As the radiant golden Heavenly Eye lay within reach, a shadowy figure of nine tails suddenly blocked the way. The single-headed, six-eyed Fierce Beast, known as Taowu, roared ferociously, its savage aura surging violently.
It was an ethereal and fleeting figure, like a candle lting to its final monts—a frozen wick about to extinguish at a single touch. Yet, she remained standing there resolutely.
Taowu let out a guttural snarl, spitting out harsh and indistinct words: "Leave!"
A thick wave of dark, oppressive energy rolled forward. Chen Yi's breathing seed to halt halfway, as an invisible weight made it hard to catch his breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the figure of Tushan Clan standing firmly in front of him. She did not retreat even a single step as faint glimrs surrounded her. The darkness that threatened to swallow Chen Yi seed to avoid her entirely.
Taowu snarled again: "Leave!"
The nine-tailed woman seed amused, her voice echoing lightly and clearly across the heavens: "Back when Emperor Shun ruled, you savage tribes were exiled to lands beyond civilization, witnessed by both gods and n. And now, you dare to challenge the Celestial Order!"
Taowu's six blood-red eyes glowed fiercely. From the swirling darkness, a claw shot forward with incredible speed, aiming to tear the woman apart.
The woman neither dodged nor flinched. With a light wave of her arm, her nine tails unfurled. Archaic golden symbols appeared mid-air, and Chen Yi inexplicably understood their commanding presence—"Fate Condemns All."
The skies abruptly erupted with thunder, and a distant bolt descended, striking Taowu directly. Blood splattered everywhere, and the Fierce Beast let out a harrowing scream, its crimson eyes now streaming with blood.
Even as it writhed in agony, Taowu tried to summon its rage. Flas of fury raged skyward while the pool of blood grew darker and darker. Its enormous mouth opened wide, intending to devour both the shadowy figure before it and Chen Yi behind her.
Tushan Clan coldly spoke:
"When my husband Yu was alive, not even the tip of your kind's claw was allowed on this land."
In an instant, thunder roared anew. It was as if the cosmos returned to its primordial beginnings, and the first lightning split through the heavens—a piercing flash of pure white light overwhelming Taowu.
The fierce beast kept its mouth wide open, still trying to devour, only to disintegrate when the white light struck. Within monts, its massive form dissolved into gray ash. Wisps of demonic energy dissipated into Chen Yi's Heart Lake domain, and the azure sky of the world returned before his eyes.
Chen Yi stared in awe, his figure slowly descending onto the lake's surface, where gentle ripples shimred.
At that mont, as he looked back toward Tushan Clan, he found everything he had just witnessed—a myriad of phenona—fleeting past. He barely grasped their aning but noted nothing clearly except the sight of the woman he called "mother." His lips quivered, and he suddenly felt overwheld with countless unsaid words.
Her figure appeared translucent, as if she might disperse into the wind.
Yet, she turned to him nonetheless, her deanor casual as though they were eting in passing. She called to him softly, "What are you waiting for? Co here."
Chen Yi snapped back to reality, his eyes inexplicably tingling. He forced a smile, intending not to dwell on sadness, but he still wiped the corner of his eye reflexively.
After a while, he took a deep breath and walked forward slowly.
When her features were fully within view, Chen Yi stared blankly for a mont before rasping out, "Mother…"
Tushan Clan acknowledged softly with an "Mm." Her ethereal presence carried a fleeting quality—as if she might disappear at any mont if one wasn't careful.
Yet, her expression and gentle gaze remained steadfast, as if she wouldn't leave no matter what.
Chen Yi hesitated, unsure what his next words should be. He feared never seeing her again.
Tushan Clan, however, showed so impatience, reproaching him: "It's only been a few days, and you've gone mute?"
Chen Yi froze briefly before letting out a silent laugh. After a while, he managed to reply, "Not at all."
"Then why aren't you saying anything?" Tushan Clan fixed her gaze on him.
Chen Yi opened his mouth to explain, but before he could speak, Tushan Clan cut him off with a drawn-out "Oh," teasingly wagging her finger: "Don't tell you've found a 'godmother' outside?"
Chen Yi hurriedly denied, "That's definitely not true."
Tushan Clan eyed him suspiciously for a mont before saying, "You can find won as you wish, but don't ever randomly recognize other mothers."
Chen Yi chuckled awkwardly, "I wouldn't dare."
He instinctively turned to glance elsewhere, but before he could catch sight of anything, Tushan Clan preempted him, saying:
"Don't bother thinking about what's outside. Here… everything slows down."
Her words lingered in his ears, and Chen Yi quickly pulled his gaze back. An inexplicable sense inford him that, within the Heart Lake domain, the outside world seed to have slowed to a crawl—as though ti had completely stopped flowing.
Turning back to her, Chen Yi finally dared to ask, "Are you… hiding within my soul?"
Tushan Clan did not shy away from answering: "A fragnt of my soul. When you left, I listened to the things you said about nding the heavens. So I left a contingency asure."
Chen Yi nodded slightly, confirming that her response aligned with his suspicions.
Back then, Anhou had ntioned that Tushan Clan left a trace of her soul behind in the mortal realm, misleading Chen Yi into thinking the remnant soul was within her. However, Chen Yi discerned from minor details that this assumption was incorrect. Upon further reflection, he realized that it made little sense for Anhou to concoct such an easily exposed lie. Her reasoning likely stemd from divination thods accessed through the forbidden archives of the Stargazer Bureau. She may have mistakenly predicted the remnants of Tushan Clan's soul were tied to her own being.
Chen Yi murmured, "I thought it was just… so frivolous fantasy."
He then recalled how he had specifically asked Zhou Yitang once whether Tushan Clan might have kept traces of her soul. Zhou Yitang, his wife in a past life, had firmly denied the notion. That denial had shattered what little hope he still clung to.
As Chen Yi's thoughts manifested within the Heart Lake, Tushan Clan glanced down and noticed the vague yet familiar image reflected upon the water's surface.
She seed to understand, softly sighing: "She's the one you hold closest in your mory."
"…I couldn't help it." Chen Yi also saw the watery image. Sowhat embarrassed, he thickened his skin by switching topics: "Mother, why did this Fierce Beast appear, and why does it seem like… it knows ?"
That instant of familiarity was undeniable; from the mont they first t, Chen Yi felt he had seen this Fierce Beast before. Moreover, its sole purpose seed to be seizing his Heavenly Eye.
Considering the beast erged from beyond the domain and recalling that he was regarded as an Outer Heaven Demon himself…
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