Within the gentle, slow sound of water, the seawater naturally parted.

The Fourth Master of the Chongxuan family, a top-tier noble house in the Qi State, responsible for Wudong Island’s Chongxuan Ming River, stepped onto the stairs of deep blue water and ascended from the seabed.

He was one of four brothers in this generation, and now only he and his eldest brother remained.

As the youngest brother, he had been extremely favored since childhood.

His eldest brother was a typical playboy, and while he had affection for him, he didn’t have much respect for him due to his own high aspirations.

His second brother’s talent was unparalleled, dazzling and eye-catching. He had admired him greatly since childhood and taken him as his role model.

But his best relationship was with his third brother, Chongxuan Mingshan.

His eldest brother spent his days wandering through brothels and pleasure districts, while his second brother cultivated daily, studying and practicing martial arts. Neither had much time to spend with him.

It was his third brother who took him running all over the streets and alleys. And when the family’s power declined and his old father donned armor, his third brother died in the first Qi-Xia War. The clan members deeply hated the Ming Tu, and he also resented them deeply.

But when his second brother went to sea alone, leaving behind only a floating pagoda as a pure land…

The feeling in his heart was inexpressible.

Afterward, he left for overseas, never married, never had children, and never fought for titles. Whether it was escaping or missing someone, he never returned to Linzi again.

When the old master passed away, he only offered a distant sacrifice on Wudong Island, guarding the promise to spend the rest of his life on matters of the sea.

Unlike Chongxuan Chuliang, who established his own household, Wudong Island, which was under his name, still belonged to the power of the Bowang Marquis Manor.

“Fourth Master, how was it?” Li Fengyao, standing at the ship’s bow, asked.

Chongxuan Ming River shook his head, “Unexpectedly, Fuzhou Island sank so deep into the sea. Probing three thousand zhang only revealed some fragments. But Xu Zeming is not completely foolish. Before escaping, he had already thoroughly destroyed the Heaven and Earth Great Millstone.”

“Xu Zeming can be a fool, but the Taixu Sect will not send a fool to represent them,” Li Fengyao said thoughtfully, “This Heaven and Earth Great Millstone must have had some role in the research of the sea master’s original form. Xu Zeming’s plan was not entirely unfeasible.”

“Not only feasible?” Chongxuan Ming River said, “With Yan Daotai’s deduction, it should have been close to perfect. But the sea beasts destroyed everything, and now we cannot determine where the problem lies.”

Gao Jie used all the sea beasts rampaging near the sea as arrows and fought Xuanyuan Shuo across the Mizhe. Each island had slowly been saved from crisis.

At the moment when the great war was about to conclude, the Qi people needed to consider the post-war problems even more. For example, the reconstruction of the islands near the sea, and the division of responsibilities…

Both Li Fengyao and Chongxuan Ming River were from noble families and naturally understood this principle. They led troops to clean up the islands near the sea, not for leisure, but for precision and clearing the silt. Every time they targeted a key point.

“We’ll go to Xingzhu Island first to see the situation. There is a Taixu corner tower there…” Li Fengyao stood like an ice sculpture, his voice cold, “Finally, we’ll go to Huai Island.”

The thunder and light waterfall streams that covered the island had already scattered, and people were rebuilding their lives on the ruins.

Those legends, myths, and great burdens, although they once flashed before their eyes, the most real pain always rose from the lungs and liver, penetrating to the skin and hair. It was the familiar people who died before them, the real wounds that remained on their bodies.

Tianya Terrace broke at Tianya, and Huai Island could no longer embrace the sea people.

Yang Liu, tired in body and mind, leaned on the stone stairs of Tianya Terrace. The powder on his face had been washed over several times by fresh blood, revealing an unprecedented blank expression.

He had long ago admitted his mediocrity and no longer tried to fight for anything. He faced life calmly in this way, including Zhao Wuyan’s indifference, his powerlessness in the face of Jiang Wang and Chongxuan Zun, and the depressing future of Fishing Sea Tower in the Qi State.

But today, he didn’t know how to describe all this to his master, who had returned from the Mizhe after the war…

Huai Island was full of scars, and Fishing Sea Tower was destroyed in one go.

The ancestor of Fishing Sea Tower appeared, and the ancestor of Fishing Sea Tower died… This was not just the collapse of a legend.

What was turned into ruins was also his home, Yang Liu’s home.

His master was an elder who protected the sect and was currently participating in the war to calm the sea. But the sect’s station was already in ruins. When his master returned, what duty could he still bear? And how could he bear it?

He hated himself for being so mediocre again! He had exhausted everything, yet he couldn’t save many people or recover much of the losses.

And Bai Yuxian, who witnessed the legend, stood on the blood-rain-washed Tianya Terrace, like a jade tree, back-to-back with Yang Liu, gazing at the distant sea, quietly waiting for the final outcome of this great war.

Countless sea beasts lay scattered near Tianya Terrace. In the years to come, this would be a fertile sea, nourishing how many fish and shrimp.

The muddy blood color had been swallowed by the great sea, just as the dark clouds and thunder and lightning that rampaged for ten thousand li had also returned to the blue sky behind them.

The rules of the fishing line were formless when they rose and traceless when they scattered, just like the rustling stone powder representing the Fishing Dragon Guest, which finally dissolved in the seawater.

The blue of the sky and the blue of the sea merged, making one’s vision feel very lonely.

It was at this moment that Bai Yuxian saw a point of green leaping out of Jiang Wang’s endless blue, gradually dyeing it, the color becoming heavier.

The entire sky and sea were no longer anything else.

Only a figure in green armor walked alone.

He naturally remembered the pile of sea war-related books he had left for Jiang Wang when they left Jueming Island, and he remembered even more the two hundred people of the Marquis Manor Guard Team. They were the elites he had personally trained, tempered in the blood and fire of the demon world.

He naturally imagined how grandly Jiang Wang had led the army into the Mizhe, with Fang Yuanyou as the deputy general, and these two hundred well-trained close guards as the backbone, linking up with the three thousand armored soldiers obtained at Jueming Island, easily supporting an army of tens of thousands of people in the Mizhe.

He naturally also wanted to know why Jiang Wang had returned so lonely.

But when he saw Jiang Wang’s tired eyes, there was nothing more to ask.

The two, one on the stone terrace and one in the high sky, only looked at each other once, and then their line of sight was broken by the strong wind in the distance…

Bai Yuxian silently turned back, walked down the already broken Tianya Terrace, walked to Yang Liu’s side, and slowly, slowly sat down.

Throughout the disaster on Huai Island, although he had done his best to save people, he always felt like a bystander. The sadness and pain before him were not real enough. Until this moment, he had entered the situation.

Jiang Wang originally did want to say something to Bai Yuxian. This was precisely why he chose to pass over Huai Island.

He wanted to give Bai Yuxian an account, but what account?

Fortunately, you didn’t follow me to the Mizhe? Fortunately, you didn’t die?

The moment he saw Bai Yuxian, he realized he had nothing to say.

He just flew further alone, chewing on the unspeakable tri-flavors!

At that time, the sea wind blew the waves, and between heaven and earth, there was a singing voice, someone singing softly—

“Vast and vast, the clouds cover, boundless and boundless, they return.”

“I wish to hold a long rope, and fight the angry sea this morning.”

“Mother loses my clothes, child loses my embrace.”

“Where does the soul return? The jade breaks the spirit terrace!”

Every year on August 17th, the cloud capital on the cloud is very special.

Twenty years ago, the Cloud State Joint Council unanimously passed a resolution to establish August 17th as the “Cloud Morning Festival.”

Since then, on this day every year, every city in the Cloud State offers its most beautiful objects to Cloud City, calling it the “Morning Ritual.”

The Lingxiao Pavilion rarely directly interfered with the specific affairs of the Cloud State. Even a transcendental figure like Master Ye, the great sect master, firmly opposed everyone making a great effort and the whole country celebrating his precious daughter’s birthday.

But the wise joint council elders didn’t mention the young pavilion master a single word, and celebrating with “Cloud,” compared to the country’s birthday specifications, even Master Ye could only reluctantly accept it.

By the way, this festival was originally intended to be called the “Flower Morning Festival,” with the whole country celebrating with strange flowers and grasses in Cloud City.

But because there were many “Flower Morning Festivals” in various places and it wasn’t special enough, it was finally set as the “Cloud Morning Festival.”

Of course, there was another inconvenient reason to spread it, which was to avoid tabooing the higher authority.

The beauty of the Cloud State is widely spread in the four borders.

The beauty of Cloud City surpasses all peaks.

And on this day of the Cloud Morning Festival, beautiful objects from all over the world gather here.

Jade carvings and stone engravings, potted landscapes and sand paintings, mirage pearls and light buildings, flying sky gold threads—anything that can be called beautiful can compete for beauty in Cloud City.

The Cloud State trades with the world, and the Cloud State people’s understanding of beauty is also quite broad.

The so-called “Cloud Morning time, a hundred countries gather” has developed to this day. The Cloud Morning Festival is no longer a closed-door small celebration of the Cloud State, but a world window for the Cloud State to express and interpret beauty.

In a sense, this is also a way to expand influence, and it is easier for people to accept.

In many past years, the Cloud Morning Festival was always Ye Qingyu’s happiest day.

But today is different. She didn’t smile all day.

That carefully applied beautiful makeup looked like a mask instead.

The world’s magnificent, strange, and beautiful sights were all presented before her, but her eyes were unfocused, her thoughts invisible, not knowing what she was thinking.

Outside the window, the moon was already in the middle of the sky. This day was about to pass.

Jiang An’an had played with her junior sister Wang Yueyi all day and had already been taken to rest, probably wandering in dreamland.

Senior Sister Wang Yuerou sat quietly opposite the young pavilion master, only feeling that this pair of beautiful eyes, which had experienced so much, was more charming than all the pearls in the East. Even someone as gentle as her began to feel a little angry.

No matter how heroic a figure he was, how could that fellow wrong such beauty?

Ye Qingyu’s mood affected not only Wang Yuerou’s heart?

On that cloud peak, under the bright moon, the handsome and elegant Great Pavilion Master Ye suddenly opened his eyes, “Come.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Achou poked his head out from the cloud layer and said fiercely, “Beat him up!”

Ye Lingxiao snorted from his nostrils, “You go first.”

Achou said unhappily, “I might not be able to beat him anymore.” Ye Lingxiao had already rolled up his sleeves but thought for a moment and put them down again, sighing, “Forget it.”

But as early as a quarter of an hour ago, he wouldn’t have minded wearing a mask under the moon and blocking the road to beat someone up. It was just a pity that the Cloud Morning Festival was almost over. “Is Miss Ye in? Please pass a message. Jiang someone is here to fulfill the previous appointment!”

When she heard such a loud voice, Wang Yuerou precisely saw how ripples rose in the beautiful eyes before her, instantly shining brightly! The light makeup applied early in the morning and the carefully selected clothes also came alive at this moment.

She knew to stand up and move aside, opening the courtyard door, “The young pavilion master, she is one…”

“I am here!” A voice connected from behind…

Clear and crisp, like a clear spring tinkling.

Oh, girl! Don’t you know how to be reserved? Don’t you know how to make him wait for a while!

She naturally saw the man outside the door—his green shirt was clean and new, his hair neatly tied with a jade crown, and his clean facial features were bathed in the moonlight.

The white jade at his waist was crystal clear, and his boots were spotless.

His whole person was in a very good state, and his qi and blood were like a flood.

The person under the moon was radiant and gentle, handsome and calm, like a vigorous green pine.

Wang Yuerou slightly opened and then closed her mouth. Indeed, there was a reason for not being reserved!

“Big Sister Wang,” Jiang Wang politely nodded, his gaze then crossing over Wang Yuerou’s shoulder, his voice clearly raised a bit, “Qingyu!”

At that time, the door leaf was slightly ajar, and Ye Qingyu walked out from the inner room, with a fairy-like face and heavenly posture, winning the moon color by more than three points? Her long skirt trailed the ground, floating as if she wanted to ride the wind.

Her gaze intersected with Jiang Wang over Wang Yuerou’s shoulder…

Seeing such a brilliant, such a fresh Jiang Wang, she only said, “You came so late, are you not tired?”

Wang Yuerou suddenly felt very superfluous. She lifted her skirt and bowed, then slipped out from Jiang Wang’s side and disappeared into the night in an instant.

Jiang Wang stood stubbornly under the moonlight and said with a smile, “How could I be tired? This expedition to the Mizhe was a great victory! The plot of the Sea Race to rise up has been thwarted by us! It’s just that the Mizhe is a bit far from here, so it took some time on the road. It’s good that I didn’t completely miss today.”

Ye Qingyu listened quietly as he finished, her eyes softening a few points. “Every year today is my happiest day, and this year is especially so. Thank you for overcoming all difficulties and bringing yourself back safely to see me. Little Jiang, you’ve worked hard.”

The light in that pair of beautiful eyes was so warm.

The mirror in Jiang Wang’s eyes shattered, revealing a tiredness that could no longer be hidden. “Not hard.”

He tried hard, smiled gently, and stretched out his hand, “Happy birthday!”

Ye Qingyu stretched out her hand to hold his, like the first time at Guanjiang Terrace. But her hand only reached halfway, and she took a half step forward, directly wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him just like that.

Jiang Wang was startled for a moment, subconsciously wanting to avoid, but deep down, he was reluctant.

It was clearly Ye Qingyu who pounced into his embrace, yet he felt like he was the one being hugged.

He felt Ye Qingyu’s hand stroking his long hair, so gentle. He heard Ye Qingyu’s murmur, right in his ear:

“It’s okay, it’s okay, Little Jiang, don’t be sad anymore…”

He slowly hugged her back, lowered his face, and buried it in Ye Qingyu’s shoulder.

On the night of the most beautiful Cloud Morning Festival in the world, this human race hero who had successfully returned from the demon world, this human race warrior who had fought in blood in the Mizhe, this current generation’s highest achiever in military merit, this world’s focus, the favored son of heaven, cried silently like a wounded puppy.

He had lost too much in the Mizhe this time!

Lost again and again!

The three thousand armored soldiers who paid with their lives, the loyal three thousand armored soldiers, the loyal and devoted two hundred close guards, Fang Yuanxian who was always at the front, Ji Yanru who he met for the first time but had been with for a long time, and Yu Beidou who was both a teacher and a friend…

But could he cry on the battlefield where the human race and the sea race contended?

Could he be sad at Tianya Terrace?

Could someone like him, someone who carried tens of thousands of lives and bore blood sea deep enmity, show weakness in front of people?

He was sometimes as strong as a symbol with the word “strong” written on it. But he didn’t really feel no pain, no sadness!

He was strong because he could only be strong.

He endured because he could only endure!

On the night he walked out of Fenglin City, he told himself that from then on, he could only walk the road by himself.

Now everyone said that Jiang Wang had friends all over the world, and heroes responded to a single call.

But that white-haired youth who walked out of Fenglin City at that time indeed only had an ordinary iron sword, a heart tempered by hatred, an opportunity located tens of thousands of li away that he didn’t know if he could realize, and a little sister he was willing to protect with his life.

Did this world allow him to be weak?

Ye Qingyu didn’t hear Jiang Wang’s crying voice, but her shoulder did hold Jiang Wang’s tears.

It also held the tiredness, grievances, sadness, and torment that flowed like a mountain flood within it. She still remembered the first time she saw Jiang Wang, the awkwardness of being busy and flustered, that kick that suddenly came…

She still remembered the life confusion of the small city youth flowing on the letter paper.

She had seen the white-haired Jiang Wang walking down the back of Cloud City alone.

She had witnessed Jiang Wang’s demeanor when he won on Guanjiang Terrace.

She had waited for him on the Wunan battlefield filled with blood and fire, she had expected him in the never-interrupted letters of the past five years.

And today, she hugged him. She hugged that youth who was curled up and afraid in the red leaves like fire in Fenglin, not knowing what night it was or what the road ahead held.

She should have hugged him long ago.