Chapter 1520: Did I Chicken Out?

Kui Niu watched with bright eyes. This was Wangchuan, the so-called forbidden zone, and he found it captivating.

"This needs to be recorded," he said, pulling out a memory crystal and quickly imprinting the scenes of Wangchuan. The vibrant images on the water were incredibly mysterious, perfect for warding off evil spirits when taken back.

"Indeed, it's extraordinary," Ye Chen murmured softly, gazing quietly at the water. Wangchuan was calm without a ripple, yet full of hidden dangers, much like the underworld itself—easy to enter, but not necessarily to leave.

Just as in the underworld, his Xian Yan couldn't see through this sea. It was too mysterious, ancient beyond measure, as if it had no timeline. It seemed right before him, yet more distant than a dream, almost unreal.

For some unknown reason, standing there, he felt a strange sensation, as if he had been to Wangchuan before. The feeling came and went in an instant, vague and elusive, yet growing stronger at times.

He stared intently, his eyes growing hazy, his mind wandering, blurring the line between reality and illusion.

In Wangchuan, she was equally entranced, lost in a daze. She gently raised her jade-like hand, reaching toward the void, as if she could touch that face across the vast sea.

More than two hundred years had passed, and this moment mirrored the scene before the Dan Hall in their previous life. On the brink of death, her blood-stained hand had reached for his face, only to fall weakly amid the wounds.

In that instant, past and present intertwined, like a fleeting dream. The waters of Wangchuan were a vast, weathered chasm, more distant than life and death, separating karma and obscuring fate, all ending in sorrow.

Ye Chen frowned and turned his head, looking at Kui Niu beside him with a strange expression.

Sensing Ye Chen's gaze, Kui Niu turned his head.

"Why are you staring at me? Your look is off."

"Do you have... have any kind of strange feeling?"

"What kind of feeling?"

"I can't quite describe it, but I feel like someone in Wangchuan is watching me, and even touching my face."

"You bastard, don't scare me."

Kui Niu shuddered and instinctively stepped back.

"I'm just joking. Look how jumpy you are."

Ye Chen said, and stepped back himself.

"Are you saying I'm chicken? What about you?"

"Did I chicken out?"

The two bantered back and forth, each retort followed by a step backward. Before they knew it, they turned and bolted, scrambling away as if they'd seen a ghost.

It was worth noting that one was an ancient sacred body, the other the Kui Niu prince—both fled with an air of dominance. Their speed was unmatched, faster than anyone could imagine.

The onlookers were stunned. What had they seen to scare them like that? What a pair of clowns.

As Ye Chen left, Ji Ning Shuang in Wangchuan lowered her hand, her smile tinged with tears.

The past was too painful; better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes. Those words were like a curse, leaving her entranced.

The waters of Wangchuan rippled, waves rising, making her suddenly cover her mouth. A wave of nausea arose, and in her lower abdomen, she felt a spiritual fluctuation, as if a life was stirring into awareness.

Ah, a sigh echoed, and the rippling waters bulged, forming a human shape.

It was an old woman, leaning on a cane, with white hair and a kind face, like a gentle grandmother, her eyes full of warmth as she watched Ji Ning Shuang, who was retching.

She was eerie, appearing as a living person yet emitting no life force, like a corpse. Her age was ancient, surpassing eternal eras, like a speck of historical dust.

"Poor child, not yet born and already facing calamity," the old woman sighed again.

"Who are you?"

Ji Ning Shuang clutched her abdomen and stood up, her dim eyes showing a hint of wariness.

"I am Meng Po."

"Meng Po?"

Ji Ning Shuang's beautiful eyes flickered with confusion.

"The Meng Po from the Naihe Bridge?"

"Whether I am or not, it doesn't matter."

Meng Po smiled and pointed a finger to Ji Ning Shuang's forehead.

"You are pregnant and will soon become a mother. Have you chosen a name for your child?"

"Preg... pregnant?"

Ji Ning Shuang was startled and instinctively lowered her gaze to her abdomen. She could clearly feel a new spiritual energy within her, the beginning of life.

Tears welled in her eyes again. It was a twist of fate that led to this union—she felt both joy at nurturing a new life and fear that he might not accept their child.

Suddenly, she lifted her eyes slightly, looking toward the distant haze, desperately trying to catch that fading figure. Fate played cruel tricks; they were meant to forget each other in the rivers and lakes, yet they had forged this bond.

Meanwhile, Ye Chen was still fleeing with that same dominant speed, feeling a chill on his back.

"How is it now? Any feelings?"

Kui Niu wasn't far behind, glancing at Ye Chen as he ran.

"For some reason, I suddenly have this feeling like I'm going to be a father."

Ye Chen said with a meaningful tone.

"An old man like me calculates that your aura is entering a fine state."

Kui Niu replied with a serious face, then dashed ahead, leaving Ye Chen eight hundred zhang behind, faster than a rabbit.

Ye Chen shook his head and kept up the pace, occasionally glancing back at Wangchuan.

They might be a pair of fools, but that earlier feeling was undeniably real. He truly sensed someone watching him and touching his face. It was too strange, which is why they ran.

That was a forbidden zone—seeming calm, but terrifyingly dangerous. Having been to the underworld, he knew all too well that anything on par with it was dreadful. Just thinking about it, Wangchuan's horrors were clear.

As he pondered, he suddenly stopped, his brows furrowing again. He quickly scanned his body and saw dark thunderbolts manifesting—it was Tian Qian, ravaging his sacred body and cultivation roots.

Without hesitation, he stepped forward and landed on a mountain peak, sitting down cross-legged.

Seeing Ye Chen stop, Kui Niu, who had run far ahead, turned back and stepped onto the mountain peak. Before he could speak,

"Don't come near, stay away from me."

Ye Chen said.

"What is that thing?"

Kui Niu narrowed his eyes, staring at Ye Chen's body—or more precisely, at the dark lightning surrounding his sacred body, carrying a destructive aura, incredibly domineering.

Though worried about Ye Chen, Kui Niu retreated. That dark lightning was strange, making even him tremble, like a form of his own tribulation, but far more terrifying.

Ye Chen closed his eyes and focused on suppressing the Tian Qian. Though it came suddenly, it wasn't overly fierce.

To his surprise, before he could fully suppress it, the Tian Qian lightning vanished inexplicably, dissipating bit by bit right before his eyes, disappearing without a trace—who knew where it went.

It was over in just a few moments, leaving his sacred body free of lightning. This left him baffled. Had the heavens shown mercy, realizing they couldn't destroy him and deciding to withdraw?

While he was fine, Ji Ning Shuang was in agony, clutching her abdomen and crying out in pain.

Looking at her lower abdomen, it was filled with rampaging lightning, overwhelmingly powerful, but targeting not her—it was her unborn child.

"Please, grandmother, save him."

She begged desperately, looking pleadingly at Meng Po.

"I am powerless."

Meng Po shook her head gently.

"You and the child's father are both under Tian Qian. From the moment he gained awareness, he began absorbing your shared punishment."

Ji Ning Shuang's face turned deathly pale. She, too, suffered from Tian Qian and knew its terror better than anyone. Even she and Ye Chen could barely withstand it, let alone an unborn child.

This was the calamity—heaven was cold and ruthless. It had shifted its target; unable to destroy her and Ye Chen, it now aimed at their child, as a form of retribution, to uphold the heavens' authority.

"Ye Chen, please come back, save our child."

She screamed inwardly, her beautiful eyes blurred with tears, making the once radiant woman seem like a helpless girl.

Meng Po sighed softly, her aged fingertip glowing with divine light, as if to end the unborn child.

She had lived for ages untold, and in her ancient memories, there were two others cursed by Tian Qian whose child brought chaos to the realms, plunging everything into turmoil.

It was a bloody history that still made her shudder to recall.

But in the end, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She turned indifferently and walked away.

"Emperor, I cannot do it. Let her see the child, at least leave a name for him in this world."