Chapter 2160: Rock Climbing

For Ye Chen's question, the Female Sheng Ti did not respond. She only slightly curved the corners of her mouth in a strange smile, adding a touch of mockery. From her expression, she was most likely an old acquaintance with the Gui Di.

Ye Chen was growing frustrated, his mind full of confusion and a buildup of pent-up frustration. The Female Sheng Ti knew the secrets but refused to tell him, and this feeling of being kept in the dark was deeply unpleasant.

Once again, the Female Sheng Ti stood up, but this time she did not pick up Ye Chen. She left on her own.

Before departing, she placed a seal on Ye Chen, as if to say: Stay put and behave.

Ye Chen's face darkened again. For some reason, he felt an overwhelming urge to overpower the Female Sheng Ti. He had come to the Huo Yu for a mission, not to waste time like this.

The Female Sheng Ti ignored him completely and vanished in an instant.

Ye Chen squatted down, covering his face with his hands. The emperor of Da Chu felt utterly embarrassed. As a Great Saint, he wasn't exactly weak, but everywhere he went, someone seemed to have him under their thumb.

And so, three days passed quietly without the Female Sheng Ti returning.

The clever Young Master Ye had made his way to the base of the rock wall at the bottom of the You Yuan. He tilted his head back to look up, but the abyss was so deep that the exit appeared as a distant pinpoint of light, like a tiny grain.

“Does she really think sealing me means I can't get out?”

Ye Chen muttered to himself, rolled up his sleeves, and began climbing the rock wall. This move clearly showed his intention to escape. With his cultivation sealed, his divine sea locked, and even his Xian Huo and Tian Lei suppressed, he couldn't fly or use any tools. Climbing was his only option.

Ye Chen's plan was ambitious—he aimed to climb out of this dark You Yuan before the Female Sheng Ti returned, then find someone to remove the seal and hide away.

Well, it was a solid idea. Young Master Ye was full of energy, moving like a nimble ape, climbing one zhang after another. He believed he would reach the top eventually. It was good to have goals.

And so, day after day, Ye Chen never stopped.

However, he had underestimated the depth of the You Yuan. After climbing for over ten days straight, he still hadn't seen daylight, and the exit was still an unknown distance away. Looking up, it remained just a speck of light, even more distant than the stars in the sky.

Still, the Tenth Emperor of Da Chu had unyielding willpower. He kept his head down and pressed on, his hands digging holes into the hard rock wall.

In the blink of an eye, another nine days passed, and Ye Chen looked up before continuing his climb.

On the fifteenth day, he looked up again and kept climbing without a word.

By the twenty-ninth day, the speck of light in his eyes had grown larger, and looking down, he could no longer see the bottom. His grueling climb was finally yielding results.

As if to say, I've made it through the Six Paths of Reincarnation—how could a mere rock wall stop me?

Ye Chen exuded an air of dominance, unfazed by fatigue. He hadn't even paused for a drink of water, steadily making his way up. If you looked at the other side of the wall, he was no bigger than an ant.

“This junior's perseverance is truly impressive!”

Even the Ming Di couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

Di Huang rubbed his brow. If he could send a message across realms, he would tell Ye Chen right away: Don't bother climbing; you'll never get out that way. Just stay put.

Under the watchful eyes of these two supreme beings, the outstanding Ye Chen climbed on, day after day.

Watching this scene, the two supremes felt a sense of déjà vu, like when they had observed Ye Chen braving the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Compared to that, rock climbing was indeed simpler, but the end of this path would bring utter despair. If Ye Chen reached it, he might break down in tears.

Three months later, after climbing for exactly three months, Ye Chen finally glimpsed the dawn.

He was infinitely close to the exit now. Once he cleared the cliff, he would be free to soar.

However, when he reached the edge of the cliff, he froze completely.

No wonder he reacted that way—sitting at the cliff's edge was a person, a beautiful woman in a black robe, casually resting her chin on one hand and blinking at him with a playful smile.

That's right, it was the Female Sheng Ti, the stunning Female Sheng Ti.

The moment he saw her, Ye Chen nearly lost his grip and fell.

What a coincidence? I've been climbing diligently for three months, and the second I get out, I run into you. Is my luck really that bad? Weren't you out for a stroll? Why come back so soon? And why are you smiling at me like that—so cheerfully?

“Tired?”

The Female Sheng Ti fluttered her beautiful eyes.

“Tired.”

“Take a break if you're tired.”

“Alright.”

Ye Chen's eyes grew moist, his messy hair sticking out like a bird's nest. Not to boast, but after three months of climbing without a single sip of water, let alone combing his hair, he looked quite the sight.

“So, where exactly is the entrance to the Tai Gu Hong Huang?”

The Female Sheng Ti asked.

“Who knows?”

Ye Chen clung tightly to the cliff, afraid of slipping.

“I'm quite interested in your Lun Hui Yan. Mind if I borrow it for some research someday?”

“While you're at it, how about lifting this seal?”

The two Sheng Ti—one male, one female—chatted back and forth, their conversation flowing easily.

But if you looked at the scene, it was anything but harmonious.

The lack of harmony stemmed from their positions.

The Female Sheng Ti was sitting casually at the cliff's edge.

As for Young Master Ye, he was clinging to the edge, with only his head poking out. He had to crane his neck to speak and grip the cliff tightly—if he slipped, he'd plummet, undoing three months of effort in an instant. He might even end up on the road to the underworld, drinking Meng Po soup.

This posture was exhausting just to watch, let alone experience.

“Why on earth did you come back all of a sudden?”

Ye Chen's smile was more like a grimace. He tried to pull himself up, but the Female Sheng Ti's foot kept inching toward him as if to kick him off.

“I never left. I've been sitting here the whole time.”

The Female Sheng Ti was completely relaxed, holding a small mirror and fixing her hair in it.

Her words hit like a massive blow. Ye Chen had climbed diligently for three months, only to find out she had been there watching him the entire time?

In that moment, Ye Chen's urge to overpower the Female Sheng Ti grew even stronger. He really wanted to ask her: How bored are you? I've been climbing for three months, and you've been watching for three months. Are we even on the same side? Do you know what decency is?

Boom!

Just as the atmosphere turned awkward, a thunderous boom echoed, shaking the entire Huo Yu.

The Female Sheng Ti sprang up and vanished in a single step.

Seeing his chance, Ye Chen mustered his strength and finally hauled himself over the cliff.

He didn't care where the boom came from. He took off running, dashing like wind and thunder toward the nearest ancient city. He needed to find someone to break the seal and then hide away.

It had to be said, his luck was truly terrible. As soon as he entered a dark forest, he was captured. And ridiculously, his captor was just a minor Quasi-Saint—a purple-haired elder in a black robe, his eyes gleaming with a sinister light.

“I say, old daoist, do I have a grudge against you?”

Ye Chen was being held up, looking up at the purple-haired elder, his face as black as charcoal. A Great Saint and an Archaic Sheng Ti like him, being carried by a Quasi-Saint—it was utterly humiliating. Being hauled around seemed to have become his signature move.

“No grudge.”

The purple-haired elder gave a eerie laugh, baring his white teeth.

“If there's no grudge, why capture me?”

“For refining pills—this is your honor.”

“Got it.”

Ye Chen closed his eyes and glanced toward the elder's lower abdomen. Through the elder's outer appearance, he could see into his Dan Hai, where a silver flame hung—a true fire, but the weakest kind, not even comparable to Xian Huo.

Clearly, this was an evil alchemist planning to use him as a pill catalyst.

This wasn't the first time. Ye Chen's expression turned profoundly serious. Since he started cultivating, he'd been captured by alchemists multiple times. It was like some twisted fate.

Before long, the elder descended into a range of mountains and entered an underground palace deep beneath the earth. The palace was dark and foreboding, filled with the wails of vengeful ghosts. It was easy to imagine that this evil alchemist had kidnapped and killed countless beings for his craft.

Once inside, the elder wasted no time and tossed Ye Chen into the refining furnace.

Ye Chen remained calm, sitting steadily inside. He was sealed, sure, but refining him with such a low-level true fire wasn't going to work. His Archaic Sheng Ti wasn't just for show.

To be fair, this evil alchemist wasn't the sharpest. He had carried Ye Chen all the way without even checking his bloodline, just throwing him straight into the furnace—how impatient could he be?

Soon after, another thing was thrown in.

This time, it wasn't a person but a pig—a round one at that. This pig had quite the nerve; as soon as it was tossed in, it started snuffling around Ye Chen as if he were a big cabbage, trying to knock him over.

Ye Chen's mouth twitched several times. Using people as catalysts, he understood, but throwing in a pig as a companion? What kind of refining was this?

Quickly, more varieties were added to the furnace—dogs, sheep, cows, rats, all different kinds, not a single repeat. It left Ye Chen questioning his entire life.

The furnace became a lively scene: dogs barking, cows lowing, sheep bleating, chickens clucking, the noise endless. If you knew it was refining pills, fine, but if not, you'd think it was some animal convention.

These unfortunate comrades were optimistic, though—some in groups of three, others in groups of five, chatting away. A few even squatted in front of Ye Chen, like that wolf-dog, staring at him with a puzzled look: How's there a person here?

The most persistent was the pig, relentlessly snuffling around Ye Chen.

The most absurd was the rooster, perched on Ye Chen's head and crowing.

Ye Chen said nothing, his expression turning serious once more.

In that instant, he realized the purple-haired elder hadn't seen him as a person at all—he treated him like just another animal. This alchemist's methods were something even Dan Sheng would thumbs-up for creativity. With only true fire at his disposal, he was still refining like this.

Not just Ye Chen—those two supreme beings in the Ming Realm also looked on with meaningful expressions.

The Tenth Emperor of Da Chu had quite the eventful life. Even surrounded by a bunch of animals, he still carried an air of regality. Talents like him stood out anywhere.

In the underground palace, the catalysts were all in place, followed by handfuls of medicinal herbs.

The purple-haired elder sat cross-legged in the air, controlling the flames with his mind. He looked confident, as if he could turn this mix of animals into a supreme divine pill.

Ye Chen stayed silent, ignoring those around him and peering through the furnace at the elder.

From the elder's body, he detected something interesting—a strand of Tian Mo essence, highly active and slowly eroding the elder's sanity.

The once-composed elder now showed a hint of pain, a demonic pattern slowly forming on his brow, flickering with a demonic glow.

Uh!

With a muffled groan, the purple-robed elder collapsed to the ground, clutching his head and howling in agony. As the Tian Mo essence backfired, his sinister eyes turned bloodshot, drenched in a violent, bloodthirsty aura that enveloped his entire body.

“Is this how one turns into a Tian Mo?”

Ye Chen furrowed his brow slightly, watching clearly as a refiner transformed from a heavenly being into a Tian Mo.

So, his earlier guess was correct. Anyone carrying Tian Mo essence would turn once it reached a critical point, just like Yan Laodao or this elder. Whether it was figures like the Fate God King or even himself, no one could escape this fate.

Ah!

The frenzied elder let out a roar, flipping over the refining furnace. His bloodthirsty eyes were filled with killing intent, fixed on the animals—and Ye Chen. He was no longer a heavenly being but a full Tian Mo, with all living things in his sights for slaughter.