A milky-white ribbon of light stretched across the sky and descended from Mingyue. All worries and sorrows followed it as it extended without end, flying beyond Nihility.
Star mist spread everywhere. A golden ship broke through the waves and sailed across the vast ocean.
Two slender fingers skimmed the water, plucking a snowflake-like fleck of ash from the ripples. Yaotian then looked toward Bei Wu, who had been waiting on deck.
"I know everything. It's all right..."
Yaotian, her shoulders draped in fine silk, gently crushed the ash. Light and heat powerful enough to pierce a universe and carve out a space in the Void rose from her fingertips and dispersed.
"He's a troublesome fellow. Even at this point, he still has so many tricks left. Dealing with him alone would indeed be difficult for you, especially since your future junior disciple brother learned quite a few of the Great Vow Heaven Universe's secrets while studying under me."
She sat at the bow, leaning back with her hands braced against its edge. Her frost-pale feet hung over the side, lightly touching the Sea of Vows as the ship rocked. The bow and stern curved upward like a crescent moon hung at the horizon.
"But by my reckoning, it's nearly time. Go back first and make proper preparations for All-Heavens City."
Yaotian's voice sounded ethereal, yet carried a trace of joy. "When the Vow Fruit ripens, the former city lord's lingering influence throughout the worlds of the Void will be assimilated into the fulfillment of all beings' wishes."
"This disciple does not understand," Bei Wu said.
"What don't you understand?" Yaotian tilted her head and glanced back at him with a smile. "Why I moved against the other nine True Rulers, or why I kept it from you all this time?"