Chapter 2183: The Owner of the Dragon Throne

Chapter 2183: The Owner of the Dragon Chair

With the Shenming Flower taken, the floating continent turned to dust and vanished.

Ye Chen felt a pang of regret. The black hole was full of opportunities, one after another. First, the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, then the Shenming Flower. If he had more time to wander, he was sure he would find even more treasures.

He looked into his divine sea. The Shenming Flower floated quietly there. Although it was extremely withered, it still contained a faint spark of life, just lacking the essential source energy to nurture it.

Ye Chen couldn't help but sigh. Refining the Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Pill might not be too difficult, but gathering the ingredients was incredibly hard. If he hadn't stumbled upon the Shenming Flower in the black hole, where else could he possibly find such materials? They had long since disappeared from the heavens. No matter how skilled his alchemy was, without the ingredients, it was useless.

After securing the Shenming Flower, Ye Chen chose a direction and continued on his way.

Along the journey that followed, he kept glancing at the Immortal Fire and Heavenly Thunder, his eyes seemingly asking, "Are there more treasures in the black hole?"

The Immortal Fire and Heavenly Thunder ignored him completely, or perhaps they hadn't sensed any treasure auras, so they lay quietly in his storage bag, as if fast asleep.

In the blink of an eye, three more days passed.

On the fourth day, Ye Chen finally found the domain boundary. He invoked the Heavenly Dao and instantly escaped into it.

Seeing the starlight and moonlight again felt incredibly familiar and comforting. After spending so long in the black hole, even the slightest ray of light felt warmly reassuring.

As for this domain, Ye Chen's expression turned truly strange, because he had been here before: the Boluo Domain.

That's right, it was the smallest domain among the Ten Thousand Domains, where you could see the edge of the sky in a single glance. The entire domain had only one ancient city. Previously, Ye Chen had experienced an epiphany of the Reversal of Samsara here, which had caused quite a bit of confusion for the people in the city. And it was also here that the Female Holy Body had left without a word.

"After going in such a big circle, I'm back here?" Ye Chen muttered to himself, his mouth twitching. He had found the domain, but it was as if he hadn't—it didn't make much difference.

As he spoke, Ye Chen released his divine sense, but he didn't detect the Female Holy Body.

Helpless, he dove back into the black hole, following a certain route toward the Luoshao Domain.

Upon returning to the Luoshao Domain, the world was still as eerily quiet as ever.

Ye Chen stood at the peak of a mountain, gazing into the void, his brows slightly furrowed. The divine sense he had left for the Plane Son and the Female Holy Body had vanished without a trace.

"Did someone come to the Luoshao Domain after I left?" Ye Chen murmured thoughtfully. It wasn't so much that the divine sense had disappeared on its own—it seemed to have been erased by someone. As for who it was, he had no idea, and he couldn't guess their motives either.

The whole matter felt strangely suspicious.

"Could there be other heavenly demons in this domain?" Ye Chen whispered to himself, then headed to that cliff, overlooking the dark abyss below. Everything appeared normal.

After that, he visited various corners, performing the Zhoutian Evolution multiple times in an attempt to deduce who had erased his divine sense. But he calculated nothing. A mysterious force was blocking his divination—the other party must be a master of great powers, beyond even what Zhoutian Evolution could trace.

This time, he didn't leave right away. Instead, he found a mountain peak and sat down cross-legged, sensing that the person might return.

Under the moonlight, he rested his chin in his hands, looking bored.

Bathed in the starlight, the contract mark on his forehead manifested again, flickering with brilliant golden light.

Whenever this happened, he felt as if he had lost something.

"I understand now." At that moment, on the Jieming Mountain, the Ming Emperor suddenly spoke, his emperor eyes deep and boundless.

"What kind of contract is it?" Di Huang asked immediately.

"A memory contract."

"She wants Ye Chen's memories?"

"To be precise, she wants that person's memories." The Ming Emperor took a deep breath. "What she's after is still the entrance to the Primeval Honghuang."

Di Huang said no more. A memory contract was proof enough of everything.

The Ming Emperor's eyes remained as profound as ever. The Female Holy Body's stance made his face darken. She had resorted to schemes to form a memory contract with Ye Chen and was determined to go to the Primeval Honghuang. Her purpose was unclear and puzzling, and he couldn't figure out the connection between the Female Holy Body and the Primeval Honghuang.

On the mountain peak in the Luoshao Domain, Ye Chen had brought out the white jade dragon chair from the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

The dragon chair bathed in the moonlight, glowing with pure white immortal radiance and exuding an ancient aura, along with a faint feminine fragrance that lifted the spirits.

"Since I'm just idling around, let me sit for a while and gain some enlightenment," Ye Chen said with a chuckle, rubbing his hands.

The dragon chair showed no reaction and didn't move at all.

Ye Chen cleared his throat and tentatively sat down. The scene he imagined of being flung away didn't happen—the dragon chair's lack of response seemed like silent approval.

Only then did Ye Chen relax. He sat cross-legged on it, gently closing his eyes and entering a meditative state.

He had to admit, sitting on the dragon chair felt amazing. Waves of cool energy spread through his entire body, even nourishing his primordial spirit. Strands of the Great Dao's heavenly sounds echoed in his ears, carrying profound Dao insights. It was even more powerful than the Enlightenment Stone in Tianxu.

Suddenly, he sank into a wondrous realm, his mind wandering through the Great Dao.

The night grew deeper.

On the mountain peak, Ye Chen sat like a statue on the dragon chair, enveloped in brilliant immortal light, as if he were a deity.

Soon, the broken imperial sword floated out, hovering beside the dragon chair and trembling slightly, as if trying to recall lost memories through it.

Emerging with it were the Chaos Cauldron, Immortal Fire, and Heavenly Thunder.

Compared to the broken imperial sword, these three were a bit unreliable, especially the Chaos Cauldron, which kept trying to get close to the dragon chair. But the dragon chair ignored it entirely.

Hmm!

Just as the Chaos Cauldron was feeling awkward, Ye Chen suddenly let out a muffled groan. His once-relaxed expression now showed a hint of pain.

In the haze, he saw a blurry scene: In a chaotic world, a peerless female emperor was struck down by the Zhuxian Sword.

The blurry image shattered in an instant.

Ye Chen's divine sea buzzed with turmoil, his mind suffering backlash. He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and tumbled off the dragon chair.

The dragon chair began to hum and tremble furiously, its anger unmistakable—but not directed at Ye Chen, rather at the Zhuxian Sword.

Ye Chen staggered to his feet, staring straight at the dragon chair.

From that blurry scene, he could guess that the ancient Di Ju and this white jade dragon chair had once belonged to the same owner—the female emperor who had been slain by the Zhuxian Sword.

Now, he understood why the dragon chair harbored such resentment toward the Zhuxian Sword: it had killed its master.

"There are only three female emperors in the heavens—where did this fourth one come from?" Ye Chen murmured softly.

This mystery had puzzled him for an entire cycle of reincarnation. He couldn't figure it out back then, and he still couldn't now. Even the Ming Emperor refused to mention it.

Clearly, that female emperor was tied to some eternal secret, and as a minor Holy Body, he wasn't qualified to know.

"What's your master's imperial title?" After a long while, Ye Chen stepped closer, eyeing the white jade dragon chair tentatively.

The dragon chair stopped trembling but didn't respond. Like a beam of light, it returned to Ye Chen's divine sea.

Ye Chen touched his nose, considering asking again, but thought better of it. It wasn't that the dragon chair wouldn't tell him—it was that he wasn't qualified to know.

His enlightenment session, which had been going well, was interrupted by that blurry scene.

Without the dragon chair, he still had the copper pillar from the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, which he had turned into an iron staff. He held it reverently, as if it were an ancestor.

"Tell me about the heritage of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall."

"How about I give you a name?"

"The Lingxiao Iron Staff—doesn't that sound imposing?"

Ye Chen hugged the iron staff, wiping it with a cloth over and over, while trying to coax secrets out of it.

But the iron staff was even more aloof than the dragon chair—it ignored Ye Chen's chatter and slipped back into his dantian.

Getting nothing out of it left Ye Chen feeling awkward. He resumed his original pose, resting his chin in his hands and looking bored.

He waited like this for over ten days, but no one showed up.

On a quiet night, he brought out the white jade dragon chair again. After some consideration, he sat on it once more.

This time, he was both seeking enlightenment and chasing that blurry scene, determined to see the female emperor's true appearance.

That's just how emperors were—they always did ridiculous things at specific times.

In his enlightenment, he unexpectedly fell into a dream.

The dream was quite sensual; he was about to share an intimate moment with his wife.

But then he was flung away. The white jade dragon chair had shaken him off—you're here to enlighten, not to have spring dreams!

He crashed into a small hill opposite, collapsing it entirely. His perfect dream of a romantic night was completely ruined.

As a month neared its end, Ye Chen, still waiting, finally lost his patience.

Once again, he left two strands of divine sense—one for the Plane Son and one for the Female Holy Body.

Diving back into the black hole, he changed direction and continued searching for domains.

Little did he know, shortly after he left, the Female Holy Body arrived in the Luoshao Domain and erased those two strands of divine sense.

By some stroke of coincidence, just as she left, the Plane Son and the Saintly Sovereign returned.

This eye-catching scene made even the Ming Emperor, not to mention Di Huang, feel an urge to curse. You three groups are really something—leaving and coming back, coming and leaving, leaving and coming again. Is this a game of hide-and-seek? There are so many domains, yet you all fixate on the Luoshao Domain!

In the black hole, Ye Chen sped like a divine ray, scanning the domains with his Reincarnation Eye.

This time, his luck seemed better. He found a domain called Xiuchen Domain, which was marked on the Plane Son's map as a mortal domain.

At that moment, Ye Chen was crouched in the void, watching a woman standing under a peach blossom tree. Since it was a mortal domain, she was undoubtedly a mortal. She had a beautiful face and was quietly gazing at the stars, her expression hazy and her eyes full of confusion.

From a distance, he could see her swollen abdomen—she was clearly pregnant, at least three or five months along.

Her expression was hazy, but Ye Chen's was full of surprise. His eyes were fixed on her abdomen, on the fetus inside.

It wasn't that he was being improper—it was because that fetus was a reincarnated soul.

If Long Wu were here, he would surely be overjoyed. This reincarnated soul was Dongfang Yuling, the former peak master of Yuling Peak in the Hengyue Sect.

Ye Chen's expression was indescribable. He had searched for so many reincarnated souls—some turned into demonic beasts, some into spiritual flowers or exotic grasses, some even into stones.

But none were as extraordinary as Dongfang Yuling. After all these centuries, he was still in the womb.

"No wonder Long Wu couldn't find you," Ye Chen sighed. Who would think that a soul reincarnated hundreds of years ago was still unborn, and in the belly of a mortal at that?

Speaking of mortals, Ye Chen couldn't help but look at the woman again. She was indeed a mortal. But that made it even stranger—mortals only lived about a hundred years, yet she had been pregnant for centuries. That didn't make sense! It completely upended Ye Chen's worldview as an emperor of Grand Chu.

After a few seconds, he figured it out. The issue wasn't with the woman—it was with the reincarnated Dongfang Yuling. It was no surprise that not being born after centuries was abnormal.

"The legendary Eternal Life Body?" Ye Chen stroked his chin, having heard of this bloodline before. Born from a mortal but innately a cultivator, it could take three to five centuries to leave the womb.

It was called the Eternal Life Body because of its incredibly long lifespan, said to allow near-immortality—though that was likely an exaggeration. Whether true immortality was possible remained unproven. Precisely because of this Eternal Life bloodline, the mortal mother remained ageless for centuries, only to age like a normal mortal once the Eternal Life Body was born.