Chapter 1748: "Secret"

When the will to protect vanished from the heart, so did the defense line of the Eastern Divine Region. It was already crumbling in the first place, but the temporary stalemate was completely broken after the truth was announced through the Eternal Heaven Projection. Over ninety percent of the "footholds" were taken in just a day.

Once all the "footholds" were occupied, the Eastern Divine Region's lifeline would fall into the hands of the Northern Divine Region.

Eternal Heaven Realm.

A pitch-black profound ark appeared above the tattered lands of the Eternal Heaven God Realm before descending slowly.

"Big Brother Yun Che!"

A melodious voice resounded through the air before the profound light of the profound ship had even faded. Then, a young girl dropped from the sky and flew straight toward Yun Che like a black butterfly, specks of light glittering around her.

"Impudent!"

A Burning Moon Divine Envoy moved toward the young girl in an attempt to stop her... only to be kicked back to his spot by an angry Fen Daoqi. "Are you blind? That's the Soul Sky Warship! Do you think that ship fetches ordinary passengers!?"

Yun Che turned around and faced Shui Meiyin. Her beautiful face was covered in tears.

She buried her face deep into Yun Che's chest, hugged and cried loudly. The dam was broken even before she reached Yun Che, and his shirt was wet with tears in the blink of an eye.

"Hmph!" Qianye Ying'er crossed her arms before her chest before looking away.

The girl in front of him looked the same as ever. Her black eyes, black hair, black dress, even her smile and her tears matched his memory of Shui Meiyin perfectly.

He had turned from the God Child Messiah into the Devil Master. His heart was filled with hate for the three divine regions. His hands were wet with the blood of countless lives of the Eastern Divine Region... and yet she still hugged him like he meant the world to her. Her feelings for him hadn't changed one bit despite his drastic, devilish change.

Yun Che put his hand on her head and stroked it slightly.

A couple more people descended from the Soul Sky Warship, and the Moon Eater and the Burning Moon Divine Envoys bowed in unison. "Greetings, Devil Queen!"

Chi Wuyao slowly descended to the ground before smiling at the touching scene in front of her. She was followed by two people, but they weren't her usual attendants, Jie Xin and Jie Ling, this time. The first person was a beautiful woman with eyes that looked like a pair of moons above the sea. The second person was a middle-aged man in blue robes.

It was Shui Yingyue and Shui Qianheng.

Their cultivation level—Shui Yingyue's in particular because she was a level five Divine Master—and the lack of darkness in their profound auras caused the Burning Moon profound practitioners to frown a little, but no one acted because they had come with Chi Wuyao herself.

When Yun Che looked at them with rare gentleness, his eyes were completely devoid of their usual darkness.

Shui Qianheng's aura marked him as a middle stage Divine Sovereign. As expected, the rumors that Xia Qingyue had crippled him were true.

Shui Yingyue shot Yun Che a complicated look before starting, "Shui Yingyue from Glazed Light Realm greets the Northern Region Devil Master."

Shui Qianheng was about to salute him as well, but Yun Che immediately pushed down his hands before replying, "Senior Shui, I'm sorry for involving you in my mess."

That one line was enough to make Shui Yingyue and Shui Qianheng stare at him blankly.

By now, every man and woman in the Eastern Divine Region had been made to witness Yun Che's ruthlessness and cruelty. No one who saw the way he ordered the massacre of the Eternal Heaven Realm would doubt that he had transformed into a true devil of hatred and vengeance.

Yet there was also no mistaking the sincere regret behind his apology. They knew immediately that the abyss hadn't completely devoured his humanity.

Shui Qianheng shook his head as a relieved smile spread across his lips. "What are you talking about? The Glazed Light Realm has simply chosen to stay true to their convictions."

"Besides, I knew that you would come back one day. It's just..." His smile grew a bit more complicated. "I wasn't expecting it to be this quick or drastic. I thought it would be another millennium before I saw you again."

Meanwhile, Shui Meiyin finally looked up from Yun Che's chest and stared at his face blankly... she didn't care where she was or how many people were watching her right now. All the girl wanted to do right now was to stare at him for as long as she could; to lessen the years of longing and worry in her heart until they were gone.

Just like before, Shui Meiyin was demonically beautiful. It was to the point where a person was in danger of being bewitched just by looking her in the eye... after glancing at Chi Wuyao and sneaking a look at Qianye Ying'er, the Burning Moon profound practitioners wisely lowered their gaze to the floor.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Big Brother Yun Che..." She whispered. "There hasn't been a day I lived without worrying about you... I thought it would take a very, very long time before I could meet you again... thank goodness..."

Qianye Ying'er couldn't stand hearing her loving whispers any longer, so she interrupted the conversation by force. "Are these Illusory Glazed Imagery Jades yours?"

"The Illusory Glazed Imagery Jades only exist in our Glazed Light Realm," Shui Yingyue replied coolly.

Qianye Ying'er: "..."

Yun Che wiped away the tears on Shui Meiyin's face gently before looking her in the eye. "Meiyin, are you really the one who imprinted the projections?"

Although all signs were pointing toward Shui Meiyin, he still wanted to hear the answer from her own mouth. It was impossible to dismiss the effects, affection and love behind the Illusory Glazed Imagery Jades.

"Mn!" Shui Meiyin smiled brightly with a nod. Her eyes shone like star diamonds in that moment. "Although I know the Illusory Glazed Imagery Jade can record things without a trace, I must admit that I was pretty nervous at the time. Luckily, no one noticed what I was doing from the start until the end."

Her reply caused a shiver in every dark profound practitioner present at the scene. They immediately looked at her in a completely different light from before.

"..." Yun Che stared at her with a complicated expression before asking, "What drove you to record these scenes anyway?"

"Actually, I recorded the first projection completely on a whim. At the time, everyone was saying that the crimson crack might very well concern the fate of the entire God Realm, so I thought I might as well keep a record of the historical moment. I wasn't expecting Senior Devil Emperor to return at that exact moment."

"After you successfully changed Senior Devil Emperor's mind, every god emperor and realm king praised you as the God Child Messiah. But for some reason, I couldn't shake off a sense of unease from my soul every time I saw you, so I thought that it would be wise to keep a record of everything that had happened..."

"And it looks like my decision was right."

Shui Meiyin had acted not out of cunning, but out of a vague sense of unease. She did everything just to protect Yun Che.

Yun Che felt a warmth surging in his heart. He might have fallen into bottomless darkness, but at least he still had a rope of warm light to cling onto.

"Thank—"

It had been too long since he thanked someone, but a delicate hand covered his lips before the words could come out of his mouth. Shui Meiyin shook her head at him and said, "You are my fiance, and it's only natural that I protect my future husband, Big Brother Yun Che. I don't want your thanks."

Yun Che smiled and caressed her cheeks. "Alright, I won't be thanking you then."

He moved on to the next topic. "Were you imprisoned in Moon God Realm all these years?"

"Mn." Shui Mingyue nodded. "Xia... Qingyue shut me in the lowest floor of the Moon Prison, but the truth is she couldn't keep me in at all. The only reason I continued to stay there until recently was because I wanted to protect daddy, big sis and the Glazed Light Realm."

"Hmm?" Yun Che raised an eyebrow.

Shui Meiyin continued, "I thought that Big Brother Yun Che might be returning very soon after learning that the Northern Divine Region was acting strangely, so I chose that time to leave the Moon God Realm. I'm glad that I was able to pass this Illusory Glaze Imagery Jade into your hands in time."

"Xia Qingyue couldn't keep you in at all? Why's that?" Yun Che asked.

"It's a secret. I'll tell you about it... and another big pleasant surprise in the future, hehe!" She said with a beaming smile.

Yun Che didn't press her for an answer. He simply smiled and said, "Good. By the way, the person who hurt your father and imprisoned you, Xia Qingyue is dead now. I've also blown Moon God Realm to bits, so you don't have to worry about them any longer."

"..." The sparkle in her eyes suddenly froze. Her lips parted slightly as she whispered, "She's... dead?"

"Mn," Yun Che replied. "She died at the Abyss of Nothingness. Unfortunately I wasn't able to kill her with my own hands because she saved her last bit of strength to jump into the Abyss of Nothingness... hmm? What's wrong?"

For some reason, tears suddenly slid down Shui Meiyin's cheeks again.

She hurriedly wiped them away before showing him a smile again. "That's wonderful news! She's finally dead! She... she did that to you and daddy, she... she's the worst... absolute worst person in the entire world..."

"She... she's finally..."

Shui Meiyin suddenly buried her face into Yun Che's chest again. Her shoulders shook violently as she tried to suppress her sobs.

Yun Che held her shoulders gently and felt his shirt turning wet again. Slightly amused by her reaction, he said, "Why are you crying again?"

He barely stopped himself from adding, "You're over three thousand years old, and you're still acting like a kid."

Meanwhile, Shui Meiyin shook her head strongly before saying in a broken voice, "I... I'm just... glad... glad that you're back... glad that Xia Qingyue is... dead... I... I'm so happy... so, so happy... sob..."

On the other side, Chi Wuyao stared at Shui Meiyin's back with an indiscernible frown on her face.

A long while later, Shui Meiyin finally calmed herself down before sweeping a ferocious glance at the people around her. "Big Brother Yun Che is my fiance, so it's my right to cry as much as I want. Don't... don't you dare laugh at me, you hear me!?"

"O-of course not!" Fen Daoqi hurriedly lowered his head.

"Hahahaha!" Shui Qianheng laughed heartily without a care for his daughter's threat.

Qianye Ying'er: (ˉ▽￣) Tch~~

Now that Meiyin had turned off her waterworks, Yun Che asked another question, "Meiyin, why did the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor want to see you alone?"

Just like Qianye Ying'er, he was confused by the fourth projection. At the very least, the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor had never mentioned Shui Meiyin in his company.

"Senior Devil Emperor knew that I was recording everything from the start," Shui Meiyin replied. No one was surprised by this.

The Illusory Glazed Imagery Jade was an extremely high level Profound Imagery Stone that could fool even the senses of a god emperor, but there was no way it was enough to fool someone like the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor.

"After making up her mind to leave the Primal Chaos, the one thing that worried her more than anything else was the possibility that you might be betrayed. So, she entrusted me with a very important object that only I, the owner of the Divine Stainless Soul could use. She wanted me to help you if something bad did happen in the future."

"What is it?" Yun Che asked... an "object" that only the owner of a Divine Stainless Soul could use?

Shui Meiyin shook her head and smiled mysteriously. "I can't tell you that right now."

"Big Brother Yun Che." Before Yun Che could press her for details, she stared him in the eye and said seriously, "I don't want something like this to happen ever again. So can you please become the ruler of the Primal Chaos and the rule-maker of this world?"

"You are the successor of the Heretic God and Senior Devil Emperor. You can do it. You are the only one who has the right to do it."

"When that day comes, I promise I'll tell you all my secrets... okay?"