"Chen, is it really you?"
Ye Ao and Xia Wei gazed at Ye Chen with intense emotion, tears welling in their eyes. After a million years, their son had finally returned, and their hearts swelled with joy.
Though they had both become Ancient Sovereigns, capable of living for half an epoch, a million years was still an immensely long time for them. Even with their daughters-in-law and grandchildren by their side, their longing for Ye Chen, their only child, remained irreplaceable.
"Father, Mother, this unfilial son has returned." Ye Chen was equally moved. He knelt before his parents, kowtowing with tears streaming down his face.
He might be the invincible Chaos Heavenly Emperor, a Half-Step Overlord in both the Divine and Immortal Daos, unrivaled throughout the vast heavens while the Five Overlords remained absent. But before his parents, even the most invincible being was still just a child.
Not long after, Qian Xun also returned.
Even Ruoxi, who had been cultivating by the Heavenly Emperor's side, came back. As the Heavenly Emperor's only daughter, Ruoxi had now become a colossus from antiquity. After all, she carried the Heavenly Emperor's bloodline in her veins, possessing a heaven-defying natural talent. With the Heavenly Emperor's personal guidance, how could she be considered ordinary?
Today, Ye Chen's return and reunion with family and friends brought great happiness. They recounted their various experiences over the past million years to one another.
The family stayed within the Chaos Heavenly Mansion, seeing no one else. Yet, outside, news of the Chaos Heavenly Emperor's return had already spread like wildfire, sweeping through the All Heavens and Myriad Domains overnight, even reaching the vast lands of the lower eight realms, causing an earth-shattering tremor across the world.
The Chaos Heavenly Emperor, who had fallen a million years ago, had actually revived?
Although the world had always believed the Chaos Heavenly Emperor might still be alive—since his Chaos Soul had been reconstituted and remained within the Chaos Heavenly Mansion—his true revival and return still struck them with awe. What followed was jubilation across the heavens.
Soon after finishing his time with his family, Ye Chen emerged. Instantly, billions upon billions of auspicious rays filled both the upper and lower realms, a dazzling spectacle of flowing light and color that illuminated the heavens.
All Living Beings felt the Great Dao growing ever more prosperous, making cultivation easier.
The Chaos Heavenly Mansion held a grand feast to celebrate the Chaos Heavenly Emperor's resurrection.
Afterward, Ye Chen left the Chaos Heavenly Mansion and paid visits one by one to old friends and seniors: the Heavenly Emperor, Tai Sheng Huang, the Battle Saint Ancestor, the Heaven-Defying War Lord, the Flame Emperor, the Spacetime Great Emperor, the Human Emperor, the Six Paths Great Emperor, the War Sovereign, the Profound God Great Emperor, the Worldless Supreme One... and others.
Learning that Ye Chen had not only defied heaven to revive but had also attained the Half-Step Overlord level in the Immortal Dao left them all utterly astonished.
Not long after, old friends like Di Wuming, Di Wu Shuang, Ye Cangqiong, and Shen Rong appeared one after another. They were all former Imperial Sons and Daughters of the human race, whose cultivation had reached the Supreme One level for many tens of thousands of years. Some had even become Quasi-Giants, but none had become colossi from antiquity; the vast majority remained at the Supreme One level.
Even with the Great Dao flourishing, becoming a colossus from antiquity remained difficult. A miracle like Ye Chen's, so heaven-defying, was unreplicable.
A cause for joy was the resurrection of the Formless Sovereign. Because a humansupremeGiant (supreme giant) had personally invited the Alchemy Emperor to refine a heaven-defying Emperor Pill, and with the invincible Overlord Heavenly Emperor personally intervening to gather infinite fortune and bless the Formless Sovereign, he had finally revived and returned. Over the past million years, accumulating strength for a sudden leap, he had become a First-Generation Giant.
Unseen, the foundation of the Pangu Universe grew even stronger.
Moreover, over the past million years, the Great Emperors of the Pangu Universe who had once wandered far from home had gradually returned. For example, the Tianxin Sword Emperor of the Ye Family, Ye Cangqiong's father, had become a Quasi-Giant over the past epoch, but had stalled there, finding it difficult to advance further.
Other Great Emperors had also returned, making the Pangu Universe's foundation even more formidable and unparalleled.
On this day, Ye Chen sat cross-legged before the vast ocean of Faith Power within the Chaos Heavenly Mansion. This was the faith directed towards him over countless past ages, and the Faith Power had long reached an unprecedented height.
Furthermore, Faith Power possessed infinite wonders. Faith seeds planted in the hearts of All Living Beings meant that if one fell one day, they could be revived from within those hearts. As long as the living beings existed, it was as if one could not die.
Ye Chen thought of that great Buddha, who had once reached the Quasi-Giant level. Though he had fallen, Ye Chen knew the Buddha had attained an unprecedented height on the path of faith. One day, he might return by borrowing the seeds in the hearts of the living, breaking his shackles and returning in his strongest form. But that time was not now.
Footsteps sounded from behind. It was his youngest son, Ye Junlin, who bore a strong resemblance to him. Seeing his father gazing contemplatively at the boundless Faith Power, he said, "Father, are you thinking of Senior Brother Yan again?"
Yan Wu Shuang, Ye Chen's personal disciple, had once fallen to save Ye Chen. Ye Chen had rescued his last trace of true spirit and placed it within the boundless Faith Power to nurture, hoping he would one day revive.
Alas, after so many tens of thousands of years, and despite the Chaos Heavenly Mansion never lacking colossi from antiquity, they hadcontinuously / remainedfailed (consistently failed) to truly resurrect Yan Wu Shuang. Even after Ye Chen's return, it remained the same; only Yan Wu Shuang's soul slept within.
Ye Chen shook his head, saying nothing.
Ye Junlin spoke again, "Father, when will you fuse with your previous life's Chaos Saint Soul?"
To this day, the Chaos Saint Soul remained within the Chaos Heavenly Mansion, not yet fused into one with Ye Chen. No one knew what Ye Chen was thinking, why he was unwilling to complete the fusion.
Ye Chen still did not speak, lost in thought for a long time. Because themoment (opportune moment) had not yet arrived; it was not suitable.
The news of the Chaos Heavenly Emperor's resurrection ultimately spread, thoroughly shaking the entire Chaos Sea and causing a great tremor across the heavens.
The Chaos Heavenly Emperor, actually not dead?
It was said that within the alien Ancient Universes, multiple Giants roared in fury, and Half-Step Overlords trembled with rage. Countless stars, billions of worlds and heavens, sank and fell.
On this day, within the origin of an alien Ancient Universe, in its core ancient ancestral temple, Shidai gazed at the universe's origin as if looking at a majestic figure slumbering within it. His eyes were profound, countless scenes flashing before them one after another, seemingly recording the infinite epochal changes of the Chaos Sea from its birth to the present.
One scene showed Shidai himself, in the distant past, looking at the one-third of Pangu's Divine Soul he had obtained. With his incomparable wisdom, he suddenly sighed softly, "Has it finally reached this step?"
He swallowed and refined Pangu's one-third Divine Soul in one move, yet a mysterious light erupted from his body, tearing through the sky and rushing into the River of Time, vanishing from sight.
Soon, this scene disappeared.
Silently, within the ancestral temple, the River of Time appeared—the infinitely majestic, true River of Time—contained within the seemingly small temple. Its waves surged violently, tearing through the heavens.
A peerlessly majestic figure stepped forward, one step at a time, arriving in this era from a blood-stained future, surrounded by billowing chaos energy. He gazed at Shidai and said, "Shidai, I have come!"