The ancestral manor of the Yang family still stood, though showing signs of decay. Yang Qingdi paused before the majestic, dust-shrouded, cobweb-draped palace, lost in silence for a long time.
A profound melancholy flickered in his eyes as he sighed, “So many years have passed…”
Beside him, members of the Yang and Shi families also murmured their reflections, realizing that after traversing the Marya Star Domain, they had somehow returned to their starting point. Life’s journey was truly peculiar.
Xia Xinyan stood among the crowd, her bright gaze dimmed, her posture one of quiet sorrow, a deep sigh escaping her heart.
The Xia and Yang families had been close for generations, their relationship amicable, yet the opportunities they pursued on the Divine Continent ultimately rendered them strangers. Xia Qinghou’s misjudgment—his failure to cling tightly to the Yang family—had led to the Xia family’s eventual decline.
In the battle of the Eternal Night Forest, Shi Yan’s side had ultimately prevailed, but he had refrained from a wholesale slaughter of the Xia clan back then.
Two centuries slipped by unnoticed. Many Xia clansmen found their cultivation stalled, eventually passing away of old age. Where the surviving relatives lived now, she had no idea. A bitter taste coated her mouth as she watched the Yang and Shi families ascend to the pinnacle, growing stronger, contrasting sharply with the Xia family’s fate. The ache in her heart was inexpressible.
Just then, her jade hand tightened. She turned to look at Shi Yan.
“The Xia family still has survivors,” he said with a gentle smile.
“Where?” Xia Xinyan’s beautiful eyes suddenly lit up.
“I will take you.”
A streak of light instantly materialized, and he took her hand, flashing across space and vanishing from the Island of Immortality.
The Island of Reincarnation, in the Sea of Galuo—the island where the Xia family once cultivated.
The island was overgrown with weeds. In the southeast corner stood several grand halls built of Crimson Flame Stone. Beside these halls was a training ground where dozens of Xia youths practiced their martial skills.
Xia Ye was one of them.
He was refining his techniques on the field, being in the Hundred Tribulations Realm. Several other young men from the Xia family were doing the same around him.
A stooped old man sat in one corner of the training ground, watching Xia Ye. He signaled for Xia Ye to cease his cultivation and approach him. “Senior Zhou, I hear you’ve lived for over two hundred years. What exactly happened to the Xia family on the Divine Continent two centuries ago?”
Zhou Yu’s face darkened, and he let out a gruff sound. “Why ask so many pointless questions? The Island of Reincarnation is the Xia family’s foundation; we have never been to the Divine Continent!”
“Why does Old Ancestor always sigh with deep regret, saying that if our Xia family hadn’t backed the wrong side back then, we should have left this place many years ago?” Xia Ye lowered his voice conspiratorially, glancing around furtively. “I heard the truly powerful figures departed long ago, entering the vast starry sky. They say if we hadn't erred, our Xia family should have been the first to enter the Outer Domains. Is that true?”
Zhou Yu’s expression twisted with embarrassment as he snapped, “Stop spouting nonsense!”
He looked up at the sky and sighed inwardly.
After all these years, Miss… is she still alive? Master’s remaining time is short; he may never see her again.
His figure, imbued with a desolate air, rose and walked away, heading toward the back mountain. In a cave dwelling there, Xia Shenchuan’s face was a network of deep wrinkles. His life-force magnetic field was gradually failing. He had long since stopped cultivating, focusing instead on writing down the martial insights he had gained over the years, hoping to leave something behind for the Xia family.
His father, Xia Qinghou, had aligned himself with the Pure Land. When the Pure Land was defeated, he fled with them, returning them to the Endless Sea.
After that, Xia Qinghou was consumed by melancholy daily. His peculiar ailment—the intermittent loss of lucidity—flared up again. As the spiritual energy of heaven and earth waned, Xia Qinghou’s cultivation regressed instead of progressing. He eventually succumbed to exhaustion, his mind and spirit failing. Just before his death, his sanity returned briefly, and he remained tormented by the mistakes of the past.
“Patriarch,” Zhou Yu arrived softly.
Xia Shenchuan looked up and smiled faintly. “Why aren’t you watching those boys on the training ground anymore?”
“Patriarch, you must keep fighting,” Zhou Yu insisted through clenched teeth. “If you can break through to the True God Realm, your lifespan will increase, and you can continue to live. Perhaps… you might even live to see the day the Miss returns.”
Xia Shenchuan shook his head, offering a bitter smile. “Don’t try to persuade me. Breakthrough is hopeless for me now. I’d rather spend the remaining time teaching the children a few more martial techniques.”
“Patriarch! Things are different now! Haven’t you noticed the spiritual energies in the Endless Sea are much richer than before? You still have time! If you waste your energy writing martial arts manuals, you will truly have no opportunity left!” Zhou Yu pressed on. “If Little Yan’er knew you were giving up like this, she would be terribly disappointed!”
Xia Shenchuan’s body trembled slightly, the hand writing the martial script shaking, leaving a blotch. He said bitterly, “Over two hundred years. Little Yan’er left through the void domain field of the Ice and Fire Secret Realm; that was essentially a path of nine deaths and one life. The Outer Domains are filled with countless perils. If she were still alive, if she could return, she would have been back by now, ah!”
Suddenly, the sound of fracturing stone echoed from the cave entrance.
Xia Shenchuan and Zhou Yu instinctively turned their heads, then reeled back in shock. Their old eyes instantly filled with tears as they pointed wordlessly at the figures standing there.
Xia Xinyan stood gracefully at the opening, tears streaming down her beautiful eyes as she sobbed, “Grandfather…”
“Little Yan’er! Is that really you?! I’m not hallucinating!” Xia Shenchuan suddenly surged with vitality, an unhealthy flush rising on his cheeks, and he rushed out.
“It’s me, it’s me…” Xia Xinyan was unable to finish her sentences through her sobs.
For many years, she had longed to return to her homeland, but she had never had the chance. The void passages connecting the Marya Star Domain to the Outer Domains were either sealed or fraught with spatial dangers; she simply lacked the ability to return. She could only hold her home in her heart.
Now, her homeland had fallen directly within the Marya Star Domain, placing them in the same realm, allowing her to finally set foot on sacred ground.
Two centuries had spun by in a flash. To find her relatives still alive, Xia Xinyan’s composure shattered instantly, hot tears flooding her eyes.
Shi Yan stood at a corner of the back mountain, watching the cave dwelling from a distance, yet making no move to enter.
When he had previously broken through to the Origin God Realm, he had revisited Tianyun City, the Endless Sea, and the Divine Continent. At that time, he already knew the Xia family members had resumed cultivating on the Island of Reincarnation. He hadn't gone then, and he wouldn't now.
His sympathy for Xia Qinghou—who had insisted on siding with the Pure Land—was the only lingering link. Although Xia Qinghou was long dead, Shi Yan still held some unresolved feelings toward the Xia family. Therefore, though he had brought Xia Xinyan back here and reunited her with her family, he did not step forward to be seen.
An hour later.
Xia Shenchuan and Zhou Yu emerged from the cave entrance. They looked toward him from afar, then bowed deeply in unison, their voices ringing out clearly. “We, on behalf of the Xia family, apologize to the Yang family.”
Zhou Yu gazed deeply at Shi Yan, his eyes filled with astonishment. He had already learned from Xia Xinyan about Shi Yan’s current realm and status. Recalling the Shi Yan of the past, he felt the young man before him was the very definition of a miracle.
Many Xia clansmen, hearing Xia Shenchuan’s shout, rushed over from every corner, their astonishment evident.
Xia Ye was among them. He flew rapidly and spotted a young man's silhouette in the valley from a distance—a youth of similar age, perhaps twenty, clad in black, long hair flowing past his shoulders, possessing a majestic bearing and an aloof aura.
The Yang family, the one that produced an unparalleled genius? That’s the person who escorted the continent’s powerhouses into the Outer Domains years ago! That man is the undying legend of this era on the continent! Xia Ye exclaimed inwardly.
“Shi Yan, my grandfather has apologized in person. Do you... still intend to pursue this matter?” Xia Xinyan asked, pursing her lips, her bright eyes shining.
“Shi Yan? That name sounds familiar…”
“A member of the Yang family named Shi Yan... Could it be that person?”
“It can’t possibly be him, can it? The one who retreated to the Outer Domains so early?”
With a sudden shockwave, every member of the Xia family trembled. They looked toward Shi Yan with overwhelming reverence, their gazes burning intensely.
The name Shi Yan was a legend in this era, an object of universal awe. Every corner of the continent, regardless of race or faction, knew that name.
It was this man who, years ago, had taken their seniors and elders away from this place directly into the Outer Domains. At that time, their cultivation levels were insufficient to qualify for entry, but the elders and predecessors who left had told them that once they reached a certain realm, they too would be eligible to enter the Outer Domains. They had instructed them to remember this name, telling them that all this hope for the cultivators of this depleted continent stemmed from one peerless powerhouse arising here.
Xia Ye and all the Xia clansmen stared at him, their eyes blazing without wavering.
Shi Yan frowned slightly, then relaxed his expression, speaking calmly, “With you here, how could I possibly pursue it?”
Xia Xinyan’s heart warmed sweetly.
“Then, what about the Island of Reincarnation?” she hesitated, then stopped herself, unable to finish the question.
Xia Shenchuan and Zhou Yu, who understood the profound implications hidden within the subtleties of the continent’s laws, clenched their fists covertly, their expressions tense. They knew from Xia Xinyan about the secrets of the continent’s nature and understood that the Endless Sea would eventually become the most unique place in the entire Star Sea, attracting countless Outer Domain experts to cultivate here. Every inch of land here would one day be worth more than a Divine Crystal vein. If Shi Yan nodded in agreement, it would mean the greatest fortune for the Xia family, one that would affect them for ten thousand years.
“Never mind,” Shi Yan sighed lightly. “You may continue to cultivate on this island.”
Xia Shenchuan and Zhou Yu were greatly shocked, bowing deeply in sincere gratitude.
“I am leaving,” Shi Yan nodded to Xia Xinyan and prepared to depart.
“You leave tomorrow. Spend today well with me,” Xia Xinyan’s bright eyes shifted. She gracefully floated to his side, deliberately taking his hand, and in a flash, they vanished. The next moment, she and Shi Yan materialized together in a grove by the seashore of the Island of Reincarnation. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she passionately embraced and kissed Shi Yan, her delicate arms encircling his neck tightly, her alluring figure pressed against his.
Her starlit eyes grew hazy as her supple body swayed gently, stirring the deepest passions within Shi Yan’s heart. Biting her red lip, she exhaled softly, “You are stronger than I was before. I will fulfill my promise from back then…” Her graceful form spun, and her garments fell away, revealing a flawless, snow-white body, shimmering like jade.
Shi Yan’s eyes burned fiercely. Watching her melt back into his embrace, he suddenly roared and held her tightly, reveling in their union.