seeing the doubt in everyone’s hearts, smiled and shook her head, motioning for Yue Yang or Princess Qianqian to cooperate with her. When Yue Yang casually loosed a single mechanical construct, she pointed lightly, and that metal construct at once turned into countless flower petals, and the petals withered in a raging wind and became a ground littered with faded red — and finally, out of the soil, a mechanical construct bored its way up… On the surface, it was identical to the construct Yue Yang had made, right down to the internal structure; in any respect at all, not the slightest difference.

But everyone could see that this was no longer the construct Yue Yang had made. Because it no longer carried the intent-energy of Yue Yang’s making. Its master was Duoduo, born of a single thought.

Duoduo motioned for Princess Qianqian to attack her with her sword. Qianqian’s divine sword left its sheath and cut out a terrifying sword-qi that could destroy heaven and earth… Duoduo’s little hand closed lightly, and the sky-filling sword-qi vanished in an instant, transmuted into a sky-filling rain of flowers that fell — and amid that rain of flowers, the metal construct leapt forth and, beneath Duoduo’s jade finger, became a rainbow-like sword-qi that recoiled back upon Princess Qianqian.

This recoiling force equaled the full might of Princess Qianqian’s earlier attack, plus Duoduo’s own power of guidance. Had Qianqian not barred it in time with her sword laid crosswise, she’d likely have been wounded beneath this single finger’s sword-rainbow.

Princess Qianqian was flung back a hundred meters.

Watching this scene, no one in the crowd but paled and looked at one another. Could this be the true might of a god? If it truly were so, then wouldn’t a “divine-rank” warrior be invincible under heaven, matchless, beyond all reach?

“Once you have grasped the powers of destruction and creation, that is merely the beginning of the Holy Supreme. But the truly great might lies in Human Valley’s transcendence. Only the most, most, most powerful warrior possesses the most, most, most powerful will. That kind of will alone can be called eternal, can be called the Sovereign Intent. Beneath the Sovereign Intent, nothing can be destroyed and nothing can be created — all is eternal… Within that eternity, the one who grasps the power of eternity and the Sovereign Intent that commands all things is the strongest of all! I can command your sword-qi now, your various fighting methods, but there are things I cannot command — for instance, master’s sword-qi, master’s Wheel of Apocalypse and Eternal Wheel, master’s Creation Domain and his various rune-powers, and so on and so forth. Were the opponent Her Highness the Princess instead, then I could not command your Six Senses Gift and your Holy-Power domain, could not alter the bond between your grimoire and your life-guardian war-beast, could not alter the will by which you passed the Gate of Life and Death trial… Perhaps I could confuse your eyes for a short while, but that is not eternal.”

“If we wish to be stronger than others, divine power alone falls far, far short.”

“We must congeal our own one-and-only divine nature, congeal our true, eternal, never-wavering, never-shifting Sovereign Intent.”

“Most important of all, we must understand what the Holy Supreme is — that is the first true eternity, and above it there may be existences higher, stronger, more eternal still. That much each of us must seek and comprehend for ourselves; each one’s talent and effort decides each one’s attainment and future. An existence like master’s — I don’t wish for him to ascend to the divine realm at once. On the contrary, he should enrich himself further and temper himself further upon his foundation. A small hill piled up of sand may be called a mountain; a small hill piled up of stone may also be called a mountain; and an absolute peak, comprising all things and thrusting straight into the heavens, beyond all compare — that too may be called a mountain…”

“If I made my move, the protagonist would have no chance to temper himself at all, and could clear the trial with his mind at ease — but I cannot do that. It would ruin his growth!”

“What I can do now is give you an inspiration I have comprehended!”

“I hope it proves useful to you, master — and useful to everyone as well!”

Duoduo brought her two hands together. The whole Grimoire World once more brimmed with a rain of flowers, every single petal carrying supreme spirituality and wisdom. In the instant it lightly brushed against a person’s body, it seemed to whisper out some secret, leaving one poised between comprehension and non-comprehension, feeling a wondrousness beyond all end…

Yue Yang drew a deep breath. His life-guardian war-beast was this capable — there was no reason for him, the master, to be some worthless dreg. He’d surely manage it. If Duoduo, Jiang Ying, and Xiao Wenli could do it, then of course he could too! And he had to do it better besides — because he was the one-and-only, most heaven-blessed time-crosser, guided by a sword-qi imperial-lady and guarded by phoenix sisters! Within this explosive comprehension, Yue Yang let out a great roar, his whole soul sublimating in an instant, expanding without limit, unfurling without limit, the boundless, inexhaustible worlds seeming to fall entirely within his gaze — while destruction, creation, and self-transcendence, all of them, surfaced before his eyes like flowers glimpsed from a galloping horse, countless shards of spiritual awareness exploding in his mind, ten million points of resonant factors flickering.

Yue Yang felt a wave upon wave of dazzled bewilderment — not that he couldn’t comprehend; on the contrary, it was too much, far too much, too much to make any single choice!

Boom!

He felt himself sinking into a boundless world of spiritual awareness, immersing, immersing deeper…

(End of Chapter)