Chapter 2099: Face Me in a Duel, Come Out

Chapter 2099: Come Out and Fight Me One-on-One

Roughly half a day later, Ye Chen and his companions landed on an ancient star and concealed themselves in a vast mountain range.

Mo Qin was still wandering through the starry sky.

After chasing for a while, he lost sight of his target. After searching for a long time without success, he shook his head and headed toward the direction of Xuan Huang. There was a big business waiting for him there. In his view, the scroll depicting the Huanggu Shengti would definitely be very popular in the holy lands of cultivation. Once it went on sale, it would sweep across the entire Xuan Huang, and Da Chu Di Shi would surely become famous throughout the myriad realms of heaven.

Deep in the mountains, Hua Jian Xin had already released Hua Jian Zhuo.

Ye Chen stepped forward and placed a finger on Hua Jian Zhuo’s forehead, using the power of Yan Tian to capture his destiny. Hua Jian Xin and Ji Ning Shuang watched quietly. Ye Chen didn't speak, but his brows furrowed deeper and deeper. Without asking, they could tell that Hua Jian Zhuo’s condition was extremely poor – not from his injuries, but from his destiny, which was severely disrupted by the Ying Jie calamity. It was not surprising it was in such a state.

After half an hour, Ye Chen finally withdrew his hand, his brows knitted tightly.

“How is it?” Ji Ning Shuang couldn’t help but ask.

“Seal him!” Ye Chen sighed and shook his head. “In his current state, there is nothing I can do. We need to wait for Ren Wang to return from his Ying Jie and find the Zaohua Shenwang to help reverse his fate against the heavens.”

“Seal him? Won’t that disrupt Master’s Ying Jie even more?” Hua Jian Xin’s face turned pale as she spoke.

“This is an unavoidable measure. Sealing him is better than letting him wander around outside.” Ye Chen replied calmly.

Hua Jian Xin said nothing more and ultimately cast her spell, reinforcing the seal.

Ye Chen fell silent as well, finding a rock to sit on and bowing his head in deep thought, meditating on a way to solve the issue. Although he was a successor of Yan Tian, he was completely clueless about reversing fate against the heavens. Even Ren Wang had struggled with it back then, let alone him. Moreover, he lacked Lin Xing's power of creation.

He sat there for two or three days, completely still, like a statue.

Hua Jian Xin and Ji Ning Shuang did not disturb him, and neither did Ye Ling or Tang San Shao and the others; they all remained quiet. Although they did not know who Hua Jian Zhuo was, he was ultimately a quasi-emperor of the heavens. If he perished in the Ying Jie, it would be a tremendous loss. If he were a Hong Huang quasi-emperor, they wouldn’t feel as bad.

“He has become even stronger than before,” Hua Jian Xin murmured lightly, gazing at Ye Chen with a hint of wariness. “The pressure he gives me is greater than yours – not from the Shengti bloodline, but from the essence of the Dao.”

Ji Ning Shuang smiled, deeply agreeing. Ye Chen’s hundred years of living as a mortal had not been in vain. The ordinary insights he gained from the human Dao restrained all paths.

“I say, wife, your father-in-law wouldn’t have fallen asleep, would he?” Tang San Shao peered over the edge of the cauldron.

“Who’s your wife? Get lost.”

“Look, you’re just being shy.”

“You damn fat black guy.” Ye Ling rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward, grabbing one of Tang San Shao’s legs and swinging him around before slamming him into the ground with a bang. “You have such a cheap mouth. You tricked me back then, and I’m still not over it. I’ll beat you to death.”

Bangs echoed continuously as the little fatty was smashed into a pulp.

Yang Xuan and the others stayed far away, their hearts pounding each time Ye Ling slammed him down. Her strikes were too ruthless – if it were them, they would have been turned to dust.

Ji Ning Shuang glanced into the cauldron and couldn't help but shake her head with a smile.

It was true what they said: like father, like daughter.

Ye Ling was truly gifted, having mastered Ye Chen’s skills of deception and trickery without missing a beat, and even this talent for slamming people around. Thinking back to the Three Sects Grand Competition, who knew how many Zhengyang disciples Ye Chen had left crippled with his slams. Anyone who had been hit by him still carried the trauma – it was more overbearing than any divine ability or secret technique.

Quietly, night fell.

Ye Chen finally awoke from his meditation, but under Hua Jian Xin’s hopeful gaze, he shook his head helplessly. Fighting and causing chaos were his strengths, but reversing fate against the heavens was beyond him.

Hua Jian Xin lightly bit her lip – this might just be her master’s fate.

Neither Ye Chen nor Ji Ning Shuang offered comfort, but at the same moment, they both stood up and looked up at the sky.

In the void, a pagoda descended, massive as a mountain, radiating brilliant golden light and etched with ancient divine patterns. Strands of divine glory fell, intertwining with Dao principles in a dance, making the heavens rumble. Its devouring force was incredibly strong, pulling in all living beings on the star – whether humans or demonic beasts – all screaming in agony or howling in pain.

It was a quasi-emperor weapon, emanating Hong Huang aura. No need to guess; it belonged to a Hong Huang clan quasi-emperor, who was using the blood of living beings to refine his life-bound artifact.

Ye Chen snorted coldly and ascended with a single step, crossing through the void in a few bounds before kicking out with a foot.

A booming sound echoed through the sky as the quasi-emperor golden pagoda couldn’t withstand the assault of the Huanggu Shengti and flipped sideways through the air. Listening carefully, muffled grunts could be heard from the distance, likely from the owner hidden in the shadows, affected by the attack on his life-bound weapon.

“You insignificant saint king, how dare you provoke me?” A furious roar erupted like thunder shaking the nine heavens. The pagoda’s owner appeared – an elderly man in flowing robes, surging with Hong Huang energy. His large eyes were blood-red and savage, full of violent light. Destructive visions swirled around him, faintly visible, and his terrifying quasi-emperor aura spread across the heavens, collapsing mountain peaks.

“Taotie.” Ye Chen glanced at him, seeing through his true form. It was a Taotie, no ordinary quasi-emperor, likely at the eighth level.

“What pure blood.” Taotie chuckled darkly, licking his scarlet tongue, baring his white teeth, his blood eyes gleaming with a fierce light as if piercing through Ye Chen’s core. Unfortunately, Ye Chen was shrouded in a mysterious power, making it hard for even him to see clearly. He only knew that Ye Chen’s vital energy was extraordinarily abundant.

“You’re smiling like a creep.” Ye Chen curled his lip, showing no fear even against an eighth-level quasi-emperor. He wasn’t the minor saint king of the past; with two quasi-emperor weapons boosting his power, he could fight. If needed, he still had the great saint heavenly tribulation to strike the enemy down.

“Two quasi-emperor weapons – no wonder you dare to touch my artifact.” Taotie sneered sinisterly, his old eyes sharp, seeing through the secrets in Ye Chen’s body.

“Enough talk. Come out and fight me one-on-one.” Ye Chen shouted and shot into the starry sky like a golden divine ray. This was a star with living beings; he didn’t want to harm the innocent.

“You? Hah!” Taotie scoffed and charged after him, enveloped in Hong Huang energy.

Below, Ji Ning Shuang vanished in an instant, hiding in space and following them. She understood that Ye Chen’s “one-on-one” meant a group fight.

Ye Chen flew onward until he reached a desolate star domain, then stopped and activated his quasi-emperor weapons – one to protect his sacred body, the other to guard his sea of consciousness. His combat power surged to its peak.

“Even with quasi-emperor weapons aiding you, you’re still just an ant.” Taotie arrived shortly after, his roar making the starry sky rumble as he pressed down with a palm that could instantly crush a great saint.

“You’re really committed to that tough talk.” Ye Chen sneered, soaring upward with a golden fist clenched, fused with various secret techniques. Dao principles evolved in his palm, and seal scripts carved into his fingers, shattering the palm strike. Even with Taotie’s cultivation, he was forced back half a step.

“The Shengti.” Taotie shot out cold light, recognizing Ye Chen’s origin from that punch.

“It’s your grandpa here.” Ye Chen cursed and charged forward, gripping a spiked club made of divine iron, pitch-black as it swung toward Taotie’s head.

“Finally, no need to search – it’s all falling into place.” Taotie grinned viciously and summoned an outer path demonic idol, towering like a mountain, majestic and grim, like a ghostly demon. One hand held a war spear, the other a shield, its massive eyes filled with violent bloodlust.

“Comparing size? I can do that too.” Ye Chen muttered, instantly activating his outer form Ba Ti. His massive spiked club also grew to a hundred zhang long, like a thick copper pillar.

At that moment, Taotie’s demonic idol raised its shield.

With a boom, the enormous spiked club smashed into the shield, sending waves of annihilating light rippling outward, obliterating meteorites in its path.

Taotie’s demonic idol was in a sorry state – the shield shattered, and its mountain-like body exploded. As its master, Taotie staggered back.

“I underestimated you.” Taotie gritted his teeth; losing the first round was intolerable.

In an instant, he shook off the spiked club and stepped into the high sky, pressing down another palm with a dark halo that trapped Ye Chen, stripping away his Ba Ti.

“You’re something else!” Ye Chen clicked his tongue and retreated swiftly, wary of that halo.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Taotie crossed the star river, opening his third eye on his forehead and firing a destructive thunderbolt – a primordial spirit attack aimed at the true self, a deadly divine ability.

Ye Chen wasn’t afraid; he had his own primordial spirit secret techniques. The nine divine afflictions merged into one, crushing the thunderbolt, and he charged forward, swinging the club without another word.

Taotie snorted coldly and blocked with his bare hand, shaking off the spiked club for the second time.

“You’re really no ordinary quasi-emperor!” Ye Chen steadied himself, shaking his numb hand. Even the divine iron club had cracked under Taotie’s strike.

“Ants are still ants in the end.” Taotie was in full rage, striding on a river of demonic blood, unfolding his Dao visions – a vast Hong Huang demonic land, barren and filled with destructive immortal lights, violent and cold. He stood within it like a king, overlooking all beings.

“What, trying to scare me?” Ye Chen sneered and activated his own visions.

Compared to the Hong Huang demonic land, his Hun Dun realm was even more profound, with every mountain, river, plant, and tree infused with his Dao. After comprehending the human Dao, the Hun Dun realm had become even more extraordinary.

The two visions collided, and the Hong Huang demonic land collapsed instantly.

Taotie spat blood, overwhelmed by Ye Chen’s Hun Dun realm, his face stunned. Wasn’t he a quasi-emperor? How was he being suppressed repeatedly?

Enraged, he truly raged, summoning thunder to form a sea that engulfed Ye Chen.

Ye Chen didn’t bother with words, transforming into a golden dragon and thrashing in the thunder sea.

Joke’s on you – I fear no heavenly tribulation, so why fear your thunder sea? In just three instants, he leaped out, reverting to human form, and threw an Eight Desolations Fist that pierced the starry sky.

With a splurt, blood sprayed as half of Taotie’s body turned to mist. Before he could stop, Ye Chen pounced like a ghost, raising his hand to manifest ninety-nine eighty-one formations.