Chapter 1736: Yaochi Unseals

Di Qu stumbled back with a heavy thud. His shattered body instantly regenerated, and his hollow, emperor's eyes gleamed with icy cold light.

As the supreme ruler of all spirits, the Great Emperor was an unparalleled existence. Even reduced to just Di Qu, he was still an emperor and would never tolerate being challenged by mere ants.

Ye Chen's attack had stirred the latent dignity of the Great Emperor.

In that eternal instant, the long-buried divine consciousness of Di Qu awakened slightly after eons of change.

The Great Emperor was enraged. He reached out with one hand, his palm etched with imperial Dao seal scripts, transforming the space within into a black hole.

This was his first display of divine abilities, an imperial Dao immortal technique, all triggered by that sliver of awakened consciousness, reviving his combat instincts.

Ye Chen's chest was torn open, several blood-drenched sacred bones ripped out, and his dominating Desolate Ancient Sacred Body was nearly dismantled by Di Qu.

Golden blood splashed brilliantly, stark and shocking.

That trace of the Great Emperor's consciousness alone could overturn the heavens and earth. In a certain sense, it was more terrifying than Di Qu itself—that was the essence of the emperor.

The imperial divine might surpassed what had come before, sweeping across the vast universe.

Ye Chen gritted his teeth, condensing thousands of divine abilities into a single finger, obliterating all in its path as it pierced straight toward the brow of Tian Mo Di Qu, creating a bloody hole.

Then, he soared through the nine heavens, ascending into the void, heading toward the nothingness—that was the battlefield where he and Di Qu would decide life and death.

Di Qu snorted coldly—the first time he had spoken since emerging from his coffin—carrying apocalyptic thunder and imperial might as he pursued Ye Chen.

In an instant, the ethereal void churned with dark clouds, lightning flashing and thunder roaring.

Destructive omens intertwined, stars crumbled, the blazing sun fell into oblivion, casting apocalyptic light that upended the cosmos and disrupted yin and yang.

Below, the onlookers all gazed upward, their faces pale as paper.

This was the clash between the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body and the Great Emperor; each collision destroyed heavens and earth, and even a Quasi-Emperor entering would be obliterated.

No one could clearly see Ye Chen and Di Qu, only a realm of chaos and a land of boundless demonic soil contending in the void.

These were their respective Dao manifestations, with their paths clashing, causing the sky to shatter and the earth to crack, neither able to overcome the other, nor devour one another.

Ye Chen fought with great difficulty, launching attacks repeatedly, only to be drenched in blood each time. His sacred body healed over and over, only to fracture again.

Di Qu was undergoing a corpse transformation, having regained a trace of consciousness, instinctively unleashing imperial Dao divine abilities with devastating power.

A Di Qu with even a sliver of consciousness could accomplish much, such as summoning Tian Mo Yu to invade the human realm once more.

With no other choice, Ye Chen pressed on relentlessly, attacking without regard for cost, unleashing all his lifetime's secret techniques at full force against Di Qu.

"Ant."

Though Di Qu's rebuke was low, it boomed like ancient thunder, collapsing the eternal firmament as his imperial seal blanketed the skies.

"Even an ant can slay an emperor."

Ye Chen roared hoarsely, enhancing his emperor sword with the aura of imperial malice, slicing through the imperial Dao immortal seal with a single strike.

Remarkably, upon sensing that imperial malice, Di Qu trembled violently.

As a Great Emperor of Tian Mo Yu, how could he not know what that aura signified? The person before him had slain a Great Emperor.

In that moment of Di Qu's distraction, Ye Chen instantly closed in, gathering his sword for a slash that nearly severed one of Di Qu's arms from the void.

His deliberate reveal of the malice was meant to disrupt Di Qu's trace of consciousness, sow chaos in his mind, and force him to expose a weakness.

The results proved his tactic was a resounding success.

Tian Mo Di Qu's mind suffered a blow, and that revived trace of consciousness, like a flickering flame, teetered on the brink of extinction.

Ye Chen would not miss such an opportunity, charging forward to attack.

Di Qu became increasingly wretched, retreating steadily as his body was battered and cracked. Even the emperor's regenerative power could not withstand the mounting wounds.

In contrast, Ye Chen grew fiercer with each exchange.

He dared not pause, striking fist after fist, sword after sword, burning his vital energy to the extreme, pushing his peak combat strength even higher.

The rumbling echoed through the nine heavens, making the Ling Yu domain tremble and buzz.

Perhaps the battle's fluctuations were too immense, affecting the various heavens as well, with faint traces of thunder appearing and alarming many.

"It must be a war in another domain." The elder cultivators narrowed their eyes. "But this commotion is extraordinarily large."

"It feels like a disaster is approaching." The younger ones murmured softly.

"Let it come, and give those ancient great clans a taste of it."

In the Wang Chuan forbidden zone, Meng Po Po looked at the Wang Chuan Heavenly King with full concern.

"Is it Ling Yu?" she asked.

"Indeed," the Heavenly King replied calmly, his expression composed.

His calmness eased Meng Po Po's worries considerably, instilling a sense of inexplicable security with the forbidden zone's Heavenly King present.

Yet, she did not notice a flicker of concern in the Wang Chuan Heavenly King's aged eyes, his Quasi-Emperor state of mind trembling slightly.

Having lived through endless years, at his level, he could sense something—a bloody aura carrying a wisp of imperial might.

Suddenly, the once-calm Wang Chuan began to surge with waves.

Meng Po Po frowned, and the Wang Chuan Heavenly King withdrew his gaze from the void.

Both lowered their heads, peering toward the depths of Wang Chuan, as if they could see through the waters to a figure sealed away for ages.

It was Ji Ningshuang, the Xuan Ling Body in her past life, now the Yao Chi goddess. She had come to this Wang Chuan forbidden ground over a hundred years ago.

For more than a century, she had remained in a sealed state, all because the child in her womb carried heavenly tribulation, unable to integrate with the world.

"The child of heavenly tribulation is disturbing the Wang Chuan cosmos again," Meng Po said.

"Unseal her and let her leave," the Wang Chuan Heavenly King said indifferently. "The child of heavenly tribulation should be born."

With that, he turned and walked away, his form fading with each step.

Meng Po took a deep breath and descended into Wang Chuan, reaching the depths where an ice jade bed was suspended, with Ji Ningshuang lying upon it.

She was like an ice sculpture, utterly still, carved with lifelike detail.

The Yao Chi goddess remained as radiantly elegant as ever, tears at the corners of her eyes preserved for over a hundred years, infused with tender emotion.

In her lower abdomen was a small infant, plump and pink.

Yet, dark energy swirled around the child, with black lightning tearing through it—heavenly tribulation thunder, bearing the wrath of the heavens.

"What a pitiful child," Meng Po sighed, gently raising her hand to brush over Ji Ningshuang, dispelling the seal.

Ji Ningshuang's delicate body trembled lightly as the dust of ages dissipated in the wind. The tears at her eyes, after a century, finally fell.

As she slowly opened her eyes, they were filled with ancient confusion.

Of course—sealed for a hundred years, the world outside had seen new generations replace the old. A century was like a dream, a full lifetime for mortals.

After a few seconds, she regained her senses and abruptly sat up, her first instinct to touch her lower abdomen, where her child lay.

She burst into tears, seeing the lightning coiling around the tiny form.

The heavenly tribulation that had afflicted her and Ye Chen had all transferred to their child.

He had not even been born, yet he faced such torment. If possible, she would rather bear the tribulation herself, even at the cost of her life.

"Ye Chen... is dead."

Meng Po spoke, though reluctantly, knowing she would learn of it upon leaving.

Ji Ningshuang jerked her head up, her eyes misting over like frost, brimming and staring blankly at Meng Po.

Meng Po sighed and flicked a strand of divine sense into her brow.

The divine sense unfolded visions: Ye Chen suppressed under Wu Zhi Mountain, his return to Da Chu, the Tian Mo invasion, his burial in the stars...

Ji Ningshuang covered her mouth, her body trembling uncontrollably, tears streaming down her sorrowful cheeks.

A hundred years of time had passed; she awoke, but he was gone, having fallen in the stars a century ago, turned to dust.

Over three hundred years in total, a full great cycle, and they had still missed each other. Life and death were so distant.

"We never even saw our child, never named him, never held him. Ye Chen, how could you die?"

Her tears flooded her heart, blurring her memories of the past.

The pain was heart-wrenching. This farewell was eternal, and all their shared history was but a dream riddled with wounds.

Meng Po shook her head with a sigh, unable to bear watching any longer, and silently turned away.

In truth, they could have unsealed Ji Ningshuang earlier, but the sudden arrival of Tian Mo had led to Ye Chen's death in the stars.

Everything had become a twist of fate in the shadows.