“Everything I did was for the sake of the Three Realms,” The Godfiend said, retreating. He said gravely,”Shen Ying, didn’t you guess that things were strange? I only presented myself to you to explain all these things to you.”

　　“No.” Shen Ying shook her head. “More accurately, I lured you out.”

　　“…” The Godfiend pursed his lips. “Alright, I believe that you’re not an unreasonable person. Otherwise when I sent that first divine punishment, you would have forced me to show myself in the demon realm. You would not have waited for me to summon you to the divine world even though you spotted me.”

　　“No!” Shen Ying was clearly confused. “I did not see you!”

　　“When you raised your head, didn’t you…” See me?

　　“Oh, I just wanted to sneeze.” She was just about to drink a sip of tea to warm herself when she got summoned here.

　　“…”

　　Pu~

　　What was this sudden urge to spit a mouthful of blood at her?

　　A while later…

　　“Let’s talk about the matter between the immortal and demon realm.” The Godfiend took awhile to calm himself down and return his twisted expression to normal.

　　“I am no longer interested in chatting now.” Shen Ying calmly waved the fruit knife around, starting to get up.

　　“Wait!” The Godfiend paled and subconsciously took another step back. He looked down at his feet and suddenly pointed downward. In the middle of the great lotus flowers, two figures were floating. They were Lonemoon and Yi Qing.

　　“Master!” Yi Qing walked toward Shen Ying instinctively.

　　“Shen Ying!” Lonemoon looked utterly confused as well. “Where are we? What happened?”

　　“The divine world,” Shen Ying replied, sticking her chin out at the Godfiend. “This is the Godfiend.”

　　“Godfiend!!” The two of them jumped back,, eyeing the man cautiously. This is… the Godfiend?

　　“Their bodies cannot withstand being in the divine world, but it’s not a problem to summon their primordial spirits.” The Godfiend smiled at Shen Ying. “Well… are you willing to listen to my explanation now?” Fighting would result in unnecessary animosity.

　　Shen Ying stopped frowning for a second, then she set down and kept her fruit knife.

　　“Talk.”

　　The Godfiend grinned even wider and his smile looked warmer. “I wanted to merge the two realms, not only for the demonic realm but for the Three Realms.”

　　As he spoke, he raised his hand. The blue skies and waters suddenly darkened. The water body began to dry up and a golden zigzag path was formed. There was very little water. They could faintly see the water forming a path about as thick as a forearm. The water was pulsating, and the entire path looked like a vein. It brought with it a rich golden light and drifted far and wide.

　　“Do you recognise this river?” The Godfiend asked.

　　“River?” The three of them looked down. This river was way too upper class. “What river?”

　　“This is the main branch of the River of Forgetfulness, which leads to the demonic realm.” The Godfiend sighed.

　　“…” Forgetfulness?

　　“I think you know that in the beginning, this world was split into three realms – the heavens, the earth and the mortal. The River of Forgetfulness was the only river that flowed through all three realms. It works just like meridians – it splits into three branches that lead to the corner of each realm. This river is not filled with water, but is filled with the souls of all beings.”

　　Souls! Shen Ying narrowed her eyes.

　　“The River of Forgetfulness gathers the souls of all the beings and brings these souls to every corner of the three realms. Each drop from the river is equivalent to a soul. Whether a demon or a divine being or a mortal, everybody’s soul started out in this River of Forgetfulness and would return there in the end. This is the truth behind the reincarnation of all beings.”

　　So it was. No wonder it was said that reincarnation would cleanse everything – even demonic Qi. When Chen Ge sent Xuan Tong to be reincarnated in the beginning, this was the reason. There were nothing but souls in the river, naturally it would not be able to tolerate any foreign entities. Xuan Tong was unable to rid herself of the demonic Qi even though she reincarnated three times because Chen Ge sent her to be reincarnated by force. Her soul did not even remain in the River of Forgetfulness for very long.

　　“Even beings that live long lives like the immortal, demons and divine beings, face the chance of falling one day. When that time comes, they will return to the River of Forgetfulness to be reincarnated. The demonic realm was like that too…”

　　“Was?” Shen Ying caught the key word.

　　“That’s right, was!” The Godfiend nodded, frowning. He suddenly looked behind him and waved his hand. “This is the branch of the river that flows through the immortal realm! You’ll understand when you see it.”

　　Once he finished talking, a blinding light caused them to squint. They saw the extremely bright golden light expend over such a huge area that they could not see the end of it. The golden river extended for miles and miles behind the Godfiend so that half the sky was illuminated by the golden river.

　　“This…” Lonemoon was speechless as he surveyed the vast branch of the River of Forgetfulness. Then, he glanced at the tiny stream that was supposed to be the demon realm’s equivalent. “How did this happen?” The difference was huge! Is that really the main branch going through the demonic realm?

　　“The immortals, demons and divine beings all live in different realms. They used to share the same river. Ever since the divine beings ascended their own realms, the immortals have been separated from the divine beings, causing the demonic realm to be isolated as well. The River of Forgetfulness thus split itself into three branches and ceased to exist as one huge river as it did before. The immortal realm is connected to the mortal realm, and so is the divine realm, although the immortal and divine realms are separate. That’s why they’re relatively unaffected. Only the demonic realm is completely isolated from the other realms. The River of Forgetfulness that runs through the demonic realm has been isolated for too long. As time went by, it began to dry up. The people of the demonic realm-”

　　“Their souls cannot reincarnate!” Lonemoon finished his sentence and looked up at the person across from him. “That’s why… you merged the immortal realm with the demonic realm in order to save the demonic realm. You want the River of Forgetfulness to flow through all three realms once again?”

　　“That’s right.” The Godfiend nodded and smiled faintly again. Strangely, Lonemoon could not tell if he was angry or happy.

　　“Then what did you drag me into this world for?” Lonemoon could not help but question. If this was all for the benefit of the demons, the Godfiend himself would be able to solve the problem. He was one of the three great ancient divine beings. He definitely had the power to merge the realms on his own. Who could stop him? There was no need for him to drag Lonemoon into this world at all.

　　“I am a Godfiend, but since I exist outside of the Three Realms, I have no power to interfere with what happens inside it. I can only intervene indirectly,” the Godfiend explained.

　　“You want me to open the gates of the demonic realm!” Lonemoon exclaimed.

　　“No, you are only an assistant.” The Godfiend shook his head. “The sorcery that Zhan Ting placed on the gates of the demonic realm when he created it is indeed a transportation technique. The material of the gates, however, is the Sky-Opening Stone that have been left behind in the demonic realm since ancient times. The Emperor Ascension Stage used to be the heavenly pillar of the two realms, therefore placing the gates of the demonic realm on it could create the connection between the two realms.”

　　“So… the gates of the demonic realm need to be opened on top of the Emperor Ascension Stage.”

　　The Godfiend nodded. “After the demonic realm was sealed, I tried to analyse the person with the highest chances of opening the gates of the demonic realm on the heavenly pillar.”

　　Lonemoon pondered for awhile. “It’s Chen Ge or Xuan Tong?”

　　“Yes.” He silently scanned the people beside Shen Ying. “But there is only a five percent chance of this being successful. There is a huge obstacle to overcome as well, and you are the only one who can get rid of this obstacle. That’s why I brought you into this world.”

　　Obstacle?

　　Lonemoon paused, as if recalling something. He immediately turned to the person beside him. “Yi Qing!” The only person in the novel who was stopping the demonic gates from being opened was him.

　　The Godfiend’s smile widened. The answer was obvious.

　　“That was why you put that book… in front of me?” Lonemoon pursed his lips. Only the people who understood the novel would want to stop Yi Qing from sending himself to die, but…

　　“Did you have to write the future you predicted into a novel?” Are you a freaking author? Or are you just a fraudster?

　　“That was the most appropriate way of letting you know all of these things, based on my analysis of your possible reactions.”

　　The most appropriate way was..

　　Lonemoon’s expression darkened. Two suspicious looks were focused on him.

　　“What are you looking at?” The hairs on his arms stood. “I said I don’t like to read erotica!”

　　“Oh…” The two of them said at once.

　　“Oh my ass! Get your suspicious expressions out of my face!” Lonemoon blushed instantly and turned to face the man in front of him. “Can you all focus on the important things? That little perverted novel was all his plot to manipulate us! I’m not interested in it at all!”

　　“According to my knowledge… you read it a total of four times?” The Godfiend asked.

　　Pa pa. There seemed to be the sound of bubbles bursting.

　　Lonemoon: “…”

　　“Oh…” The suspicious looks intensified.

　　“Shut up!”

　　Ψ(*>皿