Chapter 3220: The Most Original Time and Space (5)

In the original time-space, the Jianzun achieved the Dao, and he was joined by a Zhun-huang stage Da Cheng sheng ti. This meant two supreme beings coexisted in one era. Following this was the great calamity of the Honghuang. Both the Da Huang and the Da Cheng sheng ti were incomparably powerful, hunting and settling scores one by one, until they completely annihilated the Honghuang race. The notorious reputations of these two supreme beings even surpassed that of the Honglian Nu Huang. However, there were some discrepancies in this account.

In the altered time-space, it was the Donghuang Nu Huang who leveled the Honghuang race. Since it was all history, it no longer mattered.

Bathed in the moonlight of the time-space, Ye Chen walked slowly, accompanied by Xiao Ruoxi. She lived a life of such hardship, barefoot in tattered little clothes, her Yongheng ti wandering the world for an untold number of years. Day by day, year by year, she would forget a memory for every new one she gained. Her life was like the six paths of the mortal world, muddled and aimless in eternity.

Suddenly, a sword’s hum echoed.

It was the Zhuxian Jian, finally revealing itself, with all nine swords appearing together. The colorful immortal radiance was dazzling and dreamlike, yet it carried an apocalyptic hue. Then, the nine swords merged into one.

Originally an imperial weapon of the Huangdi, forged by the Tiandao, it was a genuine sword of the heavens. In this time-space, it hadn't brought much opportunity; most of the time, it lay dormant, secretly healing and accumulating terrifying power. Its emergence went completely unnoticed by either the Jianzun or Ye Chen in this era.

"It really knows how to pick the time."

Ye Chen murmured softly, glancing at the Tianming and Youming realms. Whether it was Dao Zu Hong Jun or Youming Huangdi, both had fallen into deep slumber, utterly unaware of this event.

Zheng!

By the time he turned back, the merged Zhuxian Jian had already entered Xiao Ruoxi's body. In that instant, she showed great pain, her clear eyes filled with confusion. When the confusion faded, her gaze reflected colorful light, along with an expression unnaturally mature for her age—demonic, sinister, violent, and bloodthirsty, encompassing all negative emotions.

There was no doubt: she was under control.

Ye Chen had considered this possibility. A single Zhuxian Jian might not control Ruoxi, but with the nine swords united, it could. During this process, the Tiandao had secretly interfered, forcibly restraining the Nu Huang in the shadows.

"The defeat of all living beings, you all cannot shirk the blame."

Ye Chen spoke leisurely, his "you all" referring to the forbidden zones and the Wulei Cheng. Since they knew Ruoxi's identity, they should have revealed it earlier. While ordinary people might not qualify to know, supreme beings did. If they had known sooner, they would have protected her, making it much harder for the Zhuxian Jian to control the Yongheng ti.

In the end, it came down to overconfidence.

This confidence stemmed from the Nu Huang, believing no one could control her. But they had underestimated the Zhuxian Jian.

They had also underestimated the ruthless Tiandao.

It was the true culprit.

As Ye Chen watched, the Zhuxian Jian, now controlling Ruoxi, escaped through the gates of the Zhutian.

Chaos erupted in the Da Chu universe.

This chaos was contagious, quickly spreading across the entire Zhutian. Ruoxi was the key array point.

In the altered time-space, Xiao Ruoxi had once left the Zhutian gates, causing immense turmoil that affected everything, dragging the whole Zhutian into disaster.

Boom! Bang!

Due to the universal chaos, both Ye Chen of the original time-space and the Jianzun emerged from seclusion. Dao Zu and the others awakened as well.

But it was all in vain. No one could restore the disordered universe; they had to find Ruoxi first. She was the array point in the shadows, needing to be returned to Da Chu.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

The Jianzun and Ye Chen searched the four seas, eight wastelands, and all the universes, but they couldn't find Ruoxi or the Zhuxian Jian. Even Youming Huangdi and Dao Zu came up empty.

Of course, they wouldn't find it.

The Zhuxian Jian's ability to escape and hide was unparalleled. Ye Chen had experienced it before—defeating it was easy, but capturing it was nearly impossible, let alone destroying it.

Boom! Boom!

Dark clouds rolled across the Zhutian, with lightning and thunder raging. The mortal world, once clear, was now shrouded in inescapable filth—spatial rifts, black holes, and chaotic vortices appeared without warning, causing countless lives to vanish mysteriously.

Ah!

Ye Chen sighed as he watched Zhan Wang's son, Xiao Chen, get pulled into a black hole, never to return. He had perished at the hands of the Zhuxian Jian.

But Xiao Chen wasn't the only unfortunate one.

After him, the Zhuxian Jian, through Ruoxi, abducted the Zaohua Shen Wang, stripping away all his creation essence. Then came the Sheng Huang, Huang Ji, Yu Xian Wang, Tun Tian Mo Zun, Jian Xian... too many to count, all falling to assassination.

The most tragic was the Ren Wang, beheaded by a single sword.

On the day the Ren Wang died, Ruoxi destroyed the Yaochi sacred ground and took the Nu Sheng ti, Hongyan. By the time the Jianzun and Ye Chen arrived, the Zhuxian Jian and Ruoxi had already vanished.

It was elusive and unpredictable.

As the saying goes, open attacks are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to defend against. After Yaochi, countless races, forces, sects, cultivators, mortals, and spirit beasts disappeared or were assassinated.

Every day, people died.

Ye Chen witnessed it all.

It was a scene of utter devastation.

Yet he was merely a spectator, able to watch but not intervene.

The chaos wasn't over—foreign domains invaded.

It was the Zhuxian Jian's doing, controlling Ruoxi and refusing to return to Da Chu. It secretly disrupted countless array points, drawing in the foreign domains—nine Tiian Mo Huang.

And one more: the Mo Tian Huang.

That one had emerged, forcefully reviving across life and death as a true Tiian Huang.

In this battle, the Jianzun fell.

His death was meaningful; he slaughtered five foreign domain emperors, his imperial sword shattering in the process. He became another Da Huang to die in battle after the Xianwu Da Huang of this time-space.

In the same fight, the Da Cheng sheng ti nearly perished.

He had his own feats of slaying emperors, but the Zhuxian Jian struck him with a flaw, leaving him no longer a complete Da Cheng sheng ti—his supreme sacred bones were severed.

For this, the Zhuxian Jian paid a heavy price, severely wounded by the Da Cheng sheng ti, nearly losing control of Ruoxi. It didn't show itself for many days afterward.

The biggest beneficiary of this battle was the Nu Sheng ti.

She seized the opportunity, passing her tribulation while the Jianzun and Sheng ti were occupied, advancing from Zhun-huang perfection to Da Cheng.

However, she too had a flaw.

Like Ye Chen in the original time-space, Hongyan was not a complete Da Cheng sheng ti.

In the Tianhuang, the male and female Sheng ti clashed.

Ye Chen was an observer, his emotions complex as he watched.

The two Sheng ti were evenly matched.

Because of Hongyan, the demons hiding in the black holes of the foreign domains all descended upon the Zhutian.

From that day, the human realm was divided.

This division meant that Ye Chen of the original time-space and the Nu Sheng ti of that era each controlled half of the human realm's territory, waging endless wars for a long time.

The flames of war spread across the Zhutian.

But Ye Chen knew the defeat of all living beings was sealed.

As history proved.

On that day, Ye Chen of the original time-space slew the Tiian Mo Zun and saved Donghuang Tai Xin. Under the bloody starlight, he carried her, stumbling along the way.

They were not a couple.

It was because the Jian Shen had sacrificed himself to empower the Da Cheng sheng ti. From that day, the Kunlun Shennv saw Ye Chen as her sword and her way, murmuring his name. No matter the time-space, the one she loved was the Jian Shen of the Zhutian.

Ye Chen had witnessed this scene before.

The Zaohua Shen Wang had seen it too, but misunderstood its meaning.

During this time, Ye Chen visited the unknown once.

The laughter of the little child was still innocently bright, but to Ye Chen's ears, it sounded chilling. This little one was more terrifying than imagined.

Boom! Boom!

The bloody smoke of war did not dissipate.

More foreign domain invasions came.

This time, all living beings fell. Countless foreign domain supreme beings poured in.

The Youming fell first.

Too many emperors attacked; Youming Huangdi fought until his body and spirit were destroyed, and Youming Da Di battled until death. All of the Youming's people were wiped out, turning it into a vast sea of blood.

Then, the Tianjie collapsed.

Dao Zu was powerful, but he couldn't withstand the Zhunhuang level. He was impaled by a spear in the Tai Shang Tian. His disciples, grandsons, and all Tianjie beings were annihilated.

The human realm was not spared.

Da Chu became a mountain of corpses and a river of blood; the five Xuanhuang forbidden zones were trampled; the Wulei Cheng, the Xianzu, and the Wan Yu all turned to ashes in the flames of war. Even if the Nu Huang had a soul and spirit, she couldn't defy the heavens, slain by two Huangdi.

Some survivors remained.

Ye Chen of the original time-space exhausted one Liu Dao Xian Lunyan to reverse time-space—or rather, the Nu Huang's soul and spirit helped him reverse it before dying, in an attempt to change the fixed history, leading to the muddled Hong Chen.

So, the question arose: was the mission of Hong Chen to kill Ruoxi or protect her?

Clearly, it was the latter.

But the mission to protect Ruoxi turned into one to kill her, not without reason.

It was the heavens' meddling.

Hong Chen's mission was altered by it, imprinted with an unyielding mark in time-space, erasing his bloodline and memories, leaving only the command to kill Ruoxi.

Remarkably, Hong Chen did slay Ruoxi.

Otherwise, there wouldn't have been the Liu Dao reversal.

As for how Hong Chen killed Ruoxi, it wasn't hard to guess—there was surely the Zhuxian Jian involved, and the Tiandao assisting in the shadows, leading to the blood catastrophe.

With a boom, the human realm collapsed.

Not a single living being in the human realm survived.

Ye Chen fell silent, saying nothing for a long time.

This was a apocalypse, a world-ending catastrophe. All living beings in the Wan Yu fell. Every time one perished, his heart ached. Familiar figures from his memories, their final roars from the soul, formed a funeral song of the end—desperate and tragic.

This was the original history.

Even as a spectator, it weighed heavily on Ye Chen's heart.

Boom! Boom!

The world-ending battle ended in the Taigu Honghuang. The foreign domains breached the Taigu Honghuang; even with the Huangdi, they couldn't turn the tide. Everything turned to dust.

From then on, not a single living being remained.

The entire Zhutian was enveloped in demonic aura, plunged into darkness with no light in sight. The once magnificent mountains and rivers of memory became a hellish wasteland, desolate and silent.

And Ye Chen was the witness of history, having seen the catastrophe and the extinction of all living beings. Looking around, only tattered war banners remained.

He truly understood Hong Chen's state of mind.

As the sole survivor of time-space, Hong Chen's muddle was born of blood and tears.

"The era when all living beings are extinct is my final destination."

Hong Chen's words echoed in his ears once more.

Perhaps that was Hong Chen's greatest wish—to return to his most original home. Even if he were the last one standing, he would die on the path of the charge.