"Time-Space Great Emperor!?"
Upon hearing this name, Ye Chen experienced a momentary daze, followed by an overwhelming shock that left him wide-eyed as he stared at the gentle, white-haired old man before him.
This was the Time-Space Great Emperor!?
One must know that the title 'Great Emperor' alone was enough to shake the past, present, and future, representing the most supreme power. The Time-Space Great Emperor was known to all, one of the mightiest Emperors of the Sealed Boundary Universe during the Mythical Epoch, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Heavenly Emperor, the Battle Saint Ancestor, and Tai Sheng Huang.
The imprint of Tai Sheng Huang had once said that if there were Immortal Kings in the world, the Time-Space Great Emperor could be one, for he was among the strongest Emperors who had slain true Emperors.
It was rumored that the Time-Space Great Emperor's mastery over time and space surpassed that of other Emperors, reaching an unparalleled peak, even said to be capable of traversing any era throughout the ages, eternal and undying.
However, ever since the Mythical Great Destruction, the Time-Space Great Emperor had vanished, suspected to have fallen.
After all, the battle of the Mythical Great Destruction was too brutal. Emperors and Sovereigns had completely disappeared; some had fallen, while others were suspected to have entered the Primordial Immortal Realm.
Moreover, if the Time-Space Great Emperor was the World Ancestral Tree, Ye Chen had once witnessed a more complete scene of the Mythical Great Destruction through the eyes of an alien Emperor. That World Ancestral Tree, which had existed since the dawn of creation, had clearly withered. Yet, the Time-Space Great Emperor before him was alive and well, fishing for True Dragons.
However, another identity of the Time-Space Great Emperor also left him feeling dazed.
The first World Tree was actually the Time-Space Great Emperor.
Yet, upon careful reflection, Ye Chen now found it reasonable. After all, the World Tree belonged to the supreme ranks of living beings, innately possessing a form of control over time and space, capable of casually creating worlds upon reaching a high enough realm.
Especially the first World Tree, which had attained the Emperor realm—its mastery over time and space must be terrifyingly extreme.
To achieve the Emperor realm through the Dao of time and space—wasn't that precisely the Time-Space Great Emperor?
That the World Ancestral Tree was the Time-Space Great Emperor was, therefore, only natural.
It was just that later generations rarely knew the World Ancestral Tree was the Time-Space Great Emperor, generally considering them to be two separate Emperors: the World Ancestral Tree was the World Ancestral Tree, and the Time-Space Great Emperor was the Time-Space Great Emperor.
Ye Chen's mental cultivation was, after all, extraordinary. After a brief moment of shock, he regained his composure, immediately rising to his feet and bowing respectfully with a sincere salute, his words carrying reverence from the depths of his heart: "This junior, Ye Chen, pays his respects to the Time-Space Great Emperor!"
At this moment, Ye Chen felt a newfound respect for this seemingly ordinary old man before him—a respect that came from the heart, for this was a true Emperor, and one of the mightiest Emperors at that, standing alongside the Heavenly Emperor, the Battle Saint Ancestor, and Tai Sheng Huang, an Emperor who had made countless efforts for the entire Sealed Boundary Universe.
For such a figure, every person in the Sealed Boundary Universe needed to bow in respect.
Counting them up, Ye Chen had met Tai Sheng Huang, met the Battle Saint Ancestor, and now had met the Time-Space Great Emperor. Only the most mysterious and ancient Heavenly Emperor remained unseen in person.
"Hehe, there's no need for such formalities. Keep it simple. And like Tai Sheng Huang and the Battle Saint Ancestor, I am not my true self either."
The Time-Space Great Emperor smiled, as calm and composed as ever, like an ordinary old man, without releasing the slightest hint of his supreme Emperor's might—the epitome of returning to simplicity.
Yet, who would dare underestimate him? Though his Emperor's might was concealed and not displayed, he dared to fish for True Dragons—such a feat alone was beyond anyone's imagination.
Ye Chen found it strange. The three mightiest Emperors all lacked their true selves in the Sealed Boundary Universe. Tai Sheng Huang's true self was suspected to have gone to the Primordial Immortal Realm; the Battle Saint Ancestor's true self was missing, fate unknown after the most terrifying Emperor battle in history; and where was the Time-Space Great Emperor's true self?
"The true Emperors are no longer here. They have left this Ancient Universe, making preparations, all on their way, waiting only for the final battle to come." The Time-Space Great Emperor spoke softly, yet Ye Chen sensed a peculiar solemnity—the true Emperors of the Sealed Boundary Universe were absent.
"Some are on their way back, some are on the path of conquest, some are slumbering, and some are enduring hardships, bearing the infamy of the ages."
Suddenly, the Time-Space Great Emperor uttered a cryptic sentence, filled with endless meaning, difficult to comprehend.
Ye Chen was somewhat puzzled, especially by the last part—who exactly was bearing the infamy of the ages?
The Time-Space Great Emperor soon regained his amiable demeanor, still fishing for the True Dragon in the pond, saying, "I know you must have many questions in your heart. Rest assured, since I've brought you here today, this old man won't keep stringing along your curiosity. Some questions can still be explained. I'll explain them to you one by one first."
Ye Chen sat back down on the chair, attentively listening.
"You guessed correctly. The reason you didn't die when you were sacrificed to the Immortal Heavenly Pass back then was because I intervened." The Time-Space Great Emperor admitted, adding, "Actually, you should already know the real reason."
"The Key Person!" Ye Chen said. Indeed, this was the only possibility he could think of.
"That's right, precisely because of that." The Time-Space Great Emperor did not deny it. "As the Key Person, you are someone who might reverse the fate of the Sealed Boundary Universe's destruction in the future, or, to be more precise, you might even reverse the fate of the entire Chaos Sea."
At this point, the Time-Space Great Emperor's expression turned somewhat grave. His eyes were profound, with the River of Time flowing through them, reflecting scenes throughout the ages.
"Back then, the Emperors of the Mythical Epoch had long sensed that the Sealed Boundary Universe would face the Great Destruction during the Mythical Epoch. Some Emperors joined forces to perform divinations—I was one of them—proceeding along the River of Time to divine, hoping to find someone who could reverse the fate of the Great Destruction!"
"Actually, the Heavenly Secrets are very special. Simple divinations are harmless to many cultivators, but when trying to find someone who can reverse the fate of an entire Ancient Universe, it involves too much causality, potentially even affecting the stability of various times and spaces throughout the ages. The implications are too great."
"Even I, hailed as the Time-Space Great Emperor with absolute control over time and space, found it difficult to accomplish, for fear that the spacetime of all ages might collapse, with unimaginable consequences."
"Moreover, at that time, it wasn't just the Emperors of our universe performing divinations; the Emperors of the alien race's universe were also divining, and it was even suspected that the most ancient and mysterious Primordial Ancestor was divining as well, intending to eliminate the person who could reverse fate."
"One can imagine, with the Emperors of two Ancient Universes performing divinations, their auras clashing, the true Heavenly Secrets became chaotic. No one could truly divine the outcome, only settling for the next best thing: divining nine Key Persons. And these were not from the Mythical Epoch, but would only appear in the next epoch to reverse fate. One of them is you."
The Time-Space Great Emperor spoke, but at this moment, his expression was grave as he looked deeply at Ye Chen. "However, what shocked us even more was that the result of our divination involved immense causality. At the end of the River of Time, we caught a glimpse of an even more terrifying, blood-stained corner of the future."
"That future is more terrifying than the Mythical Great Destruction, even involving the Chaos Sea, more dreadful than we had imagined."
Even the Time-Space Great Emperor spoke in such a manner, one could imagine how terrifying the future was. Yet, his tone grew heavier—
"However, within that future, we saw a person, a peerless powerhouse, standing alone and supreme in the blood-stained future."