Chapter 46: The Ascension Door

Moving away from Gu Yuan, Ji Yue glanced at her twin sister and playfully said, "I didn’t know you could make that kind of expression. What about your earlier dissatisfaction? Have you finally accepted him, body and heart?"

Ji Yan shot her a sideways look.

"Don’t act as if you’re surprised. The ceremony being completed already means that I have accepted him as my eternal partner. So, what’s the problem with indulging in a little affection with him? He is my Dao companion... my husband."

"If I want to kiss him or be a little closer to him, is there anything wrong with that?"

Hearing Ji Yan’s words, Ji Yue blinked her eyes. She had not truly been surprised before. Now, however, she really was.

Ji Yan did not give her time to recover. A teasing glint appeared in her golden eyes.

"Anyway, you’re talking about me. But what about you? I didn’t know you could make that kind of meek expression. Is that really the Unyielding Empress?"

"Are you sure that title still suits you?"

Ji Yan teased her sister, deliberately bringing up one of Ji Yue’s many titles. Ji Yue’s cheeks immediately turned pink, and she couldn’t say any word back. The initiative she had taken during the earlier kiss had been completely taken away from her.

Both sisters walked in silence for a few moments, each wearing an embarrassed expression. Finally, Ji Yan broke the silence.

"How about we pretend the earlier incident never happened?"

"Yes, that’s for the best." Ji Yue nodded.

After that small agreement, the Heavenly Twin Stars seemed to have regained their composure. They made their way toward the former Sect Master’s residence, which now belonged to them after his death, and stepped inside.

An array formation that once sealed and protected the entrance to the secret realm had already been rendered useless by Ji Yue. The two of them passed through the broken seal without resistance and entered the hidden space.

What appeared before them was a vast, ancient-looking palace, surrounded by a translucent barrier, faintly shimmering under the dim light of the secret realm.

The previous Black Desolation Sect Masters had tried everything they could think of to enter it, yet none of them had succeeded. Ji Yue, however, was different.

She took out the ancient talisman she had obtained from the ruins beneath the Heart Demon Lake.

The moment the talisman appeared, the sealed palace, which had remained untouched for countless years, began to react. The entire secret realm seemed to vibrate and tremble.

The translucent membrane surrounding the palace slowly retreated, gathering toward a single point deep within the formation, the core of the seal.

Ji Yue’s eyes followed that movement, and a faint sparkle appeared in them. She took note of the location without saying anything before turning her attention back to the palace.

Ji Yan, on the other hand, looked at the entire spectacle with little interest and simply followed her sister inside.

As though she already knew the palace despite this being her first time here, Ji Yue moved through its ancient halls without hesitation.

The palace was enormous, with towering pillars supporting its vast halls and ancient patterns covering the walls. Every part of it carried the weight of countless years, yet there was no sense of decay. The entire place seemed to have been preserved exactly as it had been when it was first built.

Before long, Ji Yue arrived at two chambers.

Her gaze briefly swept over the first champer, which held the inheritance left behind by the person who had built this palace, then she turned away without interest and entered the second one.

The first thing that caught the eyes of both twins was a door.

At first glance, it looked completely unimpressive, seemingly made from nothing more than old wood.

But this seemingly ordinary door was the very thing they had been searching for.

The Ascension Door.

Once upon a time, wars had been fought over this door in the Immortal Realm. Emperors had fallen, and blood had flowed like rivers.

In the end, Emperor Tianwu, the Origin Emperor, one of the ancient emperors, supposedly sacrificed himself to seal the Ascension Door and expel it from the Immortal Realm.

At least, that was the information that had circulated throughout the Immortal Realm.

But now, after stepping into this chamber and seeing the enormous ancient stele standing beside the door, Ji Yue knew that information had been false.

The Origin Emperor had not sacrificed himself.

He had not died.

Instead, he had pretended to have died and taken the Ascension Door for himself.

Regardless, that was not important at this point in time.

Could this door really help them ascend beyond the realm of an Immortal Emperor?

That was the question she had come here to answer.

Ji Yue slowly approached the Ascension Door, examining it closely, even though she already knew what the answer would be.

After a moment of silence, she calmly said, "The Ascension Door is beyond our current power."

She paused, then corrected herself with a small shake of her head.

"Actually, even if we had come here at our peak, it would still be beyond us."

"A priceless treasure, there’s no doubt about that. But that’s it."

A small sigh escaped Ji Yue.

Normally, Ji Yan would have erupted in anger after learning that, especially considering how much effort they had spent to reach this place.

Instead, she merely nodded.

"That’s for the better. If we want to ascend higher, then we need to do so with our own power. There are no shortcuts in cultivation."

Her casual words made it clear that she actually felt relieved rather than frustrated by the answer.

"Anyway, we came to this world for Gu Yuan, not for the Ascension Door," Ji Yan added.

"Yes. I had hoped both of our objectives would go smoothly, but perhaps I was being too greedy."

For once, the roles of the twin sisters seemed to have reversed.

Neither of them cared about that.

Their gazes instead turned toward the enormous stele beside the Ascension Door.

"The Ascension Door can’t help us at all for now, but this stele is different." Ji Yue smiled. "It contains the comprehension of Emperor Tianwu."

The Origin Emperor had been kind enough to leave behind his understanding of Ascension, which he had spent countless eons comprehending, within this stele.

The twins certainly had no intention of letting such an understanding rot away in a place like this.

They moved in front of the stele and sat cross-legged. Then, they finally began comprehending the understanding of the Origin Emperor.