"Since you have arrived, why leave?" The ancient voice of the Earth Celestial God boomed like thunder. A solid black earthen wall materialized in the void, tearing open the passage to the primordial world and blocking Ye Chen's escape.

A cold glint flashed in Ye Chen's eyes. His entire being transformed into a soaring blade of brilliant light, charging directly at the black wall. The razor-sharp tip of the blade shredded the earthen wall into countless fragments. He broke through and fled into the distant void.

The Dark Celestial God, startled to see Mo Feng standing before the Five Emperors Shield, quickly twisted his palm. Pouring a vast amount of energy from his body, he redirected the trajectory of the shield, veering it away from Ye Chen’s path. It struck a patch of empty space, reducing the illusory dimension to its most primal matter.

Mo Feng’s tightly constricted pupils slowly relaxed. He let out a silent breath, then turned back to see the Goddess of Light and the Dark Celestial God pause momentarily before continuing their relentless pursuit of Ye Chen. Simultaneously, his father's voice echoed in his mind: "Go back to the Abyssal Palace and stay put. Do not come out."

"Understood," Mo Feng transmitted back mentally.

He stared at the direction where the great Celestial Gods had vanished, concentrating for a long time before letting out a soft sigh. "This is all I can do to help you. I hope you can escape this great calamity."

He shook his head with a bitter smile, his figure flickering as he vanished into the darkest depths of the mysterious Dark World—the Dark Abyss.

Thud! Thud!

Waves of energy collided, pulverizing the void behind Ye Chen into dust. The Dark Celestial God took the lead, wielding the Five Emperors Divine Shield like an umbrella for protection, sharp blades of light spraying out from around the shield. It carved a path through the void as he accelerated his chase of Ye Chen.

If anything in this world could be called the fastest, it was undoubtedly the glint of Ye Chen’s blade.

What could possibly be faster than his blade?

Ye Chen unleashed the full might of his power, transforming into an unparalleled divine weapon, impossibly sharp, cutting through everything, traversing the void, leaping across space and time.

Reaching the realm of World Sovereign allowed one to pause or even reverse time. At his current level, he could move freely within time and space, capable of returning to the past, though the future remained inaccessible.

The pathway to the future was riddled with intense temporal wind-blades capable of shredding anything. Even a World Sovereign touching them would instantly disintegrate into ashes.

Ye Chen’s figure moved like the wind, slicing through countless alternate dimensions. This world was filled with myriad dimensional worlds and parallel spaces, collectively known as spatial planes.

Within the Dark World, there were numerous planes—all subordinate futures of the Dark World, controlled by its core origin. The customs and cultures in each plane were completely different. Some planes valued martial arts cultivation; others focused on magic; some practiced battle aura; and others housed Immortals. Still others were desolate and dark, utterly devoid of life.

At this moment, Ye Chen and the Dark Celestial God’s group shot forward like arrows. The barrier separating the planes, thin as parchment before them, was instantly ripped apart. They leaped into another plane, jumping between different dimensions before finally slicing directly into the channel of past time, returning to the past.

With Ye Chen's speed of traversal, tearing open a temporal channel to the past was effortless, like cutting tofu. However, the Dark Celestial God and the others required a fraction of time. Even 0.0001 seconds of delay would allow Ye Chen to create a massive distance and secure sufficient time.

He casually phased into a period of time, tearing open the void, and was immediately met with the oppressive force of "the past" time flow. Traversing the past was inherently dangerous; even a minor alteration, amplified by the butterfly effect, could cause monumental changes in the later ages.

No one could endure such changes.

Even someone of Ye Chen’s cultivation dared not casually enter the past and alter even the smallest detail, lest he suffer a terrifying backlash. This was precisely why no Celestial God would easily journey into the past.

The Dark Celestial God and the others hesitated, but the hesitation lasted less than 0.001 seconds before being erased; they resolutely continued their pursuit of Ye Chen.

Ye Chen was their only real hope of contending with the Ancient Battle Sovereign and the Ancient Gods. Perhaps only Ye Chen in the world could pierce their bodies.

Therefore, capturing him was essential!

After returning to a specific point in the past, Ye Chen quickly tore open a void before his pursuers could catch up. At this critical juncture, he had no time to think or choose. Coincidentally, on the opposite side of the tear was a vast, sprawling galaxy.

Ye Chen gazed at the immense, beautiful starlight, having no time for contemplation, and swiftly flew forward.

"Huh, this is the [Xuan Realm], my home world. Ahead is the Milky Way, and Earth!" Ye Chen recognized the scenery with a flash of realization in his eyes. He immediately sped toward Earth.

Each step covered a million light-years.

He arrived directly above Earth.

Looking down, the azure blue planet was shrouded in a perfectly spherical atmosphere, seemingly insignificant in the vast universe, yet teeming with countless joyful lives.

Every life form seemed so precious.

Ye Chen entered a state of "Phasing." This state allowed his body to transform entirely into something like an illusion, emitting nothing. He appeared within Earth's atmosphere as merely an image.

If he entered in his true form, even suppressing his aura, it would still create ripples in the planet's airflow. This minute disturbance, projected over a million years, would undoubtedly lead to catastrophic consequences, and he would suffer a severe backlash.

Thus, to traverse different time periods, one must enter the "Phasing" state.

With Ye Chen's sight, he could perceive details ten thousand miles beneath the ocean surface from high in the sky. A quick scan revealed that Earth was currently engulfed in catastrophe. Countless zombie-like creatures roamed the surface. Cars were scattered haphazardly across many streets, their windshields splashed with blood, dried fingers, and stark white bones.

It was the very image of the apocalypse.

Ye Chen's mind almost blurred. He was intimately familiar with such a sight. Could it be that his random jump through time had landed him just before the great collapse?

His gaze swept over something, and his entire body convulsed violently.

In a ruined wasteland, towering buildings lay collapsed, their white walls scarred with deep fissures. Zombies, like aimless spirits, wandered the streets. But then, a figure flashed by like the wind—clad in black, holding a cold, sharp blade, weaving through the ruins.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A roar like that of a tank sounded behind them, as if a giant elephant were walking. The street vibrated, causing many scattered cars to tremble slightly, their windows shattering.

Chasing the youth in black was a giant, blood-red beast, crowned with a sharp, crimson horn.

The power of this blood-red behemoth far surpassed that of the youth. Though standing over thirty feet tall, it moved with the agility of a jungle cat. A few leaps closed the distance, and it swiped a massive claw, flipping a car and hurling it toward the youth.

Hearing the wind rush from behind, the youth in black reacted with lightning speed, slicing his blade backward. The enormous vehicle was cleaved in two by the strike, exploding upon impact.

The shockwave from the explosion threw the youth backward. His body tumbled forward, but before he could stop, a giant claw descended from above, pinning him down.

Crack... crack...

The sound of shattering bones echoed. The youth’s limbs were held fast, unable to struggle, already suffering comminuted fractures.

The blood-red unicorn, having caught its prey, played with it like a cat with a mouse. It gently gripped the youth’s arm between its claws, gave a slight tug, and the entire limb was torn away like a strip of noodle, which the beast tossed into its mouth and began to chew.

The youth's forehead streamed with cold sweat, but his eyes grew hazy, fading toward death from massive blood loss.

This scene was excruciatingly familiar.

Ye Chen would never forget it as long as he lived.

The youth in black lying on the ground was undeniably himself! And the massive beast pinning him down was the Blood-Horned Beast that had killed him!

"I’ve returned to before my rebirth?" Ye Chen's heart shook violently, his breath momentarily stopping. Suddenly, a thought struck him. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he hastily deactivated "Phasing." With a flick of his finger, a nearly transparent thread of light shot out, falling like a phantom onto the prone figure of "himself" below. It enveloped the nearly dissipated soul within and, with a swift grasp, he tore open the barrier of the temporal channel. He cast this transparent, weakened soul into a period approximately ten years into the future.

Having accomplished this, he immediately re-entered the "Phasing" state and turned back toward the atmosphere behind him. Several figures were penetrating it—the Dark Celestial God and the others had caught up.

Confronted by the backlash of time, they too were forced to adopt the Phasing state, descending before Ye Chen like ethereal illusions.

"Why stop running?" The handsome Divine Wind Celestial God panted slightly and smiled.

Ye Chen glanced at them. "Why should I run?"

"What did you just do?" The Dark Celestial God stared at him, his gaze like a knife.

"Nothing," Ye Chen replied calmly.

"You weren't Phasing just now. Aren't you afraid of the backlash?" The Earth Celestial God’s form remained that of a dark meteorite, his features conveying ancient serenity weathered by time.

"Everything has its cause and effect. If there was going to be a backlash, it would have happened already," Ye Chen smiled faintly. "You should return. I fear you will be disappointed this time. In the Phasing state, you cannot exert your full power inside. If I reveal my true form, I can withstand one backlash, but you might not be able to."

Speaking of "cause and effect," he recalled the circumstances of his rebirth. Back then, he had assumed the numerous ruins and artifacts he found were the result of calculations made by the Mayan civilization. He never realized he had engineered his own rebirth. No wonder his body hadn't suffered any backlash after completing that action.

"As long as one controls cause and effect, one can reveal their true form in the past timeline...?" A curve played on Ye Chen's lips.

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