"What!" Emperor Longquan shot up from his seat, slamming his palm onto the table, and roared, "Nonsense! I saw him before. If he hadn't had the Heavenly Dao Mecha backing him, this fellow could have been killed with a mere wave of my hand. How could he possibly possess the strength of a Ten Hall Master!"

The scholarly man stammered, "Yes, yes, yes, Lord Alliance Master, what you say is absolutely correct. We must have been mistaken. After all, he is only a deity; how could he be so strong?"

The pale, refined young man slowly shook his head, his eyes deep as a still pool. He murmured softly, "It's not impossible. This person’s Fortune Qi is so dense that even I find it difficult to discern. He is certainly no ordinary person. With such immense Fortune, so uniquely blessed, it is only natural for him to grow so quickly."

Emperor Longquan’s knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists. In truth, deep down, he knew it wasn't difficult for Ye Chen, controlling the Heavenly Dao Mecha, to acquire precious medicinal agents to temper his body. Yet, he still found it hard to accept. After a moment, he took a deep breath, looked down at the scholarly man, and coldly stated, "Were there any others beside him?"

"Others?" The scholarly man's eyes darted around, and he quickly shook his head, "Lord Alliance Master, Ye Chen only has Bai Yijun by his side; there is no one else."

"Hmph." Emperor Longquan's expression softened slightly, and he said coldly, "You may all leave now."

"Yes, yes." The scholarly man and the others breathed a collective sigh of relief and quickly withdrew.

Once they were gone, Emperor Longquan slowly sat down, scoffed, and muttered, "I hadn't expected this person to reach such a level in such a short time. To be able to repel Fang Tian and the others with his own strength alone, his actual power must be close to, if not at, the level of a Ten Hall Master. And he is still only in the Deity Realm! If he ever reaches the Divine Emperor Realm, who in this world could stop him?"

The pale, refined young man was the Reincarnation Holy King. A faint worry lingered in his expression; he pondered silently. After a long pause, he finally sighed, "It is all fate. My only fear is that this child might be the reincarnation of a Dark Creature. If that happens, the sentient beings of our Ancient World will all suffer immense devastation, ruined utterly!"

Emperor Longquan shuddered, horrified. "How can that be? He shouldn't be a Dark Creature. Otherwise, we would surely know."

"I don't know," the Reincarnation Holy King slowly shook his head. "There is the aura of a Dark Creature within him, and it is extremely rich. We can only leave it to destiny."

Emperor Longquan frowned, thinking for a moment, then suddenly said, "I will go and demand the Three Lives Stone from the Hell Civilization to examine who his past life truly was! If he is a Dark Creature, we must eliminate this future trouble as soon as possible. Otherwise, when the Great Saint War begins a million years from now, everything will be beyond saving."

"That is the only way to try," the Reincarnation Holy King sighed lightly.

Vast skies above slowly gathered dark clouds. Fierce winds howled between heaven and earth, and faint thunder rumbled within the churning clouds, deafening in its intensity.

The cold wind was like a knife; the dark clouds were like ink.

The Heavenly Emperor Castle stood solitary upon the immense landscape, enveloped by flying sand as the biting gale swept by, as if this fortress had stood there for tens of millions of years.

The sky was devoid of light. Ye Chen and the others emerged from the grand hall, their brows furrowed as they gazed at the pitch-black expanse of clouds. They sensed a world-shaking aura emanating from the thunderous expanse, carrying a chilling, killing intent, rushing toward them rapidly from the distance.

"They are coming..." Nuwa’s delicate face showed a hint of gravity as she whispered softly.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

From afar, streaks of piercing sound cut through the thunder, hurtling toward the Heavenly Emperor Castle with booming force. They were none other than more than a dozen ancient war vessels, along with warships resembling monstrous eagles. Each vessel was over ten miles long, covering the sky and obscuring the sun as they hovered just beyond the Heavenly Emperor Castle's perimeter defenses.

As this great battle hovered on the brink of eruption, everyone’s expression turned solemn. Ye Chen’s robes snapped loudly in the wind. He stared at the distant sky, his expression shifting slightly, and slowly turned his head toward the beautiful, white-lotus-like figure beside him. At that moment, Bai Yijun also sensed something and turned to look at him.

The two gazes met in the air.

At this moment of life and death, who would never leave his side?

Before this decisive battle, whose gaze was filled with tenderness and tears?

Ye Chen whispered softly, "Together!"

"Together!" Bai Yijun replied softly with a radiant smile, though her words carried an undeniable, firm resolve.

Swish~

Shaohao and the others beside them surged forward, bursting out of the Heavenly Emperor Castle in a rush. Their sharp presence filled the world, like the peerless Five Heroes, their figures towering and unyielding as they faced the dozen warships opposite them.

Ye Chen glanced at Bai Yijun, gave a slight nod, and the two figures flashed, landing lightly in the sky. Gazing at the distant warships, they saw a warning red light flash on the foremost vessel, followed by a majestic voice: "Where is Ye Chen!"

Ye Chen took a step forward and coldly replied, "I am here!"

"Do you still remember me?" The dome of that warship slowly opened, and a figure drifted out, hands clasped behind his back, clad in golden robes, his expression stern, exuding an air of noble elegance as he stared coldly at Ye Chen.

Ye Chen glanced at him indifferently and replied, "I do not remember."

Emperor Longquan’s eyes nearly rolled back, and he almost spat blood. His face slowly darkened, filled with indescribable awkwardness. However, his composure was supreme, and he coldly stated, "Whether you remember or not is irrelevant. I am here today mainly to handle two matters. The first is that I hope you will cooperate. Otherwise, you will be making an enemy of the entire Ancient World!"

Ye Chen replied coldly, "Do you think the successor of the Heavenly Dao would fear making enemies of the entire world?"

Emperor Longquan snorted. "I fear that by then, even your own family will not tolerate you! I suspect you are a Dark Creature. Do you dare let me shine the Three Lives Stone upon you? If you are not, then so be it. But if you are a Dark Creature, I will certainly crush you in the cradle! Removing a great scourge from humanity!"

Ye Chen frowned. Fu Xi, Nuwa, and the others beside him were slightly startled. Shaohao suddenly burst into loud laughter. "Emperor Longquan, I think you’ve gone senile! Ye Chen is a clansman of my Spiritual Civilization. How could he be a Dark Creature? If he were a Dark Creature, he would have been exposed immediately by the 12 Ancestral Witch Array outside when he entered our clan's Spirit Pool. Could it be that our clan’s 12 Ancestral Witch Array is inferior to this mere Three Lives Stone?"

Emperor Longquan was displeased and said coldly, "When an elder is speaking, why should a mere child like you interrupt? Even your father, the Yellow Emperor, is tens of thousands of years younger than I am. Go stand aside!"

Shaohao choked, his face flushed crimson, veins bulging on the back of his hands, trembling with anger.

Emperor Longquan ignored his ashen, liver-like face and coldly declared, "These words were spoken by my sworn brother, the Reincarnation Holy King. You all should know that the Reincarnation Holy King never speaks falsehoods. Besides, it is merely a brief inspection. Are you perhaps harboring a guilty conscience?"

Nuwa and Fu Xi frowned. They knew the immense prestige of the Reincarnation Holy King and how accurate his prophecies were. For a moment, they felt uncertain.

Ye Chen stepped forward calmly and said, "I also want to see why I am always so lucky, and what my past life truly was. Go ahead and shine it."

Emperor Longquan sneered. He moved instantly, flipping his hand, and a piece of jade, shaped like a heart and colored emerald green, appeared in his palm. Its surface was as smooth as a mirror. This stone was said to be a Celestial Stone capable of revealing the myriad states of everything in the world.

Emperor Longquan held the Three Lives Stone and cast the light down upon Ye Chen. A beam of emerald green light enveloped Ye Chen’s entire body. Everyone stared intently at the Three Lives Stone and saw a figure slowly flash across its surface, looking exactly like Ye Chen.

This Ye Chen was wearing a military uniform, holding a blood-red steel saber, running wildly through a desolate, ruined city. Scattered newspapers and skeletal remains littered the ground everywhere. Suddenly, from a corner behind this figure, a terrifying, chilling roar echoed. A fierce beast resembling a lion, covered in scales, with a single blood-red horn on its forehead, pursued this figure like lightning, opening its cavernous maw to bite.

This Ye Chen moved like the wind. He spun around and slashed out with his saber. The steel blade struck the Blood-Horned Beast, sparking violently. The beast roared, thrusting the sharp horn on its head forward, piercing this figure’s chest and impaling him atop its horn.

This Ye Chen, however, was tenacious. He did not die immediately but grit his teeth, raising his steel saber and stabbing downward fiercely, burying it deep into one of the Blood-Horned Beast’s eyes. Upon being struck, the beast let out a shrill, mournful cry to the heavens, becoming even more frantic. It shook its head wildly, nearly throwing the Ye Chen impaled upon it off its horn.

The Blood-Horned Beast suddenly opened its maw and clamped onto Ye Chen’s legs, then gave a mighty tear. The sharp horn on its head ripped Ye Chen’s chest open more than halfway, spilling blood and entrails. The beast roared and savagely shook the legs it held in its mouth. Ye Chen’s legs snapped at the knees and were flung against a nearby wall, leaving him semi-conscious.

The Blood-Horned Beast chewed on the severed legs, then growled and lumbered over, placing Ye Chen’s body into its mouth, chewing and slowly swallowing him bite by bite...

The scene on the Three Lives Stone ended there.

Emperor Longquan froze for a moment, completely unprepared for Ye Chen’s past life to be such an insignificant figure, devoured by a small monster that he could exterminate billions of times over with a single breath.

Ye Chen looked at the familiar scene on the Three Lives Stone. He could never forget it; this was the most perilous battle he had ever faced since his existence began. It was during that battle that he had died and been reborn.

Fu Xi, Nuwa, and the others beside him breathed a collective sigh of relief, turning to look at Ye Chen with expressions filled with inexpressible admiration. They had initially assumed that Ye Chen’s strength and his immense fortune were closely linked, perhaps blessed by some great figure, or perhaps a residual effect of his past life’s reincarnation. They never expected it to be neither.

Shaohao, noticing Emperor Longquan’s grim expression, let out a cold laugh. "Emperor Longquan, I know you harbor ill intentions. If Brother Ye were a Dark Creature, you could summon the other three alliances to join forces and destroy him. But Heaven has eyes—Brother Ye is not a Dark Creature! This Three Lives Stone can show the past and present lives. Come now, why don't you shine it on yourself, Emperor Longquan, and see if your past life was a Dark Creature? If it was, that would be terrible—what a great danger to humanity that would be! It must be eliminated quickly!"

Emperor Longquan’s face turned ashen. He gave Shaohao a cold glance, huffed in irritation, and coldly stated, "Since he is not, then that is better. The Great Saint War is in a million years; I do not wish for humanity to inflict internal wounds upon itself at such a critical juncture. With this first matter settled, for the second matter, you must give me an explanation!"

The dark foreshadowings will all be settled; when the time comes, they will all appear. Soon, my brothers, do not be anxious. Shanzai (To be continued)