jdhmnovel Chapter 928: Awakening from a Dream
Chapter 928: Awakening from a Dream
As Yun Yao fell into darkness, the final, sinister laugh of the Void Heavenly Dao roared in her ears. Chaos tore at her soul, but at the moment of annihilation, a warm power enveloped her. Before her consciousness faded, she saw Chu Mochen's bloodstained hand tightly grasping her wrist, and twelve pairs of battle wings carved brilliant streaks of light in the void.
When she opened her eyes again, Yun Yao smelled the familiar scent of sandalwood. The curtains embroidered with twin lotus flowers hung low, and tiny slivers of sunlight filtered through the window lattice, carving diamond-shaped patches of light onto the blue brick floor. She sat up abruptly, knocking the jade hairpin off her pillow—it was the first gift Chu Mochen had found for her in the world of cultivation.
"Don't move." A deep voice, laced with laughter, came from behind the screen. Chu Mochen was dressed in a dark brocade robe, his hair still silver, and the medicine bowl in his hand was still steaming. He held the bowl to her lips, his fingertips carelessly brushing the corner of her lips. "You've been in a coma for thirty years, and you even need me to serve you medicine?"
Yun Yao stared at him, memories flooding back like a tide. The excruciating pain of creation, the roar of the laws collapsing, and the sight of him blocking a fatal blow for her. She grasped his sleeve, the touch so real it made her heart tremble. "Is this... the Yunlan Realm?"
Chu Mochen's eyes darkened, and he raised his hand to stroke her brow. "You exhausted your essence to reshape the laws, and after you fell into a coma, you returned to the place where you first traveled through." He paused, "Liu Yan'er said that this is the will of the Heavenly Dao Compass - it wants you to see where it all began."
Suddenly, children's laughter echoed from outside the window. Yun Yao lifted the quilt, stepped barefoot on the cool ground, and headed straight for the courtyard. In the sunlight, Liu Yan'er ran after three children, the karma bells in her hair tinkling. The once gorgeous beauty, now filled with gentleness, was oblivious to the grass dust on her skirt.
"Your Majesty!" Xiao Cui's voice, laced with tears, came from behind. The former servant girl was now a Life Priestess, her moon-white robe embroidered with intricate patterns of the Tree of Life. "You've finally awakened! For the past thirty years, Miss Liu has led us..." She choked, unable to speak further, but clutched Yun Yao's hand tightly, as if afraid she would disappear again.
Yun Yao looked toward the corner of the courtyard, where a crooked peach tree stood, its branches covered in tiny, crooked characters. She walked over, her fingertips tracing the scratches—these were the wishes she and Xiao Cui had secretly carved when she first arrived in the world of cultivation. "So it's still alive," she whispered.
"Not only alive." Chu Mochen walked behind her without her knowing, his breath lingering in his ears, "When you were sleeping, it suddenly blossomed and bore fruit. Where the fruit fell to the ground, the current 'heart cultivation' lineage was born." A peach with a soft glow appeared in his palm, and the texture of the skin was exactly the same as the Hongmeng purple energy in Yun Yao's body.
Yun Yao took the peach, and the moment it entered her mouth, a myriad of memories flooded back into her mind. She saw Liu Yan'er cast a causal array amidst the beast tide, using herself as a guide to reverse life and death; she saw Xiao Cui use the Tree of Life to protect her people, her black hair turning white; and she saw countless cultivators spontaneously gather the power of their faith to build a protective barrier while she slept.
"They know you will wake up." Chu Mochen's voice trembled imperceptibly. "New words appear in the book of laws of Lan Realm every day, as if... as if you are still resonating with this world in your sleep." He suddenly turned around and took a yellowed book from the desk.
Yun Yao took it. The four characters "Yunlan Zhiyi" (Yunlan Zhiyi) were written in bold, piercing through the paper. She flipped open the first page, revealing her story of her first arrival in the world of cultivation—from being a bullied princess to meeting Chu Mochen and then confronting Liu Yan'er. The handwriting was sometimes neat, sometimes sloppy, with various annotations interspersed between the lines.
"Written by Liu Yan'er?" Yun Yao's fingertips trembled slightly. The book not only recorded her experiences, but also every miracle that had ever occurred in the Lan Realm. On the page about "The Battle of Creation," a feather shimmering with the aura of chaos was tucked inside, with the words "It turns out the most powerful force is not the laws, but the heart that believes in miracles."
"She comes here every day." Chu Mochen's voice lowered. "She stays by your side and writes your story. She said...she said that if one day you never wake up again, these words will be proof that you lived."
A sudden commotion erupted outside the courtyard. Yun Yao looked up and saw countless cultivators flying down from the sky, clutching a variety of magical instruments, spiritual plants, and even childish paintings. They knelt outside the palace, shouting in unison, "Welcome back, Realm Master!"
Yun Yao stumbled, but Chu Mochen caught her just in time. Her shocked expression reflected in his eyes as he whispered, "Though you've slept for the past thirty years, you've become a faith within the Lan Realm. They say that whenever the laws of nature are shaken, your voice can be heard."
At this moment, ripples suddenly appeared in the void. The System, transformed into a book of laws, hovered in mid-air, its pages moving without a breeze. "Fluctuations of the Origin Laws detected—the remnants of the Void Heavenly Dao." Its voice was filled with unprecedented solemnity. "But this time, the threat comes from within."
Yun Yao's pupils suddenly constricted. She sensed a familiar aura, remarkably similar to the chaotic energy of the void heavens at the creation of the world. And this aura emanated from beneath the palace. She glanced at Chu Mochen, who had already drawn his sword, twelve pairs of battle wings fluttering behind him.
"Be careful." Xiao Cui suddenly rushed over and placed a glowing talisman on Yun Yao's chest. "This is a protective talisman drawn with the sap of the Tree of Life. It can temporarily isolate the fluctuations of the laws." Her face was as pale as paper. "Three days ago, a strange noise suddenly came from the underground of the palace. Miss Liu led people to investigate, but they haven't returned yet."
Yun Yao clenched her fists, primordial purple energy flowing through her palms. She turned to look at the still-chanting cultivators and declared, "I, Yun Yao, swear to protect the Lan Realm!" Before she finished her words, the ground exploded, and a giant hand wrapped in chaotic energy burst forth, charging straight at her face!
Chu Mochen swung his sword, but it shattered into pieces the moment it made contact with the giant hand. Yun Yao's pupils shrank suddenly. She had never seen such a strange power before—it was clearly the aura of the Void Heavenly Dao, yet it was also mixed with the familiar power of cause and effect.
"Liu Yan'er!" she suddenly exclaimed. Within the lines of the giant hand, she saw a faint glimmer of the Causal Bell. Without hesitation, Yun Yao injected Primordial Purple Qi into the Book of Laws, transforming it into an arrow of light that shot towards the giant hand.
The moment the arrow of light pierced the giant hand, a shrill scream rang out. As the smoke and dust cleared, Liu Yan'er fell to the ground in a heap, black blood oozing from the corners of her mouth, but her eyes gleamed with madness. "Yun Yao, do you think everything is over? The Void Heavenly Dao has been parasitic in my body since the creation of the world, and now..." She suddenly laughed strangely, "He wants to use my body to devour the entire Lan Realm!"
Yun Yao's book of laws suddenly vibrated violently, revealing blood-red text: "Warning! Detected fusion of the Law of Chaos and the Law of Causation. Host must immediately activate the 'Balance of Heaven' mechanism!" She took a deep breath, remembering what her father had once said: "The strongest rule is protection."
"Catch it!" She threw the book of rules to Chu Mochen, and at the same time sacrificed her own magic weapon, the Hongmeng Life Plate, "Use the law of willpower to stabilize Liu Yan'er's soul, and I will cut off the parasitism of the Void Heavenly Dao!" Purple flames ignited around her. This was the "anti-heavenly law" she comprehended when she created the world, which was specifically designed to overcome all unreasonable rules.
Just as Yun Yao was about to strike, Liu Yan'er suddenly broke free from Chu Mochen's grasp and rushed towards the peach tree in the courtyard. Chaos energy enveloped the trunk, and the tree began to grow wildly, its branches laden with pitch-black fruit. Within each fruit, the figure of a cultivator from the Lan Realm was sealed.
"This tree is the cause and effect you planted in the world of cultivation." Liu Yan'er's voice became distorted. "The Void Heavenly Dao said that as long as you devour it, your Dao heart will be completely destroyed!" She raised her hand to grab the fruit, but at the moment she was about to touch it, her wrist was entangled by a golden chain.
Yun Yao's heaven-defying Dao transformed into chains, engraved with memories of her and Chu Mochen: the fleeting glance they'd first met, their mutual protection in life and death, and the essence they'd shared at the moment of creation. "You're wrong," she said in a calm yet resolute voice. "My Dao Heart has never been a tree, nor a single law."
As the words fell, the chains erupted with dazzling light. The chaotic aura within Liu Yan'er's body was forcibly drawn out, transforming once again into the phantom of the Void Heavenly Dao. The peach tree, in the light, faded from its blackness, yielding softly luminous fruits—the very objects that nurtured "heart cultivation."
"Impossible..." The shadow of the Void Heavenly Dao roared unwillingly, "You have clearly exhausted your essence, how can you still..."
"Because this is the Yunlan Realm." The twin shadows of the Heavenly Dao appeared behind Yun Yao. "Here, every life can choose its own path. And you, who try to use rules to bind everything, are doomed to fail." She raised her hand and pointed, and the Anti-Heavenly Dao turned into a sharp sword, completely shattering the shadow of the Void Heavenly Dao.
The moment the shadow vanished, Liu Yan'er collapsed to the ground, her eyes clear again. She looked at Yun Yao, a wry smile playing on her lips. "So, I finally lost to you. But..." She turned her gaze to the peach tree, "Being able to witness the birth of the Lan Realm makes my life worthwhile."
Yun Yao walked over to her and handed her a fruit radiating a primordial purple aura. "Eat it. It's up to you to continue your causal chain." Liu Yan'er paused for a moment before reaching out to take the fruit. The moment she took a bite of the fruit, the chaotic aura surrounding her completely dissipated, replaced by the pure power of cause and effect.
Outside the courtyard, the monks erupted in thunderous cheers. Yun Yao looked at Chu Mochen, his eyes filled with pride and heartache. She walked over to him and held his hand: "Our story has just begun."
As the sun set, the sky of the Yunlan Realm was dyed a magnificent purple. Yun Yao stood in the courtyard, watching Liu Yan'er and the children laughing and joking, listening to Xiao Cui describe the changes in the Lan Realm, and feeling Chu Mochen's warm gaze. She finally understood that the so-called Way of Heaven was never about looking down from a high place, but about protecting every ordinary miracle.
"Do you want to go and see the new contents of the book of rules?" Chu Mochen whispered in her ear. Yun Yao shook her head, a smile creeping into her eyes: "No need." She looked into the distance, where a new story was unfolding. "We will write the future chapters ourselves."