Chapter 1887: Blood-Stained Divine Mirror

Jiang Taixu remained silent, his eyes slightly narrowed and his brows furrowed.

After three to five seconds, Ye Chen broke the silence.

"Senior, what's exactly inside there?"

"Half of a blood-stained Shen Jing," Jiang Taixu replied slowly.

"Is it a Di Qi?" the Four Venerable Sovereigns asked in unison.

"It's not a Di Qi," Jiang Taixu said, shaking his head lightly.

"That's impossible," Ye Chen said immediately. "Earlier, three Zhun Di Tianmo were all shaken out."

"The Shen Jing itself isn't a Di Qi, but the blood on it is Di Xue," Jiang Taixu explained slowly.

"Di Xue?" Not just Ye Chen, but the Four Venerable Sovereigns were also astonished.

"A Great Emperor shakes the ancients and illuminates the present, an existence on par with the Great Dao. A single drop of his blood could instantly crush an ordinary Zhun Di, and shaking off three Zhun Di Tianmo is entirely within the power of Di Xue," Jiang Taixu murmured, withdrawing his gaze from the crimson sea of clouds.

"It's not an Emperor's weapon, but it's stained with the blood of an emperor," Ye Chen said, stroking his chin. "Could it be that someone once used that Shen Jing to slaughter a Great Emperor?"

"That's absolutely impossible," the Four Venerable Sovereigns waved their hands. "Nothing below the level of an Emperor's weapon can break an emperor's body."

"I'm more curious about whose Great Emperor's blood is on that half Shen Jing," Jiang Taixu said.

"That's simple—just bring it out and take a look," Ye Chen laughed. "We have five Emperor's weapons, so we're not afraid of the Di Xue."

"We'll handle this investigation," Jiang Taixu said, placing a hand on Ye Chen's shoulder. "As for you, you should hurry to the Tianzun Yiji. If you're late, you'll miss it."

"Oh, I almost forgot about that," Ye Chen said with a dry laugh.

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Taixu invoked the Heavenly Dao, vanishing instantly into the black hole, with Ye Chen disappearing alongside him.

When they reappeared, they were on a desolate star.

"Aren't you planning to check out the Tianzun Yiji, Senior?" Ye Chen asked Jiang Taixu while frantically stuffing pills into his mouth.

"At my level, I'm only interested in opportunities for becoming an emperor. As for so-called relics, whether I go or not doesn't matter," Jiang Taixu said with a smile. "This is the era of the younger generation—we older ones don't bother competing."

"In that case, I'll take my leave first," Ye Chen said, cupping his hands, then stepped into the starry sky and summoned a teleportation domain gate.

"Another mountain of corpses and sea of blood!" Jiang Taixu sighed, then invoked the Heavenly Dao again, returning to the space black hole.

The Four Venerable Sovereigns stood side by side with Jiang Taixu, each with an ultimate Dao Emperor's weapon hovering above their heads, as they stepped into the crimson sea of clouds. They parted layer after layer of mist, heading straight for the half Shen Jing.

The closer they got to the half Shen Jing, the more their Emperor's weapons trembled with agitation.

"I have a premonition that the blood on the Shen Jing doesn't belong to any Great Emperor of the heavens," Yan Huang said slowly. "Or rather, it's not among the one hundred and thirty emperors of Xuan Huang, much like the Emperor's weapons of the Five Forbidden Zones, which aren't the life-bound Emperor's artifacts of the one hundred and thirty emperors of Xuan Huang."

"Take it out and ask in the Forbidden Zones, and we'll know," Chu Huang said, urging his Xuanyuan Sword to part the hazy mist.

Meanwhile, Ye Chen had already emerged from the domain gate channel and immediately summoned another one.

Fortunately, the starry sky he was in wasn't far from the Tianzun Yiji, so he should make it in time.

Along the way, he desperately swallowed pills, rapidly circulating the Saint Dao to heal his fractured Saint Body. His Saint Body's origin, bloodline power, and Chaos Dao principles merged to erase the killing intent within him.

The most critical injury for him was still his Yuan Shen.

Earlier, in his desperate fight against the Zhun Di Tianmo, he had endured a direct strike, piercing his brow and nearly collapsing his divine sea, affecting his Yuan Shen. If not for his deep foundations, he would have been instantly killed.

For him, this battle had been truly brutal. All over his body, aside from the Chaos Ding, he had no other artifacts left. Even the Di Zang Yun Tie had been lost in the black hole, and he could only wait for his Reincarnation Eye to unseal before going back to search.

He should count himself lucky that Jiang Taixu and the Four Venerable Sovereigns had arrived just in time. If they had been even three to five moments later, he probably would have self-destructed, taking a swarm of Tianmo with him.

"Suddenly realized I'm so poor," Ye Chen muttered, pulling open his storage bag and glancing inside. Seeing it was empty, he felt a pang of pain—all those treasures he had collected were gone in an instant.

"I've got to go to the Tianzun Yiji and grab some loot," he said, putting away the storage bag and stroking his chin, his eyes darting around as he plotted to get some treasures from the Hong Huang Emperor's sons. Only with money could he have real confidence.

As he thought about it, he sacrificed a drop of blood and invoked the Emperor Dao Tong Ming, summoning Chu Jiang Wang. The agreed time had originally been one day, but due to the Hong Chen Six Dao and the Tianmo, it had been delayed.

On the other side, Chu Jiang Wang, now endowed with intelligence, kept sighing and clicking his tongue, looking at Ye Chen like he was some kind of monster. "Kid, you're something else! Fifty thousand Tianmo, over a thousand Great Saints, and three Zhun Di—none of them could take you out."

"How is it that you can see the space black hole in the underworld?" Ye Chen raised an eyebrow.

"As long as the Emperor Lord and the Ming Emperor want to see something, there's nothing they can't," Chu Jiang Wang said, tucking his hands into his sleeves.

Ye Chen's expression turned a bit strange, even a little colorful.

He trusted Di Huang completely.

But he wasn't so sure about the Ming Emperor. He still remembered the scene of the Ming Emperor cursing at the Tianmo Emperor—it was utterly unrestrained.

That was one eccentric Great Emperor—who knew if, in the dead of night, he might peer through the realms of the living and dead to watch things he shouldn't, like couples chatting about ideals in bed.

"This is awkward—now even going to bed feels embarrassing," Ye Chen grumbled.

"Hong Chen is your future self, and the Six Dao is the future Hong Chen. This kind of relationship has me utterly shocked," Ye Chen muttered, while Chu Jiang Wang grinned and clicked his tongue again. "It subverts time and reincarnation—Hong Chen Six Dao is too defying, and you've successfully piqued my curiosity."

"These things can be sorted out slowly later; they'll get straightened out eventually," Ye Chen coughed dryly.

"Their battles aren't aimless," Chu Jiang Wang said, becoming more serious. "The Emperor Lord and the Ming Emperor both say that the reason those two are fighting is to pressure each other."

"I don't get it," Ye Chen said, full of confusion. "What do you mean by pressure?"

"In simple terms, they're using each other's pressure to transform and achieve nirvana, then defy the heavens to become emperors," Chu Jiang Wang explained. "Their minds are muddled and confused; becoming emperors is just their subconscious behavior."

"They're aiming pretty high!" Ye Chen sighed. "The Xian Wu Emperor Zun has only been gone for about nine thousand years, and the Emperor Dao imprints and ultimate suppressions are still in place. Under these conditions, who in the heavens could become an emperor?"

"Nothing is absolute," Chu Jiang Wang waved his hand. "Those two are already beings that defy the laws. They can subvert time and reincarnation—who's to say they can't break through the Emperor Dao shackles?"

"That makes sense," Ye Chen said, popping another pill into his mouth. "If they really could defy the heavens and become emperors, that would be exciting. Then bring the Emperor Lord over through Tong Ming, and our heavens and myriad domains would truly be impregnable."

"But even if those two become emperors, it might not be a good thing," Chu Jiang Wang said with a tone full of worry. "If they regain their senses afterward, that's fine, but if they remain muddled, whether it's a blessing or a curse is hard to say."

"Let's not talk about those two—let's discuss the Zhu Xian Jian," Ye Chen changed the topic, his eyes filling with cold light at the mention of those three words. He had come to hate that so-called sword of the heavens to his very soul.

"The Emperor Lord and the Ming Emperor can't find any trace of it either," Chu Jiang Wang shook his head. "It's too mysterious."

"This is tricky," Ye Chen frowned.

The Zhu Xian Jian was elusive, like a ghost, always plotting in the shadows and launching sneak attacks. Most of the Desolate Ancient Saint Body lineage had died by its hand—this kind of existence was the most headache-inducing.

"The priority is to raise your cultivation as quickly as possible. Once you bring the Emperor Lord over through Tong Ming, many secrets can be unraveled," Chu Jiang Wang said, patting Ye Chen's shoulder as his body slowly turned into wisps of ash.

"Has the senior ever mentioned what level I need to reach to have the qualification to bring him over through Tong Ming?" Ye Chen asked hurriedly.

"Who knows?" Chu Jiang Wang shrugged. "This kind of thing, not even the Emperor Lord knows. After all, there's no precedent or reference—it's all just an unknown variable."

With that, Chu Jiang Wang dissipated.

Ye Chen rubbed his brows. If he had to reach Zhun Di to do it, that would be ridiculous. If Tianmo invaded in the meantime, it would be even more absurd—just staring at each other across the void with the Emperor Dao Tong Ming, unable to summon him.

Nine hours later, he emerged from the domain gate and appeared in a desolate stretch of starry sky.

From afar, he could see the Chaos Sea and, deep within it, that vaguely visible towering gate, majestic and grand, with Dao sounds echoing, ancient and vast.

Outside the Chaos Sea, there were many figures milling about, wanting to enter but not daring to.

Ye Chen donned a black robe, put on his Gui Ming mask, and used the Yan Tian to conceal his origin. Then, he stepped into the Chaos Sea at top speed, like a streak of immortal light, because the towering gate was closing.

In an instant, he entered the Tianzun Yiji.

Behind him, a few others followed in twos and threes, choosing to seek fortune amid danger between opportunity and fear.