Before the abyssal ancient path, a section of a stele was exposed. The words inscribed upon it stirred boundless, earth-shattering waves within Ye Chen's heart.
Origin Land?
Origin Ancient Path?
Upon seeing these two terms, the expression on the tender little face of Ye Chen's Great Emperor Reincarnation Body was one of irrepressible shock.
Origin, it was origin again.
He had learned before that within the Chaos Sea, there existed a place hailed as the Origin Land, the true source of the Chaos Sea, the origin of everything.
There, it was suspected to hold the ultimate secret to achieving eternity.
In the world, within the Chaos Sea, the Emperors or Supreme Immortals of the myriad ancient universes all desired to enter the Origin Land, to probe the origin of all things, seeking to attain eternity.
However, to enter the Origin Land, one either had to be an Emperor or Supreme Immortal—a peerless Supreme One—who had perished; only after death could one enter. This was a long-circulated saying within the Chaos Sea, though its truth remained unknown.
At the very least, the Heaven's Gate Master was suspected to have entered that mysterious Origin Land.
Another way was through the place in the Primordial Immortal Realm that buries immortals, buries emperors, buries everything; that place also seemed to lead to the final Origin Land.
Yet, it seemed that throughout the ages, the myriad Emperors or Supreme Immortals had always sought ways to open up and forge that Origin Ancient Path leading to the Origin Land.
For instance, the Great Saint Emperor once performed a sacred sacrifice of Emperor's Resentment; the Alchemy Emperor once brought the Azure Ancient Great Emperor as a sacrifice, and so on, likely for this very reason.
However, whether anyone had truly entered, Ye Chen did not know.
Now, before him appeared another Origin Ancient Path, suspected to lead to the Origin Land. This couldn't help but make Ye Chen grave. No wonder even the Ancient Nether Great Emperor was willing to use his Emperor's will to become a projection body, desiring to break into such a place.
The Great Emperor Reincarnation Body stood before the seemingly unfathomably deep and dark ancient path. Its gaze instantly blazed, transforming into two dazzling beams of light that shone into it, penetrating deep into the darkness of the ancient path.
However, this deep, dark ancient path was part of the Origin Ancient Path, exceedingly eerie and mysterious. The two beams of light from the Great Emperor Reincarnation Body could not illuminate a very vast area before being silently devoured inch by inch by the profound darkness.
Everything appeared so bizarre and mysterious.
Naturally, Ye Chen was not frightened into retreating. Instead, he chose to stride forward, entering the deep, dark ancient path.
But before entering the deep, dark ancient path, for the sake of caution, Ye Chen split his Chaos Saint Soul within the space between his eyebrows into two, and then one of them abruptly vanished.
All of this was seen by the Primordial Sin Ancient Beast, a flicker of peculiar light passing through its purple eyes.
Within the Emperor-Burying Abyss, the Primordial Sin Ancient Beast's colossal body moved once more, completely submerging the depths of the entire Emperor-Burying Abyss again. Its massive eyes slowly closed, and even the boundless, enormous abyssal land gradually closed up, as if it had never appeared.
In the Life Oasis, Ye Chen, who had been sitting cross-legged in the void, suddenly had a flash of inspiration and opened his eyes.
Yu Qing and the others who had been protecting him nearby saw this and breathed a sigh of relief; otherwise, they would have thought something had happened to Ye Chen.
Ye Chen shook his head. "I'm fine."
Upon hearing this, regarding that other Supreme figure who had fought and left with the Ancient Nether Great Emperor's projection body, although many suspected it had some connection to Ye Chen, they tactfully did not ask.
The deep, dark ancient path—to be precise, it wasn't yet the true Origin Ancient Path, only a small section of the path ahead. It was entirely dark and deep; even with his eyes, he couldn't see much, and there was a special power present.
Even with Ye Chen's Chaos Saint Soul, though it was no longer the fusion of two Saint Souls, it was still comparable to a First Tribulation Divine King. Yet, he felt the deep, dark ancient path was filled with an eerie devouring aura, impossible to explore.
Faintly, Ye Chen indistinctly sensed wisps of an eerie aura lurking within the deep, dark ancient path. In the secret shadows of the void, it seemed as if there was even a pair of eyes monitoring him.
The Great Emperor Reincarnation Body's eyes flashed like lightning, instantly illuminating a vast area. However, in that region where eyes seemed to flicker, he saw nothing at all.
All of this left Ye Chen somewhat astonished. Yet, his perception was incredibly sharp, and with the aid of the Great Emperor Reincarnation Body, the perception of his five senses and six consciousnesses was many times more acute than even his Chaos Saint Body. It shouldn't be wrong, yet he still couldn't perceive the true existence.
It was as if some terrifying, unknown existence was hidden within this dark void, monitoring him.
No matter how Ye Chen tried to evade, those eerie eyes always felt like thorns in his back, tightly locked onto him, impossible to shake off.
What exactly was it?
"Who is there?"
Ye Chen suddenly let out a great shout, his voice like a sonic boom, abruptly resounding through this deep, dark ancient path. That sound transformed into invisible ripples echoing within.
This was a great shout from the Great Emperor Reincarnation Body; the force of such a shout could even shatter and pulverize an entire world.
Yet, accompanying Ye Chen's great shout, the deep, dark ancient path remained profoundly deep and secluded, with only his voice continuously echoing.
Within the deep, dark ancient path, it seemed there was nothing at all. From beginning to end, it was merely his hallucination, with no other living being besides him.
Even Ye Chen began to doubt: was it really just a hallucination?
But that feeling of being watched, like thorns in his back, never lightened in the slightest. On the contrary, as time passed, it grew increasingly intense.
This feeling couldn't be wrong.
At this moment, Ye Chen seemed to understand something. He no longer used the Great Emperor Reincarnation Body's eyes to scan this deep, dark ancient path. Instead, he closed his eyes. The sun mark between his eyebrows, which sealed the power of Emperor Dao laws, began to shine, overflowing with wisps of Supreme Emperor might.
Within, the Chaos Saint Soul Little Person, though its realm was far incomparable to the Great Emperor Reincarnation Body, also radiated wisps of divine soul fluctuations at this moment, transforming into circles of invisible waves that swiftly covered this area.
Under the penetrating insight of the Chaos Saint Soul Little Person, all falsehoods had nowhere to hide. Although what lay before him was still the deep, dark ancient path, he distinctly saw a pair of enormous eyes in the shadows, looking down from a commanding height at himself within the Great Emperor Reincarnation Body below.
Those eyes did not belong to the Primordial Sin Ancient Beast. Instead, they were filled with a kind of indifferent ruthlessness, as if the way of heaven was unkind, treating all beings as straw dogs—a cold, ruthless indifference. He himself was but an ant.
And the Chaos Saint Soul Little Person clearly sensed the other party's absolute power. Even though it was a Chaos Saint Soul Little Person comparable to the Divine King realm, it felt incomparably tiny, like an ant or a speck of dust, utterly powerless, feeling as if its entire divine soul was about to tremble.
All divine soul fluctuations quickly retracted back into the Great Emperor Reincarnation Body. The Great Emperor Reincarnation Body opened its eyes. Its gaze, infused with divine soul power, could also see those ruthless, enormous eyes high above, as if the heavens themselves were looking down from a commanding height.
Ye Chen suppressed that eerie feeling, raised his head, and spoke: "Who are you? Why are you monitoring me?"