Ye Chenyan slowly closed the door behind him and stood outside, letting out a long breath.
Feiyan had been waiting obediently by the door. Only after Ye finally emerged did he ask, “You really aren’t taking him with you? The Heavenly Dao is protecting him now. Bringing him along might give you a little extra luck.”
Ye Chenyan withdrew his gaze and shook his head.
“What if he’s there and, by some freak coincidence, the Realm Stone drops right on his head?”
Feiyan scoffed. “How could something like that possibly happen?”
“How couldn’t it?” Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “Back then, he was just walking down the street and some blind embroidered marriage ball dropped straight into his arms. Then there were all those rare treasures practically fighting to find him.”
“I can overlook everything else, but the Realm Stone may not necessarily be a good thing.”
“How is it not?” Feiyan didn’t understand. “Whoever takes the Realm Stone becomes master of this realm. It ought to be the undisputed greatest treasure in this world. What could possibly be better?”
Ye Chenyan shook his head. “Once you take on the title of ‘master of this realm,’ you also take on responsibility for the entire world. It’s hardly such an easy position to hold.”
“Hmm. True.” Feiyan was surprisingly easy to convince. “The Clan Head always says everything in this world has its own path, and its own responsibilities.”
“She became Clan Head, so she has to shoulder the responsibility of guarding the Realm Stone and watching over the Realm Gate.”
“You have yours. He has his. Come on, I’ll take you there.”
Ye Chenyan nodded lightly, let the demonic weapon follow behind him, and climbed back into the small palanquin on Feiyan’s back.
Li Ji had already been waiting in the depths of the Sea of Returning Ruins for some time.
Ren Jiangliu had not left either.
The two exchanged a glance.
Li Ji called out experimentally, “Ye Chenyan?”
Ye Chenyan nodded. “Mm.”
A trace of wonder flashed through Li Ji’s eyes. “When Tianji Zi told me there was such a pill in this world, I didn’t believe him. So there really is something this miraculous.”
She turned toward the depths of the Sea of Returning Ruins.
“The Realm Stone is near the entrance. Don’t worry. As long as you only approach the Realm Stone and don’t venture deeper into the Sea of Returning Ruins, you won’t be reduced to an ordinary mortal.”
“Human cultivators have difficulty seeing in the deep sea, so I had luminous pearls prepared for you in advance.”
“Mm.” Feiyan responded and displayed the bulging pouch of luminous pearls hanging around his neck.
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “Why not scatter them ahead of time?”
Li Ji shook her head. “There is no light in the Sea of Returning Ruins. Even if we poured this many luminous pearls into it, they would only glow for an instant like fireflies.”
Ye Chenyan’s expression shifted slightly. He chuckled.
“The Dragon Palace really is filthy rich.”
“That isn’t entirely why.” Li Ji gazed into the dense black sea, her voice lowering. “We know this is something you can only do for yourself. But standing by and doing absolutely nothing makes it difficult to feel at ease.”
“Even if all we can do is give you a little light, at least it means we’ve done something.”
Ye Chenyan gave a low laugh. “Even you get nervous?”
“Of course.” Li Ji let out a long breath and asked, “Have you thought this through? Are you truly determined to take this path?”
“His arrival here was both coincidence and destiny. Bu Yetian calculated every possible move and found this world a shortcut.”
“Are you really going to... cast all that aside and choose the path that is a thousand times harder?”
Ye Chenyan did not answer immediately.
Then he suddenly laughed.
“Are you afraid of dying?”
Li Ji nodded. “Naturally.”
“Anything in this world with a finite lifespan cannot escape that fear.”
“Even those who face death without hesitation are not truly without fear. They simply have something else that outweighs that fear.”
“I didn’t used to be afraid.” Ye Chenyan tilted his head slightly, a faint smile appearing on his face. “Now... now I am.”
“My good days have only just started. Who would want to die?”
He drew a deep breath.
“But I’m more afraid of him dying.”
“I’m not only afraid he’ll die. I’m afraid he’ll be sad. Afraid he’ll suffer. Afraid he’ll get hurt.”
Li Ji laughed softly. “You truly like him that much?”
“Of course.” Ye Chenyan made no attempt to hide it. His expression remained perfectly composed, though the redness creeping over his ears betrayed him.
“I’m selfish. I can’t bear the thought of him dying.”
“But I’ve thought about it too. If it weren’t him—if it were someone else, one of my friends, or even a complete stranger—would I then be able to take it for granted that they should die for this world?”
A trace of pain passed through Ren Jiangliu’s eyes.
“Even if that person had nothing to do with you, they would still be someone else’s family or friend. There would always be someone who couldn’t bear to lose them.”
Li Ji lowered her eyes. “Which is why the Heavenly Dao chose him.”
“He came from beyond this realm. Strictly speaking, he truly could be considered someone with no ties to this world.”
“Hmph.” Ye Chenyan sneered. “There are plenty of people in this world who can’t bear to lose him.”
“If anything, I’m more suitable for the role.”
He smiled as though entirely fearless.
“My parents are both beyond the heavens. If I died out there, maybe you could even call it a family reunion.”
Li Ji looked deeply at him, then slowly shook her head.
“But someone is waiting for you.”
“At the very least, he will be.”
“I know.” Ye Chenyan raised a hand and summoned the demonic weapon. Then he took out the green bamboo vessel wrapped in one breath of immortal energy and held it in his palm.
He glanced back at them and gave a low laugh.
“That’s why I’ll come back.”
He stepped toward the Sea of Returning Ruins.
Feiyan shook the pouch of luminous pearls around his neck.
Those priceless jewels spilled downward like tears shed by the vast sea, flickering through the dark depths and illuminating them for one fleeting instant.
“It’s not as if there’s no one in this world willing to be the hero.”
Using that brief light, Ye Chenyan cleaved through the water and advanced. Fused immortal-demonic energy swirled around him, and the ink-black waters of the Sea of Returning Ruins seemed to split down the middle and retreat to either side.
“I don’t care how he calculated everything, or how he decided my fate.”
Ye Chenyan raised his eyes. The current swept his hair back from his forehead, yet his gaze remained utterly fearless.
“I don’t believe in fate.”
Amid the pitch-black water, an irregular black stone lay half-buried in the fine sand of the seafloor, ancient and utterly without luster.
If the immortal and demonic energies in Ye Chenyan’s hands had not reacted, he might have overlooked it entirely.
He stopped before the Realm Stone and carefully examined it.
Not daring to underestimate it, he mobilized every shred of spiritual power in this body and pressed one hand against the Realm Stone.
All he had to do was lift it—
Ye Chenyan drew a deep breath and tried to wrench the completely unremarkable-looking black stone from the ground.
The Realm Stone did not move an inch.
No matter how much spiritual power he poured into it, everything vanished like mud sinking into the sea.
There was no response at all.
Ye Chenyan frowned slightly.
A vicious gleam flashed through his eyes—
If Tianji Zi had been here to see that expression, he would have known immediately.
This bastard’s stubborn streak was acting up again.
Ye Chenyan closed his eyes.
Instead of using more spiritual {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} power, he activated the immortal bamboo and the demonic weapon.
The two extraordinary treasures trembled slightly, then suddenly shot upward. Each carved an arc through the sea before plunging down on opposite sides of the Realm Stone.
They were going to help Ye Chenyan pry the stubborn rock loose.
The Realm Stone itself showed little reaction.
The entire sea did.
Ren Jiangliu was nearly knocked off balance by the violent current. He looked around in alarm and exclaimed in shock, “That immortal-demonic energy... surely that isn’t how you’re supposed to use it!”
Li Ji transformed into her true form.
The enormous silhouette of a dragon appeared once more.
Her spiritual power enveloped the surrounding waters, and the boiling sea seemed instantly soothed, settling considerably.
But she could only isolate this part of the sea.
She could do nothing to help Ye Chenyan himself.
Her dragon eyes blinked as she stared toward his figure in the center—
He had nearly stirred the entire Sea of Returning Ruins.
A colossal whirlpool had formed around the Realm Stone, trapping Ye Chenyan at its center.
From the look of things, the Realm Stone was not entirely unresponsive to the immortal and demonic energies after all.
It was fighting back with everything it had.
The two sides had reached a precarious balance.
If Ye Chenyan gave out first, the whirlpool would tear him to pieces almost instantly.
If the Realm Stone gave out first and he truly managed to pry it free by brute force with the immortal and demonic energies—
then he would become master of this realm.
Light flickered in Li Ji’s eyes.
“Perhaps... he truly can move heaven and earth through his own strength.”
Ren Jiangliu opened his mouth.
Although he clearly had no desire to boost Ye Chenyan’s ego, he still gave a grudging snort of approval.
“That man may be arrogant, and no matter whose body he’s wearing he remains equally irritating, but...”
Li Ji turned toward him.
Ren Jiangliu’s face changed dramatically.
“But you absolutely cannot fall for him!”
Li Ji: “...”
For a moment, she had actually thought he was about to say something sensible.
She silently looked away and instructed Feiyan in a low voice, “If anything goes wrong, do everything you can to save him.”
“Got it!”
Feiyan looked as though he were facing a mortal enemy. He coiled his body, ready to launch himself forward the instant danger appeared.
Every gaze was fixed on the center of the whirlpool.
And there, Ye Chenyan stood face-to-face with the Realm Stone.
Their deception had fooled the Heavenly Dao.
It had fooled that pair of eyes in the heavens.
But it seemed they had failed to fool the Realm Stone before him.
Now that he was touching it directly, Ye Chenyan seemed to sense some kind of emotion within the stone—
It was resisting with all its might.
It did not recognize the person before it as the Born Supreme.
Ye Chenyan took a deep breath.
He did not panic.
The Pleasure Sect token flew up from his waist. Light flowed across the tokens representing alliances with who knew how many factions throughout the Nine Provinces. A strange force invisible to the naked eye intertwined with the immortal and demonic energies and joined them in prying at the Realm Stone.
This seemed far more effective.
The Realm Stone trembled faintly.
It seemed on the verge of breaking free from the earth.
Just when Ye Chenyan thought he was about to succeed, a voice exploded beside his ear like a thunderclap.
“Shameless brat! You think you can deceive this old man?!”
Ye Chenyan’s eyes flew open.
He stared down at the Realm Stone beneath his hand.
In an instant, it felt as though his mind had been dragged inside the stone.
Everything around him was pitch-black.
He could see nothing.
Only that furious voice boomed through the darkness, shaking his very spirit.
Anyone harboring guilt in their heart might have dropped to their knees beneath that pressure.
Ye Chenyan looked down at his hands.
These were his own hands.
So they really had failed to deceive the Realm Stone.
He did not panic.
Instead, he raised his head, narrowed his eyes, and answered, “How did I deceive you?”
“You still dare argue!” The Realm Stone was furious, its pressure intensifying. “The united will of countless millions is not truly aligned with you! The Supreme body is not your own! The immortal and demonic energies come from ancient times! You possess none of the potential required to become master of this realm!”
Ye Chenyan lifted his chin.
“You never said any of it had to be mine.”
The Realm Stone actually froze for a moment.
Then it became even angrier.
“Arrogant! Do you take becoming master of all beneath heaven for a game?!”
“Heh.” Ye Chenyan sneered and looked around, trying to follow the direction of its voice. “You wanted all this troublesome crap, and I found every last bit of it for you. If you know what’s good for you, get up on your own!”
“Arrogant!”
The Realm Stone’s voice thundered.
Ye Chenyan’s expression turned grave.
The pitch-black space before him seemed to boil, gradually beginning to change.
Suddenly, daylight broke through.
A vast radiance tore apart the darkness.
The pair of eyes Ye Chenyan had once seen above the Nine Heavens lowered their gaze toward him once more.
Ye Chenyan’s eyes widened.
“You thought you could truly deceive Heaven?”
Those eyes held neither sorrow nor joy.
A hand reached downward, intending to scoop him out from the depths of the sea.
“This cannot be done. I merely allowed you to try for yourself.”
“You...” Ye Chenyan’s gaze shook. “What exactly... what exactly are you trying to do?!”
That gaze lingered deeply on him.
“Son of an old friend. I am saving your life.”
The hand descended from the heavens, reaching to pull him out of his predicament.
Ye Chenyan struggled but could not break free.
His voice rose sharply.
“Hey! You worthless rock! Is this all you’ve got? You’re going to let someone snatch a person away right in your own territory?!”
The illusion around him trembled once more.
Pitch-black seawater slowly swallowed the white light.
The Realm Stone’s voice surged closer from the distance, furious as rolling thunder.
“IMPUDENT!”
“WHO DARES!”
At last, emotion rippled through those eyes.
The hand hurriedly tried to withdraw and take Ye Chenyan with it.
But it was still one step too slow.
Layer upon layer of black water consumed it completely.
“You—”
The Realm Stone’s enormous voice drowned it out.
“You are merely an immortal! And you believe you can seize control of the Heavenly Dao?!”
“GET OUT!”
Ye Chenyan threw back his head and burst into laughter.
“And which one of us is supposed to be arrogant?”
“You’re clearly the craziest one here!”
In all the world, this stone was probably the only thing that dared say something like that.
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