"Hold on!"
A soft voice caused the young woman who was about to unleash a killing strike to immediately halt.
Turning to look, a familiar figure, one etched deep into her very soul, appeared beside her. As always, he stood tall and majestic. His warm hand grasped her small one, his lips curved into a gentle smile.
Who else could this person be but Ye Chen?
Seeing this figure appear so abruptly, everyone was startled.
Hadn't the Battle Saint King self-destructed?
Moreover, that self-destruction was no ordinary one. Both his physical body and his most vital soul should have been torn apart, leaving not a single fragment behind.
Yet before them stood the true Battle Saint King, whole and unharmed. His aura was vast and mighty; with each breath, the heavens and earth trembled. An invisible pressure radiated, making all the powerhouses present feel an immense oppression.
There was not the slightest hint of weakness.
How was this possible?
"Dad!"
Beside him, Yaya cried out in immense joy. Little Chenxi also flew over. Despite her young age, she was quite capable, able to soar through the air.
The four young supremes of the Moon Palace and Jiu She were also genuinely happy from the bottom of their hearts.
Ye Chen nodded to them with a smile, then looked at Qian Xun.
Qian Xun's eyes suddenly blazed with intensity, a flicker of surprise appearing within them. But she quickly sensed something amiss, and her face immediately turned icy cold. "You said you would end yourself. Why aren't you dead?"
"You jerk, what do you mean by that?" Yaya's eyes widened, her killing intent flaring, wanting to strike down this Qian Xun.
But this question wasn't just Qian Xun's; everyone else was equally confused.
Cough—
Suddenly, Ye Chen's majestic body trembled violently. A trickle of blood slowly seeped from the corner of his mouth, his face turning somewhat pale. A terrifying blood mark appeared between his brows, shocking and alarming to behold, causing many to worry.
"Dad, are you alright?" Yaya beside him panicked, hurriedly grabbing hold of Ye Chen.
But Ye Chen shook his head slightly, indicating he was fine, then spoke softly, "I did end myself. But I was reborn from death."
"Impossible!" Qian Xun snorted coldly, her gaze chillingly sharp.
Ye Chen revealed the truth: "Primordial Beginning!"
That's right, it was the Time-Space Emperor Technique—Primordial Beginning!
Primordial Beginning was the immortal Emperor Technique created by the Time-Space Great Emperor. It could twist time and space, reverse everything, returning all that had happened to its most primitive state.
He had long since prepared this Time-Space Emperor Technique, inscribing it within the Chaos Great Cauldron.
Although he had self-destructed, his body shattered and bones ground to dust, through Primordial Beginning, he could reverse everything, returning to the initial state and reforming his form and spirit.
Naturally, such a self-destruction of form and spirit meant even Primordial Beginning couldn't restore everything completely unscathed. A sufficient price had to be paid—the cost of reversing time and space.
Otherwise, if the Time-Space Great Emperor, as the creator of Primordial Beginning and the strongest Emperor, could casually reverse time and space to resurrect other fallen Great Emperors or immortals, wouldn't that be too easy?
Time cannot be reversed. Even someone as powerful as the Time-Space Great Emperor couldn't casually reverse time and space to resurrect everything.
The more powerful the being being resurrected, the greater the backlash the caster had to endure.
If one were to resurrect a supreme existence like an Emperor or an immortal, the backlash wouldn't just be from this heaven and earth, nor merely from the Heavenly Dao of this ancient cosmos, but would invite immense backlash from the entire Chaos Sea in the future.
The fearsomeness of such backlash was such that even the strongest Emperor would likely be unable to withstand it and perish.
After all, the world operates on balance; everything follows the equilibrium of cause and effect.
If this balance were disrupted, it could cause the rules constructing the Chaos Sea to collapse. The entire Chaos Sea would utterly crumble, everything would return to destruction, and all that existed through countless epochs would head toward final annihilation.
This is balance.
Only at the correct place and the correct time could one reverse a certain span of time and space to resurrect the deceased.
More importantly, because Ye Chen was not yet a true Supreme Great Emperor, his Dao had not merged with the myriad Daos of the heavens like that of an Emperor or immortal. The price to pay for resurrection was far less than for such supreme existences.
Moreover, by paying a sufficient price and being the caster himself, with all these conditions combined, he could reverse everything and achieve resurrection.
However, both Yaya and Qian Xun were proficient in time and space. Naturally, they knew what kind of price such a reversal of time and space demanded.
At best, it would leave terrifying Dao injuries that could damage one's foundation. At worst, time might become truly irreversible.
This was truly playing with one's life!
But Ye Chen had really played with his life like this. He had truly ended himself. Qian Xun stared blankly at this man who was her father in name, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Dad, you went too far. If the reversal hadn't succeeded, you would have truly fallen forever," Yaya's eyes reddened, tears falling freely, filled with reproach and worry.
"I'm sorry."
Ye Chen wiped the tears from the corner of his daughter's eyes. Seeing the deep worry in her gaze, he felt profound regret, then smiled. "But you should know I am undying through a hundred battles. All the experiences I've had in the past prove it. This heaven and earth, this cosmos, this Chaos Sea—none can kill me. Every time I seem to fall, haven't I always returned in a more powerful, heaven-defying manner?"
Looking back on his cultivation journey to this day, every time he seemed to have fallen, he always managed a heaven-defying return, reborn from death, undying through a hundred battles.
It seemed even this heaven could not claim him.
Of course, Ye Chen had never truly intended to fall. He still had many things to do, his own wife and children to care for, and those around him to protect.
He could die, but at least not now. He needed to protect those close to him in the future's ultimate battle, stained with blood, to help them survive the inevitable calamity.
Only after that would he be willing to truly die.
"You mustn't do this again next time," Yaya huffed, though her worry was mixed with a sigh of relief. Seeing her father alive was better than anything.
Ye Chen chuckled and nodded, then looked at Qian Xun, speaking softly, "I've done what you asked. Now, can you forgive me?"
Qian Xun clenched her fists, staring intently at him. She knew that to gain her forgiveness, he had truly risked his life.
But to forgive him?
Perhaps it wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she had harbored too much resentment toward him for so long, the accumulated grievances too deep. To forgive him now felt too abrupt; she couldn't get past that psychological barrier.
She needed to be alone to calm down.
Whoosh—
The next moment, she turned and soared into the sky atop the Golden-Winged Roc, tearing through the void and disappearing within it.
"My child!"
Ye Chen very much wanted to chase after her, to truly acknowledge this son, and to find Princess Yunyan, to make up for all the mistakes left in the past.
But behind him stood Yaya, graceful and elegant, and little Chenxi flying toward him—they were also his own flesh and blood.
After a long while, he could only sigh softly in his heart. Yunyan, I'm sorry.
If there was a chance in the future, he would surely seek out Princess Yunyan, apologize to her personally, and bring her back himself.