The Dao of Reincarnation (132-134) (Patreon)

Chapter 132: Deity in the Martial World (Part 8)

Su Chen crushed the Divine Source in his palm.

A terrifying surge of power instantly coalesced into a towering vortex storm that pierced the heavens. Pure, untainted energy flooded into his body like a tidal wave.

In that moment, the seated figure within his sea of consciousness—the dormant Martial Spirit—opened its eyes once more.

"Mountain River… Realm… Heaven-Slaying…"

Obscure words echoed through Su Chen's mind. He grasped the general meaning. This unknown powerhouse had come from a place called the Mountain River Realm. It had participated in a great war known as the Heaven-Slaying Campaign, and during that cataclysmic battle, this being had fallen.

Mountain River Realm—Su Chen had never heard of it. In the current cosmos, the strongest worlds were the Nine Great Heavenly Domains. From the end of the primordial era to the present, several Great Emperors had arisen within them, leaving behind legacies.

Su Chen wanted to ask more, but the Martial Spirit fell silent again. It seemed a mere fragment of energy could only awaken it long enough to speak those few words.

"It appears that to fully awaken this powerhouse and uncover the secrets of this world, I will need a vast amount of Divine Sources."

As the Divine Source energy poured into him, Su Chen's cultivation officially stepped from the peak of the ninth-layer Spirit Soul into the Profound Connection realm.

Long Tianxing stared in stunned silence. Such a cataclysmic heavenly phenomenon had erupted from a single palm-sized crystal.

Before he could recover, a colossal face squeezed its way out of the sky. A werewolf with silver fur all over its body appeared, gripping a war spear. Its terrifying aura crackled through the air like thunder.

"Human powerhouse, what audacity! How dare you trespass on the territory of King Gorba!"

A werewolf that could speak human language—and at the seventh-layer Profound Connection realm!

Su Chen drew his war blade. Blade-light surged like ocean waves, layer upon layer, until the final slash erupted in dazzling brilliance.

The silver-furred Wolf King was cleaved cleanly in two. Blood soaked the earth.

A Wolf King had fallen so easily.

Long Tianxing, witnessing a Wolf King die before his eyes, trembled with incoherent excitement.

Su Chen calmly sheathed his blade.

"Boss… that was a Wolf King… and it just died like that… Boss, you're too awesome!"

Long Tianxing practically shouted in exhilaration.

Su Chen ignored him and searched the Wolf King's corpse.

A ping-pong-ball-sized crystal appeared in his palm.

Delight flickered across Su Chen's face. His guess had been correct. Even the Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift contained Divine Sources! This place was practically a treasure trove!

To the outside world, the Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift was a place of dread and death. In Su Chen's eyes, it was nothing more than an enormous chest of riches.

For nine consecutive months, Su Chen and Long Tianxing roamed every corner of the Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift.

One day, the three vice-presidents stationed to guard the rift suddenly opened their eyes at the same moment. They looked toward the depths of the rift, expressions filled with horror.

"Not good—the Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift is erupting… a great catastrophe is coming!"

"Jiang Chen is still inside. He is humanity's hope. Even if we old bones die in the rift, we cannot allow humanity's hope to perish here! Everyone else can die—only Jiang Chen cannot!"

Sensing the violent disturbance within the rift, the three vice-presidents exchanged a glance and made their decision without hesitation. They plunged deep into the rift. Even if it meant igniting a full-scale war, they would not let humanity's hope fall within these depths.

Yet when the three vice-presidents entered the rift, they found corpses of Wolf Beast tribesmen strewn across the ground. Every area once marked as forbidden territory had been completely cleared—no werewolf remained alive.

"What… exactly happened here?"

Even more shocking—they discovered the skeletal remains of the Wolf Beast Clan's Wolf Emperor!

"Not good… the Wolf Emperor Court…"

The three vice-presidents exchanged a single glance. The same grim thought surfaced in all their minds.

The Wolf Emperor Court—that old Wolf Emperor's strength was so terrifying that even the three of them together could only fight him to a stalemate.

After several days of hurried travel, they finally reached the Wolf Emperor Court. What they found was utter devastation.

The once-majestic throne hall lay in ruins. At its center, the golden-furred corpse of the Wolf Emperor sat slumped on the throne, cleaved cleanly in two. The lingering aura radiating from the body sent shivers through even these veteran powerhouses.

"Vice-Presidents?"

Long Tianxing spotted the arriving trio and blinked in surprise. "Why are you here?"

The three shot him exasperated looks. "With the kind of commotion you've been causing in the rift, how could we not come? What exactly happened here? Where is Jiang Chen?"

Long Tianxing suddenly understood. "The Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift has already been pacified by Boss. Everything you see here is his doing. Boss killed the Wolf Emperor of the Wolf Emperor Court and gained some insight from the battle. Right now, he's breaking through inside the court."

The three vice-presidents froze. For a moment, they suspected they had misheard, that their ears were playing tricks.

The Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift—the thorn in the side of War Martial Academy's successive generations—had been completely pacified?

Long Tianxing saw their stunned expressions and secretly grinned to himself. After nine months at Su Chen's side, he had witnessed far too many impossible things. In his heart, Boss was nothing less than a savior. In this world, nothing was truly impossible.

One week later.

Above the ruins of the Wolf Beast Emperor Court, an unparalleled aura erupted like a newborn sun, illuminating heaven and earth.

"That's… soveregin-rank aura… someone is breaking through to sovereign rank!"

The three vice-presidents stood numb.

At the center of the pillar of light stood a figure—Su Chen, radiant and peerless.

Su Chen withdrew his aura. He had razed the Wolf Emperor Court. From its ruins, he harvested several Divine Sources, refined them, and successfully advanced his cultivation to the Void Refining realm… equivalent to seventh-tier in this world, also known as sovereign rank.

One year.

From an ordinary mortal to seventh-tier strength. If word of this spread—even in the Heavenly Profound Domain, a place overflowing with geniuses—it would shock countless people to death. The speed was simply too horrifying.

"Three Vice-Presidents?"

Seeing the trio who had entered the rift, Su Chen immediately understood why they had come. He gave a faint smile. "Thank you, seniors, for standing guard."

The three shook their heads in unison. "We don't deserve to be called seniors. It won't be long before the three of us have to address you as 'Lord'… Nineteen years old… sovereign rank… and you've only cultivated for a single year. Jiang Chen, you far surpass your father, your grandfather—by an unimaginable margin. In this world, no one can even stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you."

Their expressions were complicated. They had seen countless geniuses in their long lives… yet all those so-called prodigies paled into insignificance beside Su Chen. One man had pacified an entire Heavenly Rift.

Su Chen merely smiled. Having witnessed grander eras, he knew that across the starry expanse, plenty of others had achieved similar feats. A hundred years to become a Saint—in this world, no one would even dare imagine such a thing.

With the rift pacified, only cleanup remained. The three vice-presidents took charge of the aftermath.

Su Chen, together with Long Tianxing, returned to the War Martial Academy.

Chapter 133: Deity in the Martial World (Part 9)

A seismic piece of news swept through War Martial Academy. One of the two Heavenly Rifts guarded by the academy—the Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift—had been completely pacified.

This was an earth-shattering event. For the past century, no Heavenly Rift had ever been cleared. The international situation had grown increasingly dire; the mere thought of such a feat was unthinkable. Yet the identity of the one who had pacified the rift remained known to only a handful of people in all of Longxia.

Most speculated that one—or perhaps all three—of the vice-presidents had broken through to a new level of eighth-tier strength, finally granting them the power to eradicate the Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift in one decisive campaign.

After returning to War Martial Academy, Su Chen immediately entered seclusion once more. The entire cultivation resources of a Heavenly Rift now belonged to him. His cultivation advanced at a terrifying pace.

Time slipped by unnoticed.

A full year passed. Su Chen had not shown his face even once. Then, in the midst of deep cultivation, he suddenly snapped awake. An ominous premonition gripped his heart.

Su Chen frowned. This instinctive warning carried weight. With his insight at the Dao Entry realm, he could sense impending crises before they fully manifested.

"Something major… is about to happen."

The moment the words left his mouth, the entire capital city trembled.

War horns blared across War Martial Academy—deep, resonant, and unmistakably the call to war.

...

On the towering walls that guarded the capital, soldiers clutched their weapons with white-knuckled grips.

In the distant horizon, the sky itself seemed to tear open. A rift stretched from the firmament down to the earth. Endless black waves surged forth—trampling the ground, triggering violent earthquakes.

Beneath that infinite, terrifying tide, the capital city resembled nothing more than a solitary island adrift on a black ocean, moments from being swallowed whole.

"This… this is…"

The soldiers on the walls stared at the horrifying sight. Their legs trembled uncontrollably. One defensive barrier after another flickered to life—yet they appeared pitifully small against the encroaching black tide…

Inside the capital, powerhouses stood with expressions of utmost gravity.

This was an unprecedented Heavenly Rift descent! They could all sense it: within that colossal rift brewed an unimaginable force—something capable of overturning the entire capital with ease. Even the legendary eighth-tier powerhouses seemed insignificant before that dreadful presence.

"God… this is the descent of a legendary deity!"

An elder of great authority voiced the fear that had taken root in many hearts.

Long ago, scholars had proposed that the eighth tier was never the true endpoint of cultivation. Beyond the eighth tier existed another realm—a threshold into an entirely different order of being.

And that realm… throughout ancient and modern times… had been called one thing:

"God."

...

Su Chen stepped out of the cultivation chamber. Chaos already gripped War Martial Academy.

"Boss… the capital is under attack from a Heavenly Rift descent. The situation is extremely dire."

Long Tianxing rushed forward the moment he saw Su Chen, as though grasping at a lifeline.

"A Heavenly Rift invasion? With War Martial Academy's current foundations, even a powerful rift should be resistible."

Su Chen surveyed the panicked disorder around him. Instinct told him matters were far from simple.

Long Tianxing gave a bitter smile and lowered his voice. "Boss, this time I'm afraid it's big trouble… This is definitely not an ordinary rift descent! War Martial Academy has already abandoned guarding the other Heavenly Rift…"

Su Chen immediately understood.

Abandoning a rift meant unleashing its inhabitants upon the world—unleashing unimaginable consequences. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, would die.

War Martial Academy could never be unaware of such an outcome. The only explanation was that this new rift was far more terrifying than the other one—so dangerous that if mishandled, the entire capital might be annihilated.

At that moment, heaven and earth fell into an eerie stillness. The grand, resonant war horns froze mid-note.

Su Chen and Long Tianxing snapped back to awareness. Behind them stood a middle-aged man whose temples were touched with white.

"President!"

It was none other than the president of the War Martial Academy.

"The Long family boy is right. This matter is far more complicated than it appears."

Wang Zhenguo's expression was solemn and grave.

"Jiang Chen, I will arrange for someone to escort you out of the capital. Your talent is humanity's hope. This time the capital may fall completely—but you cannot be allowed to perish here! I have prepared the highest-specification void train between the capital and the imperial capital. Once you board it, your aura will be perfectly concealed. It will carry you to the imperial capital at maximum speed."

Su Chen frowned. "How many people in the capital can escape?"

"Only one. You alone."

Wang Zhenguo spoke calmly. "Any more would draw the attention of the rift's powerhouses. If you are discovered, everything will be for nothing."

Su Chen let out a soft sigh in his heart.

"President, this descent is no ordinary rift event. What exactly has happened?"

Wang Zhenguo answered gravely, "A deity has descended—a being that surpasses every rank we currently know. They are called gods. Against such a level, we are powerless. The only thing we can do is ensure you escape safely. I don't know if this decision is right. But I hope you can understand War Martial Academy. Understand the choice we have made."

Long Tianxing spoke up. "Boss, you should leave. President Wang's decision is correct. Right now, humanity doesn't need thousands of people like us. It needs someone like you."

Su Chen nodded. "I understand."

Wang Zhenguo personally escorted Su Chen to the location of the void train.

Moments later the train carried Su Chen away, vanishing into the distance.

Watching it disappear, a wistful smile touched Wang Zhenguo's lips.

The entire space of the rift began to creak and groan.

"All personnel of War Martial Academy—exit the rift! Swear to defend the capital to the death!"

The war horns sounded once more. Figures surged out of the War Martial Academy.

Inside the capital, countless demonic creatures tore through rising barriers.

Innumerable warriors fell in battle against the monsters. Defensive screens shattered one after another.

Warrior after warrior stepped forward to fill the gaps. Familiar faces vanished, replaced by new ones, then vanished again.

"Brothers—follow me and kill!"

"To die defending the heavenly capital is our glory! A man's life—even in death—must be magnificent!"

"Kill!"

Cultivators formed human walls with their own bodies. Brilliant explosions of multicolored fireworks lit the sky as Martial Spirits detonated in suicide attacks, filling the battlefield with their final fury.

The president of War Martial Academy led instructors and disciples charging forward. Monstrous beings, powerful beyond measure, ripped open spatial fissures, stepping from the rift into reality.

Wang Zhenguo gripped his long spear and unleashed his full power against a colossal Nirvana-realm demon.

White spear-light pierced toward the stars.

"Die!"

With that single strike, an eighth-tier demon exploded on the spot! This was one of humanity's absolute pinnacle forces!

Every member of War Martial Academy fought with frenzied desperation to stall the demonic tide. Even if it was a drop in the ocean. Even if it bought only seconds. They would not die in vain!

The battlefield raged with unrelenting fury. More and more demonic powerhouses crossed the boundary into reality. Even Wang Zhenguo—Longxia's foremost warrior—felt despair creep into his heart.

Too many… thirty… forty… fifty… an ever-growing tide of eighth-tier demons surged forth. They swarmed like locusts.

Wang Zhenguo slew one eighth-tier demon, but before he could catch his breath, another attack arrived without warning. His Martial Spirit wailed in agony; his body was shattered.

"Perhaps… this is where I die. That kid Jiang Chen should have reached the imperial capital by now… The capital has the means to resist a deity. Even if the entire city falls, the imperial capital can buy him enough time… Old Jiang, Wang Zhenguo has not broken his word!"

Ferocious eighth-tier demons tore at him, intent on ripping his soul to shreds, wrenching his limbs apart.

The warriors of War Martial Academy watched with bloodshot eyes.

"President!"

They witnessed their invincible leader fall—his mighty frame torn asunder, not even a complete corpse left behind.

Just as only his torso and head remained, on the verge of being utterly destroyed, the sky itself split open.

A blade-light spanning tens of thousands of meters descended like a galaxy crashing to earth, shattering stars in its wake.

The two eighth-tier demons closest to Wang Zhenguo were annihilated—body and soul erased in an instant. The rest were forced to scatter before the terrifying edge.

The slash struck the ground. Tens of thousands of demon soldiers vanished without a scream, without even corpses remaining.

The earth opened into an abyss too deep to fathom. The sky convulsed; torrential rain poured down.

Wang Zhenguo opened his eyes. Before him stood a youth wreathed in unparalleled divine radiance, descending like a heavenly sovereign.

"You… shouldn't have come back…"

Su Chen shook his head. "I should have left. But fleeing like this is not my way. The Jiang family has never produced a deserter who abandons the city in its hour of need."

Rain fell in sheets.

Yet Su Chen's expression remained resolute. He could have escaped the capital. Becoming a deity was only a matter of time.

But unfortunately, Su Chen had never developed the habit of fleeing from battle. He could die. He could start over. The one thing he would never allow was to live as a coward—like a dog.

Long Tianxing stared at the figure in the sky. Tears, blood, and rain mingled on his face.

"Boss… the Long family has no cowards either!"

Long Tianxing grinned fiercely, battle intent blazing once more.

Ancient, mysterious divine patterns surfaced on Su Chen's forehead. Golden eyes burned without a trace of emotion. Behind him towered an incomparably majestic figure that stood astride the cosmos.

The full might of the Heaven-Covering Divine Body erupted—swallowing the heavens, suppressing all enemies. In this instant, Su Chen resembled an unrivaled divine king, dominating every foe!

Even with only fourth-layer Void Refining cultivation, a casual strike from him obliterated eighth-tier demons with ease.

Peerless in the world!

One after another, eighth-tier demons fled in terror before him, retreating back into the rift.

The people of the capital watched in awe and shouted with one voice: "Guardian deity! This is Longxia's guardian deity!"

They seemed to glimpse the light of victory. But neither Su Chen nor Wang Zhenguo showed the slightest joy—only deepening solemnity.

Was it over?

No… the true catastrophe had only just begun.

Heaven and earth shuddered violently. Vast oceans were drawn upward by an unimaginable gravity. The sky turned ashen gray, blotting out sun and moon.

From the spatial fissure emerged an enormous leg, followed by a body taller than mountains. Five eyes crowned its head, each revolving with the profound principles of the five elements. Wherever its form passed, reality itself fractured like shattered glass.

All who saw it fell into stunned silence.

The aura radiating from the giant crushed their very souls—leaving no room for resistance. What kind of existence was this? As though sun, moon, and stars were mere trinkets dangling from its fingers!

In every mind, only one word remained:

"God!"

Su Chen's expression grew grave.

This was a Saint… and an exceedingly powerful one.

Any being capable of reaching the Saint realm possessed talent and comprehension far beyond the ordinary—geniuses among geniuses, the difference between innate and acquired life.

"Method of the myriad realms… Interesting. Where do you come from? Speak the origin of the myriad realms' cultivation art, and I will grant you a swift death."

The colossal, terrifying murmur echoed in Su Chen's mind.

Myriad realms… this demonic Saint actually knew of the myriad realms!

The towering deity lowered its head to observe Su Chen, curiosity flickering in its five eyes.

In their surveillance, this world's cultivation methods were laughably primitive. Yet here stood a being who practiced the myriad realms' arts. This realm had long been isolated from the myriad realms by supreme power—how could such a method exist here?

Su Chen smiled.

"You know of the myriad realms—then you should also know where the Emperor of the current era resides! You dare pen a corner of a realm and harvest its living beings as sacrifices—aren't you afraid of drawing the reigning Great Emperor's wrath?"

Rage flashed through the towering deity's eyes. The five elements grew violent.

A mere ant dared use the reigning Great Emperor to threaten him?

"I will drag you back to the Heavenly Prison Realm. There are countless ways to pry open your mouth!"

Cold light gleamed in the demonic deity's gaze. One massive hand opened wide—encompassing the entire world within its palm—as it prepared to seize Su Chen and depart.

Su Chen summoned his Martial Spirit and pointed upward.

"If you want to take me, you'll have to ask him first."

As his strength grew, Su Chen increasingly sensed the true terror of the Martial Spirit dwelling within him. This might not be a Great Emperor—but it was undoubtedly an existence capable of contending for that throne. Like the Spirit Divine King of old—an alternative path to the Dao!

He could feel that this terrifying Martial Spirit harbored grand designs.

The demonic deity remained unmoved. How could a mere Martial Spirit frighten him?

Just as the colossal hand was about to close around Su Chen, the seated Martial Spirit abruptly opened its eyes.

In that instant, Su Chen seemed to behold an ancient, boundless starry sky orbiting the mysterious man. Countless grand daos manifested; indescribably powerful beings bled and perished; even time and space shattered; ancient history sank into oblivion.

The mysterious man moved. He simply extended one finger. That single finger seemed to pierce through endless futures.

In the outside world, Su Chen moved as well. Man and Martial Spirit became one. His long hair whipped in the wind. He extended a single finger.

At its tip, grand daos flowed; stars extinguished.

Chapter 134: Deity in the Martial World (Part 10)

Everyone stared in utter disbelief at the scene unfolding before them.

A single finger.

That god-like figure—its every trace—was erased from existence.

The vast spatial fissure that had torn from sky to earth simply vanished, as though nothing had ever happened.

The sheer terror of the sight gripped every throat like an invisible hand.

Silence reigned absolute.

"Transaction… complete…"

A low murmur from an ancient era echoed in Su Chen's mind. In the next instant, he lost consciousness.

...

When Su Chen awoke again, he found himself in an unfamiliar place. He sensed the condition of his body and gave a wry inner smile. The deal with the Martial Spirit within him had been fulfilled—it had acted once on his behalf. The price: a full quarter of his lifespan, and a quarter of the Heaven-Covering Divine Body's potential, permanently lost. Soon he learned he had been transported from the capital to the imperial capital.

After this battle, Su Chen was hailed as the peerless weapon capable of slaying deities—the highest state secret of Longxia. With the full resources of Longxia at his disposal, his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. Yet he knew that liberating all living beings of this world from their cage could never be accomplished by him alone.

He fused the cultivation methods of the Heavenly Profound Domain with the paths of this world, creating a system perfectly suited for its inhabitants. The new method spread rapidly throughout Longxia.

Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.

Su Chen's cultivation broke through from the Void Refining realm to the Nirvana realm.

"My lifespan… is still reduced by a quarter."

Even after reaching the Nirvana realm, he discovered his remaining lifespan was only one-fourth of what a normal Nirvana cultivator should possess.

Over those ten years, countless Heavenly Rifts and Earthly Rifts across Longxia had been suppressed one after another.

"Commander, a deep abyss fissure has appeared in Dianxi Country. Dianxi Country has already fallen. Observation confirms a world ruled by a deity has torn open the rift and descended into ours."

Long Tianxing rushed in the moment he received news of Su Chen's emergence. A second race with a Saint overseeing it had arrived.

Su Chen nodded calmly. He had long known a single Saint would not be the end of it. Yet the laws of this world still did not permit a Saint to walk freely for long periods. He told everyone to remain calm.

To the people of Longxia, Su Chen was their stabilizing pillar. As long as he stood, no disaster was insurmountable.

A hundred years passed. Many nations had already fallen. Though Longxia had no Saint of its own, it possessed legendary ancient saint artifacts. When those artifacts fully awakened, even Saints were forced to retreat temporarily.

One day, endless thunder converged above Longxia, tearing through the darkness.

A figure ripped space apart with one hand and stood bathed in lightning. Saints from beyond the realm sensed the tribulation and launched an all-out assault on the imperial capital.

Ancient saint weapons awakened. One after another, the hidden powerhouses entrusted with those weapons perished—sacrificing their lives to buy Su Chen time.

In the end, Su Chen did not disappoint. He successfully broke through to the Saint realm. A hundred-plus years to reach Saint—such a speed was unthinkable even in the Heavenly Profound Domain.

After his breakthrough, Su Chen stood alone against more than ten Saints and did not fall behind.

"This era actually produced a variable like you!"

One demonic Saint roared with bitter unwillingness.

"What is your purpose in coming here?"

Su Chen's cold gaze swept across his many enemies.

The ancient word 'Battle' hovered above his head, radiant and resplendent, scattering boundless scriptures. Even freshly ascended to Saint realm, he held the upper hand against a dozen veteran Saints.

...

After months of brutal warfare, Su Chen finally slew two of the Saints. The remaining eight fled in panic, retreating back into the depths of the Demon Abyss.

In Longxia, Su Chen imparted the insights he had gained from breaking through to the Saint realm to numerous Nirvana-realm powerhouses who had long been stuck at that bottleneck. Perhaps one day in the future, some of them would succeed in crossing that threshold and become new pillars of Longxia.

To uncover the truth of this world and put an end to the Heavenly Rifts once and for all, Su Chen set out alone for the Demon Abyss.

Deep within the Demon Abyss, an ancient aura permeated everything.

Su Chen beheld countless worlds scattered below like grains of sand in the Ganges.

"Forbidden zones… this is a forbidden zone that has never appeared before!"

He was shocked to the core.

A forbidden zone that imprisoned entire worlds—trapping the myriad races, sustaining itself through primitive sacrifices. The living beings of countless worlds served as renewable blood bags—cut down generation after generation, harvested again and again in an eternal, unchanging cycle!

What kind of existence possessed the power to orchestrate such a grand scheme, penning all living creatures and perpetuating cycle after cycle across endless ages?

Su Chen walked deeper into the Demon Abyss. How vast was this place? It resembled an independent cosmos, boundless and without end.

Ten years. A hundred years. A thousand years.

He encountered many Saint-level powerhouses of the Demon Abyss. He came to understand that this place harbored countless ancient beings—even the legendary Supremes numbered more than could be counted on two hands. They were the true masters of the Demon Abyss. Here, the law was simple: the strong devoured the weak. Supremes consumed all life to replenish their vitality, living from one era to the next.

"These Supremes have hidden themselves far too well!"

Su Chen felt the difficulty of his task deepen. He returned briefly to Longxia, erased every trace of his presence, then ventured once more into the deepest reaches of the Demon Abyss—alone.

Two thousand years passed.

Su Chen's cultivation reached the peak of the Saint King realm. Yet even at the peak of Saint King, he knew he still fell short. He began searching the Demon Abyss for an opportunity to break through. For three hundred years, he searched in vain for that fated chance. Instead, he encountered a familiar face.

"You are… a descendant of Long Tianxing?"

Su Chen looked at the young man whose features carried a faint echo of the past. The youth had charged into the Demon Abyss and slain a Saint of this place with overwhelming force!

A Saint King powerhouse from one of the Demon Abyss worlds was roused and moved to kill him. At the critical moment, Su Chen intervened.

"Senior… who are you? You knew my ancestor?"

The young man stared in bewilderment at the peerless powerhouse who had emerged from the depths of the Demon Abyss—someone who apparently recognized his forefather.

The Saint King's expression darkened. "You killed my junior clansman. Blood must be repaid in blood!"

Su Chen slapped down with one palm.

"Shut up."

The Saint King's body shattered. The demonic Saint King's face twisted in horror. Without looking back, he fled at full speed.

Su Chen did not pursue.

The young man suddenly seemed to realize something. His voice trembled with shock. "You are… the Guardian Deity Ancestor—the Commander Jiang Chen of legend!"

Su Chen smiled faintly without denying it.

The youth's face flushed with uncontrollable excitement. After thousands of years, to stand before a figure from myth and legend—it filled him with exhilaration beyond words.

"Senior Jiang, my name is Long Gu. My ancestor once said you were the living myth of Longxia, that you must still be alive… Old Ancestor Tianxing's greatest wish was for me to follow in your footsteps."

Long Gu had obeyed Long Tianxing's dying command and traced Su Chen's path all the way to the Demon Abyss.

Su Chen let out a soft sigh.

Three thousand years had passed. Most of his old acquaintances were probably gone.

...