ADAPTED FROM BAI LU CHENG SHUANG'S LOVE IN THE CLOUDS
Ji Bozai?
Sunken Abyss seems so buzzing today.
Know your place!
-Ji… -Ming Yi.
You okay?
We have to leave now.
Zhushui Spiritual State has a backup plan.
How do you know?
Word from the Situ clan.
Ming Yi, come with me, quick!
The Emperor of Zhushui wants Jixing Abyss as his grave.
Sunken Abyss can collapse at any moment.
Miasma will blanket the divine capital.
Miasma?
Look!
Tianji, look!
What… What is it?
ZIWEI HALL
The day has come after all.
All in Jixing Abyss with spiritual veins,
assemble now to resist the poison!
I can die, but you're coming with me!
-Ji Bozai, watch out! -No!
Ming Yi.
Why are you here?
The air here is toxic.
She can't die here with you.
Ji Bozai, she's told me clearly.
What you had was just a deal.
You never held the Golden Millet Dream.
She doesn't need you anymore.
Hand her to me.
How… How can you?
The miasma is spreading this fast!
Father!
Your uncle and I were weak before.
Different paths, same end.
Father, what are you doing?
Emperors of Jixing Abyss forged a rite.
As the Emperor,
one must yield bone and blood,
turn his primordial spirit into a barrier.
This is the Aranya Array.
Once it's activated,
no divine, demonic, or netherbeast arts
can trouble Jixing Abyss for a hundred years.
Such is an Emperor's fate.
My body, my flesh,
my spirit, my mind,
-Father, no! -my intent…
Father!
All become the barrier's five aspects.
Father! Father, stop!
With one's fall,
let all things live!
No, Father!
Sunken Abyss is about to collapse.
Get Ming Yi out first.
I can make it out myself.
With such an uproar in Sunken Abyss,
Father will sense it for sure.
I can't let him find Ming Yi.
Father!
Father…
You have grown up.
You make your own calls now.
But promise me.
Don't let hatred blind you.
Don't drag the Six Realms into war.
Restore the Qingyun Tournament
to what it once was, fair and just.
I will, Father.
I won't fail.
I believe you.
This path is hard,
but don't be afraid.
I will turn to starlight
and stay by your side forever.
Father.
My good girl.
Father.
No tears.
Father.
My good girl.
Don't leave me, Father.
Father.
No tears.
Father!
I will turn to starlight
and stay by your side forever.
May stars be eternal. Farewell to Your Majesty!
Father,
you forged the Aranya Array with your life.
I swear
to guard Jixing Abyss to the death!
Why were you in Sunken Abyss?
I should ask you that.
What were you doing there?
Looking for the missing recipe for Golden Millet Dream.
I stake my life on it.
The recipe will never leak.
For a recipe,
you got yourself hurt this badly.
I'm fine.
Where was Ming Xian?
Did one Heavenly Grief strike
and the severing of spiritual veins already ruin him?
He couldn't care less about you!
Is he even a man?
He isn't. Happy now?
What are you doing?
Meddling.
I'm much better now.
Your Highness, by the Emperor's order,
we're to take you to him.
Father knows everything?
The Emperor of Jixing
has fallen.
BENEVOLENCE, KINDNESS, WISDOM, PROPRIETY
Father wouldn't want to see me like this, right?
Tianji, look.
Yan Xiao,
you'll get this after I'm gone.
Zhushui Spiritual State has invaded.
Guarding Jixing Abyss is an Emperor's duty.
But being with Tianji is a father's duty.
I can't do both anymore.
I'm grateful you can stay by her side as her family.
I know my daughter.
She'll grieve,
but not for long.
She still bears an Emperor's charge.
And she'll do it well.
She will pull through.
Until then,
I ask you
to stay with her through the worst.
WATER PRISON, ZHUSHUI SPIRITUAL STATE
Your Lordship!
Your Lordship.
Why did His Majesty beat you like this?
How is it?
Can you hold out?
I'll beg His Majesty.
He can't keep you locked like this.
You have no spiritual veins.
You can't withstand this prison.
Keep this up and you'll die!
He locked me here.
I can't do anything.
But you can still move.
That's why I sent you to scout.
How is Ming Yi?
-Answer me! -She's dead!
She didn't find the Golden Millet Dream.
Heavenly Grief flared.
She's already gone.
No.
Your Lordship.
-I'm getting out. -Your Lordship.
Your Lordship!
Are you mad?
His Majesty is only disciplining you.
If you break out yourself,
do you know the consequences?
-Let go of me! -Your Lordship.
-Your Lordship! -I'm going to save Ming Yi!
Your Lordship.
I'm going to save Ming Yi.
She isn't dead!
I lied to you. She's still alive.
Your Lordship.
Is that true?
Yes.
She Tianlin already gave her the Medical Classics.
Really?
Yes.
I confirmed it myself.
Whatever you assigned me,
I'll see it done.
Your Lordship.
Think about yourself for once.
Don't worry about me.
Father has already lost three sons.
He won't let me die.
Survival of the fittest.
He'll choose me.
He has no choice but me.
Compared to other bow artifacts,
this one aims with higher precision,
hits harder, and pierces deeper.
It can store spiritual power for the user.
And its arrows can shift forms
to fit different situations.
This is a warrior's weapon.
I may dislike artifacts,
but I'm not clueless.
They carry the forger's mind and intent.
When Ming Yi fought the netherbeast army,
her forging approach
matched this one exactly.
Clearly, this is her handiwork.
She has spiritual veins,
but she isn't a warrior.
Did Ming Xian teach her?
Such forging skill takes
talent, combat, experience, and training,
all essential.
Only a battle-tested warrior
can master it.
DEMON-REPELLING PARASOL BLUEPRINT
Ming Xian's iron-fan artifact is called Embers.
Too bad I already destroyed it.
It is my…
It's Ming Xian's most important artifact!
Do you know how many netherbeasts it can handle in a crisis?
How did we get out?
Thanks to you blasting the exit.
It took everything we had.
Ji Bozai!
You actually have spiritual veins!
Tell me. Who are you really?
If I have that name list,
I'll have proof
to drag out the villain who used Heavenly Grief to poison Ming Xian.
Instead of waiting here.
Ming Xian
was hit by Heavenly Grief?
No wonder… At the Qingyun Tournament, his power clearly faded.
I'm fine.
Ming Yi's reaction…
Even with backlash from the Graft Spell,
your body shouldn't be this weak.
So cold.
She's just like me back when I was struck by Heavenly Grief.
She was the one poisoned.
I am Ming Xian…
Ming Xian's fiancée.
Where was Ming Xian?
Did one Heavenly Grief strike
and the severing of spiritual veins already ruin him?
He couldn't care less about you!
Is he even a man?
He isn't. Happy now?
Could it be…
Stop, Fuyue.
Stop!
Fuyue.
Why?
Why burn your cultivation to save me?
Don't worry.
I won't die.
Yousu Fox Tribe can hide their inner cores in illusions.
Even if cultivation drains,
they won't die like the Immortals.
But once it's gone,
you'll revert to your true form.
If that day really comes,
if I become
just another wild fox among thousands,
no different from the rest,
will you still know me?
Like you always know Ming Yi?
Your Highness, His Majesty calls.
You've been practicing the Thousand Insect Spell!
So you could kill your two brothers.
How dare you covet the Bo's Medical Classics
and work right under my nose?
You hid in Jixing Abyss for so long.
You still didn't find the Golden Millet Dream?
I've verified the rumor is false.
Ji Bozai never had the Golden Millet Dream.
What use is that?
You stole the Bo's Medical Classics
to brew the Golden Millet Dream yourself?
If I say
I've learned in Jixing Abyss
how to breach the Zhulong Barrier,
what will you think of that?
Go on.
I know.
You've long sought the Bo clan's ancestral home
to take what you missed back then, Part 2 of the Bo's Medical Classics.
But Zhulong revived
and cast a barrier.
No outsider can find the Bo clan's ancestral home.
But do not worry.
I can do this for you.
So, you'd rather keep from me
how to break the Zhulong Barrier.
I want to be strong.
I won't live under another's heel.
Across the Six Realms,
you alone stand supreme.
Serving you
and aligning with you
keeps me from being carved up.
If you get what you want
and grant me trust and backing,
I'll be a power of Zhushui Spiritual State.
A few days apart,
I hardly recognize you.
Chao Yuan,
you are bold.
Father,
I seek the Golden Millet Dream
to awaken spiritual veins
and vie at the Qingyun Tournament.
But it's only to help you
to defend Zhushui's honor.
I dare not covet more.
This is my intent.
And it will not change.
Go for it, my son.
Bring that Bo's Medical Classics
back to me.
This Medical Classics is sealed.
It's a Bo clan's secret art.
Seems we must find Part 2 of the Medical Classics
and join the two before we can read it through.
I came with two matters.
First is about Situ Ling.
His identity is suspect.
It is in doubt.
But I owe him.
Some things I can't tell you.
By the way,
I've found Part 1 of the Medical Classics.
Across the Six Realms, many eyes are on it.
But I promise I won't leak a word.
And that is my second matter.
Why are you fixed on the Bo's Medical Classics?
Of course, for Ming Xian.
Why stop me from checking your spiritual veins?
What are you hiding?
-What do you want to check? -We're no longer involved.
I decide whether we are.
That day in Sunken Abyss,
your crossbow was built for offense not defense.
And it could pre-store spiritual power.
Only a battle-hardened warrior
could make that.
Has he sensed something?
What are you suspecting me of now?
You still care about me?
Ji Bozai,
you played the rake for so long.
Now you can't let go of a woman who fooled you.
I've been lying to you.
I meant to steal your master's Golden Millet Dream!
Ming Xian's busted fan is with me.
Don't you want it back?
If you do,
trade me something.
-What do you want? -An artifact.
Forge one that's one of a kind.
One only you can make.
Fine, I'll give you the artifact.
But besides returning me Embers,
you'll erase our names on the Marriage Stone,
and we're square after that.
You don't get to decide now.
Buxiu,
Situ Ling showed up in Sunken Abyss.
Something's off.
Either the Situ clan ties to the Emperor of Zhushui,
or his identity hides more.
Find a chance to ask around.
Yes, I'll see to it.
But about Ming Yi, what's your plan?
She lies by habit.
Getting the truth won't be easy.
If she really is the one in your heart,
she'll side with Yaoguang Mountain
and be your destined foe.
What do we do then?
Most things come as dilemmas.
But
I will find a way through.
Thanks to you for infusing it with spiritual power.
Look, how's the sword?
What's that face?
What do you think?
I know.
This sword was reborn from Embers.
But I remade it as a longsword. No one else will notice.
The Embers artifact's my finest artifact, after all.
It senses danger in time
and shields its master by instinct.
I can't understand. What spell did that guy put on you?
He's hurt you this badly.
He ruined the Golden Millet Dream.
He killed your only hope to live!
From where he stood, he wasn't wrong.
And I'm heading to Zhangwei Mountain.
It's deadly there.
I mean, if something really happens,
or we still can't make the Golden Millet Dream,
Ji Bozai still has to face that Zhushui lot.
I just want this sword to be there when it counts
to save his life, like Embers once shielded me.
Try it.
It's razor sharp!
Don't mess around.
A shame for our sect…
Hear that sound!
Your Lordship.
I'll take my leave.
This is the artifact I promised.
It's named Nirvana.
In exchange,
please return Embers to me.
And erase our names on the Marriage Stone.
Take this artifact,
and we're square.
Please return Embers soon.
This artifact you made…
I'm not satisfied. It doesn't count.
You're playing me?
A sword's cry should be dragon song.
Your Nirvana doesn't qualify.
-That still isn't dragon song? -It isn't.
Because I decide.
So, it doesn't count.
Look closely.
This artifact crowns the Six Realms.
It's my proudest work!
So, cut the nonsense.
Liar.
Ji Bozai! Have you no shame?
Ming Yi.
Between us,
is Ming Xian still in the way?
Even without him,
there's too much mess between us.
TO HARBOR ALL WITH GRACE
Per your order,
on Mu Qibai's name list,
there's finally progress.
I traced the fairy whom Sun Liao once loved.
From her, I learned
Mu Qibai's name list is not a jade slip.
-It's inside a Recording Mirror. -A Recording Mirror?
So, those shards under the Soul-Consuming Tree
are from the Recording Mirror?
We need a way to read it.
Earlier, I probed the Situ clan.
They always aligned with Mu Qibai.
After he died, they petitioned to cut ties.
But in the end,
they're tangled with Zhushui Spiritual State.
Situ Ling is said to be a bastard sent away,
later taken back and acknowledged.
Yet the registry never notes
who his birth parents are.
Maybe
his identity is just a shell.
Master, any progress?
I still can't break the seal on it.
We'll have to wait for Part 2 of the Medical Classics.
How's your health? Can you hold on?
Let's leave for Zhangwei Mountain tomorrow.
Your Lordship.
You're awake.
Here.
-Feeling better? -Your Lordship,
we finally made it back to Jixing Abyss.
What's our move?
Father told me to find the Bo clan's ancestral home
and fetch Part 2 of the Medical Classics.
Ming Yi sets out for Zhangwei Mountain at dawn.
The Zhulong Barrier admits Bo clan's blood only.
I'll lead Ji Bozai there
to help her enter the Bo clan's ancestral home.
If she gets the recipe,
brews Golden Millet Dream and lives,
she won't hand you the recipe.
How will you answer then?
What will His Majesty do?
Kill or cut me, I'm not afraid.
As long as Ming Yi is safe, nothing else matters.
Tomorrow, send Ji Bozai a flying letter. matters.