148: Chapter 148 It's not worthy!

Chen Heng's gaze fell on Chen Zhiwen. Those were eyes that had seen through the vicissitudes of time, containing no blame, no anger, only a deep, starry complexity.

Just now, he had learned the full story from the current Imperial Sovereign, his junior Chen Chaochu.

That dust-laden file, that crime buried by time, caused even this Old Ancestor, whose heart was as still as water, to feel overwhelming waves.

Consort Ye... that woman as gentle as water, who always stayed quietly in the Qingning Palace to prepare a pot of clear tea for him, an Old Ancestor who rarely appeared.

He remembered her.

Therefore, his coming here was not to stop a revenge.

A mere Consort De, even if she were the current Empress, compared to a Qilin Son like Chen Zhiwen who was enough to suppress the Imperial Dynasty's future thousand years of Luck—he knew better than anyone which was more important.

Her death would not be a loss.

“Zhiwen.”

Chen Heng spoke, his voice hoarse, like two pieces of ancient jade rubbing together, carrying the heavy weight of years, “The Old Ancestor understands your feelings. Your mother's grievance is a debt our Great Xuan Imperial Family owes her.”

He did not address himself as “Old Ancestor” formally, but used a more intimate way of speaking; this in itself was an attitude.

Chen Zhiwen's footsteps stopped for the second time.

He looked at the old man before him. He did not speak, just watched quietly, his deep eyes showing not a single ripple.

Chen Heng sighed softly, a sigh that seemed to exhaust a hundred years of helplessness and melancholy.

“Consort De, you may kill. Second Prince, you may also kill. These are blood debts they owe, and it is only right they pay with their lives. This matter, the Old Ancestor will bear for you; as for the Imperial Sovereign, the Old Ancestor will go and speak with him. Our Great Xuan Imperial Family does not tolerate such venomous people!”

His words were forceful, carrying an unquestionable decisiveness.

However, his tone shifted, and a deep worry appeared in his weathered eyes.

“But, Zhiwen, let this matter end here, alright?”

“The Old Ancestor knows that behind Consort De stands the Heavenly Spirit Sect. That Soul-Corroding Powder is no ordinary item; it must have come from the hands of the Heavenly Spirit Sect's upper echelon. But the Heavenly Spirit Sect is one of the Ten Great Sects of the Human Race in Huangzhou, with deep foundations; a single move could affect the whole.”

“Currently, the North Sea Demon Clan is restless, and the three Great Imperial Dynasties of Great Yan Dynasty, Great Chu, and Great Yu are not of one heart with our Great Xuan. If we go to war with the Heavenly Spirit Sect now, it will surely cause massive internal turmoil within the Human Race of Huangzhou. At that time, it will only give those watching like tigers an opportunity to strike.”

“For the big picture, for the billions of people of our Human Race, can this matter... be put aside for now?”

Chen Heng's voice was full of sincerity. He was not commanding, but requesting. With his cultivation of a Late-stage Grandmaster and his status as the Imperial Family's Old Ancestor, lowering his stance to this extent was the limit.

He hoped that this junior, whom he could not see through, would understand his painstaking efforts.

However, what he received was a faint smile on Chen Zhiwen's lips, one that seemed to carry endless mockery.

That smile was very light and faint, yet colder than ten-thousand-year profound ice.

“The big picture?”

Chen Zhiwen softly spat out those two words, as if chewing on an extremely ridiculous term.

“When my mother was in the palace, tortured day and night by that poisonous woman, her Divine Soul burning, dying in agony, who came to talk to her about the big picture?”

His voice remained calm, yet it made Chen Heng's heart sink suddenly.

He could hear the immense hatred hidden beneath that calmness.

Chen Zhiwen slowly raised his head, his gaze passing over Chen Heng, as if seeing the distant mountain gate of the Heavenly Spirit Sect and the faces hidden behind the scenes.

“Today, Consort De must die, and the Second Prince must die...”

His voice suddenly shifted, and an invisible Hegemonic Sword Intent soared into the sky, as if to pierce a hole in the heavens!

“The Heavenly Spirit Sect must also pay the price for this!”

“As for... being an enemy of the Heavenly Spirit Sect?”

Chen Zhiwen's smile grew wider, carrying an absolute confidence that looked down on the world and treated all things as straw dogs.

“It is not worthy!”

Boom!

“It is not worthy!”

These four words exploded in Chen Heng's mind like a bolt of world-destroying lightning!

He looked at the young man before him in horror.

What kind of arrogance was that? What kind of confidence?

The Heavenly Spirit Sect, a colossus with a Legacy of thousands of years, in Chen Zhiwen's mouth, did not even have the qualification to be an “enemy”... it was not worthy?

For a moment, Chen Heng even wondered if Chen Zhiwen had lost his mind due to excessive grief.

But when he saw Chen Zhiwen's eyes, that thought was instantly extinguished.

What cold and indifferent eyes those were!

There was no madness, no anger, only a deathly void, and... deep within that void, an absolute majesty that viewed all living beings as ants!

At this moment, Chen Heng suddenly had an absolutely absurd feeling.

It was as if the person standing before him was not one of his juniors, but a young God King who had stepped out of ancient myths, stating a natural fact.

He was telling the truth.

In his eyes, the Heavenly Spirit Sect really... was not worthy!

Chen Heng's heart sank completely. He knew that any further persuasion would be futile.

Chen Zhiwen's Dao and his will had already condensed into an unshakeable, irreversible torrent.

Any existence standing in front of this torrent would be crushed to pieces.

“Alas...”

A long sigh escaped Chen Heng's lips.

This sigh sounded even older and more powerless than the previous one.

He slowly turned his body, clearing the path to the Heavenly Prison.

He gave up.

Not because he was afraid, but because he suddenly realized that a new era might be forcibly opened on this night by this resolute young man in black, in the bloodiest and most overbearing way.

The old rules and the old big picture would all be torn to shreds before him.

Chen Zhiwen did not look at him again, nor did he pause for a moment; with a flicker of his body, he bypassed him like a bolt of black lightning, instantly appearing before that massive bronze gate.

He did not push the door.

He simply reached out a hand and pressed it lightly against the door.

“Boom!!!”

A deafening roar echoed throughout the entire palace!

That massive bronze gate, forged from Ten-thousand-year Profound Iron and inscribed with countless defensive Formations, along with the Seal behind it that was sufficient to withstand a full-strength strike from a Great Grandmaster, was like paper under Chen Zhiwen's palm, instantly caving in, twisting, and finally exploding!

Countless metal fragments, mixed with a violent wind, shot back into the depths of the Heavenly Prison, letting out a series of shrill whistling sounds.

Amidst the swirling dust, Chen Zhiwen's figure, stepping on the fragments covering the ground, slowly walked inside and disappeared into that bottomless darkness.