"Everything you said... was all an act?"
"Of course, hahaha."
"That's good, then."
"Ah, no, one thing was true. Marrying Yuan Xiaoqing was real."
Words once spoken still rang in his ears.
Yet Yuan Xiaoqing was nowhere before his eyes.
The sand and stones beneath his feet were scorching hot, like the blood on Chai Asi's body.
He crossed the wilderness strewn with corpses and stepped onto a suspension bridge that coiled like a python. Amid the creaking sway of iron chains, clouds and mist were pushed far away. The demon city before him was like a colossal beast with its bloody maw agape.
Chai Asi was the blood meal that had come to its door.
He had always considered himself mediocre. Only because such a wonderful girl had loved him did he feel that he was an outstanding young talent.
The Divine Firmament World lay hidden within the Chaos Sea, evolving naturally as all things flowed onward. One hundred and five years had passed. After the timelines aligned, the war continued for more than another year.
The green youngster who had understood nothing back then had now lived past a hundred years.
Too many stories had unfolded over those hundred-odd years. He had walked the Divine Firmament World, battled heaven and earth, and ultimately earned the title of Heaven's End Sword Lord, becoming the foremost figure of an entire continent.
But he had never forgotten the tender beauty of that little dilapidated courtyard. In the ancestral home his grandfather had left behind, he had spent the happiest days of his life.
Back then, he worked hard and pressed forward. He had someone he loved, and was loved in return, and felt that the future brimmed with hope.
In countless difficult moments, he would always think back on the past.