Wan Lei held Fang Xiaoyu, listening quietly as she cried.
After Fang Xiaoyu woke up, she still had him to hold her and confide in.
But he had woken up ten years earlier than Fang Xiaoyu.
For these ten years, the moment he awoke, all he saw was endless void.
The world was vast, positive and negative planes were merely the only birthplaces of life within this boundless void; outside the planes lay the endless void.
There was truly nothing – no air, no land, no life, not even a speck of dust.
When he awoke, only the unconscious Fang Xiaoyu was beside him.
When he awoke, he was also yearning for all that had been destroyed by Han Fengxue.
He missed his companions, his friends, his family, his homeland, and most of all, his child.
In the endless void, there wasn't even a single person to talk to.
He endured it with strength, unleashed his own universe, and entered it, constantly trying to find a way to help Fang Xiaoyu wake up.
However, Fang Xiaoyu's injuries were inflicted by the Great Dao, and whether she could wake up depended entirely on herself.
Thus, he stoically endured for ten years.
After crying for a long time, Fang Xiaoyu finally wiped her tears, raised her head, and looked at Wan Lei with a hint of grievance.
"I'm sorry, you must have had a difficult time these past ten years."
"I'm fine, I've cried all that needed to be cried."
Wan Lei smiled and gently embraced her.
"Husband, before, I thought Saints were incredibly powerful, omnipotent, the strongest beings in existence. Now, we are Saints, why do I feel so weak?
Han Fengxue is stronger than us, the Monkey King is stronger than us, even Kaka is stronger than us. Why are we so weak..."
"What's wrong with being weak? Everyone starts from being weak. Weren't the Immortal Venerables like this in the past?"
"But now, even the Immortal Venerables are gone. Before, no matter what desperate situation we faced, I would always think, 'With Immortal Venerables behind us, we have nothing to fear.' Even if we died, Immortal Venerables could revive us.
They were like mountains behind us, giving us support. Now, even the mountains are gone."
"Then... shall we become our own support, and the support for others? Will that work?"
"Us? Can we?"
Fang Xiaoyu sat up straight and looked at Wan Lei.
"Yes, if I told you that tens of thousands of years ago, no, as early as fifty thousand years ago, the Immortal Venerables foresaw this situation and made arrangements, would you believe me?"
"Arrangements?"
Fang Xiaoyu's spirit immediately lifted, her eyes widening as she looked at Wan Lei.
"Did you think of a way?"
"I thought of the method ten years ago, I was just waiting for you to wake up."
"Tell me quickly, tell me quickly."
"When we were in the Lei Feng Realm, we ventured into secret realms one after another to collect tokens. In the end, we collected six tokens, what did we obtain?"
"We obtained the Wind Blade Escape Technique and the Creation God Disk."
"No, the most important thing we obtained was this universe."
Wan Lei looked up at the sky, a smile named hope appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"Sometimes, I can't help but marvel at the grandeur of the Immortal Venerables. Using the Creation God Disk, the Immortal Venerables created a new origin plane and placed it in my sea of consciousness.
I began nurturing it from the mortal realm, letting it grow with me. By the time I became a Saint, it had finally matured.
Look, it already has life – mountains and water, wind and trees, birds and beasts. This is a complete... origin plane."
"Are you saying that we can also... become Immortal Venerables through it?"
"Yes, if the Five Great Immortal Venerables could become Immortal Venerables by relying on the origin plane, why can't we? All the rules here are perfect, and all the authorities have no will yet, waiting for us to control them. Is there anything more suitable than this?"
"But how do we become Immortal Venerables? Moreover, even if we become Immortal Venerables, we'll only be the Immortal Venerables of this universe, not of the prime plane. And even if we become Immortal Venerables, we still won't be able to defeat Han Fengxue."
"Our universe was born from the prime plane; they are intrinsically one. You can understand it as a parent-child relationship..."
"Why not a mother-child relationship?"
"Fine, fine, a mother-child relationship, it's the same. As long as we become the Lei Feng Immortal Venerable of this universe, then when we return to the prime plane, we will naturally obtain the authority of the prime plane's Immortal Venerable and become the prime plane's Lei Feng Immortal Venerable.
Understand?"
"But if we do that... we still can't defeat Han Fengxue. He's already semi-transcended, having integrated all the authorities of the negative plane.
Moreover, by the time we become Immortal Venerables, he will have likely devoured all the authorities of the prime plane and truly transcended."
"No, we won't."
"Why?"
"Firstly, the prime plane and the negative plane are completely different and completely repellent planes. For him to become the supreme god of the prime plane, he would have to abandon all the authorities of the negative plane, which he wouldn't be willing to do.
Even if he were willing, what difference would he be after integrating all the authorities of the prime plane, compared to now when he has integrated the negative plane? He would still be semi-transcended.
Secondly..."
Wan Lei's eyes shot out with brilliant light.
"The gates of transcendence are all in my hands. If he cannot open the gates of transcendence, how can he transcend?"
Fang Xiaoyu stared blankly at Wan Lei for a moment, then rejoiced with all her heart,
"Yes, it turns out the Immortal Venerables had calculated everything. No wonder they were willing to give you the Demon Ring themselves, keeping it for you, it was for this day."
"Yes, are you still dispirited? Still despairing?"
"I'm no longer dispirited. I feel full of fighting spirit."
"Good, then prepare to become Immortal Venerables."
"But..."
Fang Xiaoyu scratched her head and frowned,
"How do we become Immortal Venerables?"
"I don't know either."
"...So, our first step is stuck, right?"
"Not necessarily. We can try. Saints have infinite lifespans, and there are no enemies in this world. We have too much time to try. I refuse to believe that we won't become Immortal Venerables even after trying until the universe perishes.
In fact, there is only one way to become an Immortal Venerable: to fully comprehend lightning with your whole being. You comprehend wind, and then, find the most primordial energy and integrate yourself into it with your entire being, becoming its sole will – that is becoming an Immortal Venerable. This is what I've summarized over these ten years."
"Okay, then where do we find the primordial energy?"
"It's right here. This continent is located in the very center of this universe, and we are at the innermost point of this continent, the closest place to the primordial energy."
"Alright."
"Stop talking, focus on comprehending."
"Oh... did you just scold me?"
...
The two of them sat cross-legged on the mountaintop.
Time flowed, and the world changed.