Chapter 1707: Breaking Through the Barrier

The Heavenly Path was silent and desolate. The water was still, without waves, and time seemed frozen.

Ye Chen was as calm as an ancient well, neither happy nor sad, looking at the Heavenly Path's version of himself as if looking at his own reflection.

The final battle of the Six Paths of Reincarnation was against himself.

His strength was identical to that of the Heavenly Path Ye Chen, including their bloodlines, divine abilities, visions, origins, and principles.

This was an inherent balance. Without breaking it, he could not defeat himself, and without defeating himself, he could not transcend the Heavenly Path.

A gentle breeze brushed by, and the aura of the Heavenly Path Ye Chen surged dramatically.

His form changed in an instant, activating the Saintly Body of the Great Accomplishment, with divine patterns etched on his forehead and his long hair turning golden.

His eyes were vast like the starry cosmos, their depths reaching beyond the edge of the universe.

The chaos vision unfolded, encompassing heaven and earth, filled with endless Dao essences that evolved and intertwined, sketching out a vast world.

Ye Chen's combat power also reached its peak at that moment, his golden hair fluttering as the once-calm water erupted into towering waves.

However, unlike the Heavenly Path Ye Chen, at his side, streams of light wove together to form an illusory figure.

Looking closely, it was Xie Yun, Ye Chen's close brother.

Following Xie Yun came Xiong Er, Liu Yi, Situ Nan, Yang Dingtian, Dao Xuan, Xu Fu, Xiao Feng, and Pang Da Chuan.

Figure after figure materialized, each standing in formation, arrayed across the vast sky and earth.

They were not real, but illusions, vast in number.

Or rather, they were the heroic spirits of Da Chu, with all three sects, nine halls, and eighty-one gates of the Heavenly Court present, none absent, lined up in battle order.

Ye Chen stood like a commander, leading the Da Chu Heavenly Court.

After three hundred years, a full cycle of reincarnation, the ninety million heroic spirits of Da Chu gathered together for the first time in this manner.

"What kind of divine ability is that?" On the peak of Jie Ming Shan, Ming Jue stared in stunned amazement, unsure of what was happening.

"Where did so many illusions come from?" Bai Zhi was equally bewildered.

"It actually bridges the real and the illusory, disrupting the laws." Ming Di frowned, his supreme state of mind unsettled.

Di Huang's brows furrowed even deeper; he had underestimated Ye Chen, who had achieved something beyond even the emperor's immortal arts.

Yet, amid his admiration, he felt a subtle unease.

Clearly, Ye Chen's actions had touched upon a supreme taboo.

As it was a taboo, it would invite backlash, and at that level, the backlash could bury Ye Chen, equivalent to losing himself in the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

Within the Heavenly Path, all light had vanished; the clear daylight was overshadowed by the Da Chu heroic spirits, turning the world into utter darkness.

"Do you have these?" Ye Chen stared directly at the Heavenly Path Ye Chen.

The Heavenly Path Ye Chen's expression was wooden, yet a frown creased his face.

Compared to Ye Chen and the Da Chu heroic spirits behind him, his figure seemed frail, like a mere grain in the vast sea.

He truly did not have them, for he lacked emotions.

Although the illusory figures Ye Chen summoned were weak to the point of being negligible, they shattered the balance between him and Ye Chen.

Once the balance was broken, the Heavenly Path's trial became meaningless.

What seemed to be the most difficult Heavenly Path barrier turned into the simplest one for Ye Chen, requiring no century-long wait.

"War!" Ye Chen roared, stepping forward to shatter the void, wielding nothing but his golden fists.

"War!" The Da Chu heroic spirits moved as well, following closely behind, each unleashing their divine abilities and secret techniques in unison.

The Heavenly Path Ye Chen also sprang into action, his fist merging eight wastelands with the universe.

He executed Ye Chen's attack secrets flawlessly, their power overwhelmingly dominant, his punch piercing through eternal skies.

Their golden fists collided, thunderous explosions erupting as golden halos spread outward.

Wherever they passed, the void space crumbled inch by inch, and the water surged into terrifying waves, threatening to devour the heavens and earth.

Ye Chen's fist exploded, blood and bones scattering across the sky.

The Heavenly Path Ye Chen fared the same, his fist bones shattering as he staggered backward, golden blood spilling in shocking streams.

Before he could steady himself, he was overwhelmed by the Da Chu heroic spirits.

He swung his sword, cleaving through eight wastelands and birthing streaks of immortal rivers, brilliant yet fleeting, splitting the heavens and earth.

The Da Chu heroic spirits were indeed fragile, turning to ash in droves.

Yet, they pressed on relentlessly, one after another.

Ye Chen charged through the nine heavens, shrinking the distance in a single step to close in, his fist obliterating half of the Heavenly Path Ye Chen's sacred body.

The battle was immense, shaking the Heavenly Path and collapsing the skies.

It was like the end of the world, with thunder raging and forces of annihilation rampant, chaos threatening to wipe out all life.

The Heavenly Path Ye Chen fell at a disadvantage, unable to withstand Ye Chen's overwhelming assault.

Though equal to Ye Chen, with the Da Chu heroic spirits aiding him, even their minor strength was enough to overpower him.

As he retreated, the Heavenly Path world began to crumble and decay, scarred and ravaged, with cracks revealing scorched earth beyond.

Ye Chen's vital energy soared, growing fiercer with each clash, like a war god.

The Da Chu heroic spirits he led were invigorated, inspired by him as their combat power rose, battering the Heavenly Path Ye Chen until he burst apart repeatedly.

The battle, without suspense, ended predictably.

In merely a quarter of an hour, the Heavenly Path Ye Chen was utterly destroyed.

The Da Chu heroic spirits dissipated one by one, each smiling at Ye Chen before vanishing, as if saying:

"Wait for you to come home."

This world lost its original colors, crumbling inch by inch into scorched earth, boundless and vast.

"Is... is that it?" Ming Jue swallowed hard.

"That was... too fast." Bai Zhi's expression was full of surprise; the most difficult Heavenly Path barrier had become history in the blink of an eye.

Ming Di and Di Huang said nothing, their eyes fixed intently on Ye Chen.

He had passed the Heavenly Path barrier, but the subsequent backlash was the true terror, where anything could happen.

On the scorched earth of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, Ye Chen stood silently.

His mind wavered unsteadily, with moments where he nearly lost control, nearly swallowed by a mysterious force.

The backlash had arrived, pulling him toward a state of mindless haze.

He resisted fiercely, silently reciting a heart-clearing mantra to steady his mind.

One could see the veins bulging on his forehead, sweat drenching him, his golden eyes filled with bloodshot veins, turned entirely red.

The terror of true-illusion backlash was something he had experienced before.

That mindless state was no different from death; those three years had been like wandering as a lifeless corpse through the world, leaving no trace.

He did not know how much time passed before he finally suppressed it, scanning his surroundings.

He had cleared all six paths of reincarnation barriers, yet there were no signs or phenomena, and he had no idea where the exit to the myriad realms lay.

"Master, with all six barriers broken, why is Ye Chen still in the six paths?" Bai Zhi and Ming Jue both looked to Ming Di and Di Huang.

"He needs to reach the full thousand years; Ye Chen still has one hundred years left." Ming Di said calmly. "Once the hundred years are up, he can leave."

"So, it's just a matter of time." Ming Jue took a deep breath. "After all the trials, he has endured."

"If it were me, I could never make it through." Bai Zhi gave a self-deprecating smile.

For the umpteenth time, the facts proved she was no match for Ye Chen; her master's insight had never been wrong.

Jie Ming Shan fell into silence, as did the six paths.

On the dark scorched earth, Ye Chen walked alone, looking around as he went, while continuously fighting the backlash, searching for the way home.

Day by day passed, and though he found no exit, the backlash grew fiercer, devouring his mind and becoming harder to resist.

Ye Chen knew he would gradually descend into that mindless state.

That was why he desperately sought the exit, hoping to return to the myriad realms before losing himself completely.

Once back, he could seek help from his seniors; there would be ways to resolve it. Otherwise, in his mindless state, he would become a walking corpse.

As time dragged on, Ming Jue and Bai Zhi noticed something was wrong.

Ye Chen's expression was clearly pained; at times, he clutched his head and roared, his eyes shifting between clarity and emptiness.

Even his steps grew unsteady, as if he might collapse.

The two exchanged glances, realizing that summoning so many illusions must have triggered an extremely terrifying backlash.

In other words, though he had passed the six barriers, he might still fall in the Six Paths of Reincarnation or even lose himself entirely.

Sure enough, under their watchful eyes, Ye Chen's expression turned wooden.

Then his eyes became vacant, his arms hung limp, and his face showed no emotion whatsoever.

Now, he resembled a puppet, a living dead, trudging with stiff steps across the scorched earth.

An inexplicable wave of sorrow rose in their hearts.

After over nine hundred years of trials, breaking through dangers only to end like this—how could it not be tragic?

"At least, he's still alive." Ming Di sighed; surviving the backlash was already a stroke of luck, and being alive meant hope.

Di Huang remained silent, his eyes flickering with uncertainty; he was glad Ye Chen lived, but worried about his condition, which was truly troublesome.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly for them.

For Ye Chen, however, it held no meaning, with days blending into years, all slipping away in his mindless state.

On the vast scorched earth, he was like a speck of dust, yet strikingly conspicuous.

The blade of time ravaged his clothes, turning his hair white and unkempt, covering his face, his beard growing longer and whiter.

The road home was as long as the time that had passed.

Ming Jue and Bai Zhi could no longer bear to watch, both lowering their eyes.

The pain of a hundred years of body forging, the agony of a hundred years of self-devouring, the wounds of a hundred years of fierce battles, the tragedy of a hundred years as a beast—all of it was bloody and raw, and now he wandered on in this mindless haze.

The supreme one's disciple, his last pride, had been utterly crushed; his legend was forged with his very life.

In the prolonged wait, the thousand-year limit of the six paths finally arrived.

On the dark scorched earth, a towering gate rose from the ground, radiating divine light that bloomed in the gloom.

A faint glimmer flashed in Ye Chen's vacant eyes.

Though still wooden, that light seemed to hold a magical pull, making him take stiff steps toward it, one by one.

The gate trembled lightly and transformed into a beam of light, vanishing completely.

Thus, Ye Chen's thousand-year journey through the Six Paths of Reincarnation truly ended.

On the peak of Jie Ming Shan, Ming Jue and Bai Zhi finally exhaled in relief; returning alive was hope—he might recover.

After struggling for so long, he could finally go home; it was moving.

The water curtain in the sky did not dissipate but became blurred, obscured by a mysterious force beyond even the supremes' power.

"Bai Zhi, bring Chu Ling here," Di Huang said faintly.

Hearing this, Bai Zhi turned and left; with Ye Chen successfully breaking through, this good news should reach Chu Ling.