Desolate Ancient Continent.
The immortal clan, the Ye Family.
The towering great hall resembled a crouching ancient beast. Its majestic expanse radiated an aura that suppressed the very universe.
Within the boundless void, dormant Saint-level killing formations layered one over another. They guarded the entire hall, ready to obliterate all invading enemies.
The terrifying, heaven-shaking Saint King Pressure bled out endlessly, declaring the immortal Ye Family's foundation and absolute might to the outside world.
Ever since the Ye Family led the allied forces to repel the demonic army and severely wounded the Demon Empress three years ago, their Providence and prestige had reached the absolute peak on the Desolate Ancient Continent.
Like the blazing midday sun!
Yet at this moment.
Within the great hall.
The scene painted an entirely different picture.
The atmosphere was so suffocatingly heavy it crushed the breath from one's lungs.
"Patriarch, the Millennium Fire Lingzhi has already been stolen and eaten by Ye Chuchen! I saw it with my own eyes!"
The hall was packed with onlookers. A graceful girl, whose features were delicate as a painted portrait, pointed an accusing finger at Ye Chuchen and shrieked curses:
"The Millennium Fire Lingzhi brims with dense fire-attribute Spiritual Qi. It could have helped Xiao Xuan break through to the Sea Cleaving Realm. How dare Ye Chuchen steal and eat it!"
"Such sheer audacity! It is an unforgivable crime!"
"A hundred deaths cannot wash away this sin!!"
Battered by the torrent of accusations and vile insults, Ye Chuchen seemingly heard nothing. His eyes, deep as the starry expanse, currently swirled with shock and utter disbelief.
During the clan tribunal, the accused himself was actually...
lost in a daze.
"Ye Chuchen, is what Ye Ling'er said true? Did you truly steal the Millennium Fire Lingzhi?"
The Ye Family Patriarch, Ye Ding, stared down at his silent son. He furrowed his brow, his face radiating sharp displeasure and impatience.
This unfilial son had once been his ultimate pride, but what a pity...
he was now utterly crippled.
"..."
Ye Chuchen remained silent. He instinctively rubbed his temples, forcibly digesting the tidal wave of memories crashing into his mind.
He had been reborn.
Ye Chuchen was the Holy Son of the Ye Family, bearing the supreme Chaos God Physique. His birth triggered terrifying celestial phenomena: golden lotuses erupting from the earth, dragons and phoenixes roaring in contention, ethereal immortal music, and descending purple mist spanning a hundred thousand Li.
Cultivators on the Desolate Ancient Continent tempered themselves by absorbing the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. The cultivation hierarchy spanned ten realms, each divided into ten minor heavenly layers.
They were:
Qi Gathering, Essence Condensation, Sea Expansion, Heaven Opening, and Spirit Communication.
Divine Flame, Great Saint, Saint King, Quasi-Emperor, and Great Emperor.
Bearing his supreme divine physique, Ye Chuchen stood at the peak of the Qi Gathering realm upon taking his first breath. He breached Essence Condensation at three, condensed the Sea Expansion secret realm at five, attained the Heaven Opening secret realm at eight, and entered the Spirit Communication secret realm at twelve.
At eighteen, he ignited his Divine Flame. By twenty-one, he violently crushed his Bottleneck to ascend as a Great Saint. He became the youngest Saint realm powerhouse on the Desolate Ancient Continent, shattering every cultivation record in history.
His name shook the world!
Aside from the Demonic Dao's Empress, Lin Shuwang, absolutely no one could stand on equal footing with him.
In those days, Ye Ding smiled so widely his jaw nearly unhinged, boasting to anyone who would listen:
My son, Ye Chuchen, possesses the bearing of a Great Emperor!!
But barely a year after Ye Chuchen breached the Saint realm, the Demon Empress Lin Shuwang also achieved her breakthrough. She became the youngest, most monstrously talented Great Saint-level powerhouse aside from Ye Chuchen himself.
Even more terrifyingly, upon stepping into the Saint realm, Lin Shuwang actually Awakened the Undying God Phoenix Physique.
The Demonic Dao surged forth in a massive invasion. The ancient Holy Lands and immortal clans of the continent plunged into an abyss of endless slaughter and war.
In this era where Great Emperors remained unseen and Saint Emperors hid from the world, unless a Holy Land or clan faced utter annihilation, Great Saints represented the absolute apex of martial might.
Thus, the moment the Demon Empress Lin Shuwang struck, she crushed the Holy Land prodigies and clan Holy Sons. None could block her path.
To prevent the fires of war from devouring innocent lives entirely, the Holy Lands and the Demonic Dao forged an agreement. Each side would send out one supreme prodigy; a single battle would dictate victory or defeat.
The Demonic Dao naturally deployed Empress Lin Shuwang. The instant her Undying God Phoenix Physique materialized, the Holy Land prodigies and clan Holy Sons withered like frost-bitten weeds.
At the critical precipice, Ye Chuchen, then in Secluded Cultivation, was forcibly dragged out to wage war against Lin Shuwang.
That battle darkened the heavens and shattered the earth. The Chaos God Physique clashed violently against the Undying God Phoenix Physique.
The apocalyptic might detonated by the two youngest Great Saint-level powerhouses on the Desolate Ancient Continent mirrored that of Saint King-level experts, horrifying the world.
They slaughtered each other for three days and three nights. Ultimately, the Chaos dissipated, and the Divine Phoenix shattered.
Ye Chuchen and Lin Shuwang both collapsed to the ruined earth, unable to rise. The result was a draw.
Yet, a draw guaranteed the war would ignite anew. The bloody conflict between the Holy Lands and the Demonic Dao would rage on without end.
Spurred by Patriarch Ye Ding's hoarse screams, Ye Chuchen dragged his ruined body forward. He ignited his soul, cannibalized his lifeforce, shattered every Meridian in his body, pulverized his divine physique, and achieved supreme sublimation.
Squeezing out the very last drop of his Potential, he violently suppressed the Demon Empress Lin Shuwang, seizing victory for the righteous factions of the world.
From that day forth, riding on the back of Ye Chuchen's monstrous merit, the Ye Family rocketed to the status of an immortal clan.
They carved out a vast expanse of heavenly grottoes and blessed lands on the Desolate Ancient Continent. Gripping ninety-nine spirit veins, their Providence surged endlessly.
As for Ye Chuchen himself, he was left with obliterated Meridians and a shattered divine physique, reduced to a cripple incapable of cultivating...
It was no exaggeration to say Ye Chuchen was the savior of the Ye Family. Without him, this second-rate clan could never have won the acknowledgment of the major Holy Lands so swiftly, let alone seized ninety-nine spirit veins to ascend as an immortal clan.
He had assumed that, even stripped of his cultivation and cursed to remain a cripple, the sheer weight of his merit in single-handedly dragging the entire Ye Family to immortality would spare him from a miserable existence.
But reality...
Stripped of his cultivation, the crippled Ye Chuchen was gradually iced out and ostracized by the clan. Then, during a clan tribunal, they violently branded him with the crime of stealing the Millennium Fire Lingzhi and stripped him of his Holy Son title.
Shorn of his holy status, Ye Chuchen's plight inside the clan plunged into pure tragedy. Fanned by Ye Xuan's hidden machinations, it wasn't just his older siblings who tormented him; even the lowest servants dared to step on Ye Chuchen's head, gleefully trampling his dignity.
And Ye Ding, his own father, watched it all. Yet the patriarch's eyes-and his so-called familial love-were entirely anchored to Ye Xuan, the adopted son brimming with Potential. He had long cast his bloodborn son, Ye Chuchen, to the back of his mind.
In just a few short years, Ye Chuchen choked to death on his own humiliation...
Several breaths later, Ye Chuchen's abyssal eyes regained their cold, crystalline clarity.
He tilted his head up, eyes sweeping past Patriarch Ye Ding-who sat enthroned with unyielding authority-and the circling siblings glaring daggers at him. He let out a harsh, self-deprecating chuckle.
It seems I truly have been reborn. The Heavens refused to bury me, Ye Chuchen!
Except, the timing of this rebirth is garbage. I'm still the utterly destroyed cripple with pulverized Meridians following the war with the Demon Empress Lin Shuwang.
What a pointless resurrection.
Did the Heavens drag me back just to stomach the Ye Family's insults all over again? To die a second time?
Are you screwing with me?!
...
"Brother Chuchen, the Patriarch is asking you a question."
Right on cue, a sickeningly soft and gentle voice drifted from beside Ye Chuchen. Unlike the surrounding venom and blame, this tone dripped with fabricated concern and anxiety.
At first listen, it felt as soothing as a spring breeze.
Right, he was still standing in the clan tribunal. Ye Chuchen knew this twisted play all too well.
"Even if Brother Chuchen took the Millennium Fire Lingzhi, it's fine. It pains me to see everyone fighting. At worst, Xiao Xuan will simply enter Secluded Cultivation for a few more years. I can still break through."
"I beg Father and my sisters, please do not blame Brother Chuchen. After all, Brother Chuchen once severely wounded the Demon Empress and bled for our Ye Family. Even if his Meridians are utterly shattered and his cultivation destroyed now..."
Tracking the sound, the speaker was a young boy, barely ten years of age. Yet buried deep within those massive, innocent eyes lay...
seething resentment and viper-like calculation.
That venomous glint vanished in a flash. Not even the Patriarch, Ye Ding, caught it, much less the rest of the clan.
Watching this seemingly harmless boy actively plead on his behalf, bile rose in Ye Chuchen's throat.
What a beautifully pure white lotus.
In just a few lines, he painted a perfect picture of mercy. In reality, the instant he opened his mouth, he brutally cemented three mortal sins onto Ye Chuchen's head: defying his elders, stealing the Fire Lingzhi, and being an utterly useless cripple.
He roasted Ye Chuchen over an open flame, transforming him into a public target.
Leaving him absolutely no room to breathe.
Unsurprisingly, the very moment Ye Xuan's voice faded.
Ye Ding furrowed his brows atop the patriarch's throne. The gaze he locked onto Ye Chuchen curdled with even deeper disgust and aversion.
The surrounding siblings ignited like explosive talismans, hurling fresh curses at Ye Chuchen. Among them, Ye Ling'er's shrieks pierced the loudest.
"I know you're driven by greed, but you cannot blatantly rob Xiao Xuan of his Fated Chance!"
"Ye Chuchen, you rotting cripple! The Patriarch is interrogating you! Are you deaf or just dumb?"
Third Sister Ye Qingqing glared at Ye Chuchen. Her eyes swam with such profound revulsion, it was as if uttering a single syllable to him would contaminate her tongue:
"I utterly despise that arrogant, untouchable look on your face! What? Do you genuinely still believe you are our Ye Family's supreme prodigy? The youngest Great Saint on the Desolate Ancient Continent?"
"Don't delusionally think silence will save your life. If you shatter Xiao Xuan's cultivation breakthrough, you will pay in blood!!"
Fifth Sister Ye Han wore an equally glacial expression. Unwilling to spare Ye Chuchen even half a glance, she cupped her fists toward Patriarch Ye Ding:
"Father, Ye Chuchen has always possessed filthy hands. He has pilfered spiritual treasures from us sisters countless times. We simply disdained to argue with a cripple and turned a blind eye."
"But to think he would target Xiao Xuan today! To dare steal the very Millennium Fire Lingzhi required for Xiao Xuan's breakthrough... this transcends mere moral decay!"
"Without strict laws, a clan will crumble. I implore Father to rigidly punish Ye Chuchen, delivering justice to Xiao Xuan and to us!"
...
"Tell me, esteemed sisters. Have you all forgotten..."
Before Patriarch Ye Ding could thunder his judgment, Ye Chuchen stared at this nauseatingly familiar scene and outright laughed. His chilling chuckle echoed through the grand hall:
"I personally slaughtered my way through a secret realm to harvest this Fire Lingzhi. It has remained planted upon my own windowsill since."
"I retrieved my own property. On what heavenly basis do you call it stealing?!"
In his previous life, during this very same tribunal, Ye Chuchen was condemned for eating his own Fire Lingzhi. Chained by the illusion of blood ties, he refused to argue with his sisters, silently swallowing the poison.
But his meek endurance bought no mercy from his father or his sisters. Instead, they seized upon his silence to brutally amputate his title as the Ye Family's Holy Son.
From that moment on, he was meat on the chopping block!!
In this life, Ye Chuchen would not yield a single inch. He would not cling to dead affections.
A man stripped of everything fears absolutely no threat!!
"..."
"..."
The words struck like physical blows. His sisters froze, genuinely stunned.
They clearly never expected this broken wretch to actually snap back at them???
But Third Sister Ye Qingqing snapped out of it first, jabbing a finger furiously at Ye Chuchen's face:
"Even... even if that Millennium Fire Lingzhi belonged to you, so what?!"
"Are you completely ignorant of the fact that Xiao Xuan is trapped at a critical Bottleneck? He desperately needed that Fire Lingzhi to breach the threshold!"
"It is merely a single stalk of Fire Lingzhi, yet you hoard it like treasure? You maliciously cast aside Xiao Xuan, your own sisters, and the foundation of the entire Ye Family!"
"Ye Chuchen, you disgust me to the core!!"
Ye Qingqing's sheer hypocrisy was staggering enough, yet Fifth Sister Ye Han matched her beat for beat. She fixed Ye Chuchen with a stare of pure revulsion and sneered:
"Ye Chuchen, you dare bare your fangs at Father now? Defy us sisters?"
"Do you foolishly believe we coveted that Millennium Fire Lingzhi? Our Ye Family is an immortal clan governing ninety-nine spirit veins. Would we beggar ourselves over a tiny weed?"
"What we demanded was your submission! It was your attitude toward Xiao Xuan and the overarching Ye Family!"
"Hmph! Lacking even a shred of self-sacrifice, it is divine justice that your Meridians shattered, turning you into a rotting cripple!"
The moment Fifth Sister Ye Han finished her tirade, Little Sister Ye Ling'er refused to be overshadowed. Exactly as she had done countless times before, she marched up, pointing a tyrannical finger inches from Ye Chuchen's face:
"Ye Chuchen! Even if that is true, shouldn't you consider the bigger picture? Do you not possess a single shred of-"
Before the self-righteous poison fully spilled from her lips, Ye Chuchen violently backhanded her.
The brutal strike slammed across Ye Ling'er's flawless, snow-white cheek.
SMACK!!
A violent, blood-red handprint blossomed.
The entire great hall instantly plunged...
into deathly silence.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBB9FYkO2jD
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