Every event seemed to happen suddenly, yet the process unfolded with startling speed. Zhu Yanyi realized she didn’t need to worry too much; before she knew it, everything had concluded.
This didn’t even account for the sudden appearance of a son, which forced her to refine the Military Strategist Token.
In just a few months, everything had become unexpectedly chaotic, leaving her feeling overwhelmed. Life was truly unpredictable.
Zhu Yanyi sighed. Yet, this unpredictable world taught her that these occurrences were, in fact, normal.
Living meant finding a way out amidst countless difficulties. Just as the Great Universe changed, Zhu Yanyi transformed the Great Universe Dynasty into the New Universe Dynasty, turning a fate of national ruin into the fortune of founding a new era.
Dan Sheng’s confession led her to discover the hidden effects of the Wutong sap. It showed that all things in the world held new potentials waiting to be uncovered.
The assassination attempt on the Medicine Elder signaled that the Priest had to emerge. If the Medicine Elder had not died, the Priest would not have appeared, and Zhu Yanyi would never have learned the truth.
Having a son brought comfort to her parents and made her future endeavors easier.
Refining the Military Strategist Token confirmed that her goal was not to control the Military Strategist Alliance, but to hide all descendants of Zhuge, ensuring they would never face danger again.
There are three thousand great paths. The Heavenly Dao does not exist, the Earthly Dao does not perish, and the Human Dao varies. One must choose one path. Changes follow the Dao, actions follow Virtue. Virtue births the Great Dao, and the Great Dao completes Great Virtue. The Dao births One, One births Two, Two births Three, and Three births all things. All things originate from Nothingness and return to Nothingness. Thus, Being and Non-being generate each other. In short, the Dao creating all things is but a small part of the Dao. Behind Being lies the infinite mystery of Non-being.
Her medical path was the same. With Heaven comes Earth, with Earth comes Humanity. Humans experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, so the medical path arises to leave a thread of hope for humanity. The Great Dao has fifty numbers; Heaven derives forty-nine, and Humanity escapes one. Since humanity is one of these paths, are not all myriad laws born from the human heart?
Zhu Yanyi closed her eyes and sat cross-legged. The cinnabar mark on her forehead instantly appeared. First, a lotus bloomed, then it split in half. One half became a lotus, representing purity and life. The other half became a red spider lily, representing mystery and death. The line between life and death was the mission of a healer. The path a healer walked was precisely on this thin line between life and death.
She had an epiphany. Her cultivation was about to rise. Zhu Yanyi knew she was breaking through. Without saying a word, she went outside to the courtyard and began throwing out large amounts of spirit stones.
Mental cultivation had no heart demons, no heavenly tribulations, and no lightning trials, but it still required spiritual energy.
Countless streams of spiritual energy surged toward the courtyard where Zhu Yanyi was. Xi Muzheng noticed this and went over immediately.
Just as Xi Muzheng approached, two figures appeared in the air: Yan Aohan and Silver Fox.
They landed gracefully.
Xi Muzheng did not know Silver Fox, but he had seen Yan Aohan. He hurriedly bowed. "Greetings, Lord Yan."
Yan Aohan nodded slightly, without much thought. He threw countless spirit stones into the courtyard as if they were worthless, and simultaneously set up a barrier around the area to prevent any interference.
"The Divine Doctor is about to break through into the Dongxu realm," Silver Fox said with surprise. With the Medicine Elder dead, Zhu Yanyi was naturally the Divine Doctor.
She knew Zhu Yanyi had never stopped cultivating. She understood how difficult it was for a cultivator to enter the Dongxu realm. Yet, Zhu Yanyi was barely twenty-three years old. Entering Dongxu meant one foot was already in the state of ascension.
Yan Aohan nodded. "She is entering Dongxu."
She then looked at Xi Muzheng. "Her signs of breaking through will not appear here. This plane cannot withstand her breakthrough. Later, at the final moment, I will use a spatial rift to take her away. Only you need to know this. Do not tell others."
"I understand," Xi Muzheng agreed immediately.
If the Sage Academy had a Dongxu Elder, it would be excellent news. However, given Zhu Yanyi’s young age, it was better to protect her. In reality, "protection" was just a word. Xi Muzheng reflected that after so many years, she was only at the Huaxu realm. The only thing she could do now was cooperate with Zhu Yanyi, binding her closely to the Sage Academy. This way, the Sage Academy would have a Dongxu Elder as a trump card that others did not know about.
Yan Aohan saw that the spiritual energy absorption was nearly complete. He made a gesture and took Zhu Yanyi away directly, ignoring Silver Fox. Silver Fox smiled and walked into the courtyard. "I will wait for them here. If you have things to do, go ahead."
Although Xi Muzheng did not know who Silver Fox was, he could tell he was no ordinary person. As Silver Fox said, his presence here was useless. So, he nodded. "Then, sir, please rest here. I will leave first."
"Good." Silver Fox did not detain Xi Muzheng and waited for Yan Aohan and Zhu Yanyi to return.
Yan Aohan and Zhu Yanyi entered Yan Aohan’s specific Hell Space. As Zhu Yanyi entered Dongxu, her Venerable Yanluo and her Yanhou (Yan Queen) needed to be activated. This process was extremely painful.
Yan Aohan’s Venerable Yanluo was already activated, but to achieve eternal synergy with the Yanhou, he had to experience the activation again with her. This pain was nothing to Yan Aohan, as he bore only one-third of Zhu Yanyi’s pain, while she endured the remaining two-thirds.
Zhu Yanyi felt as if her entire body was surrounded by something. It seemed like plants, or perhaps the fleshy tentacles of an octopus. It also felt like a giant python trapping her.
Not only that, she felt the constriction and the heaviness brought by this binding. She seemed trapped in a very closed world, needing to break free herself.
But as she struggled, she felt her skin constantly cracking. Something was activating and growing within her. The pain was like flaying skin and scraping bone.
"Ani, endure it. The Yanhou is activating," Yan Aohan’s voice came to her ears.
Yanhou? Yanhou! Zhu Yanyi instantly understood. She remembered what Yan Aohan had told her. She knew she had a Yanhou behind her. Once she entered Dongxu, the Yanhou would be activated. Since the Yanhou was now activating, it meant one thing: she had entered Dongxu.