Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 909: Ascending to the Other Shore

To separate the souls properly, Ye Wuming would first have to withdraw the soul fragment that was currently in her main body and reunite it with the larger portion that was in Ye Jiuyou’s spiritual sea. If her soul was incomplete as it was being separated from her sister’s, then the process would be much more difficult, and the risk of failure would be much higher.

But once her soul fragment was reunited with her main soul, her main body would once again become an empty shell, free for shameless degenerates to do whatever they pleased with it.

Thankfully, Zhao Changhe was still someone who she could expect to act with some level of restraint. If he really wanted to take advantage of her, he could have just jumped into the bath with her a moment ago. Ye Wuming would not have been able to stop him. But of course, he did not do that. After leaving that parting remark, he vanished and went off to tease Dragon Bird outside. “I got your revenge for you.”

Ye Wuming: “...”

Fine. If you want to call that revenge, then so be it.

No, the ones that truly worried Ye Wuming were Ye Jiuyou and Piaomiao. Those two, driven by petty grudges, were capable of anything. Ye Wuming could already picture herself lying there like a corpse while those two went wild. If they got their hands on a stick, they would probably use it to poke her butt out of sheer spite.

To her relief, at least, this was no longer the corrupted version of Piaomiao. The Piaomiao of today had mellowed considerably, and though she might still hold grudges, she would not take things too far.

Rubbing her temples in frustration, Ye Wuming extended her senses to the courtyard outside. Zhao Changhe sat there, cradling his saber, telling stories to Ling Ruoyu and Dragon Bird.

He was recounting one of the old fables from Zhao Family Village—The Three Little Pigs. It was childish and full of heavy-handed morals, not exactly suited to the age or mindset of his two listeners. And yet, both girls were listening raptly, hanging on every word.

Maybe it was not about the story at all. Maybe it was just having a father there to tell it.

As Ye Wuming watched them, her eyes gradually softened without her realizing it.

These past ten days, as exasperating as they had been, did not seem so unbearable after all. In fact, she found herself feeling a little reluctant to see it all end. Perhaps when all divine nature is cast down into the mortal dust, what one longs for begins to change.

Maybe that, too, was a form of Scattering the Gods and Buddhas.

Maybe that, too, was a step toward the Other Shore.

Whatever it was, whether it was frustration or reluctance, tomorrow would finally bring it all to a close.

Ye Wuming let out a long, ambiguous sigh. Slowly, she rose from the bath, her fingers brushing lightly across her smooth skin. Droplets of water sparkled and disappeared against her jade-white body, a faint halo of moonlight surrounding her figure in the night.

With a graceful twist, her robe draped itself over her like flowing water.

She moved to the bed, sat cross-legged atop it, and closed her eyes to begin the process of reuniting her soul.

But she could not calm her mind.

Reclaiming her full soul meant surrendering her main body, at least for a period of time. And as she sat there, she could not help but wonder, What’s the point of putting on this robe at all? It’s not like it’s going to stay on for long.

In her mind, Zhao Changhe’s final words echoed once more, “I just want you to look me in the eye and say, ‘I’m ready. Come in.’” That sentence did not even need to be spoken out loud. She was already in the midst of doing exactly that.

As she prepared her soul to eventually return to her main body, within Ye Jiuyou’s body, she was preparing to welcome him in.

That idea, so long downplayed by both sides, was now painfully clear and utterly unambiguous. And this time, she had to be the one to say it aloud.

Ye Wuming understood exactly why Zhao Changhe wanted her to speak those words. It was to shatter whatever remained of her divine nature. But then again, how much of that divine nature even remained?

Ye Wuming herself was not even sure anymore.

Gradually, her soul fragment returned to her main soul and merged into Ye Jiuyou’s body.

Ye Jiuyou was soaking in the lotus pool when she felt Ye Wuming’s soul become whole once more. She smirked and said, “Well, well. Back again?”

Ye Wuming could not be bothered to reply. She focused instead on the important matter, “Are you sure you’re ready for separation? Do you truly believe that you can cross to the Other Shore on your own?”

Ye Jiuyou said with a smile, “What, getting cold feet now?”

Ye Wuming ignored the jab and continued flatly, “A moment ago, I wasn’t so confident, but now I am. I’ve finally found the missing part of myself. If you need some insight, I can share it with you. If not, then let’s keep quiet and move on.”

Ye Jiuyou was surprised by the shift in her tone and dropped the sarcasm, “I already understand what I need to.”

Ye Wuming asked, “And what about him?”

That surprised her even more. Ye Jiuyou stared at her for a long moment before letting out a short, disbelieving laugh. “You’re actually concerned about whether he can break through?”

Ye Wuming answered calmly, “We need his strength. Whether or not he breaks through is critical.”

Deep in the spiritual sea, Ye Jiuyou scrutinized her sister from head to toe, her gaze thoughtful.

Whether or not he breaks through is critical? Since when did Ye Wuming not see herself as the center of everything? Wasn’t it always, “As long as I break through, that’s enough?”

* * *

The following night.

Ling Ruoyu huffed and puffed as she carried Ye Wuming’s main body up to the top of the astronomical observatory.

This was the place where spirit qi in the Night Palace was most concentrated. If something important was going to happen, this was the best place for it.

The only problem was that if what they were doing turned into that kind of thing, then they would literally be taking the sky as their canopy and the earth as their mattress[1].

Ling Ruoyu set Ye Wuming’s body down and arranged her into a proper cross-legged meditation pose, then turned to eye Ye Jiuyou curiously.

The girl knew that her mother’s complete soul was now inside Aunt Jiuyou, and she was not sure whether the two were now fighting again. Outwardly, though, Aunt Jiuyou seemed perfectly calm, and she even smiled at her warmly. “Ruoyu, you’re here? Wait, what are you doing here again?”

Ling Ruoyu mumbled, “I was a bit worried about Mom. Her body can’t move, and I thought maybe someone would bully her...”

Piaomiao couldn’t help laughing. “You think we’d bully her? So you’re here to protect her?”

Ling Ruoyu grinned sheepishly. “Of course not, Aunt... I know you’d never...”

You’re absolutely here to keep an eye on us. Piaomiao sighed. “Just what kind of misunderstanding do you have about Ye Wuming? A few days of being weak and you’ve forgotten how terrifyingly powerful she is?”

Ling Ruoyu scratched her head. Perhaps it was not that she had forgotten how powerful her mother was, but rather just that once you start to care about someone, you start to worry for them as well.

She came up with an excuse. “This whole soul-separation thing is a really important event, so I thought that I’d serve as a guardian. It would be a good opportunity to learn something, too.”

Ye Jiuyou crossed her arms. “Do you even know what’s about to happen? This isn’t a place for children.”

“Back when I was still River of Stars, I saw as you were crouched by the pool, shaking your hips and biting your finger while you looked back and said—”

Hearing her words, not only Ye Jiuyou but even Piaomiao turned bright red.

They had forgotten that Ling Ruoyu was not some clueless little flower. She was River of Stars, and she knew all their darkest secrets. Who dared laugh at Ye Wuming for being made to watch? That was involuntary. But the rest of them? Every one of them had taken the initiative at least once, including Piaomiao.

Still, punishing her two aunts came at a price. The next moment, the little brat was seized by both of them, tangled into a ball, and unceremoniously flung off the astronomical observatory.

In the spiritual sea, Ye Wuming laughed so hard she was rolling around. “Of all people to mess with, you picked River of Stars! Hahaha!”

At the same time, she felt a rare sense of proud parental joy. Ruoyu actually stepped up to defend me....

Ye Jiuyou said coolly, “Spoken like someone whose daughter has more experience than she does. You really think this is something to be proud of?”

Ye Wuming’s laughter came to an abrupt stop. And just like that, the sisters were yanking each other’s hair again in the spiritual sea, tumbling into yet another brawl.

“Ahem.” Zhao Changhe’s awkward cough broke through. He had not dared speak while Ruoyu was around, but now that she had been kicked out, he could finally open his mouth, “Is everyone ready?”

The fighting inside the spiritual sea ceased at once.

Ye Jiuyou gave him a faint smirk. “Of course, we can begin at any time.”

As for the reason why Ling Ruoyu could not stay to guard the ritual? Well, that was because the separation had to take place during dual cultivation.

In truth, soul separation did not have to be done with dual cultivation. When Zhao Changhe separated Piaomiao from Cui Yuanyang, it only involved intense soul resonance, though it was still close to dual cultivation in form. But that kind of resonance, when reflected through the body, made the physical reactions nearly indistinguishable. It might even be more overwhelming. So they figured, why pretend? They may as well do it properly.

Besides, after so many days of dual cultivation, what was the point of playing coy? And for Zhao Changhe, doing it this way offered a crucial benefit. This was a complete fusion of the Ye sisters, with their souls wholly unified, and for once, Ye Wuming was not withdrawn but fully participating. This would be the first true dual cultivation with a soul from the Other Shore. Whether Zhao Changhe could break through himself would be decided here.

Ye Jiuyou said she was ready, but Zhao Changhe continued to gaze at her and asked quietly, “And you?”

That question was for Ye Wuming.

In the spiritual sea, Ye Wuming clenched her fist until it cracked and then forced herself to speak with a calm she could not even feel, “I’m ready.”

He had asked her to say, “I’m ready. Come in,” but she left out the last two words. Just saying “I’m ready” was already the result of a full day’s worth of mental preparation. It was her absolute limit.

But once the words were out, it was like a weight lifted. A strange sense of relief, as if something she had been carrying for too long had finally been put down.

So this is all it was? It’s not that terrible after all...

Even Ye Jiuyou and Piaomiao, hearing those words, felt no particular glee or satisfaction. It was strangely ordinary.

Zhao Changhe did not press her further. “Then... shall we begin?”

Ye Wuming gave no response. She and Ye Jiuyou coexisted quietly in the same soul space. She watched as Zhao Changhe leaned in and kissed Ye Jiuyou’s lips, which, by extension, were also her own.

The violet robe loosened and slid to the floor. Ye Wuming endured the trembling of her borrowed body, forcing her mind to drift into the night sky above. It was only then that she realized just how open and exposed they were. Truly, they were taking the sky as their canopy and the earth as their mattress.

Right beside them was the Night Palace’s lotus pool. She remembered, once, standing in this very spot and hurling a punch that nearly killed Zhao Changhe.

And now, she was being held in his arms, kissed and caressed... only to be slowly lowered and laid flat onto her own body.

There was no bed atop this observatory, which thus led to her own body becoming the bed.

So much for the robe she had put on earlier. It had vanished who knows when, probably stripped off by Piaomiao while assisting from the side. Even the symbolic Night Emperor dragon robe was gone, discarded who knew where.

Zhao Changhe was already pressing in close, and as he leaned down, he murmured again in her ear, “Are you ready?”

Dazed, Ye Wuming heard herself and Ye Jiuyou respond in perfect unison,

“I’m ready. Come on.”

The next instant, it started.

The sisters arched their necks together, heads tilting back as they gazed up at the starry sky above.

The Four Idols sparkled overhead, their constellations twinkling like familiar faces winking back down at them.

Zhao Changhe’s soul had already entered Ye Jiuyou’s spiritual sea. There, the souls of the two sisters were tightly intertwined. They were so entangled that the sight alone somewhat resembled some kind of eldritch being, enough to leave a lesser soul trembling. Fortunately, he was no stranger to such things. The Ye sisters, despite their union, carried distinct auras and attributes, making them easy to distinguish.

His soul moved into the space between them, delicately beginning the process of weaving, separating, and cutting.

The sisters both let out a soft moan.

The sensation from contact between souls had always surpassed the sensations between flesh. And now, with both souls fully engaged, the resonant feedback between them reached an intensity far beyond anything before. Their concepts of the Other Shore coiled together, mingling with Zhao Changhe’s soul. The impressions between the three deepened, branding into each other’s essence.

If the Ye sisters had always been too divine, too far removed from the mortal realm, then Zhao Changhe was the complete opposite.

They needed to shatter their divinity, born of their roles as avatars of the Heavenly Tome, the embodiments of this world’s Heavenly Dao. To truly step beyond this world, to reach the Other Shore, they had to break those shackles and see beyond the framework of their own creation.

Zhao Changhe, in perfect contrast, needed divinity.

Immortals must descend into the mortal realm to experience the full breadth of human emotion, but that was because they were immortal to begin with. Likewise, a mortal drowning in passion remains only a mortal. Without even a sliver of divinity, he would forever be bound to the earth, never gaining the perspective to detach, to look upon the mortal realm from above.

In this thirty-year slumber he had recently awakened from, he had already begun to glimpse this detachment. After traveling with Ye Wuming to witness other worlds, this awareness had only sharpened.

Now, holding the Heavenly Tome in his hand, ruling a world, facing foes from beyond the veil... If this was not the Other Shore, then what was?

Their lacks and their strengths, their merging and separation—it was the very essence of yin and yang, of natural order.

Yet something was still missing. A final push to fuse it all together... Even the Taiji symbol had to rotate for its meaning to be realized.

And right then, Piaomiao stepped forward. She removed her robe without hesitation and pressed herself against Zhao Changhe, capturing his lips in a kiss.

The qi veins of all living things flowed into him. Detachment was not for the sake of ascension alone but for protection as well.

In the vast void of the universe, a single tome floated silently. It slowly began to radiate a dazzling golden light, shining like a newborn star.

Beneath it, Ye Wuming’s body, which had served as a makeshift bed, opened its eyes. Her soul had been cleanly severed and fully returned to her main body. And with it, the spirit of the Heavenly Tome returned as well. Ye Jiuyou had handed it back over to her.

Ye Wuming stared up at Ye Jiuyou, who now lay atop her. “Why did you give it back? You were the original Heavenly Dao.”

Ye Jiuyou had already dismissed her sister from the spiritual sea, now left alone to savor the euphoria of dual cultivation. Her breath came unsteady, her face flushed with heat, but her voice remained steady, “Because your body has been bonded with the Heavenly Tome for so long that if it were separated from you now, you might never reach the Other Shore. But I’m different. From the moment I awakened, I’ve never had anything to do with the Heavenly Tome.”

Ye Wuming said nothing.

Ye Jiuyou grinned, eyes half-lidded in satisfaction. “If you really want to thank me, then lie still and be a good mattress for once.”

Ye Wuming pressed her lips together as she felt the movements of her sister’s body against her own. She had every intention of shoving her off, but she ultimately did not move.

Perhaps she simply could not be bothered anymore.

She closed her eyes and used inner sight. Not only was her energy surging with unprecedented strength, but something fundamental within it had also begun to change.

She could feel the Heavenly Tome linking directly with the universe itself. It was no longer just a magical treasure representing a world; it was now running parallel with the cosmos, like a celestial body within a segmentum, orbiting the grand design of the stars.

Her perspective had lifted above it, looking down from beyond. Stars encircled her, forming the constellations of the Four Idols. A starry river stretched overhead like a bridge to eternity.

And far within the segmentum, within the boundless dark of night, lay an abyss that had no bottom. This was the Abyss of Jiuyou.

The Ye sisters had finally separated, and they had each ascended to the Other Shore.

In that instant, every martial artist under heaven felt it. The world’s spirit qi had grown richer, denser, as if someone had tuned the world itself, increasing its resolution. Even the stars in the heavens appeared more vivid and sharper than ever before.

And if one could view it from beyond the bounds of this world, out in the void of the segmentum, they might glimpse a grand, ethereal figure. This figure carried a broad saber on his back, and a wine gourd at his hip. The image of the Heavenly Tome hovered in his hand, and atop the open tome, a divine sword hung suspended in the air. Behind him stretched the star map of the heavens etched with the Four Idols. Blood qi swirled and surged, forming a manifestation of unspeakable power.

The figure appeared to be both a god and a demon.

Zhao Changhe had stepped through the gates of the Other Shore, a journey thirty-three years in the making.

And at that moment, though no rain was forecast, rain fell from the sky. No one knew what it was.

1. In Chinese, the phrase “taking the sky as one’s canopy and the earth as one’s mattress” generally refers to the lofty sentiment of fearing no hardships and doing things out in the open. ☜