"So many buried, the closest people sacrificed, and in the end, only such a result remains. Was it truly worth it?"
The future Supreme One body of Ye Chen, akin to a Chaos Heavenly Emperor, spoke, his emotions complex, as if questioning the other party, yet also interrogating himself.
The other party did not transmit a single sound, as if in silence.
The future Great Emperor Ye Chen, peerless and majestic, was also covered in blood, his body bearing many wounds. Some even pierced through him front and back, revealing stark white bones that had not healed.
His eyes were no longer sharp enough to pierce through the endless ages; they held only boundless desolation, endless vicissitudes, and infinite sorrow. He whispered softly, "The union of two lifetimes could have achieved true invincibility, shattered the eternal myth of immortality, and attained the supreme existence. But all of this is no longer worth it!"
"Is it truly not worth it?" A voice came from the opposite side. It was the other party answering, seeming to question the Chaos Heavenly Emperor, yet also questioning himself.
The Chaos Heavenly Emperor raised his head to gaze at the heavens, silent and soundless, bloody tears streaming down. He murmured softly, "If I could be given a chance, I would only wish to be an ordinary, common person, guarding by my beloved wife's side, accompanying my family, living a mundane and brief life. Perhaps that would be the greatest happiness for me."
The wish was simple—not pursuing the pinnacle of the Great Dao, not hoping for eternal life and immortality, not desiring everlasting existence. He only wished to stay by his loved ones' sides for a lifetime. How ordinary, how simple a wish.
Yet for the future peerless and supreme Chaos Heavenly Emperor, it was impossible.
Because he was invincible throughout the world, yet the world was also utterly silent. Everything had come to an end. The loved ones by his side had withered away, buried in the yellow earth. In the end, only he remained, sitting alone upon that supreme and peerless Emperor's throne, overlooking the Great Era, piercing through the river of time, gazing into the distant past.
How sorrowful, how desolate.
The invincibility, eternity, and immortality that the world pursued held no meaning for him.
What he wanted was not these things. He only wished for the people by his side to accompany him forever—that would be enough!
Yet even this, which mortals could easily achieve, he, the mightiest Chaos Heavenly Emperor, could not do.
"Ah—"
At this moment, the Chaos Heavenly Emperor suddenly erupted with the most terrifying radiance, roaring almost madly, "No! I must reverse fate, change everything from the past! It cannot be like this! Even if this heaven and earth seek to bury me, I will defy the world and fight back!"
Visible to the naked eye, the future body of Ye Chen, akin to the Chaos Heavenly Emperor, roared and howled. His entire aura grew many times stronger, as if about to tear apart the boundless Chaos Sea, rip through the river of time, and charge toward the unforeseeable opposite side...
Boom—
Infinite light exploded, and Ye Chen's divine soul withdrew from it. Everything vanished, and the light sphere completely dissipated, having no further reason to exist.
Because Ye Chen had finished browsing it; all the information was engraved in his memory.
Although many crucial details were concealed by the Heavenly Secrets, his future invincible Supreme One self had ultimately defied the heavens, transmitting a portion of highly important information, letting him know that his future self seemed to still be facing a most terrifying great enemy. It was not over; the battle continued.
Who was that person, who made his future self fight so exhaustively, battling to the end at all costs?
No one knew.
Ye Chen's divine soul withdrew from the future Chen'er's Mud Pill Palace and returned to his own. Silently, he organized the various pieces of information.
Finally, coffin lids were covered one by one. The crystal coffin transformed back into the Six Paths of Reincarnation Coffin, buried in the deepest part of the Netherworld. Ye Chen returned to the surface.
It wasn't that he didn't want to take the crystal coffin with him, but he ultimately felt it was impossible. It contained terrifying future causality power. If he took it now, it might cause dreadful repercussions, even causing violent turbulence throughout space-time.
Now, he had seen the future bodies of his three wives—Zhao Jingruo, Yi Wu, and Chen'er—but there were others he hadn't seen, all containing important information he needed to seek out.
The final battle of the future was too terrifying; Ye Chen deeply trembled at the thought.
Even he could sense the helplessness and powerlessness of his future supreme and peerless self. To be so powerful yet still like this—it was unimaginable.
Thus, he became even more determined. The future had not fully arrived yet; he needed to become stronger, stronger than the future he had just witnessed. He needed to become strong enough to resist everything, perhaps even surpass everything, reaching the legendary, eternal, and immortal strongest level.
Finally, Ye Chen arrived at the Nether Hall to claim a portion of compensation—all treasures of immense value. The Nether Armor Great Power watched him coldly and emotionlessly from beginning to end, yet was helpless.
Because the other party had already grown formidable, no longer the weak Battle Saint of the past, utterly fearless of everything.
At the final moment before leaving, Ye Chen spoke, "No one is allowed to touch the crystal coffin in the deepest part of the chasm."
"On what grounds? This is the Origin Ancient Coffin of my Immortal Sacred Land!" the Nether Armor Great Power snorted coldly.
Ye Chen said icily, "If I discover it, I will mobilize the Great Powers of all heavens, sparing no cost to completely erase the Immortal Sacred Land. Don't believe me? Try it!"
Simple and brutal—that was Ye Chen.
The Battle Saint lineage had always been domineering and forceful, let alone Ye Chen, who had achieved the Chaos Saint Body, pushing this to the extreme.
To be threatened like this right in front of his own domain, even the Nether Armor Great Power was quite enraged. What did this mean?
Yet he also felt somewhat powerless because the other party was too powerful and wielded the Supreme Emperor Weapon of the Formless Monarch—the Heaven-Wastage Great Halberd. Once awakened, he would dare to attack anything. Even if other Origin Ancient Coffins still existed within the Immortal Sacred Land, it wouldn't matter; the damage to the Immortal Sacred Land would be too great.
In the end, the Nether Armor Great Power could only swallow his anger.
After leaving the Immortal Sacred Land, Ye Chen attempted to deduce the whereabouts of that Undying Great Power. As long as he wasn't tracked down, he remained a threat, causing Ye Chen worry.
However, even with Ye Chen utilizing boundless Faith Power, Wish Power, and even Fortune Power for deduction, it was futile. The other party seemed to possess some special secret treasure that could conceal his own Heavenly Secrets, preventing detection by others.
Ye Chen's expression darkened slightly. But he had left divine soul power within the boundless Faith Power of the two peerless great sects, forging Faith Power Divine Avatars not inferior to ancient Great Sages. Especially in the Ancient Orchid Great World—his own great world—he was invincible.
As for the Heavenly Gate, he would one day invite one of the six ancient Great Sages to reside and oversee it. Everything would be sufficiently safe and sound.
On this day, he also began visiting the Great Powers he had fought alongside in the past, publicly declaring his heaven-defying return. This immediately turned into a storm sweeping through the myriad realms, vast and mighty.
Precisely because Ye Chen had spared no effort to protect the Sealed Realm Universe in the past, countless young generations throughout the myriad realms admired him, seeing him as an idol, a goal, and a direction to strive toward.
The cultivation atmosphere in the myriad realms was already vigorous enough, but with the Battle Saint King's heaven-defying return, it became even more intense.
Among them, countless Heaven's Pride prodigies even came from all directions, hoping to catch a distant glimpse of the Battle Saint King's peerless divine demeanor.
Unfortunately, Ye Chen moved too fast; they basically couldn't catch up. Only a very few Heaven's Pride prodigies were fortunate enough to see him—those from the Great Power factions he visited, who took pride in this as a topic of conversation, envied by others.
It could be said that over the past half year, Ye Chen visited various Great Powers and also found the Ye Clan members who had left the Ancient Orchid Great World—this place of sorrow—after his supposed demise. They had gone to another great domain but were ultimately personally welcomed back by Ye Chen.
The entire clan gathered joyously, especially Xia Wei, who hugged Ye Chen with tears streaming down her face, having almost believed he had truly left forever.
Ye Zimei was also excited. Over the past century, after the complete revival of the Return to Ancestry bloodline within her, her progress had been rapid. Now, she was also a powerful female Saint Lord.
And it was foreseeable that as time passed, she would continue to rise because she was still young, and the subsequent power of her Return to Ancestry bloodline was sufficiently strong. Breaking through to the Heavenly King Realm was likely only a matter of time.
The entire Tian Du branch returned to the Ancient Orchid Great World once more, and this time, Ye Chen personally resided there for a full three years.