Chapter 1462: To Kill or Not to Kill

Chapter 1462: To Execute or Not

“Ruoxi? Senior, where did you hear that name?” Ye Chen frowned, looking at Da Ming Wang.

“From your ancestor himself,” Peacock Da Ming Wang said, gazing towards the misty starry sky as he recounted ancient events. “Your ancestor was the strongest quasi-emperor I’ve ever seen, on par with the war god Xing Tian. Such a heaven-defying figure never spoke a word to me. That so-called Ruoxi was only mentioned in his delirious mutterings. I still remember it vividly to this day.”

Ye Chen fell silent. Even Liu Dao forgot his mission in this time period. Only in an unconscious state would he unconsciously utter that name, yet Ye Chen couldn’t recall it at all.

“In his unconscious state, the name he uttered must belong to someone your ancestor deeply cared about,” Peacock Da Ming Wang said with a slight smile, taking out a storage bag and handing it to Ye Chen. “This was left behind by your ancestor in my Peacock clan long ago. Returning it to his descendant settles the karma.”

With that, Peacock Da Ming Wang turned and stepped away, vanishing like a gentle spring breeze.

After watching Da Ming Wang leave, Ye Chen opened the storage bag. Inside, there was only one item: a piece of jade, about the size of a palm, ancient and unadorned, with faint mottled marks.

Ye Chen examined it from every angle but found no hidden mechanisms or any trace of strangeness. He was certain this jade belonged to Liu Dao, as he was extremely sensitive to Liu Dao’s aura.

Suddenly, he activated his immortal eye and stared at the jade, piercing through its surface to its core. He saw an ancient stone tablet inscribed with four blurred ancient characters.

He concentrated his eye power as much as possible and could vaguely make out the last three characters: “kill Ruoxi.”

He wasn’t surprised by this, for Liu Dao, Hong Chen, and Shen Xuan Feng had all defied the heavens to travel to this time, and their common mission was undoubtedly to kill Ruoxi.

However, the tablet had four characters, not three. He had deciphered the last three, but the first one remained a chaotic blur. Even his immortal eye couldn’t clarify it.

With his wisdom, he had guessed the first character to be about seventy or eighty percent accurate—it was likely the “zhu” from “zhu sha,” making the full phrase “zhu kill Ruoxi.”

To execute Ruoxi aligned perfectly with the mission of Liu Dao and the others, without a doubt.

Yet, when he finally dispersed the haze and saw the first character clearly, he was stunned on the spot. For it was not the “zhu” he had guessed, but a single “bu” character.

“Not, kill, Ruoxi.” He stared in a daze at the four characters.

Not kill Ruoxi could be interpreted as another meaning entirely: to protect Ruoxi.

His thoughts became chaotic. Hong Chen and Shen Xuan Feng’s mission was to execute Ruoxi, while Liu Dao’s was to protect her. All three had defied the heavens to alter fate, so why were their missions completely opposed?

A breeze brushed by, and a trickle of black blood overflowed from the corner of his eye, followed by a buzzing in his divine sea. His entire head felt on the verge of exploding, as if he had glimpsed something forbidden and suffered backlash.

Under the starry sky, he fainted, his face deathly pale, and his immortal eye sealed itself once more.

His mind, lost in confusion, sank into illusion and emptiness. Faint, ancient words echoed in his ears, fragmented yet filled with an irresistible, demonic power.

The night passed in peaceful serenity, and in the quiet march of time, dawn arrived.

Before the sky fully brightened, a beam of immortal light shot out from Peacock Immortal Mountain. Upon closer inspection, it was the Peacock Great Princess, heading to the Kun Peng clan to join the Kun Peng Crown Prince for the Wan Zu Grand Assembly.

Before leaving, she glanced back at Peacock Peak, her beautiful eyes flickering with cold light as she spotted Qian Shang Yue and Ye Chen at the summit. Then, she vanished into the misty horizon.

On Peacock Peak, Qian Shang Yue and Xiao Yuan Huang had already climbed to the top, both furrowing their brows as they looked at Ye Chen on the Wisdom Heart Stone. He remained in a coma even after the night had passed.

“What’s going on? How can someone wù dào and end up with qi deviation?” Xiao Yuan Huang scratched his head.

“It seems he suffered some kind of backlash,” Qian Shang Yue murmured softly, as if sensing that Ye Chen’s immortal eye had sealed itself. She had seen it happen before in Da Chu.

“So much backlash out of nowhere.” Xiao Yuan Huang swung his dark gold iron rod and smacked Ye Chen’s back twice, producing loud clangs like metal striking metal. “Hmm, looks like it’s some kind of inner fire raging out of control.”

After speaking, Xiao Yuan Huang flew off Peacock Peak, not stopping until he was far away. Much later, the sound of a massive mountain collapsing echoed, crushed flat by him.

After fanning Xiao Yuan Huang away, Qian Shang Yue stepped forward and gently pressed a finger to Ye Chen’s forehead. Strands of immortal light flowed from her jade finger into his divine sea, helping to suppress the backlash.

Only then did Ye Chen awaken, his eyes somewhat murky, especially his left eye, which was dim and lifeless. His face was still pale and bloodless, the backlash more ferocious than any he had experienced before.

Ye Chen seemed possessed, muttering to himself, “Hong Chen is the future me, and Liu Dao is the future Hong Chen. Time is overturned, and the wheel of history has already deviated from its path.”

He still could not fathom what catastrophe had occurred in the future. The three who defied the heavens—all connected to Ruoxi—yet their missions were two to kill and one to protect, in total opposition.

One thing was certain: Shen Xuan Feng arrived first, followed by Hong Chen, and finally Liu Dao.

In the era after Shen Xuan Feng and Hong Chen, Liu Dao must have uncovered some shocking secret. The so-called mission to execute Ruoxi was a mistake, a fundamental error, which is why he defied the heavens again. His true mission was not to kill Ruoxi, but to protect her.

Ye Chen fell silent, standing as still as a carved stone statue, trapped in layers of fog with no way out. His wisdom seemed useless against this haze.

Qian Shang Yue furrowed her delicate brows and waved her hand in front of Ye Chen’s eyes.

“Ye Chen?”

His train of thought was interrupted, and he lifted his gaze slightly, quietly looking at Qian Shang Yue. She had truly loved the wrong person. Her Shen Xuan Feng had always been a pitiful pawn, the first tragic figure to defy the heavens, forgetting his mission and living in a haze until his death.

The future him had used the future Ye Xing Chen to test if time could be reversed. Once Ye Xing Chen succeeded, it led to the Shen Xuan Feng in this time.

And precisely because the future Ye Xing Chen succeeded in defying the heavens, it paved the way for him to personally reverse time, creating the Hong Chen of this era, and eventually the future Hong Chen: Liu Dao.

Though their relationships were complex, all paths pointed to Ruoxi, adding another layer of mystery to her. Her identity would be the key to unraveling everything.

Qian Shang Yue continued watching him, her brows deeply furrowed, sensing that Ye Chen was acting strangely today.

Ye Chen smiled faintly, forcibly pushing aside his thoughts, and stepped out of the immortal mountain.

“Let’s go to the Wan Zu Grand Assembly.”