Life and death are yin and yang; emptiness and reality are also yin and yang!

"Venerable is in seclusion. I cannot make this decision, and can only report to him after he emerges from seclusion!" Lin Xiqiu said.

His meaning was very clear. Yang Zhengshan was in seclusion, so he could not report this matter to Yang Zhengshan right now. He would have to wait until Yang Zhengshan emerged from seclusion before he could do so.

As for whether Yang Zhengshan would go then, or whether he could go, that would depend on whether Yang Zhengshan had emerged from seclusion. If Yang Zhengshan had not emerged, then he definitely could not go.

Zhongli Xiayi gave Lin Xiqiu a deep look and said evenly, "I understand."

With that, she transformed into a streak of rainbow light and vanished into the sea of clouds.

Lin Xiqiu watched the direction in which she disappeared, stroking his beard as he frowned slightly.

"Her cultivation seems not much weaker than Venerable's. I wonder whether this will make her bear a grudge!"

He did not understand the realm of Entering the Dao, but he could sense that Zhongli Xiayi's aura was not much weaker than Yang Zhengshan's. Thus, he felt that Zhongli Xiayi's cultivation had likely reached the Half-step Entering Dao realm as well.

As for Zhongli Xiayi bearing a grudge, the reason was simple. His words were tantamount to declaring that White Jade Capital would not join the alliance against the demon evils.

Judging from the current situation, the targets of those demon evils were obvious: the four great sects and the three great Demon Courts.

Therefore, the ones most eager to eliminate the demon evils were Wanbao Sect and the South Sea Demon Court.

As for the others and the other factions, it was still uncertain whether they were targets of the demon evils.

Thus, Wanbao Sect and the South Sea Demon Court were the most anxious now.

Lin Xiqiu represented White Jade Capital, and White Jade Capital had never been particularly renowned outside. He felt those demon evils would not set their sights on White Jade Capital so soon.

Since Wanbao Sect and the South Sea Demon Court intended to deal with the demon evils, Lin Xiqiu was also willing to see them eliminate those demon evils.

If they succeeded, all the better. If they failed, White Jade Capital would still have time to make other preparations.

Lin Xiqiu pondered for a moment before finally shaking his head and rising to leave.

He could not control what Wanbao Sect intended to do, nor could he decide whether White Jade Capital would participate.

Yang Zhengshan had to make that decision, but Yang Zhengshan was still in seclusion. Even if he wished to report this matter to Yang Zhengshan, he could not. Thus, things could only remain as they were, and everything depended on when Yang Zhengshan emerged from seclusion.

Wanbao Sect moved much faster than expected. More precisely, everyone had sensed the threat posed by the demon evils, whether it was Wanbao Sect and the South Sea Demon Court, which would bear the brunt, or Myriad Beast Sect and Hidden Sword Mountain, which had only just begun to show their edge.

When Wanbao Sect's envoy voiced the proposal of an alliance, Wu Wei Zheng and Heavenly Sword True Monarch agreed without the slightest hesitation.

As for the South Sea Demon Court, the Dragon Princess was still undergoing Dragon Transformation within the Jinchuan Mountain Range. Yet the several Demon Venerables of the South Sea Demon Court greatly approved of Wanbao Sect's proposal. They merely needed to wait for the Dragon Princess to complete her Dragon Transformation.

Two Years Later, countless golden rays suddenly blossomed within the Jinchuan Mountain Range. The brilliant golden radiance illuminated ten thousand miles, setting the entire Jinchuan Mountain Range within a ring of gold.

Mountains and rocks, grass and trees, long rivers—all were dyed gold.

Roar—

A dragon's cry rang out from the mountains, exploding like Thunder and rumbling like war drums, echoing between heaven and earth.

Immediately afterward, countless strands of golden radiance gathered above the Jinchuan Mountain Range and transformed into a golden divine dragon.

Its body stretched a thousand zhang. Its head resembled a camel's, its horns a deer's, its eyes a rabbit's, its ears a cow's, its neck a snake's, its belly a mirage's, its scales a carp's, its claws an eagle's, and its paws a tiger's. Thus it was. Eighty-one scales lined its back, bearing the extreme yang number of nine times nine. Its voice was like bronze platters clashing. Whiskers hung beside its mouth, a pearl rested beneath its chin, and reverse scales lay beneath its throat.

The pearl gleamed like stars and moonlight, clear and limpid as water.

As wind and clouds churned, the golden light drew in. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a grand and majestic woman.

"Welcome the Dragon Emperor's descent!" Ao Xuan led the Dragonkind in kneeling upon the ground and bowed with incomparable excitement.

The return of a True Dragon was a blessing for all Dragonkind.

After one hundred thousand years, a True Dragon had appeared once more. It had to be called a miracle.

True Dragons had long become legend in the Myriad Flower Domain. Even among the Dragonkind, the last recorded member of the Dragon Race had been the Dragon Emperor from one hundred thousand years ago.

There were many reasons why True Dragons could no longer appear.

The first was the issue of spiritual energy. A True Dragon was formed when a beast transformed into a dragon. Before completing Dragon Transformation, a dragon was merely a dragon beast, not a True Dragon. Only after successfully transforming did it become a True Dragon.

The process of Dragon Transformation not only required an enormous amount of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy, but also Earth Veins and Dragon Veins.

Before Dragon Transformation, it was only a dragon beast. Afterward, it became a divine beast Naturally Born and Raised, like Strange Fires and Mysterious Waters, an incarnation of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.

Therefore, a True Dragon was not a demon, but a dragon—an existence beyond Demonic Beasts.

The Myriad Flower Domain had existed for a million years, and its spiritual energy concentration had long fallen far below what it once was. It was very difficult to find a suitable place for Dragon Transformation again.

The Dragon Princess had been able to undergo Dragon Transformation with the aid of the Jinchuan Mountain Range not merely because the range contained Spirit Veins, Earth Veins, and Water Veins, but also because the South Sea Demon Court had secretly nurtured the Jinchuan Mountain Range's Spirit Veins for countless years.

The Dragon Princess's Dragon Transformation had taken only a few years, but in order to use the Jinchuan Mountain Range for it, the entire South Sea Demon Court had prepared for a thousand years. Their preparations had begun a millennium ago.

The second reason was bloodline. The fewer True Dragons there were, the fewer bloodlines they left behind. By now, it was nearly impossible to birth a member of the Dragon Race with pure dragon blood.

The Dragon Princess was an exception. She possessed such a pure bloodline because she had not been born from Dragonkind, but nurtured from a Dragon Pearl.

That was right—the Dragon Pearl in her hand. She was the final bloodline left behind by the Dragon Emperor one hundred thousand years ago, and after one hundred thousand years of nurturing, she had become the last True Dragon to be born.

The Myriad Flower Domain had already lost the conditions needed to nurture True Dragons. The Dragon Princess's existence was a miracle, and also the Dragon Race's final hope.

The Dragon Princess hovered above the mountain peak, gazing proudly toward the wind and clouds above the Sky Vault.

"Unfortunately, I am not yet a True Dragon."

Her voice was exceedingly distant, as though it came from beyond the Ninth Heaven.

Ao Xuan suddenly raised his head, unable to understand.

She had clearly completed Dragon Transformation. Why did the Dragon Emperor still say she was not a True Dragon?

"Your Majesty the Dragon Emperor!"

He wanted to get to the bottom of it, but the Dragon Princess waved her hand and said, "The heaven-and-earth spiritual energy is insufficient. Though my Dragon Transformation succeeded, I have not become a True Dragon."

A True Dragon was an existence akin to a Dao Master, yet the Dragon Princess had not crossed into the Dao Master realm. This was because the Myriad Flower Domain could no longer nurture True Dragons.

Bound by the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, no matter how extraordinary she was, she could not break through this boundary.

"Never mind. Though I did not succeed completely, at least I have found the road ahead!" The Dragon Princess did not feel disappointed by this. Or rather, she had long been mentally prepared for such an outcome.

The Myriad Flower Domain was an ancient Realm Boundary, yet that very age also meant it had entered its twilight years. Its spiritual energy grew increasingly thin, and its Dao Resonance increasingly faint.

Perhaps in several tens of thousands of years, the Myriad Flower Domain would become a Realm Boundary without spiritual energy, where Dao Resonance no longer appeared—a Realm Boundary with absolutely no value at all.

By then, let alone True Dragons, even Strange Beasts would vanish completely.

However, that was a matter for several tens of thousands of years later. It was not yet the Dragon Princess's concern.

Gathering her thoughts, the Dragon Princess came before Ao Xuan and the other Dragonkind. "You may rise."

"Thank you, Your Majesty the Dragon Emperor!"

"Has anything happened recently?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty the Dragon Emperor..."

The Dragon Princess knew nothing of the current situation, so Ao Xuan briefly recounted the events that had taken place in the Myriad Flower Domain over these years.

After hearing him out, the Dragon Princess's expression became incomparably grave. "You say the demon evils from the Land of Reincarnation have escaped?"

"That is correct! Those demon evils destroyed the North Sea Demon Court, Wuchang Ghost Sect, and Hengshan Sect. Now only we and Wanbao Sect remain!" Ao Xuan said.

The Dragon Princess abruptly raised her head. Golden light burst from her golden pupils, piercing through the Void and entering the Great Void, where it fell upon a phantom.

"Demon evils!"

Within the Great Void, a dragon claw appeared out of thin air and seized directly at that phantom.

"Hehe~~ A True Dragon. I never expected to see a True Dragon appear again. How marvelous!"

"Unfortunately, you have yet to become a True Dragon!"

Jade Crown's piercing voice tore through the Void and echoed among the mountains.

The dragon claw descended, yet it grasped nothing.

"Ah~~ Spiritual energy is thin, Dao Resonance does not appear. We are all existences abandoned by the Great Dao!"

All at once, Jade Crown's tone became desolate, as though filled with endless sorrow and resentment.

The Land of Reincarnation was not unchanging either.

The Land of Reincarnation had existed for a million years. White Bone and Jade Crown had existed for a million years as well. They had seen no few True Dragons; in the past, there had even been demon evils transformed from True Dragons within the Land of Reincarnation.

Time could wear away everything, including the demon evils in the Land of Reincarnation.

Thus, saying that one could attain immortality by entering the Land of Reincarnation was inaccurate.

There were no truly immortal, deathless existences in this world. Even Realm Boundaries had birth and extinction; even the Great Void knew annihilation. How could other existences be any exception?

Immortality and deathlessness were merely relative concepts. To ants, a hundred years was immortality. To birds and beasts, a thousand years was immortality. To Immortal Cultivators, ten thousand years was immortality. To heaven and earth, the Great Void was eternal and indestructible.

Jade Crown departed, leaving only the frowning Dragon Princess behind.

The Dragon Princess did not know what sort of existence Jade Crown was, but she knew that an existence like Jade Crown would inevitably be exceedingly difficult to deal with.

"Join forces with Wanbao Sect and destroy these demon evils?"

All of a sudden, the Dragon Princess found herself lacking confidence in Wanbao Sect's alliance.

Yet she swiftly cast that thought aside, because she had no other choice now.

Life Realm Immortal Palace, Longevity Palace.

Yang Zhengshan was still staring fixedly at the stone door before him. Like a statue, even his eyes did not shift in the slightest.

What he was looking at was naturally not the stone door, but that eternally unchanging Great Void.

More precisely, he was looking at the Life Realm Immortal Palace, at the Great Void, at the Way of Great Void, at the omnipresent Dao Resonance.

Did the real world have a Great Void?

The answer was certainly yes.

The real world and the Great Void were not opposed to one another, but compatible. The real world existed within the Great Void, and the Great Void also existed within the real world.

All along, Yang Zhengshan had believed the Great Void lay beyond the real world. But now, he discovered that the Great Void was within the real world. Or perhaps the Great Void was also a part of the real world, though it seemed to lie outside the real world.

"Two sides of one body. Emptiness and reality are the two sides of a Realm Boundary. The Great Void lies within, not without!"

"I am here, and yet I am not here!"

Yang Zhengshan's thoughts pierced through layer after layer of mist like rays of light, crossing emptiness and reality to see that boundless Great Void.

Was the Great Void infinite?

No, the Great Void too had an end!

What was called infinite was merely a matter of perception.

It ultimately had a boundary.

And that boundary lay at the Realm Boundary.

The Realm Boundary was the Great Void's beginning, and also its end.

The Void was a part of the Great Void, yet it was not!

The Void was the boundary of a Realm Boundary. What then lay beyond that boundary?

Not the Void, but other Realm Boundaries!

Yang Zhengshan's eyes moved, changing from vacant to focused.

The next moment, his body vanished. When he reappeared, he was already within the Wanhua Mountain Range.

He paid no heed to his surroundings. Instead, he reached out and, as if drawing apart a cloth curtain, pulled open a crack in the spatial barrier of the Realm Boundary.

He poked his head through the crack.

There was a desert—a seemingly boundless desert. Apart from sand and soil, there was nothing else.

He smiled, and his smile was especially radiant.

The Great Void was vast, yet the Great Void was also small.

The Great Void's size depended on perception, on one's insight and understanding of the Great Void.

Why could Golden Core cultivators travel through the Great Void? It was not merely because they could attain perfection without flaw or leakage, but also because they possessed their own insight and understanding of the Great Void.

Why did the Great Void seem infinite? Not because it was truly infinite, but because their insight and understanding of the Great Void were too limited.

"So that is how it is! Great Void, hehe~~ Life and death are yin and yang; emptiness and reality are also yin and yang!"

Yang Zhengshan chuckled, his smile both pure and radiant.

At that moment, he seemed to have found the true essence of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. His heart was filled with satisfaction, filled with joy.

If one heard the Dao in the morning, one could die that evening without regret.

Though Yang Zhengshan did not wish to die now, he felt he had no regrets left.

East Sea, outside the Land of Reincarnation.

On an island emerald green like jade, Heavenly Sword True Monarch emerged from the Great Void with Que Lingyu.

Heavenly Sword True Monarch came walking through the air with his sword clasped in both hands, as leisurely as if strolling through a garden. A moment later, he stopped at an open space in the center of the island.

This open space had been cleared by human hands. All grass and trees had been uprooted, and neat Bluestone slabs had been laid down. Dense vegetation surrounded it, while stone chairs were arranged in a circle at its center.

Quite a few people were already seated upon those stone chairs. Heavenly Sword True Monarch swept his gaze over them, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

People from Wanbao Sect, Myriad Beast Sect, and the South Sea Demon Court had all arrived, and there were quite a number of them.

Wanbao Sect had its sect master Wan Hong, Duobao True Monarch, Shangbao True Monarch, Yuanbao True Monarch, and more than ten Golden Core cultivators.

Myriad Beast Sect had seven Demon Kings, including Wu Wei Zheng, Xiao Shan, and Xuan Ling.

The South Sea Demon Court had more than ten Dragonkind Demon Kings, including the Dragon Princess, Ao Xuan, Ao Zhan, Jiao Han, Jin Linche, and Jin Linhuai.

In comparison, Hidden Sword Mountain seemed somewhat alone and weak. Apart from Heavenly Sword True Monarch, it had only Que Lingyu.

"Greetings, fellow Daoists!"

Heavenly Sword True Monarch chuckled, then sat down in a green chair. He swept his gaze across the crowd and found that only four people were seated: Wan Hong, the Dragon Princess, Wu Wei Zheng, and Zhongli Xiayi.

Three other chairs stood empty.

"Welcome, Heavenly Sword Supreme Venerable!" The Golden Core cultivators and Demon Kings all bowed in unison.

Half-step Entering Dao possessed such prestige that it could make other Golden Core cultivators and Demon Kings behave with utmost reverence.

Although Heavenly Sword True Monarch was appearing before the world for the first time, they still did not dare show the slightest contempt.