True Martial World

Chapter 1224: Woman in the Portrait

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

The woman drawn in the portrait was dressed in a white dress. She seemed to stand aloof from the world, transcendent, as though she was a fairy from the nine heavens that landed in the mortal world.

When he first saw the woman, Yi Yun found her somewhat familiar. However, he was certain he had never seen her before.

Who was this woman? If he had ever seen such a peerless woman, she certainly would have left a lasting impression on him.

Yi Yun looked at it carefully for a long time. Although it was a portrait, the woman's bearing and looks far exceeded peerless women like Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox.

Suddenly, a flash of brilliance streaked across Yi Yun's mind.

He recalled the image of a person.

Back in the Tian Yuan world, he had once seen Azure Yang Lord's past when he entered the Great Empress mystic realm.

Azure Yang Lord had a love of his life named Bai Yueyin!

Although Yi Yun had only seen dreamy visions of Azure Yang Lord's life, Bai Yueyin had left a deep impression on him. On careful comparison, she resembled the woman in the portrait!

Yi Yun remembered that, tens of millions of years ago, the Central State Divine Territory had an empire that united the area known as the Great Qian Dynasty!

And Azure Yang Lord was a prince of the Great Qian Dynasty. After he inherited the throne, he encountered an extremely beautiful woman—Bai Yueyin.

Bai Yueyin was exceedingly talented. She was extremely clever but she came from a tiny sect. Even so, she emitted light like the bright moon. She was a rare gem.

Her ordinary background gave her an inexplicable charm and affability. It made Azure Yang Lord fall deeply in love with her.

Later, the duo held a wedding and was supported by the Great Qian Dynasty. After having heritage and resources to make up for her disadvantages, Bai Yueyin's cultivation improved rapidly. Before long, she was almost as strong as Azure Yang Lord. Among their peers, they were invincible!

However, they came to suffer certain tribulations. Once, Azure Yang Lord and Bai Yueyin headed to the Sinkhole on an expedition. They encountered a perilous zone. Amid the distorted space in the Sinkhole, Azure Yang Lord was trapped and his outcome unknown.

Bai Yueyin returned alone and ruled the Great Qian Dynasty in his stead, conscientiously and earnestly.

She always waited for Azure Yang Lord, believing that he would return.

With that, twenty years passed and the outcome Bai Yueyin had been wishing for finally happened. Azure Yang Lord returned. Not only did he return alive, he returned with his cultivation level increased by leaps and bounds after receiving a huge opportunity in the Sinkhole!

The Great Qian Dynasty rejoiced and the two were given the titles of Sacred Emperor and Sacred Empress. Azure Yang Lord led an unbridled life. Bai Yueyin was modest and open-minded, a motherly model for the nation.

Immediately following that, Azure Yang Lord inherited the position of Great World's Divine Lord. He became a figure that carried weight in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. That was the peak of his life.

And after the peak was a terrifying nadir!

Not long later, a Fey race expert named Sha Hongxue came to the Central State Divine Territory and issued a challenge.

He was an arrogant person with extraordinary strength.

However, Azure Yang Lord was extremely confident regarding the battle. The entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven was stirred as they rushed to the Central State Divine Territory to witness the battle.

Before the great battle, Azure Yang Lord made another breakthrough. He gained insights into the Ethereal state and, just as his cultivation level was about to be increased, Bai Yueyin appeared like a ghost at his most critical juncture. She stabbed him in the chest!

At that moment, Azure Yang Lord could not believe what was happening before his very eyes. He grabbed the ice-cold sword's blade and looked at Bai Yueyin. However, on her face, there was nothing but coldness.

When the sword was pulled out, it seemed to extract everything in Azure Yang Lord's life. If he were to die, he wanted to know the reason. However, Bai Yueyin left without saying a word…

At the battle with Sha Hongxue, Azure Yang Lord suffered an abject defeat!

Later on, Azure Yang Lord became disillusioned. He lost all meaning in his life. He returned to the Sinkhole, the spot where he had been trapped for two decades. He wanted to end his life, but instead, he reached the Tian Yuan world.

There, he encountered a woman that saved his soul—the ancient Great Empress.

As for the Great Empress mystic realm that Yi Yun would enter, those events happened tens of millions of years later.

This was Azure Yang Lord's history. It had been buried deep in Yi Yun's heard for a long time. Coincidentally, when Yi Yun was transported to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven from the Azure Wood Great World, he had arrived in the Central State Divine Territory, where the old Great Qian Dynasty once stood.

Furthermore, Yi Yun encountered the descendants of Azure Yang Lord in the Central State Divine Territory—Jian Wufeng.

Yi Yun also saw how the Clarity Pool Sword Sect became a mere shadow of its glorious past after tens of millions of years.

All of this seemed to be destined by karma.

"I know her… Her name is Bai Yueyin." Yi Yun looked at Huan Chenxue. "Is Miss Huan related to Seniors Bai Yueyin and Jian Qingyang?"

Huan Chenxue shook her head and said, "I do not know Jian Qingyang but I know of his story. He was a remarkable genius but he had an unlucky life. He was quite a pitiful man…"

"Oh? Because of Bai Yueyin?" Yi Yun was somewhat perplexed. Why would Huan Chenxue have Bai Yueyin's portrait? Furthermore, how did she know that he was related to Azure Yang Lord?

Huan Chenxue rolled up the portrait and said with a sigh, "Do you know why Bai Yueyin harmed Jian Qingyang?"

Yi Yun shook his head. This was something that left him puzzled as well. He had seen Azure Yang Lord's complete history. Before Bai Yueyin betrayed him, her relationship with Azure Yang Lord did not appear disingenuous in any way.

She had been loyal to him for centuries and had waited patiently for him for twenty years after Azure Yang Lord's disappearance. It was indelible and seemed like a love that could never be changed.

Later on, when the both of them were conferred the titles of Sacred Emperor and Sacred Empress, they were at their lives' peaks. Especially with Azure Yang Lord being so young, he had limitless potential. Breaking through to the realm above Divine Lord was just a matter of time. They could have soared together and traveled the cosmos.

Under such circumstances, why would she harm her husband?

Hundreds of years of loyalty were defeated by a day of betrayal. It was inexplicable!

"Do you know what Bai Yueyin took away after harming Jian Qingyang?"

Yi Yun recalled for a moment as a chill ran down his back. The item that Bai Yueyin took away was a broken sword!

To be precise, it was the pure Yang broken sword's sword tip!

Yi Yun drew a deep breath as he realized a possibility. Standing before him, Huan Chenxue had likely already known that he possessed the other half of the pure Yang broken sword!

This was the reason why she had invited him to the Mirage Sea Realm!

Yi Yun calmed down and said, "It's half a broken sword. Back then, Azure Yang Lord had countless treasures in his interspatial ring. There were even remnant pages of the Yang God Manual and the Nine Nether Sacred Manual. They were cultivation techniques formed naturally from the nomological Great Dao of the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Their worth was unimaginable, but Bai Yueyin did not take them away. All she took was the half of the broken sword!"

"That's right. It's half a broken sword. As for the remnant pages of the Yang God Manual and the Nine Nether Sacred Manual that you mentioned…" Huan Chenxue shook her head when she came to that. "They are probably not as valuable as you imagine them to be. They are not cultivation techniques naturally formed by the nomological Great Dao of the 12 Empyrean Heavens… Over the long rivers of time, many truths are buried in the ashes of history, unknown to people," Huan Chenxue said indifferently.

Her voice was calm, matching her long breaths. There was something indescribable about it.

A mortal girl was discussing a history that spanned billions of years. Even a legend formed at the beginning of the 12 Empyrean Heavens was spoken of casually and calmly. It left Yi Yun somewhat speechless.

Was she really a mortal girl?

Yi Yun found it unimaginable. However, he also found Huan Chenxue’s claim to be very probable—the Yang God Manual and the Nine Nether Sacred Manual remnant pages were not naturally formed from the nomological Great Dao of the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

On careful thought, although Yi Yun had never cultivated in the Yang God Manual and the Nine Nether Sacred Manual in the past, he had remnant pages of the Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon that were their equal.

These pages were given to him by Felicitous Rain Lord before he left the Azure Wood Great World.

Yi Yun had secluded himself for twenty-five years and cultivated in the remnant pages of the Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon. If the cultivation technique was said to be ingenious, it was indeed the case. However, if it were to be called a supreme Great Dao, there was this nagging feeling that it wasn't that amazing. It was on a completely different level from the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence that Yi Yun had cultivated in.

Previously, Yi Yun guessed that perhaps the Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon he had was incomplete, resulting in its lacking strength.

But upon careful thought, over all these years, there were a total of twelve mystic manuals in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. They had been obtained by numerous mighty figures, but did none of them ever receive a complete set of the mystic manual?

And yet, Yi Yun had never heard of anyone who cultivated the complete mystic manual to become a peerless figure like the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.

There had been numerous people who had obtained the mystic manual but they were on the level of Felicitous Rain Lord or Elder Mo. If the value of the mystic manuals was inestimable, those remnant pages would have long been snatched away by figures above the Divine Lord level.

The reason why Bai Yueyin had abandoned the Yang God Manual and Nine Nether Sacred Manual remnant pages was not because she wanted to leave it for Azure Yang Lord, but because she thought nothing of them.

Yet, she had taken away the sword tip.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun's expression turned heavy. He realized that the pure Yang broken sword's value was far greater than he imagined!

But now, the news of him possessing the pure Yang broken sword had been leaked. The reason for the oversight was that he had underestimated the value of the pure Yang broken sword.

Originally, Yi Yun believed that even if it were the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner's weapon, it was still a broken weapon. Furthermore, there was only half of it.

Yi Yun had also underestimated Bai Yueyin. He thought that she was only a heartless woman from a small sect, filled with ambition and greed. Now, from the looks of it, it was probably not that simple.

Since he had been exposed, Yi Yun could only live with fate. He knew Elder Mo's strength. He was far stronger than him.

If the girl in front of him had any designs on the pure Yang broken sword, he had no chance of putting up a struggle. He could only hand it to her.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the blue-dressed girl only looked at him. Her bright eyes seemed like spring water. Despite being pure and clean, it appeared unfathomable.

"Your reaction is a lot calmer than I expected."

The girl smiled faintly. Yi Yun shook his head with a wry smile. This mortal girl had seemed to see through him. She knew what he was thinking.

"Does Miss Huan not have any interest in the broken sword?"

"I wouldn't call it interest. The broken sword is of great importance to me. However, it's completely different from what you are imagining."