Flowing with a kind of lingering affection that could not be severed or forgotten.

Ye Jiuya could not understand where such affection and ties came from, or where they would lead, just as he could not see through the true and false smiles on the face of the person beside him, or his ability to change faces like flipping through a book.

—Like a wisp of light smoke that clearly lingered by his side without leaving, yet could not be grasped in his hands.

The next morning, a spacious carriage was already waiting outside the door.

The driver was none other than the black-robed man from yesterday, likely thrown out by his furious master to atone for his sins.

Seeing his fearful appearance, it was clear that Marquis Youshui had not explained their true identities, and the black-robed man still thought Chen Weichen was the emperor.

"Your Majes- Sir." The black-robed man stammered.

Chen Weichen's interest was piqued and he felt like teasing him: "It's too far, I'm afraid we won't be able to return—hmm?"

The black-robed man recalled his perfunctory attitude from yesterday and wanted to smash his head against the door. At the same time, he was very grateful that he had not said too much yesterday. He had originally wanted to add, "Why not find a local family to marry into? With your handsome appearances, it should be very easy," but refrained.

And so they set off, heading towards the Demon Emperor's Palace, separated by a continent.

Chen Weichen fiddled with the jade bottle containing the Nine Abyss Spring Water.

Although this spring water could slightly alleviate the pressure of the heavenly dao on him, it was still not the same as Jinxiu Ashes, Annihilation Incense, and the like. Otherwise, the two of them would have long changed direction to cross the Heavenly River and return to the immortal realm.

Perhaps it was because there was too little spring water—if only a few specks of Jinxiu Ashes were taken out, it would also be completely useless.

Or perhaps the essence of the spring pool needed to be obtained. In any case, they had to see the spring pool to decide.

Moreover, judging from Marquis Youshui's behavior of carrying spring water on her person to avoid heavenly retribution, the Demon Emperor likely also frequently cultivated by the spring water, never leaving its side. For the two of them to obtain what they wanted, they had to get close to the spring water—this trip might not go too smoothly.

The black-robed man had a cultivation that was not weak, and they did not encounter any incidents along the way. Instead, they witnessed quite a bit of the demon realm's scenery.

Cultivators were ultimately a minority, and the demon realm was still mostly composed of mortal cities, towns, and villages. Moreover, because each continent had a marquis presiding over it and was ultimately under the rule of the Demon Emperor, there were no wars between nations like in the mortal realm, and it was quite peaceful.

Aside from being terrified when seeing cultivators, people were no different from those in the mortal realm at other times, and the customs were even simpler—that terror also existed in the mortal realm, but was directed at the imperial court's officials and soldiers.

Surprisingly, the treatment received by officials and soldiers was the same as that of cultivating demons, which was an interesting thing.

This journey took about twenty days, which was long enough and also enough for Chen Weichen to thoroughly understand the current situation of the demon realm.

Replacing the emperor with the Demon Emperor, the ministers with marquises, the commoners remained commoners, paying taxes and serving in the army. When the marquises built palaces, sons were conscripted to be laborers. When the nobles wanted concubines and beautiful wives, daughters were sent to be selected. It was not much different from the mortal realm.

There was another happy occurrence. The black-robed man serving as an attendant, Shuowang, had thoroughly figured out the relationship between Chen Weichen and Ye Jiuya over the past few days, giving Chen Weichen, who had been somewhat lost after leaving Wen Hui, someone to talk to.

During a break, Chen Weichen was very troubled: "Shuowang, how can I win his favor?"

Shuowang eagerly offered a plan: "Sir, I think you have already treated him extremely well. It's time to treat him a bit badly so he will miss your kindness."

"No," Chen Weichen gazed at the hazy gray sky, "If I am not good to him, he may not necessarily be upset, but I will definitely be sad."

Shuowang's tone was sincere: "Sir, you need to harden your heart. How can you succeed if you can't harden your heart?"

"Yes, perhaps I indeed shouldn't be like this." Chen Weichen seemed lost in thought.

Shuowang was overjoyed that his suggestion was taken seriously.

Then he heard Chen Weichen say again: "I was wrong, I shouldn't have clung to him in the first place, trying to win his favor. The human heart is most fickle, although he has such a heartless nature and won't have any improper thoughts - but if by chance he cares about me even a little, and I'm gone in the future, remembering my kindness when I was around, he will be heartbroken. I don't want him to have even the slightest bit of heartache."

Shuowang had a look of exasperation on his face: "My lord has profound cultivation, on par with the sun and moon, how could he easily perish."

But he saw Chen Weichen put away his usual faint smile, and said softly: "Life is short."

He then muttered to himself: "I originally just wanted to gaze at him from afar, but as I gazed, I couldn't help wanting to get closer to him, to make myself happy. Thinking about it now, it turns out to be bad for him. Once the matters here are done, I will distance myself from him and no longer provoke him."

Shuowang held his head in his hands, not expecting that his words, not only failed to bring His Majesty closer to his beloved, but instead made him determined to stay away!

Chen Weichen said to him very solemnly: "Brother Shuowang, thank you for the enlightenment."

Shuowang: "..."

Marquis Youshui's carriages took them to the center of Jingzhou.

The terrain of this continent had nothing to do with the word "flat", with continuous mountain ranges and layered green peaks. Legend has it that there are great mountains on both the east and west sides, with cities in the mountains, and those living in the cities all possess immense magical powers. Tall buildings and beautiful pavilions are built in the cities, which are the residences of the two Demon Lords respectively.

The mountain at the edge is the tallest, but there is only half of it, as if Pangu's axe that opened up the world had fiercely chopped down on that lofty mountain range, cutting away half of the mountains.

The cut surface became a cliff, and below the cliff is a giant abyss.

It is said that this is the birthplace of all the stars in the sky, where the sun rises and the moon sets, thus it is named Xingluo Abyss.

-- It is the end of the demon realm, and no one can cross the giant abyss to see if there is another world beyond it.

The Demon Emperor's Palace is built by the abyss.

"Legend has it that Pangu opened up the world amidst the chaos, and only then were there the sun, moon, stars, birds, beasts, insects and fish," Chen Weichen looked at the dark purple sky, "However, the universe is finite, and what lies beyond it is ultimately unknowable. Since the universe has boundaries, the Heavenly Dao also seems not so awe-inspiring."

Ye Jiuya looked in the direction of his gaze, only to see the majestic mountains reflected against the heavy sky, with dark purple and jet black intertwining, and the faint sound of howling wind could be heard, like the low roar from the throat of a beast, reverberating back from the abyss, enveloping this world.

The two of them appeared tiny amidst the surrounding mountains.

The people of the demon realm call Xingluo Abyss the birthplace of all things, which is similar to the place where all things end in Guixu.

Ye Jiuya watched Chen Weichen's back as he walked up the mountain path, and suddenly felt that he seemed a little different recently.

The look in this person's eyes seemed to have cooled a bit, and he didn't speak much usually, only opening his mouth for necessary matters.

He recalled the past situations and realized that the usual inquiries about the cold and the warmth, the playful jokes, were missing.

But that person was just so unpredictable and changeable, there was no need to dwell on it.

He frowned slightly, suppressing a hint of unease in his heart, and also walked up the steep mountain path.

Perhaps it was the effect of that bottle of Nine Nether Spring Water, or perhaps this tall mountain was the source of the Nine Nether Heavenly Spring, but Young Master Chen actually didn't get trifled with by the Heavenly Dao along the way, and walked quite steadily.

There was a crescent moon at the edge of the sky, which looked particularly large, perhaps due to the terrain. There were trees growing on the mountain, a dark expanse covering the entire mountain, and occasionally fat black crows would fly out, judging from their size, the forest was not a place devoid of life.

The mountain path carried the dampness of the night, winding and turning. As they rounded a bend, they heard voices coming, so the two of them concealed their breaths and entered the dense forest by the path, waiting for the people to pass.

They heard that it was the voices of two women, probably attendants in the Demon Emperor's Palace.

One of the voices sounded timid: "Fuling, we are not allowed to go down the mountain privately, what if we get discovered..."

"No need to be afraid." The other voice was much louder, "His Majesty has been in seclusion for a long time, and definitely won't come out anytime soon. Besides, even if His Majesty finds out, he won't reprimand us much - we cultivate the demonic way, we should follow our hearts. If we are restrained by those rigid rules, wouldn't we become like those cultivating the immortal way!"

"Rules are rules after all..."

"Since we are not taking anything from the palace down the mountain, and have not neglected our duties, how can there be so many rules! With His Majesty in seclusion, where else can we find such a good opportunity?"

"Didn't they say His Majesty has already cultivated to the highest level of the demonic way, why does he still need to go into seclusion..."

"You're silly," there was a hint of reproach in the voice, "There are no more rivals for the Emperor within the Nine Continents, but our biggest enemy is the Heavenly Dao, is our lifespan, the Emperor is seeking longevity!"

The voices gradually faded away, they did not discover the people by the path.

From the conversation between these two women, it could be learned that the Demon Emperor was currently in seclusion.

If he was in seclusion somewhere else, it would be really good, but if he was in seclusion right by the spring, it would be quite tricky.