ISWI Chapter 1170-1171 (Patreon)

Chapter 1170: Could That Be the Heavenly Emperor Fist?

The crowd watched the two from afar, their hearts filled with yearning. Both were at peak Profound Immortal, yet the gap between them was enormous.

The two prodigies were also deeply interested in each other's treasures. Combining all three would forge a truly perfect universe, surpassing even the highest grade. How could they not be tempted?

For a moment, their auras surged as countless phenomena rose around them. Neither rushed to attack. Instead, they observed and analyzed each other, searching for weaknesses.

...

In the distance, the Western Empress Holy Carriage thundered forward. Ye Chen naturally possessed immortal ships, but since there was no rush, he preferred the Holy Carriage. It held far too many memories for him.

However, just as the carriage approached the core region, a beam of divine light shot straight toward it. The Holy Carriage came to an abrupt stop, letting out a displeased hum. The next instant, the divine light exploded into fireworks.

After a long moment, the divine radiance surrounding the carriage slowly faded. A rare trace of displeasure appeared on Ye Chen's face.

Liu Ruyan looked somewhat apologetic. The suddenness had nearly injured her Young Master. Fortunately, his body was frighteningly tough—not even a tooth mark remained—which allowed her to relax. Still, she swept an displeased gaze forward.

A golden-haired man stood blocking their path. "The Great Sun Origin Core is destined to belong to Lord Wang Teng. From here onward, outsiders are forbidden from entering. For this offense, you need only hand over all the fire demon cores you obtained to be spared."

The cold voice boomed like thunder, and his eyes were icy.

Ye Chen's displeased expression instead turned into a smile. "And if I insist on going in?"

The golden-haired man's eyes surged with profound light. "Then die! I know you are that inexplicably added male ancestor of the Jade Pool Immortal Sect. So what? Before the Nine Dragons Wang Family, even the Jade Pool Immortal Sect must bow its head, or face destruction.

"I'll give you one more chance at life. Hand over all your fire demon cores and open your inner world for inspection. At the same time, offer that woman. Liu Ruyan possesses the Profound Yin Soul-Nurturing Immortal Physique. While it means little to Young Master, she is qualified to serve as his maidservant."

The distant onlookers who had been watching also saw this scene and raised their eyebrows.

"The Hu Family is merely a vassal of the Wang Family, yet they're this domineering!"

"The Wang Family remains the top behemoth in the Great Void Continent even without an Immortal King. They've always acted this way!"

"Still, this Hu Meng's strength is impressive. He has a Sacred Spirit Root and the Profound Bright Immortal Physique."

"I really don't understand why Jade Pool Immortal Sect sent someone who is only at peak Celestial Immortal. Could Jade Pool truly have no one left? But he is an ancestor—sending him to die makes no sense!"

"Perhaps there is some secret about this person?"

"But there's an entire major realm of difference. Hu Meng isn't some rogue cultivator either. What secret could allow him to defeat someone stronger?"

Their gazes shifted toward Ye Chen, the sudden male ancestor, with genuine curiosity. They wanted to know what qualifications allowed him to enter Jade Pool Immortal Sect and have whoever he wanted—even rumors said he had unclear relations with a major figure like Huo Linglong. They wanted to know exactly where they had fallen short.

Boom...

But in the next moment, their probing eyes turned to shock.

Ye Chen had never liked others coveting his women, even if Liu Ruyan was currently just a tool. Moreover, although he had not been injured, the earlier incident had still stung a little.

So Ye Chen said nothing. He simply raised his hand and threw a casual punch.

In that instant, invincible dominance boiled forth. A golden fist shadow shook the surrounding heaven and earth. Everyone's vision filled with nothing but that streak of gold. When the golden light vanished, only empty space remained before Ye Chen.

Hu Meng was dead—just like that. Nothing was left behind.

The dozen or so onlookers shivered. What kind of power was that? Was this truly the combat strength of a peak Celestial Immortal? Was Ye Chen pretending to be weak to devour the strong? They could somewhat accept that explanation. But a peak Celestial Immortal killing a peak Profound Immortal with one punch? It was too absurd, too inconceivable.

What kind of talent and foundation would be required to achieve such a feat?

For a moment, all doubt in the crowd's hearts vanished completely. They now understood that Ye Chen's position as an ancestor had not come from any ridiculous rumors. He had earned it with genuine strength.

Such talent was truly worthy of being taken in personally by an Immortal King as a direct disciple. No wonder Jade Moon Immortal Monarch had done something as shocking as accepting him on behalf of her master. Only by doing so could she hope to retain a monster like Ye Chen.

Everyone felt lingering fear. They had felt displeased with Ye Chen earlier, but fortunately, none had spoken out and courted death. A few, however, stared at the golden fist shadow and the domineering, seemingly unrivaled Ye Chen with confusion. That fist technique felt strangely familiar, as if they had heard of it somewhere before...

...

Wang Teng and Xie Linyuan were still locked in a clash of auras. They had naturally sensed what happened on the side, but they paid it no mind. Mere ants were not worth their attention.

Xie Linyuan did raise an eyebrow slightly. He had not expected Ye Chen to dare enter after his warning. Still, he knew Hu Meng's strength well. Since Ye Chen had chosen to court death, it saved him the trouble of acting personally.

Both men's thoughts turned quickly, but their focus remained on the opponent before them. Yet the moment Ye Chen threw that punch, both instinctively turned their heads to look.

The power displayed in that single strike could not be ignored even by them. When they saw the golden fist shadow, both frowned. And when Hu Meng was completely annihilated without any chance to resist, their frowns deepened further.

They could kill Hu Meng, and doing so in a single strike might not be easy for them, but it was not impossible. However, Ye Chen was only at peak Celestial Immortal. Moreover, that punch was far too shocking and far too familiar.

Unlike ordinary prodigies, both men possessed deeper knowledge of history in addition to their strength. Xie Linyuan immediately realized why Ye Chen had left behind traces of samsara power that day. Because that was the Heavenly Emperor Fist.

It was said that when the Heavenly Emperor became an Immortal King, he had done so through the Samsara Dao. He had even innovated upon it, surpassing the previous Samsara Immortal King of the Supreme Hall and sweeping across the kings of the Other Domain. That battle had given the entire Immortal Realm and the Other Domain a new understanding of the terror of the Samsara Dao. It was also why the Other Shore Immortal Monarch, despite still being at the Immortal Monarch realm, was so highly regarded and publicly acknowledged as the number one expert below the Immortal King level.

And now, Ye Chen had actually mastered the Heavenly Emperor Fist and possessed such monstrous talent. No wonder his master had said that Ye Chen would be his greatest rival for the Great Sun Origin Core. His master truly possessed unfathomable insight and had seen everything.

Yet Xie Linyuan felt no fear. On the contrary, his eyes burned with intense excitement.

Chapter 1171: Liu Ruyan's Bold Gamble!

Xie Linyuan felt a surge of excitement. Since his birth, he had always stood as the undisputed top prodigy. No one in his generation from the Boundless Continent could match him, and the same held true after he entered the Supreme Hall. In truth, he had never encountered a worthy opponent.

To him, even Wang Teng was only half an opponent at best. Xie Linyuan was confident he could suppress him using the secret techniques within the Other Shore Samsara Scripture.

But Ye Chen's punch had ignited a long-lost heat in his blood. He could feel his Samsara Immortal Physique boiling with anticipation. Defeating samsara with samsara itself—he would prove to his master that he was the best choice.

Battle intent blazed in Xie Linyuan's eyes as he nearly stepped forward.

But at that very moment, Wang Teng shot forward with terrifying speed. Endless divine phenomena surged behind him like a heavenly palace, making him appear as the sole king among immortals. A cruel smile twisted his face.

"I never expected the Heavenly Emperor to still have a successor. And I certainly never expected you to appear before me. The Heavenly Emperor is dead. Everything he left behind must be erased by my Wang Family."

Wang Teng descended like a vast ocean of phenomena, landing directly before Ye Chen. His eyes burned with killing intent, and his face carried a cold sneer. An overwhelming pressure, like a surging sea, rolled toward Ye Chen.

The moment Wang Teng spoke, the distant onlookers widened their eyes in shock.

So he was the Heavenly Emperor's heir. No wonder that fist had felt so familiar. It was the Heavenly Emperor Fist—the very technique that had shaken the Emperor Pass and swept across the Other Domain, buying the Immortal Realm another seven hundred thousand years of survival.

Only now did they fully understand why Ye Chen had been granted entry into Jade Pool Immortal Sect. The Heavenly Emperor and Western Empress had shared an extremely close relationship. With the Heavenly Emperor's heir now appearing—and possessing such heaven-defying talent—Jade Pool Immortal Sect naturally wanted to protect and retain him.

In the Immortal Realm's history, dozens of Heavenly Emperor successors had emerged from the lower world, most bearing the surname Yan. Yet nearly all had met untimely deaths before going far. The Wang Family had killed the most of them. Whenever news of a Heavenly Emperor successor surfaced, they would dispatch experts without hesitation to eliminate him—along with anyone close to him and even those who had ascended from the lower world.

So Ye Chen was also from the lower world? Otherwise, with such talent, he would have shone brightly even before ascending, and his name would not have appeared so suddenly.

This realization left the crowd even more astonished. The lower world was rumored to be utterly barren, devoid of immortal qi and barely surviving on the remnants of the Jianmu Tree. For such a monstrous talent to emerge from there was truly unbelievable.

Most of the onlookers held deep respect for the Heavenly Emperor. Even those whose forces had no will to fight and planned to surrender once the Other Domain arrived still admired him greatly. Because of this, they felt an instinctive goodwill toward Ye Chen.

Yet right now, their hearts were filled with regret. Ye Chen was indeed heaven-defying. They all believed his talent surpassed even Wang Teng, who possessed the aptitude of an Immortal King. The problem was the massive gap in their cultivation realms.

Although both Wang Teng and Hu Meng were at peak Profound Immortal, they existed on entirely different levels. Wang Teng cultivated the Immortal King Scripture's Soul-Quelling Decree and possessed top-tier talent. With no powerful protectors to intervene inside the secret realm, Ye Chen was in genuine danger this time.

Xie Linyuan had intended to fight, but seeing Wang Teng act first, he hesitated for a moment before calmly standing back with his hands behind him. Let Wang Teng handle it. If Ye Chen could not even pass Wang Teng, he was not worth Xie Linyuan's time.

Beside Ye Chen, Liu Ruyan had still been immersed in the shock of him killing Hu Meng with a single strike. She had been thinking that she had truly found a golden son-in-law this time—one who clearly enjoyed that kind of thing. She needed to seize this opportunity tightly and climb upward with all her strength.

But everything changed too quickly. In the blink of an eye, Wang Teng—the Wang Family genius with the aptitude of an Immortal King—had arrived with overwhelming killing intent, declaring that Ye Chen was the Heavenly Emperor's heir and that he must be eradicated.

Her heart jolted. The Wang Family was a true colossus, a power that surpassed all forces below the Immortal King level. Even Immortal King clans would not dare look down on them. Wang Teng himself carried a formidable reputation. Although Ye Chen likely surpassed him in talent, the gap of an entire major realm meant Ye Chen's chances were slim. And if he fell, would she be implicated as well?

At that thought, the hand she had wrapped around Ye Chen's arm loosened slightly.

Ye Chen noticed the subtle change and smiled. It reminded him of Lin Ke'er back then. When she learned of her father's death and realized he no longer had a powerful backer, her first reaction had also been to leave. There were some similarities.

He did not mind. People had their own paths, but some opportunities, once missed, were gone forever. Lin Ke'er, Sun Ruoxin, and the others probably thought Lu Jing had simply been lucky or particularly good at fawning over him, which was why she had received his favor. But that was only part of it. The most important reason was that, upon learning of her father's death, Lu Jing had unhesitatingly held him tight, wanting only to comfort him.

...

As Ye Chen was lost in thought, he suddenly felt the arm wrapped around his tighten again. Though it trembled slightly, it held on firmly.

He felt a touch of surprise, then smiled.

At that moment, Liu Ruyan's eyes filled with determination. After countless thoughts flashed through her mind, she decided to make a bold gamble!

Liu Ruyan had always been a cautious person who avoided risks. She and her family were too weak to afford any missteps. Yet in the moment she had nearly pulled away, she recalled how Ye Chen had unhesitatingly given her all the fire demon cores.

She remembered his consistently calm and composed demeanor. Even after taking her as a maidservant, he had never treated her with disrespect or forced her into anything. Even when things had reached the edge, he had simply let it slide without anger or impatience.

This kind of prodigy was completely different from the likes of Wang Teng. Even she herself might not have been capable of such behavior, yet Ye Chen had done it. This might be the only man like him she would ever meet.

If she gave up now, what kind of future could she possibly find? At best, someone like Hu Meng, who probably would not even treat her as a true Dao companion. As for someone on Wang Teng's level, she would only ever be a disposable maidservant or cauldron.

Therefore, Ye Chen was the best choice for her. This was her only chance. If she won the gamble, a glorious future awaited. If she lost... then so be it.

And so, Liu Ruyan made the first true gamble of her life.

...

Ye Chen smiled and gently stroked her cheek with his other hand, offering a slight comfort. Only then did he turn his gaze to Wang Teng, whose eyes burned with killing intent mixed with mockery and cruelty.

Ye Chen had long known of the grudge between their families, so he paid little attention to the other party's attitude. Instead of attacking immediately, he asked with mild curiosity, "Why are you all so certain that the Heavenly Emperor is dead?"