Chapter 2210: The Mark of Love

Chapter 2210: Mark of Emotion

In the millennium of Da Chu, during the third life.

Ye Chen sat cross-legged on a small hilltop, casually holding a tobacco pipe and puffing. Amidst the swirling smoke, he looked like he was cultivating immortality, his expression profound. He had been holding back a mouthful of old blood for a long time, still lodged in his throat.

He no longer activated the reincarnation cycle, not because he couldn't, but because he was exhausted.

Exhausted—how could he not be? Within the cycle of reincarnation, he had traversed it hundreds of times, constantly suffering backlash every few days and sustaining serious injuries every so often. Who could endure that?

Sometimes, Young Master Ye would muse that it was probably because he had committed too many sins in his past life, done too many shameless deeds, which was why he was now being toyed with by reincarnation, trapped for nearly a millennium.

It wasn't just him; Ming Di and Di Huang thought the same.

These two supreme beings had witnessed everything from beginning to end, watching Ye Chen go round and round in the cycle. They weren't even the ones experiencing it, and just watching made them damn tired.

On a dark and windy night, Ye Chen finally finished his pipe.

I want to go home!

Under the dim moonlight, the tenth emperor of Da Chu rose once more.

As the reincarnation cycle turned, he vanished into the night.

When he reappeared, it was no longer the third life—he had crossed six cycles, arriving at the ninth life.

This was a mortal kingdom. The once muddled Ye Chen lay quietly on a bed, with a woman playing the qin beside him, guarding his side and smiling foolishly at him.

That was Liu Ruyan, the princess of Nan Zhao Guo and the eleventh emperor of Da Chu.

On a dark night, with her mortal body, she blocked a devastating strike for him.

The bloody scene from that night became an eternal memory.

A thousand years later, will you still remember a woman named Liu Ruyan?

Those poignant words lingered through past and present lives.

Ye Chen's eyes were filled with tears. In the reincarnation cycle, he shed tears of heartache once again. Even though he already knew the history and had seen this scene more than once, he couldn't hide the pain. He owed her not just one life, but an ancient bond of affection.

The woman named Liu Ruyan would never be forgotten.

A breeze blew, and the eight reincarnation marks appeared together.

This time, the cycle turned on its own, carrying him away suddenly.

Still in the ninth life.

In the chaotic Bei Chu, on Qing Luan's back, a woman sat weakly, her face pale and bloodless, her expression sorrowful, her eyes misty with tears.

That was Lin Shi Hua. She had used the Emperor Path to summon the Ghost King and formed a life-and-death contract, all to save her senior brother. A deep emotional root had been planted one night in the mountains behind Heng Yue, when a warm hand pulled her back from hell.

Dying in Ye Chen's arms—it's so good!

The obedient junior sister clung tightly to her senior brother's clothes until the end, hoping to meet again in the next reincarnation, hoping to have the fortune to be Ye Chen's wife in that life.

Ye Chen's tears overflowed his eyes.

This scene had been etched into his soul for centuries, remembered through a hundred turns and a thousand cycles.

The reincarnation cycle turned again, and he vanished, only to reappear.

The setting seemed much the same—still a demonic invasion, the sky dark, roars shaking the heavens. On the bloodstained walls of Nan Chu, a woman with hair as white as snow perished amidst a sea of flowers, giving a tender smile to the Ye Chen of that era.

That was Bi You. She performed the Ten Thousand Flowers Heavenly Burial, dragging the heavenly demons with her to the Yellow Springs.

In the next life, see you again.

That was the last thing Bi You said to him in the previous cycle. The daughter of the Saber Emperor had once been proud, like a fairy from the nine heavens, untouched by the mortal world and its dust. Yet, for a man named Ye Chen, she revealed her most radiant smile.

Accompanied by tears, the reincarnation cycle reached its peak, carrying him away.

When he reappeared, he saw a flash of blood light staining the high sky.

Two sorrowful women, like two wilting flowers, scattered their final beauty.

That was Shangguan Yuer and Shangguan Han Yue.

In some ancient era, one fought for the Dan Saint Ye Chen, the other for the Killing God Qin Yu. In their final moments, they both stood in front of their loved ones.

Ye Chen's face was covered in tears, the bloody pain making him forget the reincarnation cycle.

The two princesses of the Shangguan family had endured endless hardships across two cycles. That dark night was eternally fixed in his memory.

Suddenly, without being summoned, the reincarnation cycle turned for the third time.

Through tear-blurred eyes, he saw Chu Ling'er using her frail body to block an emperor's strike for her Ye Chen. Splendid blood flowers bloomed from Bei Chu to Nan Chu. She was pulled from the rubble by her loved one, whispering her final words of affection through time.

Tears blurred Ye Chen's vision.

That was his Chu Ling'er, and she carried their child in her womb. The two of them would enter the underworld together, having blocked that emperor's strike for him.

Tears sprinkled through the reincarnation cycle, and the marks trembled again.

Still in that ninth life, still amidst the vast demonic army like a vast ocean, under the apocalyptic light. On Ji Ning Shuang's back, Xi Yan smiled with deep affection as she looked at her master, Ye Chen. In that instant, she no longer saw him as her master, but as the one she loved most.

The princess of the mortal world—her life was both legendary and tragic.

The ninth life seemed full of so many stories.

These stories made even the reincarnation marks reluctant to let him leave.

In the underground palace of Dan Cheng, before a fiercely burning alchemy furnace, Luo Xi and Xuan Nu turned back with smiles, as if they could see across countless miles to the walls of Nan Chu, to the bloody figure fighting the heavenly demons like a madman.

They leaped into the air, sacrificing their Dan Spirits to create the Tian Ji Dan.

In that moment, Ye Chen's heart ached intensely, even more than back then when he swallowed the Tian Ji Dan and witnessed two sorrowful women use their lives to help his sacred body reach perfection.

The reincarnation cycle didn't wait for his tears to fall; it turned on its own again.

Ye Chen vanished and reappeared.

Still in that Dan Cheng, a woman covered in fresh blood stood guard at the grand hall, fighting the heavenly demons to buy time for her loved one's breakthrough.

That was Ji Ning Shuang, the last one to stand before him during the demonic invasion, and the last to die in his arms.

If there is a next life, will you promise me a lifetime of affection?

Those lingering words echoed in his ears, accompanied by ancient tenderness.

Sadly, she never heard his promise before she died.

Ye Chen's heart was overwhelmed with guilt, his face streaming with tears.

How heartless he had been back then, knowing she wanted to hear those words, yet he never said them, leaving a devoted woman to enter the next cycle with regret.

The reincarnation cycle turned again, still in the ninth life.

At Tian Xuan Men, petals scattered everywhere. A woman in vibrant red bridal clothes walked step by step to the altar and lay beside her loved one, giving him a gentle smile.

That was Nan Ming Yu Shu, the daughter of the Xuan Emperor.

She was a beauty, yet she gave her world-shaking radiance to a man named Ye Chen, all to exchange for three years of his life. It was a bond of cause and effect, tied by love and affection.

Ye Chen laughed through his tears. Even in the reincarnation cycle, having seen this scene more than once, he couldn't help but reach out, wanting to wipe away the tender tears of that bride. The heart-wrenching pain couldn't outweigh the woman's deep bond. Those three years were his most precious.

A single bridal dress carried memories etched into the bone.

"Have you noticed that this time, the reincarnation transmissions are all in the ninth life?" Di Huang said calmly. "And each transmission brings us closer to the original era."

"I understand his first life's true intention," Ming Di said with a smile. "He entered the reincarnation, but what he truly comprehends is the genuine emotions of the human world. Those will be the marks, guiding his direction."

His words were full of meaning, and Di Huang understood perfectly.

The two supreme beings turned their gaze back to the reincarnation cycle.

After several transmissions, Ye Chen reached the end of the cycle once more. In the hazy chaos, he stood like a statue on the river of time, unmoved by the vicissitudes of the world.

The road of a thousand years of reincarnation, eight great cycles.

Only now did he truly understand what emotion meant.

He hadn't fully comprehended the supreme laws, but he had realized the truth of emotion. Though cycles separated them, and they couldn't meet, emotion ignored that barrier.

That was his true direction.

Better to betray the world than to betray you.

His murmur echoed through the chaos, through the eight great reincarnation cycles.

As he closed his eyes, the eight reincarnation marks appeared again.

For the countless time, he vanished suddenly, bound by emotion, truly transcending the cycles.