In the endless starry sky, at the highest point of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, a supremely majestic imperial throne lay across the void. Ye Chen was seated upon it.
However, that was his future self. Though he appeared young, only in his twenties, his eyes were profound, filled with the vicissitudes of countless ages, far older than he looked. Time could no longer leave the slightest trace upon him. He was too powerful, peerless in the world, as if forever remaining at this age, still appearing heroic and majestic, with black hair cascading like a waterfall, matchless in the world.
Seated upon the imperial throne, he was the supreme Imperial Supreme One of all heavens, his majesty unparalleled, gazing down upon the vast starry sky, transcending the mortal dust of all realms. All living beings had to submit, to kneel, to offer worship.
He was the only Supreme One.
Was this his future self?
Ye Chen's heart trembled. His future self had clearly achieved the Supreme One realm, reaching the ultimate pinnacle of this life, standing atop the peak of the Great Dao, looking down upon the eternal mortal dust, the sole ruler of the universe, supreme and peerless.
Yet, Ye Chen sensed a deep loneliness from his future self. While peerless in the world, he was also utterly alone in the world.
Looking out at that starry sky, it was shattered. Countless great stars had crumbled, the myriad celestial bodies dimmed, and vast worlds disintegrated. In the sky, there was only a dim sun, like dusk, no longer shining with billions of zhang of radiance. The moon was shattered. The vast lands of the myriad realms had collapsed. The entire vast ancient realm was shrouded in a hazy gloom.
All races withered, the earth stained with blood and broken apart, as if experiencing a great destruction akin to the Mythical Epoch. It had suffered a terrifying great destruction. The entire boundless myriad realms seemed to have been shattered, the vast cosmic ancient realm almost disintegrating, with hardly a single intact place to be seen.
Was this the future of the myriad realms?
Ye Chen gazed out, suddenly trembling violently. Powerful as he was, it was almost impossible for him to tremble, yet it was because of this scene before him.
He saw behind his future self a divine tree that towered into the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, immense and vast. Its trunk was countless times larger than mountains, incredibly thick, standing between heaven and earth, reaching into the boundless starry void.
That was the World Tree, as thick as in the Mythical Era, grown to its utmost limit. Yet, it too was broken, charred black all over, as if it had passed away after enduring endless calamities, its vitality extinguished, lying across the endless starry sky. Its withered branches coiled around the shattered stars of the heavens, broken worlds floating among its leaves. Vitality was extinguished, blood flowed like a floating pagoda, with only a despairing dead silence rippling.
Suddenly, Ye Chen felt a strong urge to cry. His eyes moistened, tears glistening. He wanted to roar, to howl, filled with unwillingness and despair.
Because he sensed the aura of the World Tree. Though extinguished and now grand, it was a familiar feeling from the soul—it belonged to Yaya.
He seemed to see a peerlessly beautiful girl weeping blood, her mint-green robe stained crimson, her flawless face pale and colorless, tears streaking her eyes as she looked at him with reluctance before forever closing her eyes.
"Ah—"
Ye Chen let out a sorrowful roar, tears filling his eyes, soaking his lapels.
What had happened in the future? Why had the great realm disintegrated? Why had Yaya withered? Why were Zhao Jingruo, Wang Ming, and others lying dead on the River of Time, with only himself standing alone between heaven and earth, becoming the supreme Supreme One existence?
What did it matter to be peerless in the world? He was already utterly alone in the world.
His future self had no one by his side, accompanying the divine path alone. How lonely.
Ye Chen could see that his future self, amidst his majesty, also had a deep sorrow surfacing.
Seated on the imperial throne, he looked in this direction, as if able to see his present self. In his profound eyes, faint teardrops glistened as he shook his head at himself: "Everything is too late. After waiting for countless ages, spanning two epoch eras, laying plans for so many years, everything was finally accomplished. Why is there not a shred of joy?"
"Chen'er, Jingruo, Yu Qing, Yi Wu, Xi'er, Yaya... everyone is gone. Only I remain."
"What does it matter to be invincible across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths? What does it matter to have schemes spanning the myriad realms? Having traversed past and present, the goal achieved, I succeeded, but paid the greatest price, lost everything."
His future self, already supreme and peerless, unmatched through past and present, was shedding tears alone. This was an unimaginable scene. Those were Supreme One's tears, capable of transforming into a divine sea that could nourish all things in the world, yet unable to revive those who had passed away by his side.
Too much had been lost. Being peerless in the world was useless. Standing atop the peak of the Great Dao was futile. Powerful as his future self was, becoming the strongest existence between heaven and earth held no meaning, because everyone by his side was gone, leaving only himself. What use was that?
His future self was filled with pain, without any joy, without any happiness.
It could be seen that his future self was gazing at a corner of the starry sky. There, a small island about ten zhang in size floated, with a simple thatched hut. In front of the hut was planted a withered branch—a branch of the World Tree.
Beneath the branch were small raised mounds of earth. They were graves, one after another, covering the entire small island, very simple. On each small grave, flowers were planted, blooming year-round without withering.
On the tombstones were the names of one familiar person after another: Zhao Jingruo, Yi Wu, Chen'er, Ruoxi, Yaya, Wang Ming... former beauties and old friends, all buried on the small island.
His future self took a single step, traversing the vast sea of stars with unimaginable speed, stars shifting, arriving at the small island. Gently, one by one, he caressed each tombstone, his expression sorrowful, his back lonely, stirring an impulse to weep.
Then, he suddenly turned, looking at himself, and softly spoke: "Self of the past, I know you are watching me now, because you and I are one. If you see all this, do not..."
Suddenly, that starry sky exploded. From the highest point of the firmament, countless thick, terrifying great calamity tribulation lightning fell. Each bolt was terrifying enough to shatter stars. Now, tens of thousands fell, capable of shattering entire swathes of the starry sky, submerging everything.
Ye Chen's heart trembled. His future self, that invincible Supreme One, wanted to convey some crucial information to him, perhaps affecting the past, influencing past and present, violating the Heavenly Dao's operational rules, involving terrifying causality, thus triggering a terrifying backlash.
"At this point, would I still fear so-called causality?"
A majestic voice resounded through the endless starry sky, shaking the myriad realms. His future self, vast and boundless, soared into the sky, preventing the forbidden tribulation lightning from affecting the small island.
Tens of thousands of forbidden heavenly thunderbolts all crashed upon his body, capable of destroying the myriad realms. But his future self was too powerful. All this merely left scorch marks on his body's surface, which soon healed. Moreover, he unleashed a supreme Supreme One technique, forcefully holding it open, allowing no tribulation to touch him.
Boom—
His future Supreme One self threw a punch, supreme and peerless. All the forbidden thunder punishments descended by the heavens shattered, annihilated, ceasing to exist.
Too powerful, simply like the Emperors and Sovereigns of the Mythical Era.
In that spacetime, the remaining myriad beings witnessing this regarded it as a divine miracle, all exclaiming, "The Holy Emperor is peerless!"
His future self continued speaking: "If you can see, please do not awaken, because—"
Before he could finish, suddenly, billions of forbidden tribulation lightning bolts descended from the heavens.
This time, it was many times more terrifying than before, dense and numerous. Each forbidden tribulation lightning bolt fell like a great dragon, billions upon billions, like a vast, endless sea of thunder, all crashing down, enough to destroy the myriad realms.
His future self's entire body shone. That terrifying power revived, awakened, unprecedentedly grand and mighty, surpassing all past and present, causing the entire myriad realms to tremble. He resisted the endless tribulation punishments, displaying peerless imperial divine abilities.
He withstood it all, not turning to ashes.
"Cough—"
His future self coughed blood. Strands of bright crimson blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, staining the imperial armor on his chest.
Ye Chen's heart trembled. Powerful as his future self was, he still coughed blood. It was unimaginable what kind of terrifying attack he had suffered. That forbidden tribulation lightning was excessively terrifying.
"Do not awaken, because you are the beginning—"
He wanted to say more, but at this moment, the forbidden tribulation lightning became many times more terrifying. Not only the future, but even the River of Time boiled, accompanied by endless forbidden heavenly thunder falling. Each bolt was immensely thick, suddenly striking towards Ye Chen who was peering into the future.
The mysterious figure wreathed in chaotic qi changed color. He had only allowed Ye Chen to peer into the future; he himself could not see it. He was shocked at what future fragment Ye Chen had seen to provoke such terrifying forbidden tribulation lightning. Powerful as he was, it made his heart tremble. It must have touched upon the most terrifying taboo.
He wanted to act, but within the River of Time, a vast, boundless aura bloomed, tearing open the River of Time. A figure of an invincible Supreme One Emperor from past and present appeared, appearing blurred and hazy, standing upon it, gazing down upon past, present, and future. Boundless Supreme One Emperor laws enveloped him, the myriad Daos of the heavens submitted, operating peerless divine abilities, drawing all the forbidden heavenly thunder into himself.
"That is..." The mysterious figure wreathed in chaotic qi was shocked, sensing that person's supreme invincibility.
Ye Chen knew this was his future self acting, drawing away all the forbidden heavenly thunder, bearing it alone.
Powerful as his future self was, he began coughing blood from the corner of his mouth. His entire body's flesh seemed about to split, his imperial armor cracked, nearly shattering to pieces. One could imagine what terrifying tribulation lightning he was suffering.
Though he was a supreme invincible Supreme One, at this moment, he also felt a deep helplessness, looking up at the heavens: "Is it because I refuse to merge the power of two lifetimes? Even you dare to bully me."
Then, his future self looked at Ye Chen and deeply sighed, saying only: "Protect those by your side. It's better not to awaken than to let them suffer harm. Otherwise, you will only regret it."
He said no more, for this forbidden heavenly thunder had reached a level terrifying enough to affect the River of Time. The River of Time itself was boiling.
Endless causality forces mixed with forbidden heavenly thunder continuously fell, unbearable.
His future self took a deep look at Ye Chen, then let out a mournful long cry. Boundless light exploded, Supreme One Emperor laws boiling, piercing through past, present, and future. The entire River of Time was severed at this point. All causality was imposed upon his future self, not allowing the slightest taint upon this present life.
Ye Chen's heart trembled. So that was why the River of Time was severed—his future self had acted.
Finally, he saw the small graves on that island disintegrate. Familiar figures flew out one after another. That was his future self acting, operating supreme divine abilities, sending all of them onto the River of Time. From then on, the River of Time was completely severed.
A lingering sigh echoed: "All I can do is this, sending them all onto the River of Time. If there is a chance, they may drift back to the past. I hope they can carry some useful information, and hope there is a chance to revive them."
"Self of the past, grow strong quickly. The future will be bitter, with blood and chaos unprecedented. All the Emperors and Sovereigns are dead. Everything has vanished. Everything has lost meaning."
"Without sorrow, without pain, only despair remains. I regret..."
The voice gradually drowned in the River of Time, finally disappearing. Everything became unseen.
The River of Time was severed!
Ye Chen stood upon the River of Time, staring blankly at all this, lost in thought, not returning to himself for a long time.
The mysterious figure wreathed in chaotic qi naturally saw all this too. He saw Ye Chen's future supreme invincibility, but also glimpsed a fragment of the future: blood and chaos, the myriad realms withering, less than one or two out of ten thousand races surviving, the starry sky collapsing, the myriad domains disintegrating, the ancient realm shattered, like the former Mythical Era.
Could it be that laying plans for endless ages was still not enough?
He also sighed softly, then patted Ye Chen's shoulder, saying: "Grow strong. What you saw is merely a fragment of the future. Everything still has variables. As long as you are strong enough, you can change everything."
But it was difficult, nearly impossible.
The mysterious figure wreathed in chaotic qi did not voice this.
Ye Chen clenched his fists, his hair standing on end with rage, his gaze unprecedentedly firm: "I will. I will cultivate to invincibility, shatter the shackles of this heaven and earth, become the strongest existence, overturn everything in the future."
"Good. You need this kind of will." The mysterious figure wreathed in chaotic qi nodded, then sighed softly. "It is time for me to leave. You should go too. Staying long-term on the River of Time is very unfavorable for you."
Boom rumble rumble—
The River of Time suddenly boiled, floodwaters churning and rolling, stirring the ninefold heavenly firmament, causing the stars to tremble, heaven and earth to disintegrate.
The mysterious figure wreathed in chaotic qi acted, tearing open the River of Time, pushing Ye Chen out. His voice drifted over:
"We cannot participate too much in your growth path. We do not wish to influence you, nor influence the others. We hope you can rely on yourselves to walk your own paths. We hope in the future there is a chance to fight side by side, protecting the myriad domains, not the blood-stained future."
Ye Chen's figure fell into a spatial rift, gradually blurring, completely disappearing from this mysterious void.