Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

But he didn't think that deliberately holding back would allow Zhang Ruoxue and the others to survive by chance, because his sharp eyes clearly saw—

The scene where Zhang Ruoxue's body is swallowed by light.

She is doomed.

"Ok?"

however--

When the brilliance fades, all that comes into view is emptiness.

Apart from the scorched soil, there was nothing.

Fahai frowned and turned to the old man: "Master, they... turned to ashes?"

"Do not."

The old man shook his head.

The next second, a chill ran through his entire body.

Yes, I feel chills.

It was enough to make even a saint feel the fear of death in that instant—a chill that swept over his entire body in that instant.

It was described as cold, but it felt more like a ball of fire.

It was like a fire that wanted to burn his very soul to ashes!

This chill lasted for about five minutes before it finally subsided.

"They escaped..."

After a long pause, the old man took a deep breath before speaking.

"They escaped?" Fahai seemed somewhat bewildered. "But they..."

"At the last moment, someone came to save them."

"...Who is it?"

The old man opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to highlight a certain name, but after hesitating for a few seconds, he shook his head.

"do not know."

73. First meeting

"It startled me. I thought that girl had forgotten what I had told her to do."

Kun Tian Domain, gray earth.

Located to the north of the Yangque Fire Domain, the location of the gray soil is relatively extreme because the Yangque Fire Domain itself is in the southwest corner of the Netherworld.

Although it is one of the twenty-one extremes, due to its special nature, the area where Gray Soil is located in the entire Kuntian Domain is almost completely uninhabited.

Even at times it is called—

Forbidden Zone of Life.

After all, this stuff is gray soil, unlike the paradise of life in the Azure Secret Realm of the Extreme Heaven Domain.

One symbolizes the vitality of all things reviving, while the other is more like the ashes rising up after a living being is burned to ashes by flames.

The name "ash soil" comes from this.

"Hey old rogue, what have you been muttering about all this time?"

Sitting in a wheelchair, her body completely covered by an exaggeratedly long maid outfit, the girl with dazzling long silver hair glared disapprovingly at the white-clad young man beside her.

Yun Ping turned his body to the side, pulling his soul back from the distant underworld, then spread his hands and said, "It's nothing. My soul just left my body to wander around the world for a bit."

Ye Yuchan's pretty face was full of complicated emotions: "Soul astral projection?"

Yunping waved his hand, temporarily ending the topic: "Don't worry about such small details. Compared to this, how are you feeling now?"

When asked this crucial question, Ye Yuchan unusually wrapped her clothes tighter, and her delicate body trembled slightly.

Her complexion looked less rosy than before, instead appearing strangely pale, and her voice was not as strong as before: "I feel... a little cold."

Yunping's expression gradually became somewhat heavy; this situation was not unexpected.

Ash and the Land of Living Beings are two completely opposite extremes. The latter creates life for all things in the world. Any creature that steps into the Land of Living Beings will feel unprecedented vitality and can even cure most diseases.

The gray soil, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. Anyone who steps into the gray soil, even without directly contacting it with their physical body, will gradually veer towards the abyss of death under the influence of the surrounding gray miasma.

Ye Yuchan was just like that at this moment—

In other words, staying in this godforsaken place for too long could lead to someone's death.

"We're almost at the center of the dust... just bear with it a little longer."

"Ah."

Ye Yuchan nodded obediently, or rather, she no longer had the energy to banter with the old rogue.

In fact, Yunping initially did not intend to let Ye Yuchan follow him into the gray soil, as he knew that the characteristics of the gray soil might very well take away Ye Yuchan's fragile life.

But Yu Chan rejected him.

The reason is--

She didn't want to be left all alone.

She never wants to experience that helpless feeling again in her life.

So even though Yunping explained the properties of gray soil to this girl repeatedly, she still stubbornly insisted on coming along.

Perhaps she knew that if she did not rebuild her physical body, she would die after a period of time, so she didn't have much feeling about the matter of "death" itself?

After all, he's someone who's "died" once.

Walking on the seemingly endless gray soil, surrounded by gray-black miasma that obscured her view, Ye Yuchan couldn't see the scenery in the distance at all. In her eyes, from beginning to end, there was only Yun Ping.

The only thing she could see was that white, not particularly muscular figure.

She wrapped her clothes tighter around herself with her left hand, pushing the wheelchair while glancing uneasily at Yunping: "You old rogue..."

"What's wrong?" Yunping looked around, as if searching for something.

Ye Yuchan paused, recalling what Yang Que Yinghuo had said in the Yang Que Fire Domain, and she subconsciously thought of Yun Ping's expression at that time.

Upon hearing about the white-clad woman from the Imperial Pavilion, his expression of astonishment and shock, and the unintentional sadness in his eyes, were striking.

It's like the sorrow of having something precious taken away...

"Ye Xuanqiu...that's her name, right?"

Ye Yuchan's words caused Yun Ping to pause for a moment.

But then Yunping acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to lead Ye Yuchan forward, answering without turning his head, "Yes, that's right."

"She's...very important to you?"

"..." Yun Ping was silent for a few seconds before replying calmly, "It's very important."

Ye Yuchan gave a soft "Oh," then, as if remembering something, she asked with a complicated expression—

"Then, she's yours..."

"wife."

Two simple words struck Ye Yuchan's heart like a heavy hammer.

Her face suddenly turned pale, but it didn't seem to be because of the dust, but for some other reason.

Although she had considered this possibility before, she still felt a little conflicted when she actually heard Yunping say it.

It wasn't exactly sadness... but rather a rather bitter, indescribable feeling spreading through my heart.

She wouldn't ask a self-inflicted question like "Who is more important, me or her?" because Yu Chan knew the answer to that question.

So it's better not to ask at all than to ask pointlessly.

Ye Yuchan took a deep breath, choosing not to end the conversation: "So... how long have you known her?"

"From the time I met her until her death, two hundred and five years."

—He even remembers the year so clearly…

Yunping sighed, seemingly stirred by Ye Yuchan's question, and slowly began to ramble on:

“A lot happened in between. She and I weren’t a couple from the beginning. Some things happened that are hard to explain.”

"She was originally a successor of a major sect in the Kuntian Domain. I met her in a secret realm. At that time, she even tried to steal my secret treasure. You could say we became friends after a fight."

"After that, I often saw her in some major events. Some of my old friends also heard about her deeds. Her reputation grew, and so did mine. Later, a group of people with ulterior motives started to compare me with her."

"Maybe that's why we gradually started to interact more, and eventually we got together without really realizing it. By the time we realized it, it was too late to separate."

"It's alright that it happened so haphazardly..." Ye Yuchan lowered her head, her expression hidden in a hazy gray fog. "It wasn't as dramatic as I imagined."

The old rogue grinned: "When it comes to feelings, the most passionate ones are mostly just a moment of passion and excitement, while the most genuine and reliable ones are the ones that flow like a gentle stream."

"Yes," Ye Yuchan replied softly.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Ye Yuchan's dejected appearance, Yun Ping turned to look at Ye Yuchan, who had her head down, a hint of concern flashing between his brows: "Has the influence of the dust intensified?"

Ye Yuchan nodded, but still didn't look up: "Maybe."

—Perhaps it was because she heard the old rogue talk about her past with Ye Xuanqiu, and felt unhappy about it.

Yunping patted Ye Yuchan on the shoulder and looked around.

"It's alright, we've already..."

The last two words, "arrived," were never spoken.

Yunping suddenly frowned, his gaze shifting between suspicion and wariness as he surveyed his surroundings.

Based on past experience, this is indeed the central area of ​​the gray soil, but unlike what I remembered, the large number of gray guards did not appear, and the man who was bound in the center of the gray soil was not nearby.

what happened?

"Yu Chan, be careful."

An ominous premonition welled up in Yunping's heart, and he immediately cast several spells to protect Ye Yuchan's body and the wheelchair she was sitting in.