Chapter 896: A Person in Love

After Ye Chen spoke, the black Ye Chen actually stopped in his tracks.

Ye Chen continued to look at him, his words calm and straightforward.

"Wuwang Daze, indiscriminate replication, but it cannot endow you with human emotions. Even though you have all of mine, you are not Ye Chen. Ye Chen has brothers, family, wife, disciples; he cries, laughs, feels joy and sorrow, pain and injury, love and hate. He is a person of flesh and blood. Do you have his emotions?"

Though these words were spoken plainly, they carried deep emotion.

In the black Ye Chen's dull and vacant eyes, a flicker of confusion appeared for the first time.

Come on! Let's have our final battle!

Ye Chen's sacred body trembled suddenly, his dormant vital energy surging forth. His essence, qi, and true essence burned intensely, with dao principles origins intertwining. Every drop of blood in his body, every piece of sacred bone, glowed brilliantly, pulsing with bloodline power.

The arm that had been severed regrew instantly, and his wounds healed rapidly under the burning of sacred blood.

He was wagering everything, pushing his combat power to its peak for this last showdown with the black Ye Chen. No matter who won or lost, one of them was destined to vanish in Wuwang Daze.

Opposite him, the black Ye Chen's power also rose in tandem.

Or rather, whatever strength Ye Chen had, the black Ye Chen matched it exactly. His eyes no longer held confusion; they returned to their dull and vacant state. Though devoid of human emotions, his purpose was clear: to eliminate Ye Chen.

Battle!

Ye Chen moved, his step shaking the sea's surface violently. He unleashed the Jiuzhong Ba Huang Quan in unison, striking with overwhelming force and piercing through space with a single punch.

The black Ye Chen countered with Ba Huang Quan, also ninefold in unison, its power dominating as it punched through the void.

Boom!

Their fists collided with a thunderous roar, both at peak strength. Both were shaken back, their hand bones fracturing to reveal gleaming tendons and bones. Yet their injuries healed in an instant, and they charged at each other again.

Bang! Boom! Bang!

Next, the two Ye Chens engaged in a world-shaking clash above Wuwang Daze, exchanging identical combat powers and divine techniques with equal might. Neither could gain the upper hand.

The battle dragged on far beyond expectations, lasting over a thousand rounds without a decisive victor.

This time, Ye Chen did not flee.

He fought desperately, his sacred body shattering repeatedly only to repair itself each time. Even the formidable regeneration of the ancient sacred body struggled to keep up with his relentless injuries.

At some point, his divine techniques underwent a strange change, gaining a faint trace of power—subtle, yet undeniably present.

That was his emotion, transforming into combat strength amid the bloodshed.

In contrast, the black Ye Chen's attacks lacked this trace.

But do not underestimate that sliver of power, for its existence shattered the balance between Ye Chen and the black Ye Chen. The black Ye Chen was merely a replicated puppet, a soulless husk without emotions, incapable of such strength.

"My brothers are still waiting for me to return." Ye Chen roared, throwing a punch as images of Xie Yun, Situ Nan, and the others flashed in his mind. Because of them, he refused to give up.

"My disciples are still waiting for their master."

Ye Chen swung his golden fist again, his roar echoing through the heavens.

"My family is still waiting for their child."

"My wife is still waiting for her husband."

"My people are still waiting for peace in the world."

Ye Chen's roars grew louder, shaking the dark void with relentless thunder.

His fists were enveloped in lightning and golden light. As he continued to strike, the power born from his emotions rapidly intensified.

His vital energy waned, but his strength soared.

I must live and get out!

With that roar, Ye Chen's punch sent the black Ye Chen flying in a spray of blood and bones.

The tide turned in that instant. The black Ye Chen's power stalled, and he was steadily suppressed by Ye Chen. Though his attacks remained fierce, he was forced to retreat repeatedly.

Ye Chen had not advanced in cultivation, but he was undergoing a metamorphosis and rebirth—not in his abilities, but in his state of mind.

It was an intangible transformation. He embodied various roles, each a responsibility, and each responsibility a deep obsession. This powerful obsession sustained him, allowing him to stand firm even against another version of himself and carve out his own path.

I must live!

His roars were hysterical, fueled by emotion-driven obsession. He was determined to survive.

Boom! Boom!

From east and west, the void rumbled as both summoned their Hun Dun worlds.

They clashed in the void, using their Hun Dun worlds as weapons in a deadlock. Neither could overpower the other; a single step back would mean being crushed to oblivion by the opponent's external dao manifestations.

I cannot lose! I cannot lose!

Ye Chen's eyes streamed with bloody tears as he gritted his teeth and roared.

Though he had gained the edge in combat, his essence, qi, and true essence were being continuously absorbed by Wuwang Daze, leading to his gradual decline. This flaw became the black Ye Chen's leverage against him.

The battle had reached its climax; it all came down to this strike. The slightest weakness would result in total annihilation by the opponent.

"It's heartbreaking to watch!" In the grand hall of Tianxuan Gate, before the Huan Tian water curtain, Fu Ya stood there, his fists clenched tightly, cracking with tension. He desperately wanted to rush in and strike down the black Ye Chen to help Ye Chen escape Wuwang Daze.

"No matter the outcome, it's his fate." Beside him, Donghuang Tai Xin remained composed, casually flipping through an ancient book.

"I'm just heartbroken!" Fu Ya sighed involuntarily.

"I am too, but..."

"Hey, hey, hey?" Donghuang Tai Xin's words were cut off by Fu Ya's sudden outburst. He pointed at the Huan Tian water curtain, his expression stunned, at a loss for words to describe the scene.

"Noisy." Donghuang Tai Xin frowned slightly, but when she saw the scene on the water curtain, she abruptly stood up.

Their shock was warranted, for the events unfolding above Wuwang Daze were utterly astonishing.

Looking closely, from Ye Chen's body—who was still locked in combat with the black Ye Chen—ethereal figures began to emerge. These were Xie Yun, Situ Nan, Xiyan, Chu Xuan, Chu Ling, Haotian Xuanzhen, and more.

The sight was eerie beyond measure. Everyone who had ever interacted with Ye Chen was now stepping out from within him.

Though these figures were ethereal and possessed almost no combat power, their sheer numbers were overwhelming, blanketing the sky and tipping the stalemate against the black Ye Chen.

"This is just too unbelievable." Fu Ya gaped, swallowing hard.

"Turning emotion into form." Donghuang Tai Xin murmured, her words laden with meaning, her beautiful eyes filled with shock. "An ultimate emperor technique—he's actually using emotion to bridge the illusory and the real."

"What do you mean?" Fu Ya stared at her in astonishment.

"Do you know about the God of War, Xing Tian?"

"The top figure below the great emperors—no one would forget him!" Fu Ya sighed, then looked back at Donghuang Tai Xin with confusion. "But what's that got to do with Ye Chen?"

"Then do you know who slayed that foreign domain great emperor during the great war of the realms?"

"I was only at the Zhenyang realm back then; how would I know?" Fu Ya coughed awkwardly.

"It was Xing Tian who did it." Donghuang Tai Xin said softly.

"That's impossible." Fu Ya turned sharply. "Xing Tian had already fallen; how could he still be alive?"

"Hard to believe, isn't it? But that's exactly what happened." Donghuang Tai Xin took a deep breath. "Xing Tian was indeed dead, but someone bridged the illusory and the real, summoning him from illusion. His power was no weaker than at his peak as the God of War."

"This..." Fu Ya was completely stunned, his understanding of cultivation utterly overturned by this secret.

"Not only Xing Tian was summoned from illusion—there were also the Thunder God and Fire God." Donghuang Tai Xin spoke calmly, yet with a hint of reverence. "Who could have imagined that for the sake of the myriad realms, someone would use an ultimate emperor technique to call forth the primordial gods once more?"

"Bridging the illusory and the real." Fu Ya's heart pounded as he looked at Donghuang Tai Xin in horror. "Who performed that heaven-defying ability?"

"I don't know." Donghuang Tai Xin gazed steadily at the water curtain, her eyes fixed on Ye Chen. "By a stroke of fate, he's using emotion to bridge the illusory and the real, mirroring that ultimate emperor technique. And then there's Yan Fei's true illusion path—they're all heaven-defying insights. Once fully comprehended, what have we to fear from the foreign domain demons?"

"The dao is endless!" Fu Ya's mind was in turmoil as he turned back to the water curtain. That slender figure had shocked him time and again on his journey.

"I feel like I'm witnessing the rise of a young great emperor." Donghuang Tai Xin took a deep breath.

As they watched, Ye Chen was now surrounded—front, back, and sides—by a multitude of figures.

They were familiar faces: his brothers, disciples, family, masters, and wife, all centered around him, filling the dark void.

Help me!

Ye Chen's eyes were filled with bloody tears as he mustered his last bit of strength to resist.

At his words, the countless figures, though silent, joined hands, passing threads of power among them until it reached Chu Xuan and Chu Ling, who were closest to Ye Chen.

"Hold your hand."

The ethereal Chu Ling extended her jade hand, placing it on Ye Chen's left shoulder, her expression tender.

"And grow old with you."

The ethereal Chu Xuan also extended her jade hand, placing it on Ye Chen's right shoulder, her eyes full of affection.

In that moment, Ye Chen, who had been weakened to the extreme, erupted with divine light. A rainbow shot skyward from within him. His family, brothers, and wife had given him strength, pulling him back from the brink of hell to the world of the living.

Boom!

The void thundered as his Hun Dun world trembled violently. Under the gaze of Donghuang Tai Xin and Fu Ya, it began to change.

In the Hun Dun world, the external dao manifestations—mountains, rivers, flowers, grass, trees, and all—seemed to come alive, infused with new power. It was Ye Chen's emotions intertwining with the dao principles.

Break for me!

Ye Chen roared, raising his hands to the sky and driving the reborn Hun Dun world down upon the black Ye Chen.