CHAPTER 491: CHAPTER 491 : GOING BACK HOME

Xie Jianyu could barely believe his eyes when he stared into the Goddess of Fate and Destiny’s eyes.

"Crown Prince, finally," the Goddess closed the distance between them and clasped her hand around Xie Jianyu’s wrist.

"Goddess, I didn’t expect to see you again," Xie Jianyu blinked at her several times in bewilderment.

"I have been waiting for you out here for days!" The Goddess exclaimed. "Now please tell me that Dizang gave you a Chintamani Stone."

Xie Jianyu’s jaw fell slack in amazement. As expected of the Goddess of Fate and Destiny, she could see through everything!

"Yes, he did."

Xie Jianyu opened his palm and revealed the shining jewel in his hand.

"Very good. Excellent."

The Goddess beamed at Xie Jianyu.

"Crown Prince, think about what you desire the most in this entire world and make a wish to the jewel. It will lead you to the place you want to be right now."

So that was why Dizang gave him this wish-fulfilling jewel. If Xie Jianyu had tears to spill, he might be crying right now.

The soul held the jewel in both hands and clasped them together in prayer.

"I wish to be where Fengxi currently is," he prayed.

"I wish to return to my family, and stay there for the longest time possible."

The jewel pulsed with an otherworldly light in Xie Jianyu’s hand, forcing his eyelids shut as if in response to a celestial strobe.

When he cracked them open again, the world had dissolved into a swirling vortex of blues and greens.

He was no longer in the Underworld, but he was also not in the Heavenly Realm, let alone Fuxi Palace.

He found himself suspended in a silent, inky ocean.

Bioluminescent fish, like scattered stars, darted around him, their ghostly glow a stark contrast to the enveloping darkness.

An unsettling familiarity washed over him -- a memory not of a place, but of a sensation. The icy tendrils of water, the crushing pressure unseen, the suffocating silence -- he was here several times in the past.

To be exact, he was currently in Divine Dragontail Trench.

Despite lacking a physical form, Xie Jianyu willed himself deeper. The endless expanse of water above him slowly transitioned into a claustrophobic canyon.

The walls, once indistinct shades of blue, solidified into a stark, rocky face. Jagged protrusions reached out like skeletal fingers, scraping against the edges of his non-existent perception.

The deeper he ventured, the narrower the trench became, squeezing out the last vestiges of bioluminescent life.

But then, his eyes snapped toward a familiar figure, floating in the water like an apparition with its face facing downward.

Xie Jianyu would recognize his husband everywhere.

"Zhang Fengxi!!!" He cried out as he swam closer toward the alpha.

Zhang Fengxi’s eyes slowly opened when he heard Xie Jianyu’s cries.

"... Jianbao?"

Xie Jianyu was startled when he could touch Zhang Fengxi directly. The one before him was not a living Zhang Fengxi. It was Zhang Fengxi’s soul.

"Fengxi, what happened???"

Xie Jianyu really wanted to burst into tears right now.

"What happened to you???"

"I don’t know," Zhang Fengxi muttered. "I have been here for a long time. I don’t know how I got here, and I don’t know how to get out of here."

Zhang Fengxi extended his arms and wrapped them around Xie Jianyu’s body.

"Jianbao, I... I am in pain," he mumbled at Xie Jianyu’s neck.

"What pain? How come? Are you badly hurt?"

The barrage of questions held no meaning, because Xie Jianyu knew very well what happened. After he left Qiao Wei’s body, he followed the heavenly troops to the Human Realm and watch the war unfold under his gaze.

He saw Zhang Fengxi peruse every ounce of his strength, his energy, to defeat the First Demon King once and for all.

"Fengxi..."

Xie Jianyu sobbed.

"I finally get to meet you again. You can’t leave me. Please don’t go. Fengxi... We need to go back to Fuxi Palace. Mingrui and Junjie are waiting for us."

"... Right."

A desperate smile laced Zhang Fengxi’s lips.

"I just don’t know how to leave, Jianbao..."

"We need to go up," Xie Jianyu sobbed. "Fengxi, let’s go. I will carry you..."

Zhang Fengxi tightened his grip around Xie Jianyu and hummed in assent.

"Yes," he whispered. "Just what can I do without you, wife?"

Together, they kicked off the deep water and slowly floated skyward. The inky blackness that had become a suffocating shroud began to recede, replaced by a gradual infusion of deep blues.

Bioluminescent life flickered back into existence, their ghostly light a welcome return after the absolute darkness.

After some time, a patch of sunlight was seen above them, brimming with hope and life.

"Hold on, Fengxi," Xie Jianyu whispered. "I am taking us back home."

"Jianbao," Zhang Fengxi suddenly called out again.

"What is it?" Xie Jianyu found his gaze drawn to Zhang Fengxi, whose features etched with a sorrow that threatened to erupt in tears.

"Thank you for coming back to me."

Zhang Fengxi then grasped Xie Jianyu’s jaw and leaned closer.

"Thank you for waiting for me," Xie Jianyu whispered before he closed his eyes and let himself be drowned in Zhang Fengxi’s kiss.

The patch of light above them grew larger as they neared the surface, bathing them in a blinding light.

With a final surge, they breached the surface. Xie Jianyu, gasping for a breath, snapped his eyes open.

He was no longer in the water.

He was lying on a comfortable bed, with numerous red orchids lying around him, kept fresh by the endless flow of spiritual power circulating inside the mausoleum.

This time, there was no demonic attack to greet him.

Only an unsettling peace hung heavy in the air.

Disoriented, Xie Jianyu lay motionless on the bed.

He breathed in and out several times, enjoying the quiet first minutes of his awakening, rejoicing in his long-awaited return to the Heavenly Realm.

And then a warm hand reached out for him and pulled him into a loving embrace.

"Jianbao..."

Zhang Fengxi sobbed into the crook of Xie Jianyu’s neck.

"Baby, welcome back..."

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Author’s note :

Mini theater!

Xie Jianyu : It’s not that I am complaining, but how many times have I saved Zhang Fengxi again? Can the readers start counting? ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ

Zhang Fengxi : B-but it’s because you are such a good and strong and loving wife!!! QAQ!