Chapter 1486: My Own Brothers

In a stretch of ruins, Ye Chen paused briefly, collecting a wisp of blood energy and a section of Jin Chi Dapeng’s spine. It was buried beneath the scorched earth, with half of it exposed, shimmering brilliantly in the night.

The bloodline of Jin Chi Dapeng was not weak, and even a section of its spine could refine a bit of pure blood essence.

After gathering these, Ye Chen was about to move on when he saw a figure plummeting from the sky in the distance.

It was a burly young man with unremarkable cultivation, only at the Quasi-Emperor level. He had likely come here in search of treasures but was severely injured, his breath chaotic, barely able to stand.

Yan Long! Ye Chen murmured softly, recognizing the burly young man. He was a reincarnated soul, and someone Ye Chen knew fairly well—a member of the Yan Huang headquarters. Back in the early days when Ye Chen first arrived at Yan Huang, this guy had arrogantly challenged him to a fight and ended up being slapped all the way to the ninth heavens.

In his previous life, like Man Xiong and Man Shan, Yan Long carried a trace of the Man clan’s bloodline.

Ye Chen remembered Yan Long’s death in the previous life vividly—it had been a tragic end on the city walls of Nan Chu, as the last one standing at Zhongtian Gate, dying in a brutal battle.

In this life, however, Yan Long was rather ordinary. At over two hundred years old, he was still only at the Quasi-Emperor level. Whether in cultivation or bloodline, he was utterly average, one of many such people you could grab by the handful.

“This is what I found; you can’t bully me like this.”

As Ye Chen’s thoughts wandered, Yan Long’s angry shout echoed from afar. He was being pursued and was now surrounded by over a dozen people, clutching a broken sword in his arms as he glared at his attackers, blood surging from his mouth.

“Bullying you? And what about it?”

The dozen or so people sneered, their eyes gleaming with malice, their expressions sinister and savage. They exuded a violent aura, their faces twisted like a band of ruthless bandits. Their cultivation levels weren’t impressive either—mostly Quasi-Emperor realm—though one among them was at the Emperor level.

“Hand it over, and we’ll leave you with a whole corpse.”

The Emperor-level cultivator chuckled darkly, his gaze full of menace.

“I’ll fight you to the end!”

Yan Long roared, his blood energy surging, but before he could take a step, the Emperor-level cultivator’s bronze furnace bore down on him, making him stagger and trapping him in place.

“Take the treasure and chop off his head.”

The Emperor-level cultivator snorted coldly, his voice commanding.

“I’ll do it.”

One of them licked his crimson lips, baring his pale teeth. Without another word, he swung his ghost-headed broadsword downward. If it connected, Yan Long’s head would surely roll.

In that moment of life and death, Yan Long managed a desolate smile.

But just then, a golden figure appeared silently before him. The descending broadsword was flicked away with a single finger, sending both the weapon and its wielder flying.

Yan Long froze, staring blankly at the golden silhouette. Its radiance was so dazzling it was hard to look directly at.

As he stood there in a daze, the circle of attackers surrounding him were all sent hurtling through the air, like streaks of divine light adding specks of brilliance to the vast starry sky. He had no idea how far they flew.

Those attackers were still in a state of confusion, unsure of what had happened, when they saw a golden palm sweep toward them. Why were they flying? Why so far? And why weren’t they landing?

Yan Long swallowed hard, snapping back to his senses, only to feel a warm palm press against his back. A surge of rolling blood energy flowed into him, healing his wounds and soothing his injuries.

“Thank you, senior, for saving me.”

Yan Long quickly stood up and bowed respectfully to Ye Chen.

“We’re our own brothers.”

Ye Chen smiled faintly and flicked a strand of immortal light into Yan Long’s brow.

A cry of pain erupted immediately. Yan Long’s body trembled violently as he clutched his head and rolled on the ground. The strange immortal light made his sea of consciousness thunder, his head feel like it was splitting open, and his mind descend into chaos.

Ye Chen said nothing and took him into the Chaos Cauldron. He divided the blood energy he had collected along the way, giving half to Yan Long and pouring it into his body. Since Yan Long’s bloodline was ordinary, this would help him undergo a complete transformation.

Even before his seals were fully released, Yan Long was infused with various blood essences, causing his cultivation to advance rapidly.

Ye Chen then ascended into the sky, heading straight for the Kong Que family. Along the way, he didn’t idle, summoning his immortal fire, heavenly thunder, and Saint Body origin to refine Yan Long’s physical body, primordial spirit, and bloodline.

It wasn’t until some time later that Yan Long stopped roaring. Peering out from the cauldron’s opening, he looked at Ye Chen in utter disbelief. As he gazed, he suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud and burst into sobs.

Before reaching the Kong Que family, Ye Chen had some time, so he shared stories from the past with Yan Long.

Yan Long listened in silence. Ye Chen spoke plainly, but Yan Long felt a deep wave of emotion—for his previous life and for this one. Just recently, people had been discussing his exploits.

Who could have imagined that reincarnation existed in this world? And who could have guessed that the figure who had shaken the Xuan Huang recently, nearly sparking a great war among the southern region’s ten thousand clans, was the holy lord of Da Chu Heavenly Court?

Yan Long strongly insisted on joining the search for other reincarnated souls, but Ye Chen rejected the idea.

Ye Chen wanted help in the search, but at least the person needed sufficient cultivation. Someone like Yan Long, without even basic self-defense capabilities, would face safety issues if sent out.

Yan Long felt a bit embarrassed. In his previous life, he had been quite a figure, so how had things turned out so poorly after reincarnation? People like Ji Ning Frost, Chu Ling Yu, Hong Chen Xue, and Qian Shang Yue had all reincarnated successfully—why was he in such a sorry state?

Ye Chen didn’t hold back, generously giving him piles of pills and secret techniques, along with terrifying artifacts. After all, Ye Chen had swept through so much on this journey precisely for the reincarnated souls, and he gave without a second thought.

Yan Long devoured the pills frantically and decided to seclude himself in the Chaos Cauldron to cultivate, aiming to advance as quickly as possible. At the very least, he didn’t want to be a burden—he was, after all, a general of Yan Huang.

An hour later, Ye Chen entered an ancient city, intending to use its teleportation array.

The ancient city was grand, and even at night, it bustled with activity. As soon as he landed, he heard waves of discussions.

“Did you hear? The Jin Wu Prince has wiped out another family.”

“The Ye Family in the south.”

Someone sighed. “All because their young master shares the name Ye Chen.”

“It’s truly tragic. The entire family was massacred, with the men’s heads piled into mountains. The worst was the children, nailed to the walls one by one.”

“This is the third one in three days.”

The streets were filled with curses. “Ever since he returned from Hong Huang Forest, he hasn’t stopped—like a mad dog, biting at everything in sight. Pitiful families who never provoked him, yet they’re wiped out.”

“The Kun Peng Clan’s prince is even more ruthless, showing utter cruelty. He’s destroyed at least a dozen families in the past few days—real mountains of corpses and rivers of blood.”

“Both of them suffered big losses to the Saint Body in Hong Huang Forest. Even though the Archaic Saint Body is dead, they’re still furious, hunting down anyone connected to it. Anyone with even a remote link, or just the same name, is in their kill range—like the Ye Family that was just destroyed.”

“Kill a thousand if necessary, just don’t miss one—that’s these two mad princes’ motto.”

“There’s no helping it; it’s the world of the strong, where the weak deserve to be bullied. That’s the bloody law.”

“If only the Saint Body were still alive, he could wipe out those two mongrels and stop them from plaguing the world.”

The older cultivators all sighed with regret. “Speaking of the Saint Body, it’s such a pity.”

As the discussions continued, Ye Chen walked by quietly, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. He hadn’t realized that during his time in the black hole, the Jin Wu Prince and the Kun Peng Clan’s prince had been acting so recklessly, venting their anger on innocent lives.

Though anger burned within him, he didn’t stop. It was simply because his time was running out. If he had enough lifespan, he would stay in the southern region and settle scores with them properly.

Helplessly, he stepped into the teleportation array, continuously jumping between ancient cities on his way to the Kong Que family.

Along the way, he saw far too many gruesome scenes—families destroyed by those two lunatics, with mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, and vengeful spirits howling in the night.

It was indeed the world of the strong, where the weak were meant to be bullied—a cruel law, an iron rule—that added a layer of tragic sorrow and helpless grief to this world.