Although she didn’t mind and wouldn’t overthink it, she couldn’t guarantee that Jiang Lan wouldn’t misunderstand or let his imagination run wild if he found out.

Moreover, she could sense that her younger brother, Chu Yun, had been in low spirits ever since he found out she had committed herself to Jiang Lan.

As his older sister, she felt it was necessary to correct this unhealthy attachment of his.

On their way from Zixia Temple, Chu Yun had already given the Jade Pendant to Chu Chan.

Chu Chan carefully put it away. She let out a small sigh of relief and smiled, eager to return to Anyang City and hand it to Jiang Lan herself.

Several more days passed in a flash.

「Anyang City.」

Inside a pavilion, Jiang Lan listened with his usual listlessness as Ying reported on the investigation into the Purple Mist True Monarch’s inheritance.

Unlike before, however, a soft-featured middle-aged man now stood beside him—the very same Mr. Chu who had appeared outside Qingshui Village.

He was a Tributor from the Prime Minister’s Mansion, a powerful expert at the Seventh Realm.

Even someone as strong as Ying was completely deferential in Mr. Chu’s presence.

The higher one’s cultivation, the greater the gap between each realm—a chasm so vast it could only be described as world-altering.

Although Ying was an expert of the Sixth Realm, the Divine Power Realm, he wouldn’t stand a chance against Mr. Chu of the Seventh Realm, the Dharma Realm. He would be suppressed with ease.

Upon learning that Jiang Lan intended to claim the Purple Mist True Monarch’s inheritance, his parents were overjoyed. They sent a special message instructing Mr. Chu to travel to Anyang City and help Jiang Lan secure this fortuitous opportunity.

Their attitude was utterly domineering: if anyone dared to stand in his way, Mr. Chu was to show no mercy and eliminate them on the spot.

Jiang Lan was naturally pleased by this development. However, being familiar with the plot, he knew that the Purple Mist True Monarch’s abode was located deep within Purple Mist Mountain in a Different Dimension Space-Time, similar to a Secret Realm, which had cultivation level restrictions.

Seventh Realm experts were fundamentally unable to enter. They could suppress their cultivation, but if they revealed power exceeding the limit while inside, they would be forcibly expelled. They might even fall into the turbulent currents of the Void and have their bodies and souls torn apart by astral winds.

But he wasn’t particularly interested in the Purple Mist True Monarch’s inheritance anyway.

What he cared about was the Immortal Embryo Creation Dew within it—a Divine Object he could use to conceal his cultivation level in the future.

The Immortal Embryo Creation Dew could help him reconstruct his body and refine it into a Flawless Immortal Embryo. This would also resolve the troubles brought on by his Seven-Aperture Exquisite Immortal Heart.

He couldn’t hide the fact that he had a cultivation base forever. It was bound to be exposed sooner or later.

This was crucial, whether for facing Jiang Ruxian’s future revenge or for concealing his own secrets.

He had to obtain the Immortal Embryo Creation Dew.

’In the original plot, Jiang Ruxian’s appearance is still a long way off. Right now, she should still be on No Return Island.’

’No Return Island is incredibly far from the Celestial Central Province. Even with a Cross-Domain Transmission Array, the journey would take a considerable amount of time,’ Jiang Lan thought, gently shaking his head.

’At my current rate of improvement, I’ll have the strength to contend with Jiang Ruxian when the time comes.’

’There’s no need to worry too much.’

"Young Master, Miss Chu Chan has returned..."

Suddenly, the voice of a reporting servant from outside interrupted Jiang Lan’s train of thought.

...

’As I thought... have I failed?’

「No Return Island.」

Within an ancient Bronze Palace filled with white mist, a woman murmured to herself. In her slender, fair palm lay a nearly transparent cicada, suffused with the aura of time itself.

But at this moment, the cicada seemed to be dead, dissolving into a myriad of tiny light specks.

The woman was dressed in white. Her figure was graceful, her neck long and slender, and her skin was as flawless as ice and jade—whiter than frost and snow. She exuded a breathtaking Immortal Energy.

She sat cross-legged on a zafu that emanated an astonishing Dao Rhyme. With her head slightly bowed, she quietly watched the cicada dissipate in her hand. A cascade of black hair fell forward, obscuring her face, which was as beautiful as a painting of an immortal.

Her expression, however, was utterly indifferent, as if nothing in the world could possibly pique her interest.

After a long moment, the cicada vanished completely, turning into motes of dust that scattered into the air, leaving her hand empty.

The woman stared blankly at this, then suddenly let out a hollow laugh.

Though her voice was as beautiful as a celestial melody, it couldn’t conceal the bitter exhaustion, the weight of ages, and the helpless self-mockery within it.

’Can fate... truly not be changed?’

’I even found the legendary Time Cicada, which can traverse the river of time and return to the past.’

’But why can’t I change a single thing?’

’I still... I still can’t return to that one moment.’

She laughed in self-mockery, her slender, pale hands clenched so tightly that her nails broke the skin. She seemed oblivious to the warm blood trickling from her palm.

To traverse the river of time meant shouldering endless Cause and Effect. Even the Time Cicada would gradually fade and turn transparent during the journey.

Its complete dissolution meant she had reached the end of her path, unable to take a single step further into the past.

In a great realm, over countless eons, a Heaven and Earth Wonder like the Time Cicada would appear only by the slimmest of chances.

In her past life, she had reached the Saint Realm and was invincible. Yet she refused ascension to immortality. Instead, she traversed the Three Thousand Realms, searching every forbidden zone and desolate land, all to find the legendary Time Cicada that could reverse the past.

Ten thousand years drifted by. Oceans turned to dust, and the stars shifted in their courses.

Scenes from the past flooded her mind now, as vivid as if they had happened only yesterday.

She had thought her heart had long since reached a state of flawlessness, that nothing in the world could stir it in the slightest. Yet now, she still felt a piercing pain.

During her Heart Demon tribulation for the Saint Realm, she saw it all again: in that familiar courtyard, maple leaves drifted down. A gentle boy in white clutched his chest where a long sword had pierced his heart. His clothes were soaked in red as he looked at her and asked in a daze, "Sister... why did you kill me?"

"’Did I... do something wrong?’"

She had thought that after so many years, the memory she had deliberately tried to forget had long since faded away. But when her Heart Demon tribulation came, she suddenly realized it had always been there, buried so deep in her heart that she dared not touch it.

The edges of that memory were a bloody, mangled blur. Every time her thoughts brushed against it, the pain was so intense her heart felt as if it would shatter, leaving her breathless.

’He did nothing wrong.’

’I was the one who was wrong.’