When Ye Yu had fully stabilized his form and regained his awareness, he at last took in his surroundings.
He seemed to be standing in an immense, open mountain plain shrouded in white mist—no living beings in sight. No, to describe them as living beings would be too narrow; “gods” would be more fitting.
Without a doubt, he had arrived in the Divine Realm!
Ye Yu could clearly sense the shift in the air here—it was divine qi! Far richer than immortal qi or demonic qi, so potent that his body struggled to adapt. Perhaps, like mortals entering the Celestial Realm, one needed to transform this realm’s divine qi into immortal qi to acclimate more quickly.
Determined, Ye Yu strove to purge his demonic qi and draw in the surrounding divine qi. To his disappointment, the process was agonizingly slow—and there was no active method to hasten it; he could only wait for the divine qi to gradually fill him.
At this pace, it would take at least three to five years to fully refine the divine qi. To an immortal or higher being, three years was but the blink of an eye—but still, Ye Yu frowned at the prospect of waiting so long.
Just as he wondered whether to begin exploring his surroundings, the System’s voice sounded in his mind:
Detected host is diligently absorbing divine qi. Heaven rewards diligence—granting you the skill Rapid Restoration. No matter how much divine qi you expend, you will recover it in the shortest time possible!
Ye Yu’s heart leapt—his Dreamscape talent had kicked off with a bang! Instantly, he felt his absorption rate increase a hundredfold. With this, he might complete the transformation far sooner than he’d feared.
Yet even so, he could not remain idle here. After all, this was a dream scenario meant for trial and error—and he would be wary not to be incinerated by some careless immortal’s stray sword qi, as some inexperienced novices had been.
Selecting a random direction, he set off. After half an hour, he came upon a vast city. The gates stood unguarded, and no figures moved atop the walls. When he attempted to scan the city with his divine sense, an invisible barrier held him at bay. Weighing his options, he simply entered.
Inside, the grandeur vanished. Instead, the streets bustled with the hustle of market stalls—yet not a single soul was visible. Ye Yu’s expression darkened. Could the gods here be slumbering, as in the early Celestial Realm?
That could not be right. Demon Sovereign Tian had said the Cataclysm of the Five Realms occurred because the gods, in battling one another, had siphoned off the lower realms’ spiritual qi—so the gods here could not have drained their own world’s divine qi dry. Even at his peak Demon Lord Realm strength, Ye Yu could not exhaust all the demonic qi in the Demon Realm. Only a higher plane could manage that... and what lay beyond the Divine Realm remained unknowable!
Soon, he reached the city’s center and beheld a colossal stone statue hundreds of feet tall—a goddess, finger extended forward, two ribbons flowing from her wrist in a graceful arc. A divine effigy? A god worshipping herself? Absurd!
Shaking his head, Ye Yu advanced to the innermost palace hall. It was utterly empty—no furnishings, no guards, no sign of life. Had everyone evacuated?
Then, in a side chamber, he spotted a woman seated in a chair, eyes closed, two ribbons tied around her wrists—an exact replica of the statue outside. Alive? He dared not assume, and moved cautiously forward. The woman remained motionless. Gathering his courage, Ye Yu reached out to touch her arm—
Suddenly, her eyes flew open. “What are you doing, boy?” she snapped.
So she was alive!
Ye Yu cupped his fists. “I am Ye Yu, who has just shattered the void to arrive in the Divine Realm. I passed by and, out of curiosity, came to investigate. If I have offended, I beg your forgiveness.”
The woman’s eyes brightened. “Shattered the void to reach the Divine Realm? Tsk tsk tsk, it’s been ages since a newcomer arrived here, and you’re a demon! Those horns even look appropriate...” She reached up and tapped the demon horns atop his head.
Ye Yu recoiled half a step. Had she no sense of propriety?
To distract her, he quickly changed the subject. “May I ask your name, Goddess?”
“Call me Hanyue Xi.” She patted the air. In an instant, an invisible force pushed Ye Yu before her, and she grasped his horn.
Ye Yu inhaled deeply, forcing himself calm. Recognizing the moment, he thought: it’s just a pinch—no harm done. When Gandoduo first met him, she pinched nonstop, even twining his horns with her snake tail. If he could tolerate that, he could tolerate this.
He collected his thoughts. “Goddess, I have only just arrived and know nothing of this place. Could you kindly explain what is happening here? In return, I will ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ gift you a small token from the Demon Realm.”
In his heart, Ye Yu felt pleased: each would gain what they needed—if only Hanyue Xi would accept.
