Chapter 1706: Six Paths of Reincarnation (Six)

Ming Jue glanced at the sky. "There's not much time left."

"It seems Ye Chen is truly lost in a world of tenderness," Bai Zhi frowned. "The hundred-year limit, forever adrift."

Ming Di sipped his wine leisurely, occasionally turning to look at Di Huang.

Di Huang remained composed; his eyes showed no trace of worry. Even with only a few days remaining, he still believed in Ye Chen.

It was another night filled with stars, and the flower grove was peaceful.

In the garden, Ye Chen sat on a stone chair, hands tucked in his sleeves, gazing quietly at the stars. There were moments when he seemed lost in thought.

Everything was perfect—too perfect, like a dream where every desire could be fulfilled.

But he was a person cursed by heaven, despised by the celestial realm.

The so-called heavens would not bring him disaster, yet how could they allow a defiant one like him to live such a flawless life?

Ye Chen smiled, bowing his head in self-mockery, a touch of sorrow in his expression.

For nearly a hundred years, heaven had been toying with him, and he had been deceiving himself, falling into this tender world, unwilling to leave, greedily savoring it all.

This perfection was the flaw itself. He had spent nearly a century verifying it, and the result was tragic.

He finally understood that this was not his true home; he was still within the Liu Dao Lunhui.

Through endless trials and hardships, he was exhausted and weary. The human path's home was so perfect that he could not resist it.

With a sorrowful smile, he stood up and walked to the front of the bamboo house.

Through the bamboo walls, he could see his wife and the child in her arms, both lost in sweet dreams.

He longed so much for it all to be real, not just an illusion.

A hundred years like a dream, so beautiful, with memories frozen in time—images forming drops of sorrowful tears.

In his blurred vision, it was all just a memory.

In the end, he silently turned away, walking toward the forest, continuing his trial, his tribulation, alone and lonely.

"Where are you going?"

A voice called from behind.

The doors of the bamboo houses opened, and women stood there, each holding a child, quietly watching Ye Chen's retreating figure.

"Home," Ye Chen smiled, but he did not turn around.

"This is your home!"

The women's eyes were filled with tears.

"The human path is not home," Ye Chen said with a shake of his head.

"You've let go of Chu Ling, and now you want to let go of us too?"

"If I can let go of Chu Ling, I can let go of this perfection." Ye Chen walked on, his warm words echoing back. "Even if it's an illusion, thank you for the hundred years of companionship."

The women cried, their eyes misty, calling out desperately.

The human path's perfection had shaped them with real emotions and tears.

But Ye Chen did not stop or look back.

As his figure faded into the distance, this perfect world slowly lost its color, turning into dark, scorched earth.

His final step crossed from the beautiful dream into the harsh reality, landing on the scorched ground and leaving a footprint.

"This junior of yours is truly remarkable!" Ming Di smiled, even as a great emperor, he sighed in admiration.

"He has already surpassed me; he will be the most astonishing Huang Gu Sheng Ti, without compare." Di Huang smiled, his expression full of satisfaction.

"The facts prove that the emotional tribulation you created for him back then was indeed perfectly timed." Ming Di sighed again.

Di Huang smiled. He had been defeated, so he would not let his successor fail as well.

The emotional tribulation was staged specifically for Ye Chen, tailored to counter the human path.

One who could let go of Chu Ling'er could also let go of that perfection.

Unfortunately, he had not comprehended the truth in his time, falling into the dream and unwilling to leave, so his defeat was utter.

"Only the Tian Dao remains; passing it will mean he's through." Ming Jue took a deep breath. "This journey has been incredibly difficult."

"Master, what does the Tian Dao test?" Bai Zhi asked Di Huang curiously. "That path must be even more terrifying!"

"I don't know either." Di Huang shook his head; it was the truth. Back then, he had failed at the human path and had no qualification to face the Tian Dao. Its trials could only be known by experiencing them.

Hearing this, Bai Zhi looked at Ming Di, but he also shook his head.

Helpless, she turned to the water screen. Ye Chen was still walking across the dark scorched earth, enduring the passage of time with each step.

Ye Chen was also pondering what the final Tian Dao trial would be.

The Liu Dao Lunhui grew more severe with each path, and with Tian Dao at the end, it was surely extremely dreadful just by thinking about it.

But he had no way out; he had passed five paths of the Liu Dao Lunhui and would push through the sixth, even if it meant dying in his homeland.

Time stretched on endlessly; the dark scorched earth was his only companion, with infinite years by his side.

Day by day, year by year, the years etched traces upon him, each one a mark of weariness.

He didn't know when he finally stopped, gently closing his eyes and deeply inhaling—that was a faint, elusive aura.

The aura came from the human realm, carrying the scent of his homeland.

That meant he was very close to home, and thus, very close to the Tian Dao gate—he was about to arrive.

Indeed, after ten years, he saw a massive gate stretching endlessly east to west, majestic and imposing, far grander than the previous five gates.

The words "Tian Dao" were visible from afar, written in blood, striking and heart-wrenching to behold.

He had reached it; the final gate of the six paths lay ahead.

His steps quickened—not out of eagerness for torment, but to return to his homeland, so moved that he felt like crying.

Nine hundred years had passed; he had walked through the Liu Dao Lunhui for nine hundred years, and his longing for home was etched into his soul.

The Tian Dao gate led to a vast, boundless world.

This world was eerily calm, without mountains, grass, or living beings—only an endless water surface, clear as a mirror.

Ye Chen frowned, walking slowly across the water.

As he walked, a water column rose from the surface, forming a human shape.

That person looked exactly like him, identical in cultivation, realm, and Dao principles.

Or rather, it was another Ye Chen, except he wore black robes, his expression dull, his eyes empty.

"Exact duplication," Ye Chen murmured to himself.

This place reminded him of the Wu Wang Da Ze in Da Chu, where there was another version of himself, everything identical.

"I think I've figured it out." Ye Chen's eyes gleamed with insight.

He was Ye Chen, and the other was the Tian Dao, his personal Tian Dao. To fight the Tian Dao was to fight himself.

To pass this Tian Dao gate, he needed to defeat the other version of himself.

Ye Chen's brow furrowed even deeper. Back in the Wu Wang Da Ze, he had defeated himself, which stirred the boundary between reality and illusion.

After that battle, he had fallen into a daze for three whole years, triggered by Liu Ru Yan's death, and luckily, it had completed his Hun Dun Dao.

Now, in this moment, it was so similar. He would need to connect reality and illusion again; otherwise, he could never defeat the other self.

This method was risky; one misstep could plunge him back into that daze.

But he had no choice; compared to death, he preferred the daze.

As long as he returned home, everything could be fixed. Dong Huang Tai Xin might have a way, along with Da Chu's Nine Emperors, the Nine Divine Generals, and the Jian Shen—they could surely restore his clarity.

If he died, it would be true oblivion, turning even the faintest hope into despair.

"How to break this Tian Dao setup by fighting another self?"

Both Ming Jue and Bai Zhi scratched their heads, looking toward Di Huang and Ming Di.

For the first time, Ming Di and Di Huang furrowed their brows, their faces grim. Even as supreme beings, they found this challenging; the setup was indeed hard to crack.

If it were them, they had many methods, involving Di Dao Xian Shu, which defied laws and could crush the other self.

But Ye Chen was different; he was only at the saint level. How could he disrupt the laws? The exact duplication meant that as he changed, so did the other—creating an unbreakable cycle.

"After passing five paths of the Liu Dao Lunhui, failing at the last one would be absurd." Ming Jue took a deep breath.