Ye Chen stood behind a massive boulder, feeling the subtle tremors beneath his feet and the trickle of fine gravel sliding down the rock face before him. A shock ran through him, and he whipped his head around, spotting a sight on the distant horizon that resembled a colossal wall being pushed forward, carrying with it an oppressive sense that stole the very breath from one's lungs.
“Could they be arriving?” Ye Chen’s expression shifted slightly as he focused his gaze. Behind the rigidly straight line of the horizon, a figure like a vast expanse of black mist slowly manifested, advancing like dozens of mountain peaks, moving with irresistible momentum. The thunder of their charge pulverized everything in their path—forests, mountains, rivers—flattening the landscape.
Ye Chen could almost believe that immense footprints would be left marking the passage of these monstrosities. His brow furrowed tightly. He glanced back at Zhuge Fan hovering above the Shenyan Imperial Capital. A flicker crossed his eyes, and after a moment of contemplation, he chose to remain put.
“I’ll observe how Zhuge Fan handles this first. I’ll intervene only if he fails, or wait for an opportune moment,” Ye Chen mused internally. If he could strike down that girl in the crimson hood immediately, he wouldn't hesitate.
Though separated by a great distance, for one who possessed the Origin Law of the Wind element, the world was within his grasp; a mere thought could transport him there.
“They’re here.” The girl in the crimson hood watched the distant black dust cloud, her eyes blazing with an unusual light, a subtle curve playing on her lips.
Zhuge Fan behind her stiffened, halting in his tracks. He turned back and instantly saw the rapidly approaching army of headless corpses. His face drained of color. “These… these monsters…”
The artificial atmosphere surrounding the Imperial Capital had been shattered by exactly such a creature earlier.
“Kill her quickly!” The Empress’s expression changed drastically. She fixed her gaze upon the crimson-hooded girl, and the divine sword in her hand erupted with spiraling killing intent. She swung it violently, unleashing a massive blade of light that bore down upon her foe.
“Hmph!” The girl in the crimson hood sneered, snatching her hand out to crush the expansive sword light into nothingness. Then, with a delicate point of her finger, a massive, razor-sharp bone claw wrapped in violet flames swooped down from the sky.
Zhuge Fan gritted his teeth, his body surging upward as he shot toward the sky to meet the attack.
Whoosh!
Like a streak of light, he bolted straight toward the girl, his muscles bulging as he swung his fist down with crushing force.
The girl in the crimson hood merely let out a cold laugh, meeting his advance without changing her expression. As the two neared each other, time seemed to hold its breath for a fleeting instant. She slowly raised a finger, crystalline and jade-like, reaching toward Zhuge Fan’s forehead.
This slender finger left trails of afterimages, making it impossible to discern clearly. Only when the fingertip touched Zhuge Fan’s forehead did his pupils violently contract to pinpricks. His body abruptly halted, a look of sheer horror freezing on his face as he attempted to recoil.
“Too late.” The girl in the crimson hood’s smile held a certain captivating charm. “The Houtu Black Rock can’t protect your mind, can it? Heh heh…”
Her finger landed precisely on the center of Zhuge Fan’s brow, upon a mysterious mark.
Time seemed to freeze instantaneously.
The Empress’s face turned ghastly pale, all color leached away. Her mouth hung open, as if she had forgotten how to breathe.
All the shifting winds and clouds in the sky fell silent in that single moment.
The next instant, on Zhuge Fan’s smooth forehead, the spot pressed by her finger began to slowly bloom with wisps of energy, like flames churning in the deepest gloom, like molten lava, like raging gales… With a sudden roar, this energy burst forth intensely and sharply as a ball of golden flame, threatening to incinerate the very heavens, engulfing the crimson-hooded girl whose face was etched with astonishment and disbelief.
The handsome youth, locked in fierce combat with the powerfully built man, suddenly changed expression. He glanced over, his eyes locking onto that intense golden radiance. Memories, sharp as hooks, dragged terror from his past into his eyes. “This… this aura…”
His heart pounded wildly, and a terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.
Swish!
The powerful man charged forward head-on, his hand, the size of a cattail fan, closing into a fist and slamming brutally into the youth’s chest, shattering several ribs.
The youth recoiled backward, hastily steadying his mind. While fiercely battling the powerful man, he kept glancing toward the distant direction behind him, where a surging black mist was rolling in along the horizon. A sliver of hope gradually lit his eyes. “Faster, faster…”
“Roar—!”
From within the adjacent golden radiance, a sky-piercing howl suddenly erupted, like the cry of a maddened lion, filled with malice, ferocity, and rage, causing the blood in everyone’s veins to surge.
The golden light exploded outward, revealing a monstrous beast within: one with sharp black horns atop its head, a body as mighty as a tiger or lion, limbs as thick as oxen hooves, and covered entirely in fine, razor-sharp brown scales. Its bell-like eyes radiated savage malevolence, bloodthirsty and grim. Beneath the black horns on its head rested a minute golden mark, esoteric and complex—identical to the one previously on Zhuge Fan’s forehead.
Astonishingly, the Empress was seated upon the beast’s back. She was clearly overwhelmed by terror now, her face ashen, her expression vacant. If one listened closely, her lips could be seen moving faintly, repeating like a thread of smoke, “Yan Wang, Yan Wang, Yan Wang…”
Turbulent, surging currents of air, thick with killing intent, emanated from this beast resembling a Qilin, as if it had erupted from the Nine Hells. Its iron hooves, forged like steel, its magnificent physique, and its sharp horns, all seemed to belong to an ancient divine beast looking down upon the firmament.
The handsome youth’s face shifted instantly. “It… it really is…”
He suddenly bit down hard. A flash of light erupted from his palm, stirring a potent force that repelled the powerful man rushing toward him. The youth then vanished in a flash, rocketing toward the distant army of headless corpses.
“Awooo—” The majestic beast let out a low roar, its pupils shooting out fierce light. It launched itself upward in a leap, moving with the speed of a fleeting shadow, instantly appearing behind the handsome youth. Its iron hooves slammed down with crushing force.
The handsome youth cried out in alarm, all color draining from his face. He gritted his teeth, a distorted ripple spreading over his body, instantly teleporting him a thousand miles away. He then accelerated into a mad sprint, feeling an overwhelming predator right behind him, not daring to look back.
“Yan Wang, it’s actually Yan Wang!” The handsome youth’s features twisted in suppressed fury, teeth grinding until he felt he could weep blood. “The mount of the Earth God King, who held equal power to the Goddess of Light in those days, appearing here! Damnation! Fortunately, it’s not in its complete form, or the entire Ancient World would be overturned!”
Boom, boom, boom.
The beast’s iron hooves galloped through the void, stirring massive shockwaves. Even empty space seemed unable to withstand this ferocious power, vibrating with a resonant hum.
The handsome youth fled frantically; a few seconds felt like entire ages. Finally, he reached the army of headless corpses and immediately darted into their ranks like a bee, hiding behind the surging black mist, his form becoming indistinct.
The colossal headless corpses looked down upon the giant beast. Its body, the size of a small mountain, appeared no larger than a mere palm—or even smaller—compared to these towering corpses that rivaled real mountains. In an instant, it was surrounded by dozens of massive headless corpses, reduced to a tiny black speck.
The Empress seated upon its back was terrified, her face bleached white, her fingers trembling uncontrollably.
However, the beast’s bell-like eyes gleamed with savage malevolence, bloodthirsty and grim, fixed upon one of the headless corpses before it. Its sharp teeth were bared as it let out a fierce roar and charged, striking out with a paw aimed at the corpse. Its palm was like a mountain blotting out the sky, casting the heavens into darkness.
The beast leaped into the air, roaring upward, its sound wave propagating outward like a pillar. The descending hand instantly solidified into rock, then shattered from the impact into countless fragments that rained down.
The beast stomped its front two iron hooves heavily onto the ground. An invisible wave radiated outward like a rushing current. The headless corpse leaned back but failed to evade the strike. Its body immediately petrified, and a small fissure appeared in its chest, which rapidly spread across its entire form before it spectacularly collapsed.
This beast moved like a fierce tiger, roaring repeatedly. Its crimson gaze swept viciously over the surrounding headless corpses, and it lunged toward the nearest one with its cavernous maw wide open.
This headless corpse swung a massive fist down fiercely. The powerful blow struck the top of the beast’s head in an instant. Compared to that enormous fist, the beast was like a tiny fly. Yet, at that moment, the 'fly' suddenly stopped, and after the collision, before it could last long, the headless corpse seemed to be violently pushed in the chest by an immense force, staggering backward.
Behind the massive boulder.
Ye Chen watched this sudden reversal of fortune, unable to suppress his surprise. He scrutinized the beast closely and noticed the small sigil on its forehead. He frowned, pondering for a moment before his eyes suddenly lit up.
“So that’s it, I see now, no wonder, no wonder!” He had an epiphany, connecting fragmented memories from his previous life with what he saw in the present. He recalled everything from the time Zhuge Fan first encountered him. “This is all due to the weaving of destiny. I am a person favored by great fortune. Ordinary people cannot remain by my side; even those who can meet me must have been supreme powerhouses in their past lives, or there would have been no intersection.”
“And for Zhuge Fan and Bai Long to remain with me until now, their past lives must have been extraordinary!”
“The appearance of this beast… if I am not mistaken, it should be the mount of the Earth God, Yan Wang! For this ferocious beast to be Zhuge Fan’s past incarnation is utterly unbelievable. No wonder he could gain the cockroach gene under the influence of destiny and become the Undying Superman. Among the major elements, the Wood and Earth elements have the strongest recovery abilities, followed by Water.”
“Huh.” Ye Chen stared at the beast’s form and suddenly noticed an issue. “This beast does not seem to be the complete Yan Wang. Not only is its aura vastly different, but it even lacks Yan Wang’s signature Wings of Earth. It looks like an incomplete product.”
From his awakened memories, he recalled the true appearance of Yan Wang and descriptions of its power. If the genuine Yan Wang appeared, let alone that handsome youth being a mere envoy, even his Supreme Lord would flee in terror.
Normal updates will resume next month with a burst of chapters to make up for this period of instability. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused everyone.