That's it? I had such high expectations, and this is what I get in the end?

On the Sect Master's exclusive soft couch, Wu Wang opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

Ling Xiaolan was currently sitting not far from a bookshelf. A faint smile was on her lips, and she was surrounded by the fragrance of Immortal Wine; at this moment, she had actually fallen into a deep sleep.

Her clothes were disheveled, but it was an appropriate kind of disheveled. Her red hairpin was slightly askew, not because Wu Wang had disturbed it, but because she had been hopping around too vigorously before...

This is really—!

Wu Wang lay there, sighing and chuckling to himself.

Fairy Ling was innocent, and Little Jingwei must be naively experiencing the throes of youth.

Just now, when he was in a daze, he felt a soft little hand slip into his own. At first, the hand trembled continuously, gradually calming down before finally resting in Wu Wang's palm.

And then... there was no 'and then'.

Wu Wang was speechless. Why did I even bother showering? Wouldn't it have been enough to just wash my hands before?

He decided that for the next few years, he wouldn't wash his left hand. After all, once one becomes an Immortal, their body is free of impurities and does not accumulate dust on ordinary days.

Lin Suqing was quite busy throughout this whole ordeal.

From beginning to end, she pretended to press down on Wu Wang's other wrist but never actually did, giving Wu Wang a vague experience of his hand being held at the beginning and the end.

After Jingwei transformed into the Blue Bird and flew away with fluttering wings, and Ling Xiaolan fell asleep in the corner drunk on wine, Lin Suqing then activated the full Formation inside the cave, floated over, picked up Ling Xiaolan, and headed into the inner cave.

The Xuan Nu Sect experts hiding outside were also somewhat anxious at this moment.

But since Wu Wang was the only male inside the cave, they thought it over carefully and decided not to interfere any further.

Fairy Ling is so light, Lin Suqing couldn't help but admire. Then her gaze shifted to the area below Ling Xiaolan's neck and above her abdomen, her lips twitching involuntarily.

How did she even grow like this. Evil congregates where it belongs, without soiling any other pure place. Hmph, as if I'm envious!

When Lin Suqing floated out from the inner cave, she also activated the isolation Formation at the cave entrance.

By this time, Wu Wang had already gotten off the soft couch. He sat there in a daze, then looked down at his palm and revealed a hint of a smile.

No matter what, this was a bit of progress after all.

"My, that's quite a radiant smile you have there," Lin Suqing said as she floated in from his side, hands behind her back. Her toe lightly touched the ground, her skirt blooming like a peony, bringing a gentle fragrance with her graceful landing.

"You did well in resolving the situation," Wu Wang said. "You deserve a raise."

"Pfft, as if I want it."

Lin Suqing walked over and sat quietly beside the bed. Suddenly, she leaned slightly to the left, her skirt fluttering as her delicate feet drew two semi-circles, one larger and one smaller. With her toes hooked around her lower leg, she maintained an elegant seated posture.

Such poise could not be replicated without thousands of years of experience as a female demon.

"AHEM!" Lin Suqing calmly reminded Wu Wang.

"What is it?" Wu Wang asked, somewhat puzzled, his eyes unconsciously falling on Lin Suqing's neck.

There was an indescribable allure to her when she tied up her long hair. Now, she made a show of being calm and then suddenly said, "Young Master, actually, I could knock you out, and that would still leave you with descendants, you know."

Wu Wang sat down beside Lin Suqing, his eyes full of frustration.

Wu Wang asked, "Explain, what do you mean by that?"

"Well, just... Just that you should give them some clarity, take the initiative to show some intention."

Lin Suqing's gaze drifted to the side as she said softly, "If you're really afraid of being looked down upon, or people gossiping... Why be so needlessly formal with your Maidens? It's not like I'm thinking about marrying someone else in the future..."

Wu Wang suddenly didn't know how to respond.

Scene after scene flipped through his mind. He suddenly realized that ever since they had started from the Northern Wilderness, the two of them had rarely been separated.

"Young Master, I'm going to take care of Fairy Ling," Lin Suqing said softly. She then stood up and looked down at Wu Wang, a tender smile in her eyes.

For some reason, Wu Wang suddenly felt a surge of impulse.

He raised his hand, and various scenarios had already come to mind.

For instance, Lin Suqing making a graceful turn, being pulled into his embrace, their eyes locking; or him seizing Lin Suqing's soft hand, crying out 'don't go', and then the curtains around them falling of their own accord.

Or, perhaps...

But the reality was that Wu Wang reached out and grabbed Lin Suqing's wrist. This was followed by a 'yikes!' as he uncontrollably fell backward, crashing onto the bed, and then immediately opening his eyes again.

Lin Suqing snorted with laughter, then couldn't help but burst into a belly laugh.

The atmosphere from moments ago vanished in an instant.

Shortly thereafter, she hummed a tune and carried a few plates of Spirit Fruit towards the inner cave.

Wu Wang sat on a wooden chair, feeling utterly listless. He felt his life was overshadowed by gloom, his path ahead shrouded in fog.

That God of fate… Is the Candle Dragon's daughter that great? Is being able to manipulate someone's fate so impressive? Believe it or not, I'll find a way to kill the Candle Dragon later and capture that Innate God to serve as my maid! The kind that serves tea, pours water, gives back rubs, and massages legs! Truly detestable! This curse of a weird disease has already formed an 'unfair competition'!

Grinding his teeth in frustration, Wu Wang took a scroll from the corner of his desk and slowly spread it out in front of him.

On it was a horizontal line that represented the years from age three to the present, marked with some bold black dots. On the scale of the last six months, three concentric circles were drawn.

Retrospection.

In the past six months, while Wu Wang was recuperating, he had been searching for the cause of this retrospection.

But no matter how he racked his brains, he couldn't find that drop of Essence Blood.

The strand of Divine Soul he had left in the Star God's body had not changed at all from beginning to end, nor had his connection with the Star God's body and the Star God's Dao changed in the slightest.

One thing was certain: the retrospection was not directly related to the Star Dao.

Why then did it happen? How did it happen?

He had vaguely seen, in that mysterious place, in the emptiness of the Void Zone, an old man holding a clay slate and carving tool...

Was it because I had been in contact with those slates, or because I had previously used the Tao Te Ching to complete the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, thus forming some subtle connection with Emperor Fuxi? Were the experiences I had undergone truly my own? Was it a drop of Essence Blood that completed my own retrospection; or was it that the whole world produced different development lines—world lines—because of my different choices? Was I leaping continuously between adjacent world lines, thus causing the world lines to merge ahead? Or was it possible that the three retrospections I had experienced were nothing but an immersion in a false segment of time and space, a product of Emperor Fuxi's deduction, which allowed Emperor Fuxi to modify it repeatedly?

Wu Wang couldn't figure it out, really couldn't figure it out.

Each line of thought made some sense, but upon closer inspection, each one had unavoidable, gaping holes.

The truth lay in how to fill these gaps.

Wu Wang stared at the scroll in a daze. He finally let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that the bulge beneath his robe had subsided.

This condition was truly going to be the death of me, not allowing me any initiative. Although I don't reject the person by my side, if I were to lose my chastity in a muddle, that would be the greatest regret of my life. I'm quite serious at heart. Serious face.

「Several months later.」

A treasure ship left the Annihilation Sect and slowly proceeded towards the southeast.

On the top deck of the ship, Wu Wang lounged comfortably on a soft couch.

In a corner, several musicians played and sang. Behind a semi-transparent Screen, a few graceful figures danced enchantingly.

Golden threads and jade patterns adorned the ubiquitous canopies and warm tents. The softest fur from millennia-old beasts, pieced together to form carpets, covered the entire cabin floor. The décor exuded opulence without a hint of vulgarity.

In a corner, several aged masters were clinking cups with the Sleep God, drinking ordinary wine—it wouldn't be fitting to bring out the Human Emperor's Daoist liquor on such an occasion.

By Wu Wang's side, Ling Xiaolan, wearing a silver-gray long dress and surrounded by a faint aura of the Dao, was deep in closed-door cultivation.

Not too far away on a couch, an 'elderly aunt'—Lin Suqing—deliberately flaunted her shoulders and long legs. She wore a short skirt and a sheer shawl, her pretty face adorned with petals as she lay back, enjoying a leg and shoulder massage provided by several female Disciples from the Black Desire Door.

Decadence! Wu Wang thought.

To say I'm not envious would be a lie, he admitted to himself, but I could never bring myself to summon a few male Disciples from the Heaven Destruction Sect or Blood Killing Sect to massage my legs.

Why had he set out today? The matter was rather troublesome…

Just then, two streaks of light approached from afar. They landed just outside the cabin and materialized into the figures of Xiao Jian Daoist and another female cultivator.

They walked straight in, naturally unobstructed by the True Immortal guards of the Annihilation Sect.

"Wu Wang, are you really going to avoid it?" Xiao Jian Daoist called out before he had even rounded the Screen.

Wu Wang raised his hand slightly. The musicians and dancers rose, bowed respectfully, and departed. The several female Disciples by Lin Suqing's side also bowed and excused themselves.

The people at the corner table turned their attention to them. The Blue Bird, which had been reading by the bookcase, also fluttered its wings and landed on the armrest beside Wu Wang.

"Avoid what?" Wu Wang asked with a smile, adjusting his position to sit more comfortably. "And what is there that I should avoid?"

Xiao Jian Daoist's expression froze momentarily. He took a seat in an empty spot nearby and gestured for the female cultivator accompanying him to sit as well.

Xiao Jian Daoist looked somewhat troubled. He pondered for a moment before speaking in a low voice, "I know you're a bit annoyed, but are we still hiding anything from each other?"

"I'm really not annoyed," Wu Wang responded seriously, "Let them bicker among themselves. At best, I'm a rising new talent in the Human Domain, holding only empty titles and no real power. I don't want that burden. Leading troops into battle, the expedition to Heaven Palace—what does any of that have to do with me, a mere overseer of internal affairs and punishments?"

"That may be true..." Xiao Jian Daoist observed Wu Wang's expression, still somewhat unsure and astonished.

"CHIRP?" The Blue Bird chirped from the side, clearly not understanding their conversation and looking somewhat puzzled.

Lin Suqing approached and stood beside Wu Wang, whispering an explanation to the Blue Bird.

The cause of this was the Lin Family's rebellion half a year ago.

The morale of the Human Domain was high, the foundations of Heaven Palace were damaged, the Hundred Races were disunited, and the Strong Gods were frequently restless.

Furthermore, a mysterious prophecy had emerged within the Human Domain: 'The next twelve years will see a decline in the Heavenly Gods' Divine Power.' This led to an increasingly strong call for a 'Northern Expedition' within the Human Domain.

The Human Emperor maintained a silent approval. Pavilion Master Liu Baiyi of the Benevolent Emperor Pavilion, when queried by his subordinates, also mostly consented by default.

Just ten months later, the entire Human Domain was already brimming with the will to fight.

Xiao Jian Daoist had come today to ask if Wu Wang was annoyed because, a few days ago, a group of 'rather less elderly' experts from the Human Domain had rushed to the Annihilation Sect and staged a silent sit-in outside the sect for three days and nights.

They wanted Wu Wang to step forward and petition the Human Emperor to lead a Northern Expedition.

Wu Wang avoided them and released a statement, claiming he had a severe injury that needed healing.

In secret, he also had the Ji Family spread the word that as long as the Human Emperor was alive, the Little Golden Dragon must not make any statements. This also served to pacify those experts.

Once that group of experts departed, Wu Wang immediately fled.

He fled with such haste.

Could his retreating figure be described as anything but graceful?

Xiao Jian Daoist laughed, "Wu Wang, I thought those folks had annoyed you into leaving."

Wu Wang let out a light sigh of relief and took the cup of tea passed to him by Lin Suqing, moistening his throat.

"It can be tedious," Wu Wang began, "but considering that these elder brothers and sisters, uncles and aunties, are all pillars of the Human Domain, and they are also holding back their indignation, wanting to fight their way to Heaven Palace to seek justice, I can understand them."

"Ultimately, it's because our Human Domain's strength is still inferior to that of Heaven Palace. Otherwise, why would we hesitate so much?"

Xiao Jian Daoist's eyes lit up. "Do you also support the Northern Expedition?"

"I should say, I'm actually against rashly advancing northward," Wu Wang said. "Many people judge the strength within Heaven Palace based on the classics and documents left by Emperor Fuxi, but they overlook the possibility that Heaven Palace's strength may also be growing."

"Oh?" Xiao Jian Daoist laughed. "I haven't heard that kind of statement from you before."

"It's actually quite simple." Wu Wang's expression was somewhat... pained.

He naturally thought of the black and white Stars chasing each other in the sky, of Emperor Shun's understanding, development, and application of Fu Xi's Eight Trigrams.

Originally, Innate Gods were born from the Great Dao. However, their understanding of the Great Dao is not necessarily deeper than that of Human Domain Cultivators in the Transcendent Realm who have toiled over their Dao for tens of thousands of years.

However, the Dao fruit of Emperor Fuxi was plucked by Emperor Shun.

Heaven Palace might be hiding a trump card against the Candle Dragon, just like the Human Domain hides a trump card against Emperor Shun.

Previously, Emperor Shun's attempt to upgrade the order of Heaven and Earth could very well have been... just a probe, a way to exploit the 'remaining value' of the Head Manager…

Seeing Wu Wang remain silent for a long time, Xiao Jian Daoist asked with concern, "Is there any trouble?"

"Ah, it's nothing." Wu Wang smiled and said softly, "The biggest trouble right now is actually everyone's high spirits. The strength of Heaven Palace is indeed not something we can compare with at this moment."

Xiao Jian Daoist pondered for a moment, "It's hard to suppress emotions; they can only be guided."

"That is for the Human Emperor and the others to worry about." Wu Wang placed the teacup back on the short side table. "I'm going to take a trip to the Southeastern Region to talk with an old predecessor. If Daoist Brother Xiao Jian isn't busy, why not join me?"

Xiao Jian Daoist laughed. "Sanxian?"

"Mm," Wu Wang sighed. "This predecessor has been kind to me, and I cannot bear to see him simply perish. His Lifespan is short; I fear he only has a few decades left. Perhaps he doesn't even have decades left. Invincible mentioned in his recent reply that the old man already shows signs of withering."

Xiao Jian Daoist revealed an expression of realization, "Do you want to use the power of the God of Welcoming Spring?"

"Exactly," Wu Wang smiled. "Daoist Brother, you are truly sharp."

"Then I will come along to see for myself," Xiao Jian Daoist said with a smile. "These past few months, the Eight Pavilions have been clamoring. Each has their own ideas, but most want to make a name for themselves through the Northern Expedition."

Wu Wang thought for a moment, then said seriously, "The final outcome of a great war depends on the number of top-tier Great Daos. The Human Domain only has the Dao of Fire. Managing to hold the South Wilderness is already quite a feat. Today's peace is truly due to the strategies of the Ancient Emperor of the Suiren Clan."

"At this stage, we simply don't have the strength to attack the north. The only thing we can leverage is the pressure the Candle Dragon's Divine Faction puts on Heaven Palace. However, the Candle Dragon itself is an enemy of all living beings and cannot hear their voices."

"To hold the Candle Dragon at bay while simultaneously bringing down Heaven Palace... The difficulty is no less than that of ants overturning an elephant, or mortals slaughtering Gods."

"Indeed." Xiao Jian Daoist sighed lightly. "But how many can remain clear-headed at all times?"

Wu Wang waved his hand dismissively. "Never mind that. Now is not the time for you or me to speak up. Let's avoid it."

Xiao Jian Daoist chuckled lightly, "Let's avoid it."

Ling Xiaolan pondered from the side for a while but didn't express any opinions.

Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, she thought.

Just as Wu Wang was leisurely leading a large entourage towards the Southeastern Region,

In the North Sea, on the perennially gloomy sea surface, a translucent crab slowly stuck its head out, its 'little eyes' rotating in all directions.

Another milky white column of light fell, shining on the back of the great crab. A figure slowly descended within the column, and a wisp of Divine Thought entered the body of the great crab.

The great crab trembled all over, and with that column of light, it submerged back into the depths of the sea.

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