Ye Chen was injured. His face was pale, and he was coughing up blood from the corner of his mouth. His body was unsteady, nearly causing him to plummet from the sky, but he managed to steady himself.
In truth, the battle with Fairy Caiyun was not as effortless as it appeared on the surface. She was unexpectedly strong, able to match him. While he seemed to have held a slight advantage during the fight, he had also been wounded, and his vitality had been significantly depleted.
It was just that the injuries had been suppressed until now, when they fully flared up. Even someone as strong as him was coughing blood.
"Ye Chen—" The Thirteenth Prince, Vivian, Princess Hong Rong, and others were somewhat worried. They hadn't expected that Ye Chen, who was always so overwhelmingly powerful, would also be injured.
Many of the trial-takers looked on with strange expressions in their eyes, and quite a few were secretly gathering their strength, preparing to seize an opportunity to strike.
But more people were preparing to retreat. Ye Chen was too overwhelmingly powerful, impossible to resist. Taking action was unwise.
"No need to worry!"
Ye Chen shook his head at his few friends, indicating he was fine. Then, his whole body trembled, golden radiance flowing and rumbling as his injuries rapidly healed. His aura remained at a terrifying level.
Afterward, his gaze swept over the various powerhouses on the ground, his eyes icy cold, clearly revealing killing intent. This made them all break out in a cold sweat, as these people had previously attacked him, causing him some harm.
But at this moment, the Dao-mark divine bottle flew out from the ancient ring. The Great Dao Blood within autonomously bloomed with a piercing crimson radiance. The white-haired Divine Spirit seated cross-legged in the sky transformed into a streak of light that shot into the space between Ye Chen's eyebrows, causing his expression to change slightly as he realized something was about to happen.
Ye Chen only felt his consciousness being quickly severed. His physical body was no longer under his control, suspended in the void, while his Primordial Spirit separated and was guided into a mysterious space.
His expression changed slightly, but then a familiar voice sounded within his Primordial Spirit: "Don't worry, I can still sense you."
This was Old Yan's voice. Since Old Yan was still present, Ye Chen felt reassured and quietly waited.
Not long after, a figure suddenly appeared before him. It was the white-haired Divine Spirit, his heroic bearing overshadowing the world, his eyes containing the terrifying spectacle of stars being born and destroyed. His white hair flowed freely. There was no doubt he was immensely powerful; once fully unleashed, he could pluck stars and seize the moon, his strength unparalleled in the world.
However, at this moment, the white-haired Divine Spirit had restrained his divine majesty. He smiled gently at Ye Chen, like an ordinary elder, and said with a laugh, "Little fellow, don't be afraid. I won't harm you."
"Little fellow?"
Ye Chen was slightly taken aback, then let out a bitter laugh. It had been who knew how many years since anyone had called him that, making him shake his head somewhat helplessly. He was no little fellow. While his true age wasn't very great, and even in his previous life, he would be considered incredibly young by many cultivators, he was certainly not some sixteen or seventeen-year-old youngster.
He shook his head, raised his eyes, and met the white-haired Divine Spirit's gaze directly, showing not the slightest fear. He said softly, "Sir, you must think I'm just a youth, right?"
"Isn't that so?" The white-haired Divine Spirit smiled slightly, his gaze possessing a strong penetrating ability, as if he could see through another's heart. "Although your gaze is deep and calm, very mature, unlike a youth's, the Primordial Spirit doesn't lie. The time since you achieved your Primordial Spirit isn't very long, roughly within this past year. Could it be you're an ancient recluse who reincarnated?"
"I'm not an ancient recluse," Ye Chen shook his head, then gave a light smile. "But I'm also not a youth. And I am indeed someone who reincarnated and was reborn, and I come from the myriad realms."
The white-haired Divine Spirit's face immediately showed astonishment as he stared dumbfounded at the youth before him, utterly taken aback. If he had thought Ye Chen was joking before, when the words "myriad realms" were spoken, he was completely shocked.
Because in this sealed-off world, it was absolutely impossible to know about the myriad realms. Ye Chen's statement gave him strong reason to believe that this seemingly overly young sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth before him indeed came from the myriad realms.
However, after the initial shock, he was filled with joy, because he precisely lacked such a person to deliver a token for him.
Yet, he still held a somewhat skeptical attitude towards all this. He said, "You've made me somewhat believe you, but it's still not entirely convincing."
"Human Sovereign, Myriad Realms Academy, Sun Holy Palace, Myriad Worlds Palace..." Ye Chen slowly listed a series of important matters related to the myriad realms, whether they were supreme existences or supreme powers. Someone not from the myriad realms would have no way of knowing all this, forcing the white-haired Divine Spirit to believe it.
He just hadn't expected that in this mysterious world, there would be someone capable of reincarnating and being reborn, and a talent from the myriad realms at that. He marveled inwardly, no wonder this youth, only sixteen or seventeen, was terrifying to this extent. Even in the vast, boundless expanse of the myriad realms, he would be among the exceedingly rare ranks of heaven's proud talents.
The white-haired Divine Spirit sighed repeatedly, "I never thought I'd see a heaven's proud talent from the myriad realms here. Truly rare. But are you... contending in the cycle of reincarnation? Otherwise, why would you be reborn in this prison world?"
Reincarnation was not just a mysterious term; it was a mysterious and profoundly profound major realm on the path of cultivation. It could not be studied; even powerful beings like Human Sovereigns and other peerless great powers had never fully comprehended it. It was the most mysterious major realm on the path of cultivation, and throughout the ages, who knew how many talents had fallen before this realm.
Because once one stepped into reincarnation, it meant everything from the past would vanish—memories, including cultivation, even the Primordial Spirit would dissipate, leaving only a hazy will, to be reborn in the next life.
Unless one awakened within reincarnation, it was impossible to transcend it.
Ye Chen's various states made the white-haired Divine Spirit feel that this youth was undergoing reincarnation, his Primordial Spirit disintegrating, reincarnating and being reborn in this prison world.
Reincarnation? Perhaps this state was indeed as described. He was within reincarnation, only this reincarnation was so unique.
Ye Chen smiled slightly, "You could think of it that way."
"Your latent past-life consciousness has already awakened. It seems transcending reincarnation is not far off. Once you surpass it, you'll be a generation's Heavenly King, truly a heaven's proud talent." The white-haired Divine Spirit was even more amazed, then broke into a smile. Although his face was ordinary, it possessed a special charm. "Hello, I am Xia Zhidi!"
The white-haired Divine Spirit proactively stated his name—Xia Zhidi, a name filled with legendary aura, the name of a powerhouse who had once shaken the world.
Upon hearing this name, Ye Chen rarely showed a look of shock as he looked at the white-haired man before him. He never expected him to be Xia Zhidi, a legend of a generation.
Beyond the Tian Du Continent existed the vast, boundless myriad realms. That was a vast land where thousands of races and billions of living beings existed, truly immeasurably vast, consisting of great domains each more expansive than the Tian Du Continent.
A full ten thousand great domains gathered together were collectively called the myriad realms.
The myriad realms were incredibly vast, with endless living beings and countless races, giving birth to stunningly talented heaven's proud ones. Divine Spirits, who were revered on the Tian Du Continent, were not lacking in the myriad realms either. There were even transcendent existences surpassing Divine Spirits, who commanded the world and were respectfully called Heavenly Kings.
But no matter how powerful one was, they could still vanish into the vast sea of people. Those who truly became famous throughout the world were few, and Xia Zhidi was one of them.
Ten thousand years ago, his cultivation was peerlessly unmatched, revered as the Ice-Fire Heavenly King of a generation. It was said he was only a step away from entering the realm of Great Powers, about to stand at the very pinnacle of the myriad realms' pyramid, overlooking the boundless realms, revered by the world, presiding over its rises and falls.
In his prime, how glorious and brilliant he was. Even within his own supreme holy land, he was a significant figure with considerable say, even overshadowing the contemporary holy land master. He was revered and looked up to by the world, jointly respected for a long, ancient era—a glorious and unforgettable ancient time.
In some of the weighty historical texts related to the myriad realms, this Xia Zhidi left a very significant mark, considered to have great hope not only of achieving the status of a Great Power but of surpassing it, a heaven's proud talent of a generation.
However, later, for unknown reasons, this stunningly talented Ice-Fire Heavenly King suddenly vanished from the world, losing all traces, astonishing the world and leading to constant speculation about his whereabouts.
Even his supreme holy land, over the past nearly ten thousand years, had spent countless resources and effort. Even ancient ancestors who had been in deep slumber emerged at all costs, almost traversing the entire myriad realms, yet they never found any trace of Xia Zhidi.
There had always been rumors that Xia Zhidi might have perished, no longer existing in the world.
But Ye Chen never expected that this Xia Zhidi, whose brilliance illuminated the myriad realms ten thousand years ago, would appear before him. Even if this was just a remnant soul, it was enough to shock anyone.
There had always been rumors that this legendary Heavenly King had perished, but now it seemed that might not be entirely true.
Seeing the rare look of shock on Ye Chen's face, Xia Zhidi understood what he was thinking. He revealed a bitter smile and shook his head, saying, "I know, the world probably always thought I, Xia Zhidi, was dead, gone."
"That's right. But now it seems all that was wrong, because you're still alive. Or perhaps it's related to what you need to entrust, right?" Ye Chen saw through it all at a glance.
Xia Zhidi nodded with a bitter smile. "You're very clever, you guessed right. In the past, while I was training outside, I encountered enemies. They were very powerful and numerous. I couldn't withstand them and could only flee, constantly escaping through the myriad realms and even alternate dimensions, fleeing through domain after domain, traversing who knows how many places. This world is one of the places where I once confronted those enemies."
"The trial world outside this small world previously existed an extremely glorious civilization. Could it have been destroyed by you and those enemies?" Ye Chen suddenly asked, his eyes shooting forth brilliant divine radiance, piercing through the truth of history.