Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 216 Zhaoming
"Why do you have to endure this?" His voice lowered, filled with unspeakable heartache.

Xie Mingli's lips curved into a faint smile, yet one that seemed capable of melting ice and snow, as she countered with a question:

"If I don't hold on, do you think that when you, the Pavilion Master and the Supreme One, return, you will find a world in ruins, falling apart and teetering on the brink of collapse?"

Chu Ning was silent.

His deep gaze was fixed on her, as if trying to etch her current appearance into the depths of his soul.

Inside the study, only the occasional faint sound of the lamp wick crackling could be heard.

For a long time, so long that even the wind outside the window seemed to freeze.

Now that the five patterns of the Soul Lock are firmly established and the various realms have begun to submit, Chu Ning, though the Soul Lord, finally has the power to escape.

He knew the demonic flames in the far north had not yet subsided, but a soul force was always drawing him in—it was Ming Li, and it was also the capital city.

This return is not only about fulfilling a promise, but also about—betting his answer on breaking the deadlock in this world.

The political situation in the capital has reached a critical point due to Xie Mingli's sole support. Although the feudal lords remain silent, rumors are circulating.

Ning Zhaoming is about to be born, and the son of the Soul Master will surely attract all kinds of attention; although the Soul Map and Soul Form Pavilions outwardly submit, their authority over the Soul Law is still greatly hindered.

The true power to suppress this Soul Realm is not a decree, but the personal manifestation of the Soul Lord's will.

He is the master of the soul, a husband, and a father.

My return at this moment is not merely to fulfill a promise.

Furthermore, with the power of his legal seal, he thwarted the covetousness of the chaotic world and protected the unfinished affairs of the world.

Chu Ning spoke again, her voice soft yet carrying a power that severed all disturbances and pierced the soul:

“I have returned not for this beautiful land, nor for the supreme power.”

He stepped forward, across the desk, his gaze, like the deep night sky, locking firmly into Xie Mingli's clear yet resolute eyes:
"Only for one person. Only for you, Mingli."

Eyes facing each other.

Time seems to stand still at this moment.

The court intrigues, the heavy burden of the boundary lock, the raging demonic flames—all the clamor and pressure faded away and vanished without a trace in this small corner of the study, under the warm, dim light.

It was as if only the two of them remained in the world, and only that heavy promise from back then, which transcended life and death and crossed time and space, echoed silently:
"I will come back when you need me most."

Xie Mingli's eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly. In the depths of her clear eyes, it seemed as if thousands of stars lit up for a moment, before quickly returning to a gentle, tranquil sea.

She didn't say anything, but took a very light and slow step forward, gently resting her forehead on Chu Ning's firm chest, feeling that long-lost warmth and peace of mind that could support the world.

A soft chuckle, filled with boundless relief and satisfaction, escaped her lips, like the first melting of spring ice.

"Well, you're not late this time."

The long night was still young, and the capital city remained shrouded in darkness.

In the stillness of the palace at night, Xie Mingli sat alone by the bed, stroking her belly and muttering to herself, "When your father was gone, I had already held up this dynasty for him... If you were born strong, then you should support yourself for me sooner."

The palace servants bowed their heads and retreated. A dark shadow flashed outside the hall, and in the distance, courtiers whispered, "Has this regent really reached the end of his reign?"

Her eyes were cold as she leaned on her desk, still reviewing memorials.

Inside the Kunyi Palace, red lanterns hung high, illuminating the silent figures of palace servants moving about. The atmosphere was not chaotic, but rather like a bowstring taut with ice, taut and about to break, every breath heavy with invisible pressure.

Outside the heavy doors of the sleeping quarters, Chu Ning stood alone in the shadows beneath the eaves.

The scent of wind and snow lingered around his nose. His gaze was fixed on the tightly closed door. Light flowed in his palm, and his soul pulsed silently. A thousand words were stuck in his throat, but they eventually turned into silence.

"Sect Master," Qin Henian approached quietly and said in a low voice, as if afraid of disturbing the hall, "...With the birth of this child, the capital...I fear it will never be peaceful again."

Chu Ning remained motionless, staring intently at the door, as if he could see through the thick wood and into the figure inside undergoing a life-or-death ordeal.

"Today marks the tenth month she has endured alone." His voice was low, with a hint of barely perceptible hoarseness. "I am neither strategizing in the court nor by her bedside."

“But at this moment, I want to be here.” He slowly raised his hand, pressing it towards the palace gate as if to touch something, “At least… let this child see me the first moment he opens his eyes to this world.”

Qin Henian remained silent, head bowed. He understood; the Pavilion Master's words were not an explanation, but rather a confession to his inner demons, a belated and heavy promise.

The wind and snow seemed to intensify.

Suddenly!

"what--!"

A piercing, almost shattering scream suddenly pierced through the palace doors, tearing apart the silence of the night.

Chu Ning turned around abruptly, a burst of blazing light erupting from his fingertips, but his feet remained rooted to the spot. He did not push the door open.

He knew all too well that on that small battlefield, where life and death hung in the balance, Xie Mingli, his regent, needed no one's pity or sympathy.

Her pride is her armor.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

next moment--

"Wow--!"

A clear, primal cry of a newborn baby, like a thunderclap, suddenly resounded through the heavens.

The moment the cry began, heaven and earth trembled.

Above the heavens, the thick clouds that had shrouded the celestial palace suddenly parted, and three dazzling golden rings emerged from the southeastern sky, nested and rotating, drawing the starry river to flow with them, their brilliance shining eternally.

Inside the Kunyi Hall, the jade wall carved with ancient runes shone brightly, rippling like water, and a name was clearly imprinted on it:

Ning Zhaoming.

"A born soul body?! This...this..." Chi Yan looked up at the jade wall, his soul sea churning in shock, almost speechless.

He stared intently at the infant, his voice trembling, "The soul lock hasn't been activated, yet it possesses five innate birthmarks?! This is definitely not something a mortal soul could bear!"

Outside the capital, the strange phenomena were even more pronounced.

A hazy yet majestic phantom slowly rose from the dome of the palace. At first, it was indistinct and unclear, but under the reflection of the vast starry river, it began to condense and take shape.

The dragon's agility? The phoenix's magnificence?
None of these are true!
It eventually transformed into a pure, condensed cyan-gold soul fire rune, containing indescribable primordial power, silently tearing through the void and precisely imprinting itself on the very top of the "Imperial Pillar of Heaven," a symbol of supreme authority in the capital.

The top of that pillar was originally just an empty blank space, known as the "Empty Name List," which remained silent for hundreds of years.

At this moment, the cyan-gold soul pattern coiled around it like a living thing, deeply imprinting itself and outlining a unique soul line mark.

Empty names list... Top of the list... Fill in the blank yourself.

The capital city instantly erupted in excitement.

Exclamations erupted like a tidal wave from every corner.

"A bloodline of the Soul Master, born with an innate Soul Imprint?!" "A descendant of the Regent, born with an innate connection to the realms of heaven and earth?!"

The tremor, like tangible ripples, swept through the entire center of power.

The air inside the hall was thick with the stench of blood mixed with the smell of sweat.

Xie Mingli's face was as pale as fresh snow, her sweat-dampened hair clung to her cheeks, she breathed heavily, her body trembling slightly from the immense exertion, but her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness, like a tempered, cold star.

She didn't even have time to remove the battle robes that symbolized power; she simply merged her most authentic motherly body, stained with blood and sweat and stripped of all worldly dust, with the majesty and fortitude of her regent.

She lowered her head and, with the last of her strength, held the tiny, warm life that was still crying loudly in her arms.

Her fingertips trembled slightly as she gently stroked the baby's smooth, full brow, where five mysterious soul patterns appeared and disappeared with each cry.

Her voice, weak yet incredibly clear, carried an undeniable expectation and entrustment as it reached the infant's ears:

You cannot be weak.

"Your father... holds up the sky above your head; your mother... guards the ground beneath your feet."

Her gaze seemed to pierce through the swaddling clothes, landing on the direction of the palace gate, or perhaps on a more distant future.

"Your name is Ning Zhaoming."

May your heart be like a clear mirror throughout your life, shining brightly through the long night and illuminating the path of delusion in the world.

"Squeak-"

The palace doors were gently pushed open.

Chu Ning finally took a step, the tip of his boots grinding against the thin frost that had formed on the threshold, and stepped into this battlefield filled with the scent of new life and bloodshed.

His gaze immediately locked onto the figure on the bed—sweat soaked through her battle robe, her face as pale as paper, but her eyes remained as firm as a rock, as if what had just ended was not childbirth, but a great victory.

In her arms, the tiny infant was waving its fists, making a loud announcement, and the five lines between its brows shimmered with a mysterious halo as it cried.

Chu Ning walked to the bedside and slowly knelt down. He reached out his hand, with an almost reverent solemnity, and gently placed his broad palm on the baby's warm, still pulsating forehead.

"Om-!"

The instant his fingertips touched it, a surge of emotion originating from the deepest part of his bloodline exploded forth.

Within his soul sea, a soul fire, though not originating from himself, yet intimately familiar, suddenly rose up.

That faint, cyan-gold soul flame belonging to a newborn instantly resonated and intertwined with Chu Ning's vast and unfathomable soul energy, forging an invisible yet incredibly solid and stable soul imprint connection between him and the child! More direct than blood ties, more eternal than vows.

In an instant, countless pieces of information and insights flooded into Chu Ning's heart like a torrent.

This is not a simple continuation of bloodline.

This is……

This is a boulder thrown into the river of fate as it rushes here, stirring up a profound echo.

It was the enormous shadow cast behind him by the "Hun Yuan" path that he had strived to open up but failed to complete;

And the true "new sun," powerful enough to tear apart the old era... is now peacefully asleep in his wife's arms, announcing its arrival with a loud cry.

Xie Mingli looked at the complex emotions surging in his eyes—shock, understanding, heaviness, and a hint of inexplicable sense of destiny—and spoke softly, her voice weary and hoarse, yet hitting the nail on the head:
"Do you... regret it?" Regret keeping this child who was destined to be extraordinary, but also destined to bear a heavy burden?
Chu Ning's gaze lingered on her pale yet resolute face for a long time before returning to the face of her son, who was waving his little hand and whose soul-patterned brow was shimmering.

After a long while, a faint yet incredibly real smile slowly spread across his lips, as if he had unloaded an immense burden or found his final anchor.

“I once thought,” he whispered, his voice carrying a calm that had settled, “that the hardest road in the world is to carry everything and move forward.”

"Only now do I understand..." He reached out, his fingertips gently brushing across the child's soft cheek, "What is most frightening and makes one afraid to leave is turning back."

He raised his head and met Xie Mingli's gaze, his eyes revealing a clarity and determination born from countless experiences.

"Fortunately... I have finally returned."

After that day, the south gate of the capital was closed for three days without imperial decree.

The name "Ning Zhaoming" of the son born to the Soul Master Chu Ning and the Regent Xie Mingli spread far and wide, but his true appearance was kept hidden in the palace and never shown to anyone.

The imperial court issued a secret decree in silence, privately bestowing upon him the title of "Grand Soul of the Ning Clan".

A soul lamp, engraved with profound lapis lazuli soul patterns, is quietly enshrined at the highest peak of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Its name, as prophetic, reads:

"The First Era of Illumination".

Meanwhile, in some unknown corner deep within the capital, a gloomy atmosphere lingered like a persistent leech.

In the dim light, several charred and fragmented soul talisman fragments, as if drawn by an invisible hand, wriggled and pieced together strangely, eventually managing to barely coalesce into a broken talisman shape.

A cold, venomous, and endlessly greedy female voice, like the flicking tongue of a viper, echoed eerily in the deathly silence:
"Born with...five stripes?"

"Heh..." A low, hoarse laugh spread through the darkness, carrying a chilling killing intent. "Then... let's kill him one more time."

The imperial palace stood majestically, the morning light piercing the long night and gilding the roof of the Golden Palace with the first layer of gold. Yet, the radiance of this new day could not dispel the undercurrents surging deep within the capital.

The inner hall of Kunyi Palace was quiet yet tense.

Xie Mingli was recuperating after giving birth, with the palace gates tightly closed, refusing all inquiries from court officials. However, the two momentous changes of "the return of the soul master to the capital" and "the birth of a new emperor" had already stirred up a storm in the power struggles of the capital.

In the rear courtyard of Kunyi Palace, the spring sunlight streamed in, and Chu Ningjing stood before the desk.

His plain robe reflected the faint light of the five-patterned soul lock. His brows were furrowed as he quietly read through the urgent letters sent from the Soul Pavilion's secret agents and the inner court's surveillance network.

Li Jing'an, Yu Xingshui, and others are currently leading the main forces of the various pavilions to the far north to seal off the border, while Chu Ning guards the imperial palace alone, suppressing the nascent storm.

The secret letter from the Soul Chart Pavilion was extremely respectful in its wording. Elder Yu Xingshui indicated that he would personally travel to the capital soon to meet with Chu Ning and discuss the specifics of "suppressing the demigod".

The Soul Form Pavilion remained as cold and silent as ever.

There was only one challenge letter, copied with the ink of the Old Domain Soul, on which Bai Xiu personally wrote four words: "Soul Suppression Not Yet Combined".

The words were sharp as blades, their meaning seemingly defiant, clearly a reminder that the various pavilions had not truly submitted.

What truly captivated Chu Ning was a secret talisman from the former site of the Heavenly Mirror Pavilion, containing a bone powder array and signed by Mu Yan, former deputy master of the Soul Mirror Pavilion.

"A great war is imminent, and the dawn of civilization has just begun. If the seal of law is not sealed, the struggle for the imperial palace will not end, and the hearts of the various tribes will be difficult to settle."

Chu Ning tapped the edge of the secret talisman lightly with his knuckles, his expression slightly somber.

The five-colored Soul Lock pattern floated quietly on the back of my finger, as if responding to a faint unease from afar.

Suddenly, a palace attendant rushed over, bent down, and whispered:
"Reporting to Your Excellency, during a secret cabinet meeting, Grand Master of Ceremonies Chu Zhiming proposed that—'Since the Regent has given birth to a young emperor, and the throne is uncertain, a regent should be appointed to assist the young emperor in governing the country.'"

Chu Ning frowned slightly, his gaze fixed coldly on the direction of the Imperial Palace.

“My son has the power to seize my throne.”

(End of this chapter)