Chapter 3051: Free Again

Boom! Rumble!

Due to Ye Chen's Nie Pan, the entire Taigu Honghuang was shaking with thunderous roars, occasionally lit by flashes of lightning and thunder. Yet, compared to the magnificent visions unfolding, the so-called lightning was merely an embellishment.

The visions of the Saint Body were the most profound and unique among all bloodlines. From those ancient visions, one could glimpse scenes of the primordial chaos at the dawn of creation—where all things were born, order was established, and rules evolved, all mirroring the ways of the Heavenly Dao.

If the Saint Demon could represent the Heavenly Dao,Then the Saint Body could as well.

However, while the Saint Demon only represented the Heavenly Dao, the Saint Body, in reflecting the Heavenly Dao, also drew upon the will of all living beings.

In a sense, the Saint Body was a paradoxical entity, carrying certain aspects of the Heavenly Dao's will while also bearing the will of the masses.

No one knew when the heavens finally calmed down.

Ye Chen descended from the void, his divine light and entwined laws all retracting into his body, returning him to his original form. With his white robes and white hair, he seemed to have stepped out of a myth, and no one could tell how many times he had achieved this state of returning to simplicity.

He landed by the edge of the Yinhe Zhi Bi.

The various supreme beings were still lingering in awe, with many approaching from afar to see Ye Chen, who sat like a statue at the galaxy's edge.

"Do you feel any pressure?"Donghua Empress was there too, turning with a slight smile.

"It's as if I've seen the Saint Ancestor."Di Huang smiled and rose, making his way to the galaxy's edge. The way he used the term "Saint Ancestor" felt deeply sincere.

It was as though Ye Chen was the very first Saint Body to open the heavens and earth, with his bloodline and original divine treasury at the purest peak. Even in terms of cultivation realm, Ye Chen completely overshadowed him in this domain. As fellow Saint Bodies, Di Huang felt the pressure from Ye Chen's bloodline most acutely—it was so oppressive that it made breathing difficult.

Donghua Empress did not follow. She gently waved her hand, bringing Zi Xuan, who had been hiding in the distance under a tree, to her side.

Ever since arriving in Taigu Honghuang, Zi Xuan had been secretly watching from afar, and as the Heavenly Emperor, Donghua Empress could naturally sense her presence.

Zi Xuan was her remnant soul, or more precisely, a drop of blood she had shed during a great battle long ago. After endless ages of sedimentation, it had gained a spark of intelligence and formed a trace of soul, leading to the Zi Xuan of today.

The same went for figures like Ren Wang and Long Ye—they were essentially formed this way, not from the destruction of an emperor's burial, but perhaps from a drop of blood that nurtured intelligence and became a remnant soul.

"Empress."Zi Xuan kept her head lowered, her fingers tightly clenched, like a child who had done something wrong. Her voice trembled, and her body shook uncontrollably.

She had indeed made a mistake.

As the empress's remnant soul, she inherited the empress's memories and emotions, falling in love with someone she shouldn't have.

"Girl, don't be afraid."Donghua Empress smiled warmly, reaching out to brush aside the strands of hair falling over Zi Xuan's face, like an elder sister gently touching her younger sibling's cheek.

"I will take away everything in you related to Di."Donghua Empress said with a smile.

In that instant, Zi Xuan burst into tears, her face streaming with them as she sobbed uncontrollably. An unprecedented fear overwhelmed her heart.

To have everything related to Di taken away was no different from death.

She wasn't afraid of dying, but she feared forgetting the person named Di Huang, for it was that love that gave meaning to her existence.

She never dared hope that Di Huang would notice her among the masses; she only wished to watch him silently from afar.

That was her only lifelong desire.

"Zi Xuan was always part of the empress, and now it's time for her to return to her roots."Zi Xuan suddenly looked up, her smile mixed with emotion and tears. For the first time, she gazed at Yue Shang, and for the first time, she directly faced Di Huang's beloved. In her misty eyes, there was envy and an undeniable sense of humility.

In the end, she was just a remnant soul.

For so many years, she had been like a thief, stealing the empress's emotions and secretly loving Di Huang, who belonged to Yue Shang.

"Your feelings, I will preserve."Donghua Empress smiled.

As she spoke, she retrieved the imprints related to Di from within Zi Xuan, then swung an invisible sword, severing the faint connection between the original self and the remnant soul.

In that moment, blood overflowed from the corners of her mouth.

"Empress!"Zi Xuan hurriedly stepped forward, realizing what her original self had done. She had taken away everything related to Di but kept the emotions intact, even at the cost of self-inflicted harm.

In essence, her original self had granted her a free body.

"Whether you can catch up to his steps depends on you now."Donghua Empress lightly waved her hand, sending Zi Xuan into a deep sleep. Her smile remained as gentle as ever, having returned freedom to the remnant soul and, with it, the right to love.

Zi Xuan cried again, tears falling like rain.

Though she now had freedom, she felt even more afraid.

"How foolish you are."Yao Chi Empress suddenly appeared, supporting the swaying Donghua Empress. A self-inflicted wound like this might not matter on a normal day, but in her current state, even as a Heavenly Emperor, she couldn't bear it.

Yue Shang chuckled softly, saying nothing.

Emperors were human too, with their own selfishness. With her lamp of life nearly extinguished, if not for absolute Nie Pan, she wouldn't survive the three-year limit.

She might die, or perhaps dissipate entirely, but her feelings needed to continue. She had to leave something for her Di Huang to remember.

Yao Chi Empress fell silent, her mind briefly dazed as memories of ancient events resurfaced. Due to the rules of Yao Chi Holy Land, she had never involved herself in matters of the heart.

But that didn't mean she was heartless.

After so many vicissitudes, she still remembered that in the dead of night, there was always a weathered figure standing outside the Yao Chi Saint Body, waiting for her to emerge—waiting until his hair turned white and his back bent, waiting a whole lifetime.

"How heartless you were back then."Chen Yi murmured softly.

The one who had waited for his sister was the very person he had sent away. Even that ancient tombstone had eroded away over time, and sadly, he never got to see the one he waited for, leaving behind a lifetime of regret.

Yao Chi Empress walked away, step by step, her figure growing more distant and forlorn.

Emperors were not without emotion, but back then, she had indeed let down that devoted person. If she could relive it, no imperial throne or rules would matter as much as a single word: love.

"You, You Yue, have led so many later generations astray!"Gui Di sighed.

As a supreme being, he knew the origins of Yao Chi Holy Land better than anyone. It was truly made glorious by Yao Chi Empress, but it began with a woman named You Yue, and those rules originated from her.

"It's a good thing You Yue never met me."Zao Hua Shen Wang stroked his beard, speaking with great seriousness.

"And it's a good thing she never met me."

"From the first episode, I'd have her go home and have a child."

"That's not right."

The group of old divine generals clustered together, as irreverent as ever, drawing sidelong glances from the supreme beings of past eras. Honestly, they were growing fonder of these juniors—their spirit was far more bold than in their own time. They turned a perfectly emotional scene into a ridiculous farce.

In the end, face didn't matter that much.

Blind devotion was useless, and endless waiting achieved nothing.

They should learn from Ye Chen, or from Xuanyuan Emperor's son—make it happen early, turn raw rice into cooked rice. That was more straightforward than leaving behind endless regrets for later generations.

"Boss, why don't you self-inflict a wound too?"Here, Long Ye, Long Wu, and Long Yi lined up neatly, squatting in front of Tai Xu Long Di, hands tucked in their sleeves, eyes wide and round.

Not to boast, but each of them had a pig-killing knife hidden in their sleeves. If Long Di was afraid of pain, they wouldn't mind doing it themselves.

"Get lost."Long Di roared. If not for these three showing up in Taigu Honghuang, he wouldn't have known that a trace of his soul could produce such living treasures.

Especially the one on the far left—he stood out the most, having twice become a Heavenly Demon, once as a Great Emperor and once as a Heavenly Emperor. He was practically asking to be struck down!

"People, living too long isn't necessarily a good thing."Here, Ren Wang sat beside Ren Huang, chattering endlessly. It was unclear if he was talking to himself or to a certain supreme being.

Ren Huang raised an eyebrow and glanced sideways at Ren Wang, looking him over from head to toe and back again.

He had known his own remnant soul gained intelligence, but he never imagined it would turn into something like this—one look and he felt an itch to teach him a lesson.

"People, living too long isn't necessarily a good thing."Ren Wang spoke again.

He had repeated that line countless times.

The meaning was clear enough: he wanted Ren Huang to hurry up and pass on, and while at it, grant him his freedom.

"How interesting."Most of the supreme beings were just spectators, particularly taken with talents like Ren Wang. More accurately, they valued all those who came from Zhutian.

How to put it? The divine generals who followed Ye Chen to Taigu Honghuang seemed to have no shame at all—the elders were wildly improper, and the youngsters were mischievously unruly.

They were all shaped by Ye Chen.

This conclusion was something the supreme beings of past eras wouldn't dispute.

Not to mention other things, just the fact that he drugged the emperors was something only he could pull off.

If Ye Chen were here, he'd surely be proud.

His greatest achievement in life wasn't slaughtering emperors, but molding the companions of Zhutian into such vibrant people. Any one of them pulled out was a master of schemes and tricks.

On another note, Di Huang had already reached the Yinhe Zhi Bi.

The closer he got to Ye Chen, the stronger the bloodline pressure became. If he was a small stream, then Ye Chen was a vast ocean.

Hong Yan felt the same.

Ye Chen's bloodline now absolutely overshadowed hers, due to its greater purity. The latent divine power of the Saint Body was gradually being awakened through this Nie Pan.

And that kind of divine power was something neither she nor Di Huang possessed.

The successive Saint Bodies had also arrived, looking at Ye Chen with eyes full of pride and astonishment.

Among so many innate Saint Bodies, none had pioneered anything, yet this acquired little Saint Body had forged an immortal legend. As predecessors, they truly felt ashamed.

"I hear you're the strongest Saint Body in history?"Ba Yuan asked, hands tucked away, glancing at Di Huang.

Di Huang coughed awkwardly, his expression extremely embarrassed.

He had once held that title.

Back then, to protect Yue Shang's ascension, he had single-handedly battled five emperors—what incredible might! Being hailed as the strongest was well-deserved.

But ever since Ye Chen appeared, he clearly no longer qualified for that title. Not only that, he had plummeted all the way back home.

And by "home," he meant rock bottom.

Looking at this era, only three Saint Bodies remained: himself, Ye Chen, and Hong Yan. Ye Chen was at the peak of Heavenly Emperor, Hong Yan at the peak of Great Emperor, so he was apparently the weakest.

From the strongest of the past to the weakest now—it was embarrassing, no doubt.

But thinking it over, he felt at ease.

Ye Chen was a heaven-defying figure, a prodigy who had twice triumphed over the Heavenly Dao—he admitted he couldn't compare.

As for Hong Yan, she might not be exceptional on her own, but she had an incredibly powerful sister, whose sacrifices were steadily propelling her toward the peak.

As for him, he could just play a supporting role.