Yan Ling looked at Liang Chen and the reassuring smile he wore as he stood there, triumphantly looking down at Lan Yun. Fast. Extremely so, even she had to admit that she wouldn't be more than 50 or 60% confident in victory if she had to face that kind of speed. But that was just factoring in the speed, she knew that Liang Chen still had another trump card, his main specialization even.
He was... horribly skewed, that was probably the best way to describe him. Fighting and training, that was basically everything he had done ever since his parents were executed, he'd never gotten the time to delve into anything else. So what did he get from this, from abandoning practically everything else? Attack power that bordered on the impossible, he may have even crossed that border now after all this time. Speed beyond mortal limits and attack power that could rend worlds, what a terrifying thing that was.
"One second... It looks like you've learned how to be honest while we've been apart."
But, in the end, what did it matter to her how terrifying her man was? It was only right that he was terrifying, he was the man who stole her heart, the man who would bring existence to its knees so that he could stand as the sole beacon of evil. So go ahead, be terrifying, be monstrous, I'll be there to support your shoulder whenever things get hard.
Liang Chen obviously couldn't read Yan Ling's thoughts, his hand resting on Lan Yun's head. But he didn't need to read her thoughts to see the care behind her gaze, the warmth in her eyes, the support that existed for him and him alone. With someone to look at him like that, how could his smile ever fade?
"I've always been honest, you're the one who was the problem."
Straight-forward, if you wanted to be kind then you could describe Liang Chen like that. And if you wanted to be a bit more realistic then you could use simple-minded. He had one thought and he acted on it, he spoke one thing and he moved for it, a beast whose limbs moved solely on emotion. The companion that stole his soul, however... she was a trickster through and through, he didn't even want to count the number of headaches she gave him, even if she snorted and denied the accusations.
"Hmph, blatant slander, I'm an upstanding citizen."
What an awkward place to hold this conversation, standing in front of the gazes of multiple Sovereign Gods and others close to that level, surrounded by a shattered courtyard dominated by a queasy tenseness. Really, what a terrible place they had chosen. And yet, neither of them cared, one smirking lightly while the other repeated their earlier snort.
"Oh, then who was it that came up with the idea to infiltrate the Qing clan's party for the younger generation and poison their food to cause chaos?"
"A one-time thing supported by a certain freak, nothing more."
What a pointless conversation. Words understood only by the two of them, events experienced in the time the two shared. None here could understand it, none would care about it, it may as well be entirely unknown. But this pointless thing, it meant the world to them, that unknown time, it was irreplaceable to them.
"It's nice to see a reunion like this, don't you think? Everything turned red when I saved Jun'er so we didn't really have the time to enjoy ourselves like this."
"Mhm, it's relaxing. My reunion was nice and calm, but my clown has always been good at making us enough time so I'd say that's probably to be expected."
Two unknown voices quietly reached Liang Chen as he stood there, the hairs on his neck rising slightly. He had seen that there were two other women in the courtyard after he launched his attack, but they had slipped from his mind as he focused fully on Yan Ling. Now that they spoke up they also crept their way back into his mind. He hadn't forgotten how one of them had been sitting right where his lightning went, yet she had remained seemingly unharmed. They weren't weak, definitely not.
"Ah, right. Sorry, I forgot. Here, let me introduce you."
Their words also brought Yan Ling back to the wider reality so she turned her head somewhat awkwardly. It was one thing to forget about normal people, but forgetting about existences like these could easily lead to some grim situations. That was especially the case when she thought about what sort of relationship one of them had with the lord of her master. But there was no need for her to introduce them, Liang Chen's gaze sliding across them.
"No need. You should be the Nightmare Queen, correct? And you... the father was the Divine Emperor so I guess that makes you the Divine Empress?"
Light pink eyes and hair that swam with all the colours of the rainbow, the first woman resembled a stained glass window, she seemed to exist just to draw your attention. Pitch-black eyes and snow-white hair, the second woman could be said to look a lot more normal, at least colour-wise, but her existence radiated a chill that could not stem from any ice-related law.
"You can just call me Guo Luo, I've never been very fond of that title, it's a bit too pompous. But to have actually read up on even us, maybe you really are a bit more sensible than our guys, at least a little."
The rainbow-haired woman smiled, a calm and gentle smile that did not befit her title. And yet, that was the title that had stuck with her despite the long passage of time so she had clearly done something to deserve it, Liang Chen was not too interested in finding out exactly what.
"No, I haven't read up on either of you. But you, Miss Luo, give off a vibe similar to an acquaintance of mine. As for you... your daughter really takes after you."
Indeed, Liang Chen hadn't really read up on the powerhouses of this universe, of any universe for that matter. But there were other ways to figure out people's identities. When Liang Chen first fought Shen Fei, he had used a move that he proudly proclaimed was taught to him by the daughter of the Nightmare Queen. And the rainbow-haired woman in front of him gave off an air that was exceedingly similar to the aura that Shen Fei had at that time.
But she was strong, far too strong to have taught Shen Fei that technique in the past, so she was more likely to be the queen herself rather than the daughter. And the other woman was even easier, she shared both appearance and aura with Li Zhao Xu, who had fought so hard to understand why her father liked battles. If there was an emperor then there was an empress, it was elementary.
"Takes after me? You wouldn't say that after meeting her father."
The other woman, the Divine Empress, didn't deny his conjecture, wordlessly acknowledging it. The Divine Emperor... according to Li Xu was a man who liked battles, he was a junkie that almost viewed it as art. He wasn't the kind of man that Liang Chen was terribly interested in meeting, especially not if he was like Li Xu and picked fights wantonly.
"Xu, she's still with you, isn't she?"
The Divine Empress' gaze was calm, almost quiet as it rested on Liang Chen. It felt like a calm winter night, the mounds of snow absorbing all sound and leaving nothing but unmoving darkness, not even the light of the moon capable of rocking it. There was a chill to it, just like any other winter night, but there was also a serene beauty tucked away beneath that chill, or perhaps calling it a quiet acceptance would be better.
"Yeah, she's here."
Liang Chen gave his interspatial ring a slight touch and pulled out the person he had in mind, the white-haired and crimson-eyed Li Zhao Xu appearing from within the ring. Her eyes moved about the surroundings for a bit before settling on the Divine Empress, a happy shout escaping her.
"Mother!"
She leapt forward like a small child and wrapped her arms around the Divine Empress, who formed a warm and gentle smile that contrasted her earlier aura.
"How was it, did you feel like you managed to learn something new?"
The Divine Empress' hand slowly rubbed Zhao Xu's back, more like a mother consoling a small child than a mother welcoming back her adult daughter. But Liang Chen had learned thanks to Lan Yun, that was just how it was to be a parent. Zhao Xu raised her head slightly from the Empress' embrace, a grin on her face.
"Nope, I couldn't figure out a single thing! And that one there trashed me, beat me black and blue, but I still couldn't learn a single thing."
Her hand stretched out and she pointed at Liang Chen, declaring her failure without the slightest bit of shame. She had at least looked bitter when she originally spoke with Liang Chen about it, but all of that seemed to have melted away when she met her mother. Or perhaps she was just hiding it to look strong in front of her family, only the one in question would know.
"That's fine too, people aren't meant to learn or understand everything. Just reach out one hand at a time and grasp what you can, no need to worry too much about the things that never reach your hands."
Luckily, it didn't seem like the Divine Empress was planning on pursuing the fact that Liang Chen had beat her daughter, preferring to place her full focus on her instead. But Yan Ling nudged his side with her elbow and looked at him somewhat incredulously.
"You...beat up Mei Kongxu's daughter?"
That wasn't just anyone's daughter, that was the Divine Empress' daughter! The Decayed End, a woman feared throughout a multitude of universes, he had beaten her daughter black and blue! You may as well just say that normal suicide wasn't good enough so you wanted to do something special. Liang Chen could only shrug his shoulders lightly, it wasn't as if he had known anything back then, nor would it have mattered.
"To be perfectly fair, she attacked me first at the time, I even said that I had no interest in the battle."
Liang Chen's target had only been Tian Shenju at the time, he had even been quietly hoping that Zhao Xu wouldn't be there. But his luck was poor so she had indeed been there, she was even fighting Tian Shenju at the time.
"Ah, he did do that. But he still chose to fight rather than flee, that counts for something, right?"
Zhao Xu cut in from the side, but whether or not she was trying to support Liang Chen or damn him further was impossible to tell. Who could stop him if he wanted to flee? Who among those present wouldn't think that he could flee at any moment if he wanted to?
"Life's been hectic for you it seems."
Yan Ling spoke as if she sympathized, but her expression showed everything but that emotion. The personality of this Zhao Xu seemed to be one that didn't mesh well with Liang Chen, yet she had clearly stuck by his side, she had been in his interspatial ring after all.
"Don't mention it, it'll give me a headache."
He felt like shaking his head, he luckily didn't have to spend too much time with Li Zhao Xu, Shen Fei was the one forced to suffer that fate. Liang Chen's gaze moved slightly, but Guo Luo was just smiling peacefully, contently, from the sideline and didn't seem like she was going to involve herself too much. The Divine Empress, Mei Kongxu, was also preoccupied with her daughter so she seemed to be done talking. It wasn't the best time, but it was the promised time.
"...Do you remember what we promised last time?"
Their last meeting, how long ago had it been? how many years had it been since their last separations, how many rivers of blood, how many scars? But they had reunited in the end, they had fought and struggled for that promise. Yan Ling knew what was coming, a smile as soft as silk forming on her face as she gently touched the ring that rested on Liang Chen's finger.
A ring split into two colours, a wavy blue and a wavy silver, both dancing around the ring while an emerald sun adorned it as the centrepiece. It was a wholly useless ring, it wasn't even engraved with a singly array, it was just made from stupidly sturdy materials. But it was important, more important than any other thing she had ever made.
"The bright dawn that rose from the Green Rivers. How could I forget? No more separations, no more distance."
The man whose name meant the bright dawn, the man who rose from the Green Rivers to become what he was now. It was forged by her, for him, to symbolize him and their promise. Liang Chen placed his hand atop of Yan Ling's, the promise she had made him back then was seared into his brain, the promise they shared.
"Always and forever, I'll be by your side."
"Until we see the end of time."
Simple, straightforward, seemingly impossible. That was their promise, that was their eternity, that was their time. Liang Chen's other hand stretched out and landed on the ring that adorned Yan Ling's hand, the ring he had personally made for her as his promise.
A simple silver ring that held six crystals, one golden, one white, one grey, one cyan, one purple, and one black. Each crystal was made by his laws, each crystal represented a part of him, a part that she had conquered. But one was missing, the final piece he had promised her years ago.
His Qi quietly moved, seeped out from him and latched onto the ring, onto the centrepiece that was left empty. And then it got greedy. It was as if a black hole had been born there, all the energy in the area getting violently torn towards the centrepiece, the foliage in the area quivering gently.
The final crystal quietly formed. A wolf's eye, that was the form he chose, the proud gaze of a wolf facing the heavens, that was the image of Yan Ling that was most engraved in his mind. At first glance, the crystal looked perfectly transparent, as if it wasn't even there. But as you looked closer, colours would flit by. Blue, gold, white, black, grey, cyan, purple, they danced about without rhyme or reason.
The shape was her, the colour was him. He was transparent, the empty void. But at the same time, he was everything else as well, the embodiment of the paradox. Finally, finally, he had made good on that promise they shared years ago, finally, the time had come.
"Yan Ling, will you stay with me? Will you marry me?"
What a first meeting it had been for the two, what a tumultuous time they had met in. And what a time they had shared, ups and downs in an unending stream. But they had met, they had shared time, and because of that, the answer to his question was already set in stone.
"To the end of time, and then even further beyond."