"What use is being the Heavenly Emperor?
Now, the woman I love is about to perish, and yet I am powerless to stop it!"
The white-clothed man gazed with profound affection at the multicolored-dressed woman in his arms, whose aura grew weaker by the moment. Suddenly, grief welled up from within, and he threw his head back and howled at the sky, a cry that shook the Three Thousand Major and Minor Worlds.
"Promise me you will continue living. I do not wish for anything bad to happen to you."
The multicolored-dressed woman raised a hand to gently stroke the white-clothed man's face and spoke with difficulty.
After speaking, her head tilted to the side, and her breath ceased.
"No!..."
The white-clothed man let out a mournful roar, his entire body trembling.
"Without your companionship, what meaning is there in standing atop the pinnacle of this mortal world?
There would only be unbearable loneliness in the highest places!"
The white-clothed man threw his head back and howled at the sky once more, venting the boundless sorrow in his heart.
But at this moment, the multicolored-dressed woman had already become a cold corpse, devoid of any warmth, unmoving.
The white-clothed man fell silent. He simply stood there, motionless, holding the cold body of the multicolored-dressed woman in his arms.
He seemed lost in memories of everything that had come before. One moment tears streamed down his face, his expression full of sorrow; the next, tenderness filled his eyes as he murmured softly.
He held endless grief, endless regret. He had watched helplessly as the woman he loved most died in his embrace, with no outlet for the agony in his heart.
As the Heavenly Emperor, standing upon the highest peak of this world, one word from him could command the fealty of all under heaven, yet now he could not save the woman he cherished most.
If given the choice, he would willingly relinquish all that came with being the Heavenly Emperor to bring back the woman in his arms!
"I will not accept this!
I will not let you die!
I will seize life back from heaven itself and revive you!"
The white-clothed man suddenly roared.
The next moment, his hands reached out, his arms hooking the Great Dao of heaven and earth, performing a divine ability to gather the purest vitality from the universe.
Vital energies from all corners of the world could be seen surging over like rivers and seas, wave after wave, pouring into the body of the multicolored-dressed woman.
Her body began to change. The originally cold corpse gradually grew warm, bursting forth with dense vitality.
By the end, the multicolored-dressed woman seemed to have revived, her hair raven-black, her form crystalline, her skin restored to a ruddy, healthy complexion. She lay with closed eyes as if asleep.
Her flesh had been reawakened; vitality had been restored.
However, her Soul Body had already dispersed. All that remained was a body brimming with vitality—it still could not be considered truly alive.
"I shall use Celestial Copper Stone to forge a coffin," he declared, "and seal your body with Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice, infusing a portion of my power into it before your burial."
"I will tread the Six Paths of Reincarnation," the white-clothed man continued, "I will search for your dispersed Soul Body and restore it to your body. Then, you shall live again!"
In the end, the white-clothed man fashioned a coffin from Celestial Copper Stone, sealed the multicolored-dressed woman's body within it using Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice, and infused a portion of his power into her form.
"Caiyan, I will find your Soul Body. Wait for me."
The white-clothed man buried the multicolored-dressed woman. Then, with each step, he looked back, slowly departing.
"So that's how it is," said Ye Yunfei and Hun Lao, watching the white-clothed man's retreating figure. They finally understood why the woman's body held the aura of a Heavenly Emperor.
At that very moment, the white-clothed man abruptly turned back, casting two terrifying glances toward Ye Yunfei and Hun Lao.
Boom!...
Ye Yunfei and Hun Lao felt the heavens shake and the earth quake. The peaceful land they occupied began to crumble and disintegrate. Infinite, overwhelmingly terrifying waves of energy pressure crashed toward them from all directions.
"Quick, summon the Heavenly Dao Tower! Otherwise, we're both finished!" Ye Yunfei shouted.
Hun Lao immediately summoned the Heavenly Dao Tower, unleashing the aura of the Ancient Wasteland Great Emperor to resist.
"Eh?"
The white-clothed man uttered a sound of slight surprise.
"No one is permitted to harm Caiyue," the white-clothed man warned. "If they do, I will tread every path of the Six Paths of Samsara, traversing past or future to personally cut you down."
Then, he turned away. One step forward, and he vanished.
Next, Ye Yunfei and Hun Lao found themselves back beside the coffin.
"That was a close call. We were actually pulled into a vision just now. If not for the protection of the Heavenly Dao Tower, we would have perished within it," Hun Lao said, recalling the recent experience with a touch of lingering fear.
"That was not an illusion. It was a scene that truly transpired," Ye Yunfei shook his head. "That Heavenly Emperor engraved that event into the time and space of the coffin."
"So the so-called Nine-Life Immortal Coffin does not hold the corpse of an ancient Heavenly Emperor," Hun Lao couldn't help but sigh. "It holds a Heavenly Emperor's beloved woman."
"Do you think there is any chance this woman can still be revived?" Hun Lao, remembering the scene they had witnessed, asked Ye Yunfei.
"I do not know," Ye Yunfei replied softly, shaking his head. "It is said that after any living being in this world perishes, their Soul Body enters the Six Paths of Reincarnation to be reborn anew.
But no one has ever seen the Six Paths of Reincarnation. It is unknown if they truly exist."
In his previous life after becoming the Heavenly Emperor, Ye Yunfei had also devoted a period of time to investigating the legends of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, curious enough to make a special effort. Yet, he gained nothing from the search.
Later, Ye Yunfei came to believe that the legends of the Six Paths of Reincarnation and rebirth were merely far-fetched fabrications, concocted by people in the world.
However, after Ye Yunfei was reborn back into his youth, he finally learned that reincarnation and rebirth were indeed possible.
But as to whether the Six Paths of Reincarnation truly existed in the world, and whether the souls of all deceased beings truly entered the Six Paths to be reborn… on this point, Ye Yunfei still did not dare to be certain.
"There's quite a few items inside the coffin. Quick, let's act," Hun Lao urged Ye Yunfei.
Ye Yunfei turned his gaze into the coffin and indeed saw a pile of treasures stored within.
Most of these treasures were brimming with thick vitality, used to preserve the vitality of the corpse.
"We don't need to take anything," Ye Yunfei said, thinking for a moment and shaking his head. "This woman is a Heavenly Emperor's beloved. Moreover, that Heavenly Emperor might still be alive. If we disturb anything here, he may seek us out for trouble in the future.
We have no need to provoke a Heavenly Emperor."
"Indeed," Hun Lao nodded. "If he is still alive and we tamper with his belongings, meeting him in the future would become extremely awkward."
The Heavenly Emperor was the pinnacle existence of this world, each one terrifyingly boundless. No one wanted to provoke them.
"What are you two doing!"
Suddenly, the young man whirled around, noticing Ye Yunfei and Hun Lao standing beside the coffin, erupting in fury.
Ye Yunfei and Hun Lao's approach to the coffin had only taken a very brief moment.
All the events that had just transpired, including entering that tranquil land and seeing the white-clothed man and the multicolored-dressed woman, had happened in the blink of an eye.
That young man turned and charged toward Ye Yunfei, murderous intent billowing from him.