Merin looks at Xiao Yun and says, "Let's meet later."
Xiao Yun nods, and Merin's body fades away into the void.
Lin Xue, now grown, lives with her mother in Mulin City, where they moved to join her father's family.
Countless people had sought to learn her father's whereabouts from them after what he did two hundred years ago, and though Uncle Xiao Yun protected them, living separately became too difficult.
Thus, they settled in Mulin City a hundred years ago.
Lin Xue last saw her father when she was seven years old, but as a Dao Casting cultivator, her memory is flawless, and she recognises his figure instantly when he descends beside Uncle Xiao Yun.
"Mother, that is Father," Lin Xue whispers, her voice trembling.
Her mother's eyes widen, her face paling as she nods in disbelief.
Aunt Lin Mi speaks softly, "Brother was cultivating all this time."
Lin Zhu adds firmly, "For Brother, cultivation is everything—only through strength can we remain safe."
Together, they watch as her father seals the immortal Huang Xing, and then his figure fades from the sky.
"Where did Father go?" Lin Xue whispers in confusion.
A calm voice suddenly sounds behind them, "What are you all looking at?"
Lin Mi stiffens, turning slowly, while Lin Zhu and Lin Mi cry out together, "Brother!"
Mu Jingyi gasps, her eyes filling with tears, "Husband!"
Lin Xue steps forward hesitantly, her voice fragile, "Father…"
Merin's gaze softens, but a sigh escapes him, for he knows he failed to accompany his children during their childhood.
He walks forward and embraces Lin Xue tightly.
"Sorry for not accompanying you," he whispers, his voice heavy with regret.
Together, they enter the mansion, hand in hand.
Inside, Lin Mi finally asks, "Brother, where were you all these years?"
Merin answers simply, "In the void, cultivating."
And for the first time in centuries, Merin spends a month with his family.
Then his attention shifts back to Huang Xing's heart, sealed within his Dream Space.
He had locked it inside himself for a reason—he intends to devour it to rapidly advance his cultivation.
But as he studies the heart, pulsing faintly with life, he murmurs, "I cannot absorb it directly—it is mixed with evil energy."
The source of this energy remains a mystery, as does the god worshipped by the evil celestial masters, and Merin dares not risk corrupting his foundation.
He exhales slowly, shelving the matter for now, and turns his gaze toward the front gate of his estate.
His figure fades from the chamber and reappears at the gate just as it opens.
Xiao Yun steps inside with his two wives and two children.
"Brother Ye, nice array," Xiao Yun chuckles, "I almost couldn't find your house."
Merin smiles faintly, "After I returned, everyone wanted to visit me, so I hid my estate."
Xiao Yun nods in agreement, "The same happened to me—I couldn't make time to meet you sooner."
Merin's eyes shift to the two graceful women beside Xiao Yun.
"This must be Lady Gu and Lady Cai," Merin says gently, then looks at the children, "And they are?"
Xiao Yun introduces them proudly, "My daughter, Xiao Ying, and my son, Xiao Xuan."
Merin welcomes them warmly and leads the family into the house.
After a while, once the greetings settle, he and Xiao Yun sit facing each other.
Xiao Yun lowers his voice, "Can you feel it—the rejection of the world?"
Merin narrows his eyes, "What do you mean?"
"The world is pushing me out," Xiao Yun replies solemnly, "In five hundred years, I will have to leave."
Merin's expression darkens, "The void is dangerous. Even with your realm, you may fall into peril."
"That's why I want to act with you," Xiao Yun says firmly.
Merin shakes his head, "My cultivation is still at the Dao Casting stage."
"Can you not use your method to advance your body to the Emperor rank?" Xiao Yun presses.
"I can," Merin admits, "but it would take more than a thousand years."
Xiao Yun sighs, "There is no longer enough source energy for you to break through to the Emperor rank the normal way."
Merin raises his hand, and Huang Xing's beating heart, bound in glowing chains, emerges into view.
"Who said there isn't?" Merin's tone is calm, yet heavy with intent.
"If we can purify this heart," he continues, "I can use it to break through to Emperor rank."
Xiao Yun frowns, eyes fixed on the heart, and after a long silence says, "It seems so."
So both of them begin working together, seeking a way to purify Huang Xing's corrupted heart.
While they research and test countless methods, saint stones pour into Merin's hands from every major force, each one eager to curry favour with Merin.
With these resources, Merin's cultivation steadily rises, and in fifty years, he reaches the Quasi-Emperor realm.
After decades of effort, their combined strength finally bears fruit.
Using Xiao Yun's emperor flame as the core and Merin's perfected arrays, they forge an Emperor-rank formation: the Golden Flame Purifying Array.
For ten years, the array blazes with golden light, wrapping Huang Xing's heart in layer after layer of purifying fire and law.
At the end of the tenth year, the vile energy is stripped away, leaving only a golden blood crystal pulsing with pure source essence at the heart of the formation.
Merin takes it without hesitation, entering seclusion.
Three months later, a familiar, world-shaking emperor's pressure descends upon the continent.
The sky trembles, mountains bow, and every cultivator feels the change.
Merin has stepped into the Emperor rank. His breakthrough sends ripples across his bloodline—his siblings gain one to two ranks instantly, and his daughter Lin Xue, blessed by his blood and aura, ascends directly into the Quasi-Emperor realm.
Five years later, Merin and Xiao Yun fulfil the fate they both foresaw.
They leave their homeland behind, rising together into the endless void.
Guided by instinct, they travel toward the brightest star in the distance—knowing that each star in the void is in truth another vast world.
On the journey, they encounter another wanderer, a man named Lin Yong, and the three of them join forces.
Eventually, they come across a colossal world sealed by a massive barrier.
With their combined power, they shatter the obstruction and step inside.
But the moment they cross the threshold, everything changes.
A strange law surges through them—stripping away their cultivation, severing their connection to the realms they once commanded.
Merin, Xiao Yun, and Lin Yong stand in an unfamiliar land, their strength reduced to nothing.
The force scatters them, pulling each into different regions of the vast world.
Merin lands inside a dense forest.
He pays no attention to it.
Because the moment he arrives, the connection to his main body returns.
Their consciousness links once more.
In the Dream Kingdom, Merin sits upon his throne.
The worry that has weighed on his face for centuries fades at once.
A thousand years have passed since he last sent a fragment of his consciousness into the dream world.
That fragment vanished without return.
After that loss, he never dared to send another.
At his rank, recovering consciousness is almost impossible.
It took six hundred years for his soul to mend.
But now, at last, the sliver comes back.
In those thousand years, the Dream Kingdom has transformed.
What was once only a vision is now a reality.
A kingdom of science and extraordinary civilisation.
Unique in all the world.
But uniqueness is dangerous.
Across the world, divine kingdoms flourish.
Each bows to its own god.
Only in Merin's kingdom do people believe in truth alone.
From their belief, Merin himself has comprehended the Law of Truth.
But such defiance of order has drawn endless hostility.
Surrounding kingdoms wage war against the Dream Kingdom.
With its strength, the kingdom holds its ground.
Fighting four kingdoms at once is no problem.
But one among them hides a god.
Ngurut Empire's god is stopped by Mia's mother.
But news arrives—another storm is coming.
The Light Empire is crossing the northeast Rocky Mountains.
Which means another god will soon descend.
Merin knows his strength is not enough.
He has comprehended sixty-one principles.
Twenty more are needed to reach Stage Four.
But the return of his lost consciousness changes everything.
It brings him a method—one that leads to a breakthrough.
Without hesitation, Merin shifts his path.
He abandons the Law-way and embraces the Saint cultivation method.
Stage Four through the cultivation way.
Different from Law, but no less powerful.
The Law path is unique for every cultivator.
But the cultivation path, though similar among counterparts, still carries its own uniqueness.
Merin's aura begins to change.
It now resonates faintly with Xiao Yun's.
Anyone who senses them will know—they walk the same path.
Yet within that similarity, their essence remains different.