They parted once again. Ye Chen stood before the Domain Gate, his gaze profound, as if he could pierce through the spatial channel to see his departed parents, wife, daughter, and clansmen.
Reluctance lingered in his heart.
Only after a long while did he finally withdraw his gaze.
"Ee-ee-ah-ah—"
A cute little white beast had not left, landing directly on Ye Chen's shoulder. Its long tail coiled around his neck, and its adorable little head kept nuzzling against Ye Chen's face, chirping incessantly.
It was Yiyi, who had not departed. This time, it would follow Ye Chen.
Ye Chen rubbed its little head with his large hand. "Yiyi, we're finally acting together again."
"Ee-ee— Yeah, finally with little Yue Yue again, we can go out and play," Yiyi chirped with a childish voice.
"You playful little thing, just like Yaya," Ye Chen shook his head helplessly, then addressed the Ye Family Patriarch. "Patriarch, please open the channel to the Human Sovereign's Prefecture."
"Understood."
Under the Ye Family Patriarch's direction, the Domain Gate's transmission coordinates shifted, and the long-distance Domain Gate opened once more. Ye Chen stepped into it. With a boom, both man and beast vanished, heading for the true center of the Myriad Domains.
Within the Domain Gate was a spatial channel filled with brilliant colors, leading to a distant land countless li away—at least hundreds of millions of li—a distance so vast it defied ordinary reasoning.
This was a stable spatial channel, a rainbow-hued passage constructed by the Dao mark runes inscribed between Domain Gates, very stable and difficult to breach.
Especially since this was an imperial clan's Domain Gate, the spatial channel it created was even more stable, faster, and swifter, as it involved a portion of the laws of time.
Ye Chen stood within it, Yiyi curled on his shoulder, waiting to exit the spatial channel. With an imperial clan's Domain Gate, it would take less than an hour at most to successfully reach the Human Sovereign's Prefecture.
The rainbow-hued spatial channel traversed the endless spatial turbulence. Through the channel, glimpses of the endless spatial turbulence could be seen, as well as other spatial channels crossing through, similarly rainbow-hued, though far less resplendent, magnificent, and swift than the one Ye Chen was in—they were simply incomparable.
Others in those channels also saw Ye Chen, shocked. They could only see the heroic, youthful back of a figure, yet they deeply understood his extraordinariness; ordinary people simply couldn't afford to use such an exceptional Domain Gate.
Boom—
Suddenly, the endless spatial turbulence became many times more frenzied, surging and sweeping past, affecting all spatial channels.
Almost all the rainbow spatial channels became unstable, trembling violently as if on the verge of collapsing and dissipating at any moment.
Only Ye Chen's spatial channel remained as stable as ever, not collapsing, with a special, mighty power circulating to maintain its stability.
"This is bad! There are terrifying figures confronting ahead, affecting the spatial turbulence and causing a fearsome spatial storm!" people in the other spatial channels exclaimed, their faces paling. The endless spatial turbulence was extremely dangerous; even Saints couldn't endure it for long. Only overlord-level existences and above could barely traverse it, and even then with great peril.
Especially a surging spatial storm like this was even more terrifying; even Saint Lord-level figures faced the danger of perishing, their Dao extinguished.
Moreover, the experts in the other spatial channels couldn't all be Saint Lord-level. Such existences were the masters of major powers, considered to stand among the top-tier experts of the myriad realms. They couldn't be found everywhere, even in the most prosperous and bustling center of the Myriad Domains.
"Go! Before the spatial storm fully affects us, charge into that spatial channel!"
In one of the spatial channels, the strongest among them was a powerful overlord, whose cultivation could also be considered quite extraordinary. Faced with this terrifying spatial storm, he acted decisively. A circle of fiery divine radiance flowed from his body, enveloping the two other Saints beside him. He broke through his spatial channel and charged toward Ye Chen's spatial channel.
Not far away, three other spatial channels saw their experts, caring little for anything else, immediately follow suit, leaving their channels and rushing toward Ye Chen's.
"Fellow Daoist ahead, could you lend a hand and save us? We are willing to pay a sufficient reward," the overlord-level figure who acted first spoke up, very directly, getting straight to the point, willing to pay a corresponding price for the chance to enter the spatial channel.
The others all looked at Ye Chen, for without his action, they couldn't possibly open the spatial channel to enter.
Ye Chen nodded with an indifferent expression. "Fine. Three million jin of spirit stones per person."
Upon hearing this, the several people outside the spatial channel gasped, their eyes wide with shock.
Three million jin of spirit stones per person? There were ten people here, wasn't that thirty million jin? This was simply too much of a lion's opening.
"Fellow Daoist, isn't this a bit excessive? Why can't you just help us? We would be very grateful," a Saint among them spoke up, somewhat displeased.
"Well said, Fellow Daoist. You and we are all cultivators. Helping each other is normal. Why make such a lion's opening?" others chimed in.
Ye Chen merely swept a faint glance over them. "Either pay three million jin of spirit stones, or return to your respective spatial channels. No other discussion."
"You—" This angered the numerous experts. Was he really going to be so cold and heartless?
But Ye Chen remained unmoved. He was no gentleman. If he saved everyone, wouldn't he have no time to cultivate, running all over the world to rescue people?
Rumble—
At that moment, an even more terrifying spatial storm came sweeping in, surging and mighty. The fronts of the other spatial channels began to collapse, causing the group to pale.
"Fine, Fellow Daoist, we agree. Please open it," the overlord directly agreed.
"Sect Master—" the two Saints following him hurriedly spoke up.
"Say no more," the Sect Master said, taking out a small mountain of spirit stones that shone brilliantly, radiating surging heaven and earth spiritual energy—nine million jin worth.
Ye Chen nodded, grabbed them with one hand, and opened the spatial channel, allowing the three to enter.
The other experts all wanted to seize the chance to charge in, but Ye Chen was faster, immediately closing the spatial channel. They crashed into it, were sent flying, and felt sharp pain, but there was nothing they could do.
Seeing the spatial storm rapidly approaching, about to reach them, their faces completely changed color. They each quickly took out three million jin of spirit stones. "Fellow Daoist, please open the spatial channel quickly!"
Yet Ye Chen refused, speaking coldly. "The price has increased now. Four million jin of spirit stones per person."