Chapter 2205: Go to Sleep

Chapter 2205: Wash Up and Go to Sleep

In the following days, the Zhuxian Jian did not appear again. Donghuang Taixin had sent people several times to investigate, but all traces were lost. That seven-colored immortal sword seemed to have vanished from the world, yet its appearance had cast a shadow over Da Chu.

That night, the small bamboo grove was quiet and serene. Under the moonlight, Donghuang Taixin stood gracefully, quietly gazing up at the hazy sky. One could see a trace of worry hidden in her brows, perhaps a sense of foreboding that had begun to grow that night, as if some disaster was about to descend.

Compared to her, Ye Chen was much more composed. He knew the future history well, and worrying about it was futile. What was meant to come would come, such as the invasion of the heavenly demons, which could not be avoided.

That evening, Young Master Ye was quite leisurely, wandering around the small bamboo grove, glancing at this spirit flower and that immortal herb. From behind, he looked just like a little thief.

He wasn't just idling; he was waiting for someone to take a bath.

It's getting late—time to wash up and go to sleep!

A gentle breeze blew, and Donghuang Taixin lowered her gaze from the haze, looking toward a certain direction, as if she could see the illusory Ye Chen strolling casually in her small bamboo grove.

In her view, this was a memory illusion.

When Ye Chen was still alive, he would come here every so often, and each time he would take something—be it an immortal herb or a spirit flower. There was nothing he wouldn't take. Just like this illusion now, he didn't look like the emperor of Da Chu at all; he was a outright thief.

But she had no idea that this was not a memory illusion, but a kind of mapping across reincarnations, visible only at specific times and places.

Not even Ye Chen himself knew about it.

Once one begins to grasp the laws of reincarnation, wondrous things can happen.

How did I suddenly think of you?

Donghuang Taixin shook her head with a smile and finally walked toward the immortal pool. She felt deep regret over Ye Chen's death. He was the most brilliant emperor of Da Chu, a bit cheeky perhaps, but a myth among the heavens. This vast land and rivers had become extraordinarily glorious because of him.

By the immortal pool, she removed her immortal robes.

Not far away, Ye Chen had already arrived, squatting on a rock. From a distance, he looked just like a toad—specifically, an ambitious toad with an incredibly thick skin, always scheming to eat swan meat.

When he left, he was wiping his nosebleed. Even with his steadfast resolve, he was affected like this, showing just how alluring the scene was. Someone in the underworld felt the same way.

He didn't know how much time passed before he left Tianxuan Gate and headed straight to his seventh reincarnation.

By then, his seventh reincarnation body was already ten years old and not at home; he was on the road fleeing famine. Natural disasters combined with human calamities had led to three years without harvest, forcing people to leave in search of livelihood.

There were many like him fleeing. Looking down, the refugees were like a tidal wave, dragging families along, leaning on crutches, carrying children, all gaunt and starving from hunger. Too many had collapsed on the road, their bodies littering the wilderness, turning into lonely ghosts.

Among the crowd, his seventh reincarnation body was not particularly noticeable.

He was in poor condition, wearing tattered clothes and broken straw shoes, with chapped lips and a body as thin as a stick, barely skin and bones. His back appeared lonely; his parents had already starved to death on the road, leaving him alone.

Ye Chen walked alongside him, step by step.

Though separated by reincarnation, he could clearly feel the seventh body's hunger. His hopes were gradually fading, being slowly consumed by despair, on the verge of collapsing. To his dim eyes, this vast landscape seemed dark and devoid of light.

Suddenly, the seventh body turned his head and glanced to his side.

Like the other reincarnation bodies, he seemed to sense Ye Chen's presence but couldn't see him clearly, always feeling that someone was watching him with pity.

The journey of fleeing was filled with hardship.

Refugees kept collapsing unexpectedly, enduring hunger and pain as they traveled on, which for them might have been a form of release.

The seventh body was resilient, propping himself up with a stick and taking difficult steps, his eyelids trembling, lacking even the strength to open his eyes fully—he had truly reached the end of his life.

He was fortunate, collapsing in front of a small town and being rescued by a kind old man who took him home and saved his life.

But that old man made Ye Chen's emotions complex.

It was Yin Zhiping from a certain reincarnation, who in the future would become the acting sect leader of Hengyue Sect, fused with the soul of the Taixu Ancient Dragon, a near-complete host who committed many sins and killings. Under his rule, Hengyue Sect was drenched in blood.

Who would have thought that this deadly enemy from the original era would have such a karmic connection in reincarnation—one that saved his life?

After experiencing several reincarnations, Ye Chen's worldview had been thoroughly overturned.

Like Situ Nan and Xie Yun, his good brothers from the original era, who had killed him in reincarnation; and Yin Zhiping, his enemy from the original era, who had saved him in reincarnation.

The reincarnations of the heavens were truly a grand drama.

Everyone on this land was an actor, playing positive roles or performing negative scenes in cycle after cycle, endlessly.

In the second year, this reincarnation's Yin Zhiping passed away.

The seventh body became homeless again and joined a tavern as a waiter.

This old bro, are you here to eat or stay?

When Ye Chen entered the tavern, that was the voice he heard. The seventh body was quick-handed and efficient, earning a meager wage while living a life of bowing and scraping.

And so, day by day, year by year, the seventh body gradually grew up.

In his twentieth year, he got married and had children.

In his thirtieth year, he was still a waiter at that tavern.

In his fortieth year, he left the town and went to an ancient town fifty li away, using his savings from half a lifetime to open a noodle shop. After decades, he had gone from waiter to shop owner—ordinary and unremarkable.

In his fiftieth year, he picked up a fishing rod and became a hands-off manager.

But he didn't live past sixty, passing away in bed at fifty-nine from illnesses rooted in his famine-fleeing days.

He died peacefully, without pain. For a mortal, that was a ripe old age.

Ye Chen was there at his bedside, watching him close his eyes. His early life had been full of hardship, but at least he died of natural causes, which was better than his second and third reincarnations.

As the seventh body closed his eyes, a reincarnation mark flew out and merged into Ye Chen's body.

The seventh body's burial did not immediately bring the eighth body's birth.

As before, there was a problem with the heavenly reincarnations; the deceased lingered without rebirth.

Ye Chen went to Southern Chu and arrived at Yunu Peak.

Chu Xuan and Chu Ling had already been unsealed, standing tall and elegant with godlike grace, while the Yunu Peak master was showing signs of age, with deathly aura surrounding her as her lifespan neared its end.

Ye Chen sat under an old tree, admiring the view contentedly.

Millennium Da Chu was about to welcome the eighth reincarnation, drawing closer to the original era. Many familiar people, like Yang Dingtian, Xu Fu, Pang Dachuan, and Feng Wuhen, had grown up and were making names for themselves in Southern Chu.

Three years passed quietly, and the Yunu Peak master passed away. Chu Xuan and Chu Ling cried like heartbroken souls. As true disciples of Yunu Peak, they inherited the peak master's position together.

Ye Chen sighed and left silently.

His eighth reincarnation had been born in a mortal kingdom in Southern Chu: Zhao State.

That's right, the Zhao State where Xiyan was a princess.

The eighth body in his infancy was plump and chubby, and in the moment Ye Chen arrived, those innocent eyes glanced toward him.

Ye Chen's memories of the eighth body were vague; he only knew it was that of a general, a life spent on the battlefield, loyal to his country and people.

He didn't leave, staying for thirteen years to witness the eighth body's growth firsthand.

At just thirteen, the eighth body joined the army, fought on the battlefield, and achieved great feats, rising from a common soldier to general. He became the youngest great general in Zhao State's history, dominating the borders for over a decade with unbreakable victories.

In the military camp, Ye Chen saw Qin Xiong.

This era's Qin Xiong was only in his teens. When the eighth body was a general, Qin Xiong was just a soldier, and the current Zhao State emperor was not Xiyan's father, Zhao Yu, but rather her grandfather—Zhao Yu was still a prince.

Ye Chen couldn't help but sigh at the coincidence.

He had also been a general in Zhao State, just like Qin Xiong.

If not for his changed appearance, when he went to Zhao State on a mission back then, Qin Xiong would have recognized him, because Qin Xiong was personally trained by the eighth body. In a way, he was Qin Xiong's teacher, having taught him strategies and tactics.

This was a karmic bond tied in reincarnation.

His eighth body was exceptionally brilliant. One could say that half of Zhao State's territory was conquered by him, expanding borders and earning widespread fame.

However, heaven envies the talented.

In that battle, thirty-eight nations allied with three million troops, covering hundreds of li, all to take his life. The ten thousand troops he led were utterly defeated, but they also left eighteen nations strewn with corpses and rivers of blood.

Until his death, he held up Zhao State's battle flag, a war god bathed in the light of doom, falling in the annals of time. It was his first and only defeat in life.

That year, he was only twenty-five, the youngest to die among Ye Chen's many reincarnations, dedicating his entire life to defending his homeland without even leaving descendants.

Another reincarnation ended, and the mark returned to Ye Chen's body.

In the second year after the eighth body's death, the Zhao State emperor passed away, the crown prince was assassinated, and the princes turned on each other in a fight for the throne.

Ultimately, Zhao Yu prevailed, stepping on the blood and bones of his brothers to ascend as emperor.

That day, blood stained the imperial court, another lonely ruler recorded in history.

On the vast land, Ye Chen walked slowly. With seven reincarnation marks and seven lifetimes, he had played various roles in each, experiencing every joy and sorrow.

He welcomed the ninth reincarnation, which was his current one.

From the second to the eighth, all were mortals; only the ninth would be an immortal. As for the first, it was likely a being of great power, but he had no way of knowing.

In the mortal realm of Northern Chu, in an obscure little village, he appeared again.

The ninth body had entered the world, marking the beginning of a tragic life.

Ye Chen remembered this clearly: at seven years old, bandits would raid the village, and except for him, who was out playing, no one would survive, including his parents.

And indeed, that night at seven, in the pitch darkness, a group of bandits charged into the village, slaughtering indiscriminately, robbing everything, and exterminating the villagers.

From that day, he became an orphan, only knowing to find food when hungry—rats, cockroaches, dry grass, tree roots—anything edible went into his mouth. He knew that when wealthy young masters passed by, he had to crouch like a dog; if they were pleased, they might toss him a copper coin. Back then, he loved hanging around where wild dogs gathered, because he could snatch food from their mouths and sleep in their dens. In his memory, a hungry person could be more terrifying than fierce beasts, starving enough to eat their own children, with no room for whimsy.

These were all history, but witnessing it firsthand stirred a different emotion. His childhood was dark; the young him had no idea what life meant.

Until one cold night, nearly frozen, he curled up in a dog den and was taken away by a passing immortal. That immortal was an elder from Zhengyang Sect, who brought him back and passed away the next year.

Zhengyang Sect was a misty immortal realm that filled the young him with wonder.

There, he was still an ant, but at least a well-fed one.

He first saw Ji Ningshuang around eleven; she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, like a fairy descended, untouched by mortal smoke or dust.

In that instant, he fell for Ji Ningshuang, a love at first sight. For her, he cultivated relentlessly, striving to catch up.

Heaven rewards the diligent; he succeeded, revealing astonishing talent in Zhengyang Sect's outer sect and truly standing on the same level as Ji Ningshuang.

Over the years, this mortal boy slowly entered her heart, and the seeds of their romance began to sprout.

He still remembered the first time Ji Ningshuang smiled at him—it was wonderfully enchanting, filling him with joy, and he secretly vowed to protect her for life.

Alas, life is unpredictable.

With his dantian shattered, he was no longer an immortal and unworthy of such a heavenly pride. The day he was expelled from the sect, his heart turned cold and his body trembled, and Ji Ningshuang's icy indifference extinguished his last hope. He had no attachment left to that immortal realm.

Witnessing this scene in reincarnation, Ye Chen couldn't help but shake his head with a smile, his heart undisturbed. He no longer resented Ji Ningshuang; she was now the mother of his child, Xiao Ye Fan, and his wife.

On the mountain path, Ye Chen followed along, seeing himself obtain the immortal fire, open the danhai, and be rescued by Zhang Fengnian, who took him to Hengyue Sect.

Seeing his past self, he felt a wave of emotion. With the help of the immortal fire and the Six Paths Immortal Wheel Eye, he advanced rapidly, from the outer sect to dominating the inner sect, becoming Chu Xuan's disciple.

It was worth mentioning that his night with Chu Ling in the demonic beast forest—Ye Chen even went to watch it specially and imprinted those scenes, planning to show them to Chu Ling when he returned, for a family laugh.

He was present at the Three Sects Grand Competition, seeing his past self turn the tide, standing tall and straight, along with Donghuang Taixin, Fu Ya, and Xuan Chen, who were also spectators.

What followed was a bit heartbreaking; he was ambushed by the Yinming Death General midway. Without his current self as that little soldier, he probably would have been wiped out.