With the Investiture of the Gods restored to its proper place, the history that was about to surge into upheaval came to an abrupt halt. The River of Time grew peaceful once more, flowing slowly, while its contractions and backlash returned to normal.
The Heavenly Emperor's lofty, majestic figure and the dark, profound hall dissolved layer by layer, like illusory bubbles, vanishing before Tan Ping and the Water Ancestor's eyes.
But before Tan Ping could catch his breath and offer the Water Ancestor a few more words of advice, everything around him had already grown hazy. Endless darkness stretched in every direction, and nothing else could be seen.
He jolted awake and found himself lying beside the Huang Liang Pillow in a courtyard on Changmen Island. His earlier experiences, the heart-stopping moments just passed, all seemed like a vivid dream—real, yet unreal.
"Brother Tan, what era did you return to this time?" Xia Xiu asked curiously, looking at Tan Ping's shaken expression.
Just as Tan Ping steadied himself and prepared to answer, the dim Huang Liang Pillow suddenly cracked, turning into wisps that fluttered through the air like butterflies before quickly vanishing without a trace.
"The Huang Liang Pillow shattered!" Cries of alarm rang out, thick with dejection and disappointment.
Tan Ping felt much the same, but amid his shock and dismay, he couldn't help feeling a little glad. With the Huang Liang Pillow broken, he could no longer return to the past. That severed his karmic ties with the one at the Jade Void Palace—or the Other Shore Being impersonating them—and freed him from constantly worrying about being dragged into the schemes and struggles between Other Shore Beings, killed without a corpse left behind, or even rendered unable to resurrect!
The Huang Liang Pillow was both an opportunity and